Destiny Found (Epsilon Chronicles Book 1) Page 18

  If you don’t stop that, we will be doing it tonight.

  Sorry, I’ll try and stop, but Tavanni, Natalie. You could bring a man to his knees.

  I don’t want any man. Just you. Now sleep. I’m tired.

  She smiled as he grumbled. What a perfect way to end a great day; nestled in the arms of her soon-to-be husband.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “We’re done.” Tali yelled as Natalie set down the torch.

  Natalie smiled as she wiped her hands on a dirty rag.

  They had just finished welding and wiring the weapons to the outside of the ship. They had their own little buttons on her console and everything.

  She couldn’t believe how easy it had been. She had only ever made minimal repairs to her ship before; the engineers on Alpha Station typically maintained it. She was impressed by how much she actually knew about installing and repairing. After this, she wouldn’t even need to have an engineer around unless she couldn’t figure it out.

  She kind of hoped she would have an opportunity to use the weapons, but she’d have to let Jarrod know so they could schedule a time to try them out together.

  She stood back and admired her work, then looked at Tal and amended, their work.

  The two laser canons were on either side of the hull and the photon-ray sat between the two, but a little closer to the middle. They smoothly entered the ship so they were concealed and easily exited when ready to fire. A small hatch, just behind that, opened and released the small flare bombs, all at the press of a button.

  Natalie was in love.

  “I cannot wait to tell Jarrod. I am so coming with you both when you go test those babies! Let’s go get him.”

  They wandered over to his office, entering without knocking, only to get the biggest shock of their lives.

  A boxer clad Jarrod shouting and an older attractive woman cowering behind the desk.

  “What the hell, Tal? Nat? What the hell did I tell you about knocking?” Jarrod yelled, his face growing steadily redder, starting to purple.

  Natalie and Tali backed out quickly and closed the door, stunned.

  They just stared at each other, mouths gaping and eyes open wide. They heard mutterings behind the door, and a feminine laugh, and that was all it took to send them over the edge.

  Tali and Natalie howled with laughter, leaning against one another before falling to the ground. They were barely aware of Jarrod opening the door and giving them a swift but gentle kick.

  “Both of you stop that. You’ll make Mariana here think you’re crazy.”

  Her and Tali sat up, leaning against the wall as they wiped their eyes.

  When they stood, they both encountered a beautiful older woman with pretty brown eyes flecked with gold and auburn hair shot through with silver. She smiled at them and offered her hand.

  “Hello ladies, I’m Mariana, but please call my Mari.”

  “And who the heck are you? Are you with Jarrod? Jarrod, why didn’t you tell me?” Tali pouted, shaking Mari’s hand grudgingly.

  Natalie nudged her. “Quit acting like he’s your father and you’re disappointed. You should be happy he has someone so you can stop looking.” She shook Mari’s hand, smiling. “So nice to meet you. I’m Natalie.”

  Mari’s eyes widened briefly and an even bigger smile spread across her face.

  “Of course. You’re Taavi’s mate, right? I’ve heard about you. You are pretty as a picture, aren’t you?” She looked over at Tali with mock seriousness. “If it makes you feel better, my son introduced me to him and doesn’t know we are seeing each other yet.”

  Tali got a calculating look in her eyes. “Who is your son? And can I tell him?”

  “My goodness, no. I’ll tell him, but you are welcome to be there when I do.” She laughed, a twinkle in her eye.

  That seemed to appease Tali, because she started smiling, rubbing her hands together. “So who is this mystery son?”

  “Romein. One of the King’s guards.”

  “Rome? You’re Rome’s mom? No way.” Tali laughed. “Why haven’t I ever met you before?”

  A deep sadness filtered through Mari’s expression. Jarrod wrapped his arm around her protectively, pulling her into his side.

  “My husband, Rome’s father, passed away a few years ago. We lived in Chiqarta. When he died, I figured nothing was keeping me there, besides some friends, but Rome was here, so I moved. I met Jarrod while my husband was still alive, and I met him again when I moved here.”

  “Wait a minute. How long have you been seeing each other?”

  “About ten months.”

  “Ten months? Are you serious?” Tali turned to Jarrod and slapped his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me? I was flinging women at you left and right, and all this time you had a girlfriend.”

  When all the women stared at him, Jarrod rubbed his neck.

  “I didn’t want anyone to know until we were sure it was serious. Plus, I didn’t feel like having you heckle me, just like you are right now.”

  Tali harrumphed. “Whatever.”

  “Ahem. It was really nice to meet you Mari, and we should get together sometime, but we did come here for a reason.” Natalie hedged.

  “And what reason would that be, little missy? You interrupted… something,” Jarrod mumbled, his neck going red as Natalie and Tali snorted.

  “Yes, we saw that. Anyways, we came to tell you that we finished putting the… stuff we talked about yesterday, on.”

  Mari glanced at them all, squinting her eyes as she studied them. When no one said a word, she held up her hands, gave Jarrod a quick kiss and started to walk away.

  “I know when I’m not wanted. Honey, I’ll see you later. It was nice to meet you girls.”

  “You’re done? Am I supposed to care?”

  Natalie and Tali looked at each other and then back to him. His face was blank, his arms crossed across his chest while he leaned against the wall.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. We thought you wanted to know. Okay, we’ll leave, you crotchety old man. Get Mari back here. Maybe she can put you in a better mood,” Natalie quipped, annoyed with the older man.

  She spun and started to walk away as Tali gasped. The last thing she expected to hear was genuine male laughter. She spun around, ready to give Jarrod a piece of her mind, but he had grabbed Tali’s arm and was dragging her with him as he walked toward Natalie.

  He shook his head in amusement.

  “You, my girl, are a real spit-fire. I don’t know why you keep surprising me, but you do. Okay, let’s go check it out. I’ll make sure everything is hooked up and such, but when the King allows it, we are taking her out for a spin.”

  They walked to the ship where Jarrod meticulously checked and rechecked the welding and sturdiness.

  “I really have to say, I love this material. Even though you welded it open, it’s almost seamless. It’s perfect.” He ran his hand reverently over the side of the ship.

  “Whoa. You are not touching my ship in any other capacity than how you are right now. Keep your tools away. This is my ship.”

  He sighed in disappointment. “Fine. Okay, let’s go see inside, make sure you got all the connections right.”

  He checked to make sure all the wiring was done. He flicked the switch that lowered the weapons and brought them back inside, and then made sure it could be voice activated.

  “You did this? All of this, with only Tali to help?” When Natalie nodded, he rubbed his head in confusion. “Huh. What do you know, she’s actually useful after all.”

  At Tali’s squawk, they all started laughing. They walked back out of the ship, grinning and high-fiving.

  Everything was perfect.

  Until it wasn’t.

  Blaring alarms started ringing as they stood beside her ship, sending men and women sprinting to lockers on the sides of the hangar, grabbing weapons and armour, and running back to the ships. The hangar doors opened, allowing the ships to lift off and leave.

  Natalie w
atched as Taavi and his men ran to another ship and take off.

  Be careful, my love. Please. Come back to me safe.

  I will, Natalie. I promise, I will be back.

  Tali rubbed Natalie’s arm, aware of the tension in her.

  “Don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine. They’re the best after all. Only the best are classified as Elite Warriors.”

  “I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but it’s honestly cold comfort. I can feel what he feels, remember? Unless he tries to block me, I can feel everything and hear his thoughts. Right now, they are pretty turbulent.”

  “Well, if it upsets you, why don’t you try and block him? You could do that, right?”

  “I don’t know if I want to. I mean, if I do, what if something happens?”

  “Natalie,” Jarrod grabbed her shoulders, giving her a small shake. “Even before the bond, even before the sharing of emotions and thoughts, could you feel him and know if he was okay?”

  Natalie nodded. “Yes.”

  “Then you’ll still be able to feel him, it may just be fuzzy. And that might not be a bad thing considering this is a war.”

  Natalie closed her eyes and let out a breath.

  Okay, focus. Close that door, pull that blind, mute those feelings.

  Slowly, so slowly, Taavi’s feelings and thoughts blunted, muted, until it wasn’t a blaring in her head anymore. She opened her eyes to the other’s staring at her.

  “It worked.”

  “Okay, now,” Jarrod ushered them to the tools, cleaning them up, “let’s clean up this mess and get them back to the room. Some of my people were wondering where these have gone.”

  They packed everything up, dropped it off into the room, and made their way back to the ship.

  “Now, you two, stay out of trouble and get off my deck. It’s off limits in times like these, you know that, Tal. Now, get out. I’ll see you ladies later.”

  They watched him walk away, and when Tali went to follow, Natalie grabbed her arm.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “What would you say to breaking some rules? And maybe a law or two.”

  Tali’s eyes started to gleam. “I think I would have to accept those consequences. What’s the plan?”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  “This is probably a really bad idea,” Tali complained from the seat next to Natalie.

  They had decided to take Natalie’s new and improved ship for a test run. Maybe the new weapons would give them an advantage against the Nezleans.

  “My brother is really going to kill you, and me. Not to mention Jarrod. He’s going to kill us both even deader than Taavi will. At least Taavi would kill us and then be concerned. Jarrod is just going to kill us. Kick our asses and then kill us.”

  “Will you quit complaining? I don’t want to have to remind you, you agreed to this.”

  Tali scoffed. “You pressured me into this.”

  “You little liar. I did not. No one would believe you anyways, even if I did pressure you into it.”

  Tali sighed.

  “I know,” she said woefully. “Dang it. We better not die. You claim to be this great pilot. You better not have been lying or exaggerating.”

  “Well, Ben said I was one of the best he’d ever seen, so I definitely trust his judgment. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  She maneuvered the ship out the hangar doors and shot into the air. A buzzing made Natalie turn to the communication console.

  “Tal, flick that red switch. We have an incoming call.”

  Jarrod’s static filled voice boomed through the speaker. “What the fuck do you two think you’re doing? Where the hell are you going? You’re going to get yourselves killed. Get your fucking asses back here. I’m going to kill you two.”

  Natalie let her resolve colour her voice as she told him, “I have your new experimental weapons. I’m a good pilot. And, this is important, you can’t make me.”

  Tali’s choked laughter was drowned out by a frustrated curse.

  “Fuck,” Jarrod boomed. “Fine. You two better stay safe, otherwise I’ll kill you, and I mean it. I’m calling Taavi.”

  “No! Don’t do that. Please, Jarrod,” Natalie pleaded. “If he gets distracted, people could be killed. Just give me a chance here.”

  “You are in deep shit when you get back. Fine. I’ll wait to tell him. But if I see something I don’t like up there, rest assured, Taavi will be the first to know,” he said, ending the conversation.

  Silence fell between the two women. Tali glanced at Natalie.

  “Don’t you dare say it.”

  “I have to,” Tali was fairly vibrating with glee. “I told you so. I told you he would kill us.” She had a massive smile on her face, one that quickly dropped away when Natalie banked too hard. “Hey! Watch it.”

  “Then quit being a pain in my ass. Okay, you better hold on tight, baby, because we are about to exit the atmosphere and it may be a little bumpy.”

  True to her word, the ship shook and rattled, causing Tali to shriek and grip her harness tightly. After a few seconds, it stopped and they leveled out.

  Natalie slowed to a stop just above the atmosphere, well below the fighting, to take stock of what was going on.

  There were over a hundred silver ships, but two hundred black ships outnumbered them. Some fought in clusters closer to the surface, while others were far deeper out in space.

  Natalie decided she would play defense instead of offense.

  “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to pilot and shoot the weapons. You’re going to keep your mouth shut and not distract me. Clear enough?”

  Tali zipped her mouth shut. “You won’t hear another peep from me, sister dear.”

  They could see ships fighting, circling and shooting each other. There were some explosions, and Natalie felt a sense of sadness fill her, partly her and partly from Taavi. There was so much death on both sides. It was such a waste.

  “Incoming vessels,” the computer intoned, alerting Natalie to the black ships that had noticed and started following her.

  She turned off the automated pilot and took manual control. She banked hard left and right, avoiding engaged ships, knowing other black ships were falling in line behind her.

  “Computer, shields up.”

  A soft hiss and a constant humming filled the air, letting Natalie know that the shields had been erected. Thankfully she had raised them when she did, because a few moments later, they were bombarded from behind by laser fire. The ship shook, throwing Natalie and Tali against their harnesses.

  Natalie quickly turned out of the way, flying through fighting ships, dodging fire from others. As she went, she fired on the Nezleans, intent on disabling them. A few Tarlons were surrounded by a mob of Nezleans, exchanging fire, but obviously losing.

  Natalie targeted the black and fired one shot after another while the silver took care of the rest.

  “Hold on, Tal, it’s about to get crazy,” Natalie said as she twisted the wheel as far as it would go, causing the ship to spiral.

  As they were in the spiral, Natalie pressed the button that would open the hatch and release some of the flare bombs. The ships in the front of the hoard that was following her were destroyed, while the others managed to avoid the debris.

  She noticed that a couple of the black had broken away from the silver and were approaching the atmosphere. She gunned her engines, causing Tali to yell as she was thrown back into her seat.

  They gained ground and Natalie fired, hitting both ships before they had a chance to enter Tarlon’s gravitational ring. They were hit from behind again, shaking the ship.

  “Computer, how many ships are following us now?”

  “Calculating.”

  Natalie waited, knowing that in a few minutes she was going to be kicking some serious ass.

  “There are seventeen ships currently in pursuit.”

  “Perfect.” Natalie glanced at Tali, noticing the death grip she s
till had on her harness. She took pity on the poor woman. “Tali, I’m going to be firing again. It’s going to be fine.” She waited for Tali’s quick nod before getting the weapons ready again. Once the weapons had descended, Natalie gave Tali a quick, “you’re going to want to hold on tight, we’re flipping this time,” before doing just that.

  She jerked the wheel fast, flipping them around to face the oncoming ships. “Die, you alien scum.”

  She hit both the laser canons and both weapons shot out bright yellow laser fire, hitting and destroying whatever it touched.

  “Computer, assess targets.”

  “Ten ships have been destroyed. Three have been incapacitated. Four remain and are firing back.”

  “No shit.” Natalie fired back, dodging, but getting hit a few times. “Computer, how are the shields holding?”

  “Shields are at seventy-six percent.”

  “Uh, Nat, are we going to die?” Natalie had never heard Tali so hesitant and frightened before.

  She reached over and squeezed her hand, offering a small bit of comfort for them both.

  “No, honey, we should be fine. Don’t worry too much.”

  Natalie turned back to focus, noticing that more ships had joined the others. She quickly maneuvered out of their way, trying to increase speed to get away, but they were right on her tail. She let loose the last of the flare bombs, taking satisfaction in the accompanying explosions, but still, more followed.

  “Ships approaching from port and starboard. Ten ships behind,” the computer droned as Natalie frantically whizzed and bobbed, trying to miss the laser fire coming from the Nezleans.

  FUCK! Natalie thought viciously as they were hit, again and again.

  “Shields at thirty-nine percent.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  “Quit thinking about Natalie. We’ll get you back, safe and sound, just like we always do,” Hannan said in a patronizing tone, patting Taavi’s head.

  Taavi turned around and punched the younger man. The other men laughed as Hannan gasped for air.

  “Hey, that was uncalled for.”