Space Ends Book Two

By Odette C. Bell

As the plot widens, Naomi’s chances narrow.
Soon she’s pulled further into Ruben’s murky plan. He hadn’t known she existed; now he’s found out, he’ll rip the galaxy apart to get her. But with Jerr’n’s help, she’ll get there first.
Because there comes a time when you must stop running, a time when you must fight or die.
And Naomi’s just reached hers. She isn’t alone, at least. If a crooked pirate can be classed as company. If Jerr’n truly wants to turn over a new leaf and help her, he’ll have to confront his own demons. Though he can’t appreciate this, if he doesn’t confront them, doesn’t do the right thing, the Milky Way will finally fall.
....
Space Ends follows a hidden superweapon and a charming pirate fighting a rogue scientist before he condemns the Coalition. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Space Ends Book Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
Space Ends is the 23rd Galactic Coalition Academy series. A sprawling, epic, and exciting sci-fi world where cadets become heroes and hearts are always won, each series can be read separately, so plunge in today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Sep 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215907368

Book preview

Chapter 1

Yvonne

Dammit. I’m gonna be late again.

I raced across the light bridge, headed toward the primary Senate building. Sorry, the primary Senate building on this world. It had been a long time since the current Coalition had put up with only one Senate. Only have one of anything, and some fantastic enemy might crawl out of the darkness and destroy it right in front of your face.

This was the future, unfortunately.

No. The future could and would be better – you just had to find the right people to lead you there.

I smiled, then raced faster across the light bridge, knowing it wasn’t a good idea to be late for work.

I might have asked to work with Senator Kilroy, but I was still in awe of him. He had such a presence about him. When you stood before him, it was like standing not in front of one king, but in front of all rulers. It wasn’t just his glistening mane or the look in his eyes. It was a sense that he alone could see the future, and he alone could navigate the Coalition through the choppy waters toward it.

I patted my pendant as my feet raced across the discombobulating bridge. It wasn’t made out of solid light. So I never stared down. Get the wrong angle, and you could see right through the hover traffic chasing around the primary Senate world to the ground far, far below.

It always made my stomach pitch.

I’d been involved in a cruiser crash when I was eight years old. It’d taken out my grandmother – the previous owner of this pendant.

I could still remember her hand snaking out of the darkness, grabbing mine, and pulling me to safety, even though it had killed her.

A grim reminder to put around your neck every morning, then, right?

Wrong. It reminded me that sacrifice was at the core of life.

I made it across the light bridge without losing my stomach only to hear someone grunt behind me. That’s a first.

I whipped around, knowing who it was long before I saw the once startling form of Commander Fulbright. I said once. He was still strapping – it’s just that he’d lost some of his shine since the first time I’d seen him.

If you hadn’t noticed, I had a habit of making heroes out of people. I wouldn’t say I slavishly worshiped idols or anything. It’s just that some people are so much better than the rest of us, right?

Once upon a time, I’d put commander Eric Fulbright in that category. Then I’d been forced to work with him.

When I didn’t say anything and went to turn, he stupidly pointed back toward the light bridge. That’s gotta be the first time you’ve gotten across that without threatening to throw up, right?

My bottom lip jutted out. Aren’t you a commander of the Coalition Army?

He cut his gaze toward the Senate building and back to me. It took too long to answer. Yes, he finally drawled in his mixed accent. According to gossip, he was half from a colony world, half from somewhere else.

I was never one to rely on gossip, though. I’d looked up his bio one quiet night. That something else was Barbarian. His mother had been born across the border.

Did that make me automatically suspicious of him? No. I think once it would have, though. But I’d learnt a lot under Kilroy.

You can’t help where you are born. But you can help what you do for the Coalition. And I swear I’d be doing the Coalition a favor if I ignored Commander Fulbright and never spoke to him again. I certainly tried.

I turned.

I shouldered my bag further up my arm, only to see his long shadow cast across it as he took one large step toward me. He looked down at it, and I knew what he was going to say long before the sarcastic words spilled from his lips. You know there are far more modern technologies than old leather bags.

Thank you, I said curtly through pressed lips.

You know, he began. His gaze darted toward the Senate building again, and there was a certain heavy edge to it I hadn’t seen previously. He was usually good at hiding what he was thinking. I swore that’s because his head was mostly empty. How this man had become a commander, I didn’t know. Maybe these days the Coalition Army simply promoted whoever was standing closest and hadn’t been cut down after another brutal attack.

There were problems in the Army. Problems at such a critical time as this. But Kilroy would fix them. Kilroy could fix anything.

It was almost as if the commander knew what I was thinking. His brow clunked down slightly, and I got the impression I always did around him – that he thought I was hopelessly naïve.

"Are you going to finish your sentence, Commander, or are you just going to leave it at you know? Because I do know a lot."

He grunted. What’s that? Again, his eyes scissored across to the startling Senate building. If you’d come from some ordinary race that had only just soared into the stars, you’d think the gods had built that stunning tower.

There was just something so stark about it, so sophisticated, so perfect.

Soon it would get bigger. They had plans to make it twice as tall. The building was too small to satisfy the democracy of not just the Coalition, but of the Scarax Galaxy too.

I know that we will both be late for work unless we hurry. I went to lurch forward, but the next thing I knew, his large, muscled hand darted out and grabbed my elbow.

That was the first time we’d ever made physical contact. For obvious reasons, the commander kept to himself. And for obvious reasons, I didn’t want to get too close to his acerbic personality.

My head still darted around, and I still stared down at his fingers. Ah—

I wouldn’t rush today.

And why not? I bristled. Unlike you, I take my work seriously. Kilroy needs us. We may not be as great as him, but we are helping to carve out a future for the galaxy.

He looked at me, and though at first, I could see his acerbic personality trying to rise, he tamped it down slightly. The left corners of his lips pulled to the side, yanking on the rest of his mouth until it flatlined. Are you serious?

I’m sorry? Serious that we will both be late for work? Serious that I’m proud about what we’re doing, even though I appreciate we can’t hold a candle up to Kilroy? Wait, do you not like being compared to impressive, extraordinary men? I knew I was going too far. He was a commander. I was just a civilian. And though technically on paper you couldn’t compare us, you could when it came to Kilroy, because the commander here was directly in charge of Kilroy’s security. I was just his PA.

Then I bristled at my own thoughts. I was in an extra bristly mood today.

Who cares if I was just Kilroy’s PA? I had the right attitude.

You can compare me to whoever you want, ma’am, the commander’s voice dropped down hard. I could see there was an amused note to it, though. Before he could finish whatever joke was on his tongue, his gaze properly tilted toward the Senate building, and it dragged his head toward it in a whiplike move.

I almost wanted to jerk my hand up, grab his chin, fix it forward, and force him to stare at me so he could finish this fight. Not that it was a fight.

If I wanted a fight – all I had to do was stare to the left at the same building that had captured his attention so fully.

There was a sudden explosion.

I didn’t expect it. The commander did. My first impression was to jerk toward the light bridge, but whatever energy source was feeding it fluctuated. It disappeared. Long before I could tumble headfirst down to the city street far, far below, the commander reached out blindingly quickly, snapped his fingers around my wrist, and pulled me to the side.

I spun like I was a dancer, smashed into his chest, had a moment to stare up into his face, then watched as a large section of the Senate building caught fire. Debris was ejected out of it as another massive blast exploded from far within, and I finally screamed.

The commander locked a hand on my head, did something to his fingers, and created a holographic shield. I hadn’t even been aware that he was wearing holographic armor, but as it deployed in a sheet of shimmering blue light, it encapsulated the both of us. It was just as large, recognizable chunks of the Senate building dashed around us like family photos on fire.

What the hell is happening? Kilroy— I went to jerk away even though I still needed the shield, but the commander wouldn’t let me.

He fixed his fingers around my wrist harder and grunted, Kilroy can look after himself.

… Eric, not that I ever used his first name, was Kilroy’s head of security.

I twisted and stared at his face, and suspicion flickered within.

I hadn’t liked the commander the second I’d seen him. Okay, I’d been enchanted by the commander’s rugged looks, strong jaw, and sharp gaze the second I’d seen him. But the second he opened his mouth, the spell had broken.

Shouldn’t he be rushing after his boss right now?

Even though Eric wasn’t looking at me, he could obviously still judge my expression. Kilroy isn’t there. He’s already transported away.

My chest sagged in relief. I hadn’t even been aware that I was holding onto that much tension. Now I felt like a popped balloon.

Which suggested that the only thing that ever filled me up was Kilroy.

Long before I could point out that I honestly wasn’t some hero worshiper, the commander finally let go of my wrist. It was just as structural shields flickered into place all around the base of the Senate building. It was an incredible sight to watch them marching relentlessly up from the base of the long tower, around the various protrusions, out to the spire above. It contained the flames that had engulfed one side, and fortunately it stopped any more burning rubble from raining down on us and the streets beneath.

Smoke still filled the city, though, clinging to the side of the flickering shield then circling around it as the wind picked up. It yanked my hair out of my ponytail and forced it to whip across my cheeks just as I turned toward Eric.

He took a step forward. His gaze was locked, not on the base of the Senate building, not on the area that had exploded, but on an apparently innocent section to the left. It had nothing to do with Kilroy. It was just a random office, as far as I was aware.

There was a deep flash of light. Though deep wasn’t usually a word you used around light, this one was brighter, had more contrast, and made it feel as if the light wasn’t right.

The only word that popped into my head, even though I wasn’t a scientist, was phase.

Had that been a phase transport?

Suddenly the commander deflated.

It was the kind of reaction I’d had after finding out that Kilroy was fine.

I watched Eric’s shoulders, large and impressive, fold in, his crisp blue-white Coalition Army uniform crinkling at the front.

He even brought his fingers up and tapped the insignia on his left breast, his large thumb sliding down the holographic side until he let his hand drop. He looked at me once. You’ll be fine. Head home.

Wait. What about you? I surprised myself by asking.

I surprised him, too, because even though he’d taken several quick steps forward, he spun and looked at me, his strong eyebrows crumpling. I’m going to go do what the Coalition Army is here to do.

I’d grown up in the Coalition. I knew all about it. I even knew foolish idiots who’d gone off to join the Academy. And yet I still asked in a stupidly weak, pitching voice, And what’s that?

He considered me from my feet up to my face, took a step backward, then turned. Protect.

Soon, he was out of sight.

The wind had really picked up, and so much smoke had escaped before the shields had been erected that it was almost impossible to see the Senate tower now. A great phalanx of smoke soon spun toward me, and I lurched backward, though I was thankful for the fact that the light bridge was solid once more. I still didn’t take it.

I spun, saw the set of ornate steps that led down to one of the lower tiered levels of the Senate gardens, and raced down them.

With my hand on the detailed carved railing, I twisted and stared up at the imposing building. But it wasn’t the spire, still smoking, or the shields still holding it together that took my attention. My eyes, of their own accord, searched through the chaos, trying to find Eric. But wherever he was, he was out of sight.

I made it down to the base of the stairs before my communicator beeped.

I didn’t need to touch anything. It was a small implant about a thumb width down from my left ear. Immediately, with just a blink, I initiated it. It wasn’t as sophisticated as some of the neural transmitters they had in the Coalition Army, but I didn’t like mental comms.

This transferred auditory data straight to my ear, picked up the vibrations of my voice, and transmitted those away.

I heard a memorable, deep grunt, and no, it didn’t come from the commander’s broad chest. Kilroy. I mean Senator, I said, pausing on the stairs, even though I was only several centimeters from a flaming piece of the Senate’s outer wall.

Yvonne. I just heard about the attack. I’m so thankful that you’re safe.

My chest swelled with pride. Senator, I’m irrelevant. I take it you’re safe? I checked.

I shouldn’t. I should just trust that Eric hadn’t been