Chapter 289: The Offering
"You have entered a restrictive space. Turn around now or be destroyed," the robotic voice continued to repeat itself over and over again as alarms rang inside the command bridge of Jun Li.
"You don’t see that every day," I grunted as I looked at the screen in front of me. The planet looked exactly what I had pictured in my mind: a light purple and green marble with pristine white clouds floating around. What I hadn’t pictured was the ring of metal parts circling around the planet like Saturn’s rings.
Da’kea grunted from where he was sitting at one of the consoles, trying to figure out a way to keep us all safe.
"You have entered a restrictive space. Turn around now or be destroyed."
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first fifty times you said that," I grumbled, not at all impressed. I needed to be on that planet, and I needed it now. At least I knew why it was uninhabited; everyone else who tried was destroyed.
I felt a perverse sense of satisfaction at that idea.
"And yet you still haven’t turned around," snapped the voice, changing the dialogue for the first time ever. I narrowed my eyes, wishing that I could see what was going on, more than just looking at things through a screen.
"Because I am going to that planet whether you like it or not," I growled back. Jun Li was indestructible, so I didn’t have to worry about joining the ring around the planet, but I could feel the babies growing restless inside of me, and I needed to have them on that planet.
It was the only thing on my mind since I saw the first picture of it.
"This planet is not something that just anyone can walk on," the new voice shot back, but I really didn’t care.
"And I am not just anyone. I am the fucking last Royal of the Ethawainian Empire," I proclaimed loudly. It was the first time I had ever admitted my new reality with such confidence. But with the Alliance gone and my mates at my side, I was no longer worried about the possible consequences.
The voice was silent at my proclamation, and the only thing I could hear was the slight hum of Jun Li’s engines and the pounding of my own heart.
"Prove it," came the voice again, this time a bit more subdued.
I scoffed at him, "And just how are you expecting me to prove it?"
"I will give you an hour to land and find the temple. Make the offering and prove you are what you claim to be," stated the voice.
I didn’t bother to reply. Instead, I rolled my eyes at his demand and motioned Jun Li to go forward. I didn’t know if he was expecting me to turn into Indiana Jones or what, but me finding a temple was extremely low on my list of priorities.
Jun Li shot forward, and I watched avidly as the planet continued to get closer and closer.
"Are you going to tell them?" asked Emily from where she stood beside me. When the alarms started going off, she made her way to the bridge to see what was going on. Unfortunately for me, she seemed to have seen a bit too much.
The guys all turned around to face me, and I could only shake my head.
"It doesn’t matter. Nothing will happen until I am on that planet," I muttered. I didn’t question how I knew that, just like I didn’t question the feeling that I was coming home. One thing I had learned over the last year was that the universe worked in mysterious ways, and it was not going to tell me its secrets.
"I have found four structures that could be the temple he was mentioning," said Jun Li, cutting through the tension and diverting the guys’ attention away from my impending labor.
"Is there one near a forest?" I asked, the picture so clear inside of my mind that I could practically reach out and touch the leaves on the trees. "With a hidden waterfall?"
Now the attention was completely back on me, everyone’s eyes asking the question I had no idea how to answer.
"There is," answered Jun Li slowly as the ship banked into a new direction. "And it is the only one that satisfies all of your wants for the planet."
I nodded my head as the pain hit me hard. It was like the worst cramp I had ever had, the pain streaking through my stomach until all I wanted to do was bend over and scream. But I refused to so much as twitch.
It was like everything was coming together, and this exact moment and whatever happened next would change the course of the universe forever.
Or I was in labor and being a dramatic bitch.
Either/or worked.
Emily stared at me, knowing exactly what was happening. But, like the amazing woman she was, she didn’t open her mouth. She let me take control and do this the way I needed to.
"We are close, but I can’t get any further than this," said Jun Li as he hovered over the tops of the trees. "The temple is about 5 miles northwest of here."
"Understood," I said with a smile. The guys nodded their heads, and we all made our way to the X96 fighter craft. There was another shot of pain, but like the first, I ignored it.
I knew that the guys would have me bundled up and locked away in my nest if they knew I was about to give birth. And I couldn’t take that chance.
It seemed like a matter of seconds before the X96 craft was lowering itself into a field. In front of us was a lone building, almost like a European castle, its white wall shining in the light. It didn’t look as if it had been abandoned for countless years. Instead, it looked... welcoming.
"Let’s go," I grunted as yet another contraction hit me. This one lasted much longer and with very little time before the next one hit.
"We need to move, now!" yelled Emily as the guys seemed to have frozen as a warm gush of liquid burst from between my legs, leaving a puddle on the floor of my ship. I was sure that I would have been embarrassed if it wasn’t quickly followed by yet another contraction.
I was right. The babies were waiting until I was here before they came.
