Born of Defiance

They nodded in approval at an action any of them would take.

“For Jullien’s actions against his brother, Tizirah Cairistiona herself has ordered him taken into custody. As of this minute, we have all the royal family in custody, except the former tadara. We’ve had several leads on her location, but so far none have panned out.”

Commander Pinara, who was a cousin of Farina’s, sighed heavily. “So long as she remains at large, she’s a major threat to us. She still has allied nations who might come to her aid.”

Lorens nodded. “We’ve contacted all of them, and none of them have heard from her.”

“Yet,” Nazaru added. “Doesn’t mean they won’t.”

Pinara agreed. “Or that they’re not lying to you, biding time until they attack to gain back her throne for her.”

As they continued to argue, Talyn leaned over to whisper into Lorens’s ear. “I have an idea, Commander. I know exactly how to find her. But I’ll only tell it to you.”



Lorens sat back in his office chair while he and Talyn watched Talyn’s plan unfold on his smallest monitor. He laughed bitterly. “Boy, you are brilliant. How did you know?”

Talyn shrugged. “A wounded lorina always returns to its den. With her family arrested, and no one Parisa can trust with her safety, the only place for her to go is to her aunt.”

“I respected you before this, Talyn. Now… I’m glad you’re my top advisor, and I hope you never turn your battle skills against me. You are formidable.”

Talyn didn’t comment on that as he watched Chrisen’s mother, Parisa, “escaping.” Little did she know, she’d been implanted with the same tracer Andarion soldiers all bore. They could track her through anything except extreme electromagnetic fields.

Under Talyn’s orders, they’d sent in a group of supposed patriots to free her. In the ensuing escape, Parisa had been shot in the arm with a blast that masked the injection of the chip. She was bleeding, but not so much as to keep her from fleeing.

She hadn’t even tried to save her sons during her escape. All her attention had been on her own freedom.

That said it all about their family.

Lorens frowned as they traced her headings. He double-checked to make sure it was correct. “That’s Tavali territory she’s entering.”

Yes, it was.

Talyn cursed as he realized what it had to mean. “So all this time, Eriadne was working with them against our people?” There was no other reason for Eriadne to be hiding there. Given the decades they’d been at war with each other, the Andarion queen would have never gone to the Tavali for shelter.

Unless they’d been secret allies.

Otherwise, the Tavali would have murdered her on sight.

With a stunned expression, Lorens met his gaze. “She had to have been. Shit. What do we do now? There’s no way to extract her from a Tavali portbase. They’ll annihilate us.”

“Nice optimism.” Talyn considered their options for a few minutes.

Most ended in utter destruction. But the more he thought about it, the more a radical idea began to take form.

A slow smile spread across Lorens’s face. “I know that look. You have a plan.”

“Yeah, I do. Hang on and let me check on something.” Talyn headed back toward the prime commander’s lounge, which was actually a small condo set aside for the PC’s use whenever they were under threat, such as now.

He opened the door and froze as he found Felicia teaching Qory how to bake in the small kitchen area. What the hell? The giant had flour smeared all over his face while she patiently instructed him. Had the moment been less dire, he’d have laughed his ass off at the sight.

As it was, Morra laughed at Talyn’s expression. “I looked the same way a few minutes ago when I first got here and saw them.”

Qory made a rude gesture at Morra that Talyn didn’t need to have translated.

Lorens pulled up short behind him and burst out laughing.

Felicia glared at her brother. “At least he’s trying to learn. You’d starve if you didn’t have someone to cook for you.”

Lorens held his hands up in surrender and wisely checked his tongue.

Talyn closed the distance between them. “Qorach? Didn’t you tell me that you had friends in the Tavali?”

He nodded.

“Close friends?”

He gestured a response.

“Like a brother,” Felicia translated. “Why?”

“Is he a member of the Porturnum group?”

Qory let out a sound of scornful amusement.

“That would be a serious negatory.” Morra was the one who translated his words this time. “Neither he nor Chayden are welcome among the Porturnum Nation. Their leader hates their branch and, in particular, their Tavali father.”

So much for his plan. But Talyn wasn’t quite defeated. “Do they have any allies among the Porturnum? Or someone who can deal with them? One who can get me and a small team inside their Port StarStation base?”

Qory made a quick gestured response.