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    War Begins Book Two: War Begins, #2
    War Begins Book Two: War Begins, #2
    War Begins Book Two: War Begins, #2
    Ebook198 pages2 hours

    War Begins Book Two: War Begins, #2

    By Odette C. Bell

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The attack on the Academy has begun. The war will follow.
    Sampson and Diana survive, but nothing will be the same. The Academy unravels as their worst fears are realized – Infection Zero is here.
    Diana and Sampson must sacrifice together to buy Earth a chance and uncover the secrets hidden in their minds.

    …

    War Begins follows a secret alien weapon and a covert psychic fighting to save the Coalition from their greatest enemy. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab War Begins Book Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

    War Begins is the 8th 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOdette C. Bell
    Release dateFeb 13, 2019
    ISBN9781386987260
    War Begins Book Two: War Begins, #2

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      Book preview

      War Begins Book Two - Odette C. Bell

      1

      Sampson Ventura

      There was no time to think. There was no time to do anything but fall.

      As the bullet from the sniper rifle slammed into Sampson’s side, his holographic armor initiated in full. It had to to hold back the force of a bullet like that. If he’d been wearing anything other than holographic armor, he’d be dead. As it was, he barely survived.

      Even as the bullet tore into his side, energy discharging around him in a halo, he retained enough of his consciousness to follow what was happening, and most importantly, what he needed to do.

      Thoughts of Diana filled him. With every split second that passed as he plunged off the side of the roof, the desire to get to her burned stronger than ever.

      Sampson didn’t have time to try to figure out what was going on. He had no clue how Diana had seemingly known where Sparx was and what he intended.

      More than anything, Sampson had no idea how he’d accessed her thoughts. But all that mattered and all that would ever matter in his life from this point on was getting to her.

      As the floors of the accommodation block flashed past his eyes, Sampson’s fracturing consciousness held onto one fact. If the shields in this section had failed, there was every possibility that the sensors had failed too. Ordinarily, if someone fell off the side of an Academy building, automatic transporters would initiate, spiriting them away before they tumbled to their death. The scanners wouldn’t be working. He could guarantee that. But that was all he could guarantee as he angled desperately toward Diana’s freefalling form.

      His holographic armor didn’t have thrusters, but Sampson knew how to fall, and with every passing second – her life and not his flashing before his eyes – he reached out to her. Closer and closer as the ground got closer and closer.

      Just before they reached it, and before Diana’s unprotected form could slam into the manicured lawns of the Coalition Academy, he reached her. In a blast of instinct, he commanded his shields to extend to her. It was just in time.

      They impacted the ground. But they did not die.

      Diana didn’t scream. Not once. She hadn’t screamed as she’d tumbled off the side of the building. And now as he held her, she didn’t even tremble. She opened her eyes and stared at him as if she’d always known he’d save her. And the look… he’d never forget it. Because this close, he simply could not deny that there was something in Diana’s eyes he’d never seen before. They were like… a path. A path far beyond the ordinary problems of his life, far beyond the Academy, beyond the Milky Way, beyond everything.

      But the look didn’t last. Diana didn’t get the chance. As she snapped her head away from him, staring up the side of the building, a shrill scream split from her lips. Half a second later, a white-hot blast of energy slammed out from the roof, snaking across the grounds. It lanced into the side of the command building, obliterating a chunk and sending a huge plume of acrid smoke spilling out like the fractured tail of a comet.

      Dad, she shrieked with all her heart.

      She tried to wriggle free from Sampson’s grasp. He wouldn’t let her, and a second later, it didn’t matter. The transporters that should’ve initiated the second she’d been blown off the roof finally locked onto her, and the both of them dematerialized.

      They re-appeared, not in the medical bay or a security center, but in one of the basement levels of the command building. Forest’s territory. Somehow, she must’ve received word of what had just happened on the roof, discovered it involved Sampson, and redirected the transport.

      Diana wouldn’t stop screaming. She called her father’s name over and over again, shrieking with all her might. Sampson could push to his feet and pull her with him, but he just held onto her, wrapping his arms around her back as if he was the only hope she had left, and without him, she’d sink like a stone.

      The door opened, and Forest sprinted in. What the hell happened? she spluttered, her despair and shock as violent as an earthquake. "The command building has been attacked. Sampson, on your feet. What happened?"

      Forest’s snapped words finally pushed him up. He kept an arm locked around Diana, or at least he tried to. She wriggled free from his grip. She tried to run right past Forest, but the door opened and two heavyset security guards barreled in, one of them catching her and holding her back.

      She fought him, throwing herself against him as tears practically broke through her eyes. "I have to get to him. Let me get to him," she begged.

      Get her out of here, Forest spat. Now, Sampson, for the love of God, tell me what just happened.

      What’s the damage? Did Fenton survive? Sampson’s voice was tortured. He stared at Diana as she was all but dragged out of the room.

      Even as the doors closed behind her, he could feel her fear – feel it like it was right in his own damn head. It was so sharp, he had to bring up a shaking hand and lock it on his brow.

      No time for that, Forest spat. What happened—

      I interrupted Commander Sparx on the roof. He had a Barbarian issue high-powered tetra scope sniper rifle. Diana found him. He had some kind of bomb set up. I tried to fight him, and Diana tried to throw the rifle off the roof, but Sparx initiated the blast, and it… he forced his teeth together, breathing through them as the shock caught up with him. Barely a minute and a half ago, he’d been up on that roof. Now he was here, and now his whole world had fallen apart. No. He couldn’t describe what was happening to him as that earth-shattering. What was happening to Diana was worse. Her life had just completely shattered in under several minutes. And he could feel it. She’d been taken several rooms down, but that didn’t matter. She could be shot off into outer space and Sampson would still be able to track her – his psychic connection to her felt like it would never break, no matter how far apart they were dragged.

      He pressed the back of his hand against his mouth.

      What happened? Forest demanded.

      The explosion tore Diana off the roof. Sparx’s gun had some kind of relocator in it. He set its thrusters to full, grabbed the rifle, and fired on me. It was only then that Sampson reminded himself he was injured. Because he was injured. His holographic armor could do a lot for him, and though Sparx’s rifle hadn’t been able to use its full force up that close, it’d hardly been child’s play.

      With a detached mind, Sampson stared down at his side. A chunk of flesh was missing, and blood pooled down his legs.

      Tell me everything now before you black out, Forest begged.

      That’s it. We fell. I managed to catch Diana, he said, his breath rapidly giving out as woozy nausea overtook him with all the speed of light. I reached Diana just in time. I extended my armor to her, he choked, and we landed. But Sparx fired, he said, his voice now so weak, he could barely force it out.

      What else? Tell me anything critical before you black out, Forest begged with all her goddamn heart.

      Sampson fell back, crumpling like a doll. Forest reached him, wrapped a strong arm around his shoulder, and sat him up.

      He looked right into her eyes as he said, Diana Fenton is a psychic.

      With that, Sampson lost consciousness.

      2

      Diana Fenton

      She couldn’t stop crying. They’d set her down in a chair, but she’d crumpled out of it. Her face was pressed up against the cold leg of some table. She sobbed into it as her mind broke apart, second by second, memory by memory. Just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore, she felt Sampson. He might’ve been two doors down, but that didn’t matter. She felt the moment his consciousness blacked out as if someone had taken a firefly and stamped it underfoot.

      Sampson, she screamed at the top of her lungs as she tried to jump to her feet.

      The door was being guarded by two of the burly officers that had come in with Admiral Forest. Both of them stared at her compassionately but with the kinds of direct gazes that told her they would not move. She didn’t need to go by their stares, anyway. She could read their thoughts as if they were marching across her mind like the perfect sentences of a book.

      They were shocked, devastated by what had happened on Academy grounds, but they were both soldiers, and they knew how to hold the fort. And right now their orders were to keep her here, safe and contained.

      She shook her head, blubbering again as she called Sampson’s name.

      He was injured. He’d taken a bullet right to the side of his holographic armor. There was every chance he wouldn’t make it.

      She collapsed forward, clamped her hands over her temples, and dug her fingers in so hard, she could’ve removed her own skull. She rocked back and forth as if she didn’t care that her back kept slamming up against the desk beside her. She didn’t care about her pain. She didn’t care about anything. The whole world was falling apart. And this was just the start. This was just the goddamn beginning. A war was coming. A war Diana had been taught to fight every night in her dreams since the day her father and mother had been killed in front of her eyes.

      A war with an enemy like no other. An enemy from beyond the reaches of time. An enemy that had always desired the Milky Way and would never stop until it had everything in its path. The Force.

      As that word ricocheted through Diana’s skull with all the power of a bullet shattering someone’s bones, she whimpered. She kept her fingers tensed against her temples, turned in with so much force, she could literally have ripped her head off.

      In between her desperate gasps, she realized something wasn’t just happening to her mind – it was happening to her body. When she’d thrown herself desperately across Academy grounds to get to Sparx in time, she’d run faster than she ever had in her life. It hadn’t counted ultimately, and her father had been shot regardless.

      Because from this point on, nothing would count. The war would happen anyway.

      She saw that now. Circumstances had been set in motion, and they would barrel on until the Force finally broke through.

      Diana knew she would be left here, distraught but technically safe, while the rest of the Academy dealt with the disaster. Though all she wanted to do was get to Sampson to confirm that he was fine, she wasn’t given that privilege. She could hardly move, anyway. All she could do was clamp her fingers into her temples harder and harder until she finally drew blood. She heard one of the officers mutter something about sedation, and they called the med bay. It took minutes until a doctor rushed in, their face so awash with worry, it looked like the very emotion had been carved into their cheeks forevermore.

      It’s okay, the man cooed. Just let me sedate you.

      Diana got the urge to shove him off, but she appreciated this man had orders. At the back of her mind, she also understood she wasn’t helping. But she couldn’t stop crying, and she couldn’t stop rocking back and forth. What they couldn’t see, she could. For she saw further, right to the twisted, promised destiny awaiting the Coalition.

      The war with the Force would start. And it would start now. For as Diana Fenton opened her eyes, she stared not at the doctor but right through him. She stared not at the floor behind him but right through that. She stared not at matter but at that which lay between. And there, she saw the Force waiting for their first attack.

      As the powerful sedative washed through her system, Diana knew when she woke it would be to a new galaxy – one on the brink of destruction.

      3

      Sampson Ventura

      He didn’t know how long he’d been out. Hours, he could guess. As he roused, so much pain split through his side, it felt like he’d swallowed bombs and they’d ripped through his chest.

      As soon as he moved, a chorus of beeping machines erupted through the room. Several people raced over to him, but it was the slow, steady steps on the opposite side of the room that drew his attention. Slowly, blinking back pain with every movement, he forced his eyes open, and he settled them on Forest. What happened? he croaked.

      Do you remember the attack on the roof? Forest asked.

      Reluctantly, he nodded. How’s Fenton?

      Admiral Fenton survived. Barely. His aide did not.

      I meant Diana, Sampson admitted. If his mind had been functioning like it ought to have been, he wouldn’t have dismissed an admiral’s safety like that. He should be crying for joy at the fact Admiral Fenton hadn’t been assassinated, but as Sampson’s mind sharpened and memories of the incident flooded through him, he remembered how fractured Diana had become. The memory was strong enough that he pushed up onto his elbows.

      Forest snapped up to his side. Stay lying down. You’ve done yourself considerable damage. You also all but ruined your armor, she added.

      There were doctors in the room. She didn’t flinch at revealing his armor, which meant Sampson’s secret was well and truly out of the bag.

      How’s Diana? he repeated.

      I heard your question the first time, she said, her voice firm but not harsh. Yet.

      Despite all the chaos, Sampson hadn’t forgotten that the last time he’d spoken to Forest, she’d ordered him to leave Diana Fenton the hell alone. Yeah, well now things had changed. Specifically, everything had changed. There’d been an attack on Academy grounds, and one of their own had almost murdered one of their best. This wasn’t about to end. It was only getting started.

      Diana is safe. Forest appeared to choose her words after careful consideration.

      Sampson might not have his full psychic abilities at his discretion as his body recuperated, but he didn’t need them to read between the lines of that opaque statement. What happened to her? I don’t know how, but she seemed to know that attack was occurring. I… as crazy as it sounds—

      Diana Fenton is a psychic, Forest finished his sentence unflinchingly.

      Shock pressed his lips slowly open as if Forest had grabbed his mouth and drawn

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