Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

I nodded along, looking at the other, much longer line of families getting checked to board the ship. These poor people weren’t even given twenty-four hours’ notice that their trip of a lifetime had moved up. They were leaving everything they knew behind, all in hopes of a better life on some promised alien planet.

“Stop there,” a suit said, extending an open hand to Stacy and me.

Boss Creed looked up from a pad. “It’s okay; they’re part of my team.”

The suit waved us inside.

“Mr. Slade, a moment,” Boss Creed said, motioning for me to come closer.

I didn’t like the sound in his voice. Regardless, I stepped to the side with him.

“I’m sure you’ve heard that the Orion is departing tomorrow.” Boss Creed stopped to measure my expression.

“The Orion?” I asked, playing dumb.

“No need for the song and dance. Doctor Allbright said she let it slip right before you saved her. We had to keep certain information classified because of all the attacks. Even the name. The folks upstairs thought it would help, but—” He paused, scanning the yard for a moment before looking back at me. “Some good it did.”

I said nothing.

“Look, I’ll get straight to the point,” he went on. “We lost a lot of good mechanics yesterday in the attack. I need to fill a roster for the ship. I noticed you didn’t put your name in for consideration. Why is that?”

“Listen, I get that people want a fresh start, but it’s just not for me,” I said, scratching at the right side of my beard. “I’ve had enough excitement to last me a lifetime. I’m good here.”

“Your family would be able to join you,” Boss Creed continued. “It pays well, and you’d be given housing of your own once the colony is established on Kronos Five.”

“I don’t have a family,” I said, trying to figure out what was bothering me so much about the prospect. “I don’t want to go.”

“Sure.” Boss Creed made a few notes on his data pad. “If you change your mind, I’m adding you as approved on the ship’s manifest. Sometimes we need to do things in life for ourselves. Maybe that means a fresh start, and there’s no shame in that. Don’t be burdened by the events of your past, Mr. Slade.”

My heart rate spiked. I looked up at Boss Creed, searching his dark eyes to see if he was hinting at something. Did he know who I really was? If he did, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he just waved me in.

They assigned the rest of the mechanics and me to load the ship with essential supplies for the journey. Even though the trip to Kronos Five would only take six weeks, it required a massive supply due to the sheer number of people on board.

I was loading couch-sized wooden crates with holes poked into their sides and the word “fragile” stamped onto them. They were off to the side under a tarp, as if someone didn’t want to bring attention to them. Out of the corner of my eye, it looked as if one of the crates had moved.

“We’ll handle these,” a strong male voice said from behind my right shoulder. “Thank you for your help.”

“This could just be the fatigue talking, but I think I just saw one of those—” I stopped, spotting a tall, slender man standing behind me. He wore a deep hood and high boots. I had seen an Eternal before, but that was a lifetime ago. His pure white skin and shining blue eyes were jarring, even inside the hood, and it caught me by surprise. What was he doing in a place like this? Had he come to inspect the damage?

“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said, extending a gloved hand. “My name is Elon Drake. I’m one of the two Eternals that will be guiding the colony ship to Kronos Five.”

“Dean,” I said, recovering enough to shake his hand. “You didn’t frighten me. I just didn’t realize you’d be walking the yard today. Isn’t it kind of dangerous for you to be out here? I mean, the Disciples just tried to blow up your ship. They’d love to get a shot at one of you.”

“Our ship,” Elon corrected.

“What?” I said, cocking my brow.

“You said ‘the Disciples just tried to blow up your ship,’ but it’s our ship. Both Eternal and Transient.” Elon gave me a kind smile. “We’ll be fine. We can’t show fear in the face of terrorism. My sister is about to demonstrate that to everyone right now.”

Elon pointed to the platform on the other side of the factory where a crowd was gathering. It was right behind the spot where the truck had detonated, although most of the debris had already been cleared by this point.

“You should come and listen,” Elon said, waving me forward. “The message will be broadcast to those in line and everyone already onboard the ship. Even still, there’s nothing like seeing her talk in person. She was gifted with the silver tongue of the family.”

I decided to indulge him, if only to avoid pissing off someone with the power to make my life a living hell. Not that I expected him to, but you never knew anyone, and I’d rather take the five minutes than make an enemy.

While I was crossing the yard, Ricky caught up to me.

“Hey, maybe it’s all the drugs I’ve done over the years, but it looks like those boxes are actually moving,” my friend said, blinking a half dozen times and then looking over his shoulder at the boxes again. “I went to go check them out, and a suit told me to go about my business. What the hell are we taking to Kronos Five?”

“We?” I repeated. “Are you on the guestlist now?”

“Yep. That run-in with Mr. Harold and his Warlord gang was all the convincing I needed. You should come too, unless you wanna end up getting shot in the back of the head when you turn