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

Ricky,” Tong explained. “It’s a reliable firearm. In your tongue, it would be called a judge.”

“I like the sound of that.” Ricky grinned from where he sat.

“Wait until you see what’s in this box.” Stacy nodded over to another crate by her feet with a wide grin. “Christmas came early.”

26

The way Stacy wiggled her eyebrows, I knew it was great for us and bad news for Legion. I followed her over to the open container and peered inside to see a row of what looked like heavy knife handles with no blades.

The black handles were large enough to be held in either a single or a two-handed grip. Stacy leaned down and picked one up.

“These are special,” Stacy said with a twinkle in her eye. “Stand back.”

I obeyed without question, noticing the almost manic gleam in her eyes.

She held the weapon in her right hand. There were two buttons near her thumb and she pressed one, sending a series of smaller metal pieces out from the handle to form the shape of a long knife.

I closed my mouth so it wouldn’t hit the floor.

“Wait, there’s more,” Stacy said, clearly enjoying my stunned expression. She hit the other button on the blade, and another series of metal pieces unfolded from the handle, making the blade three times as long. Stacy held a sword in her hand now.

“The ray is something we are very proud of,” Tong said with a wide smile. “It was in development for years. Easy to store and handy whether you require a knife or something larger.”

“I’ll take two,” I said, reaching into the container and grabbing a pair. They felt good in my hands. Who was I kidding? They felt great.

I wasn’t traditionally trained with weapons, but any kind of short blade I could use as an extension of my fists worked for me.

The next few minutes were spent putting on our armor, grabbing whatever weapons we wanted, and loading the rest into the predators.

“You know, for an advanced, rather peaceful race, you sure have a lot of aggressive names for your weapons,” I said to Tong as we loaded a green crate of what looked like grenades into the back of one of the predators.

“What do you mean?” Tong asked.

I nodded over to the heavy machine guns mounted on the rear of the predators, the ones peeking over the driver and passenger side seats. “What do you call that bad boy?”

“The Blood Shot 2000,” Tong said, catching my meaning. “Oh, I see your point. I never thought about it like that.”

“Let’s load up,” Arun said, helping Ricky into the passenger seat of one of the predators.

Jezra shuffled into the cargo bay. She wore her own white scaled armor with the same white robe trailing behind her. In her hands, she held the clear glass square. From my vantage point, it looked like she was staring down at a clear piece of glass.

When she came closer, I could see she was looking at an image on her side. It was the same image of the Orion. Legion had surrounded the walls with a number that easily doubled our own.

Legion had been busy picking off the survivors before we could save them.

A variety of animals showed as well in the morning sun. There were the large rhinoceros creatures and a series of the long centipede snake animals I had run across in the jungle before, along with more nightmarish creatures I hadn’t yet seen.

As far as I could tell, Legion still wasn’t making a move, nor was the Orion firing on Legion. If words were being exchanged at all, we weren’t able to hear them. The Remboshi’s low-flying satellite was only able to see images at great distance.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked Jezra as she waited by my side.

“I’m traveling with you,” Jezra said, patting my butt like she was my coach in some kind of game. “Come now. We have no time to spare.”

I jolted at the unexpected action.

I traded looks with Stacy, who was busting up with laughter.

“You heard the woman,” Stacy said, jumping into the driver’s side seat of her own predator. “Buckle up, buttercup. It’s going to get bumpy.”

With Arun and Ricky traveling together, Stacy and Tong each drove a separate vehicle. Mutt jumped in the back of mine with Jezra in the passenger side seat.

It felt wrong somehow leaving so much behind. There were still another eight predators lined up against the wall with enough armor and weapons to make at least two more full trips using all of them. Our beat-up crawler that had been through so much with us now sat quiet next to the predators.

In comparison to the shiny new combat vehicles, the crawler looked like an old heavyweight fighter with a gut and past his prime.

Jezra leaned forward in her seat, flipping a few dials and turning buttons on the predator dashboard in front of us. I had no idea what she was doing, and most of me didn’t even want to know.

I busied myself putting on my helmet and adjusting the straps on my seat belt. Unlike the crawler, the predator had an open T-shaped roof. The harness was different as well. A V-shaped strap came over my chest and buckled into another harness near my crotch.

The security feature was snug without being suffocating. The helmet I wore was strangely comfortable with cool air being let in through the two vents near my mouth.

Jezra’s voice filled a comm unit in my helmet a moment later.

“There is no need of helmets now,” Jezra said, speaking into the predator’s dash. “The sawg will not harm us. Also, communication will be available through the predators.”

I looked at the Remboshi beside me. She placed her helmet between her feet and busied herself with the glass screen.

“Dean and I will take the lead,” Jezra continued. “The sawg will not harm you. You will be able to pass unhindered. I’ll also alleviate the mist around us. Stay close