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

and a table. There were hard light amplifiers set into the corners of the tent as well to allow Iris, the Orion’s Cognitive, to take form if she so chose.

“Iris, are you there?” I asked the empty air in front of me.

“Always,” Iris said, using the hard light amplifiers in the room to give shape to her body. She looked at me. “Sorry, I know you get scared sometimes when I appear out of thin air. You used to ask for a heads up.”

“I’m good,” I told her with a smile. “Guess I’m getting used to it.”

Although Iris was a Cognitive, she looked like an Eternal, from her white skin to her piercing blue eyes. She wore a tight-fitting grey suit.

“Iris, can you translate for us while Tong and Jezra talk to our new friend?” I asked.

“Of course,” Iris said with a nod of her head.

Boss Creed stood beside the seated Rung in case he tried anything. At the moment, the Rung seemed to be no kind of threat and looked nothing short of defeated. His hands were secured behind his back. He hunched forward, eyes directed toward the ground in front of him.

Tong and Jezra stood in front of the Rung. Ricky and I stood further back near the tent entrance with Iris.

Tong started the conversation, his native dialect sounding like hard clicks of his tongue and long “S’s” strung together to form short sentences and even shorter words.

“Tong is asking him how he got inside the wall and what he wants here,” Iris explained to us.

The Rung finally looked up from his perpetual gaze on the ground in front of him. He said something to Tong that rattled the Remboshi if his wide eyes and furtive motions were any indication. Jezra just smiled and nodded, as if she had expected this answer the entire time.

“He says he’s come to broker an alliance.” Iris looked at me, confused. “He says he knows of a way to end Legion for good.”

3

“He knows!” Ricky nearly shouted in disbelief. “He knows a way to cure people from the Legion virus?”

“That’s what he said,” Iris confirmed.

I grabbed at Ricky too late. His love for Arun drove him forward. Without thinking, he lunged at the Rung, grabbing his throat and throttling him.

“Tell us,” Ricky said with a fierce look in his eyes that made Tong and Jezra each take a step back. “Tell us what you know. Tell us how to put a stop to Legion.”

The Rung’s eyes bulged out of his sockets.

Boss Creed and I went over and laid firm hands on Ricky. Each of us could have ripped him off, but we didn’t. We understood the rage that lived inside of him, the anger that arose from having to see Arun suffer for the last month, day in and day out.

“Easy,” I told Ricky as I gripped his left shoulder. “He can’t tell us anything if you kill him.”

Ricky’s eyes were red from lack of sleep, veins crisscrossing the sclera. He swallowed hard, finally releasing his hold on the bound Rung’s throat. The alien gasped then coughed, spitting on the floor. He sucked in a lungful of air, the panic in his eyes leaving as they deflated back to their normal size in the sockets.

“He’ll tell us,” Boss Creed said with no doubt in his voice. “I know he’ll tell us everything.”

Ricky nodded and moved out of the way, making room for me to crouch in front of the now terrified alien. I leveled a menacing stare at him making sure that he understood me without words.

“Tong,” I said, not averting my eyes. “Tell him that I don’t appreciate him sneaking into our camp and attacking our people. If he wants to live, he better tell us what we want to know.”

Another series of clicks and “s” sounds followed, with Iris translating.

My show of force must have worked because true to Boss Creed’s prediction, as soon as the Rung regained his breath, the interrogation continued, and he told us everything. How he was sent by his people to gauge our commitment to uniting against Legion. How he used the cover of night with his booster pack to get over our wall. Finally, he told us how to kill Legion.

“He says his name is Sulk,” Iris said, listening to the others chat away. “He’s a specialist, or at least that’s what his people call him. He was chosen to bring us the news due to his ability to negotiate with enemies. They have been fighting Legion for the last month. It seems Legion deems them an easier target at the moment than the Orion. The Rung have suffered serious casualties, depleting their forces at a rapid rate.”

“Good,” Boss Creed said quietly. “I haven’t forgotten what you said they did to our expeditionary crew that went out in search of the communication section of the Orion.”

I nodded in agreement. Boss Creed was right. The Rung had slaughtered an entire team that had just gone out to try and recover our communication devices without asking any questions. They also had shot Ricky and nearly cost him his life. I closed my eyes, remembering when my friend’s survival was touch and go. Although the experience made me more appreciative of Ricky, who could be annoying at times, it was something I didn’t want to go through again.

The conversation went on, with Jezra taking the lead.

Iris suddenly perked up. Her bright blue eyes, which were nearly luminescent, were now wide with wonder.

I waited, barely holding in the tension of the moment. Although I didn’t know what they were saying until Iris translated for me, it was clear something of great importance was taking place.

Jezra spoke quickly, leaning in to Sulk as if she didn’t want to miss a word.

For his part, Sulk spoke slowly and intentionally in monotone, as if he were reciting facts he had read from a reference book, though that was hard to ascertain as he wasn’t speaking a