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

but sobs for those we’d lost. I couldn’t let my mind think about all those who gave their lives for us to have this moment, not yet, not until it was done for good.

We spent the rest of the day going through the jungle, burning anything that remotely resembled a tainted shrub.

Dark smoke touched the sky as large portions of the jungle were lit on fire. Cleanup crews would have to go in tomorrow and the day after and the day after that to make sure Legion was truly gone forever, but what we did that day felt like a start.

“I don’t think the other spores can live without the ones you killed at the base,” Dama said, joining my side as I worked on turning another black bush into ash. “He’s dead. You killed the brain where he first went into hiding. The rest will die on their own.”

“Yeah, well, you never can be too careful, right?” I said, pumping more flames into the brush. It was a liberating and cleansing feeling to burn them. I felt like I could never stop, that we might never be clean from the virus.

“Dean!” It was Ricky, shouting at me as he came to me at a dead run. His lip was split from where Jezra had knocked him out. Despite that, he had the dopiest grin on his face. “Arun, she’s okay. She’s healed.”

I took off my own helmet, letting the bucket rest by my side. Sweat dropped from my face. Although I was beyond tired, I managed a smile.

“I’m happy for you, buddy. You should go see her,” I said. “Go. We can manage here.”

Ricky wrapped me in a hug, trying to hide his tears, but I saw them anyway. He released me without a word and ran off toward the Orion. I hoped he had a future with Arun. It seemed so, but we could talk about it later, or whenever he wanted.

“You’re bleeding on your neck there,” Stacy said, coming toward me in her suit. She opened the center chest door and jumped down. “Are you hurt?”

I reached up to my neck where Legion had tried his last attempt at taking my life. My fingers came back sticky with blood. It was barely a scratch. I reached into the armor over my chest and pulled out the medallion that hung around my neck.

It felt like a lifetime ago that my wife had given the token to me. It had saved my life more than once, I thought. For all of its wear and tear, there was not a mark on it. For one of the few times I could remember, I thought about my wife, my first love, with a smile and a heart not full of anger but gratefulness. Grateful for the time I got to spend with her, the gift she had given me, and the place I was now, which would not have been possible without her brief presence in my life.

“You okay?” Stacy asked, lifting an eyebrow in question. “You sure Legion didn’t hit you in the head or something?”

“I’m fine,” I said, looking around at familiar faces who began to gather. Elon, Tong, John, Boss Creed, Jezra, they were all there. We were all tired and dead on our feet but not broken. We were victorious.

“You did it,” Jezra said. “You fulfilled the prophecy, Chosen One.”

“We did it,” I said, looking between Dama’s power armor suit and Jezra. “And maybe we accomplished more than just killing Legion today.”

“I think so,” Dama said, opening her power unit and stepping to the ground below. She extended a hand to Jezra. “It’s not going to be easy, but I think we can build on what was done here.”

“I agree,” Jezra said, accepting her hand with a smile.

“I think we could all use a break.” Dama released Jezra’s hand and wiped a forearm across her sweaty brow. “My people are on their way, trekking through a mountain pass. Our craft was doing runs there, carrying them the rest of the way back and forth. Since the battle has been won, I told them we needed warriors ready to help rather than more power armor units. They should be here soon.”

“Thank you,” Tong said with large mesmerized eyes. “Thank you for holding true to your word.”

“Of course,” Dama said with a smile. “They will bring supplies and aid with the dead on both sides of the confrontation.”

I hadn’t thought about that. I knew there would be our own dead to bury, but I didn’t think about what it meant to bury those infected by Legion. Since we killed him, those who had been infected and were already dead carried no trace of the sinister virus.

Human, Rung, Remboshi, and alien animals alike were dead. Any sign of the virus had seeped out of their orifices to the jungle floor. Legion was gone, and with him any sign he had existed in his hosts.

As much as I wanted to fall down and sleep for a week, the dead had earned their rest first. We aided the Rung and Remboshi in creating great pyres for them. Burning the dead warriors was a tradition that both races still used in wartime conflicts. We used trees and shrubs in the jungle that had already been cut down with the weapons fire. The charred foliage served to help as well as we created the great square pyres.

True to her word, the Rung had come to our aid and sooner than I expected. Not power armor units but rather twenty Rung were dropped off with a range of supplies from water to food and medical stuffs that were badly needed.

How twenty Rung fit in the ship at all was a mystery. They had to be packed in tighter than a human piloting one of their power units.

We ate in shifts, getting rest where we had to and pressing on doggedly where we could. It was somber work. There was some talking but not much. Most