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

Martha’s face went from tears of sadness to confusion and then anger. “You’re not going to take him from me,” Martha screamed. “This trip has taken enough from my family. You’re not taking my son!”

Captain Harold took a step back as Martha lunged at him. The pair of suits grabbed her, wrestling her to the ground as she continued to scream for her son.

People were beginning to feel uncomfortable. They quickly rose from their seats, some backing away.

I had to admit, even I didn’t know how to feel. The kid was too young in my book to serve in any official capacity as a suit. If we were about to be overrun by some alien threat, then that was something else, but there were plenty of adults left who could pick up arms and defend the group. Far as I could see, we were a long way from recruiting kids to do the heavy lifting.

“Leave her alone!” someone yelled.

“Get off of her!” Someone else in the cafeteria threw a coffee cup at one of the suits.

Jackson saw the whole thing through horrified eyes.

Boss Creed was already on the move. The large man shouldered his way through the crowd. Ricky and I followed. I took one step then another, not really having a plan of what I was going to do but knowing that I needed to do something if no one else would.

It was hard to see exactly what was happening between the pair of suits and Martha on the ground. What I did see was one of the suits put a foot into the back of her neck while the other tried to secure her hands behind her back with a pair of magnetized cuffs.

Boss Creed was there a moment later, grabbing the suit with his boot in the back of Martha’s head. He lifted the suit completely off the ground and threw him across the room like a rag doll.

Captain Harold was speaking into an earpiece. My guess was he was requesting backup. His right hand rested on the butt of his blaster.

The other suit working on Martha’s hands succeeded in securing her with a pair of magnetized cuffs. He reached for his stun baton. The stun baton extended with crackling blue sparks erupting from the end.

Boss Creed was built for brute strength, not necessarily speed. He blocked the first swing of the baton then fell victim as the baton came back and struck him across the left side of his arm.

CRACK!

An electric current ran through Boss Creed’s body. It was enough to take the large man down to his knees. The suit Boss Creed threw across the room recovered. He came back with his own stun baton. Another pair of suits entered the cafeteria at a run. They also reached for their stun batons.

Boss Creed was regaining his feet when the two suits around him swung their batons down on him again. His body spasmed. He fell to the ground.

I knew I couldn’t just stand here and watch. I think Ricky knew the same thing.

“Okay, okay, he’s had enough,” Ricky said, placing a hand on one of the suits’ shoulders.

Bad idea.

I honestly don’t think the suit even thought about what he was doing. He just reacted to someone grabbing him. He reached back with his stun baton and caught Ricky in the middle of the stomach.

Ricky went down in a heap.

There was so much jostling and yelling going on, I couldn’t hear what Captain Harold was saying. I think he was shouting to both sides of the conflict to stand down. It was a little bit too late for that.

“You need to get out of here before things get worse,” I told the suit who had cracked Ricky. I had my hands at my side as non-threatening as I could be.

By now, the other pair of suits that entered the cafeteria was on crowd control. They pushed the mob of colonists back away from the conflict.

“Is that a threat?” the suit in front of me asked.

“That’s whatever you take it as,” I said, shaking my head.

It was probably adrenaline, maybe too much testosterone that made the suit in front of me lunge forward with his baton. Either way, I wasn’t going to stand there and get stunned.

9

The suit in front of me lunged with a straightforward jab. The baton crackled with blue electricity as I sidestepped the attack. I moved to my right, allowing his forward motion to carry him a step farther.

I turned sideways, striking out with my right hand. I used the blade of my palm, pinky forward to smash into his neck. I really didn’t mean to hit him that hard. He dropped the stun baton, falling to his knees. He grabbed at his throat with both hands.

“You’ll be alright. Just give it some ti—”

The suit Boss Creed had thrown rushed forward. This one was a bit smarter and came at me with an overhead swing.

I telegraphed the blow, grabbing his hand holding the weapon as it descended on me from above. I held the weapon at bay with my left hand, using my right to send two bone-crushing hooks into the space below his left arm where the armor came together.

After the strike landed to his left side, I ripped the baton out of his temporarily weakened grip. We looked at one another.

“No, do—”

I tased him.

He fell to the ground spasming.

“Watch out!” someone in the crowd yelled.

I turned in time just as the two new suits who arrived late to the party rushed me together. One was a short man with a wide belly, the other, a woman who couldn’t be out of her early twenties.

I dropped the stun baton I was holding, choosing to trust my own hand-to-hand combat skills instead of using a weapon I wasn’t used to. They were running at me. I raced to meet them.

I took two large steps, building momentum, then leaped into the air, bringing my right knee up with me. My