Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set by J.N. Chaney (best detective novels of all time .TXT) 📕

he is standing in front of me and wearing the clothing of my own people,” Tong said. “I have brought food so you can eat while you change.”

I started to dig into the breakfast while Ricky slowly made his way from the stall, his wet hair clinging to his pale face. He looked a lot better but still far from a hundred percent. He leaned against the stall door for support.

“Can a guy get a little help around here?” Ricky asked.

Tong and I both jumped forward to help. I grabbed Ricky around the waist on his left. Tong did the same on his right. We guided him down to a bench like rock that rose from the ground.

“Thanks, that’s better,” Ricky said with a heavy sigh. “The pain in my side is killing me. Is that normal?”

“Does it feel like a horrendous aching coming from within?” Tong asked. “Like the very worst bruise you’ve ever had but only inside your innermost being?”

“Yeah, yeah exactly like that.” Ricky winced.

“Yes, that’s normal.” Tong shrugged, handing Ricky something that looked like a sandwich. “It’ll feel better day over day. For the time, just eat and rest.”

“Eat and rest?” Ricky repeated the words as he accepted the sandwich. “I can do that.”

We sat in mostly silence for the second time as we ate our meal. The eating was a bit more relaxed now since we weren’t starving. I had something that looked like fish but tasted like chicken. There was some other spicy mush that reminded me of eggs.

Jezra walked into the washroom holding a clear square glass plate in front of her. She watched the glass like a monitor.

“We should go now,” Jezra said. “We should get to the Orion right away. I feel as though Legion will make its move soon.”

I looked over at Tong and Ricky for their consensus.

“You think you can travel?” I asked Ricky.

“I’ll find a way,” Ricky assured me, grimacing as he stood up.

“Arun and Stacy have loaded the predators with everything we will need,” Jezra said with an approving nod. “We are ready to depart as soon as we equip you with your enhanced body armor.”

“Enhanced body armor?” I said, looking over at Tong.

Tong beamed with pride. “You didn’t think we would send the Children of the Dawn into a battle without being prepared, did you?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Ricky said, looking down at his skintight clothing. “I thought we were just going to wear our old body armor over these onesies.”

“I was up all night with Jezra preparing your combat armor,” Tong said, clapping his hands with glee. “Come, come. I can’t wait to show you.”

I grabbed one more handful of the chicken stuff and headed out the door with the others. Ricky was putting on his best face, but Tong and I helped him along.

Lucky for us, we didn’t have to go far. Jezra led us to the same room we were in when we first arrived with the crawler. The main cargo room was massive with the impressive vehicles he’d called predators on one side and the crates of gear on the other.

Two things were different from the first time I saw the room. Three of the predators now had flatbed hitches behind them, each one loaded with a series of crates I assumed were weapons and gear. And there were suits of futuristic armor waiting for us on the side of the cargo hold where the crates sat. Stacy and Arun were already busy placing theirs over their legs and torsos.

The armor looked vastly different than our own. It was white with a kind of scaly fabric under the thinner joint portions.

Jezra wasted no time in pointing out how the armor was made.

“The outer shell of the armor is much like your own.” Jezra pointed out the areas over the shoulders, chest, and abdomen. “Where the Remboshi armor differs is the scaled fabric we use underneath. We have created a means of dispersing any impact over a larger distance by something we call liquid armor. It looks like scales, but as you’ll see, it is quite different.”

I left Ricky in Tong’s care as I went over and examined the suit. Jezra was right. The body armor was a bit heavier than our own, but there was no weak point where our joints met, like our shoulders or hips.

The white scales weren’t soft, but they weren’t metal either. They were like super tough rubber that didn’t give.

“They will stop a Rung round,” Tong explained. “A round from one of your own weapons, I cannot be sure of.”

“Fancy, right?” Stacy said, showing me her helmet. It was smaller than our own with two large spaces to look out the eyes. A dark visor gave us protection with no nose opening while two vents near the jawline would allow us to breathe.

“I can get behind this,” I said, looking over to Jezra. “Could have used one of these when I was going through your tribunal test yesterday.”

“Yes, well, today is a new day.” Jezra shrugged off the comment, pointing to the right side of the chest plate. “Do you recognize this?”

“How could I not?” I said. It was the same symbol as on my medallion. The two blades facing away from one another. A single blade in the middle with a circle around it.

“The symbol of the Great Dawn,” Jezra said in a hushed breath of reverence.

“How about weapons?” Ricky asked. He was managing to stand under his own power, but Arun still helped him put on his armor.

I bet he was loving that.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Stacy said, going over to one of the many open crates. “Check this baby out.”

Stacy leaned down to reach inside the green case and came back with what looked like some kind of heavy handgun. The barrel was short, the grip meant to be wielded with one hand. The clip that came down off the weapon looked almost comically long.

“It fires the same steel rounds as the weapon that wounded