The Shadow Order - Books 1 - 8 + 120 Seconds (The complete series): A Space Opera

by Michael Robertson

  Chapter 64

  The orange glow turned into a blur through Seb’s tears as he watched his friend’s body burn. Maybe the Shadow Order would have wanted Gurt’s corpse back, but he’d decided not to give them the option. They needed to send him off now, in their own private way.

  At that moment, SA drew a deep breath beside him and Seb’s tears ran freer than before. Before she’d uttered her first note, he knew what she’d do.

  The same perfect tone they’d heard from her in the slums, SA let out a single celestial chord. Her voice seemed to silence the entire planet.

  SA continued to sing, the undulations of it rising and falling as she let her grief out for her friend.

  Choked and crying harder than ever, Seb turned to face the Crimson Palace on the horizon. It still stood as a huge silhouette, slightly darker than the darkness of night surrounding it. Although the symbol of oppression on the planet had been gutted and robbed of its power, just one final act remained.

  One after the other, Seb’s friends moved beside him while SA continued to sing. They all looked over the roofs of the slum at the elevated city in the distance. The heat from Gurt’s burning body warmed Seb’s back.

  After a particularly long and pained note, SA stopped. As if driven by intuition, she’d left just the slightest pause before it came.

  At first it sounded as if the planet had inhaled sharply. A quick draw of air and an entire section of the elevated city lit up like a star, dazzling Seb and forcing him back a step. It burned brighter than anything he’d seen since he’d been on Solsans, and a second later, an almighty boom shook the ground as if the sky had split.

  Flames pushed out of the sides of the Crimson Palace and the spired inferno fell.

  The slum dwellers cheered as the palace dropped and Seb smiled through his tears.

  A few seconds later deep cracks pounded through the city. Each one boomed like thunder. One, two, three, four … and suddenly the elevated city fell too.

  It sounded like an avalanche, like a hailstorm of boulders.

  The crowd cheered louder than before. And so they should.

  “If Gurt could have chosen his funeral,” Seb said, “I’m sure this wouldn’t be too far away from what he’d want.”

  A look both left and right and Seb saw all of his friends crying like him. After a deep breath, he added, “And what a way for the sewer dwellers to go. I’m not sure they would have fit into the new united society. They had some very antisocial practices.”

  The sound of a ship’s engines came from behind them, and when Seb looked back, he saw the Shadow Order had arrived. He looked at Bruke for a moment. “I suppose you’d best come with us, then.”

  Bruke’s jaw fell loose. “You mean it?”

  “Sure. I’ve seen how you fight. We need that in our team. Right, guys?”

  “Yep,” Sparks said.

  SA smiled, her eyes aglow.

  “Thank you,” Bruke said. “Thank you so much. I’d love to come. Thank you.”

  “Come on,” Sparks said and tugged on Bruke’s arm to pull him toward the ship. “We’ll need to get you some clothes to wear though, I’m not looking at your nakedness for any longer.”

  Left alone with just SA, Seb looked at the burning city for a few more seconds before turning his attention on her. “Thank you for coming back for me. I couldn’t have made it without you guys.”

  SA looked straight at him as if she saw inside him. The smile on her face suggested she liked what she’d seen.

  Before Seb could say anything else, she held out a long and graceful hand. Seb took it and together they walked past the burning remains of their good friend in the direction of the Shadow Order’s ship.

  Now he had to go and face Moses.

  End of book three.

  120 Seconds - A Shadow Order Story

  120 SECONDS: A SHADOW ORDER STORY CAN BE READ AT ANY TIME. IT INTRODUCES REYES, WHO BECOMES AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER IN THE SERIES FROM HERE ON OUT.

  Email: subscribers@michaelrobertson.co.uk

  Edited by:

  Terri King - http://terri-king.wix.com/editing

  And

  Pauline Nolet - http://www.paulinenolet.com

  Cover Design by Goonwrite.com

  120-Seconds

  Michael Robertson

  © 2017 Michael Robertson

  120-Seconds is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, situations, and all dialogue are entirely a product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously and are not in any way representative of real people, places or things.

  Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Chapter 1

  Now. Eleven dead.

  “When I say go, you’ll have two minutes, not a second more.” Reyes felt his eyes on her as she spoke, but she ignored him. They had a job to do and he couldn’t help them. As much as that pissed him off, she refused to be his punching bag. Instead, she turned to the gathered Space Marines. Other than her and the WO, there were eight of them in total: two corporals and six Marines. This planet had eaten away at their hierarchy almost as much as it had their resolve. If they didn’t act fast, the warrant officer would die from his septic wound and the rest of them from thirst.

  A look at the clock and Reyes drew a calming breath. They had a few more minutes before the one-hundred-and-twenty-second window opened up. Since they’d crashed, she’d spent most of her time looking out of the shuttle at the carnage outside. Still a few minutes before they had to act, she returned to what she knew.

  The door on their crashed shuttle had just one window. About fifteen centimetres square, it gave them a restricted view of the world outside. A restricted view of the ten to fifteen creatures waiting to tear them apart.

  A hard squint because of the bright sun, Reyes took them in. She shuddered. Horrible bastards. It didn’t matter how many times she looked at them, the gruesome things always made her skin crawl. She’d seen what they were capable of.

  The tallest of the monsters stood at just over ten feet tall; the smallest still over eight feet. Every one of them dwarfed any human Reyes had ever met. They had hard yellow skin that looked to be made from the same rocks littering their dusty and hot planet.

  Each creature had short but thick legs and they walked slowly, clearly conserving their energy in the heat. There might have only been ten to fifteen at that point, but Reyes would be a fool to think no more would come. From what she’d seen, once they smelled prey, the beasts would turn up in droves. That was what they had to plan for.

  Reyes couldn’t work out what they wanted though. They communicated in a series of roars and snarls, and after killing the Commandos they’d already attacked, they did nothing else with them. It would have been easier to understand if they’d eaten them.

  A look at the clock—only a couple of minutes before they needed to act.

  Reyes looked at the bodies on the ground outside, the ones who hadn’t made it back. Jones, their platoon sergeant, lay the farthest away, about one hundred and fifty metres from them. Henry, their sergeant; Rousseau, their corporal; and all the Marines—Martins, Adoteng, Campbell, McTavish, Finnegan, Carlile, Smith, and Huat—lay scattered around in the yellow sand outside—all dead.

  Limp and lifeless, their heads had been ripped from their torsos and discarded nearby. Some heads still clung onto their spines; they looked like bloody tails and were now dusted with the fine yellow grains of the planet.

  The lazy gait of the creatures responsible could have deceived Reyes had she not seen them at their worst. She might have even taken them to be peaceful. Although, when she looked at their large hands, thei
r powerful arms, their sharp teeth … she probably would have been wary from the start.

  Now she’d seen the monsters in battle, Reyes knew they didn’t have any vulnerabilities. Sure, if you shot them in the face, they’d go down, but the second they raised their rocky arms as a shield, none of the blasts from the Marines’ weapons could get through to their faces.

  Ninety seconds until they needed to go outside.

  Maybe Reyes deluded herself thinking they could get out of there. But they had to try. They couldn’t wait in their crashed shuttle forever. One of the main reasons being they had no water left in what had now turned into a sauna.

  The WO and Seven Commandos—all Marines save for the two corporals, Federichi and Peacock—watched Reyes as she turned back to them. When she saw Peacock at the rear, she said, “Are you okay?”

  A defensive scowl and he shot back, “I’m fine.”

  He sweated like the WO sweated. A clammy look to his pale skin, Peacock seemed far from fine. “You look rough. I think you should sit this one out.”

  The other Marines looked at him, which turned Peacock more defensive. “I’m fine, just get on with the briefing, yeah?”

  One minute left.

  As the leader for the next mission, Federichi stretched across and put a hand on Peacock’s shoulder. “We won’t think any less of you for resting up.”

  What had looked like delirium on Peacock’s face vanished and he snapped at Federichi, “Why don’t you do you? I’ll be fine.”

  Federichi had every right to feel nervous. The leader came in last. If some of the Commandos were less than one hundred percent, she needed to know. As the only fully fit corporal, she was the one responsible for getting Peacock back safely.

  Maybe a more experienced Commando would have challenged it. But Peacock outranked Reyes, and Federichi hadn’t been in their team long enough to tell an equal to stay behind. Maybe she should have.

  Reyes looked at the WO to see what he thought, but he offered nothing, so she continued. “The second they drop, the time starts, okay?”

  Forty-five seconds.

  Another glance outside at the bright sun and Reyes looked back at the timer on the wall. She reached up and put her finger on the button, her palms damp with sweat. “Nearly there.” The temperature gauge jumped up one more degree to forty-nine degrees Celsius. The hottest point came at exactly the same time each day. To the second.

  Forty seconds.

  One of the beasts—a particularly large one at about nine and a half feet tall—stood right by the door to the ship. When it leaned forward and peered in, its red eye sat just centimetres from Reyes’ face. It accelerated her heart rate and her breaths quickened. Some of the Commandos shuffled back from it.

  Federichi moved next to Reyes and stared at the beast. “I wonder why they gave up on trying to break in so quickly.”

  Thirty seconds.

  “Maybe they were worried they’d hurt themselves trying to bash through the shuttle’s hull,” Reyes said. “They’re smart enough to know we’ll have to leave eventually. They’ve got all the time in the world to wait out there. We’ve got—”

  “Two minutes, I know.”

  “Hopefully more,” Reyes said and looked up at the bright sky again. “But for now—”

  “Two minutes.” Federichi forced a smile at her.

  Patel stood next to Federichi. Reyes pointed at him. “Patel, on the door handle, please; we need these doors opened the second I tell you, okay?”

  After he’d moved to the handle, Patel gripped it with both hands, looked back at Reyes, and nodded.

  The sun shone brighter than ever and the creatures remained on their feet. Maybe it wouldn’t happen today. But it had happened every other day. Reyes looked at the WO and he continued to scowl at her.

  A shake of her head and Reyes looked at the Commandos again. “Right, you lot, make sure you keep your eyes on Federichi. She’s the leader on this one and calls the shots. When she speaks, you listen. You all know what your area is, so get out there, get shit done, and get back, okay?”

  “Jesus, rookie, give them a moment to breathe, yeah?” The WO had to pipe up at some point. “You’re not asking them to perform brain surgery. They’re Marines; they know what they’re doing.”

  “Maybe you should afford me that same credit.”

  The WO didn’t respond.

  Ten seconds.

  “We only need their torches,” Reyes said. Every dead Marine still wore their flak jackets. The ten-centimetre-square torches remained clipped to their breasts. “Don’t try to get anything else. It’s not important.”

  The WO drew a breath to speak and Reyes cut him off. “This is the last two minutes we’ll have. After this we need to take action tonight. The WO needs medical attention and we need water.” The mention of water made her gulp a hot and dry breath.

  Reyes looked at the creature outside the door. She stared into its blood-red eyes and watched it blink. “Get ready, Patel.”

  The wheel to open the door clicked when Patel put pressure on it.

  The creature outside blinked again, its eyes closing for a little longer this time.

  On the third long blink, its eyes closed completely, its legs folded beneath it, and it fell to the ground with a thud.

  “Go, go, go, go, go,” Reyes shouted at Patel.

  Chapter 2

  Four days ago. Zero dead.

  Reyes looked across at Patel and saw him chewing his bottom lip. Only a routine trip to the Crimson Destroyer, but he’d told her before they boarded that he hated any kind of flying—not the best phobia for a Space Marine.

  On a bench, sandwiched between Jones and Campbell, Reyes twisted but could do little to find any comfort. At five feet and two inches, the two brutes damn near crushed the life out of her with their hulking frames. They forced her shoulders to her ears and she kept drawing deep breaths to fill her squashed lungs.

  Not that it mattered if Reyes felt uncomfortable. Excuse me, I need a bit more space wouldn’t get her very far. Keep her head down and speak when spoken to. Rookies were worse than cockroaches and she needed to learn her place. If she watched and took everything in, she’d be ready when they needed her. Prove to them what she could do by showing them and then they’d trust her, or at least allow her to speak.

  The ship shook and shuddered, shifting the two men even tighter against her. Nothing more than the standard turbulence of passing through different atmospheres. Another look at Patel and Reyes saw him muttering beneath his breath. His usually dark skin had turned waxy white.

  After she’d twisted free of the two brutes, Reyes looked out of the front window of the shuttle at the planet below them. Rocky, dusty, and barren. For a moment, she forgot herself and turned to Jones, the platoon sergeant. “What planet are we passing over?”

  Jones had eyes so dark they could suck the light from a room. When he levelled them on her, it sucked the question from her memory and the air from her lungs. A shake of her head and she dropped her gaze to the shuttle’s metal deck. She needed to keep her mouth shut.

  Another eyeball-rattling shudder earthquaked through the small shuttle. A look at the others and Reyes saw stony expressions on every face save for Patel’s. They looked pissed off about how tightly they’d been packed into the small vessel, but none of them seemed bothered about the turbulence. A strong gust would upset the small ship’s flight. They weren’t nervous, so she didn’t need to be. It would serve her well to ignore Patel until they reached the Crimson Destroyer.

  The vessel then dropped by a few metres and Patel yelped. His pale complexion reddened at the attention from the others.

  Were Reyes’ arms not pinned to her sides, she would have thrust them out at the very least. Her tight position had saved her the embarrassment Patel clearly felt.

  When Reyes looked at the others, she saw the stoic scowls had vanished on a few of the Commandos’ faces. More anxious than before, several of them leaned forward and looked at the du
sty planet outside. Jones and Campbell didn’t budge. They didn’t do worry.

  Questions queued up in Reyes’ mind, but she bit her tongue. What’s going on? Is everything okay? Is this normal? The rookie didn’t get to ask questions. Besides, if they were in trouble, her asking about it wouldn’t help in any way. When she looked at the WO, he scowled at her. She definitely shouldn’t ask any questions.

  The next shudder rattled for a good five seconds, a bass tone vibrating through the steel hull of the ship. It forced Reyes’ teeth to chatter and pressed Jones and Campbell tighter against her. They damn near crushed the air from her lungs, so she twisted against the press of their two large forms. Jones tutted at her movement. Screw him! She reached around and grabbed her seatbelt, strapping in before she made herself as small as possible again. When she looked at the Commandos opposite, several of them did the same.

  The WO stood up at the back of the ship and walked to the open cockpit. Because of the swaying shuttle, he held the handrail for support. The rest of the Commandos all moved around, grateful for the extra few inches of space. Jones and Campbell didn’t budge.

  “McTavish!” the WO said. “What’s happening?”

  Silence swept through the back of the shuttle as if everyone held their breaths. They were quiet enough to hear every syllable of McTavish’s reedy reply. “I’m not sure.”

  The WO stayed at the front of the ship and looked through the windscreen. A glance around and Reyes saw every Marine doing the same, even Jones and Campbell. The entire front of the shuttle was made from reinforced glass. They couldn’t ignore the planet below them even if they’d wanted to.