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

by Michael Robertson

  Then it hit him. Much like the visions the woman in white had put into Seb’s mind, he saw her. Although this time, not his mum. SA.

  The shock of the vision pulled Seb back into the front room in his dad’s house. He couldn’t see SA any more. She’d been wandering across the stalt desert on Varna, blind and lost. It couldn’t be. She hadn’t gotten out of the palace. Just wishful thinking, nothing more.

  Seb’s heart ached, and he focused on his breaths to try to ease the lump in his throat. SA was dead. Whether he wanted to or not, he had to accept it.

  The front door then rattled and opened. It snapped Seb from his spiralling thoughts. No doubt Bruke had forgotten something. He called out, “What have you left behind?”

  But Bruke didn’t reply.

  The door closed gently, cutting off the sound of the fierce wind outside.

  Hearing footsteps in the hallway, Seb pushed off against the chair’s armrests and got to his feet.

  As the steps drew closer, Seb’s world slowed down and he clenched his fists. Surely Bruke would have spoken by now. While biting on his bottom lip, he walked to the living room’s door, held his breath, and pulled it open.

  Time stopped as they both stared at one another. Butterflies in his stomach, and his chest feeling like it could burst as his entire being swelled, Seb finally said, “SA?”

  The brilliance of her bioluminescence shone with even more radiance than he remembered. She had cuts and bruises all over her face from where the palace must have fallen on her. They did nothing to mar her beauty. She smiled. “Hi.”

  The voice he’d always heard in his mind, but much richer … fuller … celestial. “You’re talking!”

  While scratching the top of her head as if shy in front of him, she looked at her feet. When she lifted her gaze again, her cheeks flushed as she said, “Is now a good time to start that life we planned?”

  End of book seven.

  The Faradis - Book eight of The Shadow Order

  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 The Cover Collection

  The Faradis: Book Eight of The Shadow Order

  Michael Robertson

  © 2018 Michael Robertson

  The Faradis: Book Eight of The Shadow Order 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

  Despite gulping several times, it did nothing to ease the lump in SA’s throat. She’d just watched Reyes leave at her behest. She’d taken the choice out of her hands by busting the door’s mechanism so she couldn’t get back in. And what about Seb? For the first time in her life, she felt ready to settle down. Now she’d lost the lot. But she’d made the correct decision. Whatever happened, she couldn’t let the third transmission get out. She couldn’t put her needs above the galaxy’s, and she couldn’t let anyone else take her place on this suicide mission.

  The room had similar features to the one Sparks had set off her flash bang in. A balcony suggested a first floor, but there were no visible doors. Not that SA could rely on that assessment. Like in the previous room, she had to assume the walls around them were capable of revealing Enigma’s army from unseen entrances.

  Where SA saw similarity, she also saw the differences too. The ceiling ran over this room as a large dome decorated with an intricate pattern of flowers, many of which she didn’t recognise. It looked like it might have been used as a ballroom in the past. Unlike the room they’d been in previously, at present there were only three doors open: the one she’d just entered through, and two at the opposite end of the large room at least thirty metres away, where a steady stream of soldiers poured in.

  SA lifted the leveller in the air. An already sore throat, she spoke anyway. “Stay there!” The large room threw her voice back at her, and she balked at the sound of it. It had been so long since she’d heard it aloud. It sounded nothing like the one in her head.

  A mandulu at the head of the ever-increasing army used both its hands and pushed down on the air in front of it as it said, “Just calm down.” The dumb brute must have been one of their leaders.

  Fury started in SA’s toes and streaked up her. It exploded from her mouth while she jabbed her finger at the creature. Her voice broke from the strain. “Don’t you tell me to calm down.” She bit the pin from the leveller and spat it away. It hit the crystal floor with a light, but very audible ting. “I’m the one calling the shots here.”

  The mandulu dropped its attention to the floor and stepped back a pace. It then looked up at her again and waited. The imbecile clearly had no problem with following orders. Being one of Enigma’s soldiers, it obviously hadn’t been employed for its initiative.

  Not quite silence, but considering how many of them were in the room with more entering all the time, it was as good as. SA stood with the vast expanse of floor between them and watched the army’s numbers swell. She then stepped closer to the transmitter in the middle of the room. Pyramidical in shape, at least three metres tall, and made from metal and wires, it resembled a tipi.

  The constant stream of guards through the doors forced those at the front closer to SA as they elbowed and jostled for position. She waved the leveller in their direction. “I could drop this now. It’ll turn this room and the transmitter to dust. It’s what I’ve come here to do. I don’t want to kill all of you with it, but your safety isn’t my number one priority. I’m sure many of you have been brainwashed to think you’re doing the right thing working for Enigma, but I wouldn’t mind betting that many more are doing this work out of desperation. Whatever your reasons, this is your second chance. Pull back. Go home to your loved ones and start a new career. Again, I have no desire to hurt any of you, but nothing will stop me doing what I came here to do.”

  A slight smile twisted the dumb mandulu’s face. It pulled its shoulders back as it straightened its spine. It had the confidence of a gambler holding a royal flush. It had it all worked out. “What, you’ll blow yourself up too?”

  A glance over both its left and right shoulder at the army surrounding it, SA saw its confidence spread through the pack. Many of them raised their weapons as if they’d just gained the advantage.

  SA slipped her hand inside her top, retrieved one of the many knives in her tightly fitted harness, and threw it straight at the thing. Before the mandulu had time to move, the blade found its face and sank into it to the hilt.

  The room had been quiet before, but when the mandulu fell flat on its back—the slap of it hitting the ground going off like a thunderclap—it fell quieter still.

  A sharp pang turned through SA at having to kill the beast, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. If it took for her to kill one of them for the others to take her seriously, then the sacrifice was worth it. They had a minute until transmission, a minute to clear out the room, at the most. Hopefully Reyes had gotten far enough away. And Seb … She shook her head to banish the thought of him and blinked against the itch of tears burning her eyes. Her own feelings weren’t important. They had to serve the greater good. “I have more knives.” She pointed at the dead mandulu. “Anyone else want to go the way of that clown there?”

  Silence.

  “I didn’t think so. I suggest you back out of this room now before I have to force you out!”
>
  An instant bottleneck, the creatures turned and quietly shoved their way from the room.

  “Quicker!” SA said, her voice echoing again. “You have less than one minute before I blow this place sky-high.”

  Then SA saw it. As the army fought to get out of there, the smaller beings were shoved back and remained in the room. A creature no taller than Sparks, it looked even smaller from how it hunched because of the weight of the cannon on its back. It had milky white eyes and dark green leathery skin. It looked like it belonged at the bottom of a well, lurking amongst mossy green rocks. A pathetic beast, it cowered when she shouted, “You!”

  The creature slowly turned around, its off-white eyes wide on its small face.

  “Is that some kind of plasma cannon on your back?”

  A short sharp nod.

  “Drop it.”

  A quick twist, it slipped out of the cannon, left it on the floor, and took two steps back. It stared at her as if awaiting further instruction.

  “Now go!”

  SA waited for another ten to fifteen seconds, watching the creatures disperse while she tapped her foot to spend some of her impatience. Too much longer and she’d be too late to stop the broadcast. The gap between the closest soldier and the cannon now large enough for the weapon to be isolated, she jogged to it and picked it up, her focus on the army in case they tried anything stupid.

  The weight of the cannon surprised her, but it wasn’t so heavy she couldn’t lift it with one hand. Designed to be worn like a gauntlet, it had a sleeve, which she slid her arm into. The trigger sat at the end and she wrapped her finger around it.

  Fatigue, the weight of the weapon, and apprehension about what lay ahead made SA shake while aiming the thing at the wall to her right. She needed to see what it could do. After one last check on the army, she squeezed her trigger finger.

  The sound shook the walls as the cannon birthed a meteor of a blast. Unprepared for the recoil, SA flew backwards through the air, her feet lifting clean off the floor. The cannon in one hand, the pin-less leveller in the other, she didn’t let go of either as she sailed in a wide arc away from the shot. She landed, her shoulder blades hitting the floor first followed by the back of her head. It drove the wind from her body and left her ears ringing.

  When SA sat up, she saw how the cannon had torn through the palace. A tunnel of a hole ran through several rooms and gave her a view of the outside, the sun glistening off the stalt desert. How far did the blast go beyond the palace? It felt like she could send the next one into orbit if she wished.

  The army all watched her as she got to her feet, taking great care to keep her grip tight on the leveller. “What are you looking at? Get out of here for your own sake.”

  While the army continued to retreat, SA pulled in deep breaths to recover from her fall and aimed the cannon at the transmitter. This time she widened her stance and planted her feet. She gripped tight enough on the leveller to not drop it, even if she did get launched again. One final deep breath, she pulled the trigger.

  The thing kicked like swoink, damn near dislocating SA’s shoulder and sending her sliding back several metres, the soles of her boots scraping over the ground, but she remained upright. What had once been a transmitter now existed as a pile of metal and stalt dust. The red blast had travelled through it and punched a hole in the opposite wall to the one she’d done her test shot on. It too ran all the way through to the desert beyond.

  The army had stopped again. They didn’t need to be as urgent, not now she’d blown up the transmitter. But she still had an armed leveller. If only she’d seen the cannon earlier, she could have scared the army off with some well-aimed blades rather than the threat of going atomic. You couldn’t change your mind with a leveller. Once you’d taken the pin out, something had to get blown up.

  SA looked from left to right at the damage done by the plasma cannon. She’d just opened up two more entry points. How long before more of Enigma’s soldiers came at her from that way? “Now,” she said to the army, “I plan on getting out of this place alive. To do that, I need to stop you lot from chasing me. Do any of you have a problem with that? Do you intend to follow me when I run?”

  None of the creatures spoke. Who was she kidding? Of course they intended to follow her. Having their head turned to mist by the plasma cannon had to be better than anything Enigma would do to them if they didn’t give chase.

  While flicking the cannon at the soldiers to shoo them away—many of them flinching from her action—SA said, “Keep going. I want all of you out of this room, now.”

  She could take the grenade with her, but if she dropped it at the wrong moment, she’d be screwed. There were a lot of creatures to run away from. It wouldn’t be easy to protect the leveller during the chase. Yet, if she opened fire on them with the cannon, it wouldn’t drive them back; the recharge time made it ineffective for battle. Despite the damage she’d do with one shot, they’d rush her before she could get the next one off. Her advantage remained in the armed grenade. They knew what it could do—most beings in the galaxy knew what it could do. She just needed to find the best way to use it.

  As she watched the last of Enigma’s army move back through the doors they’d used to enter the room, SA looked at the balcony above them. She stepped back towards the door she’d used to enter the room.

  Now they’d all but cleared out, some of the soldiers remained in the doorways watching her.

  Another step back, SA kept her attention on them. They stayed put, although several of them gave away their intention by the way they leaned ever so slightly towards her. They were ready to charge the second she played her hand.

  Now close enough to the doors, SA stood a good chance of getting away even if the army did open fire. She shouted across the large room, “If you want to survive this, you’d best run. Now!” She wound her arm back before launching the leveller in a wide arc at the doorway where the army waited.

  For a second, SA’s heart beat in her throat as she watched the leveller fly through the air. It looked like it was going to fall short, but it made it. Just. It hit the railing running around the balcony above the door with a ting before falling over it to the other side. Those of the army who remained all looked up at where it had landed. Not that they’d be able to see it through the cloudy stalt floor above them. While they were distracted, SA spun on her heel and sprinted away from the room.

  Flat out, SA raised the cannon at the door she’d locked to prevent Reyes following her and pulled the trigger. The recoil felt like it could shatter her shoulder if she used the weapon many more times. But it did the trick, turning the door to dust.

  As she ran through the hole she’d just made, SA dropped her cannon and listened to the loud thunderclap of the leveller detonating in the transmitter room.

  The vibration from the explosion rattled SA’s vision, and her legs nearly went beneath her, but she fought against it with wobbly steps and kept running in the direction she’d seen Reyes go. The sound of collapse ripped and snapped around her. It wouldn’t be long before the entire place came crashing down.

  Chapter 2

  The sound of the collapsing palace followed on SA’s heels as a raging torrent. The bellowing wash of the shattering crystal told her it would tear her to shreds when it caught her. Despite her initial wobble, she’d now found her legs and opened up her stride. Although light-footed, the narrow and hard stalt mineral corridors still threw the sound of her steps back at her, a metronome to the cacophony of destruction racing after her.

  A left turn, then a right, then a left—the corridors all looked the same. No more than eight feet wide and ten feet tall, they had no features to distinguish the flat and plain walls of one section from the flat and plain walls of another. SA had no idea where she would end up; hopefully, she hadn’t already doubled back on herself. Driven by what chased her rather than a specific destination, as long as she ended up outside and remained ahead of the destruction, it didn’t matter.

>   When SA rounded the next corner, she found the way blocked by six to eight soldiers ranging from just over five feet tall to just over eight feet. A small group, but enough of them to block her way.

  The soldiers’ jaws fell quicker than they could draw their weapons. SA had a more level head than them. Before the leader of the pack could do anything other than stare at her—its wide, green, reptilian eyes almost glazed with its state of shock—she threw one of her knives at it without missing a step.

  The blade closed the few metres between them and struck true, straight in the centre of the brown-skinned thing’s face. Much like had happened with the mandulu, it sank to the hilt and turned the beast limp. The tall creature fell back.

  SA continued forward and leaped, feet first, at the falling brute. The soles of her boots slammed against the creature’s wide chest, speeding up its fall as she rode it down like a skater dropping their deck into a half-pipe.

  While the lizard’s body fell, SA threw three more blades. Like the one aimed at the leader, all of them struck true, each one hitting a soldier. Two took knives in the face; one, in the neck.

  Still at full speed, SA didn’t have time to draw any more blades before an explosion of light clattered into the side of her head. Because she’d been moving so quickly, she stumbled several steps past the trio of remaining soldiers before she fell, spreading her hands out in front of her to soften her fall.