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

by Michael Robertson

  But still none of it made sense. Reyes and Chan had been through training together. They’d gotten on well for the first day or two before it turned sour. Something in Chan changed and she’d spent the past few years trying to understand exactly what. Hell, she’d asked her enough times. Maybe, at first, she didn’t realise who Reyes’ dad was. She might have been the only person on the Crimson Destroyer who didn’t.

  After the crash on Q328, their relationship had worsened still. Not that Reyes had felt like it in any way, but she returned from that mission a hero. It turned their already rocky relationship positively mountainous.

  Most of the time Reyes found it in herself to rise above Chan’s attacks, but the more Chan went for her, the deeper she got under her skin. In a strange way, she knew Reyes as well as any of the other Marines did. She saw her insecurities and took great pleasure in making sure Reyes knew she saw them. The second they came back from Q328, Chan noticed the deepest wound of the lot. While there, Reyes had been inside the crashed shuttle and watched many Marines die before she worked out how they could escape the cove. A sharper mind would have found a solution sooner.

  While letting go of a hard sigh, Reyes slumped in her seat. The heavy expulsion of air did nothing to drive away the nauseating tug of failure and loss sitting inside her like a tumour. She’d take her guilt to the grave.

  Just short of thirty commandos in the briefing room, Reyes watched the final few take their seats on the hard plastic chairs. A room like many others in the Crimson Destroyer, it was a cold and bleak gunmetal grey. To look at the surroundings made the hard chair feel harder. She squirmed where she sat, a cold chill snapping a shiver through her. With another look at Patel, who glanced back, she said, “What do you think this is about?”

  “I thought you might know.”

  “Come on, Patel, you’ve been on a mission with my dad and me. You’ve seen how he talks to me. If he has something he needs to keep secret, you can guarantee I’ll be the absolute last person to know about it. He goes harder on me because I’m his daughter.”

  Despite him witnessing it first-hand on Q328, Patel raised his eyebrows. “He makes a show of going harder on you, but everyone can see how much he loves you.”

  The slap of the WO’s awkward steps entered the room, cutting off Reyes’ protests. Most of the Marines in there turned to watch the old vet make his way to the front. Reyes felt Chan watching her.

  A grizzled scowl as he surveyed the room, the man held himself like someone who knew their worth to their employer. A maverick, how he presented himself didn’t matter because of his experience. In fact, he wore his ruggedness as a hard-won badge of pride. After what he’d given in service, he’d earned the right to look how the hell he liked.

  Other than the awkward beat of the officer’s gait, the room had fallen silent. The wide eyes of every Marine watched him make his way down the aisle between the seats. As he passed by some of the rookies, they curled away from him and averted their gaze.

  He walked to the front before he stopped and faced them. The room watched him in silence. He did a slow scan of all the faces there. He looked from left to right and back again. For every Marine he looked at, his scowl deepened as if each face raised his level of disgust at what sat in front of him. When he spoke, Reyes noticed half of the room jump at his gruff voice. “This has come onto our radar.”

  It took the click of the small remote in his hand before Reyes even realised he had a hold of one. At the press of the button, footage of a ship appeared. It filled the wide screen at the front of the room. Obsidian-like black, it moved slowly, floating in space as if it had no purpose. Comprised of three cylinders that looked like horizontal silos, the largest of the three sat in the centre as what must have been the main part of the ship. The two smaller ones on either side were attached so they sat slightly farther back. Each silo had a conical end as if it would help to cut through space. The backs of the two smaller silos had large boosters on them. It looked like the kind of ship a child would make from used toilet rolls.

  As still as the ghostly ship itself, the entire room watched it in silence. As it passed the camera, Reyes read the side of it, her lips mouthing the ship’s name, The Faradis. It travelled through space like a sleeping whale at the bottom of an ocean. Reyes gulped dry air to watch it.

  “We don’t know who this ship belongs to or where it’s come from,” the WO said. “It’s not a shape we recognise as being built in any region we know. We’ve scanned it for life forms and found nothing.”

  While holding up the remote, he said, “Normally we’d assume the crew had all died out and this ship had been floating for some time. But something about this one doesn’t sit right.”

  The next image he brought up on the screen showed the other side of the ship. From the zoomed-in shot of a row of windows, Reyes saw the red glow of emergency lighting inside. “These lights make us think something has been on here recently. That something has happened to the crew. If the ship had been abandoned for a long time, the lights would be off by now. But like I said, when we ran a heat scan on it, we couldn’t find any signs of life.”

  When Reyes glanced across at Chan again, she met the small Marine’s harsh glare. Although she felt the swell of her own aches and bruises, it pleased her to see the blood clinging to Chan’s nostrils and the blotchy impact marks on her face. At least she’d gotten a few licks in. Despite her hammering heart, she tried to keep any sign of her emotion from her stare. She didn’t care whether Chan was pissed with her or not. Two years was a long time for her to learn not to give a shit anymore.

  The warrant officer’s voice pulled Reyes’ attention back to the front of the room. “If I had my way, we’d be going onto this ship with an experienced team, but it looks like we’ve been caught with our pants down, so I’m going to have to take some of you on there with me.”

  He’d as good as said it already, but when he said, “So who wants to come?” Reyes’ stomach sank. Could she go on another mission like the one they’d only recently come back from? Could she watch more of the people she cared about die if things went tits up again?

  Chapter 12

  “You coming?” Patel said to Reyes. Like many of the Marines in the room, he’d gotten to his feet and looked like he wanted to leave.

  Her attention on her dad, Reyes shook her head. “I’ll catch up with you.”

  After driving a hard pat against her back, Patel moved off with the others towards the room’s exit.

  Reyes watched her friend’s back for a few seconds. She then scanned the room to find Chan staring straight at her. The same malice she always wore, this time it had a caricature twist to it because of her swollen and puffy eyes. She’d have at least one shiner when it all settled down, hopefully, a matching pair.

  Despite the six Marines behind her, Chan stopped dead in the gangway leading out of there. “What are you grinning at?” Her voice cut through the low murmur of exiting Marines, and they all stopped to look.

  Reyes hadn’t realised she’d been smiling. She didn’t try to change it now she’d had it pointed out to her.

  Chan moved a step closer to Reyes and threw a sharp shrug through her shoulders. “Well?” Several of the Marines behind her leaned around the queue and stared at the small Asian American as if their silent aggression would make her move. They’d have to be more overt than that if they wanted the stubborn woman to get out of their way.

  No point in hiding it—especially as she now had an audience—Reyes laughed. “Your face. It looks like I’ve given you at least one black eye. You’ll be looking like a panda in the morning, sweetheart.”

  Hicks cleared his throat at Chan, who turned to glare at him, tutted, and then returned her attention to Reyes. She pointed at her own face. “You wish you did this to me. This is from the game of murderball.”

  Even in the low light of the briefing room, Reyes watched Chan turn red. It looked like she struggled to hold on to the lie. “Really? I didn’t see you get a
ny of the ball. I assumed because of that, you weren’t in the game much. I thought the only action you saw was when I slammed into you to stop you tackling Patel. Oh, and your little outburst after the game had finished and everyone else had lowered their guard.”

  A tightening of her lips, Chan looked like she was going to reply before Julius shoved her in the back. The tallest Marine there, Julius loomed over her. “Come on, Chan, get out of the way. Stop airing your dirty laundry in public.”

  “Screw you, Julius.”

  The full six feet and six inches of Julius’ frame swelled. A wall of a woman, her broad shoulders rose when she clenched her fists. Her thick jaw tightened. Her large diaphragm delivered her words with the force of a kick drum. “Stop being a prick, Chan, and move!”

  Although Chan tutted, some of her tension left her small frame; even she had to accept she couldn’t win the argument with Julius. Not many of the Marines there could, including the warrant officer. Despite moving off in the direction of the exit, she continued to glare at Reyes.

  Because Chan had taken the time to stop and argue with Reyes, she and the line of Marines behind her were the last ones to leave the room. As the final one walked out, Reyes turned to watch her dad stare into space for a few seconds before he glanced over and raised his eyebrows.

  He then walked over to Reyes and sat down beside her, releasing a hard groan as he eased into the seat.

  The briefing room also doubled as a cinema during times of rest. It had a screen at the front, rows of seats, and low lighting—perfect for watching movies. For the next few seconds, the pair of them stared ahead like they were watching the latest release. Reyes finally broke the silence. “I don’t like the look of this mission.”

  Never one to reply immediately, her dad waited for a few seconds. He’d always told her the first response was rarely the best one, and he’d learned that the hard way. Impetuous as a child, he’d got himself into a lot of sticky situations of his own making. He finally said, “It’ll be fine.”

  “Thanks for the chat, Dad. I feel better now.”

  Had Reyes shown such disrespect in front of the other Marines, he would have ripped her a new arsehole. Alone, she was still his little girl. The others never saw this side of him, but from what Patel had just said to her, they all knew it to be there.

  “It’s an empty ship,” her father said. “Something’s probably happened to the crew. When we get on board, we’ll no doubt see it all makes sense and there’s nothing to worry about. You never know, we might get some new tech out of it too.”

  “Maybe they’re all dead on there.”

  “It’s a possibility. In fact, I’d be willing to bet they are. But if that’s the case, they’re still no threat to us. It’s a good battle to go into when your enemy’s inanimate.”

  “Unless what’s killed them is still on there.”

  Another pause, the warrant officer turned to look at his daughter. Deep lines dominated his heavy features as he frowned at her, the darkness of the room only showing Reyes shadows where his eyes were. “Weren’t you listening? We can’t detect any movement on the ship. There’s nothing on there.”

  “What if the cause of their death is chemical?”

  “What? Like a leak or something?” He shook his head. “We’ve tested the air and it’s perfectly safe. Whatever’s caused The Faradis to be the way it is, I don’t think it poses any threat to us now. Are you still shaken up from the last mission?”

  “You’re not?”

  The warrant officer drew a deep sigh and scratched his thick stubble. The noise of him rubbing his coarse hairs sounded out so loud it damn near echoed in the now nearly empty room. “When you get to my age and have as many years in the Marines as I have, there are very few things that rattle you. I hate that our brothers and sisters died on my watch, but we did the best we could. We need to focus on the ones we saved. The Faradis will be a walk in the park compared to what we had to deal with on Q328.”

  Despite the words coming from his mouth, Reyes heard how his voice cracked. As their leader, he had to be strong.

  Many of the Marines didn’t know the other side of him. They saw him as a humourless man who always got the job done. Someone they could rely on, but not someone they wanted to be around. Reyes knew him better than that. In the silence that followed, she smirked.

  “What?” he said.

  Although her smile widened, she batted his question away with a wave of her hand. “Oh, nothing.”

  “You can’t say that now. What are you smiling at?”

  “I was just thinking about the chats we used to have at home. Whenever I had a hard time at school, you’d sit beside me on my bed and tell me everything would be fine. I’d believe you, too.”

  “And it always was, wasn’t it?”

  “Mostly, yeah. I love how you tried to fix things for me. To take away my stress and carry the burden yourself.”

  “Isn’t that what a dad should do?”

  “Sure, I just wish you’d let it work both ways sometimes. Let me help you once in a while. Soon you’ll have to.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re no spring chick.” Before he could reply, she added with a wry smile, “It won’t be long before I’ll have to wash out your bedpan, Granddad.”

  “Granddad?!” He reached across and laid a hand against her stomach. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  The humour left her and heat flushed Reyes’ cheeks. As much as she wanted to say yes, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning away from him. Now wasn’t the right time. As she stared at the dark wall beside her, the sting of tears itched her eyes. “Yeah, right,” she said, “like that’s going to happen.” She never took the conversation past that point. Just the thought of it made her tremble.

  Reyes’ dad turned away from her and looked straight ahead at the invisible movie again. After he’d drawn another deep sigh and let it go, he said, “I’ll have your back if you choose to come on board The Faradis.”

  “But?”

  “I want you to stay here.”

  “What?!”

  “I don’t want you coming onto this ship with me.”

  “I thought you said it’s going to be a walk in the park?”

  “I’m not the kind of man to talk about my feelings, sweetheart, you know that. Especially when I feel scared.”

  “You’re scared?”

  Clearly still carrying much from their crash on Q328, the WO’s eyes glazed as he looked at her. “I still sneak into your room to check you’re breathing at night. You know that?”

  It took the words from Reyes’ mouth.

  “That fear that I’ll lose you has never left me.” He stared down at his clasped hands, his thick knuckles white from how tightly he gripped. “It got worse after Mum died.” He looked back up at her, his piercing blue eyes moving from one of hers to the other as if he tried to look into them both at the same time. There was a softness to his voice she didn’t often hear, and a tear ran down his cheek. She’d not seen him cry since they’d buried her mum. “I’d just prefer it if you stayed here.”

  “What aren’t you telling me about this ship?”

  “Nothing. I’ve told you everything I know. Besides, if someone told me they had a bad feeling, I’d tell them I dealt with facts, not feelings. I can’t pull an easy mission based on a bad feeling.” He got to his feet. “It’s your choice, sweetheart.”

  While watching him walk from the room, Reyes’ vision blurred. One of these days she’d find the courage to tell him what she needed to. One of these days she’d be brave enough to be able to hear his response.

  Chapter 13

  Despite the reminder of yet another wasted opportunity to talk to her dad, Reyes had been lifted by the conversation with him and walked into the arena feeling a bit lighter than before. On the Crimson Destroyer they were rarely alone in the same place together for long enough to connect. She missed the talks they’d shared when she was a teenager. As guil
ty as she’d felt for him putting his career on hold after her mum had died, she’d had him to herself back then. For most of the time now she saw him as the warrant officer, and he saw her as another damn rookie. Occasionally they went so long without connecting to one another, she would question if that was all they were.

  Then Reyes looked across the murderball court at the Marines gathered there, waiting to go with him on this mission. Could she really stay behind while they went? But it would make her dad happy, and it hadn’t been long since they’d returned from Q328.

  Two lines of Marines stood in the middle of the large metal hall. A quick count showed her eight in one line and seven in the other—sixteen of them, including her dad at the front. Many of the survivors from Q328 were there: Patel, Simpson, Singh, Holmes, Austin, and Platt. If they had it in them to go, surely she needed to find the resolve too. But the WO hadn’t asked them to stay. As she stepped closer, the entire room turned to look at her, including the group of Marines who stood over to one side. The wallflowers who were staying behind.

  Before any of the other Marines could speak, her father barked his words out, his loud voice exploding through the cavernous steel room. “What we have here should be more than enough.” A look at the group at the side of the hall, he said, “The rest of you need to be ready to get us off The Faradis when we need it. Your role back here will be as important as ours on the ship.”

  Although the warrant officer addressed the group by the wall, many of the Marines lined up in front of him threw momentary glances at Reyes as if expecting her to join them. A dead weight in her legs and with a heavy heart, she trudged over to the group who were staying. It broke her father from his speech for the briefest of moments as he watched her. The slightest of nods, it was about the closest he came to a smile. He then carried on; not that she listened to what he said.