Shadow of the Blue Ring by Jerome Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

the envy of pretty much every woman there tonight.
    “Well look at you,” she said, seeing James in his new suit for the first time, “aren’t you looking smart.”
    “And look at you too,” James said back to her, “you look amazing, I’m almost lost for words.”
    “Well you had better find some soon, you know Ravenn will make you stand up and speak at some point,” Isha grinned.
    “He’ll just want a few words on the good old days,” said James, “it’s nothing I can’t handle, I’m sure he wont expect me to have an essay prepared… I hope”
    He had a few words in mind, he would be pretty much prepared for anything that was thrown at him. It was not like he could embarrass himself, he was already thought of as an alliance hero, a few words at a party wouldn’t change anything, or at least that was what he hoped.
    Locking up their room, James and Isha made their way down to the front of the hotel where the many transports to take the guests to the main event were waiting. The real event was shortly to begin.
    *     *     *     *     *
    Ravenn had indeed outdone himself for the evening, the transports that carried the guests to the grand hall of Lahara were nothing less than the most luxurious Churian equivalents of a limousine. The vast majority of the guests had already arrived and were making their way towards the magnificent Grand Hall of Lahara, a building that dwarfed everything around it and was quite honestly, the finest construct in the entire city.
    “I can honestly say that tonight really is going to be a night to remember,” James said as he observed the grand Hall, “I don’t think Ravenn could have picked a better spot if he tried.”
    The Grand Hall was a massive golden-orange building constructed at the centre of one of the many tropical gardens in the city. There was a large stream of guests heading into the hall from the transport hub nearby, many of them the darker skinned Churians but a healthy scattering of the lighter skinned members of the other races among them. One of them in particular caught James’s eyes and he had caught hers too.
    “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Exclaimed an excitable Loca Morelli, “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”
    “Good to see you Loca,” James said, giving her the complimentary hug, “and don’t worry, there was no way I was going to miss this one, the entire Vulian armada couldn’t have stopped me being here. I was hoping I’d run into you here too.”
    If James was not a married man, he would have had difficulties resisting the temptations of this woman, even she had outdone herself this this time. She was kitted out in a wonderfully stylish black dress that highlighted every one of her near-perfect features. She would be commanding a fair amount of attention over the course of the evening.
    “So… Six years huh?” Said Morelli, “time really has flown by hasn’t it? How have you been?”
    “I’ve been Ok I suppose,” James replied, “things haven’t been easy back home, what with the rebuilding efforts and everything that goes with it. How about you? What happened to you after you got back to Voronia?”
    “Straight back to work, not a day’s break,” said Morelli, “had to start from scratch pretty much, the chimera plans were still aboard the Morning Star when it went down so I lost pretty much everything I had been working for. I guess I thought I wasn’t coming back from that mission and I probably wouldn’t be needing them again. Oh well, I’m working on some new projects now, hopefully I’ll have them ready by the end of the year.”
    Morelli’s chimera suits had probably been the only reason any of them were still alive now. Their protective qualities had helped them survive against impossible odds on the surface of Vulia and live to finish their mission to overthrow the Vulian hierarchy. It was a shame the plans had been lost but with Morelli’s technical