Shadow of the Blue Ring by Jerome Kelly Page A

around the alliance.
    “Well have a good night anyway,” Morelli said to both James and Isha, “I’m off to find the rest of my delegation but I’ll try and find you around the place a bit later so we can all have a proper catch up.”
    “Hopefully we will,” said James, “enjoy you’re night, we’ll catch you soon.”
    Morelli was quick to disappear into the masses, several dozen pairs of eyes following her as she did so, leaving the two of them alone once more.
    “Well she’s certainly perked up a bit since we last saw her,” Isha commented, “it’s nice to see the attitude is gone too, I was afraid she would relapse to her old ways after the war.”
    “I think she was just misunderstood this whole time,” said James, “let’s be honest, we were all outcasts, rebels and troublemakers when we came together. Look at us now, alliance heroes and guests of honour at the biggest multi-race event since the founding of the new alliance. Come on, I want to see what they have on offer here tonight, I think we should check out the bars.”
    James surveyed the many offerings on show, drinks from all over the alliance. He made a note to avoid a particularly nasty looking Tolian drink, the name for which, another guest informed him, translated to the word ‘knockout’. For now, he was happy to settle for something a bit lighter to start the evening off, ordering himself something all the way from Naisus, which was known for producing an excellent quality of alcoholic beverages.
    “I have to admit, this local stuff isn’t bad,” Isha noted as she took a rather excessive sip for her glass, trying out some of the popular Churian wines.
    “You and me both,” said a familiar voice from behind them. James spun around to see a familiar face approaching the two of them.
    “James, I hoped I would run into you tonight,” said the imposing figure of Karlo Danero, the last surviving member of the famed Lorridan defence legion, “the old crew back together again for a night, it’s good to be back.”
    “Good to see you again Karlo,” James said, shaking Danero’s hand, wincing slightly at the strength of his iron grip, “how have you been?”
    “I’ve been Ok,” Danero replied, “honestly, I wasn’t sure how I would recover from everything that happened on Vulia but, after spending some time away from the military, things started to improve. I feel like my old self again now, I feel like I’m doing something good again too.”
    “Glad to hear it,” said James, “so if you haven’t gone back to the military, what have you been doing? I thought the military was your life?”
    “It still is, partly, I just wanted to stay off the front lines for a while,” Danero explained, “when I returned to Voronia, I appealed to our leaders to allow me to rebuild the Lorridan defence legion. They actually went one better, they funded a new academy in Lorridan to help train the very best young men and women we have. It’s an elite training centre that will bring through a new generation of soldier that will help defend the alliance all across the galaxy and I’m one of the lead trainers and the academy’s lead benefactor.”
    He had certainly done well for himself in the past years. James had always worried that Danero would struggle to get over what he had been through, the revolution, his exile on Dakora, watching his entire unit being torn apart before him and the death of his close friend Valeri Castellan. It was a lot for one man to bear but Danero was as tough as nails, he had survived the worst of it and things had become a lot better for him.
    “I see you’ve done fairly well for yourself too,” said Danero, “a captain in the Human fleet at such a young age, not many people gain such a position in such a short space of time.”
    “Just lucky I guess,” James shrugged, “it’s not like I ever asked Malaya to whisk me away and make me the captain of the her ship and lead the revolution.”
    “Well you