Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) (14 page)

Kanti glared at Falcone. “Yes, Zimran, we
think that you may be able to help us tremendously.”

“I'm not all that sure there is anything we
can do for you that would help you defeat them. We just keep
records of histories, nothing else.”

“We just need to know how you did it the
first time,” Camillus said. “And whatever else you may know about
them. We know nothing and have lost almost all of our forces trying
to stop them. Even the smallest bit of information will go a long
way.”

“We have heard of their recent arrival,”
Zimran nodded. “But the Queen has also requested peace. Not too
long ago either, if I’m correct.

“You know the histories better than any of
us, do the crodillians really want peace?” Camillus asked.

Zimran stroked his chin. “The histories
would say otherwise. They’ve proven to be a violent race throughout
their history here.”

“Then we need your help,” Kanti pleaded.
“Anything that will help us defeat the crodillians.”

“I will speak to the others,” Zimran nodded.
“I’ll come back once I have gathered them all and we can all speak
together. You will get all the information you need, if we have
any.”

“Thank you,” Nimesha smiled. “We can't
defeat them without your help.”

Zimran nodded and slowly walked out of the
room. Anlon and the others stood quietly, anxious for him to
return. If they weren't able to tell them anything useful, then
Orion could very well be doomed. Anlon was sure they knew
something, the crodillians couldn't have changed that much since
the last war.

“Settle down!” Kirill ordered. “I have
pressing matters to discuss with you, and every one of you needs to
listen carefully to what I tell you.”

The members of the Deimos Brotherhood
instantly quieted down. Kirill stood above all of them and looked
over the crowd. He’d brought every one of his men, and women, back
from whatever missions they had been on to be here. Since the
crodillians had invaded Orion, there hadn’t been much work to be
carried out anyway.

“As you are all well aware, a race called
the crodillians had magically appeared in Orion and are currently
destroying the entire galaxy.” Boos and shouts came from the crowd.
Kirill held his hands up to quiet them down so he could finish.
“But there is also something that you are unaware of,” he paused a
moment to make sure that everyone was paying attention. “They’re
coming here, to our base, to capture me and kill anyone that tries
to stop them.” Kirill let them start talking amongst themselves for
a moment. The assassins all turned to each other, confused, and
then back to Kirill, waiting for more. “Donnchadh has called me and
said he’s personally leading the mission for my capture. He
requested that I turn myself over peacefully so his new leader,
Jahdiel, may kill me with her own hands. He also said if anyone as
much as raises a finger in protest, he’ll launch an attack to
obliterate Erebos entirely.”

Kirill grinned to himself. He could see the
anger growing on the faces of his assassins and knew he would be
able to easily fool the crodillians too. He was making Donnchadh
look like a ruthless traitor and that's exactly what he’d hoped
for. None of the assassins needed to know Donnchadh’s true plans.
That information wasn’t any of their business. It was for him, and
him alone, to know.

“I believe we should listen to him and
surrender peacefully.” Boos and shouts from the crowd erupted once
again, this time much louder than before. There were even some
shouting to kill Donnchadh and to attack the crodillians at first
sight. “We won't be prisoners!” Kirill shouted over the noise.
“We’ll make Donnchadh look like the traitor he is. He should've
never have contacted me, now we’ll use it against him. They should
be arriving here very soon, and we’ll be waiting for them, unarmed.
We’ll tell the crodillians he wanted us to attack them and take
them out. And why wouldn't they believe it?” He looked around the
room. “How else would we know they would be here unless he gave us
a warning? They’re a strong opponent, but will be an even stronger
ally!” Kirill pumped his fist in the air. “We won't attack them.
Our surrender will prove we respect them and it will gain us an
indispensable ally! We’ll show them what we can do and leave them
no choice but to side with us. Finally, we’ll be on top, unlike the
rest of the races of Orion who are cowering in fear. Soon, they
will fear not just the crodillians, but us. We will
rule
them!”

The races pumped their fists in the air and
started cheering. He could see he’d easily fooled every one of
them. If there were flaws in his speech, none of them had picked up
on them. All they cared about in the end was killing and wielding
power. If surrendering meant they could ultimately live to kill
more, he knew they would have no problem with it. It was how he’d
trained them, and why he’d personally exterminated any he thought
straying from the path he laid for them.

“Everyone go on the other side of the lava
lake now,” Kirill ordered. “We’ll wait for our new allies to arrive
and show them how eager we are to work with them. Leave all weapons
here, give them no doubt that our only intentions are to work with
them.”

The room quickly cleared out as the races
made their way to the other side of the lava lake. They were all
using the path that traveled underneath the lake, exiting through a
secret passageway on the other side. Before Kirill could follow
them all out through the tunnel, he was stopped by Ulisse. The
arachnid was intentionally lagging behind the others.

“This isn't right Kirill,” Ulisse told him.
“We're betraying one of our own.”

“Donnchadh?” Kirill almost chuckled. “He’s
no longer one of us.”

“He is,” Ulisse insisted. “We left him
behind to die on Hera, but he survived. It’s partly my fault he’s
not here with us right now. We shouldn't be betraying him like this
now, even if he is coming to attack us. He warned us. Donnchadh is
trying to help us, not kill us.”

“He's coming here to send me to a sure
death
along with anyone who opposes him.”

“But he warned you he was coming,” Ulisse
said. “He saved all of our lives by giving us a chance to leave and
now we're going to take his?”

“Would you rather see me die and him
live?”

“No,” Ulisse shook his head. “But I don't
think we should lie to the crodillians so that they kill him
instead. We don’t need to mention him at all.”

“Ohh, Ulisse,” Kirill placed his hand on
arachnid’s hairy body. “Donnchadh should already be dead, so what
does it
really
matter if they kill him? Don't you think that
we
are more deserving to live? We’re stronger than he is.
We’re willing to do things he isn't.”

“What makes you think that the crodillians
won't kill us after they kill him?”

“I don't know if they’ll let us live, but if
we're alive, wouldn't you rather
not
be one of their
enemies?”

Ulisse thought a moment. “If we betray
Donnchadh now, what's to say another one of our own won't betray us
somewhere down the line later?”

“We're not betraying him, Ulisse. We're
using him as a means to survive. We don't know if they'll kill him
anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves. The crodillians said
they're being merciful right now. I'm sure they'll give him some
type of fair trial.”

“You've seen what they've done. You can't
honestly believe that.”

“Look, Ulisse,” Kirill began to glare.
“You're either with me or you're not. Just know now that lying
about Donnchadh is the only way you'll survive. If all of a sudden
you want to be a hero, then go ahead and try to save him, but don't
say I didn't warn you of the consequences. Men like us have to make
hard decisions, and trust me when I say this is one of the hardest
I’ve had to make.”

“Okay,” Ulisse nodded with a slight sigh. “I
guess I understand. It's just, I knew him so well.”

“He's different now,” Kirill lied. “He wants
us all dead, even if he did warn us. If you don't go along with
this, he'll have you killed without a second thought. I can see the
look in his eyes, it’s changed. He’s always been overly ambitious,
and now, he’s seizing the opportunity to take out the only threat
standing in his way.”

Ulisse nodded and left the room to meet the
others at the lake. Kirill stayed behind so he could walk down the
tunnel alone. He figured some races might be against what he was
doing, but he didn't care. This was his best chance at getting what
he wanted. No assassin would get in his way. If Ulisse hadn't
agreed, he would've killed him on the spot and left his body to
rot. It wouldn't have been any harder of a decision than it was to
lie about Donnchadh's true intentions.

“Jahdiel, we’re a couple of minutes from
arriving at Ovrea,” the approached her from behind.

“Excellent,” she looked out of the window
with her arms behind her back. “Make sure that all of the fighters
and bombers are manned, ready to attack at my command. I want there
to be no delay if things look like they’re going to turn against
us.

“Yes ma'am,” the Captain nodded and left her
alone.

She still wasn't pleased that Merikh hadn't
wanted to even consider her plan. She’d been listening in to
reports of the planets they’d already assumed control of and there
weren't even the slightest signs of rebellion. The races of Orion
had given up. A fight against the crodillians was hopeless and
everyone could see it clear as day. There was no way Merikh wasn’t
seeing the same thing she was, but for some reason he was being
passive. Usually, he gave her a nod for whatever she wanted to do,
but lately that wasn't the case. Things were beginning to change
between the two of them, and she didn’t like the feeling of it. It
was as if she had been a pawn, not a leader, and her use was almost
up.

Jahdiel felt the ship decelerate from
sonodrive and she shifted her attention back to the window. Ovrea
loomed in front of her. A planet that could be called hell if it
were frozen. It was the last place she’d want to lead any type of
rebellion.

She looked down to the crodillians below
her. “Order the bombers to depart. Start looking for places to land
on Ovrea.”

The crodillians below her quickly sent
orders to the pilots and it wasn't long before a stream of ships
were speeding towards the frozen planet. It was one of the least
likely planets of them all to rebel due to the frigid temperatures.
It was crystal white with hues of light blue peeking through the
layers of ice and storm clouds were scattered in clusters all over
the planet. This wouldn't be one of the planets that she landed on,
she hated the cold. She would just take the crodillians' word on it
and leave a few hundred unlucky ones to freeze away.

“The bombers are reporting no rebelling
ma'am,” one of the crodillians shouted up to her.

“Have they established control in any towns
or cities yet?”

“No ma'am, I don't believe so,” another
replied, pouring through feeds on the screen in front of him.
“They're still looking for signs of life. I’ll have them circle
back around to see if they've missed anything. It looks like a very
treacherous planet to live on.”

Jahdiel waited patiently in her seat,
awaiting the next update. She knew it would take them awhile,
especially if the races were in hiding which was very likely. The
temperatures were a good reason to hide, but the crodillians were
an even better reason.

“We’ve just located a city,” a crodillian
reported. “They’ve come out of their homes and are standing outside
with their hands in the air. It appears they’re giving themselves
up.”

“Yes. They're surrendering,” Jahdiel said
under her breath. “Land some bombers in the city and take control
of it. If this city is surrendering without a fight, the rest will
too.”

“Would you like us to dispatch fighters to
add to the numbers looking for cities?”

“No,” Jahdiel shook her head. “We can't
overtake every city here. We'll just establish ourselves at a few
and move on to the next planet. The only reason we’re here is to
make our presence known.”

“We haven't received any other reports of
cities found yet. It could be some time.”

“You will in time, just be patient,” she
said. “There is nowhere else for us to go for the time being. We
can wait until they’ve found enough cities to establish
strongholds.”

Jahdiel pulled out her comlink and called
Merikh. Usually, she wouldn't do this until she was sure the planet
was taken over, but she’d seen no reason it wouldn’t be. She wanted
him to know that she’d been right, and that he’d been wrong. There
was no rebellion and there would never be a rebellion. His answers
would reveal his true feeling towards her. If she was just being
used, she’d be able to tell very quickly from his tone and
responses, though she wouldn't mention anything about it. She had
no true friends, she hadn't for years. Acquaintances were all she
had and they were all loyal to Merikh, one slip of the tongue and
she'd surely be dead.