Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) (32 page)

Moran walked down the wide halls of Xiphos.
All the survivors had been thrilled to come here and were pulling
their weight. Each had been assigned a specific duty, and each and
every one of them did it without hesitation. Most had continued to
do what they’d been doing at his apartment, but new survivors had
trickled in each day, and he made sure they were put to work. Too
much still had to be done for any to sit around with the
crodillians out there.

No race was too good for any job. Pasts were
merely that, pasts. What they used to do no longer mattered. The
only thing that did was survival and that meant doing things some
may not want to do. Some races had approached him feeling they were
better off somewhere else, but he’d put them back in line. With the
rebellion on the horizon, there was no time for that attitude.

Every passing day new intelligence came in
on the crodillians, and each time it made him feel better. It
seemed they got more careless every day, and that gave Moran hope
that the rebels could win, even with being outnumbered. He’d take
precision and heart over sheer numbers any day. Bodies didn’t win
wars and neither did weapons. Determination and heart is what won
wars and he knew this was something his enemy didn’t fully grasp.
Sure, you could kill hundreds of rebels, but hundreds more would
come replace them. In the end, the side with the most heart would
win and that’d be his side.

Since moving to the base he’d sent out
several scouts, but the last one had almost been deadly. The races
had been tailed by crodillians all the way back to Xiphos. Luckily,
the snipers had seen it and were able to take the crodillians out,
but that had only been the beginning. More crodillians had arrived
several hours later, looking for their comrades and suffering the
same fate.

Since that scout, he hadn't sent out any
others, for fear they'd be found. The time for that was over. The
rebellion was looming and they needed to know where every
crodillians was, along with finding additional races to fight for
them. Everyone had seen the Queen's message and it had inflated the
confidence every race, especially those who’d gone into hiding.

He stopped in front of a group of races who
were cleaning weapons and checking vehicles to make sure everything
was functional.

“You guys up for doing something else for a
while?”

A young boy nodded and stood up. “What do
you need us to do General Borislav?”

He flinched at the word General. He didn't
like it, but it was how the entire base referred to him. “I need a
scout party to go out. We need to pick up a few hundred more
survivors before the rebellion starts.”

“Do you think it's going to start soon?” A
black Feleen asked.

“I believe so. Things appear to be coming
together on all the planets,” Moran nodded. “You guys up for
it?”

“Yeah!” The young boy responded.

“Take that vehicle,” Moran pointed towards a
big bus. “Get as many in there as you can. Don't drive it back
here, but get as close as you can and have them walk the rest of
the way. Keep going back out until you can't find anymore. I don’t
want any of our own left out there when this starts.”

“Yes sir!” The boy motioned all of the
others to follow.

He didn't have any problems getting anyone
to listen to him, even if it put their lives in danger. Scouting
was no easy or safe task, and they could've said no, but they
didn't. No matter the age, each race he spoke to was willing to lay
down their life.

The races he’d sent out to establish bases
had been just as selfless. Multiple reports flowed back from every
one of them, none reporting anything but success. Several more
bases had been set up on Gaea and at least three on every other
planet. The crodillians had let them enter peacefully, and were
just as careless on the other planets as they were here. They
thought they were invincible and that all the races were cowering
in the shadows from them, but they were making a fatal mistake. A
rebellion was being set up right under their noses and they were
too dumb to see it happening. Pride was blinding them and that
pride would end up killing them.

Jahdiel sat next to the Queen, listening to
Merikh, Kirill, and Abdul argue. Merikh was bent on killing Adira
and refused to heed the advice of the others. She was personally on
Kirill’s side because she’d seen the Queen’s true side. The side
she hadn’t known before being outcast and it made her want to lay
her own life down to save her and get her to the rebels. She’d
fallen in love with the selfless leadership, wishing she’d never
brought harm to this woman and the races she loved so dearly.

Unfortunately, all she’d known that past
fifteen years was death and destruction and it not only fueled her
to do regrettable things, it’d blinded her into destroying her true
home. The hate had dissipated, being replaced by remorse. Not only
was her leader going to kill an innocent woman, he was going to
kill millions of innocent races.

“She will die, Kirill!” Merikh slammed his
fist down. “She’s made me look weak, but when I kill her, I’ll
reassert my power and spread even more fear throughout Orion.”

“That's what she wants,” Kirill pleaded.
“Can you not see that she planned this all out?”

“I don't care if she planned it out! If her
wish is to die, then I'll grant it!”

“It'll spark rebellions all over Orion,”
Abdul warned. “It’s still peaceful right now, why not let it slide?
You'll be showing mercy and the races may believe you’ll hold true
to your promise of peace.”

“I won’t be seen as weak. If they want to
rebel, we’ll crush them like we did when we arrived. Every last one
of them will burn with their beloved planets.”

“If you kill her, you're going to give them
hope! It’ll fuel them to fight even harder. You'll be lighting a
fire that’ll be hard to extinguish,” Kirill said.

“If I kill her they will
lose
all
hope!” He protested. “How will they fight without a leader?”

“There’s already someone else leading them.
She said those things because there’s already a rebellion, they're
just hiding from you,” Abdul said. “One wrong move and they’ll
strike. They’re just waiting for you to do something.”

“Nonsense. If there was a rebellion, my men
would know.”

Jahdiel looked to the Queen who had a grin
on her face. How could she possibly be grinning now when they were
talking about killing her? It only made Jahdiel admire her even
more. She put her hand on the Queen's and gave a slight nod. She
wanted Adira to know that she’d forgiven her before she died. It
was the least she could do for such a selfless woman.

“I'm warning you. Do not kill Adira,” Kirill
said.

“You warn me?” Merikh stood, clenching his
fists and salivated from his long teeth. “And who are you to warn
me? You’re nothing more than a weak human.”

“I'm an ally!” Kirill stood up and bumped
chests with him. “We're in this together. If you screw up and start
a rebellion by killing the Queen, I suffer too!”

“So you're afraid of a little rebellion?”
Merikh mocked. “What about your invincible group of assassins? Why
don't they do something about it? You promised me they could stop
this from happening.”

“How are my few hundred supposed to stop
thousands that’ll you’ll surely stir up by killing their
leader?”

“So, they're not as strong as you claim?
Then let me worry about the rebellion! It's my forces that I'll use
to stop it, not yours!”

“You haven't finished controlling all of the
planets yet,” Abdul said. “Wouldn't it be wise to finish conquering
first? At least then, any rebellion would be minimal. You could
always kill her once you have firm control.”

“Yes,” Kirill nodded. “If we conquer the
remaining planets, we could possibly find the center of the
rebellion. If neither of our men have found it yet, it’s on one of
the remaining planets.”

Merikh thought for a moment. “How many
planets do we have left, Jahdiel?”

She looked up for the first time. “We have
four remaining planets. Apollo, Ares, Nesoi, and Plouton.”

“How fast can we take them over?” He
asked.

“I don't know,” she shrugged. “Depends if
you let me do it my way.”

“Whatever way is quickest,” he flicked his
hand and turned from her. “Do what you have to do. Just conquer
those remaining planets quickly.”

Jahdiel nodded and looked sadly to the
Queen, letting out a silent breath. Merikh started arguing with the
others again, oblivious to the Queen whispering something to
Jahdiel.

“I
will
kill the Queen when the
remaining planets have been conquered. You all have only delayed
her death.”

“It was the right thing to do, Merikh,”
Kirill said. “If they want to rebel, we need to be in
full
control. Acting too soon could be the end of us.”

“We'll be in full control very soon, don’t
you worry about it.”

Merikh waved at Jahdiel, dismissing her from
the room to take the Queen back to the dungeons. Somehow, Kirill
and Abdul had delayed the Queen's death, but she knew that it
wouldn't be for long. When Merikh wanted to do something, he did
it. He was starting to get a bit careless, and more like the other
crodillians. Or had he been like this the whole time and she just
hadn't noticed until now? She’d become no more than a tool in his
plan and no longer seemed like an integral part of anything he did,
so maybe that’d opened her eyes to his true ways. He’d exhausted
his use for her, and she could see the same happening to Adira.
Unfortunately for him, killing Adira would be his one fatal
mistake. It would fuel the rebellion far more than Merikh wanted to
believe. There was just something about Adira that inspired as
sense of hope. Her death would bring a fury that even his forces
wouldn't be able to stop.

Pyrrhus stood at the podium in the Debate
Hall which was packed with leaders standing shoulder to shoulder.
Since the Princess' arrival they’d all been working diligently to
pull their weight and impress their new leader. Each group was
working on a specific part of the battle plan, and when all were
completed, everything would be brought together. Pyrrhus knew he
never could've come up with this battle strategy on his own, no
matter what any of the other leaders said. It was a group effort,
starting with Anlon and the Princess, and then through all of the
leaders. Everyone wanted to survive, and they had all put
differences aside to ensure everyone’s survival.

“Our final plan has been put together,”
Pyrrhus informed them. “You all acted quickly and I thank you for
that. You’ve taken my original plan, and have improved it a hundred
fold. What we have now, is the war plan that will lead us to
victory!” He pumped his fist, gaining some cheers from the crowd.
“It
is
risky, but I believe that it’s the only way that
we’ll win this war.”

“When they come to Ares, they’ll have fallen
into our trap!” Gidon said. “There will be no way for them to
escape us!”

There were more cheers from the crowd and a
lot of smiles as Pyrrhus looked around. Much had changed since he
first arrived, but it was due to more than just him. They’d worked
together in a time of need, instead of against each other as was so
common in politics. They’d all realized the urgency of the
impending invasions and did the right thing for their galaxy.

“They’ve been taking over planets with two
fleets while leaving two back at Hera. We’ll only face one, no
matter
how
many they send here at first,” Pyrrhus told them.
“The rebellion forces that we’ve set up throughout Orion will act
to our advantage, especially those on Hermes and Gaea. Zarah and
Moran have been leading them well and have reported nothing but
stellar progress since my departure. When the crodillians send
their ships to attack us here, we’ll unleash the rebellion on
every
planet in Orion. They’ll have to choose how to
proceed, and we’ll deceive them into the wrong choice,” Pyrrhus
looked around the room and saw that he had the undivided attention
of every leader. “When they arrive here, we’ll only show them fifty
of our ships. The rest will be hidden using our stealth fields
behind the enemy. When they hear of the large rebellions on other
planets, they’ll surely leave only one fleet here to deal with the
small number of ships they see. Little do they know, that’s exactly
what we want them to do. Once there is one fleet left, we’ll
engage, then retreat to the planet,” he looked to Gidon. “We’ll
bring the fight to the land where the rebels will be at an
advantage. They’ll use the forests as cover when we tell the
crodillians we surrender. We’ll lure the monsters to the forests
where the battle for Ares will begin. The moment we strike the
ground forces, we’ll strike their ships in space. Our ships still
hidden under stealth will converge to their commanding ship and
take it over. There will be close to two hundred to do the job, and
with a majority of the crodillians fighting on Ares, there won’t be
many left to defend their ship from the ambush.”