Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) (33 page)

Cheers and smiles emerged from all over the
Debate Hall. It was a very risky plan, but none seemed to care.
They truly believed it was the only way to win this war, even if it
meant they could possibly die. There were thousands of rebels on
Ares, but they still lacked numbers to fight the crodillians head
on. The city was well defended, but they weren't going to fight in
the city, they were fighting in the forests for one more advantage.
A lot of lives would be lost, but there would be many more
crodillians fatalities, he was sure of it.

“The rebels in the ships will kill all the
crodillians and take control. Once they’ve accomplished that,
they’ll send down half of their ships to assist with the battle on
the land. They’ll take out any crodillian ships overhead and then
fight side by side with all rebels on the ground. The crodillians
may be strong, but we’ll see just how strong they are without their
ships and Commander. This is our land, our home, and we won’t let
them take it easily. Once we have defeated them here, we must
quickly go to Gaea and Hermes. They too will be under attack, and
though I believe they can hold up while we fight our battle here, I
don't think they'll survive without our help,” he paused a moment
to take a drink of some water before continuing. “We’ll use the
captured command ship to our advantage. We’ll travel to Gaea in it,
and catch the command ship there by surprise. We’ll exterminate any
crodillians on the ground and assist with getting the injured
medical care on the ship. The base there isn’t as well hidden as on
Hermes, and I fear they may lose many lives.”

He looked up to see that many of the smiles
had washed off the faces of the races. They were now realizing for
the first time that
many
innocent lives would be lost. There
was little that they could do to save those lives except hope the
battle on Ares was a quick one. If not, Ares' races could be the
lone survivors of this war.

“After we’ve defeated the crodillians there,
we’ll go to Hermes and do the same. Hopefully, the command ship
there won't have heard of our surprise attack, though we’ll be
prepared if they have. Zarah will undoubtedly lead the rebels
strongly until we arrive, and once we're there, we’ll help her
finish off the crodillians. That will leave one enemy fleet left.
Hera’s. We’ll take it back by brute force. We’ll kill their leader
and reclaim our galaxy!” He pumped his fist.

Cheers erupted throughout the room as they
heard the end of the speech. He’d made it sound simple, though he
knew it was far from it. This plan was full of risks, hope, and
luck. If the crodillians didn't choose to go to any of the other
planets to stop rebellions, then there was little chance the plan
would succeed. He was betting on the crodillians overestimating
their strength as they had many times before. It was the only
weakness he could find and he was going to try to expose it.

“There’s still one more part,” Pyrrhus
silenced them with a motion of his hands. “The Princess is to make
a speech that will be sent out to Orion. I know that it’ll mean the
death of the Queen, but she's already dead. She was dead as soon as
she told us to rebel. We need Princess Kanti to make a speech to
encourage the rebels even more. Give them hope and fire that will
push them even harder. When they see the Princess fighting
alongside with them, they’ll fight until the end, no matter how
hopeless it looks,” Pyrrhus looked to Gidon. “She’ll be arriving
back on Ares soon. I’ll tell her to get her speech ready, and once
it's sent, be ready for an attack. They’ll know our location and
our rebellion will have officially started.”

Donnchadh lead the nomad group across the
grey, desolate, wasteland of Erebos. They were close to the Deimos
Brotherhood's base now. He could see the mountains and the lava
lake slowly coming into view over the horizon. Reamonn had been
silent the entire journey, as had been the rest of the tribe,
except Leilah. She’d stood by his side the entire way while the
rest lagged behind with Reamonn. They were reluctant, but she was
with him all the way and was forcing the others to follow her
lead.

If it hadn't been for Leilah, he wouldn’t be
leading them to this base. He didn't know why she’d sided with him
when her father hadn't. This probably wasn't the first time she’d
questioned one of Reamonn's decisions, but it was clearly the first
time she’d been vocal about it from his reaction. He also couldn’t
help feel it was her who’d led the tribe to his body. Since waking,
she’d been the one by his side, not the others.

He came to a halt and turned to Leilah. They
were all wearing their grey cloth suits, and it was hard for him to
imagine the radiant and rebellious woman hiding underneath. She was
beautiful and didn't belong out here in the wasteland, yet she was,
and she was strong enough to survive on her own. She did have the
special abilities to assist her, but he knew she could survive
without them.

“The base is hidden in the mountains,” he
pointed.

She looked ahead. “How are we supposed to
get across the lava lake?”

Donnchadh looked around the grey land,
trying to find something he’d only heard of. A secret entrance
Kirill had talked about several times that traveled under the lava
lake to the base of the mountain. He’d never bothered to look on
Kirill's map to see where it was because he never thought he'd use
it.

“There's a secret entrance somewhere out
here in the wasteland,” he answered. “I'm not quite sure where it
is, but I know it's out here. It's going to be concealed very well,
but it’ll still be out of place.”

“You’ve led us here and you do not know how
to get in?” Reamonn asked from behind. “I thought you knew this
place.”

“I do. I’ve never used the secret entrance
though, it was only for emergencies, and I’ve never had the need to
use it.”

“Then how are we supposed to get there?”
Reamonn asked. “You don't expect us to travel across a lava lake,
do you?”

Leilah grabbed Donnchadh's arm tightly and
looked down to the ground. Her grip loosened up after a couple of
seconds and she broke up their argument with a flick of her
hand.

“I know where it is,” she said. “The secret
entrance to the base. I can take you to it.”

Donnchadh and Reamonn both focused their
attention on her, surprised that she claimed to know its
location.

“How do you know where it’s at?” Reamonn
asked. “We don’t travel around this area of Erebos. We steer clear
if possible. I know what’s out here and I don’t like it.”

“I saw it in a vision,” she answered,
breathing deeply. “It just came to me.”

“Where is it?” Donnchadh asked. “Where did
you see it in your vision?”

“It looked to be in some type of cave. I can
feel where it's at. There's something tugging at me to move in that
direction,” she pointed.

Donnchadh looked to where she was pointing
and saw a cluster of rock formations. He had no doubt it was hidden
in there. Leilah had somehow found where the secret entrance was
using her abilities, and it shocked not only him, but the entire
group. Each of them was looking at her with wide eyes, but none
wider than her father’s.

“Let's go. It's pulling me to move forward.
We can't stay here much longer. It's time to get off Erebos and get
to Ares. Something big is about to happen.”

Leilah took lead of the group, with
Donnchadh by her side, and they quickly moved to the cluster of
rocks. Once they’d trotted through the grey dirt to the rock
cluster, they squeezed in-between a crevice and through a hole in
the middle of the formation. Leilah continued forward, disappearing
into the dark hole. Donnchadh followed closely behind and squinted
his eyes once inside, trying to adjust them to the dim light of the
cave. It felt wet inside, which was odd, because most of Erebos was
dry. Once they’d traveled down the cave further, he knew this
wasn't a natural cave. Kirill had made it. That's why it didn't
feel like the rest of Erebos, it wasn't meant to be here at all.
Leilah stopped at the end of the cave and rubbed her hand across a
grey metal door. Donnchadh knew the type of metal well and stepped
forward and examined the door.

“How were you able to find this place when
the rest of us weren't?” Reamonn asked. “Not a single one of us
felt this or saw this, only you.”

“I’ve always seen and felt things you
haven't,” she said. “But I’ve always kept them to myself, afraid of
what they might lead to, but now I know why I see things you don't.
I’m meant for something more, something bigger than myself.”

“I don't understand. You’re just like us.
You are no different.”

“No, I am different. I see and feel more
than you in every vision that comes to us, but I’ve never
understood it. For years I tried, but eventually I gave up because
I knew when the day came for me to know why I saw more, a vision
would tell me. I was never meant to stay here. That’s what I’ve
been seeing these past few weeks,” she said. “You won't be able to
help the rebellion. Only I can help the rebellion. I’m the only one
who will see and feel things that’ll help lead the rebels to
success because I can see the future much clearer than any of you.
It’s why I unconsciously urged you to help Donnchadh and it’s why I
urged we leave Erebos. If I stay, Orion will fall. I've seen it and
now I understand it. Without me, without Donnchadh, there won’t be
an Orion anymore.”

“We saw the same thing,” Reamonn replied.
“We all saw the bloodshed and death. You aren’t seeing anything we
haven’t seen.”

“But I saw much more uncertainty. I saw
horrible things, but nothing set in stone, and since then, I've had
a tug to leave Erebos and help the rebellion. I’ve had these deep
visions before, but never this strong. There’s no way I can turn
from this.”

Donnchadh put his hand on a scanner, letting
father and daughter talk alone, and the door hissed open. He turned
to them and motioned them to follow without a word, momentarily
ending their hushed conversation. They traveled down a narrow
tunnel directly underneath the lava lake and stopped at another
door. He put his hand on the scanner and the door hissed open as he
took his helmet off.

“I'm not sure what we'll run into in here,”
he said, turning to the others. “I don't know for sure if everyone
left with Kirill. I left too quickly to see how many were out
there. It looked like everyone, but Kirill always has a backup plan
of some sort.”

“It’s safe. There’s no one inside,” Leilah
said.

Donnchadh nodded, believing her, knowing
without a doubt her sense were right. He led them inside of the
abandoned base and through the eerie hallways. Everyone had
obviously left in a hurry as it appeared as if very little had been
taken along with them. He was sure they’d snuck a few weapons and
essentials, but definitely a lot less than they should’ve brought.
There was no way any of them could’ve actually believed they’d come
back, but looking at the base, it was obvious Kirill had persuaded
them it was going to happen. Each of the assassins were his
puppets, ready to bend to their leader’s will, as he himself was
once willing to do. It was foolish and it would lead to their
deaths.

Donnchadh and the tribe entered an elevator
and ascended to the hangar. When the doors slid open, a beauty laid
in front of them. A slick black ship that he never thought he’d see
again –
Cerberus
.

“We'll take that ship,” he pointed with a
smile. “But first, we should go to the armory and get some weapons
and armor. There will be plenty left behind for us to use after
seeing the rest of the base. The assassins left with bare
essentials so we’ll have a pick of whatever we want.”

He led them across the hangar to a large
room filled with weapons and top of the line battle armor. This was
the room where every assassin kept their equipment used for
missions. On top of the weapons and armor on the walls, there were
lockers with assassins’ names on top. Donnchadh walked down each
row, opening the personal lockers to reveal what was inside. Almost
every locker was full and he could see the gleam in the tribe
members’ eyes.

“Grab what you need and whatever else you
want. This man, and all these assassins, betrayed me. Whatever you
see in front of you is ours to take. Everything in here is the best
on the market, so take as much as you can.”

Donnchadh walked over with Leilah as she
took off her grey cloth suit and walked to a locker with red and
black armor. It was a durable, light-weight, material made of part
fiber and part metal. The suit she’d chosen was able to resist
laser fire and was extremely flexible. The suit hugged her body as
she put it on and her orange hair seemed to glow like a raging
fire.

“You look much better in that armor than you
do in the grey cloth.”