Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) (43 page)

Kirill couldn't have that happen though, he
needed the humans to live. The only problem was, both clear rebel
leaders were humans and Merikh would kill even humans because of
those two kids. That stupid boy, Anlon, had been standing by
Kanti's side the whole time. He should be dead, but Donnchadh had
screwed that up, and ever since then, the boy had been destroying
all of his plans. Plan after plan had been thwarted because of him,
especially getting Nimesha to join him. She was one of his most
trusted and lethal assassins, and yet, she’d joined the boy for
some reason. Everything he tried to do, seemed to be foiled by this
kid. Now, Anlon was unintentionally going to destroy his vision of
a pure society.

This time there was no way Anlon would beat
him. Kirill was allies with Merikh and there was no chance the
rebels would succeed. He just had to convince Merikh of that and
have him allow the humans to live. Humans couldn't die because of
two foolish kids and their vision of a free galaxy. It’d be hard to
convince Merikh to show mercy after his daughter's speech, but it
could be done. It was plain and clear what every race was going to
do: fight the crodillians and take Orion back, or die trying.

If Merikh wouldn't listen, where would that
leave him? In a galaxy filled with these disgusting monsters? That
couldn't happen. His only two choices left were to convince Merikh
to let humans live or take him out. He had more than enough
assassins to do the job and he had one in particular on his mind.
He’d wait a little longer before jumping to that. It’d all depend
on Merikh's actions. If he wanted to reason with him, there was no
reason to kill him yet. But if he didn't, their partnership would
come to an abrupt end.

Ezio huddled in a corner on the roof. He’d
been watching the enemy for a couple of hours and there were many
more than he’d originally thought. Initial guesses had them at five
thousand, but it was closer to fifteen thousand roaming the streets
below compared to several thousand rebels at Xiphos. Every one of
the crodillians would be able to fight, but there were woman and
children among the survivors. Of course some would fight, but some
just wouldn't be able to, like himself. He had a job, but the
rebels needed bodies to fight against the monsters, not kids
watching out.

Ezio pulled out his comlink and called
Moran. He wouldn't be the first one to call him with an update, but
he was sure his would be the most accurate.

“Ezio?” Moran answered.

“Yes,” he replied. “I have an update on the
crodillians.”

“Let me hear it. So far I've heard some
encouraging things, we may be a little outnumbered from what I've
been told, but it’s sounding better than we planned.”

“You're more than a little outnumbered. They
have about fifteen thousand soldiers roaming the streets now. For
some reason, a bunch of them came out of the Capitol building not
too long ago. There were thousands just holed up there.”

“What?” Moran's voice tightened. “None of
the others have reported numbers like that. How did you come up
with that?”

“I'm on top of the skyscraper,” he said. “It
was the tallest building left in Hassental, and I promise you I
have a better view than all the others. But then again, I'm only
ten so I may be overestimating.”

“You made it to the skyscraper? You had to
go straight through their headquarters to get there, didn't
you?”

“I traveled underground through the sewers,”
Ezio told him. “If I’d taken a different building, I wouldn't have
as good as a view as I do right now. Apparently the others don’t
have a great view or they would’ve told you about them streaming
out of that building.”

“That's good.” Moran said. “You've done
great, kid. I don't know how you did it, but somehow you did,”
Moran smiled on the other side. “Are most of the enemy forces
staying around the Capitol building?”

“Most of them are just lingering in the
area. I've seen some with black uniforms coming and going too. The
others wear grey so they stand out the most.”

“They must be their Commanders,” Moran said.
“Have other activities increased recently?”

“They appear to be working on vehicles and
handing out weapons. It looks like they’re getting ready for an
invasion. What’s happened?”

“The Princess just gave a message to all of
Orion declaring war on the crodillians.”

“Really?” His voice cracked with joy. “When
are we going to start fighting them?”

“I'm just waiting for a message from
Pyrrhus. My guess, within a day or two,” he replied. “Do you think
it's possible for anymore scouts to get to your skyscraper?”

“Sure. They'll have to travel through the
sewers, but once they get across the crodillians, the streets to
the skyscraper are empty. If they move quickly, they can get up
here with no problems.”

“Good. I'm going to send some more your way.
I'll feel better with the units getting information from a few more
scouts at your vantage point. That way, every unit can be updated.
It’ll be a lot for you to handle on your own.”

“There are a lot of dead bodies here. This
place, it's littered with torn apart and half eaten bodies. Warn
them before they come. I don't think all of them will be able to
take the sight of it. It’s sickening what these things did.”

“I'll make sure to warn them,” Moran
promised. “Take care of yourself up there, you'll have some company
soon. Just hang in there, kid.”

Ezio looked back over the edge of the
building to the streets below. Crodillian activity had definitely
picked up and now he knew why. They were afraid, or maybe they just
wanted to slaughter more innocent races. If they were afraid, they
weren't alone because he was too. One of these sides was going to
lose the war and he was going to do everything in his power to make
sure it was those monsters.

Zarah sat in the Command Room of the base.
She, and every other rebel, had seen the Princess' message. It was
inspiring and she wouldn't want to follow any other woman in to
war. She didn't know her, but there was just something about her
that made Zarah want to follow her. Maybe it was because she saw a
little of herself in the Princess, but whatever it was, she was
ready to follow her to freedom or death.

Ludwig and Yvette sat on either side of her,
and they too had voiced their admiration for the Princess. Both
knew what she’d done was brave and took a lot of courage. The fact
that winning wasn't guaranteed and the Princess was going to risk
her life with the rebels only showed she was a true leader who
cared for her galaxy.

They were just waiting now for the go ahead
and it would no doubt be coming soon. The entire base was ready to
leave and start the rebellion. Training hadn’t been as long as what
the military received, but they wanted their homes back and would
do anything to achieve that goal. Ludwig, Yvette, and the other
officers had told everyone to get to their spots as soon as the
speech was over. Every race knew their position in the forest and
those who were going to lure the crodillians from Thermopylae knew
who they were. There were jobs within jobs now, and every race was
ready to do their part attain victory.

Zarah's comlink rang and she picked it up.
“Hello?”

“It's Dorjan,” a reply came. “We've got
these bastards bugged, and you should hear all the commotion going
on down here.”

“You actually did it?”

“Of course we did it! And we had a little
fun while we were at it too, hope you don't mind.”

“I don't care what you do at this point. If
you have them bugged, that's all I care about. The Princess just
delivered a message to Orion,” she revealed with a wide smile on
her face. “We're officially at war with these savages.”

“I'll send you the transmission signal for
the bug,” he said. “There's a few more bugs, but the first one I
send is the most important. It’s been the most active since I took
out some of their Commanders.”

“Take out some more if you get the chance,”
she grinned. “In the meantime, send me the transmission and lay low
if you want. You'll know when the time has come for us to come out
from the base.”

She hung up the comlink and waited for a
message to come through. Sure enough, Dorjan had actually bugged
the crodillians. He had ten bugs in all, but she would only use the
first one. If it was the most important one, it was the one the
rebels would be listening to in the heat of battle. She looked to
the officers gathered around the table.

“They're bugged. We'll know every move they
make before they even make it. There’s nothing these savages do
that we won’t know about.”

Ludwig clapped his hands. “This rebellion is
ours to win! There's no way they can beat us!”

“Why don't we wait to start fighting before
you start predicting who wins this war,” Yvette said. “We don't
even know how they're going to react to us yet and you're already
positive we're going to win.”

“I've trained my whole life for war,” he
responded, crossing his arms. “
We
have the upper hand. We
may be outnumbered, but they can't do a thing without us knowing
about it.”

Zarah smiled to herself. She knew she had
the perfect officers in this room right now. They were all
different characters, but every one of them had the right traits to
lead these rebels. They'd be split up soon with their respective
units and each had learned the strengths and weaknesses of the
others which would be great help on the battlefield. She was ready
for the rebellion to begin. The crodillians had killed her whole
family and now was her time to pay them back for it. Her old life
would never come back, but she'd do all she could to get as close
to it as possible.

Kanti and Anlon stood, facing Pyrrhus in
front of the Capitol building. Instead of taking them back to the
house after the speech, he’d brought them to speak with the
Council. Kanti wasn't looking forward to it, but she was
their
leader, she had no reason to be afraid.

The followed Pyrrhus through the building
and into the Debate Room where only the Council was present. They
were sitting on the stage and looked towards Kanti and Anlon as
they entered. Pyrrhus stayed outside as they walked up to the
stage, hand in hand.

“You will not fight alongside the rebels,”
Alura said in a harsh tone. “We cannot allow that to happen. You
know that, don't you?”

“I
will
fight alongside my rebels,”
Kanti shot back. “I’ll lead them to victory, or we can all die
together. Abandoning them isn’t an option.”

“Who will lead them if they win and you are
dead?” Reginold asked. “Have you not thought of this outcome?”

“I have, but I still stand firmly on my
decision. I’ll fight with the rebels and if they need a new leader
after, they can choose one.”

“Kanti, please think clearly,” Aida urged.
“You’re thinking rashly. I understand you want to fight with them,
but the crodillians will have its top priority to see you dead.
Those beasts will try their hardest to kill the rebels’ leader and
that’s you.”

“They will come after you, Princess,” Saidi
agreed. “And if Kirill is working with them, we’ll already have our
hands full trying to keep his assassins from getting to you on this
planet.”

“She needs to fight with them,” Anlon
intervened. “Adira would want her to. Orion is on the verge of
collapse, why hold anything back?”

“You!” Alura pointed, standing from her
seat. “Can be quiet! We’re talking to the Princess, not you. You’ve
already put her in enough danger.”

“He saved me! I left Nesoi on my own. He and
none of the others had anything to do with that. If it hadn't of
been for him, I’d be in the possession of the crodillians right now
and this rebellion wouldn't be happening.”