War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past

by Conner Walworth

  She quickly started tearing them open and laid them down next to each other. There were dozens of letters that Armino had written to her and every single one of them ended exactly the same:

  If I die on this mission, bury my body where I first said I wanted to protect you as a child. It is where it all started and where you will bury old life to find new life.

  Adira grabbed all of the letters and ran over to her fireplace and pressed the button to start it up. She threw all of the letters in to be incinerated because she didn't need a letter to remember where to go. She would have to make a trip to Gaea and back to her home District of Hassental to uncover the clue. Travel plans would have to be made and she would make sure they were kept secret from everyone, including her Council. If this is where she could find her only daughter, she wasn't going to let anyone tip off the enemy where she was headed.

  She also knew that this was only the first of many clue because Armino would never make finding something so special to her this easy to find. After all of the years spent with him, she knew he took every precaution necessary to ensure the success of every mission. This mission would start underneath the giant oak tree outside of her old house where Armino had first promised to protect her with his life. There was no better place for Armino to hide the clue for something so close to her.

  Chapter 7

  Kirill waited patiently in his chair for Donnchadh to arrive after deciding it was a good time to inform his assassin of his first failure. Anlon didn't pose any real threat to the Deimos Brotherhood, and Kirill knew he didn't really need to tell Donnchadh, but he wanted to humiliate him for his failure in order to prevent something similar from happening in the future. He had high expectations for his races, and if they didn't perform to his standards, they were killed.

  Letting something like this slide, including from his best man, would only allow it happen again in the future. Since Donnchadh was going to be the one to kill the Queen, he wanted to make sure Donnchadh paid attention to every minute detail from here on out. The only way to do that was to tell him he hadn't fulfilled his last mission, and therefore, had ultimately failed. He may have gotten his long awaited revenge, but failure was failure and he wouldn't accept another one.

  The steel door slid open and Kirill glared at Donnchadh as he walked into the dim room. The door hissed shut, enveloping the men in darkness and secrecy. Kirill stayed silent, allowing Donnchadh to break the eerie silence.

  "Why did you need to see me Kirill?"

  Kirill raised his eyebrows and leaned forward. "Why did I call you here? Do you really have no idea what you have done? Were you so confident, that you didn't pay attention to the outcome of your assignment?"

  Donnchadh stared at Kirill blankly. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about. We killed Armino and his family. I watched them all die," he replied. "Since then, I have been in my chambers preparing for the next mission."

  Kirill crossed his fingers in a fist and rested his chin on them. "Did you really watch them all die Donnchadh? Because I find that hard to believe given what I've heard."

  "Kirill, they're all dead!"

  "Armino's son is still alive you fool!" Kirill fumed, slamming his fists on the table. "You didn't watch him die because he's still alive right now!"

  Donnchadh straightened in his chair. "No. I killed him! I shot him as I was running out!"

  "No Donnchadh, you let him live," He pulled out a piece of paper from his drawer. "Anlon survived a gunshot wound to the abdomen," He looked up at Donnchadh. "Really? You shot him in the stomach and you thought you killed him?"

  His eyes widened. "Kirill... I... All we had left was Armino and his son when the police came into the house!" He threw his hands up. "I shot Armino in the head and could've sworn I did the same to his son as I ran out of the house!"

  "Well, you didn't kill him. In fact, he is still very much alive and has already been interviewed by the authorities," Kirill shook his head. "How stupid are you Donnchadh? I thought you

  were the best man I had. How could you let a target survive?"

  "Kirill I promise you I didn't do this intentionally. He should be dead."

  "Yeah," Kirill rolled his eyes. "Lucky for you, the boy isn't talking at the moment."

  Donnchadh cocked his head. "What do you mean he's not talking? We killed his whole family right in front of him."

  "All he told authorities were what races killed his family. Nothing else. No names, where you came from, nothing. He seems to be keeping everything you revealed to himself."

  Donnchadh started to get up. "Let me go kill him now before he decides talk!"

  "Sit down!" Kirill ordered. "You will do no such thing. We will let the boy live. He poses no immediate threat to us and need to take out the Queen soon. You can't do that if you're out killing some kid you forgot to kill last time."

  Donnchadh masked the anger from his face. "So it is final? I will be the one to kill Queen Adira?"

  "Yes and two men of your choice," he nodded. "But let's talk this over first. This will be nothing like your last mission. You must be very careful because if you're not, you'll never get to the Queen, and will probably never leave the Palace alive."

  "Sounds like you know how. I bet you really want to kill her yourself," Donnchadh teased, hoping to anger his boss.

  "Doing that would be foolish. The Queen and everyone close to her thinks that she killed me many years ago. I can't let them know too soon that I'm still alive or my plans will be ruined," Kirill slid some papers in front of Donnchadh. "Ulisse's profile. I know you're fairly familiar with him and I think poison will work best for this mission," He handed some more papers to Donnchadh. "You will choose one more individual from this list I have compiled to go with you on your mission."

  Donnchadh skimmed through the papers. "Sanguinarius will be good."

  "You sure?" He raised his eyebrows. "This will make it the same team that screwed up the last assignment."

  Donnchadh gritted his teeth. "We won't fail this time. I promise you the Queen will die."

  "I surely hope so," he glared. "I have someone on the inside that is going to be helping you, so your job shouldn't be too hard."

  "You have someone actually inside of the Palace?"

  "Yes Donnchadh, in the Palace. You should be well aware that I have contacts in every corner of Orion by now. The Brotherhood's reach has gotten far since you've joined. The Galaxy fears us and many are willing to help us without question."

  "So how will this work? I mean, I know Ulisse will make the poison, but it has to be quiet right?"

  Kirill nodded his head. "You'll have to sneak in, but I have layouts and know hidden passages from my personal experience living there. You also have your own experience, so I'm sure that it won't be a problem navigating through the building itself," Kirill leaned forward. "There will be no deaths but the Queen's. I don't want a blood bath whose trail leads directly back to me."

  "What's the point of me going on this mission if I'm not doing anything? I'm not allowed to kill anyone, I'm using a poison that Ulisse will concoct, and someone else is delivering it to the Queen?" Donnchadh raised his hands. "I don't understand why you're sending me on this mission when you have the whole thing planned out already. There is nothing for me to do that will change the outcome of this mission."

  "Are you blind?" Kirill stood up, placing his hands on the table and leaning forward. "You get to take part in the biggest assignment the Deimos Brotherhood has ever carried out and you want to sit out because you're not personally killing the Queen?"

  "I didn't mean it like that," Donnchadh said, trying to calm Kirill down. "It's just that I don't get to plan anything or do anything that's important to the success of the mission. Everything has already been done."

  "You're the courier! I trust no one else." He sat back down. "You're my most trusted man Donnchadh, I don't want anyone else to deliver the poison to my contact but you."

  Donnchadh nodded. "I understand."

/>   "The others are going with you in case there happen to be complications, which is a very slim chance. I want you to get in and out without being noticed, but if you are noticed, let nobody catch you."

  "What about no deaths?"

  Kirill took in a breath. "Only if there must be. If it's the only way you can get out alive and without being captured, then so be it. Kill as many as you want," He looked Donnchadh in the eyes. "I would prefer there to be no deaths of any kind, anywhere, but the Queen's."

  "Understood," Donnchadh acknowledged. "Exactly how soon do you want me to go out?"

  "How long will it take Ulisse to make one of his poisons?"

  Donnchadh thought for a moment. "A couple of days, maybe more, depending on what he makes. The time it takes for him to make things varies by the complexity he chooses to go for."

  Kirill wrote something on a piece of paper. "You leave in three days. Tell Ulisse to start making his poison right now. I want something that looks natural and that is undetectable by even the best forensics teams."

  "I'll go tell him to start right now."

  "Go," Kirill ordered. "Don't fail me this time or it will be your last time."

  Donnchadh got up from his chair and walked out of the door as soon as it hissed open. Kirill watched him as the door shut then pulled out his holographic comlink to make a call. The room was silent until a blue figure from the hologram was projected in front of him.

  "I'm assuming you are ready?" the figure asked.

  "My men will be leaving here in three days' time, so they should be at the Palace within four days at the latest," Kirill answered.

  "I will make preparations. What do you need me to do?"

  "I've decided on an undetectable poison. My men can get into the Palace, but we will need someone to secretly deliver the poison to the Queen."

  "Sounds easy enough. The Queen and her Council trust everybody working in the Palace. There are more than a handful of workers who would like to see her dead," The blue figure nodded its head. "We will get it to the Queen, but your men need to get to the kitchen. I will have a servant put it in her drink before she has a meal."

  Kirill grinned. "Perfect. I will contact you again when my men have arrived and are ready to proceed."

  "I will be waiting," The figure answered before the blue hologram shut off.

  Donnchadh quickly walked down the corridors to Ulisse's room and entered without knocking. The steel door hissed open and he stepped inside to see Ulisse laying in his bed asleep. He shook his head and made his way to the bed, bent down, and flipped Ulisse off of the mattress. Ulisse quickly sprung up, ready to strike whoever had just woke him up and eased when he saw that it was just Donnchadh.

  "We have work to do Ulisse," Donnchadh said before he had the chance to ask him why he was here.

  "We just got back Donnchadh. What is there to possibly do?" he slumped. "We usually get a couple of weeks off between missions."

  Donnchadh folded his arms. "We take time off when it's permitted. Right now we get to go kill the Queen. Is that something that you want to turn down?"

  "How much time do we have before we go?" Ulisse nearly jumped in excitement.

  "We have three days before we depart Erebos, preferably sooner if you're able to work quickly. Kirill has already arranged everything for the mission." He unfolded his arms. "You need to make a poison that is undetectable and will show natural causes of death."

  "Three days and natural symptoms," he muttered. "How are we delivering this to the Queen exactly?"

  "There will be someone on the inside. All we have to do is get in undetected. After that we get out of the Palace and back to the ship to wait for confirmation, which won't take very long if you choose something that acts quickly."

  "Okay, so that means the hard part will be getting in. Or let me rephrase that, close to impossible. Do you know how much security there is at the Palace?"

  "Not as impossible as you would think," Donnchadh held up his hand. "Remember, I used to work for the Queen and I know her home very well. On top of my experience, we have Kirill's, which is much better than mine. He is providing us with a updated layout that has all the secret passageways marked on it."

  "Nice, Donnchadh," he said, nodding his head.

  "We get it in and out undetected. We kill nobody but the Queen."

  "Quick, silent, and almost simple. Sounds like a good plan."

  Donnchadh nodded. "We both know it won't be that simple, but we're planning on simplicity. I chose Sanguinarius to come along with us as backup just in case things do go haywire."

  "We haven't failed a mission together yet and we won't start now."

  "That's right. We won't start now," Donnchadh hesitated. "I'm going to let Sanguinarius know that we're leaving in three days to go to Hera."

  "Alright. I'm going to go to start creating a the poison for the Queen," He turned around and went to his lab bench.

  Donnchadh watched as he started pouring liquids into beakers and set up racks and tubes to create his poison. He didn't understand any of that stuff and that only made him respect Ulisse that much more for his masterful concoctions.

  He turned around and left the room so Ulisse could make his poison without any further distractions. He slowly made his way down the hall to tell Sanguinarius that he would be coming along on the mission too. Sanguinarius wouldn't be too happy that he was more of backup, just in case things went wrong, but he wouldn't turn a mission like this down, just like Donnchadh himself hadn't turned it down.

  Abdul paced back and forth across his chamber with his arms crossed behind his back. He had called the Council together the other day and had encouraged them that having the Queen's daughter brought back would be the best thing for Hera. Some had disagreed at first when they found out her daughter hadn't really died, but they all eventually came through and agreed.

  He had counted on the Council's persuasion to get the Queen to bring her daughter here, but he hadn't counted on her not knowing where to find her. The hope had been that she had known all along or that Armino had left an easy clue somewhere; but he should've known Armino would never be so easy.

  Abdul continued to pace back and forth across his room, frustrated that he didn't know where the Queen's daughter was and there was no way for him to find out. He would go the Adira's chambers later and ask her if she had found anything, but now he had to contact the Gaean authorities so they could pick up Anlon.

  He twiddled his fingers until a blue holographic image appeared in front of him. "Hassental District Police. How may I help you?"

  "My name is Abdul Hakim. I am on the Queen's Council. There has recently been a murder of a family whose last name is Valens and I needed to know if you could get me in touch with someone working on the case."

  "One moment please," The officer said, typing something on a computer. "Okay. There are two officers working on this case, but I'll put you in touch with Giustino Ignace. He's the Chief here at the station and has more experience than the other officer on the case."

  "Alright thank you."

  "I'm sending his contact information to you right now so you can contact him directly," The figure was silent a moment. "It's on its way to you now. You should be able to contact him. If you have any problems, just give me a call back."

  "I will," Abdul said, terminating the connection.

  He entered the number that had just been sent to his comlink and tried to relax.

  "Yes, what can I do for you?" Giustino asked.

  "I am told that you are the one in charge on the Valens case?"

  The blue figure nodded his head. "I am. Who is asking?"

  "I'm Abdul Hakim. The Queen has given me the job of making sure that the surviving son makes his way to Hera."

  "Oh, Anlon. Why does she want to see him?"

  Abdul make a clicking noise with his mouth. "She says she has questions for him."

  "We have full reports that we can send you. He didn't tell us very much because he doesn't kno
w very much. It would be a waste of time and effort to send him there."

  "Yes, I know about the reports," he said, irritably. "I have already told her he doesn't know much, but she still insists."

  "Why does she want to see him personally? Does she know him?"

  "No, not the boy, but his father she knew well. The two of them were very close from time growing up together. She made a promise to take care of his family in case anything happened to him," He took a breath. "So besides trying to get more out of him, she wants to protect him."

  "I can assure you that there is nothing more to get out of him. We've tried and he said he knows nothing more than what I typed in the report."

  Abdul pursed his lips. "Maybe not everything. The report shows he lied about some things that could be vital to finding the killers. I'm not saying he does know, in fact, I don't think he does. The Queen doesn't want to leave any stones unturned though, and has ordered to see him."

  "You know, the machines are wrong sometimes. He saw a lot of things that night and he probably heard a lot too, but like he said in the interview, so much was happening there was no way he could remember it all," He shook his head. "Hell, I don't blame the kid. I wouldn't have remembered half of the stuff that he told us if something like that had happened to me."

  "I'm with you Giustino, but the Queen has requested that he be sent here. He will be sent here. This is not a debate and I have spoken enough to you about it."

  "Alright we can get him there. How soon do you need him?"

  "Immediately."

  "Immediately?" Giustino repeated.

  "The Queen doesn't want to wait," he nodded. "Is that going to be a problem for you?"

  "No. It's just that transportation will have to be arranged and that could take some time."

  "Transportation has already left Hera and will be arriving tomorrow. I want him on that ship and here no later than tomorrow. That gives you plenty of time to encourage him to come see the Queen."

  "He'll be there."