“And how would you know?” She asked. “Look what he does for a living, do you really think you'd see it coming if he sent someone to kill you?”
“Why would I kill him?” Kirill asked.
“Because you want all the power,” she answered. “You want to rule Orion by yourself, not with another. That's why you tried to kill Adira. You didn't want to share any power with anyone. Greed consumes you.”
“I had no power when I sat by her,” Kirill glared. “I have what I want now. Merikh and I share the same vision, there will be no problems. On another note, tell me more about these rebels you caught, maybe they're planetary leaders.”
“Ha,” she rolled her eyes. “More like some stupid boy, a loud mouth girl, and some of their friends.”
“He is offering to help, Jahdiel,” Merikh’s red eyes darkened. “I suggest you welcome it.”
“Fine, I'll show you images of them.”
She walked over to her desk and turned on the computer. She scrolled through different commands and stopped at the security cameras. The screen scrolled down until she saw the cell holding the helpless rebels. An image of them cowered in the corner was enlarged for Kirill to see.
“You know any of them?” She asked. “See any planetary leaders held up in there, Kirill?”
She didn't hear a response from the other side. She took the image of the cell off the comlink and switched it back to Kirill and Merikh. After switching back, she saw Kirill whispering to Merikh, but they weren't letting her hear a word.
“Anyone going to answer me?”
Merikh cleared his throat. “It appears you may have caught someone extremely important, and you were right about them being rebels.”
“Thank you,” she raised up her hands. “Now, who are they?”
“You have the Princess, along with some stupid boy who’s been screwing up all my plans.”
“The Princess?”
“Yes,” a grin crossed his face. “I’ve been trying to get her, but that boy has made things quite difficult. They also succeeded in turning one of my best assassins against me, though I’m not seeing her in there.”
“Who's the boy?”
“No one important,” Kirill shrugged. “Just the son of someone who used to pose a threat to me until I had him killed. The assassin on the other hand, is someone you want to be careful of. I can assure you, she’s somewhere in your ship waiting for the right moment to kill you.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Come back to Hera immediately and don’t get killed,” Merikh answered. “Kirill believes the Princess may solidify our rule.”
“You think she'll send out messages like the Queen, you mean?”
“If the Queen and her daughter are safely with us, no one will rebel,” Merikh said. “We'll even make it look like they're ruling as one happy family.”
“She won't help you. Trust me, I've talked to her,” she told him. “You'd be better off letting me kill her before she does start something much bigger.”
“No!” Kirill intervened. “She comes here.”
“What about the other planets?” She asked.
“They can wait,” Merikh waved his hand. “If Kirill says the Princess is important to ruling, then I trust him. We’ll finish establishing our strongholds after the Princess is in our possession.”
She let out a deep breath. “I'll see you soon then, Merikh.”
Jahdiel cut off the comlink before he could reply. She no longer cared what he did to her, he’s obviously ran out of use for her. Her leading role had been diminished to almost nothing more than an errand girl. Any opinions or thoughts she had were now seen as irrelevant, leaving her with only one option – escape his grasp. She knew Kirill was up to something else, even if Merikh didn't believe her, but she wasn't going to save him. If he wanted to team up the assassin, fine, but that meant he'd lose her, and he didn't know just how valuable she was to him yet.
“There has to be a way out of here,” Kanti said. “Shouldn’t Nimesha be here by now?”
Falcone looked around the cell. “There's no way out without something that can cut through that part of the wall,” he pointed. “The guard put a code in there, so if you can access the wires behind it, maybe you can find a way to short it.”
Anlon smiled. “I may have something that can do that.”
“You do?” Falcone asked. “I sure don't see anything.”
“It's right here,” he held up his arm. “I took this from the shed. It has a laser on it. I'm sure it'll cut through the wall.”
“Try it and see if it works,” Camillus said.
“And what about after that?” Kanti asked. “What about all of the armed crodillians roaming about their ship? Do you really think we're going to get far before being caught?”
“We'll worry about that once we're out of the cell,” Falcone replied. “Right now, we're getting out of here. I hate feeling like I’m trapped in a cage.”
“And when we all get shot?” Camillus asked. “What then?”
“Just don’t get shot,” Falcone winked. “Pretty simple, if you ask me.”
“Oh. That's right,” Camillus responded. “It’s easy to avoid that, especially when we're sneaking through their ship!”
“Calm down, Camillus,” Kanti said. “I’m sure they have orders to use non-lethal rounds.”
“How do we even know where to go from here?” Camillus asked.
“I was paying attention on our way up,” Anlon said. “I think I can take us back to the ship.”
“And what about the hangar full of crodillian soldiers?”
“Hey, it's cutting through,” Anlon shifted their attention to something else. “It's going through this like it's paper!”
“Great!” Kanti hurried over. “But that looks nothing like Emer taught us.”
Anlon stared at the tangle of wires in disbelief. “I guess they do things differently in the other galaxy.”
“What now, metal man?” Falcone asked.
“I break you guys out of there,” Nimesha popped from around a corner.
“Am I glad to see you!” Falcone spread his arms. “No one here knows how to break out of here!”
“Just hold on,” she approached the pad. “I should be able to open from out here.”
The feleen took something from her pocket and waved it over the pad. The numbers that were used the most stuck out from the rest with a bright blue mark and she punched them in a random order. The green field flickered and shut off.
“How’d you know the code?” Kanti asked.
“I had to get through a couple other security doors on the way up,” she turned. “I saw them use the same code so I just crossed my fingers that this one was the same.”
“Thank you,” Falcone playfully hugged her. “Now you can get us all out of here alive.”
“Quiet!” Camillus hissed. “We can't just go running around the ship carelessly.”
“Calm down, Camillus, there's no one in here,” Kanti walked out of the cell.
As Anlon followed her out of the cell, the door to the holding room opened and a crodillian holding a rifle walked in. He ran to the guard without thinking and tackled him, grabbing for his throat.
“Go!” Anlon shouted. “I'll catch up to you!”
Nimesha led the others out of the room and quickly down the hall. Anlon started to swing back to hit the crodillian, but was thrown off. He hit the floor hard with a hard thud and looked up in time to see the guard grabbing for his weapon. He pounced to his feet and lunged forward to hit the weapon from his hands. The rifle fell to the floor and the crodillian swung his razor sharp claws in Anlon's direction. He dove to the floor and rolled around the guard in a circle, going for the laser rifle. As he reached out for the hilt of the weapon, he felt blades dig in to the back of his leg. A searing pain shot through his leg as he wailed out and grabbed his calf.
The crodillian jump on top of him, grasping his long fingers around Anlon's throat. His fi
ngers frantically dug at the nails around his neck, but the grip was too strong. Life was quickly leaving his body and he stretched out his arm as far as he could for the rifle. The guard grinned, salivating at the dying boy, when a laser beam entered his forehead, extinguishing his life. Blood spattered on Anlon’s face and the body dropped on top of him. He pushed it off and bent over his knees once to his feet, gasping for air.
He ran out of the room after regaining his breath and saw the others waiting at the end of the hall. He’d just caused a lot of noise battling with the guard, but there were no crodillians to be seen. As he began running to the door as an alarm rang through the halls and the door started to hiss shut.
“Go!” Anlon ran towards them. “I'll make it.”
The others moved through the door, but Anlon knew he'd never make it in time. The door shut with him on the opposite side as his friends. He looked around frantically to find a place for cover since the halls would surely be filled with crodillians any moment. He darted in a dark room and hid under a table.
Pattering of crodillian feet echoed down the halls, but none entered the room he’d taken cover in. They were barking orders at each other, looking for the Princess! Anlon stayed in the room silently until he was sure there were no more guards around. Obviously, no one had noticed the group was short one person, or they didn't care about anyone but the Princess. He snuck through the halls, careful to check every corner before he rounded it. The halls were like a maze, leaving him completely lost in an unpopulated part of the ship. It was eerily quiet, and there wasn't a single crodillian in sight.
He hoped his friends were able to escape, but looking at his situation, he wasn’t all too confident they’d have any better luck. The guard back in the holding area hadn’t tried to subdue him, he’d tried to kill him. If the crodillians didn’t care about his life, the others were also in danger of the same thing, except for Kanti. He rounded a fourth corner and let out a deep breath when he found a dead end. An air-locked door that was shut was all that stood before him.
He walked over to it and examined, rubbing his hand across the cold metal, trying to find a way to open it. His finger hit a button and he readied his weapon for whatever lay on the other side. The door hissed open and revealed an empty evacuation bay. The only thing in the room were evac pods, or that’s what they appeared to be to him. He’d much rather leave with the others on Drakos Mavros, but he couldn't expect them to wait for him with the crodillians after them. Kanti’s safety was now top priority. If he wanted to get off this ship, he had to do it on his own.
Anlon walked over to the closest pod and squeezed inside of the opening. It wasn’t too cramped, but it was definitely designed for only one. He closed the latch behind and looked at the controls of the pod. To his surprise, there was absolutely no was to fly it, but a small holomap popped up with planets displayed. None were familiar to him and all were labeled only by numbers and letters.
He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pressed one of the circles, hoping it was a planet where he could quickly find someone to get him to Ares. If the others got off the crodillian ship, he could meet up with them there. If they didn't get off, he still had a duty to tell the Council how to defeat the crodillians. The cylinder released with a sudden hiss and the pod dropped from the holding area. His pod hurdled out into the darkness, on its way to an unknown planet. He craned his neck and watched as the crodillian ships got smaller and smaller. Hopefully, Kanti and the others were as lucky as him and were able to get off of the ship alive.
“We can't leave him back there alone!” Kanti banged at the door. “They're going to kill him! Falcone, Nimesha, you have to help me get him back!”
“Kanti we need to move,” Camillus pulled her. “They'll be after us once they see we made it to the other side of the door. Our time to escape this ship is running out.”
“He's right,” Nimesha agreed. “Anlon is smart, he'll find a way out, but we need to get to Drakos Mavros alive. Once we do that, I’m sure we can find him if he escapes, or come back for him with more firepower on our side.”
“We can't leave Anlon!”
Nimesha started to run forward, with Falcone close behind. “We're moving now!” She shouted. “If you want to stay to die, then so be it! I’m not letting those things get their claws on me.”
Kanti followed behind them, with Camillus by her side. She didn't want to leave Anlon, and she’d rather be caught, but she knew he wouldn't want that. He'd want her to go forward and get off this ship, with or without him.
Nimesha stopped and held her hand up. “Shhhh.”
Kanti stopped close behind her and peeked around the corner to see why she’d stopped. There was a single guard walking down the hallway with his weapon pulled out. As he got closer, they could hear orders coming to him through a walkie.
“Jahdiel says the human woman that escaped is the Queen's daughter so we can't shoot her,” someone said. “We locked down the closest hallway, but we haven't found them yet, so they may be further down the ship. Keep your guards up.”
As the guard was about to round the corner Nimesha pounced on him and wrapped her legs around his neck. He clawed at her, leaving dark gashes on her, but she refused to let go. Her leg muscles flexed and she dug her nails into his eyes, and couple seconds later, the body dropped lifelessly to the ground with a thump.
“Looks like we may have a little luck on our side after all,” Falcone moved forward.
“Luck?” Camillus repeated. “They know who she is!”
“But they can't shoot us,” he winked.
“He's right. If they shoot at us, it’ll risk her getting shot too,” Nimesha said as she moved down the hall. “That may just give us a fighting chance to get off of this ship alive.”
“Do you think they'll kill Anlon?” Kanti asked. “He's not with me.”
“Don't know,” Nimesha shrugged. “I would guess not, because if they don't find you, he's their best chance of tracking you down,” she held up her hand again. “Clear.”
They walked down the black and green hallways and saw the hangar approaching quickly through open doors.
“We can't just run in there,” Camillus pulled at her arm.
“We're not,” she pushed him away. “I was looking around when we came in. This place is filled with stuff we can use as cover. We'll sneak our way to get to the ship.”
“And to think I wanted to kill you when we first met,” Falcone said.
“Let's go,” Kanti moved past them.
“Slow down,” Nimesha caught up. “Follow my lead. I’m the one who does this type of stuff for a living.”
Nimesha darted out the hallway and dove behind a large crate in the hangar. The others followed her lead and she pointed ahead. Drakos Mavros is over there. We can use their ships to help conceal us once we get to that crate,” her finger pointed to a smaller crate fifty yards away.
“So, we're just going to be out there exposed until we get to that one?” Camillus asked.
“I don’t like it either, but we don’t have much other choice,” Nimesha turned to him. “If we move quickly, we won't be seen, but after that crate comes the fun. We’ll have to dart to the ship because there’s no other cover.”
“I like her plan,” Falcone smiled. “It's a little daring, more than I like myself, but I think it's doable.”
Kanti held in a laugh. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get off this ship.”
They all ran towards the crate in the middle of the bay, keeping close to the enemy ships, and waited behind it as group of crodillians passed. They had come out of nowhere, and if they had waited a couple of more seconds to go to the crate, they surely would’ve been caught. Nimesha peered around the corner of the crate and darted out once there were no enemies nearby. Kanti followed behind Falcone, who was gaining on Nimesha and eventually passed her to beat her to Drakos Mavros. Halfway to the ship, Kanti heard guards yelling from above and looked to see them pointing towards her.
“There they are!” Shouts echoed through the hangar. “There's the Princess! Stop her before she gets to the ship!”
Kanti sprinted, putting in everything she had, trying to reach the ship before she was caught. It was already slowly starting to lift off the ground, and she didn't know if they’d forgotten about her during the dash to the ship. She pushed harder and dived for the ramp just as it began to go up. The engines roared as she ran to the cockpit to meet up with the others.
“Falcone!” Nimesha hit him. “You left too early!”
“I saw Kanti right behind us!” He replied coolly. “I could've sworn I timed it perfectly!”
“Go back down!” She yelled. “Kanti is over there! We're leaving without her!”
“Why is she just standing there?” He asked. “She was right behind us!”
“I'm right here,” she said, jaw dropping when she saw herself outside.
Nimesha turned around in her seat and stared. “You were right, Falcone. She was right behind us.”
“Then…” He started before being interrupted.
“Camillus!” Kanti peered out of the window. “We can't leave him! Land the ship.”
“Too late,” Falcone pushed the ship forward. “We can't go back now.”
“Camillus!” Kanti shouted, banging on the ship’s walls.
Nimesha put her arm on her shoulder and pulled her back. “He sacrificed himself to save you. They won't care if we get away. They don't want us. But now that they think they have you, they'll let us go.”
Kanti slouched down in a chair and buried her face in her hands. She’d just lost two close friends and couldn't process it all. She’d met both of them on Gaea after running from Demeter, and now they were gone, just like that. It’d never occurred to her that they could die. Inside, she wanted to give up, but she knew that wasn’t an option. It would never be an option. Anlon had warned her she could die when she’d left Gaea, and she was okay with that, but she’d never that about what would happen if it wasn’t her who died.
Chapter 15
Donnchadh blinked his eyes open and looked around him. He couldn't remember exactly what’d happened after he’d gone in the cave, just a figure hovering over-top him. Now, he was lying flat on grey ground, next to a small cackling fire. There was something near him half-wrapped, which he assumed to be some type of food left for him. He slowly got up and saw a group of figures huddled in a circle around a separate fire a few yards away.
Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) Page 15
