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

by Conner Walworth

  He ran across the rooftop and jumped on the adjacent building's roof. He continued jumping from roof to roof, without a single crodillian even bothering to look up. Once the circular building was in front of him, he came to a stop. Dorjan looked around to see if there was any way for him to get across the big gap without going to the ground. An apartment was underneath him and he climbed down the side of the building, entering the abandoned room. After some digging, he found a long rope and grinned to himself as he threw it over his shoulder and climbed back to the roof. He tied a loop in the rope and slung it across the street to catch a pole sticking up from the building, getting it on his first attempt. Once he was sure the rope was secure and fastened the other end, he wrapped his arms and legs around the rope and inched across.

  It was simple enough and not a single crodillian had even glanced above them. He dropped down from the rope and dashed towards the door, slowly opening it to be sure no enemy was waiting on the other side. Once clear, he crept down the dark hall to a dim light shining at the end. When he reached it, he looked over the edge of the balcony into the room below and saw several crodillians in black armor gathered together. They were different than grey uniforms the ones outside were wearing, so he assumed these must be the ones in charge. That, along with all of the comm devices set up, left no doubt in his mind he’d chosen the correct place.

  Dorjan pulled a bug out of his pocket and turned it on. He took out small controls and flew it down the unsuspecting enemy. The bug landed silently on their equipment and started sending information to him as he put away the controls and pulled out his rifle. Just because he’d bugged their command easily, didn't mean he was going to leave quietly. A little chaos had to be made before he left or he wouldn't have done a good job.

  He aimed it at the crodillian wearing the most red badges. The round left the chamber and struck the enemy below, causing his head to explode and the dark blood to spatter on the others’ faces. They quickly turned to see where the shot had come from and immediately spotted Dorjan and began firing on him. In seconds, he was surrounded in a barrage of fire. Laser fire hit the walls around him and he reached down to his side, unclipping a grenade and throwing it over the ledge before running back down the hall to the roof. A bang erupted behind him and enemy screams filled the building as he reached the door. He grabbed the rope and slid down to the adjacent building as quickly as he could.

  Dorjan started jumping from roof to roof until he was far from their headquarters and was sure no one was on his trail. He pulled out his comlink and set it to the transmission of the bug and listened to the crodillians frantically trying to figure out what’d just happened. The Commanders were sending a single message through to every crodillian: kill on sight. No rebel was to live.

  Chapter 30

  Kanti pulled out her comlink to call Pyrrhus. Parts of the speech were put together, but most of it was going to come from the heart, not from some holopad. Of course, no one but Anlon knew, and there was no chance she'd let anyone else know until they heard the speech live. It was her duty as the Princess to let the races know the truth, no matter how harsh the reality may be.

  Pyrrhus picked up, already knowing why she’d called and told her to be prepared to leave. She hung up the comlink and felt Anlon's hand on her leg.

  “I love you, Kanti. I don't know how many more times I'll be able to tell you, but I’m going to tell you every chance I get.”

  “I love you too,” she embraced him. “We'll make it through this. There will be rebels fighting by our sides that’ll want to win this as much as we do. The crodillians will be fighting to slaughter us, but we’ll be fighting for freedom. We have much more to fight for and more surprises than they'll be ready for. Together, we’ll all come out of this alive.”

  “I never thought when you first came to my aid on Gaea that you'd turn out to be the Princess and that we'd be here right now.”

  “I still can't believe that I am the Princess,” she smiled. “These races don't even know me and they're about to follow me into a war where we’re greatly outnumbered.”

  “You're a natural leader. Both of your parents are good leaders, though your father chose the wrong side, but they're both smart and have many who are willing to die for them.”

  “My mother's cause is the one that’ll prevail in the end,” Kanti said. “And all because of you. Everything started with you, Anlon. Your family, meeting the Queen, and then doing everything you did to help her. If it hadn't been for you, I honestly believe Orion would be doomed right now. As much as you try to say that I am about to save Orion, it was you who actually saved Orion.”

  He looked down, denying he’d been much of a help. “Pyrrhus will be here soon, let's change into the clothes we were given.”

  Anlon and Kanti both went upstairs to change into the garments that’d been chosen for this speech. Kanti pulled out a long, light red, dress from her wardrobe. A vibrant orange, the same as the fire phoenix, shone out from underneath. Her shoulders were bare, with thousands of diamonds going around the collar of the dress. She pinned an emblem of the phoenix to her left shoulder and opened a drawer to put on orange diamond jewelry. Once that was done, she pinned up her hair with a similar diamond pin and turned to Anlon.

  “You look beautiful,” he smiled. “Your mother would think the same if she was here now.”

  Kanti blushed and turned back around and put on red lipstick and eye shadow. “You don't look too bad yourself, Anlon.”

  He looked at his black suit with orange accents in the mirror and placed his phoenix on his left shoulder. She turned around and straightened his tie with a smile.

  “Pyrrhus should be here soon. We both look ready to go.”

  They walked downstairs just in time to hear a knocking at the door. Pyrrhus stood in the door frame and gave them both a slight nod to follow him to the cruiser waiting at the curb. They entered and Pyrrhus flew over thousands of rebels gathered in the center of Lacedaemon. Anlon and Kanti peered out of the window, amazed at what they were seeing before their eyes. There wasn't a street visible for miles that wasn’t packed with cheering races and screens were set up throughout the city for everyone to see Kanti speak.

  The cruiser neared a protruded balcony with black banners of the fire phoenix on either side and came to a stop. “This is a little more than I was expecting,” she said with a big smile on her radiant face. “I thought I'd be doing it from the Debate Hall and the recording would be spread throughout Orion.”

  “No. You're doing it in front of all those that’ll be following you. It’ll be played live for all of Orion,” Pyrrhus put a firm hand on her shoulder. “The rebels on the other planets have set up screens in the streets like here and will unveil them when you start your speech. Everyone in Orion will know this war has started when you stand on that balcony and say your first word.”

  “You'll do great,” Anlon took her hand. “I'll be right next to you the whole time. We’re in this together.”

  Pyrrhus pulled the cruiser next to the balcony and Anlon exited the cruiser, taking Kanti's hand to help her off. She lifted her long dress from the ground and turned to face the thousands of cheering rebels below her. Their images were immediately displayed on the screens throughout the city, and her fear of speaking disappeared instantly. She straightened and smiled to the crowd below.

  The crowd erupted in more cheering and fighters started darting across the sky, shooting out fireworks and confetti. This is where she felt she was supposed to be. This was her place. Her whole life on Demeter she’d searched for meaning in life and knew this is what she’d been searching for. Not all in Orion may know her at this moment, but after his speech, every rebel would know who she was, as would the crodillians.

  She fastened a microphone to her dress and placed her hands on the balcony. “Many of you do not know who I am yet. I’ve only just found out myself who I truly am. My name is Kanti and my mother is Queen Adira,” the crowd erupted in frenzied cheering as she t
old them who she was. “The crodillians think they’ve wiped all hope from us by slaughtering our families and burning our homes! They think we’ll bow down to them and let them have Orion without a fight! My mother would never let that happen and she made sure to let us all know at the cost of her own life,” she looked down on the crowd with fire in her eyes. “We won’t let these monsters rule us. There will never be peace between us. Many of you may think that it's hopeless after all they’ve done to hurt us. Well, I’m here to tell you it's not. We’ve been setting up rebellion forces all over Orion, right under their noses and Queen Adira knew it the whole time!” She smiled as the crowd got even louder. “She delayed them, played them, so we could stand a chance when the time came.”

  Kanti looked over the crowd to pause a moment. She wanted everything to sink in before the next things she was going to tell them. It was time to let them know the cold hard truth. She hadn't lied to them, but she hadn't revealed this would be a long and hard fought war.

  “The path that lies ahead of us will be a tough one,” she continued. “Our numbers aren't as large as the crodillians'. We are much smaller, but we have something to fight for. Every last one of us has nothing to lose and everything to gain! If they win or we don’t fight, we’ll live in fear the rest of our lives. There will be casualties when it begins, we will lose lives in this war, but not as many as if we don't fight them and free ourselves from their grasp. Thousands will die fighting in this rebellion, but millions will be freed. I can't lie to you and say this will be an easy task, because it won't, but this is something we must do.”

  She paused another moment to catch her breath. Everything she was saying was coming straight from her heart and she felt the enthusiasm from the rebels below. They were fueling her fire and she was fueling theirs.

  “I’ve told you we are outnumbered, but they also possess powers we haven’t yet faced. They’ve only revealed a fraction of their strength in what they have done to us so far. But now, we know everything there is to know about them, where as they know little of us. They haven’t taken the time to study us as they’ve laughed at us instead. They will pay for that mistake!” She held up a fist above her head and pumped it. “They’ve fought us once, and they defeated us easily, but we’ve learned from those mistakes and won’t make them again. The crodillians have become careless recently and we’ll make them pay for it with their lives.”

  The crowd seemed to be with her more than ever now. It didn't matter what she told them, they would fight for her. They hated the crodillians and she was only fueling the hate even more. Deep down, all of them knew what had to be done, she was just reassuring them their urges were correct and they’d have others by their sides when they acted on them.

  “We’ve watched them and we’ve studied them. Our battle plan has been carefully planned and put together so that we may win. This is our home and we cannot allow them to destroy it anymore than they already have. We will take back our old lives! We will not ask them for mercy! We’ll show them the full fury of Orion! The time to hide has ended and the time to fight has arrived. Pick up your weapons, because the war with the crodillians has just begun and it will be a bloody war. I’ll be fighting with you, if we fail, then we all die together! We’re waiting for you Merikh, right here on Ares. Come and try to take it from us.”

  Kanti grabbed Anlon's hand and threw it up in the air. She waved it back and forth, causing the crowd to go ballistic. Every one of them knew the crodillians would be coming, and every one of them was ready to fight to the end. She hadn't thought she'd be able to encourage them like this, and she knew the Council wouldn’t be overly thrilled with her ending, but she was fighting by their sides. There was no way she was going to let them go off to die. They’d all started in this together, and they’d all end in this together, whatever the outcome was.

  Pyrrhus pulled up the cruiser and Anlon helped her in. The two stood, holding hands, as the General circled around the thousands of rebels below. Pyrrhus didn't seemed to be bothered with the last part of her speech, in fact, he seemed to approve of it by the large smile beaming on his face. She pulled Anlon in and gave him a kiss for all the rebels to see. Everyone had someone to fight for and this was who she was putting her life on the line for.

  Kirill stared at the screen in front of him, not believing a thing he was seeing. This couldn't be happening, they couldn't be rebelling. Merikh's forces were too strong for them to rebel, they stood no realistic chance. They were too dumb to realize it though as they were listening to every word that spilled from the Princess’ mouth. She must know their real chances, and yet, even she didn't seem to care.

  He didn't actually think they'd rebel after Adira's message, but he’d been very wrong. This was even worse than anything he'd imagined, all of Orion was seeing it live. The rebels were no longer trying to hide, they wanted the crodillians to know. This wouldn’t bide well with Merikh. He thought he was invincible, that no one would dare stand up to him, but he too had been wrong. Unlike himself, Merikh had the resources to make them pay. Every race in the galaxy would die for opposing him.

  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.

  Chapter 31

  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 hav
e 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?”