War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past (15 page)

Anlon hung up the comlink. He tried to shut
his eyes, but he couldn't with all of the thoughts streaming
through his head. His family had been killed three days ago and
since then, his whole entire life was changing faster than he could
keep up with. He was going to go out to kill the races that had
killed his family, but before that, he was getting the chance to
meet the Queen of Orion. He wasn't sure why he was being afforded
the opportunity, but if Moran was right, his chances of catching
the races were about to go up.

Donnchadh knocked on Ulisse's door and
patiently waited for a response that didn't come. He knocked on the
door again, but instead on doing it softly, he banged. The door
hissed open and Ulisse stood in the doorway.

"I'm almost done Donnchadh," Ulisse said, as
he went back to his bench. "There are still a few things that I
need to perfect before it is completed."

Donnchadh cleared his throat. "You do
understand that we leave for Hera today?"

"Yes. I know we leave today, but this wasn't
an easy poison to make. This takes a lot of time and concentration
to do."

Donnchadh moved closer to Ulisse. "You had
three
days to make this. What were you doing the whole
time?"

"I haven't left my bunker in three days
Donnchadh, and if I'm not mistaken, the third day isn't over yet,"
He shot back. "If you think it's so quick and easy, why don't you
make a poison yourself?" Ulisse continued after Donnchadh's
silence. "I didn't want to make a regular poison. I wanted this to
be a special one," He reached up and grabbed a vile off of the
shelf above the bench. "It won't be a secret forever that the Queen
didn't die of natural causes. We both know Kirill, he couldn't keep
that quiet forever."

"He won't tell anyone."

"Ah. He may not, but there are others besides
us who know how she really died. They will leak it eventually when
the time is right."

"What does your poison have to do with
someone leaking who killed the Queen? All that matters right now is
that she dies."

Ulisse turned and smiled. "I want history to
know that
I
made the poison that killed Queen Adira. Not
just any poison though, a poison that nobody could detect. The best
poison ever created. It will by my little signature in
history."

Donnchadh rolled his eyes. "Ulisse the great
poison maker. Everyone will be so impressed."

"My name will never be remembered any other
way," Ulisse spat. "Besides, what if I did make a regular poison
that's been seen before and the doctors somehow found out."

"So what," Donnchadh said. "She'd be dead,
that's all that matters."

"So," Ulisse started. "If there is any
suspicion whatsoever that someone had the Queen poisoned, Kirill
would never get his spot on the Throne"

"He doesn't necessarily want that spot on the
Throne. He may put someone else in that spot and use them as a
puppet."

"He may, but that'd be very unlike him,"
Ulisse said. "But it'd be much easier if there were no suspicions
revolving around the Queen's death no matter what he chooses to
do."

"How much longer do you have until you have
finished it?"
"I am done," He held up a vile. "I told you to be patient."

Donnchadh smiled and turned for the door. "I
am going to get Sanguinarius. Head for the ship and you can tell
both of us exactly what this poison will do when we arrive."
Donnchadh walked out of the bunker and headed straight for
Sanguinarius' bunker to tell him they were moving out now. Ulisse
had cut it close making his poison and it left no time for
relaxation. Kirill had told him three days and it was the third
day. He had failed the last mission, though no one else knew, and
he wasn't about to fail this one because he got behind on schedule.
He approached Sanguinarius' door and banged one it.

"I'm coming! Stop banging on the door!" A
voice shouted from inside.

The door hissed open. "It's time to leave
Sanguinarius."

Sanguinarius turned around and headed to his
dresser. "How long until we leave?"

"Be at the ship in five minutes," Donnchadh
responded.

He turned and left the bunker, briskly walked
down the hall to the elevator. He got on the on and went up to
where
Cerberus
was kept. As he lowered the ramp and got on
Cerberus
he saw Ulisse already waiting with a brown satchel
in his hands.

"Didn't bring much," Donnchadh said, as he
approached him.

"No. We will be in and out. No need to over
pack."

"Always prepare for things not to go as
planned," Donnchadh advised. "You should know that by now."

"If things don't go as planned on this
mission, we're dead anyway," Ulisse sat down at one of the tables
in the main cabin of the ship. "Will Sanguinarius will be here
soon?"

Donnchadh looked out the ramp and nodded.
"He's on his way to the ship as we speak."

Ulisse pulled a vile out of his satchel and
set it on the table. "It won't take much explaining to understand
what it does."

Sanguinarius walked up the ramp with a big
bag in his hands.

"Sit," Donnchadh ordered. "Ulisse is about to
tell us what this poison will do."

Sanguinarius sat across from Ulisse. "What
special concoction did you stir up this time?"

Ulisse smiled. "It will kill her very quick
which is the most important thing."

"I would hope so, it took you three days to
make," Donnchadh muttered.

"Two and a half, technically," Ulisse
corrected. "Anyway, it can be added to drinks or food. Once it's in
the digestive system, it changes from liquid state to a gaseous
state. It will make its way to her lungs where it will release
toxic fumes, the same kruma, but much more severe than the small
doses those junkies take."

Donnchadh moved towards him. "That isn't
undetectable
like we agreed on."

"I don't want it to be
undetectable
,"
He admired the vile. "When her autopsy is done, they will think she
overdosed on kruma. When Orion finds out she was really
assassinated, and they will find out, I will reveal that it was
I
who concocted the poison. The first to ever create a
poison to do such a thing."

"Natural causes!" Donnchadh shouted. "That's
what you were told to do, not write your name down in history!"

"You can't be forced to smoke kruma
Donnchadh," Ulisse said. "It can only be done willingly, so it will
pass without question. I promise you there is not a single race in
Orion who can make a poison like this, therefore, not a single race
will even begin to think that it was poison."

"He has a good point," Sanguinarius nodded.
"The Queen is very healthy, if she just dropped dead that would
raise questions."

"And you think races will believe she
overdosed on kruma?" Donnchadh exclaimed.

"Oh no, of course not. But only a few races
will know that was the actual cause of death, or so they'll be led
to think," Ulisse replied.

"Only the politicians and her Council will
think she overdosed. They would never tell the races of Orion the
Queen Adira overdosed on kruma," Sanguinarius grinned. "It's
genius!"

"It's so stupid that it may work," Donnchadh
agreed. "Most of the politicians are fools so there is a chance
that it may pass by unquestioned. If it looks like she overdosed,
they may accept it easier than her just dropping dead."

"My thinking exactly," Ulisse smiled, proud
of his thinking.

Donnchadh made his way to the pilot seat.
"Your rationale had better be right because I won't take the fall
for this one if it backfires."

He sat down and fired up the engines. The bay
doors opened and the dock protruded out of the mountain. As soon as
Cerberus
was out in the open, Donnchadh applied the
thrusters and lifted the ship off. In a couple of minutes they were
off of Erebos and Sonodrive was initiated.

Anlon rolled over in his bed, still unable to
get much sleep. He had tried to go to bed early to get rest before
he saw the Queen, but the nervousness of meeting her had kept him
from sleeping at all. He decided to get out of bed and get ready to
leave for the spaceport. He was sure that the ship was already
there since he was supposed to leave in two hours, so what would it
hurt if he got there a little early? As he was getting dressed a
knocking came from his front door. Anlon walked downstairs to see
who it was.

"Hey Anlon," Kanti greeted. "I thought I
could take you to the spaceport this morning."

"It's a little early isn't it?"

"Yeah it is, but I thought we could talk
before you left."

"Come on in then," he motioned. "Not like I
have any plans for this morning."

She walked inside his house and went to the
living room. She looked around the room and sat down on one of his
couches.

"Does Giustino know you're here?"

She shook her head. "No, but he doesn't need
to. He's really obsessed with you Anlon, or your case anyway. He
thinks you're keeping stuff from him," Anlon didn't respond. "Are
you keeping stuff from him?"

"I," he started. "It's kind of complicated,
actually. It'd be better if we didn't talk about it."

"So you are. Is that why the Queen wants to
see you?" Kanti asked. "Are you going to tell her things that you
didn't, or couldn't, tell us?"

He looked over at the picture of his family
on the wall. "Yes. There are some things that only she can
know."

She put her hands on his knees. "It's okay
Anlon, I'm not going to tell Giustino. We're friends, we can tell
each other secrets. The Queen will be able to help you much more
than anyone here would ever be able to anyway. If I were able to go
to her for help, trust me, I would."

"Let me talk to the Queen first and then I'll
tell you what's going on when I get back. It's important that I go
over it with her first before I tell anyone else."

"You promise to tell me what's going on?"

"I promise," Anlon smiled. "Did you want
something to eat?"

"No, I'm okay Anlon," She answered, seeing
the toaster-tarts on the counter.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go to
the spaceport!"

"I'll meet you out in the car," Kanti got
up.

Anlon grabbed his toaster-tarts and met Kanti
at her car. He opened the passenger door, threw his bag in the
back, and sat down next to Kanti while munching on his breakfast.
She put the car in drive and headed for the spaceport. The first
couple of minutes was filled with awkward silence, until Anlon
couldn't take it anymore and finally broke it.

"So, tell me more about Demeter."

"There's not really much to tell, but I did
keep some stuff from you the first time we talked. You know, since
we're revealing secrets to each other now I think it's a good time
to tell you."

Anlon looked over at her. "Was it bad
stuff?"

"No! It's just stuff I don't want everyone to
know. Actually, no one that I know here knows about it yet. I've
kept everything to myself so far."

"What is it?" he asked.

"I ran away from Demeter."

"Ran away? But you're legally an adult, isn't
that kind of impossible?"

"I am," She nodded her head. "But the family
I lived with refused to let me leave and live on me own."

"Why would they do that?" he asked. "It's
obviously not where you came from."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "It was Demeter
so there was nothing to be afraid of, yet they always seemed
fearful for me."

"That's really strange," Anlon said. "Maybe
something happened to your parents and they didn't want the same to
happen to you."

"Maybe. My whole life there I never saw any
danger though, so I don't know if I can believe that."

"How'd you get away without them capturing
you?"