War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past (16 page)

"I met a Feleen one day, and after we got to
talking, he said he could get me off of the planet without anyone's
knowledge," she replied. "I was sick of it there, so I agreed. I
paid him everything I had and he snuck me off to Gaea. No questions
asked."

"Did your family ever try to come after you
that you know of?"

"No. I think they finally gave up on me After
all of those years of running, they must've finally accepted that I
was never going to stay.

"Do you ever miss them or think about
them?"

She was quiet a moment. "I do sometimes, but
I know they weren't my real family and that I was only with them
because they were hiding me from something," She let out a breath.
"I thought if I got away from them I could find my parents and try
to live a life with them, but I was wrong."

"You'll find them Kanti," Anlon put his hand
on her shoulder. "They're out there somewhere."

"I hope so," she smiled. "There's the
spaceport," she pointed.

She pulled into one of the parking spaces
designated for regular cars and they both exited the vehicle,
walking a quarter mile to the spaceport. It was overly crowded,
with races from planets all over Orion. There were some Anlon was
familiar with, and others that were completely foreign to him. As
they squeezed their way through the crowd, they saw a beautiful
ship with the Queen's symbol of a phoenix painted on the side.

The ship was immaculate. It's chrome paint
reflected everything in the spaceport. The shape of the ship itself
was similar to the phoenix that was painted on the side as the
wings curved out and the thrusters on the back would surely create
the tail of the phoenix when set to max power.

Anlon stared in awe at the ship. "I've never
seen a ship so beautiful."

"Thanks," Came a voice from behind him.
"There are a lot more like this one on Hera though, so it's not all
that special for one of the Queen's ships."

"I'm Anlon," He held out his hand.

"I know who you are," The man said, grabbing
his hand. "I'll be your pilot to Hera."

The pilot turned around and walked up the
ramp to the ship without another word.

Anlon turned to Kanti. "Thank you for
everything you've done for me."

"It's my job," she smiled.

"You've done much more than you job requires
of you. I really appreciate it, Kanti."

She blushed. "Stay safe, Anlon."

"I will," he replied. "I'll see you when I
get back," He entered the ship.

"How would you like to sit in the co-pilot
seat?" The pilot asked over his shoulder.

"Don't have to ask me twice!"

"Pay really close attention and you'll be
able to pilot a ship on your own in no time," he winked.

The pilot pressed a couple of buttons and
pulled the yoke back, lifting the ship off. Anlon wasn't sure what
he was doing, and knew the pilot was kidding about flying soon, but
he still paid attention to learn as much as he could. As the rose
in the sky, the District of Hassental quickly shrunk to specks of
vibrant colors and Anlon couldn't keep the excitement of leaving
the planet for the first time off of his face.

"Yes?" A voice answered the holographic
comlink.

"My men have left Erebos and are on their way
to Hera as we speak," Kirill informed the contact.

"I will get the appropriate staff on hand,"
The blue figure replied. "It is a poison as we agreed upon?"

Kirill shook his head. "It is. They will be
there by the end of the day."

"Perfect," The figure grinned. "The Queen
will be taken out by the end of the day and you will finally have
your revenge, along with your long awaited spot on the Throne."

"Finally," Kirill smiled. "After all of these
long years she will finally be dead and I will claim my rightful
place on the Throne of Orion."

"I will inform the others there is about to
be a change in power."
"No, wait until after she is dead. I don't want anyone feeling
guilty before we carry this out," Kirill ordered. "You know how
they are, they'll change their minds if you tell them how close we
are to our goal. Let them loath in sorry once our mission has been
accomplished."

"I understand completely."

Kirill hung up his comlink and reclined back
in his chair. The time for him to hide in the shadows was finally
nearing an end. Soon, he'd be ruling Orion from the Throne that was
rightfully his and he'd finally be able to create a pure Galaxy.
The way that Orion was always meant to be.

Anlon couldn't peel his eyes away from the
mesmerizing stars flashing by the cockpit window. Anlon saw the
pilot stir in the corner of his eye after about an hour and turned
to look at him. He was pushing buttons and pulling levers when all
of a sudden the stars stopped flashing by and they slowed down to
become almost stationary again. Anlon stared at the beautiful
planet with vibrant blues and greens directly in front of them.

When the ship entered the planet, Anlon
couldn't believe what he saw laying in front of him. Hera had
abandoned all of the Exodus Era equipment that was common on Gaea
and had switched over to the advanced technology that was more
readily seen on the wealthier planets. There were cruisers skimming
the sky and other things weaving in and out of traffic, forcing the
pilot to concentrate carefully on flying. The only thing he saw on
the ground were hundreds of races and small motorized vehicles only
big enough for a single race.

Buildings rose high in the sky and were made
from material that reflected light off of them, making the city
glitter from the sky. Beautiful blue lakes scattered the surface
and luscious green grass grew anywhere there was no
infrastructure.

The pilot glanced over and saw the look of
awe on Anlon's face. "It's not all like this kid. Just the big
city."

"It is as far as I can see," he replied,
still not looking away from the window.

"Well, we're in the Capitol. Get out of the
Capitol and you'll find yourself in places you don't want to be
without a weapon."

"You mean the slum?" Anlon asked.

"Yeah, I guess. It's the called the lower
cities and that's where a lot of black-market type stuff goes on. I
guess you could call it the slum, but compared to a regular planet,
it's definitely not slum."

"Why does the Queen let that stuff go on here
if she's aware of it?"

"Ha!" he laughed. "The Queen can't stop
everything kid. No matter where you go, there'll be people breaking
the law and good people trying to live with it happening around
them. She's good at regulating it, but there's no stopping it."

Anlon saw a huge building coming into view in
front of them. "Is that where we're going?"

The pilot smiled. "That is where we are
going. The Queen's Palace."

The building was bigger than all of the
others surrounding it, but instead rising high, it expanded
hundreds of acres. It also wasn't made of the same reflective
material as the rest of the city, it was designed using Exodus Era
materials. It was an old ancient building, made of cream colored
stones, black roofs, and plants growing up the sides of the
buildings. There was a giant wall surrounding the property made out
of the same cream colored stones as the Palace and guards were
stationed at all ends.

"Why does this building look so different
from the rest?" Anlon asked the pilot.

"One of the first buildings put up on Hera
five-hundred years ago. While the rest of the Galaxy evolved, as
did Hera, the royals decided to keep this building standing as a
type of historical marker. The outside may look old, but the inside
is filled with the latest technology, all of it better than you can
find anywhere in Orion."

"Wow," Anlon muttered. "This is amazing."

"Here we are," The pilot pointed.

Anlon looked to where he was pointing and saw
enormous bay doors opening, revealing the Queen's private hangar.
As they entered the hangar, Anlon saw a female figure standing by
another set of smaller doors leading inside of the Palace.

"That's Queen Adira," The pilot pointed.

The pilot landed the ship and the Queen
immediately approached. He pulled a knob and the ramp hissed
down.

"Go talk to the Queen kid, she's anxious to
meet you."

Anlon got out of the co-pilot seat and
quickly exited the ship. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to
the Queen and was starting to feel jittery for the first time since
being told he was going to meet her. He had never met anyone of any
significance and now he was about to meet the most important person
in all of Orion.

"Hello Anlon," The Queen greeted, as he
neared the bottom of the ramp.

"Hi Queen Adira," He bowed awkwardly, not
knowing what else to do.

She walked up to him and put her hand on his
shoulder. "No need to bow for me. We're friends."

"But, I don't know you," he said. "I had no
idea you even knew who I was until yesterday."

"No, you don't know me," The Queen agreed.
"But I was very close to your father, therefore, that makes us
friends too, even though this is the first time we have met," Anlon
just nodded and stood there, unsure of what to do next. "Let's go
to the garden and talk," Adira motioned.

Adira led Anlon down the massive marble
hallways of the Palace, to the greenroom, and then out into the
garden. Anlon hadn't seen the garden when they had been in the air,
but he wasn't sure why he hadn't noticed it. The garden was
enormous and full of a variety of vibrant colors which should've
made it impossible to miss from the sky.

There were a hundreds of plants from all over
Orion. He saw a few trees and flowers that were native to Gaea, but
there were even more plants he had never seen before that were
obviously not native to Hera. Adira led him down a winding dirt
path through the garden that felt more like a well up kept
jungle.

"Were you and your Dad close Anlon?" she
asked.

He nodded. "We were. He wasn't home much, but
when he was, he would teach me different things and make sure that
I was following the correct path."

"What kind of things did Armino teach you?"
Adira chuckled.

"You know," he shrugged. "Just how to defend
myself and use weapons for self defense."

"Interesting," she said. "Sounds like typical
Armino. Always was prepared for anything."

"Did you know he never told me he worked for
you? I found out after he was killed."

"I know he didn't tell you," she nodded.
"Weapcon was the cover up job I gave him. GSOU members with
families like to stay hidden, even some who live alone like to stay
hidden, so I provide them with cover jobs."

"I know why now," Anlon's head dropped.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't work all the time."

"Anlon," Adira stopped and turned Anlon to
face her. "You and your family should've been safe. I made sure of
it, but someone with access to a secure database must have leaked
the information to your family's killers. This was never supposed
to happen. Ever."

He broke free of her grasp. "I know. That's
what I've been told, but no one has found out who leaked
information yet. That's what's so frustrating for me."

"We will Anlon. We will in time. These races
won't get away with this."

Anlon stopped to look at one of the trees.
"Why did you bring me here, your majesty?"

"Call me Adira," she corrected. "And I
promised Armino I would take care of his family if anything were to
ever happen to him."

"So I'm staying here is what you're telling
me?"

"If you would like," she answered. "My doors
are always open for you."

"And if I decide that I don't want to?"

"Well, then you're free to go whenever you
please. No one is forcing you to stay here against your will."

Anlon smiled. "I'm thinking about staying,
actually. It's beautiful here and if I were to choose someplace to
live, this would be it."

"I'm glad to hear it," she smiled. "I also
brought you here to ask you a few questions."

"Questions about who killed my family?"
"Yes. I need to know more about what happened on Gaea. I can't do
anything if I don't know all the facts."

"You know, I told the District police
everything I know. You could just look that up," he said.

"Anlon, stop," she ordered. "I read the
reports from your questionings and I think you were holding things
back. Important things that could solve your case."

"What could I possibly be holding back?"

"You remember that lie detector that was
hooked up to you?" Anlon nodded. "It recorded every time you lied.
There were a couple of lies the detectives blew off."

He let out a deep breath. "I don't know who I
can trust Adira. Not after what happened to my family. I didn't
just want to tell them everything. I also had some other plans and
if they knew certain things, it'd only make things harder."