War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past (38 page)

Donnchadh rubbed his eyes and sat up as soon
as he heard his cell being unlocked. He started to protest the
torturing he was sure he was about to endure when two guards
grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up. His body was too weak to
protest and he got his feet under him to attempt walking on his
own. A figure in a dress stood at the end of the cell as he looked
up, only to see Adira with her hands on her hips.

"You're going to Themis for you trial now,"
Donnchadh looked back down. "You should be thankful I am giving you
a trial and haven't killed you myself."

"I deserve it for what I have done," he
mumbled. "You would not be wrong in doing it."

"I'm glad to see you recognize your
mistakes," she replied. "But it is too late for forgiveness.
Besides, I'm sure your judges will think of something much worse
than being killed quickly," She turned to face the guards. "Take
him to the ship and sedate him. I don't want him to change his mind
and trying anything stupid along the way."

The guards nodded and led Donnchadh from the
dungeon. He followed them without any resistance to the hangar
where they led him up the ramp and locked him in another cell.

"Hold out your arm," the guard ordered.

Donnchadh put his arm through the cell for
the guard to insert the sedation into his body. It didn't take long
for the drug to take effect, as he immediately felt light headed
and his vision blurred. He sat hardly on the floor and was knocked
out within seconds of receiving the sedation.

Donnchadh woke to the pain of the guards
pricking and prodding at his sides with shock batons. He groggily
opened his eyes and saw the guards chaining his hands and feet
together. After they were done, they lowered the ramp, letting hot
sunlight stream into the ship. Donnchadh tried to cover his eyes
from the intensity of the sun, but was unable to lift his hands
enough due to the weight of the chains. The guards dragged him off
of the ship and out into the raging heat of Themis.

The planet was scorching, yet there were
still different colored Themins walking the streets in long robes.
Elegant buildings rose all over the city and cruisers flew overhead
in the sky. Donnchadh had never gone on a mission to Themis, but
knew it to be home to the wealthiest of Orion.

It didn't take long for him to hate the
unbearable heat radiating on his black skin. The walk seemed to
take hours with the heavy chains trying their hardest to hold him
back. After some time a white building with a long flight of stairs
came into view. White pillars held the roof up and green plants
surounded the base of the building.

Donnchadh made the long trek up the stairs,
dragging his heavy chains the entire way. It wasn't until he
reached the top that he became afraid of his fate for the first
time. The guards shoved him through the doors and walked him down
the light grey marble hallway to face his fate. They sat him down
in front of a panel of eight judges of a variety of races, none
seeming to pay a bit of attention to the criminal who had just been
brought in. Donnchadh set his chained hands on the table in front
of him with a clunk and looked up at them, watching every one of
them with his maroon eyes.

"Are you Donnchadh?" One of the judges asked
routinely, looking down at a sheet of paper in front of him.

"Yes," he replied.

"You are accused of breaking your oath to the
GSOU, murdering the Valens family, attempting to assassinate the
Queen, being associated with the Deimos Brotherhood where you
carried out countless acts of treason against Orion," The judge
read in one long breath. "How do you plead?"

"Guilty. I committed all of those crimes and
more."

The judges looked to each other and
whispered, surprised that he had given himself up so easily. They
apparently weren't accustomed to criminals like Donnchadh admitting
to crimes so without a fight.

"So you admit to all of the things you have
been accused of?" the judge repeated.

"Yes," Donnchadh nodded his sweating head. "I
have committed all of the crimes you have accused me of."

"He must be sent to Harkos for breaking his
oath," a Themin said.

"No. He deserves Poine for all of the murder
he has committed with the Deimos Brotherhood," a green Themin
argued.

The dark Quierleon judge in the middle held
up his hand. "Those are both good places to send this Malak, but I
had a much better place in mind for him," The other judges on the
panel looked to him, eager to see what he had to say. "I believe
Keres will be the best place for him."

The others looked at each other and whispered
with agreeing nods. They then looked to Donnchadh who didn't waver
his stare.

"The moon of vengeful spirits of death and
doom," One of the judges said aloud, nodding her head. "It is an
excellent choice for you."

"Nothing seems harsh enough for him," The
green Themin shook his head. "But this is probably the best of all
of the moons for him to be sent to."

The pink Themin agreed. "He will be sent to
live with the worst criminals in Orion and will surly die a slow
death in the heat, if he's not killed by the other prisoners
first."

"Then let's take a vote," The dark Quierleon
looked around. "All in favor of Keres, raise your hand," All eight
judges raised their hands. "It is final then, he will be sent to
Keres," He looked to Donnchadh . "You will be sent to Keres for
punishment of your crimes. You will never be permitted to leave.
You are sentenced there for life. I will warn you now, it is a much
worse fate than death. You will be placed amongst the most
dangerous criminals in Orion, like yourself, and will die a very
slow death, if you're not killed by the very planet itself. The
guards will tell you more about it once you arrive."

Donnchadh nodded his head, showing that he
understood. The guards took him by the arms and led him out of the
room to the ship. Keres was a sure death sentence, he knew that
without the judges telling him. The horror stories of Keres were
well known and he knew that he would never leave the planet alive.
No one ever did.

"So what brings you to Erebos, Kanti? Gaea
not have enough crime to keep you busy?" Bimisi chuckled to
himself.

"I had to leave Gaea," she said. "I really
didn't have much of a choice."

"Well, apparently since you're here," he
spread his arms. "You're here in my hideout, on one of the most
dangerous moons in Orion where only criminals willingly
travel."

"Bimisi, I'm sorry, but we don't know if we
can trust you enough to tell you why we're here."

"Whoa," Falcone interjected. "Let it be known
that I trust you Bimisi. It's these others that need some
convincing."

"Why wouldn't you trust me Kanti? I thought
we were friends. What happened to that friendship?" he asked
playfully.

"I met you in a prison. I wouldn't exactly
call that a good first impression."

"Oh," he waved his hand. "That was all just a
misunderstanding!"

"How so?" Camillus asked. "You don't land in
prison by accident."

"I may have had a little too much to drink
and may have done some questionable things the night I was
arrested, but I'm trustable. I can keep secrets, or whatever you're
afraid I can't do."

"And you expect us to just take your word on
that?" Anlon asked.

"Sure I expect you to take my word," he
nodded. "I help the Galactic Special Operations Unit with intel. If
I can help the Queen, I think I'm more than qualified to help you
out."

"Is that true?" Camillus looked to Falcone.
"Does he really work for the GSOU?"

"I wouldn't say he works for them, but he
helps out a bit."

"You didn't tell them I'm a spy for the
Queen!" he exclaimed. "No wonder they think I'm a liar and no good
criminal."

Falcone rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't quite
call it being a spy for the Queen either."

"What would you call it then?" Bimisi crossed
his arms. "A criminal?"

"A contact with valuable information,"
Falcone said. "That's what I call myself."

"You guys on a secret mission or something?"
Bimisi crept forward. "You know, I never turn down secret
missions."

"Sort of. The Queen needs some things done,
but not just anyone can help," Anlon replied.

"Consider me in!" Bimisi grinned. "The Queen
always
pays good and I never turn down the Queen's
money."

"You should be doing this more than just for
money," Anlon furrowed his eyes. "What's at stake is more important
than getting rich. Orion is in trouble of being destroyed."

"Whoa, slow down. What are you talking about?
Orion is going to be destroyed?"

"That's enough," Camillus insisted. "He
doesn't need to know anymore."

"We have to trust someone," Kanti shrugged.
"If he works for the Queen, then she must trust him, which means we
can also trust him."

"I'm with her," Anlon backed Kanti up. "We're
kind of stuck here and we need some help if we're going to get
anywhere."

"Fine," Camillus puffed. "I just ran a
background record on him. Everything he has said so far is true, so
I guess we can trust another race with this sensitive
information."

"What kind of robot are you?" Bimisi looked
him up and down. "You ran a background check from just looking at
me?"

Camillus' skin fluttered black and his image
appeared as a reflection of Bimisi. "An advanced humanoid who works
for the Queen. If you betray us, I'll kill you with my own two
hands."

"You have my word that I will not betray
you," Bimisi held up his right hand, not wavered by Camillus'
appearance change. "Now what's this Orion coming to an end stuff?
Sounds pretty important."
"We're going to need some information from you first," Anlon
crossed his arms. "This is a two way street."

"Like what? I'll tell you what I know, but I
doubt I have anything you want."

"Do you know where the Deimos Brotherhood
keeps their hidden headquarters on Erebos?"

"You were able to track them down to Erebos?"
Bimisi raised his eyebrows. "Impressive. It took me quite a bit of
time, but I was successful as usual."

"Do you know where they are?" Camillus asked
this time. "We need to find them."

"There's a pretty good chance I've tracked
them down. Why are you looking for them?"

"It pertains to the information that I'm
about to tell you," Anlon revealed.

"Then what are you waiting for? Tell
me."
"Before that, Falcone said you have a lot of hiding places and we
may need to use one of them," Camillus interrupted. "Answer that
and we'll tell you what you want to know from us."

Bimisi turned to Falcone who raised his hands
innocently in the air. "He's about to tell you some real important
stuff. I thought it was okay to let them know you have several safe
houses scattered throughout Orion."

"I may have some of these hiding places that
you are referring to. Why are my hideouts important to finding the
Deimos Brotherhood?" Bimisi crossed his arms.

"The Princess of Orion is standing here in
this room. That's why it's important," Camillus told him.

"No way," Bimisi looked to Kanti. "No way! I
have a lot of hiding places that we can use in that case!"

"Great," Camillus finally smiled. "We need to
take Kanti to one of those hiding places as soon as possible."

"Uh. Duh," Bimisi laughed. "You just brought
her to one of the most dangerous places in all of Orion while
tracking down the deadliest terror group there is."

"We didn't have much of a choice," Anlon
said. "The Deimos Brotherhood is after her and the only way to keep
her safe was to keep her with us."

"You wanted to keep her safe and you
knowingly brought her to their home planet?" Bimisi shook his head.
"You're lucky you found me before they found you. You're also lucky
I have just the place to take her. It's fit for a Princess."