War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past (39 page)

Kanti rolled her eyes. "If it's anything like
this place, I assure you, it's not fit for a Princess."

"This isn't one of my most elegant hideouts,
I'll admit, but the place I have in mind for you is much nicer than
this."

"What'd you have in mind?" Camillus
asked.

"Nesoi. My home planet."

"That's perfect," Camillus smiled even
bigger. "You'll be completely safe there Kanti."

"It's a planet of water," she said
unimpressed. "Where am I supposed to hide?"

"In the hidden underwater cities of course!"
Camillus exclaimed.

"Child stories," Kanti rolled her eyes. "How
can a city possibly be built underwater?"
"It's okay," Bimisi winked. "We would rather have races think
they're child stories, but I can assure you, that they're as real
as this apartment that you're standing in."

"When can you take her?" Anlon asked.

"Right after I give you your directions to
the Deimos Brotherhood's base."

"I'm going with you too," Camillus said.
"You're not traveling anywhere alone."

"Already had that planned," Anlon revealed.
"We decided back on the ship you'd go with her."

"You don't trust me with the Queen's secret
daughter?" Bimisi pretended to be offended.

"Now that you've
finally
decided that
Bimisi is trustworthy, I think it's time we set things in motion,"
Falcone got up. "No more taking our time."

"I'll get your holomap with the marked
location right now," Bimisi walked over to a counter and picked
something up off it. "This will show you where I think their
headquarters are," He handed the holopad to them. "I need to get
these two to Nesoi as quickly as I can. The Deimos Brotherhood
probably already knows of her presence if they're still after her.
The quicker I get her out and into safe hiding, the better."

Falcone nodded. "You can go. Anlon and I are
good from here."

Bimisi pushed Kanti and Camillus out of the
door without even a goodbye. Anlon looked over to Falcone who gave
him a quick nod to pull out the holomap. They checked the marked
location and saw that it was quite a distance from Kremiville, so
they'd need a cruiser, but that wouldn't be hard to get. They left
the apartment building and looked for someplace that they could get
a cruiser, being on Erebos, they just stole one.

Donnchadh felt the ship land roughly on the
ground of his new home of captivity. He slowly started to get up,
trying to reposition the chains that were rubbing up against the
sores that he had developed from wearing the chains for so long.
The ramp opened, allowing light to stream in and light up the cell
of the small ship. Donnchadh immediately felt the intense heat,
which he could already tell was worse than that of Themis, beating
down on his skin. The guard opened his cell and led him out of the
ship onto the soft, light brown, sand of Keres for the first
time.

He looked around him, seeing nothing but sand
dunes and intense heat beaming off of the ground. Beads of sweat
started forming on his head before he even made it to the gate of
the prison which was a mere few steps away. Donnchadh looked
straight ahead and saw the prison that he would be kept in, guarded
only by several warbots.

They were placed outside of a tall, and
sloppily built, steel wall that had no other forms of security. He
could make out a tall building on the other side of the wall that
was made out of the same steel as the wall itself. From here, it
looked like a metal jungle with several spherical tunnels leading
to one big square area in the middle.

The guard led him towards the gate. "The
warbots won't stop you from trying to escape, if that's what you
really want to do. They're here to keep the things on the outside
from getting in."

Donnchadh didn't want to ask what kind of
things lived in the barren wasteland. He knew if he did try to
leave, he wouldn't last more than a couple of days due to the heat
and lack of supplies. The guard took him through the gate, past the
warbots, and through an unsealed tunnel. They trekked their way up
a set of steep stairs and Donnchadh followed the guard through the
maze of tunnels he had observed from the outside, until finally
reaching the big square room.

"This is where you'll spend most of your
time," He unlocked Donnchadh's chains and shoved him forward. "Try
to make friends here, not enemies," The guard walked away and left
him alone in his strange new home.

He walked down to the center of the square
room and looked up through the roofless ceiling, covering his eyes
from the sun. It felt like a giant heat trap and now understood why
the judges had chosen it for him.

A couple criminals approached from behind him
and Donnchadh turned to face them.

"Welcome to Hell," A big green creature told
him. "This will be your home, and your grave."

"So I've been told," Donnchadh replied.

"It's up to you how you die," the creature
continued. "I don't know what they told you about us, but we don't
kill each other here like many like think. We have code that we
follow. You will either die from the heat or the Walk of Death.
Whatever your preference is."

"The Walk of Death is leaving this heat trap
I presume?"

The big creature nodded. "There are worse
creatures out there than you'll find in here, believe it or not.
Keres is unforgiving and no one survives out in the wasteland, no
matter how strong they are."

"I don't deserve to survive after what I have
done," Donnchadh muttered to himself.

"None of us do," The creature patted him on
the back. "But we keep on living until the day we die. Make the
best of the days you have left, though it may sound stupid here
since there is nothing but death and hopelessness with no
opportunity to make up for your past."

Anlon picked up his comlink while Falcone was
flying the cruiser to the location Bimisi had highlighted on the
holomap.

"Adira?" Anlon answered, surprised to be
getting a call from her.

"Are you all safe?" Adira asked.

"Yes, everybody is safe," Anlon replied. "Is
it safe for you to be contacting me right now?"

"I'm on a secure line, in a secure place. We
can talk for a short time before I have to let you go. What is
going on?"
"Falcone had a contact who was able to find a hideout for Kanti and
he also had a possible location of the Deimos Brotherhood."

"Who is this contact?"

"Bimisi. He said he gets intel for you."

Adira chuckled. "He'll hide her well. He's
reliable, as long as I keep paying him, and I'll make sure to pay
him well for this favor."

Anlon smiled in relief. "She's already left
with him and Camillus to go to the hideout."

"They will be safe wherever he decides to
take them."

"How are you holding up?" he sensed
exhaustion in her voice.

"I'm holding up fine," she sighed. "No
attempts have been made on me, but I still haven't found the
traitor."

"Do you still think it's one of your
Council?"

"Yes," she replied. "Finding which one it is
has proved to be impossible. I think it may be Aldrick, but then
again, if it was him he wouldn't be so obvious in his protests of
my decisions."

"We will know if we have found the base
soon," Anlon told her reassuringly. "Then you will no longer face
the threat of Kirill trying to take your spot on the Throne."

"Donnchadh was sent to Themis for judgment
today," she changed the subject.

"What was his final judgment?"

"He was found guilty on all accounts and sent
to Keres," she revealed. "He will die a slow death there."

Anlon had heard stories of Keres from his dad
and knew it was the harshest of moons of Themis to be sent to. No
one ever came off of the moon alive once they were sentenced there.
He had also heard prisoners were allowed to leave the prison to try
to live in the wasteland, but he doubted that those rumors were
true.

"I will call you back once we have
confirmation of the Deimos Brotherhood's base."

"I look forward to hearing back from you.
Maybe we can finally get rid of this threat to Orion."

Abdul ran into Adira's chamber, not bothering
to knock and completely out of breath. She turned to him, furious
that he had barged in without permission, but saw fear covering his
face. She put down what she was doing and rushed towards him.

"What is the matter Abdul?" she asked,
concerned that something had happened to Kanti or Anlon.

"You're going to want to see this for
yourself," he stammered. "There has been a troubling discovery,"
Abdul handed her his comlink.

Adira looked at it and didn't recognize the
figure. "Who is this?"

"My name is Vaneese, your majesty," he
answered. "I am a trader and a mineral harvester. My crew and I
have run across something... strange."

"What do you mean by strange?"

"We were making our usual run near Ovrean
when this fleet appeared out of nowhere!"

"A fleet?" she asked, confused. "I'm sure
there is nothing to worry about. I'll make some calls and figure
out who's fleet it is."

"They appeared out of thin air, your
majesty!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "They aren't from
Orion! I don't know who they are, but I assure you, they're not
from anywhere in this Galaxy."

"That's impossible. I'm sure they belong to
someone from here and they just came out of Sonodrive."

"No, your majesty. No one jumps out of
Sonodrive where we are," he assured. "I trade for a living and I
have
never
seen ships like this. They're huge. They're
alien, almost lifelike in a way. They're like nothing I, nor any of
my crew, have ever seen. Trust me, if these were from Orion, I
wouldn't be wasting your time right now."

"Could you shift the comlink so I can get a
better view of them. I'm sure I can figure out who's they are."

"Of course, your majesty," He turned the
comlink for her to see out of the cockpit window.

Adira's jaw dropped in utter horror at what
she saw on the comlink. There were thousands of ships just waiting
out in space, none from any planet in Orion. Vaneese wasn't
exaggerating when he said they were life-like either. They seemed
to glow in a way and were made of materials that obviously weren't
native to Orion.

"They just popped up out of nowhere!" he
shouted again. "All of them! All at the same time!"

Adira thought for a moment. "Have you tried
to contact them yet?"

"No. We have tried to stay hidden so we could
contact you first," he said. "They don't look like they're here for
peace. They look like warships."

She nodded in agreement. "I would like you to
make contact with them now. I want to find out who they are, where
they came from, and why exactly they're here."

"Yes, your majesty," He kept her on the
comlink as he contacted the mysterious ships through comline. "This
is Vaneese, I am contacting you on behalf of Queen Adira. What is
your business here in Orion?"
An image of a terrifying race appeared on Vaneese's comline. The
blue image stared at him silently, not saying a single word in
response. The pilot jumped back in his seat, but regained his
composure quickly, not wanting to show fear in front of the Queen.
He straightened up in his chair and spoke to the race again.

"What is your business here in Orion?"

Vaneese's eyes widened as an orange light
illuminated on one of the enemy ships. A couple of seconds later,
the light shot from the ship and enveloped his ship in a ball of
fire.

"Vaneese?" Adira asked. "Vaneese are you
okay!"

"What just happened Adira?" Abdul looked to
her concerned.

"They're gone," she stared. "We have a new
threat to Orion. Call an immediate Council meeting
now
!" she
ordered him. "There are no exceptions, everyone is to be there in
ten minutes!"