War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past

by Conner Walworth

  Cerberus was used for a lot of his illegal activities and needed to have secret doors all over the ship to store any type of weapon or vehicle he needed for a job. There were times when he went through security and he didn't need them uncovering things that he would use to carry out an assassination. Being the best assassin of the Deimos Brotherhood, that was his primary objective.

  For this assignment, Donnchadh specifically hadn't gone through the spaceport because he didn't want anyone to know that he had ever been here. A ship believed to be associated with the Deimos Brotherhood would garner attention that he didn't want for this quick assignment. He had entered Gaea using a stealth field and landed the ship far from any prying eyes, but one misstep and he knew they'd be quickly caught.

  Donnchadh boarded the ship right behind the other two. "Is everything ready to go so we can get out of here?"

  An Arachnid gave a thumbs up. "We're ready to lift off when you are Donnchadh."

  "Then let's get this ship up and running so we can leave Gaea. I'm sure all the planetary police have been informed of what has happened at the Valens' house and they're sure to have upped their security by now. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

  "Stealth generator is ready to go!" Sanguinarius, a lizard-like race, turned around from the co-pilot seat.

  "Go man one of the turrets Ulisse. I don't want to take any chances of getting caught. Once you're in place let us know and we're taking off."

  Ulisse ran to the back of the ship and climbed up the stairs to the upper deck of Cerberus. He manned a turret and scrolled through the different ammo types before selecting sonic rounds. One hit with this type of round and the enemy ship would be completely destroyed, along with any nearby ships that happened to be in the blast radius.

  "I'm ready Donnchadh!" Ulisse yelled down to the cockpit.

  Donnchadh pulled down red latches above his head and pressed a series of buttons on the dash, making the engines roar to life. He pressed another button in front of him and the Galactic Space Map popped up, filling up the entire cockpit window with different known routes he had recorded. Donnchadh set his destination to one of Plouton's moons: Erebos.

  "Time to go back home to beautiful Erebos," He muttered sarcastically under his breath.

  Donnchadh turned the ship and pressed the yoke forward, quickly heading toward space. This landing spot had been chosen due to its far proximity from any major cities or spaceports, making the chances of being spotted even lower. It was clear within minutes that he had been right. He and his men exited Gaea without being spotted by any planetary police.

  "Take off the Stealth Field and initiate SonoDrive Sanguinarius," Donnchadh ordered.

  Sanguinarius reached out to open a small clear box and pressed a red button after turning off the Stealth Field. With SonoDrive they would be able to travel to Erebos, which was on the outer edges of the Orion, in a matter of hours. Donnchadh got up out of his seat and headed up the stairs to his personal quarters for rest until they arrived at their destination.

  He had waited and planned a long time to kill Armino Valens and his family. The hardest part of the whole mission was convincing Kirill to allow him to do it. He knew Kirill didn't want one of his best men to get caught on a mission as simplistic as revenge, but in the end, he saw that killing Armino would help them with future plans. It would be a relief to let Kirill know that everything had gone as planned and no one would even know that the Deimos Brotherhood was behind it all. If the Deimos Brotherhood had been suspected of the job, then their next job might have been sensed by the Queen and her Council, which could ruin their ultimate plan. With Armino out of the way, his next big mission would be a breeze - assassinating Queen Adira.

  Kanti and Anlon pulled up to the Hassental District Prison shortly after leaving the hospital. The police station was a large octagonal building made out of stone and surrounded by razor sharp electrical fences that stood twenty feet tall. Guard posts were set up at each corner and were manned by two guards with snipers.

  Anlon knew the security was more for show since Hassental was a relatively peaceful District. The Council on Hera demanded every District take the right measures to insure no criminal escaped though, so the prison had been built to meet their standards. Every criminal would be transported to Themis eventually, where a trial heard by eight judges would determine the criminal's ultimate fate, which consisted of being sent to one of its moons. Each moon was set up for a different type of crime and it was up to the eight judges to figure out where that criminal deserved to go.

  Kanti pulled her car into the parking garage took a spot reserved for her right up front. "Giustino should already be inside waiting for us."

  Anlon let out a deep breath. "Let's get this over with."

  He followed Kanti to a clear circular door with no handle and watched as Kanti held up an I.D. card to a sensor on the side of the door and a green laser scanned her eyes.

  "Welcome Kanti Cordula," A robotic voice said.

  The door hissed open, revealing the pristine station waiting for them to enter. The station was much bigger than he had imagined, it was more like a giant three story mall than any police station he had seen pictures of. Officers briskly walked from place to place trying to complete their tasks for the day. Different modeled robots doing different a variety of jobs only added to the hysteria they were walking through. He followed Kanti to a glass elevator and they ascended to the second floor of the station where Kanti led him to an office with a plaque on the door reading: Giustino Ignace. She knocked on the door three times and took a small step back.

  A stressed voice emerged from within the office. "Come in."

  Kanti opened the door and walked in, sitting in one of the chairs in front of Giustino's desk.

  "I've brought Anlon in. The nurse said everything is fine and he's recovered very well so far."

  "That's good considering he should be dead," He looked down at some papers on his desk, not bothering to look Anlon's way. "Forensics has brought some stuff back, and the weapons these people used are unbelievable. None of them have seen any of the weapons actually used before in person, but they have all heard of these weapons and are somewhat familiar with them," He pointed out of the window. "That's why we look so busy right now. I have some of our best races and bots trying to find anyone who may have purchased the types of weapons used in murdering Anlon's family. It's a stretch, but these weren't your everyday weapons, so there may be some type of trail leading to the killers."

  Anlon stepped forward. "I can help you out with what weapons they used. I saw every single one of them. Any questions you have about them, I'm sure I can answer."

  "We'll go over all of that once we have you in the interrogation room. I don't want to miss any details of what you saw. Everything you witnessed will be crucial in solving this case," Giustino looked at Kanti. "Why don't you take him down to the interrogation room right now. I'll be right behind you, I have to finish up a few things first."

  She got up out of the chair. "Follow me Anlon, I'll show you where the interrogation room is so we can get this over with."

  Anlon followed her out of Giustino's office. "Do they usually have so many people working on a case at once? It looks like the whole station is working on this thing."

  "It's the first time I've seen this many races on a single case. And seeing Giustino so stressed out kind of worries me, to tell you the truth."

  "Don't you guys handle stuff like this every day? Why would he be so stressed?"

  "No," Kanti came to a complete stop. "This is not an everyday thing Anlon. There hasn't been a homicide case since I've been here, and by looking at Giustino, I don't think there's been one for a long time," She continued walking. "And how your family was murdered is definitely not a common occurrence for us here."

  Kanti stopped at a dull metal door big enough for a small cruiser to pass through. Kanti typed in five numbers on a key pad and the door's mechanisms started moving and the door disappeared
into the wall, leaving an opening for them to walk through. As he entered the new area he saw that it was vastly different from the last area he had been in.

  This room was filled with different kinds of cells, specialized for every kind of race in Orion. It was three stories like the main part of the police station had been, but this one was filled with rows of cells that were all designed differently. Some had magenta force fields, others had bars, and some were made with the same metal as the door they had just come through. The area was eerily quiet and Anlon saw only a few of the cells occupied by inmates. As they walked through the area, one of the prisoners reached out and greeted Kanti.

  "Hey Kanti, it's nice to see you again. How is your day going, may I ask?" A fish looking race asked.

  "I'm doing great Bimisi. Thank you," she smiled.

  "Any idea when you'll be letting me out of here? This cell is quite unfitting for me."

  Kanti held her hands up above her head and kept walking. "No idea Bimisi, you'll have to ask the officer that put you in there."

  "At least I get to see you every day!" He yelled down the hall.

  When they were out of earshot Anlon looked to Kanti. "How does he know your name?"

  She laughed. "All of the inmates know my name. If you didn't notice, there aren't that many of them here. None of them are violent that I know of, they just made some bad choices. You know, just little stuff, but we're still required by law to take them in. Hassental is very peaceful and our job is to keep it that way, which makes your case that much stranger. Everyone is used to inmates who get drunk or steal, not killing a whole family in cold blood."

  She pushed open a heavy metal door. "This is where we'll question you."

  Chapter 3

  Anlon followed Kanti into the interrogation to be enveloped in mirrors that captured every slight movement either of them made. Small turrets were stationed in the corners on the ceilings and holes surrounded the table where steel bars were able to come up an trap a disorderly criminal. They continued towards the table and Anlon stared at a metal crown on the table.

  "I need you to put this on your head." Kanti handed him the crown.

  Anlon slowly put it on his head, trying to hide the fear that was starting to fester in his stomach. She began pressing buttons to a machine on her side of the table and looked apologetically at him.

  "I just hooked a lie detector up to you. I know it must make you feel uncomfortable, but it's just procedure. The Queen and her council have very strict rules for these procedures."

  "I figured as much," Anlon forced a smile. "I'll be fine."

  "Giustino is going to ask you a lot of questions, so get ready. He's going to try to find out as much from you as he can so the investigators can focus their attention to specific areas of the crime. He doesn't really care about feelings, so I'm sorry if he asks any intrusive questions that may still be painful for you."

  "I'll tell you both everything I can," He shifted in his chair. "Whatever can help catch these killers."

  The door opened and Giustino walked in with a stack of disorganized papers in his arms.

  "Alright let's get this started," Giustino sat down. "My guys have figured out a few things, but since you watched it all, you can tell me if they're right so I can decide what we do next."

  Giustino pulled out some blank paper and two pens from the heap in his arms. He handed some of the paper and one of the pens to Kanti and then focused all of his attention on Anlon.

  "First things first Anlon, tell us what happened from the beginning. The forensics team can only do so much and it doesn't include finding out exactly what happened."

  "It all started really quick," Anlon started. "But I had just got home and not too long later three races had broken into my home. They used a concussion grenade to knock us all out, or that's what I'm assuming they used, because all I can remember after that is being tied up in chair."

  "What races were they?" Kanti asked, readying to write them down on her sheet of paper.

  "There was a black and red Darza. Long slender body and pure black eyes," Anlon described. "Then there was a race that was part human and part spider. From the waist down it was a grey and blue spider, and the waist up was grey a human with golden eyes."

  "An Arachnid," Giustino told him. "Not an extremely common race. Most of them are on the outer reaches of Orion."

  "There was still one more," Anlon continued. "A black Malak. It had light grey markings covering it's body, white horns on its head, and demonizing maroon eyes."

  "Is there anything else you know about them?" Giustino asked.

  "That's all I know about the races," He squirmed, trying to stay calm. "They didn't mention each other by name, or anything. They were mostly silent the entire time, except for the occasional order or laugh."

  Giustino looked to the lie detector and Anlon swore he saw a glimpse of disbelief cross the Chief's eyes, but he didn't stop the interrogation.

  "What about the weapons?" Giustino asked. "My forensics team knows what caused the ashes, but the skeleton and bubbled skin on your brother has them completely baffled."

  Anlon breathed slowly, reliving the horror from the night before. "The ashes were my mom. The Darza used a laser weapon on her. It was strange," he started. "The round hit her and it took a couple of seconds for anything to happen, but in an instant she burst into a cloud of fire. Then she was just gone," Anlon held back tears.

  Kanti placed her hand on his. "We're very sorry Anlon. We know what's happened to you is horrible and neither of us can ever understand what you've gone through."

  "I wouldn't want anyone to understand this," Anlon replied. "I want to do everything I can to prevent this from ever happening to anyone again."

  "What about the skeleton and boy?" Giustino asked, emotionless.

  "Gemma," Anlon said. "The skeleton was my sister Gemma. The Arachnid used some type of small robot thing. I remember him saying razorbot. It was a small thing he placed on her head and it multiplied to thousands of them rapidly, consuming her from the outside in. They just devoured her skin and left only her skeleton within seconds."

  "Oh my God," Kanti covered her mouth. "That's horrendous!"

  Giustino's eyes didn't leave Anlon's. "What about your brother?"

  "It was the Arachnid again," Anlon told them. "It was some type of poison that he created."

  "You know for a fact that he concocted this poison himself?" Giustino asked.

  "I do," Anlon nodded his head. "It was one of the few things any of them said. He bragged about being one of the best poison makers in all of Orion. The Arachnid said this poison was one of a kind, but still in development. My brother, Brendon, was his experiment."

  "How did it work?" Giustino looked down to his paper, pen ready to write.

  "He dropped a grey liquid on Brendon's skin. Slowly, his skin started to bubble and he began screaming," Anlon began to tear up. "Then he screams subsided and all of his movement stopped. That's when the Arachnid began laughing and said it had worked perfectly. It punctured my brother's voice box and first made his muscles useless, then completely paralyzed him so all he could do was stare motionless in agonizing pain."

  Horror filled Kanti's eyes. "We don't need to hear anymore of how your family was killed."

  "Yes we do," Giustino shot her a glare. "Please continue."

  "Brendon just slumped over and died after a couple of minutes," Anlon looked down to the table. "My father was shot the same as me. You guys came in and rushed them. You're the only reason that I'm alive right now."

  Kanti looked at Anlon silent, pen on the table and tears in her eyes. Giustino finished writing on his paper and looked back up to Anlon.

  "Do you know what your father did for a living?" he asked.

  "Of course," Anlon nodded. "He worked at Weapcon to create new weapons. You don't think the weapons that were used were created by him, do you?"

  "They weren't," Giustino replied. "Your father didn't work at Weapcon. It was a cove
r job."

  "What are you talking about?" Anlon asked. "He told me all the time about the different weapons he created."

  "Your father worked on the Queen's Galactic Special Operations Unit, otherwise known as the GSOU. I'm sure he was familiar with all of the newest weapons and that's how he was able to tell you all of those things."

  Anlon looked to both officers in complete shock. "There's no way. I would know if he was a part of something like that."

  "The Queen makes sure to cover all of her men's true identities. Your father was the leader of her unit. I have reason to believe that he was specifically targeted because of his position within the GSOU."

  "I don't understand," Anlon said. "If his identity was covered, how did they find him?"

  "A database," Kanti said aloud. "They had to have access to a database and tracked him down that way."

  "I was thinking the same thing," Giustino nodded. "With the level of sophistication used in the murder of your family, I have strong reason to believe this was revenge. It was your father's job to eliminate group's that wanted to assassinate the Queen or other high ranking officials. This is without a doubt a group of assassins who wanted to get back at your father."

  "Then we can find them!" Anlon replied. "We have races, so if they're known assassins, we can locate them."

  "There's a chance that we can," Giustino nodded. "But you have to understand that these are assassins. It's their job to stay hidden, otherwise the GSOU wouldn't be needed."

  "We still have to try," Kanti spoke up. "If there's even the slightest chance that these assassins can be found it must be done."

  Giustino held in his anger. "We can try later, not with Anlon."

  "What do you mean without me?" Anlon asked. "My family was just murdered because someone leaked information to a group of assassins!"

  Giustino let out a deep sigh. "Follow me."

  Giustino and Kanti led Anlon back down the way they had come, sealing the metal door behind them, leaving the cells and interrogation room behind them. Giustino called the elevator and waited for it to open before leading them on. He pulled out a special key and inserted into a slot on the elevator pad, prompting a light blue holopad to come up. He entered 030194 and the elevator lurched downwards into the darkness below.