"I really need you to come for your reassignment now," he glared.
She rolled her eyes and walked over to Giustino. "What is it? Can't it wait until I've finished this?"
He grabbed her and dragged her over to his car, opening the passenger door and shoving her in before getting in the driver's seat. As the car started, a loud crash came down on the vehicle and the roof caved in. Camillus' hand penetrated through the roof and yank the ignition from the car.
"What's this stupid robot doing?" He looked to Kanti.
Kanti tried to get out, but found that the door wouldn't budge. Before she could try again, the door flew off of the hinges and Camillus pulled her out.
"Get to your car!" he ordered as Kanti scrambled on the ground.
"Get back here now!" Giustino got out of his car in pursuit of Kanti.
Kanti opened the door to her car, but before she was able get in, Giustino was pointing a gun at her. She held her hands up and slowly walked towards him.
"You're coming with me Kanti," he panted. "I have your reassignment for you and you won't be staying on Gaea for it."
She slowly continued moving forward as Camillus approached Giustino from behind, pouncing on him and breaking his arm in half to reveal the white bone beneath. Giustino screamed out in pain, grabbing at his severed arm to stop the bleeding. Camillus quickly grabbed his head and twisted it, breaking his neck and instantly killing him.
Kanti looked at him in horror. "What's going on Camillus? Why was he trying to take me?"
"Get in," he ordered. "We're going to Anlon's house."
Anlon ran down the stairs, after hearing somebody walk into his house and yell his name. He hadn't been expecting anybody and had just finished bringing around a cruiser stockpiled with weapons. After reaching the bottom of the stairs, he saw who it was. Camillus was standing there, covered in blood, with his arm wrapped around Kanti.
"I was just about to..."
"Anlon what's going on!" Kanti broke Camillus' grasp and grabbed him.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, confused at why she was sobbing.
"Camillus hasn't told me anything yet!"
Camillus walked forward. "Giustino tried to take Kanti for the Deimos Brotherhood."
"What? Giustino worked for the Deimos Brotherhood?" Anlon cocked his head. "Why would they want to take her?"
"She's the Princess," Camillus put a hand on her shoulder. "The Queen didn't find her on Demeter, but she got a name from the man she sent there. She contacted me to search the name for her, but I already knew exactly where to find her so I went to retrieve her myself."
"What?" Kanti lifted her head from his chest.
"You are the Princess of Orion," Camillus repeated. "It appears that Giustino works for the Deimos Brotherhood and that I retrieved you just in time."
She looked to Anlon. "What is he talking about?"
Anlon shrugged. "I'm not sure. I just got a clue for the Queen that would help her find her hidden daughter. Adira hasn't contacted me since I gave her the clue."
"I'm sure I would know if I was the Queen's daughter!"
"Not exactly, the Queen wanted to hide you and didn't want anyone to know, including you. She didn't trust her husband, along with others, so she had Armino hide you twenty years ago. Anlon just recently recovered a clue to where Armino sent you for hiding," Camillus filled her in.
"What clue? I still don't understand why you believe I'm the Queen's daughter!"
"All I recovered was a note that said something about the Queen's most prized possession being on Demeter with the Waldmunt's."
Kanti's eyes immediately widened at the name. "I lived with the Waldmunt's for twenty years. They are the family I left behind on Demeter to come here."
"You are the Queen's daughter," Camillus repeated. "It is your job to protect Kanti now, Anlon. I will help you too, but now that the Deimos Brotherhood knows who she is, she isn't safe," Camillus told him. "We need to get her to the Queen, but in the mean time we have to keep her out of the Deimos Brotherhood's hands. More assassins will be after her once Kirill realizes Giustino has failed."
"How do you know about all of this?" Anlon asked. "I know Adira contacted you to search for Kanti, but you know a lot of stuff that 's going on with my mission."
Camillus' skin rippled a black color and his image changed to look exactly like Queen Adira. "I'm a very special humanoid," he said in the Queen's voice. "She made me to serve her and anyone who she trusts. It is now my job to assist you in your mission and ensure that Kanti stays alive and out of the Deimos Brotherhood's hands."
Chapter 22
"Anlon, now is not a good time to be contacting me."
"I have your daughter with me right now!" Anlon almost shouted. "She's right next to me and the Deimos Brotherhood has already tried to take her!"
"Impossible!" Adira exclaimed. "I didn't..." She looked around her room.
"What is it?" Anlon sensed something was wrong.
"Nothing. How did you find her without me telling you anything? And what exactly happened?"
"I didn't find her. Camillus did."
"I knew I could count on him to find her," A smile beamed on her face. "Where did he find her and why did he bring her to you instead of me?"
"She was the police officer working on my family's murder case! Camillus works at the station, as you probably know, and went to get her. That's when things went totally haywire."
"What do you mean? How did the Deimos Brotherhood even come close to capturing her?"
"The police chief, Giustino who was also working on my case, turned out to be working for the Deimos Brotherhood and tried to take her from Camillus. There was a confrontation and Camillus killed him before bringing Kanti to my house."
Adira was in complete shock, she had thought Giustino was clean and had trusted him with sensitive material. If the Deimos Brotherhood was able to turn races against her that she thought were trustworthy, Kanti was definitely not safe on Hera. There was only one way her daughter would be safe - out of her reach once again.
"Camillus was right to bring her to you," she told Anlon. "Keep her safe for me Anlon. Do not bring her to Hera. She's to stay away from me. The enemy has infiltrated too deep for her to be safe. I no longer know who I can trust and who I can't trust."
"Where am I supposed to take her?" Anlon asked. "I'm leaving Gaea soon to go to Erebos."
"Wherever you go Anlon," Adira bit her lip. "If neither I, nor the enemy, know where you are, then nobody will be able to find Kanti. You, and those you choose to be with you, will be the few that know where the Princess actually is. It's the only way to truly ensure her safety."
"They will surely hunt me down when they find out she's with me," Anlon pointed out. "I can't hide from these races. They're trained to track anybody."
"They will try to find you," Adira nodded. "Take Camillus with you, he will prove to be very helpful. Moran will also surely send at least one race with you, so you should be safe, even if the Deimos Brotherhood is relentlessly hunting you down. It won't be easy, but she's safest if with you."
Anlon was speechless, he had planned on brining Kanti, but now that she was the Princess he was seriously questioning the decision. How could he put the heir to the Throne in danger, even if the Queen did authorize it? The scope of things had completely changed in a few seconds. It wasn't possible to bring Kanti anywhere he went, especially a moon of criminals.
"She will be fine with you," Adira said, as if she were reading his mind. "I trust you Anlon, if she's safe with anyone, it's you. There will be others with you to help you on this mission. You are not in this alone," she encouraged him. "The only way to ensure her safety is to locate the Deimos Brotherhood before they are able to find you."
"What are you going to do while we track down the Deimos Brotherhood?"
"I will tell the Council that she has been found and that she is safe," she smiled. "Whoever is leaking information can then go tell Kirill that his attem
pt failed. Let him know that his men have failed him, yet again."
"Is that smart? I mean, you could make something else up like that she's hidden on another planet so they go on a false hunt."
Adira laughed. "It will only be a matter of time before he figures out that that's a lie. I want to let him know that I'm aware of this traitor and he will not win this fight against me. It'll cast enough doubt in his mind in order for us to succeed."
"It could also upset him and make him think irrationally," Anlon warned, trying to change her mind.
"Think irrationally and upset him?" she chuckled. "That's exactly what I'm counting on. He has already set out to kill me, that much we know, it is just a matter of when he chooses to strike next. Hopefully me doing this will make him careless so I can get to him first."
"If you lied, it could give you more time."
She shook her head. "Get off Gaea as fast as you can Anlon. Orion is counting on you to save it from this monster."
After the Queen hung up her comlink, he immediately gave Moran a call. The time to get his ship was now. There was no more waiting around since the Deimos Brotherhood would be at his doorstep if he waited any longer. If the Queen was right, the leader was probably being contacted now about Giustino's failure and he wasn't about to be around when the next assassin arrived to kill him and take Kanti.
"What's up Anlon?" Moran answered, laying back on his recliner.
"We need to go get my ship now!"
Moran straightened up in his chair. "Why the sudden urge to leave, you haven't even finished training yet."
"Kanti is the Queen's daughter!" he shouted. "We have to get off of Gaea now!"
"Whoa, slow down kid," He tried to calm Anlon. "What are you talking about? Kanti is the Queen's daughter?"
"The clue, it led right back to Kanti and the Deimos Brotherhood has already attempted to capture her," Anlon quickly answered. "Giustino worked for them, but she escaped with Camillus' help, who turned out to be working for the Queen. I just called Adira and she said to get out quick and to keep Kanti with me wherever I go."
"She doesn't want her daughter delivered to her? Isn't Hera safer than traveling with you to Erebos?"
"No," Anlon shook his head. "She said that it's too dangerous on Hera right now because she doesn't know who's working for the Deimos Brotherhood. Too much information has been leaked for her to bring her daughter there."
"And it won't be any more dangerous on your mission?"
"I tried to tell her, but she said Kanti has to stay with me. I wasn't given a choice. I was ordered to keep her at my side."
"Get packed and get over here quick kid, we're going to Hermes."
Anlon hung up the comlink and looked to Kanti and Camillus. "It's time to get packed, we're leaving for Hermes now."
Donnchadh laid on the hard concrete floor of his cell, no longer able to feel the aches and pains. His body had endured countless hours of torturing since seeing the Queen, though he couldn't be sure how much or how long it had been going on. The darkness was playing tricks on his mind and he could feel himself starting to go insane.
He knew Adira wanted to kill him, but he couldn't figure out why she just do it. After attempting to take her life and having taken her closest friends', she had more than enough reason to take his life in return. Maybe sending Jahdiel to the Black Hole really had haunted her.
Foolishly, he had bought in to all of the lies Kirill fed him over the years, never thinking that he was being manipulated for a greater cause. Kirill saved him, or so that's what he had been led to believe since he had been captured. After hearing Kirill's real plan of a pure Galaxy from Adira, he hated himself for being so easy to fool and had no doubt Orion was about to pay the ultimate price.
Chapter 23
Jahdiel and Merikh looked at each other, laughing in joy when the spinning finally came to an end. The Warp Reversal had worked, now they just had to determine if they had actually made it to Orion and not some other far away Galaxy. Merikh ordered his crew to pull up holomaps of the new Galaxy and display them on the cockpit window for Jahdiel to closely examine. Mapping beacons were sent out to scout the area and a map quickly popped up in front of her.
"Did we make it to Orion?" Merikh asked her, unsure if they had made it to the right place from the map because he had never seen Orion personally.
"We made it to Orion. I never thought I'd see it again after I was outcast, but I'm back in Orion!" She grabbed Merikh's frail arms and smile in joy.
"We wouldn't have been able to make it without your help, so you're a big reason we made it back. Determination is something you don't lack. But what are you going to do with that determination now that you're back? Are you going to live in secret, or make your presence known?" Merikh grinned coldly.
She looked out of the giant cockpit window and thought. "I'm not really sure what I want to do, to be quite honest with you."
Merikh changed the subject. "You were right. The Queen decided to be peaceful. We haven't been shot down yet."
"She hasn't come to see us yet. She doesn't even know we've arrived."
"And what do you want to do when she finds out we've come to her Galaxy?"
"What do you mean?"
"Let's make our presence known to Orion. We won't give her a chance for peace, we will strike as soon as she shows up."
Nimesha was sitting outside of Anlon's house when a car zoomed past her. A humanoid and the female that was always with Anlon had rushed inside his house and hadn't come out in over thirty minutes. Usually this wouldn't bother her, but the urgency the two had shown upon arrival nagged at her. It was too soon to do anything, and if she decided to, she'd have to take all three of them out, which she really didn't want to do. A pair of binoculars were in her bag and she pulled them out to see what the three of them were doing in the house.
They seemed to be packing and a cruiser was out front that hadn't been there the day before, making her wonder if they had found she was following them. Letting them escape now would be a fatal mistake, so she hopped on her glider and sped towards the house. The glider came to a stop behind a car and she pulled out a laser pistol, loading a power pack.
She would strike when they left the house. It would be in broad daylight in the open, but she would get the job done and make sure that there were no survivors. Kirill said he didn't care how it was done, so this was how she was going to do it.
Adira opened her comlink to send a message to the Council, teasing the traitor with information. Instead of calling a meeting right away about her daughter's whereabouts, she would drag it out and make them wait a full day. The traitor would surely tell Kirill and the wait would gnaw away at him.
She started recording her message:
I'm sending you all a very urgent message. I'm afraid I can't convene the Council right now because I'm on urgent business, but I will keep you updated on all recent events.
My daughter has been found! I'm afraid she wasn't found before an attempt to capture her. The Deimos Brotherhood has struck again. The traitor among us revealed my daughter's name through carefully placed bugs in my chambers. My contact was able to thwart the attack and kill the kidnapper, fortunately for Orion.
As of right now, my daughter is in protective custody, once again. She will be safe from any further attempts from the enemy. I couldn't risk bringing her here after they found out her name, they would've surely intercepted her and taken her from me. I will call a meeting tomorrow to go over recent events in deeper detail.
Sincerely,
Queen Adira.
Adira grinned to herself. She really shouldn't have sent that message out, but she couldn't help but take shots at Kirill. Ever since she had found out he was the leader of the Deimos Brotherhood, she knew he would stop at nothing to take over Orion. This message would show him that it wouldn't be as easy as he first planned and that she was still ultimately in control. Going down easily wasn't in her nature, as she knew it wasn't in his, but she was confi
dent she could outlast him just long enough to ensure Orion's safety.
Anlon had shown Kanti and Camillus the stash of weapons kept in his dad's office. He also told them about the shed, but insisted that there was no time to go there to gather any weapons. The cache in the office would be more than enough for their mission, and nothing was stopping them from coming back later. Right now, they had to get off of Gaea quickly and going to the shed would only slow them down. After they had everything packed that they needed for the long journey, Anlon led them to the cruiser parked out front.
"Where'd you get this?" Kanti asked, eying the cruiser. "I definitely haven't seen this out here before."
He threw their bags in the back and put some weapons up front. "It was one of the many things hidden underneath the shed."
Camillus rubbed his hand down the side. "A Centaur 454. One of the Queen's special cruisers for her special ops teams."
"That's cool," Anlon hopped in. "I'm sure we can go over the specs later when we aren't being hunted down by assassins."
Anlon waited for Camillus and Kanti to get in and fired up the engine. The cruiser hummed to life and he lifted it off of the ground, making sure not to take it too high because he didn't want to stand out. Before he was able to reach the end of the street, he turned to another humming noise emanating from behind him.
"Just some lady on a glider bike," Kanti told him.
Camillus turned around to take a look and then nudged at Anlon. "You need to move faster."
"Why?" Anlon asked. "I don't want to attract attention."
"It's too late!" Camillus warned. "The lady on the glider bike behind us is Nimesha. She's a one of the deadliest, if not the deadliest, assassin in the Deimos Brotherhood. We've been located. Speed up the cruiser now!"
"How do you know that?" Anlon started speeding up the cruiser. "You just looked at her."
"Facial recognition is one of the many things I can do. Just listen to what I tell you if you want to..."
War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past Page 22