War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past

by Conner Walworth

  "Can we go in?" Anlon turned to Moran.

  "That's why we're here," Moran smiled. "Go on and check it out."

  Anlon walked towards the rear of the ship and the ramp slowly hissed down for he and his companions to board. After reaching the top, a strange race appeared from around the corner.

  "I'm Falcone," He held out his feathery hand. "I'll be your pilot."

  Anlon took it. "I'm Anlon and these are my companions," Motioning to Camillus and Kanti.

  "This is where I leave you, Anlon," Moran approached from behind. "If you ever need my help, you know where to find me. I wish you nothing but good luck and success on your mission. Go out there and save Orion," Moran said goodbye to Kanti and Camillus before leaving the building.

  "Why don't I show you and your companions around your new ship?" Falcone smiled to him through his yellow beak. "You won't believe what this ship is equipped with."

  Chapter 25

  Falcone showed them where the bunkers, cabin, and kitchen were; making them feel at home. There was a weapons cache on the ship, as well as a separate room for them to train in with the holotapes Ferris had provided. He showed them how to man the turrets and use the other various weapons, just in case they needed to be used.

  After the tour was over, Falcone led them to the cockpit. "So where are we going young Valens? I heard we are on some type of secret mission," His dark gold eyes gleamed.

  "Erebos. We're going to find the Deimos Brotherhood's hidden base."

  "Excellent! I was told that might be your answer," The race put his brown and white, feathery, hand together. "I actually know someone there who may be able to help us by giving us useful information. If not, we at least have a place and lay low while we're staying there."

  "We have an important passenger on board," Camillus nudged Falcone. "You weren't told about this, we only just found out ourselves," Camillus pushed Kanti forward. "Meet the Princess of Orion."

  "Nice to meet you Princess," He grabbed her hand and bowed. "I didn't know the Queen had a daughter to be completely honest with you."

  "You should've seen how I reacted when I found out she had one," she replied. "You don't need to do all of that for me by the way. I'm just a normal person."

  "Oh, but I must," he winked. "Why are we going to Erebos with the Queen's daughter?" He shifted his attention to Anlon.

  "The Queen said to keep her with me so she'd be safe."

  "Does the Queen know you're going to Erebos?" he asked. "Personally, I don't think anyone is safe on that moon, but I could be mistaken."

  "She does know we're headed there," Anlon nodded. "She still wants Kanti to stay with me."

  "Interesting. Not a very safe place to take a Princess if the whole idea is to keep her safe from harm."

  "I don't very much like the plan either," Camillus agreed. "It's too dangerous."

  "What kind of robot are you exactly?" Falcone looked him up and down. "I bet there's some very advanced technology under all that covering."

  "I'm a special humanoid, made specifically for Queen Adira," His skin rippled a black color and his image changed.

  "You can change your yourself to be someone else?" Falcone stared in amazement at an exact reflection of himself.

  "That along with many other things," he replied in Falcone's voice.

  "I like this humanoid! He'll be able to help us out a lot on Erebos."

  "He already has helped us. He used his facial recognition to save us from an assassin on Gaea."

  "He's coming with us everywhere. Everywhere!" Falcone nodded. "Oh, yeah! My friend on Erebos may have someplace to hide Kanti. I can't believe I let that slip my mind."

  "He does?" Camillus asked. "Where is it?"

  "Not quite sure," he shrugged. "He does a lot of hiding, so I'm sure he has some safe places when times get dangerous. I'm sure he'd be more than willing to let the Princess hide at one them."

  "Can we trust him?" Anlon asked.

  "Of course! The both of us go way back."

  "He's on Erebos," Kanti pointed out. "How could we trust someone there?"

  "Not everyone on Erebos is a criminal," Falcone rolled his eyes. "Just a large majority of them. But no worried, I've known the guy for a long time, he's a trustable guy."

  "I'll be the judge of that," Kanti sat down in the cabin. "I'm not leaving with someone I don't feel safe with."

  "I think it's time for us to go," Anlon sat in the co-pilot seat, looking over all of the buttons.

  "Sure thing kid," Falcone sat down. "I'll even teach you how to pilot your new ship if you're interested."

  Anlon felt the engines roar to life as Falcone pressed a few buttons on the dash. The ship lifted straight up and out of the circular building. The races below them shrunk as they got higher in the sky, oblivious the Princess of Orion was directly above them. Falcone pushed the yoke forward and roared off Hermes, pulling up a small map of Orion. After some brief scrolling through the system, he poked a circle that immediately lit up orange.

  "Pull that handle down," Falcone ordered.

  Anlon didn't waste a second, quickly grabbing the handle and pulling it down. He was about to ask what it did when he felt the ship lurch forward and a blur of lights zipped all around them. He got up and passed Kanti and Camillus who were talking quietly in the cabin, deciding he'd rather be alone in one of the cabins to think things over. He still wasn't entirely sure what they were going to do when they arrived at Erebos. An attempt on his life had already been thwarted and someone else had tried to take Kanti, all before they had even left Gaea to begin the mission.

  The bunker had a large bed, decent sized closet, a weapons cabinet, dressers, and everything else a normal room would have. He walked over to the weapons cabinet and starting unloading all the weapons he had brought along, laying on his bed when he finished. After a couple minutes of silent thinking, he heard his door open and looked up to see Kanti walking towards him.

  "Is everything okay?" he asked.

  She smiled. "Everything is fine."

  "Okay. What's up?"

  "I just wanted to be with you," She sat next to him on the bed. "We haven't done anything but talk about this mission in awhile. I thought we could forget about it for a little while."

  Chapter 26

  The Queen sat at her usual spot in the Council Chamber, which she had been sitting in far too many times the past week with too much bad news. She honestly didn't know why she was still holding secretive meetings with the traitor present. Playing it from her chambers for all of Orion to see would do just as much good. That's how she felt anyway, knowing nothing she said would be kept a secret from the enemy.

  She cleared her throat and placed her hands on the table in front of her. "You are all probably sitting here, wondering where my daughter is and why she isn't sitting next to me," She looked at the members. "She is safe. That is all you need to know and that is all you will know."

  "That's all?" Aldrick stood up. "You called this meeting to tell us that your daughter is safe, but not where she is at?"

  "What else do you expect me to reveal?" She glared at him. "I don't know if you remember or not, but there is a traitor amongst us. Everything I say goes right back to the Deimos Brotherhood!"

  "She is right," Abdul backed her up. "She can't reveal any more information at this time. It is too dangerous. The enemy has gotten too close to be comfortable anymore."

  "Where else could she possibly be more safe than on Hera in the Palace?" Bertrade asked.

  "Someplace where poison won't be able to be hand delivered to her table," Adira said harshly. "The enemy is amongst us, what do you all not understand? I will not bring my daughter to the enemy after years of making sure that very thing didn't happen."

  "I can't see how she would be any safer out in Orion," Aida said. "The enemy will have a better chance of catching her out there."

  "An attempt to capture her has already been thwarted, but I never released her name at the last meeting. I found a bug i
n my room so someone is watching me very closely."

  "You are sure this is the Deimos Brotherhood's doing?" Alura asked.

  "I am positive," she nodded. "She is now in the presence of some very trusted friends. She will stay with them until the enemy has been defeated."

  "They'll go after her again!" Aldrick slammed his fists on the table. "It isn't safe for her out there. She needs to be here on Hera where it is safest. Too many things could go wrong out in Orion."

  "You are making yourself look like the traitor," Adira chuckled. "If anyone tries to take her with the individuals she is with, they will be killed, like the last person that tried to take her. She is safest with them, whether you want to believe it or not. I have full faith in all of them."

  Aldrick slumped back in his seat, embarrassed to have been accused of being the traitor.

  "Adira is right," Abdul said. "The Queen isn't safe in her own home, so what makes you think that her daughter will be safe here?"

  The others looked at each other, finally seeming to understand why the Queen wouldn't bring her daughter to Hera.

  "Are you sure that your daughter will be safe with the individuals she's traveling with?" Alura asked.

  "She couldn't be put in any better hands. If I could, I would put my own life in their hands."

  Kanti rolled over to face Anlon. "Do you think what we talked about will actually pan out?"

  He shrugged. "I'm not sure yet, besides meeting Falcone's friend, anything could happen."

  "Are you sure that we can even trust this friend of his?" She looked deep into his eyes. "We've just met Falcone, we barely know if we can trust him with our lives."

  "If Moran gave Falcone to us for our pilot we can trust him, along with anyone his says is trustworthy. He knows how important this mission is, and how important you are, so I'm confident he wouldn't bring any danger upon us."

  She put her hand on his cheek. "I'm not worried about what happens to me. I'm worried what happens to you once the Deimos Brotherhood finds out that you're looking for them."

  "They won't find out that I'm looking for them," he smiled. "Even if they do, I'll be safe with Camillus and Falcone. We've already survived one attack. We'll all get through this alive."

  "You're in more danger than I am because the Deimos Brotherhood wants you dead at all costs."

  "But they want you alive at all costs. I think that is more dangerous."

  "I'm guessing you're going to send me on the first flight out if his friend checks out?"

  "I think it's a good idea," he smiled reassuringly. "It's not safe on Erebos. If there's someplace else for you to go that's safer, that's where you need to go."

  "It's not safe for you either. You're working for the Queen. They all despise the her on Erebos."

  "I have to find the base for Adira so she can get rid of the Deimos Brotherhood once and for all. I know it's not safe, but once I do that, you and the Queen will both be safe and you won't have to hide anymore."

  "Why can't I help with finding them?" she asked. "You didn't seem to have a problem with it before you found out I was the Princess. I know going with this friend is the safe thing to do, but I don't want to hide, Anlon. I can't do it anymore."

  "Even before I found out you were the Princess, I really didn't want to bring you along. Now you're one of the most important people in Orion, there's no way I can risk anything happening to you."

  Kanti rolled her eyes. "I'm still me, Anlon. I can take care of myself just like I did on Gaea."

  "I promised the Queen I'd keep you safe," he said firmly. "And that's exactly what I'm going to do. Whether it is keeping you with me on Erebos or sending you into hiding with Falcone's friend."

  "I guess I understand. Not like I have much of a choice."

  "I'll send Camillus with you wherever you go. He'll keep you safe when I'm not there with you."

  "But you need him more than I do," she insisted. "Who knows what'll happen to you alone on Erebos."

  "Someone I trust needs to keep you safe," Anlon rubbed his hands through her hair. "I don't want anything to happen to you while I'm looking for the Deimos Brotherhood. I want to come back to you once all of this is over."

  "So you're keeping me safe for more than the Queen?" she teased.

  "No, of course not. I'm just following the Queen's orders to keep you safe.

  Nimesha limped to her small stealth ship. She hadn't been prepared for Anlon to have any weapons at all, let alone a cannon launcher. It stumped her where he had gotten it, but knew there was much more to killing Anlon than Kirill had led her on to believe. He had told her this would be a simple mission, yet it certainly wasn't turning out that way. A news article had recently surfaced about what had happened to Giustino and knew the timing was of no coincidence. Somehow, all of these things were intertwined, she just wasn't able to figure out how yet.

  There were too many questions she didn't know the answers to and she didn't like it one bit. She liked knowing what was going on at all times, not being left in the dark to find things out for herself, yet it appeared that Kirill was keeping her in the dark about this boy. That had been a huge mistake on his part and a big reason why she wasn't returning his calls. It was time for her to finish the job on her own terms. Kirill was hiding more than a few things from her and she planned to figure out what those things were.

  The stealth ship roared to life and she flew off Gaea. Anlon would be long gone by now, but she had a good idea where he'd be headed after finding out the apartment belonged to a GSOU member. If her gut was right, Anlon was on some trip for vengeance which only led to one place: Erebos. She pulled the handle to activate Sonodrive and the ship lurched forward to its destination.

  Chapter 27

  Anlon awoke when he felt the distinct jolt of Sonodrive disengaging. He got out of bed and left Kanti alone while he walked down to the co-pilot seat. As he neared it, a grey, lifeless, planet loomed through the window.

  "We'll land at the spaceport in about fifteen minutes," Falcone informed him. "You can sit tight until then."

  "Okay," Anlon stared straight ahead, observing the dead planet.

  As Drako Mavros broke through the atmosphere, Anlon could see that there really was nothing on the planet. It was drab and colorless, except for the bright orange lakes and rivers of lava flowing on parts of the planet. How any race lived on the planet was far beyond him. It gave him shivers just thinking about the deadly creatures that must live on the surface of the planet.

  Anlon saw a small make-shift camp set up near a mountain they flew over. "People camp out there?"

  Falcone burst out in laughter. "Camp?" he kept laughing uncontrollably. "Races don't camp on Erebos. Those are nomadic natives. They stay far away from cities. Only a fool would come here to go camping."

  "I just didn't think it was possible for anyone to live away from cities for extended periods of time. There is nothing on the land but grey dirt and lava"

  "To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure how they live out in the wasteland. The planet is brutal and there is not much, if anything, to survive on for long."

  "Are all of the moons of Plouton this deadly?"

  "Some of them are worse than this, but some are better for civilization," Falcone flew towards a small city. "You definitely don't want to go to Tatarus or Thanatos if you don't have to. I've heard terrible stories about both. They make this look like a nice planet."

  "What could be worse than this?" Pointing out of the window.

  "The Deimos Brotherhood won't even go to those moons. That should tell you something about how dangerous they are. You can at least roam the lands here without too much fear of the creatures, but on the others you won't last ten minutes. The monsters would snatch you up before you could even think to run."

  As they got closer to the city he could see the spaceport, and strangely enough, it was thriving with races. As dead as the planet looked, this walled city seemed to be teeming with life. Falcone pulled the ship up to an empty
spot on the spaceport and landed. A voice came through the comline of Drako Mavros as soon as the ship touched down.

  "How long are you going to be conducting your business here?"

  "A week at the most," Falcone responded, powering down the engines. "We plan to be long gone before then."

  "If you need more time, check back in, otherwise your ship will be impounded. Thank you for coming to Erebos."

  "Well, we're here," Falcone spread his arms. "The beautiful planet of Erebos. Why anyone would willingly come here, is still something I'm trying to figure out."

  "I'll go wake up Kanti."

  "Go do that," he winked, making kissing faces at Anlon.

  Anlon quickly turned around and walked up the stairs to wake Kanti, but found she was already talking to Camillus in the cabin.

  "We're here," Anlon told them.

  Camillus looked at him worried. "Kanti shouldn't be here. I made a terrible mistake to allow this. We'll wait on the ship while you and Falcone find his friend. We can meet back here once we find him."

  "Camillus, she'll be fine," Anlon insisted. "We're going to go straight to Falcone's friends' place."

  "That' what worries me!" Camillus exclaimed. "We can't trust a stranger not to tell the Deimos Brotherhood when the Queen can't even trust her own Council!"

  Anlon let out a deep breath. "Calm down, Camillus. We'll go meet the guy and if you don't like him we'll come back to the ship."

  "Oh!" Camillus raised his metal arms. "We'll just bring her back and expect the Deimos Brotherhood not to follow us! Great plan. This was masterfully thought through, Anlon."

  "Camillus," Kanti placed her hand on his cold shoulder. "You and Anlon are more than enough to protect me if anything happens. You don't have to be so worried."

  Camillus just shook his head and left the two of them.

  "What's up with him all of a sudden?" Falcone approached them.

  Kanti shrugged. "Just overreacting. Let's get going before he tries to hold me back."