Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two)

by Conner Walworth

  “If it didn't concern me, why would they keep it from me?”

  “Let Reamonn decide his course of action, Donnchadh,” she urged. “Let him make the decision. You don’t want to push him to do anything.”

  “What's going on?” He asked again, pushing himself from the ground. “I want to know. Tell me.”

  “Wait for them to finish. If he wants to tell you what we've seen, he'll tell you. I’m not going to go behind my father’s back.”

  “What if he doesn't tell me?”

  “Then you aren't meant to know. This is up to him. We don’t even understand what we’ve seen.”

  “Leilah,” he whispered. “If this has something to do with what's happening in Orion, I need to know.”

  Donnchadh saw Reamonn look over to them from the corner of his eye. He made direct eye contact with the leader and held it until he turned to face his tribe again. There was something up and he was going to find out what it was whether Leilah wanted him to or not. As he stood, Reamonn and the others rose and came over. They stopped in front of him and Donnchadh stared at the leader’s scarred face.

  “You’ve caused a lot of problems. We should have left you to die. Saving you was a mistake on our part.”

  “What do you mean?” Donnchadh asked. “What's going on?”

  “We're seeing visions of Orion,” he said. “This isn't normal for us. We haven't seen a vision outside of these lands for a long time. You’ve brought danger to us. We saw none of this until you showed up.”

  “You're seeing the crodillians? What are they doing?”

  “No,” Reamonn said spitefully. “What are you doing? Why were we led to you?”

  “I don't know what you're talking about.”

  “This man,” Reamonn said. “The one who you were getting to help you, the one you've worked for, we know of him and we know of what he does. He’s not a man any race who wants to help Orion would work with.”

  Donnchadh looked to Leilah. “That was an old life. I thought I may be able to use him to help get rid of the crodillians. I would never work with him again after breaking free from him and seeing the wrong choices I’d made.”

  “You’ve endangered all life in Orion by introducing that man to the crodillians. It appears as if they're now allies and hell is about to be unleashed because of you. All of these things we’re seeing now are your fault.”

  “Then help me stop it!” Donnchadh pleaded. “I was trying to stop it when I contacted Kirill. He wasn't supposed to betray me! I didn’t know he’d team up with those monsters.”

  “Why didn’t you reveal your past when you first woke? Why’d you keep something like that from us?”

  “It didn't matter. Nothing from any of our pasts matter now. All that matters is what we're doing now and what we’re going to do to prevent the crodillians from destroying this galaxy.”

  “Save it? You’ve already doomed it,” Reamonn's face reddened. “You’ve single-handedly brought danger to every planet and moon of Orion, including us.”

  “Help me. Together, we can lead a rebellion. We can stop this with your help.”

  “There’s already a rebellion. They’re small and will undoubtedly fail. From what we’ve seen, they don’t stand a chance. Each of those races is marching right to their grave.”

  “There's already a rebellion?” He asked. “Where is it? Who's leading it?”

  “It doesn't matter. I just told you it’ll fail. You've doomed Orion and I believe we were led to you, to kill you. It’s up to us to rid the galaxy of you.”

  “I think we were led to him for exactly what he's pleading us to do,” Leilah broke her silence. “We should listen to him and help. Let's go to the rebellion and assist them.”

  “No, Leilah,” Reamonn said. “We won’t help a hopeless rebellion. I won’t put your life, or the life of any in this tribe, at risk because this being brought war upon on our home.”

  “It won't be hopeless with your help!” Donnchadh said. “Where’s this rebellion you're seeing?”

  “It's on Ares. They have a few hundred ships and are readying to strike the crodillians,” Reamonn said.

  “A few hundred ships?” Donnchadh repeated. “They weren't supposed to have any. If there’s even a slim chance, we need to help them.”

  “Father,” Leilah said. “I believe we can help their rebellion, our rebellion. This war concerns us too, and we’re now obligated to help them if we too want to survive. Seclusion from the rest of the galaxy isn’t any option any longer.”

  “I will not hear it Leilah!” Reamonn yelled. “We will not help them. This isn’t our war.”

  “Then Donnchadh and I will leave on our own!” She yelled back. “We will do something. We won't lay down and hide like cowards.”

  “If you don't hide, then you will be slaughtered with the rest. You’ve seen the same visions as us and you’ve seen the bloodshed.”

  “The visions are urging us to help! We can help the rebellion avoid failure the same way we avoid death every day!”

  “We cannot help them,” Reamonn turned. “It’s hopeless. The visions have told us that much.”

  “If you don't help, you're just as responsible for all of the deaths as I will be,” Donnchadh said. “You have the ability to help and you're turning your back in their time of need.”

  “We’re not responsible!” Reamonn flung around and grabbed Donnchadh by the throat. “You brought this upon Orion! You are responsible!”

  “He's right. If we don't help, then we too are responsible. This ability we have, it could aid the rebellion. This ability could lead the rebels to success,” Leilah said.

  “We’ve never used it in the way that you're talking about. It wasn’t meant to be used this way,” he released Donnchadh.

  “It'll work. I can feel it. Why else would we see things happening in Orion? It's not just coincidence that we're all of a sudden seeing things. The rebellion is starting and we’re seeing it as if we're there. We’re meant to help,” she insisted.

  “How can you side with him?” Reamonn asked. “You saw the man he worked for. You've seen what this race has done with his hands.”

  “And Donnchadh has changed,” Leilah defended him. “We saw him because they were trying to kill him, because he was trying to stop all this from happening. We didn’t find him, he found us.”

  “If we help, then everyone will know about our powers. There’ll be no coming back here if we’re able to help the rebels succeed.”

  “And if we don't reveal ourselves, there will be no more Orion,” she replied. “The visions of blood and death, those are for us too. We're in just as much danger as the rebels. We have no choice but to help them. Once we arrive, we’ll be welcomed and respected, not abused like you think. If we are successful, we’ll worry about what we do with ourselves then if anything arises that makes us feel uncomfortable.”

  “Fine,” Reamonn nodded. “We’ll help the rebellion, but only because you believe in it, Leilah. I'm not doing this for Orion. I'm doing it for you and because I believe it’s also what your mother would want to do.”

  “I know just the place where we can get a ship to get off Erebos,” Donnchadh said.

  Anlon and Fausto stood next to his crashed ship and looked to the sky. It’d been several hours since Anlon had talked to Pyrrhus and they both knew the rescue ship would be here anytime soon. Neither one of them wanted the ship to miss them so they’d stood in the same spot where they’d be visible to any passing ships.

  Anlon looked back and forth, for any sign of help when he saw an extremely familiar ship break through the thick clouds. The sleek black ship caused a smile to creep across his face and tears to come to his eyes. Drakos Mavros slowly lowered down into the hole of the cave and landed by the crashed ship. The ramp hissed down and Kanti rushed out, embracing him in her arms. When she pulled back, she looked him in the eyes and kissed him deeply. It caught him by surprise, but he was happy to do the same back, not realizing how much he’d
missed her.

  “I can't believe you're alive! I thought I'd never see you again,” she said.

  Anlon smiled. “I can't believe you are either, but I sure am glad you are. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

  Falcone and Nimesha walked down the ramp of the ship, making sure not to interrupt the two of them. Fausto walked over to them and smiled widely, holding out his arms and looking to the sky.

  “You don't know how happy I am to finally be able to see living races again.”

  “How long have you been here?” Falcone asked.

  “Fifty years,” he answered. “Fifty long and lonely years I’ve been secluded in this cave.”

  “You're lucky you survived that long here,” Nimesha looked around. “The stories I've heard of Tartarus are terrible. Very few get off this planet alive unless they know it well.”

  “Oh,” he chuckled. “And do Anlon and I have a story to tell you about what's out there!”

  “This is Fausto,” Anlon walked over, holding Kanti’s hand. “I would've died out there if it weren't for him.”

  “Well, let's get off this planet! I've been waiting fifty years, isn't that long enough for a themin?”

  Anlon laughed and followed him up the ramp, with Kanti close by his side. Falcone and Nimesha went to the cockpit and lifted Drakos Mavros from the cave. Anlon looked out the window as the hellish planet shrunk below him. He sure wouldn't miss this deadly place, from the creatures lurking around to the hard land. Once they were in space, the ship lurched forward with a jolt.

  “So how'd you get off of the ship?” Anlon turned to Kanti.

  “Mostly Nimesha,” she pointed. “And Camillus. Definitely him.”

  “Where is Camillus by the way?”

  Nimesha turned around. “He sacrificed himself for Kanti. He changed his image so the crodillians would think he was the Princess. Luckily for us, they took the bait and let us go.”

  “They'll kill him when they find out!”

  “They already have,” Kanti said. “The Queen sent out a message for rebellion. Camillus switched his image during the speech and Merikh used his powers to blow him up. It's fueled the rebellion. The races are furious and want to strike now, but Pyrrhus has called for calm as he finishes putting together battle plans.”

  “How did Adira send out a message for a rebellion?” Anlon asked. “I thought she was being held prisoner.”

  “Merikh is a fool. He underestimated how much the Queen values her own life,” Nimesha grinned. “Honestly, the Queen caught everyone by surprise, the rebels included. No one expected her to give the go ahead publicly, at least not so straight forward.”

  “I thought it was another message for peace, but she knew it was Camillus next to her the whole time and they timed it out perfectly. As soon as he changed to show Kanti was safe, Adira rushed to get every word in she could,” Falcone said. “It was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen. The two of them gave their lives so we could all have chance to live.”

  “They haven’t killed my mom yet. That monster is waiting,” Kanti grabbed his hand. “Pyrrhus said there's no way they'll allow her to live, but they need to make an example of her, so they’re waiting.”

  “Merikh has threatened to burn every planet and kill every race if we rebel,” Nimesha said.

  “We're still rebelling, right?” Anlon asked. “Pyrrhus wouldn't back down. The crodillians made that same threat before any of this started.”

  “You bet we are!” Falcone said. “You think some ugly looking thing like Merikh will scare any of the races out of rebellion?”

  Anlon grinned. “He'll never know what hit him when we strike.”

  “You have no idea. Pyrrhus has set up rebellion forces all over Orion! We have more than just a few hundred ships. We have bases all over with thousands of races who are ready to take their homes back,” Kanti said.

  “We stand a pretty good chance. The crodillians have been pretty predictable so far, and Pyrrhus thinks we can use that against them,” Nimesha said.

  “They haven't seen anything yet!” Falcone added. “When we strike, it'll send them into chaos. Their leader is counting on fear to keep us all at bay, and so far, we’re doing a good job making it appear that way.”

  Anlon smiled to himself and hugged Kanti. They had helped Orion in speaking with the Elders. There were rebels all over Orion and he knew they stood a good chance once banded together as one. He also knew when they killed Adira it would only fuel the rebel cause even more. There was no way the crodillians were going to stop the rebellion from succeeding, it was already rolling and it would be impossible to stop once everyone was on board. Death was impossible to avoid, but he knew the races of Orion understood and wouldn’t stop fighting until they’d taken their galaxy back. Adira had told him she believed in him and he was now going to prove to her she’d placed her trust in the right person, even if she wouldn't live to see it.

  Chapter 22

  Zarah stood behind the races she’d chosen to be her officers. They’d come much further along than she’d imagined they would in such a short time. Keeping them together had proven to be a wise decision. Each of them had come to know each 0ther very well from rarely leaving the other leaders’ sides. Every strength and weakness had become exposed and they’d worked on ways to improve both during their own free time. Zarah knew once battle came, all of their time spent together would pay off huge.

  Of the ten officers she’d picked, there were two clear leaders of that group who’d taken complete control during exercises. Ludwig, a short and scarred quierleon, who immediately fit into the role, showing the other’s ways to fight from his own training. He was one of the few at the base to grow up on Ares. Luckily for them, he’d chosen to leave that life behind when he’d become of age, but never forgot what he’d learned. Strangely, he hadn't been the most vocal at the beginning, but once he’d gotten a hang of the routine, others followed his lead and he began to speak up. He’d approached her to set up a daily routine more than just physical and she’d approved it, knowing he knew better than any what they needed to do to prepare. Knowledge was one of the biggest things he stressed and he required every officer to read about different war tactics during library sessions. She too had taken up the practice, and slowly but surely, she’d seen an improvement in herself.

  Yvette was the other officer that stood out amongst the group. She was a light brown and white kaneen who was the exact opposite of Ludwig. She’d been very vocal after being chosen as officer, but she had absolutely no prior experience. Yvette had been the manager of a large production farm on Demeter before it was burned and she escaped. Upon arrival only one thing was on her mind, killing every last crodillian responsible for taking her home and family from her. It was clear she was hurt from looking in her eyes, but talking to her, it was impossible to know her true feelings. She kept her emotions in check, knowing if she wanted revenge, they’d only get in the way.

  Both races encouraged and motivated every officer and race within the base. The expectations for them was growing, but they rose to the challenge every day. She knew Pyrrhus didn't expect too much from them, but why should he? None of them had any real experience with leading an entire base, especially not a base full of rebels with no more training than themselves. But she knew right now, Pyrrhus would be very pleased with progress and the officers' attitude toward the war. The base didn’t feel like a bunch of untrained races. Every race knew their job and they carried them out without question or mistakes.

  None of them walked around with a sense of defeat, though it would be easy after what the crodillians had done to their planets, and what was going to happen to others in time. It was clear they lacked numbers against their enemy, but each still believed there was no chance of defeat, not now, not with this base. They trained hard and walked with a sense of pride that radiated throughout the entire base. This confidence all stemmed from her and the officers she had chosen to lead.

  Zarah looked at eve
ry one of them and smiled, knowing that these were the ten races that would be standing by her side when they won the rebellion. They would all be saviors, all because Pyrrhus had believed in her and her capabilities. He could’ve easily chosen someone else over her, but he’d placed his trust in her and she was going to prove to him she was up to the task.

  “It's time to go to the library,” she informed them.

  They immediately stepped out of their simulations and followed her down the hall to the library. The halls were teeming with races who were hustling to get various things done and prepped. Allowing the races to choose their own jobs had also proven to be the right decision. Every race had chosen wisely and put their unique set of skills to use. There were plenty of cooks, nurses, janitors, and even the children were finding ways to help. She honestly hadn't expected things to go so smoothly, but she was glad that they had.

  There’d also been a small group of races who’d approached her about scouting the land. At first she’d been reluctant, but the races had been persistent and she’d eventually given in. Scouting was necessary and she felt she was able to trust the races from revealing the location of the base. Knowing the best places to fight in the forest would just give them one more advantage against the crodillians when the time came. Every day they came back with additional maps and put them on the walls in the Command Room for her and her officers to view. Traps were being set and updated schematics were put up daily.

  Zarah pulled open the library door. “I'm going to go to my quarters while you all read,” she told them. “I have books of my own in my quarters and I think it’s time I took a look at them. I’ve gone through several of the ones here, but I have a feeling the ones in my quarters will prove useful.”

  “We’ll win this rebellion. You’re a great leader. Without you, I don't know where we'd all be,” Yvette said.

  Zarah smiled. “Thank you, but I can't take the credit for everything that's happening here. You ten officers are more to thank than me. It’s you who’ve pulled this base together. Every one of them is following your lead, not just mine.”