“We’re back. I’ve managed to recruit over a hundred Sarceastians to help you. I hope that you can afford to pay so many,” Hilga said.
“It will take every bit of what we have, but I should be able to,” Jessie stated as she opened one of the large bags of silver.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Jessie
I looked out over the hundred male and female Sarceastians who were eager to fight and I couldn't believe my eyes. I was even more surprised when the largest amongst them came and made an unexpected announcement.
“Hemant told us about your idea and we want to help you. In fact, we would like to take a smaller share of the silver in order for you to be able to recruit more soldiers. My name is Yeritus, and I am the appointed leader of the Miserablis as we like to call ourselves. We are an underground militia who is prepared to go up against the government. So far we have been willing to watch and wait, but now it seems that the time is right. Still, I must know- who are you Jessie of Earth and why are you here to liberate the Sarceastians?” he asked. There were several Sarceastians behind him mumbling words of agreement with his statement.
“Good question. I would wonder the same thing if I were in your shoes. I’m Jessie of Earth. I’m from Maryland, which is a small state in what used to be called the United States before the Alliance was formed. I have a personal quarrel with the Sarceastian executives for making war on my home planet and destroying the planet of my comrade, Yahn, a Karkastian. Now that I’m here on Sarceastium, I can see that the executives are no less cruel with their own people than with the people they make war upon. If we ban them together, we can put an end to this oppressive regime so that life can mean more than just mere survival in the western part of Podesta. It’s not right that they’ve kept you down like this getting wealthy of the sweat of our backs. It’s time for your government to go back to what it was originally intended to do- represent the wishes of its citizens!”
The rough-looking bunch hooted and applauded when I said this. Yahn stared at me in disbelief.
“I’ve heard all I need to hear. Who’s with me?” Yeritus shouted.
“We are!” They all shouted. A celebration broke out and soon some drink that resembled ale was being passed around. I kindly accepted some and sat down to talk more with Yeritus.
"I want you to know how much I appreciate your willingness to take a smaller share and to fight alongside us," I shared.
Yeritus put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye.
"We've been waiting for you to come along. It's been spoken in stories since I was a kid. It always puzzled me that a human would lead us, but that's what they say."
"Amazing," I mused. Hemant came and sat with us. Yahn held up his mug to him and he gave Yahn a puzzled glance.
"Oh, that's a human custom that I taught Yahn. We always say cheers and bump our mugs together. It's just a friendly greeting really," I shared.
“Fascinating,” Hemant said as Yeritus laughed.
“Well then cheers to the human that will lead us!” Yeritus said as he stood on top f the table.
"Cheers to the human that will lead us!" the others repeated. I looked at Yahn and he looked at me. We smiled at one another, knowing that we would be victorious with an army like this. After about two hours of merrymaking, I began to get restless. I knew that the time for our strike had come. We needed to be working out our plan of attack instead of swilling ale. After some persuasion, we managed to convince Yeritus that we needed to return to the business at hand. He agreed and we began to talk strategy, finally.
“I think we should hit them all at once with our fullest force!” Yeritus declared.
Yahn looked at me dubiously. This was not the kind of plan that we were thinking about devising at all.
“Um, maybe we need to consider other options,” I said.
“Sure, after all, you’re the one they speak of in the stories, not Yeritus of Podesta,” he said, prompting many of the others to laugh at him.
"What if we were to use the executive robes that Yahn and I stole to make our way back into the military complex. We could go straight to the prison blocks and set the prisoners free. It will cause enough chaos for us to make our way to the upper floors with less interference from the executive guard. Trust me, I know this kind of plan can work from experience," I stated.
“Hmm, more stealth than strength. I like it,” Yeritus finally agreed.
“There will be plenty of opportunities to make a show of strength, I imagine,” I shared.
“What do you plan to do with Executive Farfaulus and Demarin Goldarn when we have them surrounded?” Yeritus asked.
“We give them a fair trial like anyone else. Don’t worry, they will be found guilty by the Universal Tribunal,” I suggested.
“I much prefer public execution, but you are the chosen one,” Yeritus deferred again.
“We would be no better than the powers that we are taking out if we did that,” I pointed out. Yeritus and Hemant looked at each other.
“I have to admit, you’re right. The last thing that any of us want to see is a dictator being replaced by another dictator disguised as a liberator,” Hemant shared.
“How do you plan on getting by so many guards and armed soldiers?” One bearded skeptic in the back of the room said.
“We will hem them in from two sides, attacking from below with stun guns and lasers when necessary. Once we gain control of the weapon facilities, we will have the upper hand. We will make our way slowly up to the top floors where the head of the snake is likely to be hiding.”
“Head of the snake? What’s she talking about?” The Sarceastians asked, having not heard of this Earth expression.
“I think that she means where the enemy is hiding,” Yeritus clarified for them.
“Yes, that is what I mean,” I replied.
“Why don’t we have one party invade from the north entrance and another from the south entrance,” Yeritus suggested.
“Yes, that is precisely what I was thinking. That’s how we hem them in. We also need someone to gain access to a hover copter or two in case the executives try to evacuate, as I imagine they will,”
“My contact, Klefram is ex-military. He can still gain access to those kinds of things,” Hemant pointed out.
"Excellent. We need to get started immediately. Get in touch with your contact and see how long it will be before he can get us that hover copter," I stated. I began to sweat and tried to catch my breath. Yahn came over and brought me a glass of water.
“Here, drink this. You need to rest for a moment while you can,” Yahn encouraged me.
I took a deep drink and stood up. “There’s no time to rest. I can feel that the time is right.”
Hemant returned a few minutes later.
"Klefram is on the way with the copter. We can begin our invasion," he stated. All of the Sarceastians in the room put their fists in the air and declared victory. It was quite an intimidating sound.
As we walked through the market area, the merchants and buyers all looked at us in astonishment. Slowly people began to applaud as we walked through because they knew that this was a resistance army. We asked them to tone it down because we didn't want to draw the attention of any executive guards, should they make an appearance.
We walked a particularly rough looking, bar-type building. There was one young Sarceastian that looked straight at me as we walked by. He whispered to two of his friends and they came over behind him. He pulled out a laser pistol and threatened me.
“You must be Jessie, that human that has a bounty on her. You’ll be coming with me, pretty,” he hissed. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he let out a howl of pain as Yeritus’s hand grasped him by the neck. With the other hand, he snatched the laser pistol out of his hand.
"Now, you'll be turning around and going back where you came from? Do you not understand what is going on here? We are on our way to take back this land of ours and no young upstart is going to s
top us!" Yeritus jeered. The young Sarceastian's eyes were wide with fear as he ran off in the direction he came from followed by the two others. The members of the resistance army all laughed as they watched them run away.
“It’s too bad, though. We could use the help of more able-bodied Sarceastians,” Yeritus said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the silver robes of executive guards. There were two of them pointing in our direction. I looked and there were several more behind them.
“Look there, we have to get out of here. The local guards have spotted us. There’s only a few of them now, but they will alert the others to our presence. We must get to the complex!” I stated.
"This way,” Yeritus said, leading us away from the main market area into a back street. Then, he opened what looked to be a manhole cover of sorts and began to climb down. "Well, come on then," he said as we stood there. One by one we all climbed down into the passage.
“What is this place and where are we going?” I inquired.
"This is a public government bomb shelter. It's seldom used for anything much now. They built it many years ago when nuclear weapons that were the biggest threat. Now, of course, we have weapons that can destroy an entire planet. We've come such a long way, haven't we?” Yeritus said, sarcastically.
"Where will we end up if we keep going this way?" Yahn asked.
“If my memory serves correctly, we will be coming out just south of the military complex. Then, we can split the two groups and make our way in through the north and south entrances,” Yeritus proposed.
“We will tell the entry guards that we are back from a scouting party and try to gain access that way,” I said.
“Ok, if you really think that will work, but we will be ready if they aren’t feeling willing to cooperate with our wishes,” Yeritus said as his eyes grew big and he held his laser cannon into the air.
The air was stifling in the tunnel. Occasionally, there would be a large room that came off of the main tunnel. Some poverty-stricken Sarceastians lived in many of the rooms. There was a stench of waste and dirt. A few of the Sarceastians that watched us move down the passageway joined the group. We had gained at least forty by the time we emerged from the tunnel. The exit of the tunnel was located about a block away from the military complex. We filed out and made our way through the fallen snow, hiding behind the numerous dome-shaped warehouses.
“Alright, Jessie, we are going to make our way around to the south entrance. We will see you on the inside,” Yeritus said with a grin.
“Yes, see you there,” I responded as we watched them creep along behind the warehouse and out of sight.
“So we’re really going to do this, then?” Yahn asked.
“We’re not here for a picnic, Yahn.”
“I wonder how many pages you will get in the History reports,” Yahn replied.
“Herstory, thank you very much!” I stated.
I waved for the Sarceastians that were following me to move forward and crept along behind the buildings until I saw the guards across the walkway. It was time for us to make our move.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Yahn
The group led by Jessie and I came over to the north entrance while the group led by Yeritus went to the south entrance. The guards looked at us suspiciously. I walked up to the nearest guard who had his laser cannon ready.
“We are back from an expedition. We need access to replenish our artillery,” I stated, forcefully. The guard looked at me and then at the other guard.
"I'm going to need to grant you security clearance," he said as he pushed a button on his communication device. I looked at Jessie and nodded. I stunned the guard I had just spoken to, and Jessie stunned the other one. They fell limp to the ground and we took their access badges and opened the door. As we marched inside, no one paid us any mind. We had the official uniforms and acted as if we belonged there, and it worked just like a charm. That was the case until we made our way to the dungeons that seemed full of prisoners. One of the guards came over to us and began asking questions.
“Why are you soldiers in the dungeons, you do not have access or permission!” The guard stated. I simply stunned him rather than trying to explain myself. Jessie stunned the other guard there, but a third one saw what was happening and attempted to run for the door as he pushed the button on his communication device. We were forced to shoot him with a laser in the back. The prisoners in the dungeons looked quite puzzled. We went around and freed as many of them as we could, deactivating the invisible barriers around the stone-walled dungeons and unlocking the chains that bound them.
"Go ahead, you are free," I told them. They smiled and made their way out of the dungeons. According to Yeritus, most of these prisoners were Sarceastians like the ones that we were helping that had been imprisoned for showing rebellious tendencies. As these prisoners made their way out of the doors, alarms were triggered, and soon we could hear soldiers making their way down the hallways towards the dungeons. We went through the opposite entrance and made our way to the next level, which was the prison block where the cells were stacked on top of each other with invisible barriers keeping the prisoners inside.
By this time, the guards had been alerted to our presence. Suddenly, laser fire was being exchanged. Jessie talked to some of the Sarceastians behind us.
"You make your way to the security control panel over there to free the prisoners. Also, send a couple of your men over to the entrance we came through so you can keep the guards from coming at us from behind. We will keep the guards occupied here while you do so," Jessie ordered. The Sarceastians nodded and made their way over to the control panel, one level up on a scaffold. We hid behind some columns and focused on shooting as many guards as we could. We shot many of them, and a couple of them made their way to the exit. Soon, we had the upper hand and the Sarceastians assisting us had the security locks deactivated. The noise of hundreds of prisoners making their way down from the cells filled our ears along with clanging alarms.
We forced our way out of the cell block and made our way up to the next level where the military supplies were housed. Now, we had a barrage of soldiers that knew that we were coming. We were hemmed in and so we were unable to move forward.
"There are too many of them. We need to radio Yeritus to see where they are. We need them to help us if we're going to move forward to the upper levels and get out of here alive!" Jessie shouted. I tried to radio Yeritus, but I was unable to get through to him. The soldiers moved forward, closing in on us.
"Give up your weapons and come with us. Your invasion is now over!" A guard stated. Just then, Yeritus's group came in the opposite entrance, firing as they went. The soldiers guarding the military supplies didn't know what hit them. Soon we were able to move forward easily as we joined forces with Yeritus.
“Thank you for coming to our aid at just the right time, comrade!” I said as Yeritus smiled.
“Let’s go up to the top and root out these ruling bastards!” Yeritus said, holding his laser cannon up high while his soldiers cheered.
We made our way up to the office levels, which were less heavily guarded. However, more soldiers had entered the compound and were making their way up to where we were. As we walked through these levels, several well-dressed Sarceastian government officials threw their hands up in gestures of surrender.
A few of our soldiers had been taken out, but as a whole, our casualties were very low. I began to feel very confident that we would be able to capture Demarin and Executive Farfaulus without too much trouble. However, as we reached the moving stairwell at the end of the hall, we were subjected to an unexpected onslaught of soldiers making their way down from the upper levels.
"Let me handle this!" I said as we hunkered down under the stairs, trying to avoid all of the laser fire from above. I transformed into a vaporous state and made my way through the soldiers who were puzzled to see this blue vapor moving through them. I transformed again once I was on the other side o
f them and began to stun as many as I could. Then, I began to fire into them with my laser cannon. Soon, I had cleared the way enough for Jessie, Yeritus, and the others to make their way up to the next level. We were puzzled when we got to the top level and heard no activity from the soldiers. We deactivated the security levels from below so that the soldiers below couldn't gain access.
“Where do we go now? There doesn’t seem to be anyone left up here. Have the leaders already evacuated?” I asked.
“That is just what they want us to think, but my comrades on the outside have not seen anyone escaping this compound. They are holed up in heavily armored chambers on this very level,” Yeritus said. “There are hidden doors somewhere on this level. We have to find them and find the control panel that will grant us access. I fear that there is only access from the outside.”
I knew that I could sense energy fields that humans couldn’t see. It was similar to infrared vision. I closed my eyes and felt along the wall to find the force fields guarding the chambers where we presumed the leaders were hiding.
“What are you doing?” Yeritus asked.
“Karkastians can sense energy fields. I am trying to find where the force fields are located,” I said. Finally, towards the end of the hall, I picked up on it. “The doors are right on the other side of this wall,” I stated.
“How do we get inside?” Yeritus asked.
“Well, we can’t penetrate these walls with laser fire. I already had my lasers bounce off the walls. Maybe, if we try from the outside, the walls won’t be as heavily armored,” Jessie suggested.
“You know, you might be right,” Yeritus said. “There is one more flight of movable stairs to the roof. We can try and gain access from there.”
We made our way up to the roof and were surprised to find guards there that were huddled around a cruiser. We immediately began to fire at them, and they fired back. Unfortunately, one of those soldiers hit Jessie in the shoulder. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground. I tore off the sleeve of my shirt and wrapped it around her shoulder.
Yahn: Paranormal Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Alien Mates Book 4) Page 22