Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) (7 page)

“They destroyed
thousands
of our
ships while barely taking a dent in their own numbers. What do you
think the outcome of
three hundred
of our remaining ships
against them will be like? The outcome will be no different!” The
room was dead silent for the first time since he’d come up to talk.
He’d finally gotten the reality of things through all of their
heads, though it really shouldn't have been hard after the display
at Hera. “What remaining forces we have, need to be used wisely,
and that doesn't include taking the crodillians head on again. It
failed once and I guarantee you it’ll fail again. I didn't abandon
my men just to end up losing the war against the crodillians. I
left them to make sure there is absolutely no chance the
crodillians take over! We’ll avenge the lives of all those that
have been lost and of those that’ll be lost in the coming months.
The only way to win this war, is to let them think that they've won
while slowly recouping.”

A few cheers erupted from the crowd of
leaders and officers. He could see some were still skeptical, but
it didn't matter, after listening to what some of them had to say,
he knew he had to lead them now. If he let one of the other
General's lead, then the same outcome would most likely happen and
he wasn't about to watch that.

“For those of you who question my
leadership, call the Queen's Council. There are seven of them
hidden safely on Nesoi. I'm confident that they’d rather have me
lead a rebellion strike than anyone else in this room,” Pyrrhus
stepped down from the stage and walked over to Gidon.

“I didn't know the Council was on Nesoi,”
Gidon said.

“We sent them there in case the fleets at
Hera were destroyed.”

“So, you were prepared for this?”

“I didn't like putting all of our ships in
one place, and luckily some other races didn't either and we were
able to get some ships here. Allocating all our defenses to one
spot wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but we had to follow orders,
and honestly, none of us had any better ideas.”

“Do you think we really stand a chance after
what you've seen?”

Pyrrhus nodded. “We’ll defeat them. I'm sure
of it. It’ll take time and we’ll lose many more lives, but we’ll
win this war.”

“I'm behind you all the way, along with the
quierleons. Do you have a plan on how you're going to defeat them
yet?”

“Not yet, but I'll contact the Council once I
have an idea of what I want to do. If they agree, then we'll start
the rebellion.”

Jahdiel looked out of the Mother Colchian as
they entered Heran airspace. The planet looked much different now
that they’d conquered it. When they’d first arrived, the planet
with thriving with bright hues of blues and vibrant shades of
green. Now, the sky was filled with thick, grey, smoke and the land
was charred black from fires that had raged for days. The races
inhabiting the planet had decided to put up a fight and the
crodillians had made them pay dearly for that decision. Few
building were left standing after the fights and rotting bodies lay
scattered in the streets for animals to pick.

The survivors had gone into hiding, and
though it would've been easy to hunt them down, Merikh ordered they
be left alone. It had been very unlike Merikh, but Jahdiel knew it
was a lost attempt to win the hearts of the living races. He’d
already killed their families and destroyed their homes, letting
them live was a big chance to take, and she knew deep down, it’d be
one of the mistakes that could lead to his ultimate demise. She’d
made the same choice on Gaea, but not because she knew Merikh would
approve, but because the death was beginning to tear her apart.
Nightmares haunted her every night and she wasn’t sure how much
longer she could live with it.

Her ship landed in the Palace's hangar and
she shook the thoughts running through her mind. This was one of
the few buildings that hadn't been destroyed when they’d taken
over. Upon arrival, she’d immediately recognized it and told Merikh
to keep all the ships clear of the area. The crodillians had obeyed
the orders and the Palace had been left untouched by war.

She exited her ship and passed a pair of
crodillians standing guard at the doors. She nodded her head as she
passed them and made her way to the reception room. Merikh had
taken a liking to the room when they’d first arrived and Jahdiel
knew he’d most likely be in there getting updates.

She walked down the once clean hallways, not
happy that the crodillians had made such a mess when taking it
over. There’d been resistance from the Queen's guards, and the
crodillians immediately attacked them, even against her direct
orders to take them alive. They’d seen a threat and instinctively
attacked like savage animals, leaving the hallways stained with
blood and the stench of death. Holes were in every wall from laser
impact and chunks of floor were missing from grenades. She’d wanted
to keep the Palace as perfect as possible, but the crodillians
never turned down a chance to kill an enemy, or destroy anything in
their vicinity.

Luckily, the entire Palace hadn't suffered
from reckless crodillians. Once the entire guard was taken out, the
rest of the staff surrendered peacefully. They didn't stay that way
for long and she’d heard Merikh dealt with them accordingly, though
she wasn't sure she wanted to see the remains. With all her time
spent with the crodillians, she’d learned several things, one of
which was they never ran out of unique ways to kill.

Jahdiel opened the door to the reception
room and saw Merikh sitting in a chair, surrounded by flickering
screens, just as she’d imagined he’d be. As she got closer, she
could see that there was someone next to him in chains. Once she
was within a few feet of the figure, she recognized the person
Queen Adira.

The Queen didn't look well, she was thin and
looked very fatigued. Her bones were protruding from her deeply cut
cheeks and her eyes were deep black and hazy. Rags were draped over
her instead of a proper gown and she was chained by her ankles,
wrists, and neck. Jahdiel knew she’d been locked in the dungeons
and witnessed the slaughter of her staff. What Merikh was putting
this woman through was beyond cruel. No one deserved to be treated
like this and from the fresh bruises on her body, it was clear
Merikh was only just getting started.

Jahdiel approached her leader, who still
hadn't noticed her enter the room. “I see you have yourself a new
pet.”

Adira quickly turned around and spit on
Jahdiel. “If I'm a pet, than what does that make you? No human
should be doing what you're doing.”

Jahdiel reeled her hand back and slapped
Adira across the face. “Next time you spit on me, I'll kill
you.”

Merikh stood up and pushed Jahdiel away from
Adira with his long hands. “You won't touch the Queen again unless
I tell you that you can. Don't let me see an outburst like that
ever again, or it’ll be your last.”

Jahdiel looked at him surprised. “She just
disrespected me! Do you expect me not to react to that?”

“You started it, Jahdiel,” Merikh said.
“She's going to help us, but if you continue to treat her like
that, she'll change her mind and then our jobs will be much
harder.”

“What are you talking about?” Jahdiel asked.
“The Queen won't help us with anything, she'll betray us.”

“She's going to demand calm in Orion.”

“What do you mean?”

“She's about to send a message to all of the
races of Orion to let us take their planets without any
bloodshed.”

“And you think that they'll listen to her?
She's our hostage. They'll think we forced her to say it. Look what
you’ve don’t to her, do you really think anyone will listen to what
she says?”

“They may not,” he stroked his chin with his
long claws. “But I think they'll listen because it's coming from
their Queen, no matter how she looks. She's been as defiant as the
rest of this galaxy, but she doesn't want to see unnecessary deaths
that she could've prevented. I'm sure she can relay that across so
all the races understand.”

“So you're going to help us?” Jahdiel looked
to Adira.

“No,” she spat. “I'm going to protect those
who can't protect themselves from you. That's my job as Queen. I
won't let anymore races die because your bloodthirsty friends want
to kill everything that moves.”

“How did you get her to agree to this?”

“She saw what you did to Gaea. I must say,
it was very impressive, especially the little girl,” a grin crept
across his reptilian face. “She knew if she didn't agree, we would
have ravaged every remaining planet the same. You encouraged her as
much as I did.”

“When is she going to send the message?”
Jahdiel asked, hiding the sorrow she felt inside from her face.
“I'm sure there are rebellions being put together all over Orion
after what I did to Gaea.”

“She's sending it out now,” Merikh said.
“Once she sends it, we’ll get ships ready to go to the remaining
planets and we’ll dispatch troops to stay there until tensions have
lowered. Even after that, I think we’ll keep them there as
assurance.”

Merikh walked back towards the screens and
pressed a few buttons. Three monitors in the room hummed to life
and the image of the three of them appeared on the middle screen.
The other two screens were focused on one individual each: Adira
and Merikh.

“We'll start the message now.” Merikh told a
few nearby crodillians. “The sooner we get it out, the better.
Jahdiel and I will introduce ourselves first.” Merikh pressed some
more buttons and a red light came up, alerting them that they were
being recorded. “Hello. My name is Merikh and I’m the leader of the
crodillians who’ve just overtaken Orion. Next to me, is Jahdiel who
is second in command of the crodillian forces? We’re sending you
this message to inform you that we want the bloodshed to come to an
end,” Merikh looked to the Queen. “Your Queen and I have talked to
great lengths and she has told us there are no fleets left to put
up resistance against us. We’ve conquered Gaea, Demeter, Themis and
Hera. Soon we’ll be coming to the remaining planets, and we’ll be
merciless at any sign of rebellion. I don’t want to slaughter
innocents because I believe enough lives have been lost, therefore,
your Queen and I have struck a deal.”

Merikh shifted the camera to focus on Adira.
“Orion, this is your Queen. Right now I’m strongly urging you to
listen to Merikh. Surrender yourselves peacefully. Do not rebel
against their rule and put up no resistance upon their arrival. I
know they’ve slaughtered your friends and families and have
destroyed places you call home. Sadly, there is no hope of
defeating them right now,” Adira took a deep breath. “I foolishly
brought the fleet of every planet here, to defeat the crodillians,
but I didn't know how powerful they really were and every ship was
destroyed. They lost little of their own and have shown they can
overtake the remaining planets with ease, even if you rebel, as was
demonstrated on Gaea.” Adira looked away from the cameras and
closed her eyes. She stayed silent a moment and looked back at the
camera with tears in her eyes. “It hurts me to tell you this, but
you have to surrender to the crodillians. Merikh and I have come to
an agreement, one that I made to save your lives. Let them come to
your planets and conquer them. Please, please, do not resist.
They’ll let you live out your lives normally, unless you don't heed
my warning and rebel, then all will perish. Let them on your
planets peacefully and they’ll kill no one. There may be new laws
put in place, but I urge you to follow them, no matter how bad you
don’t want to. We don't have the strength to fight them, and small
rebellions will only lead to unnecessary deaths,” she wiped the
tears streaming her face with her blood-crusted arms. “I’m still
your Queen, though I’m no longer ruling. I urge you to listen to me
this one last time.

Merikh shifted the camera back to himself.
“You really should listen to your Queen. We want peace and have
shown you only a fraction of our true power. If you rebel, you’ll
see the full force of our power. We’ll be at the remaining planets
soon and expect no resistance, but don't think that we won't be
ready for it. If you test us, be ready for the consequences.”

Merikh cut of the message and nodded to the
Queen. “I think they’ll heed your warning, it was... very honest.
You spoke much more than I thought you would, but because of that,
I think that you saved a lot of lives. You should be proud of
yourself, Queen.”

“I just want there to be peace,” she looked
to the ground. “Sometimes that means giving in.”

“You really think there won't be any
rebellions?” Jahdiel asked.

“No,” Adira said. “There will be rebellions,
there always will be, but they won't be very big. There are some
races who just don't like to be ruled and will listen to no one. It
took a lot for my Council and I to keep Orion peaceful and neither
of you have the patience I did to make it happen.”

“The rest will not suffer because of them,”
Merikh said. “We just needed everyone to think that. I’ll order my
troops to only kill the rebels.”

“Thank you,” Adira smiled
half-heartedly.

“I want you to get ships ready to depart,
Jahdiel,” Merikh told her. “The message will reach all of the
planets soon, so by the time you reach the first one, they should
just let you in their airspace.”

“I'll get the ships ready,” Jahdiel said as
she turned to leave the room.

Merikh looked to the Queen. “If they listen,
I may let assist in ruling this galaxy. It’ll be more peaceful that
way.”

“I’ve helped you all I want,” Adira snorted.
“I can't make them stay peaceful forever, but I’ve saved some lives
for the time being.”