Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) Read Free Page A

started lighting
up all around him in a frenzy. It was overwhelming at first, but at
closer look, the controls and displays were simple.
    His finger hit a red button and the cruiser
roared to life as the displays dimmed some, making it easier to see
out the windows. More buttons and panels emerged as he flew the
cruiser through a small tunnel whose exit was at a hill near the
back of his yard. When he exited, he saw Drakos Mavros a few
thousand yards away and he flew the cruiser towards it.
    When he reached the ship, he saw Nimesha
already outside showing him where the storage for the cruiser would
be. He pulled the cruiser underneath the opening and exited. When
the door shut, arms came down from the ship and pulled the cruiser
into a snug compartment.
    “The other cruiser can go over there,”
Nimesha pointed. “And Kanti said you were bringing four gliders
along too?”
    “Yeah, I thought they might come in handy.
It looks like they can mount on the armored cruiser.”
    “We should be able to get all the gliders in
a single compartment,” she pointed to another spot. “They're not
too big, so squeezing them in should be no problem.”
    “We can all go down together and bring the
rest up,” Anlon told her. “It'll get us out of here quicker.”
    “I'll go let the others know.” Nimesha
walked up the ramp. “Start heading that way and we'll catch
up.”
    Anlon walked back down to the room and
waited for the others to arrive so he could them show which cruiser
and gliders would be coming along. He got in the second cruiser and
hooked one of the gliders to it before leaving through the tunnel,
the others close on his tail. He loaded the cruiser and took his
glider over to where the others were waiting. Once they were all
loaded, they boarded Drakos Mavros to start their trip back
to Nesoi.
    Kanti started arguing with Camillus the
second the ramp hissed shut. Anlon left the two of them and met
Falcone in the cockpit.
    “Everything ready to go?”
    Falcone nodded. “Cruisers and gliders are
correctly loaded and we're about to take off.”
    “We need to go now !” Camillus came
running up from behind.
    “We're going,” Falcone tried to calm him
down. “I was just making sure everything is good to go.”
    “I'm picking up transmissions that the
crodillians have just started to attack!”
    Nimesha jumped in the co-pilot seat. “What
do you need me to do Falcone?”
    “Get on the weapons just in case,” he lifted
the ship off of the ground while pulling different knobs above his
head. “Everyone go man a turret!”
    Anlon ran after Kanti and Camillus to man
one of the turrets. He hopped in the seat and looked out of the
window and terror washed over him. Crodillian ships were gunning
down buildings and burning everything in their paths. Buildings
were crumbling to the ground and fires were raging, filling the air
with thick, black, smoke.
    “We're taking fire!” Falcone came on the
comline. “Get them off of us or we won't get off this planet
alive!”
    Anlon turned the turret around to see four,
small, crodillian ships approaching them from behind with their
weapons blazing. Their laser fire struck the ship and sirens
started beeping around him. He put enemy ships in the crosshairs
started returning fire. One of the enemy ships erupted in flames
and the other three split up, leaving him no visible targets.
    “I've lost all visual,” Anlon spoke in the
comline. “They've split off from each other.”
    “They're hiding in our blind spots. These
little bastards are smarter than they look,” Falcone replied. “Hang
on tight. You all are about to get another good view of them.”
    Before Anlon could ask why he had to hang
on, his head slammed against the head rest and he was staring
straight up to the battle raging above. The ship dropped as quickly
as it’d risen and the enemy ships came back into view. Anlon
quickly locked on to one of them and began firing relentlessly
until it burst in flames. He saw