The Alliance Boxset Books 4-6

Chapter 3-3

Several dark shadows moved through the thick forest. Their focus was on the house. Another transport flew overhead, and the four men froze. One of the men stepped closer to the heavyset man in the lead.

“The transports are heading in the same direction we’re going. We will be outnumbered,” the man stated with an uneasy glance at the sky as another transport skimmed above the tall trees. “Perhaps we should abort the mission.”

“I make the decisions,” Kronos growled under his breath and shot the three men a look of warning. He considered their next step now that it was obvious their Intel was missing something as important as half the galaxy coming to visit at the same exact time the assassination was to take place. “We will wait until the gathering has finished. General Achler wants Chancellor Razor’s family eliminated. There will be no aborting of this mission. If we fail, Achler would kill us, no matter what the ‘mitigating circumstances’ were. Once the guests depart, we execute anyone in the dwelling, just like we were ordered to do. I will contact Team One and inform them of the situation, but our orders haven’t changed – there are to be no witnesses and no survivors. Unless you want to end up dead as well, I suggest you remember who ordered this mission.”

The man reluctantly nodded and glanced at the other two men. There had originally been six of them on the mission, but two had perished when they encountered one of the savage, six-legged beasts that lived in the forest. They had killed the huge creature, but not before it ripped two of the men apart.

“Understood,” the man finally replied.

Looking up, Kronos glared at the sky when another transport flew overhead. He radioed the other team and warned them of the situation. According to the report they were given by General Prymorus Achler, Chancellor Razor and Lord Hunter were supposed to be off planet.

A sense of unease swept through Kronos. Something told him that not all their information was accurate and he wondered if that included the information about the Trivator warriors being off-world. General Achler was very clear in his orders – take out the family and leave no trace of who did it. The general also stressed that he would be the one to notify Chancellor Razor, personally.

Kronos couldn’t understand why Prymorus Achler would want to enrage the Trivator warrior. There were few in the galaxy who had not heard of the Chancellor’s reputation. Razor was just as brutal as Prymorus when it came to his enemies. Kronos had known when he was assigned this mission that it would probably be a death sentence… yet, at least there was a small chance of surviving.

The Waxian chosen before him had declined the mission. General Achler made Kronos remove the body parts of the man before he turned to him and asked him if he had any objections to the operation. Still covered in the blood of the other man, Kronos had shaken his head and accepted the assignment.

He knew it would only be a matter of time before Chancellor Razor hunted down each of them. Death would not come swiftly or cleanly if the Trivator found them. Still, having a head start against a murderous Trivator would be better than what would have happened if he had said no to the Waxian warlord.

“Move out,” Kronos growled to the others.

The men fell into step, moving forward again. It took them almost an hour to reach the tall barrier surrounding the compound. Kronos motioned for the men to spread out. Through the gate, he could see the large number of transports. He murmured to the men to settle in. They would wait until the transports left before attacking. Turning, he slid down along a tree several meters from the wall. He pulled out a small vidcom with the images of those targeted for termination and studied them while they waited for darkness.