Humanity at Stake (Completed)

Chapter 44

Tell me does it take a war to start a revolution
I see the look in your eye
Hope is a bloody battlefield of dissillusion
It's gonna take sacrifice" -"Antigravity" by RUNAGROUND

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"Are you sure about this?" Jessaline asked Nova and Ridge when they had returned. Their squadron had gathered at the entrance of their camp to greet the two back from their trip. Nova nodded her head, reconfirming what she just told them.

"Yvonne is dead. We found her remains along the base of the mountain back to the nest." Jessaline gave her a firm nod. The reinforcement squadrons had made theirselves busy. They ran patrols, stocked the camp with food and supplies, and laid out the new sleeping arrangements. With the new bundle of horses, the place for the horses moved to a grassy overgrowth across the street and into an old building where the grass had grown up through cracks.

"Come with me," Jessaline changed the subject curtly, beckoning them with a swift gesture of the hand before heading towards the back of the wagon. Nova and the five of her friends followed quickly behind.

In the back of the wagon, a paper was laid out similar to the one in the room Colonel Marie had taken Nova. Jessaline hogged the front of it, causing the six others to huddle along the edges.

"This is a copy of the plans you had given us for the vampire nest, yes?" their superior asked in a rhetorical way. Nova nodded her head in response anyways. "I need you to mark in the officials that we will find here when we enter."

She stuck out the strange material that had left marks on the paper towards Nova, and she looked at it strangely.

"I don't... know how to use that," she answered hesitantly as she looked at the stick. Jessaline raised an eyebrow in surprise as she gave the object a waggle.

"You... don't know how to use a pencil?" She shook her head.

"I was very lucky to learn to read and write. But when I wrote, it was with a feather and ink. I don't necessarily see an inkwell around here..." she drifted off. Jessaline blinked blankly a few times.

"Pencils are just like that, except you stick the gray side down and write. The difference between a feather pen and a pencil is you don't need to keep dipping it in ink." nova's mouth formed an 'o' of awe before grabbing the pencil. Jessaline moved out of the way, allowing Nova to access the paper.

"There's nine royal classed vampires at the city." Nova marked three spots. Her letters swirled into each other as she scrawled down the categories. "First one is the Queen. I don't know her by any actual name. She normally houses herself here." She pointed to the large rectangle that rested at the opposite end of the cavern than the opening. Nova doodled a pointy looking crown into the rectangle before continuing on.

"Next there's three High Overseers. Dominic is one, and he's very... explosive. He's always rushing head first and is always ready to pick a fight." She scribbled his name down under the title 'High Overseers'. "Following him is Harlow. You could almost say she's the leader of the High Overseers. She's very cunning. From what I have met of her, she isn't someone you want to get involved with.

"I don't have a name for the last High Overseer. I don't think I've ever met them before. I'm sorry I don't have intel to give to you on him or her." Nova glanced up to see she had more of a crowd. Instead of just her squad and Jessaline, now parts of the reinforcement soldiers had joined to listen to her.

"There's also only three remaining Aristocrats now. There's in that goes by the name Jasper, I believe. I don't have much about him. Quintavius normally kept quiet about the meetings, and I don't remember him saying much about him.

"The next one is Xerxes. My group has had a run in with him once before," Nova elaborated for the other soldiers, making eye contact with Leon. His face showed he remembered the vampire, his brows furrowed with anger. "Xerxes is dangerous. He does whatever that pleases him without regards to how the rest of the royal classed vampires feel. I wouldn't even begin to imagine the kind of things he would pull in a fight.

"The last is Zalia. I don't know much about her strengths per say, but she's known as the Queen's Royal Bitch by the humans down there. She's the Queen's right hand, and always seems to act like she has a stick up her butt," Nova stopped, her eyes scanning over the seven names dotting an open space next to the map.

"That should be all of them," she finalized, setting the pencil down as she stepped back.

"How do you know these are the only ones? How do you not know if there have been more added since you've been there last?" One soldier from outside of her group asked, causing Nova to look at him.

"They may have gained more regular vampires since I've been last there, but they definitely haven't changed their royals. They enjoy familiarity within their ranks. Not to mention, it's been about a week since they have lost two members, and it'll take longer than that to find replacements," Nova explained, her eyes flirting between everyone staring at her. The soldier who had asked the question nodded his head in acceptance, his eyes looking over the map.

"This looks flawless," Jessaline spoke, her eyes also scanning the map and names.

"Do you think we have a chance?" a small voice rose from a petite girl who rested at the opposite end of the cart. Jessaline grimaced, her eyes giving one more sweep of the paper before looking up at the girl.

"I know we'll put up one hell of a fight, that's for sure. As much as I don't want to lower your spirits, with 90 squadrons, there's no way we stand a chance."

"If you don't expect us to win, what are we going to do?" the soldier asked back, her voice spiking with the fear in her body. Jessaline heaved out a sigh.

"It's something that Colonel Marie has instructed that I do." She turned to Nova, ready to explain what she was about to say to her. "You probably don't know this Nova, but the Resistance on Estium, is not the main Resistance. The main Resistance HQ rests on Oprilon. They house 500 squadrons there."

Nova could feel here eyes bug out at the mention of the amount of squadrons there. 500 squadrons?! That's three thousand people!

"You're expecting us to do something," Tony chimed in, her eyes narrowed at Jessaline. The superior gave them an apologetic smile, looking down briefly.

"Colonel Marie has put in an unsightly amount of work and trust into your squadron with your involvement in the events that have passed. She asks that you go to Oprilon and ask for assistance from the main base."

"How much is she asking for?" Christopher piped in. Jessaline ran a hand through her hair, stopping to rub the back of her neck.

"250 squadrons," Jessaline forked over hesitantly. Nova shared a disbelieving look with her comrades at the number.

"That's half their men there. I don't think they'll allow us to take that many," Nova voiced her concerns, causing Jessaline to look her in the eyes as she said her next words. Chills ran down Nova's spine.

"Whether they will or not, if we don't get the amount of soldier we need, Estium will fall to the vampires."