Renegades (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 3)

Chapter 9

As the troop transports flew up past the planet's atmosphere, they saw the large GDF mothership floating above them. Andress looked out the window and saw several other transports flying up from the planet below, but severely less than had come down. Andress sat back down in her seat and clenched her fists. They had killed her sister...murdered her in cold blood...over some piece of dirt planet that no one even cared about in the grand scheme of things. Tears rolled down her soot-stained cheeks, causing small trails to appear. The Resistance was just supposed to be a group of rebels, nothing to worry about, easy prey...but now they had crippled them, taken them out like they were nothing. Not only her sister, but no doubt hundreds of other soldiers had been killed, all of them just doing their duty. This had just been a routine mission...and now it had resulted in the death of almost her entire unit. Andress looked over and saw Bunker sitting next to the now crippled Koil, both of his legs completely gone. He was looking back at her with sympathy, knowing what the face she was making meant. He wished he could go over and comfort her...but now wasn't the time. They flew into the hangar of the mothership, landing next to several other shuttles. As soon as the ramp opened, a medical crew came and grabbed Koil's stretcher, moving him away from the incoming ships. Andress stepped out with Bunker, looking around at everything that was happening. Several other soldiers were being brought out of their ships, some of them were screaming in pain, others weren't moving at all. Andress didn't know which was worse. Bunker grabbed her shoulder, as if to both steady her and plant her in this moment. "Andress, look at me." She heard him as if he was a voice coming through a fog. Andress turned to look at him, then collapsed against his chest, falling unconscious.

As soon as she fell into darkness in one place, she woke up from darkness in another. Andress woke up on her bed, the dream she had still reeling through her head. But, as she quickly pieced together, it wasn't so much of a dream as a nightmare. Or a memory. Lately, she couldn't tell the difference anymore. She lied back down, looking up at the dark ceiling, her steady breathing calming her down. Andress placed her hands over her face, stroking her soft skin, and running her fingers through her bright red hair. Then, as she was lying, she felt another presence in the room. Confused, she turned over and saw someone else lying on the bed. Looking at the mess of brown hair just next to her head, her eyes widened as she remembered what else had happened before she fell asleep. Nolun coming in, comforting her...she breathed a sigh of relief as she remembered that nothing else had happened. Oddly enough, when she was next to him, she felt almost...safer. Like she could be more calm and collected when she was with him. She shook her head and sighed in frustration. What the hell was wrong with her? She had to be focusing on this new conflict at hand, one that could decide the entire fate of the galaxy, and she was lying next to a boy that she barely knew. But that wasn't exactly true...was it? She and Nolun had met almost half a year ago, and they had grown so close since then. He had barely even known her, and he had risked his life, stopping his quest to go find the Pieces to come rescue her...as she looked at him next to her, asleep, she smiled a bit to herself. Right now, the rest of the galaxy could wait.

Morticia walked in front of the line of soldiers that were dressed in black armour. Every single one of them were standing at attention, waiting for her to give their orders. "All of you are different from the rest of the soldiers in this army. That is because you are designed to be the best. Every single one of you was created for one sole purpose: to follow what I say, and lead us to victory. As you know, the Resistance has managed to acquire one of the Dorado Pieces. You may be thinking this is simply a small victory, one that can be overcome. You are wrong. No victory is small. One victory can change the course of an entire war. We must not let this new development defeat us. You will do as good as you can. Understand?" Every soldier saluted in perfect synchronicity. "All hail the High Monarch!" The soldiers said at the same time. Morticia, satisfied with the group in front of her, walked out, leaving the Elites to spread out and be assigned to their respective missions. As she went out into the hall, she saw Gottlieb standing out there, waiting to talk to her. "Well then, I must say Gottlieb, you'll be rewarded greatly for this. Your failed project has become one of most usefulness to the GDF. You've regained some of your lost pride." Gottlieb nodded. "Thank you, High Monarch." The two of them walked out towards a lift, opening it and entering Morticia's security code. Once it was entered, the lift began to move down, dropping down to a lower level, one that was inaccessible to anyone else on the ship except for the two people that were in the lift. Once the doors opened, they saw what it was containing. Several large glass tubes, filled with fluid, contained several men, who all looked practically identical. In fact, perfectly identical. After the disappearance of Project EO, Morticia knew she needed to start anew. So, by using the collection of data and DNA left over from EO's development, a mass cloning of Enhanced Operators went underway, and the new form of Elites were created. The new army of the GDF was born. As Morticia looked over the vials of the clones, she saw one of them twitch with life. A small smile crossed her face. This war would be won. One way or another.