Out of Space
Chapter 243: A Brewing Storm

Orwell's Point

Shadowy figures darted past the unsuspecting patrolling soldiers from one alley to another. They made used of low roofs, sewers and other forms of cover to gather near the docks in one of burnt down warehouses still in the midst of being repaired.

"All here?" A voice whispered out among the gathered and someone struck a flint, only to be slapped away by the neighbors. "No fires!"

"They can see us!" The voice whispered frightenedly. "They have some cursed magic that allows them to see light!"

The gathered shadows muttered among themselves as they heard the panic tone in the speaker's voice. "Be quiet! Let's be quick before they discover us!"

"Why have you called us here?" Another voice asked in the darkness. "We might get caught!"

"The reason why I called you here is that our ex masters are rallying against us!" The voice hissed in anger. "Despite the intentions of our new barbarians overlords... they can't win the might of the Empire!"

"And once the Empire descends on us with their full might, they will purge us all!" The voice rosed in terror and the gathered rest shifted uneasily in the darkness.

"If we want to live, we must fight!" The voice spoke again in a low hush. "The Gods have given us a chance for freedom and revenge. The barbarians forbid us to take revenge as they desire the wealth of the Imperial pigs!"

"Yeah!" Some of the men agreed. "Why must we listen to the barbarians! Sooner or later, we will still be like slaves to them!"

"No!" Another voice called out loudly. "We must not! We gave our word to the new lord of the city that we will behave and they will treat us civilly!"

"Pah!" The original speaker spat to the side in disgust. "Have you lost all pride and dignity? After bowing and scraping to the Imperial pigs and now you are kissing up to the new barbarian lords?"

"No!" The second speaker quickly said. "I trust these new lords! Can't you see that they are trying to make sure our people are well fed and no longer discriminated anymore as slaves? Haven't they returned us our dignity and freedom from the farms and made those responsible pays for their crimes?"

"So? In the end, they are just making use of us!" The original speaker retorted. "They are already siding with our ex masters by preventing us from taking justice!"

"They tell us to report all crimes to them and they will investigate!" The speaker scoffed. "When did you ever heard an investigation from nobles and merchants led to any news?"

"Because they get paid off by the guilty parties!" The speaker fervently said. "Where is the justice in that?"

"No! They gave us our justice already!" The second speaker replied. "Did they arrested all the nobles and merchants who were found to be guilty of murders and mistreating us?"

"Yea so? Those they executed or imprisoned are small flies!" The original speaker retorted back. "Where is the Imperial governor? Where are the merchant guild masters? Where are they?"

"That..." The second speaker couldn't reply back as he did not have the answer.

"See?" The original speaker said smugly. "Of course we don't know where are they. Even if we demand for their heads. the barbarian lords would not give them to us! Why?"

"Because they have let them go!" The voice rosed angrily and the gathered muttering rosed along. "They had bribed their way out! The barbarians are only making a show of goodwill!"

"I say we fight the locals and the Barbarians!" The speaker suddenly declared. "We outnumber them more than half! We can't let ourselves be ruled by others anymore! We must take hold of our fate in our own hands!"

"But we have no weapons!" Someone in the group pointed out. "And those Barbarians Lords have their powerful thunder magic. How can we ever win?"

"That is why we are gathered here to discuss!"

-----

Elsewhere in another part of the city

Another group of people with hooded cloaks and masks were gathering inside an underground cellar. They whispered among themselves in hushed tones as they waited for their leader to appear.

A hush came over the hooded group as three men entered the cellar from a secret door set in one side of the stone wall. They bowed as the lead trio removed his hood, and a face covered with a golden half face mask appeared.

"Come, we have no time," The masked man said quickly as he sat down before the gathering. "We must make plans against the despicable slaves!"

"Yes!" The people here all hissed their approval.

"The damn barbarians think they can just walk in here and be the lords of Orwell Point!" The gold masked man said. "They think even if they removed the governor and the leaders of the merchant guild that no one will dare stand up to their atrocities!"

"They think that freeing the slaves gave them goodwill from the masses?" The gold masked man eyes glint with a fervent glow. "NO! They dared to take our property! Our blood and sweat! Our livelihoods!"

"No!" The gathered growled.

"We are Imperial citizens!" The man continued to raise the gathered mood. "We stand for righteous!"

"YES!" The gathered roared while the gold masked man gestured them to calm down.

"Tonight, this is the night that will further change your lives!" The man looked at each gathered in the eye. "Tonight will be a night where future generations will remember us for doing the right thing!"

"Come, my brethren, we must make plans to return our city to the Empire!"

-----

Orwell's Point, Marine Stronghold

"Sir, we are picking up dozens of movements in the city," The surveillance operator called out to the DO* (Duty Officer) in the command center.

"It is a good kind of movement or bad?" The DO joked as he came over the shoulder of the operator.

The operator rolled her eyes as she tapped a few keys on her system and a simplified map of the city appeared. "We got two hot spots. Here and here."

The DO frowned as he looked at the screen where the operator had highlighted movements picked up by thermal sensors and camera that the Marines had secretly seeded all over the city. "How many people roughly in each spot?"

"Estimated around twenty roughly each," The operator checked her notes before replying.

The DO turned to another staff and said, "Which teams are nearest to those two locations?"

The staff consulted the duty charts before replying, "Falcon's Platoon 2 here and Gryphon's Platoon 3 here."

"Send them both into check out those two areas, its curfew time and these boys want to play..."

-----

Orwell's Point, Intersection between the Merchant and Warehouse District, 2nd Battalion, Falcon Company, Platoon 2, Section 2

Lance Corporal Ply rubbed his tired eyes as he stood behind a sandbag emplacement with the rest of his section watching over the main crossroad to Warehouse and Merchant District.

He stiffed a yawn and suddenly down the road, he heard boots running and called out. "Hey, what's up?"

His Platoon Lieutenant appeared leading the rest of the Platoon as they came running over hastily. "Section 4 take over Section 2's duties."

As Section 4 had two men down with various illnesses, only five men were active. LCP Ply was confused and he asked, "LT, what's the problem?"

"We got a mission!" The Lt quickly gave a quick update to Section 2's men. "Seems like there is an illegal gathering going on right now down at one of the shops in the Merchant's District."

They half ran over to the street where the surveillance cameras had traced the gathering at. They stopped under a newly erected power pole that had a camera attached to the top of it.

"Shop is down that street," The LT whispered. "Sergeant Quain, bring your section and block off the street. Grab any leakers that escape our net!"

Sergeant Quain of Section 3 nodded and quickly assigned duties to his section. The men quickly slipped off into the shadows as they blocked off all the exits out of the street.

"Form up!" The Lt hissed and the rest stacked behind him. "Section 1, take the lead... GO!"

The men quietly advanced up towards the shop while keeping into the dark shadows. The glow moss lamps of the city were only sufficient to light up a small area on the street while keeping most of the areas in darkness.

"Section 2, go the back of the shop, see if there is any backdoor!" The LT ordered and Ply and his section followed their Sergeant to the back of the shop.

As they came to the back, they saw there was indeed a rear entrance. The Sergeant whispered into his comms, telling the LT that they had found a door.

"On my count breach it!" The Lt replied and the men took up positions before the door. "3, 2, 1, BREACH!"

The sudden yell was loud enough to shatter the silence of the night before the heaviest Orc or elf slammed their boots against the wood door, breaking it into pieces and storming in with their weapons sweeping left and right.

"Clear!" Cries came from the men as they checked the building. "Upstairs!"

Several Marines ran up the stairs and checked each room on the 2nd floor before yelling, "All clear! Not a single person here!"

"Damn, is the intel wrong?" The LT cursed as he banged his fist against the table in the backroom. He suddenly paused and he hit the table again, cocking his head to the side as he heard something.

Quickly, he pushed the table away and stomp his boots against the wooden flooring and he yelled, "There's a trap door here! Open it up!"

His men quickly pushed everything out of the way as they searched the floor for a way to open the trap door that was hidden.

They slipped their bayonet blades against the cracks of the flooring and soon pried open the door and found a flight of stairs going down. "Go! Check it out but be careful!"

The Marines went down the stairs, their tactical lights lighting up the underground room, replaceing jars and other crates of items being stored here.

Ply swept his light and the beam landed on a wooden door at the end of the underground cellar. "Here!"

Quickly the nearby Marines formed up on him and they nodded at each other before Ply slammed his feet against the door only to replace himself flying backward. "What the... ?"

"It's warded!" Someone yell. "Be careful of magical traps!"

"Blow it up!" The LT ordered and the nearest Marines pulled out the large egg shaped grenades and they jammed it against the door before pulling the pins out. "Fire in the hole!"

Everyone took cover while leaving their mouths open and the grenades suddenly blew up. The wards flickered before collapsing as the force of the frag explosion drained off the magic ward and a couple of fireballs suddenly appeared before hitting the rear of the cellar.

If anyone were standing at the door, they would be burnt to a crisp by the fireballs. "Breach, bang and clear!" The Lt yelled at his men who responded by stacking up next to the scorched door.

A Marine unslung a shotgun from his back and he aimed at the hinges, firing a single shot each which obviated the hinges. The Marine next kicked in the door and a Marine on the side gave an underhand toss of a flashbang hit the ground rolling before it erupted.

A sudden flash of bright white light could be seen from the corners of Ply's eye and it was followed by a sharp crack. "GO GO GO!"

He followed behind one Marine who immediately turned right as he entered while Ply swept his weapon left, covering the other side of his buddies. He saw several people in hoods and masks crying and screaming as they were blinded and deafened by the flash bang.

"What kind of farking party is this?"