Aleigha walked through the dome city. Her cloaking shield activated, her bladed staff in her hand. She scanned the area, looking for those who looked suspicious or those who looked at the human population still in the dome with disdain. She was looking for anything that seemed suspicious, off.

It was what she was doing when she found Medic Kaul whispering to his two friends. With the cloaking shield on, she had been able to listen to what they were saying with ease. She was out looking for more, doing the same thing as Medic Kaul and his two friends were.

Guard Commander Drevick gave her a wrist communicator. One designed for high-ranking officers.

It had multiple options that the average wrist communicator didn't have. One of them was a recording option. She could easily record conversations this time so that Council Leader Vorik and Drevick could hear the same thing she heard.

Silently turning a corner, she passed a dwelling. There were four men on the porch, laughing and drinking strong beverages.

"The humans are disappearing. I guess our friends are doing their duty and getting rid of them," one man laughed as he downed his cup of liquid. Aleigha knew his cup was filled with a strong beverage. He was already intoxicated.

The second man poured himself another drink before turning back to his friends. He suddenly grimaced. "It's not just the humans that are disappearing. Our guys are, too," he pointed out. "There aren't many of us left."

Everyone stopped laughing and looked at their friend, waiting for more information. They hadn't realized their group was disappearing, either.

"What do you mean our guys are disappearing?" the first man asked. His cup was frozen midway to his lips.

"They're gone. In the last meeting, only a dozen showed up. Everyone else was absent." He explained. His voice was hushed as he told his friends.

Aleigha pulled out her wrist communicator and typed in her location with a short message of what she was seeing and hearing, then turned on the recording option on her communicator and moved closer so she could record what they were saying more clearly. From what she heard so far, she knew that they were speaking of something that both Council Leader Vorik and her mate, Drevick, needed to hear.

"The next meeting is tonight. Maybe more will show up. They can't all be disappearing like that. There are too many of us," the first man continued after downing his drink and pouring another. "I think they just didn't go to the meeting."

One of the men grabbed the jug of strong beverage and poured himself another drink. "The meeting is tonight," he said, downing his drink and pouring another. "When we go, everyone will be there. It was a mandatory order for all of us to show up tonight. We'll see who is there and who is not. Maybe this meeting is mandatory because our leader wants to see who hasn't disappeared."

The other three men nodded in agreement. Each took a moment to think about what was just said. They stayed quiet for a while as they drank their strong beverage. One of the men had to go inside the dwelling to get more. The conversation continued when he returned, and all the cups were filled again.

"We go over to the meeting spot during the shift change. There will be a lot of movement. No one will notice us all going to the same place," one of the men stated suddenly, then drank from his cup.

"I don't like our meeting location. I never did. It's too open. Anyone could walk up on us," the first man complained, then poured yet another drink. He was the main one drinking. He had too many to keep track of, while the others had several each.

Aleigha knew that if he kept it up, he was going to get himself in trouble because of being intoxicated. Drunks get loud, not caring what they say or how loud they say it.

Aleigha shook her head in disgust as he downed another drink; he laughed loudly. "The south greens are secluded. We'll be fine."

Aleigha smiled. The meeting of the militia was at the south greens during shift change. The South Green was a large, secluded park. She knew exactly where the location was that they were talking about. She hoped that Drevick got the message so he would be prepared when he heard the recording of the group's conversation.

She watched as one of the men looked at his wrist communicator. "It starts in an hour. We need to get ready to head over there. We can't miss it. It's mandatory," he told his friends.

The four men entered the dwelling, the door sliding closed behind them as they went to prepare themselves for the meeting.

Aleigha turned and rushed toward the council chamber. Council Leader Vorik and Drevick were normally inside, trying to formulate a plan to stop the militia. She smiled. She may have just stumbled on a way to stop them. She hoped, at least.

She pressed the call button when she reached the council chamber. As she waited for the door to open, she fidgeted with a lack of patience. She knew they needed to move quickly, or they would miss their chance to stop the militia. The door finally slid smoothly open. Council Leader Vorik and Guard Commander Drevick were sitting side by side at the long council table, looking at their monitor. Both looked up to see who had entered.

Aleigha watched as they scanned the entrance; they didn't see her or anyone else.

"Aleigha?" Drevick asked, scanning the doorway.

As soon as the door slid shut, Aleigha switched off her cloaking shield.

"Did you get my message?" she asked them in a rush, not letting them speak first. "There's a meeting in an hour. They are all attending. It's mandatory for every one of them to show up."

"What are you speaking of?" Council Leader Vorik asked, looking at her confused.

Aleigha took off her wrist communicator and handed it to Drevick.

"I received your coordinates and your message. There is no sound. Do you have a recording?" Drevick asked her.

Vorik looked between the two and back at Aleigha. "You have a high-ranking wrist communicator?" he asked, one brow raised.

Aleigha rolled her eyes. "In a minute, you'll be glad I had it."

Guard Commander Drevick switched on the recording, and they all listened. Even without seeing the conversation, Vorik and Drevick could tell the four Ramesian males were drinking.

After it finished, Aleigha sat down, looking at the two men with her. "One of them is highly intoxicated. They may have to carry him to the meeting," she said, smiling.

Council Leader Vorik affixed his cloaking disk and checked his belt to ensure he had a blaster. "We don't have time to call for backup. We go in there cloaked and take out as many as we can," he said, then, looking at Aleigha, "Use a blaster. I don't want any evidence that you were there."

Aleigha nodded in agreement. "I think we need to go in cloaked and kill them while we're cloaked. We need to stay out of sight, or they will kill us all. I don't think that three against that group are very good odds. We have a better chance of surviving if we go in cloaked and stay that way. Not only that, if some of them get away, we don't want them to know who attacked them."

Vorik nodded slowly in agreement. "I agree," he told her.

"Agreed," Drevick nodded, patting himself down, making sure he had everything he needed.

"On our way to the south green, we need to stay connected. We don't want to lose each other on our way there. Drevick, take Aleigha's hand; I will take the other. We will go as a group. As soon as we reach the site, she will stay in the center, fighting those in front of her. You and I will fight those that are in the direction we are standing beside her." Vorik explained. "I will be on her right. Which means I will fight those to the right. You on the left, doing the same on your side."

Drevick nodded. "Understood."

"Fine with me," Aleigha told them. "Planning this ahead of time is good. There is less chance of us running into each other while we're trying to battle these guys. Running into each other could get us all killed. The goal here is to stay alive ourselves while taking out the threat to the city."

Drevick nodded, then walked up to the replicator and ordered three sets of large blades. They were long with a serrated edge on one side. He handed a set to each of them. "Throats are easy to slit in silence. They will know our location if we start shooting when we first start to attack. If any of them is separated from the group and at a good enough distance, we go after them in silence. We take out the loners and small groups first. We need to remember to stick to our own area. I don't want us bumping into each other," he explained.

Vorik and Aleigha each took a set of the blades that Drevick offered them. Drevick took his own, affixing the blades to his belt.

Once they were all ready, Vorik clicked on his cloaking shield and took Aleigha's hand. Drevick did the same, then took her other hand. Drevick reached over and switched Aleigha's on, and they left the council chamber. Vorik closed and locked the door after they exited.

As they made their way to the south green, they kept an eye on those who were headed in the same direction they were. It wasn't shift change yet, so they hadn't seen anyone.

Once they entered the large, secluded park, they waited for the militia members to begin to show up.

"Shift change is in a few minutes. They should start to arrive soon," Drevick whispered, not wanting to be heard by anyone who may be nearby.

Aleigha squeezed his hand, then rubbed her thumb on the back of his hand. It was the only affection she could do while they stood cloaked, hand in hand.

Drevick squeezed it back, lifting her hand, and kissed the back of her hand, acknowledging her gesture.

"If we die tonight," she began in a whisper.

She never got to finish. She was interrupted by the sudden onslaught of small groups of militia members as they started to make their way through the secluded park. Drevick, Vorik, and Aleigha watched where they were headed, then began to follow them.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.