Chapter 6 Kal #2
Everyone exchanged glances of resignation yet Kal noticed that nobody seemed anymore surprised than he was.
They’d killed the Council members who had voted against them in cold blood.
This was always going to be a fight. Now another war was about to begin.
Kal just hoped it wouldn’t take too long.
It wouldn’t be ideal for the Lucian to invade, only to find an empty world because everyone had killed each other.
“How?” Mark said, gritting his teeth.
“They made a display out of it,” Mara said. “Ripped his throat open and drained him, left him on the steps in front of the headquarters. Loren thinks it was military leadership.”
Tess said, “Okay… When we say military leadership, what exactly do we mean?”
Mark scratched his head and said, “Three generals, a dozen or so commanders, and their units, some lieutenants. Forces included. At this point, I don’t think there are more than a thousand you’d have to fight to unseat them.
Everyone else is spread out over the country defending the humans we’ve colonized.
If we move fast, they can’t call men to back them up and if they did, they’d be leaving too much undefended. We just might have them by the throat.”
“We need more information,” Kal said darkly. “What we need is a spy on the inside…”
“Loren might know somebody,” Mark said. “We need to talk to him—
“No!” That was Kiera, piping up suddenly.
Kal hadn’t even noticed she was back at Urbana but now she stood up from the table, her eyes red.
“Loren sent me here because he thinks things are too dangerous around the Council. because heknowsthe military leadership is going to strike back. He’s already in enough danger!
Find another way! I… I…” She shook her head and finally burst into tears and Crystal jumped up to comfort her.
Kal had a feeling they were going to Loren for help, whether or not Kiera thought it wise. This was just too important. Everyone tensed up as if waiting for Kiera to change her mind. She wiped her eyes and took a second as if summoning up her strength.
“Call him,” she whispered to Mark, and then turned and ran out of the cafeteria.
Tess looked like she wanted to follow them but she stayed where she was, likely more determined than ever to organize things for the children.
It couldn’t have been easy for Crystal either, Kal thought.
She had a baby with Mark. Now they had yet another battle on the horizon and after that, there would be the Lucian to contend with.
Kal couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a kid mixed up in all this.
Even as he thought it, he realized that Crystal’s baby was his nephew.
He felt his heart swell at the thought, but it saddened him at the same time.
The kid hadn’t asked to be born into any of this. None of them had.
Mark went to the landline phone in the dorm and Kal followed him, casting Tess a somewhat apologetic look. She only shrugged at him and he turned on his heel.
Loren, they discovered, did have a line on a commander who worked under the generals. He had been flirting with deserting and joining Free the Children too, it turned out. He agreed to gather whatever information he could, though getting it back to Loren would be a bit tricky.
To Kal’s mind, this stuff was harder than battle.
Battles were upfront, if dangerous. This sneaking around stuff was subtle and when you got found out, they killed you silently or sometimes you just disappeared.
He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. All this was worked out over the course of a few phone calls in the span of an hour.
It had all seemed like a big emergency. Yet all they could do now was wait.
Waiting should have been more fun. Kal decided it reallyshouldbe more fun by necessity.
Everyone was tense all afternoon, even the breeder women who now had nothing to do but fight with everyone else.
Tess was busy with her work and Kal had some time on his own, when he wasn’t strategizing with Mark for whatever battle faced them.
He went looking for Crystal at lunch. She had stuck close to Kiera all day, and the two were poking at plates of spaghetti together.
“Crystal,” Kal said, sitting down beside her. “I have a job for you. Since you’re the… designated supply person.”
Crystal cast him a wary look and waved her hand “Proceed.”
“We need… an event,” Kal said. He had an idea of what he thought they should do but he didn’t quite have the language.
“An event…”
“An event to… socialize,” he said slowly. “Before we fight. We could just have alcoholic drinks and perhaps play music? And talk? Just have fun, I suppose. Before things get serious.”
“Holy shit,” Crystal muttered. “Do parties not exist on Vampyr?”
“Not really,” Kal muttered. “There are formal events after battles or ceremonial rituals. But they’re fairly staid.”
“Okay,” Crystal said, chuckling. “Yeah, you’re right.
We need a nice morale booster. I believe we have a decent shot at taking down the military leadership even if…
we’re still outnumbered and they have better weapons.
But maybe if we reminded ourselves why we’re fighting in the first place, we’d fight better. ”
“Exactly,” Kal said.
“I’ll put it together,” Crystal said, patting him on the shoulder. “No worries. We can have this shindig tomorrow night unless we have to skip off to battle first. I’ll start telling people. Good idea, Kal.”
“Alright,” Kal said with a determined nod. “Tomorrow night, we party.”