War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past by Conner Walworth

he wanted to humiliate him for his failure in
order to prevent something similar from happening in the future. He
had high expectations for his races, and if they didn't perform to
his standards, they were killed.
    Letting something like this slide, including
from his best man, would only allow it happen again in the future.
Since Donnchadh was going to be the one to kill the Queen, he
wanted to make sure Donnchadh paid attention to every minute detail
from here on out. The only way to do that was to tell him he hadn't
fulfilled his last mission, and therefore, had ultimately failed.
He may have gotten his long awaited revenge, but failure was
failure and he wouldn't accept another one.
    The steel door slid open and Kirill glared at
Donnchadh as he walked into the dim room. The door hissed shut,
enveloping the men in darkness and secrecy. Kirill stayed silent,
allowing Donnchadh to break the eerie silence.
    "Why did you need to see me Kirill?"
    Kirill raised his eyebrows and leaned
forward. "Why did I call you here? Do you really have no idea what
you have done? Were you so confident, that you didn't pay attention
to the outcome of your assignment?"
    Donnchadh stared at Kirill blankly. "I don't
have any idea what you're talking about. We killed Armino and his
family. I watched them all die," he replied. "Since then, I have
been in my chambers preparing for the next mission."
    Kirill crossed his fingers in a fist and
rested his chin on them. "Did you really watch them all die
Donnchadh? Because I find that hard to believe given what I've
heard."
    "Kirill, they're all dead!"
"Armino's son is still alive you fool!" Kirill fumed, slamming his
fists on the table. "You didn't watch him die because he's still
alive right now!"
    Donnchadh straightened in his chair. "No. I
killed him! I shot him as I was running out!"
    "No Donnchadh, you let him live," He pulled
out a piece of paper from his drawer. "Anlon survived a gunshot
wound to the abdomen," He looked up at Donnchadh. "Really? You shot
him in the stomach and you thought you killed him?"
His eyes widened. "Kirill... I... All we had left was Armino and
his son when the police came into the house!" He threw his hands
up. "I shot Armino in the head and could've sworn I did the same to
his son as I ran out of the house!"
    "Well, you didn't kill him. In fact, he is
still very much alive and has already been interviewed by the
authorities," Kirill shook his head. "How stupid are you Donnchadh?
I thought you
    were the best man I had. How could you let a
target survive?"
    "Kirill I promise you I didn't do this
intentionally. He should be dead."
    "Yeah," Kirill rolled his eyes. "Lucky for
you, the boy isn't talking at the moment."
    Donnchadh cocked his head. "What do you mean
he's not talking? We killed his whole family right in front of
him."
    "All he told authorities were what races
killed his family. Nothing else. No names, where you came from,
nothing. He seems to be keeping everything you revealed to
himself."
    Donnchadh started to get up. "Let me go kill
him now before he decides talk!"
    "Sit down!" Kirill ordered. "You will do no
such thing. We will let the boy live. He poses no immediate threat
to us and need to take out the Queen soon. You can't do that if
you're out killing some kid you forgot to kill last time."
    Donnchadh masked the anger from his face. "So
it is final? I will be the one to kill Queen Adira ?"
    "Yes and two men of your choice," he nodded.
"But let's talk this over first. This will be nothing like your
last mission. You must be very careful because if you're not,
you'll never get to the Queen, and will probably never leave the
Palace alive."
"Sounds like you know how. I bet you really want to kill her
yourself," Donnchadh teased, hoping to anger his boss.
    "Doing that would be foolish. The Queen and
everyone close to her thinks that she killed me many years ago. I
can't let them know too soon that I'm still alive or my plans will
be ruined," Kirill slid some