STELLAR: World on Fire

Chapter 6: The Coming Storm

Just across the far north of Starlight, deep into the dark jungle, stood a large tower. This tower was about twenty stories high and was about fifteen feet wide. It had ancient hieroglyphs marked all over it, and they glowed in red. This was where the secretive members of The Order would convene. This was where Greed and his new allies would report to.

Greed, Ghost, and the other riders approached the entrance of the tower. From the outside, it appeared to have no form of entry, no door which you could open and walk inside. Greed, however, knew this was The Order's way of keeping everything secret and if anyone ever did happen to stumble upon this place, they would just think it's some pyramid of some sort and pass it by. He put his hand gently on the wall, then pushing down on what seemed to be a secret panel. Then he twisted it left to right before removing his hand. Before their very eyes, the wall suddenly transformed into a sliding door which slid apart and closed as they walked inside.

Once inside they were greeted by twelve hooded figures. The room itself was dark and dimly lit. If Greed had not known better he would have thought The Order to be a cult rather than a secret Society controlling Starlight from the shadows. As Greed and his followers approached them they got on one knee and bowed, as a sign of respect. "Report." One of the hooded figures said. "Everything is going according to plan. We have the tools needed to proceed with phase two of the plan. It just needs a trial run and we're clear to proceed." Greed replied. The room was silent for at least five minutes before the hooded figure crossed his arms and spoke. "Excellent. I knew I could depend on your resourcefulness." He, as well as the other eleven, seemed most satisfied with what they heard.

Meanwhile, back in the Strategic Warfare and Threat Prevention Command Center, Jack explained what the situation was, with what little intel they had. "The last we saw Greed we tracked him in Africa and he had been meeting with an unknown contact. We figured he was going to Starlight. Our recent encounter with him here on Starlight confirms our suspicions that Greed has initiated or taken part in some sort of insurgency plot. We just don't know what that plot is. The Dark Riders he was with are clearly not the same as the ones who we dealt with back on Earth. They are more technologically advanced and their cloaking ability confirms this." Jack explained. Kate and Nightstorm looked at each other and looked back at Jack.

Something did not make sense. Nightstorm and Kate both felt the same way. The Dark Riders that Karma reported confronting, were simply a small band of Dark Riders. Surely, Greed does not expect to wage a war with such a small band of Riders. "There's certainly something more in play here. Greed is searching for something. The question is what?" Nightstorm remarked. Everyone nodded in agreement. "We need to quickly find out what that is and stop him before it's too late." Karma noted. Nightstorm crossed his arms. "If there's any special assignments you assigned to, I want you to hold them off. At this time, Greed is to be considered our number one threat and all efforts are to be focused on finding him and his followers." Nightstorm announced. Everybody were in agreement. They knew the objective now it was time to make a plan.