I looked out over the hundred male and female Sarceastians who were eager to fight and I couldn't believe my eyes. I was even more surprised when the largest amongst them came and made an unexpected announcement.

“Hemant told us about your idea and we want to help you. In fact, we would like to take a smaller share of the silver in order for you to be able to recruit more soldiers. My name is Yeritus, and I am the appointed leader of the Miserablis as we like to call ourselves. We are an underground militia who is prepared to go up against the government. So far we have been willing to watch and wait, but now it seems that the time is right. Still, I must know- who are you Jessie of Earth and why are you here to liberate the Sarceastians?” he asked. There were several Sarceastians behind him mumbling words of agreement with his statement.

“Good question. I would wonder the same thing if I were in your shoes. I’m Jessie of Earth. I’m from Maryland, which is a small state in what used to be called the United States before the Alliance was formed. I have a personal quarrel with the Sarceastian executives for making war on my home planet and destroying the planet of my comrade, Yahn, a Karkastian. Now that I’m here on Sarceastium, I can see that the executives are no less cruel with their own people than with the people they make war upon. If we ban them together, we can put an end to this oppressive regime so that life can mean more than just mere survival in the western part of Podesta. It’s not right that they’ve kept you down like this getting wealthy of the sweat of our backs. It’s time for your government to go back to what it was originally intended to do- represent the wishes of its citizens!”

The rough-looking bunch hooted and applauded when I said this. Yahn stared at me in disbelief.

“I’ve heard all I need to hear. Who’s with me?” Yeritus shouted.

“We are!” They all shouted. A celebration broke out and soon some drink that resembled ale was being passed around. I kindly accepted some and sat down to talk more with Yeritus.

"I want you to know how much I appreciate your willingness to take a smaller share and to fight alongside us," I shared.

Yeritus put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye.

"We've been waiting for you to come along. It's been spoken in stories since I was a kid. It always puzzled me that a human would lead us, but that's what they say."

"Amazing," I mused. Hemant came and sat with us. Yahn held up his mug to him and he gave Yahn a puzzled glance.

"Oh, that's a human custom that I taught Yahn. We always say cheers and bump our mugs together. It's just a friendly greeting really," I shared.

“Fascinating,” Hemant said as Yeritus laughed.

“Well then cheers to the human that will lead us!” Yeritus said as he stood on top f the table.

"Cheers to the human that will lead us!" the others repeated. I looked at Yahn and he looked at me. We smiled at one another, knowing that we would be victorious with an army like this. After about two hours of merrymaking, I began to get restless. I knew that the time for our strike had come. We needed to be working out our plan of attack instead of swilling ale. After some persuasion, we managed to convince Yeritus that we needed to return to the business at hand. He agreed and we began to talk strategy, finally.

“I think we should hit them all at once with our fullest force!” Yeritus declared.

Yahn looked at me dubiously. This was not the kind of plan that we were thinking about devising at all.

“Um, maybe we need to consider other options,” I said.

“Sure, after all, you’re the one they speak of in the stories, not Yeritus of Podesta,” he said, prompting many of the others to laugh at him.

"What if we were to use the executive robes that Yahn and I stole to make our way back into the military complex. We could go straight to the prison blocks and set the prisoners free. It will cause enough chaos for us to make our way to the upper floors with less interference from the executive guard. Trust me, I know this kind of plan can work from experience," I stated.

“Hmm, more stealth than strength. I like it,” Yeritus finally agreed.

“There will be plenty of opportunities to make a show of strength, I imagine,” I shared.

“What do you plan to do with Executive Farfaulus and Demarin Goldarn when we have them surrounded?” Yeritus asked.

“We give them a fair trial like anyone else. Don’t worry, they will be found guilty by the Universal Tribunal,” I suggested.

“I much prefer public execution, but you are the chosen one,” Yeritus deferred again.

“We would be no better than the powers that we are taking out if we did that,” I pointed out. Yeritus and Hemant looked at each other.

“I have to admit, you’re right. The last thing that any of us want to see is a dictator being replaced by another dictator disguised as a liberator,” Hemant shared.

“How do you plan on getting by so many guards and armed soldiers?” One bearded skeptic in the back of the room said.

“We will hem them in from two sides, attacking from below with stun guns and lasers when necessary. Once we gain control of the weapon facilities, we will have the upper hand. We will make our way slowly up to the top floors where the head of the snake is likely to be hiding.”

“Head of the snake? What’s she talking about?” The Sarceastians asked, having not heard of this Earth expression.

“I think that she means where the enemy is hiding,” Yeritus clarified for them.

“Yes, that is what I mean,” I replied.

“Why don’t we have one party invade from the north entrance and another from the south entrance,” Yeritus suggested.

“Yes, that is precisely what I was thinking. That’s how we hem them in. We also need someone to gain access to a hover copter or two in case the executives try to evacuate, as I imagine they will,”

“My contact, Klefram is ex-military. He can still gain access to those kinds of things,” Hemant pointed out.

"Excellent. We need to get started immediately. Get in touch with your contact and see how long it will be before he can get us that hover copter," I stated. I began to sweat and tried to catch my breath. Yahn came over and brought me a glass of water.

“Here, drink this. You need to rest for a moment while you can,” Yahn encouraged me.

I took a deep drink and stood up. “There’s no time to rest. I can feel that the time is right.”

Hemant returned a few minutes later.

"Klefram is on the way with the copter. We can begin our invasion," he stated. All of the Sarceastians in the room put their fists in the air and declared victory. It was quite an intimidating sound.

As we walked through the market area, the merchants and buyers all looked at us in astonishment. Slowly people began to applaud as we walked through because they knew that this was a resistance army. We asked them to tone it down because we didn't want to draw the attention of any executive guards, should they make an appearance.

We walked a particularly rough looking, bar-type building. There was one young Sarceastian that looked straight at me as we walked by. He whispered to two of his friends and they came over behind him. He pulled out a laser pistol and threatened me.

“You must be Jessie, that human that has a bounty on her. You’ll be coming with me, pretty,” he hissed. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he let out a howl of pain as Yeritus’s hand grasped him by the neck. With the other hand, he snatched the laser pistol out of his hand.

"Now, you'll be turning around and going back where you came from? Do you not understand what is going on here? We are on our way to take back this land of ours and no young upstart is going to stop us!" Yeritus jeered. The young Sarceastian's eyes were wide with fear as he ran off in the direction he came from followed by the two others. The members of the resistance army all laughed as they watched them run away.

“It’s too bad, though. We could use the help of more able-bodied Sarceastians,” Yeritus said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the silver robes of executive guards. There were two of them pointing in our direction. I looked and there were several more behind them.

“Look there, we have to get out of here. The local guards have spotted us. There’s only a few of them now, but they will alert the others to our presence. We must get to the complex!” I stated.

"This way,” Yeritus said, leading us away from the main market area into a back street. Then, he opened what looked to be a manhole cover of sorts and began to climb down. "Well, come on then," he said as we stood there. One by one we all climbed down into the passage.

“What is this place and where are we going?” I inquired.

"This is a public government bomb shelter. It's seldom used for anything much now. They built it many years ago when nuclear weapons that were the biggest threat. Now, of course, we have weapons that can destroy an entire planet. We've come such a long way, haven't we?” Yeritus said, sarcastically.

"Where will we end up if we keep going this way?" Yahn asked.

“If my memory serves correctly, we will be coming out just south of the military complex. Then, we can split the two groups and make our way in through the north and south entrances,” Yeritus proposed.

“We will tell the entry guards that we are back from a scouting party and try to gain access that way,” I said.

“Ok, if you really think that will work, but we will be ready if they aren’t feeling willing to cooperate with our wishes,” Yeritus said as his eyes grew big and he held his laser cannon into the air.

The air was stifling in the tunnel. Occasionally, there would be a large room that came off of the main tunnel. Some poverty-stricken Sarceastians lived in many of the rooms. There was a stench of waste and dirt. A few of the Sarceastians that watched us move down the passageway joined the group. We had gained at least forty by the time we emerged from the tunnel. The exit of the tunnel was located about a block away from the military complex. We filed out and made our way through the fallen snow, hiding behind the numerous dome-shaped warehouses.

“Alright, Jessie, we are going to make our way around to the south entrance. We will see you on the inside,” Yeritus said with a grin.

“Yes, see you there,” I responded as we watched them creep along behind the warehouse and out of sight.

“So we’re really going to do this, then?” Yahn asked.

“We’re not here for a picnic, Yahn.”

“I wonder how many pages you will get in the History reports,” Yahn replied.

“Herstory, thank you very much!” I stated.

I waved for the Sarceastians that were following me to move forward and crept along behind the buildings until I saw the guards across the walkway. It was time for us to make our move.