by A. K. DuBoff
Oren frowned at the viewscreen mounted to the back wall. “So, nothing about an attack?”
“What attack?” Josh craned his neck to look at them over the back of his chair. His blond brows almost disappeared into his creased forehead at the odd angle.
“Some ship got itself blown up in the adjacent sector.” Oren shared what little else they’d learned from Niko at the port.
“Well, fok! Ain’t that an interesting twist.” Josh returned his attention to the screen.
“Strange it wasn’t mentioned on the news,” Shena commented.
“Of course not,” Oren grunted. “Once the TSS got involved, they shut the reporting down.”
Josh sighed. “When is the media going to learn to stand up for themselves?”
“What are they supposed to do? The TSS High Commander is so entrenched with the High Dynasties, no one dares break the line.” Shena waved her hand dismissively.
Oren extended his lithe arms. “That’s precisely the problem! They like to think that things are better since the Priesthood was ousted, but we only traded in our old overlords for new ones. At least before, they admitted they were in charge.”
“I don’t think the High Council has made any claims trying to downplay their position,” Lexi countered.
“They don’t have to,” Oren said. “Just look at all their ‘of the people’ posturing. Trying to play up a childhood among the commoners. Right, like that makes a difference!”
Lexi didn’t want to argue the point, but she happened to think it made quite a difference in a person’s life outlook. Privately, she had a lot of respect for what the Sietinen Dynasty, in particular, had done with its position of influence. Before their interventions, keeping her Gifts a secret would have been mandatory for the sake of her life; now it was her own choice to make about how much she shared about herself with others, and she could do so without fear. At least in most circles. There was a reason she didn’t broadcast her abilities within the Alliance.
“More than half of the High Dynasties have had, or currently have, someone who’s trained with the TSS,” Josh pointed out. “They’re in bed with each other—quite literally, in some cases.”
Shena scoffed. “All those ‘Gifted’ are freaks.”
And that’s why I keep my bomaxed mouth shut. This time, though, Lexi couldn’t let the comment slide. “Don’t say that.”
The other woman rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those sympathizers?”
“I just don’t think it’s right to categorize and judge someone based on the way they were born.”
“I guess you would feel that way with your family from Cytera.” Leave it to Shena to drive home her point with a personal attack.
“I told you not to talk about them!” Lexi snapped.
Oren held up his hands. “Don’t be so bomaxed twitchy! It’s not like you’re on foking trial. Shite, Lex.”
She forced herself to calm down. Cytera was the only topic that could set her off without warning—a fact she’d made abundantly clear to Oren when they started working together. One topic that was off-limits. After what had been done to her family by the leaders of the world, the sick bastards, it didn’t seem like too much to ask.
“I told you not to bring it up,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, whatever you say.” Shena gave her a patronizing salute with one finger.
Lexi bit back a venomous response that would only make things worse. She couldn’t explain why it was so upsetting without drawing unwanted attention.
Oren scuffed his heel on the polished concrete floor. “Cytera is a perfect example of what happens when we allow the influence of the corrupt Central Worlds to rule us. The Taran government has been experimenting on us unsuspecting citizens for centuries. You really think they’re going to stop now?”
He probably meant well, but Lexi knew for a fact that he didn’t understand what had happened on her homeworld or why. And he certainly didn’t understand what it meant for her personally. With all her Gifts, the one she wished she had but didn’t was the ability to melt into a wall and get away from awkward conversations.
“That was the Priesthood’s doing, though,” Josh said. “That’s why the High Council stopped them.”
Oren raised an eyebrow. “A convenient story, isn’t it?”
“You don’t believe them?”
“Since when do highborn do anything for the little people? Different names, different leaders, but same old shite.”
Lexi could understand where Oren was coming from, but she’d allowed herself to hope that this time things would be different. The restoration of Dainetris, the Sietinen heiress being raised on Earth; it really was different with this generation of leaders. The new initiatives, while far from perfect, were a step in the right direction to allow civilians a chance to improve their lives.
“I can’t argue that there are problems, but I think it’s important to give credit where it’s due,” she said after considering her words for a few moments.
“Yeah, we’ve had worse leaders, you’re right about that. The problem is, it only takes a couple of generations for those in charge to forget why they ever wanted to do anything that wasn’t in their own self-interest. We need to change the entire system to set ourselves up for the future. It’s not just about how things are in the present.”
“I guess,” she admitted.
Oren looked over the mundane news reports for several moments. “Lexi, come with me.” He abruptly stood and headed toward the stairwell.
Shena and Josh gave Lexi a passing glance as she walked by, but they were already reabsorbed in the news broadcast.
What now? Lexi groaned inwardly. She should have kept her mouth shut like a smart person. For all the grief she gave Shena over her random outbursts, Lexi knew she was just as bad. When it came to discussion of Cytera and people with abilities, she had difficulty keeping her feelings in check.
It was one thing to have been forced from her homeworld, but it was quite another to know that her family had been manipulated for hundreds of years and then cast aside like worthless garbage. No outsiders knew the brutality of the world. She’d been the lucky one to get out alive. Life on the planet seemed prosperous on the surface, but the price of that seemingly happy existence had been paid in blood. She’d even had to have her irises surgically altered to remove their bioluminescent glow. Those with Gifts were a commodity at the center of the commerce. It sickened her what had transpired and that she’d been a pawn in the game.
Lexi took deep, calming breaths as she followed Oren toward the stairs. Blowing up now would be such a waste of the efforts that had gotten her this far.
At the stairwell, Oren descended one story to the level housing his office and other administrative functions. Lexi had found it strange that he’d elected a place in the basement rather than a room on one of the higher floors with a view of the city, but she supposed some people liked it cool and dark while they worked. He didn’t enter the office itself but rather walked a ways down the hall before he stopped and turned to address her.
“You’d better not be having second thoughts about joining this movement. You gave me your word.”
At the time she’d made her vows to support the Alliance, Lexi hadn’t even known what she was signing up for. She hadn’t cared; it was an ‘in’, and she would have taken it no matter what. In the time since, the Sovereign Peoples Alliance had done their best to shape her thinking—mostly by keeping her isolated and limiting what she was told. Now, she didn’t think leaving was a genuine option. She lived with them, relied on them, had planned with them. To step away would make her a traitor to the cause, if she could even find anywhere to go. “I’m committed. You know I am,” she said. They’ve made sure of it.
For an organization pushing an agenda of giving people freedom, they had a whole lot of rules and controls over the members. If she thought about it too long, she started to feel like it was a cult. Perhaps it was, in
some ways. Passionate people working toward a common cause.
“We have important work to do. I see your enthusiasm, but you must direct that fire toward productive ends.”
“I know.”
“It’s challenging to see the universe as it is—those harsh, dark truths. The people we bring in are those who’ve been touched by that badness and know how important it is to stand up for a brighter future.”
“That’s why I joined you.”
“It is one thing to join for yourself, but it is another to join because you want to be part of a movement.”
Lexi wasn’t sure what he meant or what was the appropriate reply. “I’m here for the cause.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Sometimes I wonder if you want revenge.”
Of course I do! But Oren shouldn’t know about that. She’d been so careful to keep the specifics about her past hidden. Others knew that she was born on Cytera, but that was the extent of the truth; everything else was a carefully fabricated narrative to paint her as an idealistic youth who’d had a rough go of it. Well, the core of that story was partially true, but few of the other details mirrored her actual experience.
She put on her sweetest smile. “Revenge? For what?”
“The atrocities the Central Planets have committed against these fringe worlds for generation after generation. Once your eyes are opened to the real state of things, a person can’t help but get angry.”
Lexi relaxed; if Oren knew anything about her real past, this wasn’t him tipping his hand. “That frustration must be guided toward productive ends, like you said.”
Oren looked her over, nodding slowly. “I’ve spoken with the others, and they agree that you can be an asset as we embark on the next stage of our mission.”
A tingle of excitement ran up her spine. “I welcome the challenge. What does this next stage entail?”
“Fighting for independence, of course.”
Lexi held back an eye-roll. “But tactically. What’s the plan?”
“I said you were moving up in the ranks, kid. You don’t have a seat at the table.”
She should walk away; she knew it. Any organization that was being that cagey about its objectives and methods was certainly up to no good. But her fears for her future were omnipresent, and she couldn’t abandon Melisa. Where would I go if I left? Who would I have? Her parents were dead. She’d burned bridges with all of the friends that counted. Even her sister was unlikely to take her call after how they’d left things. Without any money to her name now, she’d be forced to rely on petty crime just to keep a roof over her head. Her Gifts made that easy, but it ripped away part of her soul every time she stole or swindled. Besides, now that she was finally making progress with infiltrating the Alliance, she felt compelled to stay the course.
“I just want to know how I can best serve the mission.” She hated herself for saying it. Oren and his compatriots were planning something bad, and here she was going along as an accomplice.
“All will become clear soon.” He smiled pensively. “But, let me show you something.”
Oren continued down the hallway to the lone door at the dead end. The door was always kept locked, as far as Lexi knew. Exactly once, she’d gotten up the courage to try the handle and found it immobile. Casual questions to others had confirmed that there was an air of mystery around the door and where it might lead.
Unlike the biometric locks that controlled most access points, Oren produced a physical key from his pants pocket to open the door. There was a heavy metal clang as the deadbolt disengaged. He pushed the door open, causing it to let out an ominous creak and burst of musty air that smelled faintly of wet soil.
“Where are we going?” Lexi asked.
Oren stepped through the opening without a reply.
In a depressing realization, it occurred to Lexi that no one would come looking for her if she never returned from the basement. She could be walking into a death trap right now and there wasn’t a soul outside the Alliance that would notice if she disappeared. The thought was sobering, but it also put into perspective that she had nothing to lose by following Oren inside. I’m already in this deep. What does it matter?
The door was atop a flight of stairs flanked by old brick walls that curved into an arched ceiling. That kind of stonework wasn’t seen in the newer parts of the city, though Lexi recognized the reddish bricks as similar to those found in the foundations of older buildings in the Historic District. They were formed from the clay harvested locally and had made for an abundant construction material for early colonists. Once the interplanetary shipping routes were established, the material had fallen out of style in favor of metal, glass, and stones from offworld to denote Duronis’ burgeoning prosperity. The bricks’ presence here must mean they were headed into one of the old structures upon which the Alliance’s office had been constructed.
Lighting in the hallway was dim and had a somewhat yellow cast. The circular fixtures fixed at two-meter intervals along the ceiling had been attached to the outside of the stones rather than being inset like most lights found throughout the planet’s structures.
Two stories down, the switch-backed stairwell opened into a broad tunnel. A different set of lights activated to reveal that the tunnel was lined with marked crates arranged on storage racks. The rows upon rows of crates stretched as far as Lexi could see down the tunnel, disappearing into the distant shadows and beyond the curvature of the span. It answered the niggling question at the back of her mind about what happened to all of the items after she had completed the inventorying, but far, far more questions now surfaced. Even when accounting for two years’ worth of deliveries, there were more materials than she or her predecessor would have processed on their own, based on the standard shipment size. However, that detail paled compared to the other aspects of the cache.
“What is this place?” she asked more inelegantly than she’d intended.
“Our stores,” Oren replied.
“Right. But, like, did you build this storeroom, or…?” The ancient stone bracing in the tunnel made it clear that it had been there for a while, but she wanted to extract as much information as possible while she had him in a forthcoming mood.
He shook his head. “It’s part of the old transit network. Few even remember there used to be a subway in this city.”
“Nice.” She peered at the nearby crates. The numbering scheme wasn’t what she used for processing everything in the workshop on the surface.
“Yes, the materials are sorted after they leave your care,” Oren answered her unspoken question. “You will soon have a much better understanding of the operation.”
“Is this all of the stores?”
“It is one facility of many. The old transit network works quite well for getting between some of the locations.”
Lexi’s heart pounded in her chest. The scale of the operation was massive compared to what she’d pictured.
How many other people are doing my same job in other offices? Everything suddenly seemed much more real. It would appear the actual work was about to begin. Maybe once I connect with other people, I can find out where Melisa was transferred.
“We have been diligent in our preparations,” Oren said. “Our allies are patient and have been biding their time. Today’s events presented the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.”
“What?”
“The attack. It’s the perfect opening.”
Lexi looked down the sea of crates, not quite seeing how the things were connected. “You were saying earlier that this whole mess with the ship attack is getting blown out of proportion.”
Oren nodded. “Oh, I do believe it is. But it honestly doesn’t matter if the threat is real or not. The key thing is the Guard and TSS are distracted.”
“An opportunity to create disruption when they least expect it,” Lexi realized. And an opportunity for me to learn what the Alliance is really up to.
“Precisely. It’s time we make our presence kno
wn.”
CHAPTER 5
The return flight to TSS Headquarters gave Jason time to process the meeting with Darin and think about what the alien contact meant for the TSS going forward. While the touch with the being in Darin’s memory hadn’t been particularly sinister, it had solidified for Jason that the being, and its kind, were what he had seen in his nexus vision. Something immense was coming.
He stifled a yawn while descending the central elevator into the heart of Headquarters. It had been a long day, and it wasn’t over yet.
Echoes from Darin’s broken mind still swirled at the edge of Jason’s consciousness—the downside to using telepathy to dive deep. The images stuck around. Some telepaths couldn’t take it and were sucked in, blurring the boundary where the subject’s memories ended and their own began. Though Jason had never felt at risk in that way, he still kept a little of everyone he read with him. In time, the memories would fade and become unrecognizable in the background. But for now, he may as well have been on the Andvari himself.
Jason checked the time on his handheld. He still had twenty minutes before the scheduled meeting with his parents to debrief about what he’d learned.
Following the upcoming debrief, the rest of his schedule was looking fairly clear, so he wanted to stay true to his promise to get together with Tiff. He pulled up his text thread with her and sent a message.
>>Hey, just got home.<<
>>Oh, hey!<< she wrote back right away. >>How did it go?<<
>>That’s for a longer conversation.<<
This time, there was a several second delay. >>Okay. Are you free tonight, then?<<
>>I was hoping you hadn’t already made other plans. I could really use a night away from all this.<<
>>Yeah, of course. I’d also like to talk about something.<<
>>Sure. You know I’m always happy to lend an ear.<<
“Jason!” a voice called from behind him.
