Empire Reborn (Taran Empire Saga Book 1): A Cadicle Space Opera A.K. DuBoff (guided reading books TXT) 📖

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.