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

annoyance. “Sorry, I had to lie. Only those who’ve been initiated get to come down here, and we don’t like newbies getting too curious.”

“How many are on the inside?” Lexi asked.

“You’re about to find out.”

Incidentally, it was a lot. When Lexi got to the bottom of the stairs, she found the secret storeroom was filled with at least half of the people she interacted with on a daily basis. Many of them were people whom Lexi had asked about the bigger picture, and they’d denied knowing anything. Has everyone been lying to me?

She had no idea what to believe anymore. The layers of secrecy and compartmentalization reeked of shadiness of the highest order. Not for the first time, she had a horrible sinking feeling that the Alliance’s plans were building toward something awful.

The low hum of conversation in the crowd quieted suddenly as a figure stepped up onto one of the crates, which had been positioned at a central point in the tunnel.

“Our first phase has succeeded. People are talking,” an older woman’s voice easily carried in the acoustics of the space. She had the accent of someone from the Central Planets, oddly enough. Lexi couldn’t make out many physical features from the distance in the dim light, but she had graying black hair, mahogany eyes, and carried herself with confidence.

“You are one critical part of our path to victory for the independence we all seek. You have joined the Alliance because you believe things can be better. That the Taran elite have lived in their manors for too long without understanding what it means to be a citizen of this great civilization.”

No, actually, Lexi thought to herself. Not the leaders of Sietinen and Dainetris, anyway. Don’t they get any credit?

“…and that’s why we must make our voice heard! We started with the demonstration on Duronis, and others will soon follow. This is only the beginning. We have a long road ahead of us, but the greatest victories are won with the hardest battles. Play your part. Trust in our mission. Together we are unstoppable.”

The crowd burst into applause—almost deafening in the confined space—as the older woman stepped down from the crate and disappeared down the tunnel.

Wait, that’s it? The speech was frustratingly cryptic and short. Not to mention, the content was dubious.

Unlike the skepticism souring Lexi’s mood, Shena was beaming, apparently energized by the speech in a way Lexi had never seen her.

“I can’t believe she actually came to talk to us! Wow.” Shena’s eyes had the starstruck sheen of someone who’d just met their idol.

Lexi was officially lost. Who the fok was that and why is everyone so excited? Nothing was making sense. “Yeah, great speech. Uh, who is she?” Lexi asked, suspecting she was supposed to know—if only someone would tell her something useful.

“Magdalena,” Shena said with zealot-level reverence. “She’s the founder of the Alliance.”

Lexi nodded and smiled, doing her best to fake that she cared. It’s official, I’m in a cult. Unfortunately, there was no backing out now.

—     —     —

By the end of the day of staring at his viewscreen, Jason needed to clear his head and burn off some energy. Without a class to keep him occupied, he’d been stuck all day buried in administrative tedium. Maybe some time at the gym would do him good.

He headed to the workout arena on Level 10, which was shared by Agents and Militia members alike. A track circled the perimeter of the large space and a wide assortment of weight equipment was arranged in the middle. Other open areas had padded floormats for stretching or sparring. Though it was a communal space, the Agents and Agent-track trainees tended to keep separate from the Militia members, just as officers wouldn’t typically fraternize with the enlisted in Earth’s military. There was no specific regulation against it, but rather it was simply the way the TSS’ culture had shaken out. Jason tried to dispel that division, whenever opportunities presented themselves; they were all people working together toward a common goal, so different abilities or ranks shouldn’t divide them.

His most common ‘in’ with the Militia crowd was through Corine, whom he’d grown up with on Earth. She was Michael’s daughter and had also been raised without knowledge of the Taran Empire. They were never particularly chummy growing up, but the shared experience of learning there was a galaxy-spanning civilization had brought them a little closer over the years. However, though both of Corine’s parents were Primus Agents—Michael a Primus Elite, even—she didn’t have abilities.

Through unfortunate timing, she’d fallen on 1st Generation in the cycle of Gifted trait expression. Since only those 8th through 12th exhibited telekinetic and telepathic abilities, it would probably be close to a couple hundred years before any of her descendants could train as Agents in the TSS.

It was heartbreaking when Jason thought about it. Those abilities were so much a part of himself, that Jason couldn’t imagine life without them. If he ever had a child of his own, he’d look forward to the day of their Awakening when he could begin guiding their exploration of those new abilities; it had certainly brought him closer to his own parents. Though Michael had never said as much, Jason imagined that it must be difficult not to have that kinship with his daughter—for her to know she was missing something. Joining the TSS in the Militia division kept them together as a family, but it wasn’t the same.

Jason looked around for Corine but didn’t see her. There were other Militia members at various stations within the facility, but he recognized them as those who weren’t keen on starting a conversation with an Agent. That was okay. To each their own.

For that matter, he didn’t feel much like talking at the moment. He hit it hard alone, running laps after warming up and then completed a