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

Okay, to the right. Lexi took off at a deliberate yet cautious pace, watching, listening, and feeling her way to make sure nothing caught her by surprise.

After what felt like two hundred meters or so, Lexi sensed a different energy in the air. It was the kind of intense electromagnetic signature she had been hoping to spot that would suggest a high-intensity power usage. She headed in its direction.

After another hundred meters, the signature increased in intensity. She was close now. A mechanical hum and the distant murmur of voices entered her awareness.

She crept closer, staying near the wall where she would be most hidden if someone came out the door up ahead. It was open; no one would be expected down here aside from those working for the cause.

There was no way to get a look inside without potentially revealing herself, so she listened.

“Remote pilot initiated,” a woman stated. “Taking control now.”

“Take them out,” a man instructed.

“The area hasn’t cleared yet. There are children—”

“All part of the sacrifice for our independence.”

“On it,” she confirmed without hesitation or remorse.

“When will we have access to the grid?” the man asked.

“Almost there. Gimme two minutes,” a voice she recognized as Josh replied.

Stars! I need to do something right now. She thought about trying to cut the power, but that wouldn’t be enough. They might have other communication devices that would be able to get out a message about what had happened. They might even locate her. She needed to do something that might look like an accident when it was investigated—something that would abruptly end their activities without providing an easy transition for others to continue the work.

These walls are old. I could cause a cave-in, she realized. The thought of it turned her stomach. That would kill everyone here.

It wasn’t a decision she wanted to make, but she was faced with a hard reality: these people were willing to kill innocent children without a second thought, and she could help save those lives.

They’re monsters and need to be stopped. This wasn’t just people doing their job. They were choosing to go about achieving their ends this way. There wasn’t an excuse for hurting innocents like this in any context, but especially not while claiming it was to help people.

The anger welled in her, fueling her abilities. A charge of energy built up in her, waiting to be released. When she felt like she was about to burst, she focused the energy at the ceiling inside the control room, breaking the bricks free from their mortar.

As the room began to crumble, Lexi was greeted with the sound of breaking monitors and the thud of bricks pelting the people inside. There was an initial cry of surprise before the roar of falling bricks, concrete, and dirt drowned out other shouts of pain or fear. Once the ceiling gave way, a cloud of clay-scented debris poured into the tunnel as the walls fell inward in a cascade of structural failures.

It all seemed too quick and quiet for ending lives, but Lexi didn’t feel anything except relief. They needed to be stopped.

The ceiling in the tunnel trembled. With a lurch in her gut, she realized that she may have destabilized the entire place. I need to get out of here!

Lexi pulled her shirt up over her mouth to help filter the dust. She couldn’t go back the way she came because she was supposed to be outside the office. So, she’d need to find another path to the street and then return to the office that way. You know, like a normal person that didn’t just kill a bunch of people!

She recalled seeing a ladder a little ways back, hanging halfway down the wall and rising to a hatch in the roof. Squinting against the dust and flickering lights, she ran back that direction to find it. Fortunately, the structural damage hadn’t reached that far.

Negotiating the ladder with only one good arm proved challenging, but she managed to shimmy up. At the top of the ladder, she found herself in a basement. Based on the musty smell, no one had been in it for a long time. It was unlit, and only thanks to her enhanced senses was she able to perceive some features. Her footsteps were soft underfoot in a thick layer of dust, which wafted up and tickled her nose.

One benefit of the dark was that any light source was obvious. She spotted the faint outline of a door half a story above her—the right elevation to be at street-level, given how far she’d descended initially and had come back up since. How do I get up there?

It was then she remembered that she had her handheld in her pocket—still safely offline but powered on.

She pulled out the device and activated its flashlight. Piles of old crates suddenly sprang into view in the pool of illumination as well as sheets draped over old equipment. The only thing that mattered, though, was the concrete staircase leading to the doorway.

Lexi jogged up the stairs and felt along the door for a way to open it. There was no handle or even a sign of a bolt. She shoved against it, only to find it solid. Just my luck.

She backed up a few steps. Well, there’s one way to deal with this!

With a burst of telekinetic energy, she shoved against the door. It groaned on its hinges but remained firmly in place. She gave it another shove, harder this time. Part of it gave way, bending with a loud groan of rending metal. A jagged triangle of light in the upper left showed where it had started to give way.

Come on! She kept beating at it with all the strength she could muster. She was still exhausted from earlier and out of practice. Even at the