Reborn (Alpha's Claim 3)

No one ever visited the corpse. It was more than the smell; after all, the entirety of the Dome stank of unburied dead. People didn’t come here because only three people knew whose body was decomposing in that room.

They stood with the table between them, eyeing one another with open animosity and desperation.

Lady Kantor, her misused leadership; what it was costing those who’d valiantly served, had grown out of hand. Too many people were dying, ‘necessary sacrifices’ she would say, so her growing band of handpicked revolutionaries might build bombs from garbage. Bombs they planned to strap to their bodies on the day the chosen would free the city.

As usual, Brigadier Dane’s voice was filled with disdain when she addressed the younger man. “You have never been a good Enforcer, and that is because you questioned everything. Insubordination, anything but blind obedience, was not allowed to flourish under this Dome. The wise ambitious do as they are told until they reach a position where they give the orders. Then there is no need to question, because everyone else must obey. It seems you’ve finally learned this lesson.”

And that right there was the reason it had been so easy for Shepherd to seize the city, and so easy for Lady Kantor to wrestle control of the resistance into her hands with only the Kantor name to validate her. “And what part of yourself was sacrificed to attain the rank of Brigadier?”

Brigadier Dane did something unimaginable—she lifted an eyebrow and actually smirked. It was such an unusual expression to see on the hard woman’s face, that it was vulgar. “I have seen enough of the workings of this city. I have done what I could, knowing more could only be accomplished if I rose higher. Sacrifices? You become numb to them. You hang on to an ideal, and you strive not to forget it.”

The sickness that had brewed in Corday’s belly for weeks, churned. “If you are trying to justify the things we saw on Callas’s Data cube—”

“Me?” the smirk became a sneer, Brigadier Dane cutting off Corday’s quick-tempered complaint. “Boy, what you have done, your imprudence... can you even begin to grasp the consequences?”

There was a reason they came to this place, where the pair of failures might whisper in the dark, because there was no safe place to question amidst the fanatics rising to Lady Kantor’s secret cause. Corday was not afraid of Brigadier Dane’s disapproval, or in admitting he’d made a grave mistake. “Leslie Kantor...”

“Men like you are so easy to influence— you know everything, feel too greatly without questioning yourself. She pegged you for what you were the moment she took that first whiff. As Brigadier, I’ve seen veiled ruthlessness, the rise and fall of those who would attain the title of Senator. She is nothing new, a politician through and through, who hid in a room for the first months of this occupation thinking only of herself. When she was forced to leave or starve, she ran straight to her powerful uncle, saw an opportunity, and is using us all to achieve the highest goal a person like her might attain. The amount of people who will die when those bombs go off, the chance we might bring down the Dome, she is willing to risk all that and more to become the new Premier.”

“The enemy is Shepherd.”

The woman let out an extremely agitated breath. “How blind you are. The enemy has never been Shepherd. The enemy is us. We are fighting ourselves!”

“What you are saying is treason.”

Brigadier Dane didn’t give a fuck. “There is no government left to judge me. All that is left is Leslie Kantor, her ambition, and those so desperate for reprieve they will believe anything she proclaims as if the Goddess herself speaks.”

The words passed almost tonelessly, from Corday’s mouth. “If I move against this mission, I won’t stand a chance of saving Claire.”

“If you believe Leslie Kantor gives a single fuck about your Claire, then you’re even stupider than I thought.” Brigadier Dane ran her hand through her short, clipped hair, shaking her head at the man’s foolishness. “Have you never noticed how often she mentions your Claire? Why do you suppose she does that? Does she mention her often in front of her rebels? Do they hate her?”

Corday shook his head, unsure how to answer.

“The Omega is lost, we all know it. The only thing Claire exists as now is the strings Leslie pulls to make you dance as her puppet.”

The temptation to strike what had once been his commanding officer, was so strong, Corday forced himself to take a step back. “I don’t trust Leslie Kantor’s motivation any more than you do, but she has lit the spark Senator Kantor failed to ignite. She might be our only chance.”

“Yes,” Brigadier Dane nodded. “She has set the wheels in motion and there is no stopping them now. But two people can question, they can alter the future if both of them are ready to pay the price.”