Reborn (Alpha's Claim 3)

“Yes. Tonight Shepherd’s Follower offered Claire’s position in exchange for the location of this woman. He claimed she’d gone rogue, said she was looking to unseat Shepherd and take his power for her own.”

It sounded like a very scary parallel to a woman neither of them trusted. “Tell me you did not betray Leslie Kantor’s position.”

“I didn’t and I don’t have to. The man gave me Claire’s location anyway. Basement corridor 7, sub-room 3.”

Brigadier Dane shook her head. “He lied to you, Corday.”

“No.” Vehemently, Corday disagreed. “I don’t think he did. Look at it from a broader picture. They know the attack on the Citadel is imminent, he told me so himself. He also told me they understood there was no real way to completely stop it. They know you and I are key figures of the resistance, because they have been watching us all this time, but they don’t know where Svana is. She outmaneuvered them, manipulated us, and I don’t have to go where Leslie Kantor hides for Shepherd’s Follower to find her. I only have to show up on the front lines, her soldiers will take me straight to their leader.”

There was something massive Corday had missed. Brigadier Dane closed her eyes and let out a weary sigh. “If they know rebels are going to attack, the virus will not remain inside the Citadel. All the casualties and structural damage will be for nothing.”

Which is why Corday had run here. There was one, terrible option. “If we tell them what we know, we can minimize both of those factors.”

It wouldn’t work, and Dane was wise enough not to play right into their hands. “If they thought you had any relevant information, the Follower would have taken you. We know they are not above torture. More importantly, Leslie has been clever in compartmentalizing her forces; both of us lack details on the attack.”

“I know the intended detonation point of at least six of the bombs. We know the names and faces of the men and women chosen to wear them.”

After a moment of thought, Dane was solemn. “If you were to do this, to betray the rebellion, no matter your reasons, you are condoning Shepherd’s rule. As it stands now, the rebellion still has some power.”

“He said Svana,” Corday shook his head, clarifying, “I mean Leslie would learn that Shepherd had uncovered her plot within three hours. It took me thirty minutes to get here. In two and a half hours, something is going to happen. What?”

“I don’t know.” Dane looked miserable, as if she’d wished she’d never woken up. “No matter if she’s Leslie Kantor or Svana, don’t deviate from the plan. Even with Shepherd’s knowledge of the attack, this might be our only chance to free Thólos. Let her attack him... then do your part.”

Corday could not help but ask, “What of Claire?”

“If you swear to me you will do as you promised,” Brigadier Dane offered her life, on the miniscule potential Claire might actually be saved, “I will find a way to keep our bargain.”

“They will know you’re coming.”

Dane snorted a laugh. “Thanks to you, they know we’re all coming.”

Before the two might find comfort in their mutual agreement, the ground shook. It was a slow moving rumble, one that grew louder, almost deafening. It was not the distant boom of detonation that made such a racket, it was the following roar of bending metal and screams of falling glass.

Dane threw back the blinds, her view of the disaster sucking the breath from her lungs. “No!”

The Citadel had not been the source of the blast. Someone had detonated explosives right against the glass of the Dome. The East and West sky were caving in.“It’s too soon...” The words were spoken with such disbelief that shock appeared on Shepherd’s face. “Svana has discovered we are prepping to launch.”

When the unexpected blast had torn girders and solar power collection plates from their moorings, Shepherd had watched from the Command Center, calculating as damage reports flooded in. There was no denying what they saw. Rebels had purposefully shattered two massive segments of the Dome’s protective glass. Shepherd, the Followers gathered in the room, stood there, while the northeast and southwest barrier wall crumbled. The city was turned into one giant wind tunnel.

Svana had altered the battlefield.

Turning to the Followers gathered behind him, Shepherd did not hesitate to counter her move. “Lock down the Citadel. Broadcast a fallback order and shut down communications and power to every segment of the Dome outside this building.”

Watching the monitors, an outside change in air pressure was already sucking out huge gusts of debris. A soldier diligent at his post warned, “Shepherd, with catastrophic failure of the Dome, the temperature in the city is rapidly dropping. If we divert power from the Dome’s heat generators, our men outside will freeze to death.”