The prisoner kept his eyes on Kellan.
Cade watched Kellan instead.
"How does he know you?"
Kellan lowered his rifle slightly.
"I worked routes like this."
"That isn’t what I asked."
"I know."
The prisoner laughed.
"Still the same."
"Quiet," Cade said.
His attention stayed on Kellan.
"How?"
Kellan took a moment before answering.
"I worked an Imperial transfer route for about six months."
Nate had expected another excuse.
Varek turned toward him.
"You worked for the Empire?"
"For a while."
"Doing what?"
"Route security. Cargo escort."
Kellan looked at the freight platform.
"Whatever needed moving."
The prisoner smiled again.
Kellan ignored him.
Cade asked, "You know this man?"
"Deren Kess. He worked security on another section."
Kess’s smile faded.
"You do remember."
"Unfortunately."
"How long ago?" Cade asked.
"Five years."
Nate watched Kellan.
He had never heard him answer this many questions about himself.
Cade seemed to decide they had more immediate problems.
"We finish this later."
"Fine by me."
Dax had been examining the captured remote.
"Captain."
Cade turned.
A timer had appeared beneath the three controls.
PURGE SEQUENCE
04:18
"Was that running before?"
"No."
Dax checked the remote again.
"Gate cycle may have triggered it."
Kellan moved closer.
"What does purge mean here?" Cade asked.
"On the routes I knew, it destroyed local records and shut down the lower line."
"How?"
"Depends on the station."
The timer reached 04:07.
Cade looked toward the tunnel.
The rescued technician followed his gaze.
"My supervisor is still down there."
"How far?"
"I don’t know. They took him deeper yesterday."
Cade pointed at Dax.
"You stay with the prisoners and the wounded. Sol, Rook, Calder, with me."
Dax handed him the remote.
"If there is a way to cancel it, it isn’t here."
Kellan looked down the tunnel.
"There may be another control station farther in."
Cade started moving.
"Then we have four minutes to find it."
Nate followed.
The rails continued beneath the ridge.
Only one side showed regular use. Dust covered the second track while the first had been worn clean by repeated traffic.
They moved quickly.
A side door appeared to their right.
Kellan barely looked at it.
"Storage."
Cade kept going.
Twenty metres farther, the line reached a junction.
The rails continued ahead while a maintenance passage turned left.
Blood marked the floor.
Nate crouched near it.
The smear crossed from the tracks into the passage.
"Someone was dragged this way."
They followed it.
A man lay behind a half-open service door.
Maintenance uniform.
His hands were bound, and dried blood covered the side of his face.
Cade checked his neck.
"Alive."
The man reacted when Cade touched his shoulder.
His eyes opened slowly.
"Kingdom?"
"Last Contact."
It took him a moment to understand.
"My team?"
"We found two alive."
"Ren?"
Cade did not answer.
The supervisor looked away.
Nate checked the timer.
02:49.
"We need to move."
Cade cut the man’s restraints.
"Can you walk?"
"With help."
Varek took his arm.
The supervisor stopped him.
"Wait."
He pointed into the room.
"Archive."
A terminal had been pulled away from the wall. Cables connected it to a portable reader on the floor.
Kellan entered.
"What were they doing?"
"Copying transfer records."
"Recent ones?"
The supervisor nodded.
"Weeks. Maybe months."
The timer reached 02:30.
Cade pointed at the reader.
"Take it."
Nate grabbed the device.
The cable would not move.
Kellan reached behind the casing and released two clips.
"Now."
Nate pulled it free.
The wall terminal went dark.
Warning lights activated along the corridor.
Kellan looked toward the rails.
"Go."
They headed back.
A low current began running through the walls.
Nate could feel it through the floor.
The supervisor slowed them.
Varek had most of his weight.
"Stay up."
"I’m trying."
Nate moved to the man’s other side.
Together they got him into the rail tunnel.
The timer showed 01:43.
A white strip along the floor activated.
Kellan stopped.
"Off the tracks."
They pulled the supervisor onto the narrow service edge.
Blue-white current crossed both rails a second later.
Farther behind them, the freight platform began moving back into the tunnel.
"What happens at zero?" Nate asked.
"The archive burns and the lower sections seal."
"And if this station works differently?"
Kellan looked at the timer.
"Then I’d rather not be here."
They continued.
The loading chamber finally appeared ahead.
Dax waited near the gate.
"Thirty seconds."
Cade waved him back.
They crossed into the chamber.
Dax and Varek pulled the supervisor away from the rails. Nate followed, with Kellan coming last.
The timer reached eighteen seconds.
"Close the gate," Kellan said.
Dax tried the wall control.
Nothing.
"Remote."
Cade tossed it to him.
Dax pressed GATE.
The barrier started descending.
Ten seconds.
It was moving too slowly.
Kellan crossed beneath it.
Seven.
Dax stepped back.
Five.
Cade pushed everyone away from the rails.
Three.
The gate was still above Nate’s knee.
Two.
One.
The lights went out.
A violent electrical crack came from inside the tunnel.
The rails flashed white.
The gate dropped the remaining distance and struck the floor.
Smoke began leaking from the old terminals along the walls.
Dax checked the remote.
Dead.
Kellan looked at the sealed gate.
"That’s the local archive gone."
Cade turned toward Nate.
"The reader?"
Nate held it up.
Its status light was still on.
"Still working."
"Then we got what we needed. We leave."
Kess had been watching from the floor.
His expression had changed when he saw the reader.
Cade noticed.
So did Nate.
They recovered the dead technician before leaving the relay.
By the time they reached the surface, evening had settled over the trees.
Dax secured the prisoners inside the maintenance vehicle while Cade contacted command.
Varek sat near the front wheel and checked his replacement cutter.
Kellan stood away from the others.
Nate joined him.
"You really worked one of these routes."
"I told you I did."
"You usually tell me as little as possible."
Kellan looked toward C-19.
"I’m making an exception."
"What did you move?"
"Equipment mostly."
"Mostly?"
Kellan was quiet for a moment.
"People sometimes."
"Prisoners?"
"Some."
Nate waited.
Kellan looked at him.
"That’s enough for today."
Nate could see he meant it.
He changed the question.
"Why leave?"
Kellan gave him a tired look.
"That is definitely not a different question."
Nate almost smiled.
"All right."
Dax called from the vehicle.
"Reader’s open."
They joined him.
Most of the files were encrypted, but one folder had survived without protection.
TRANSFER MANIFESTS
Dax opened it.
The records went back eight months.
Medical equipment.
Military energy cells.
Conductive assemblies.
Other shipments were listed only by weight and clearance level.
Cade leaned closer.
"Destinations?"
"Route codes. Most don’t mean anything without the network registry."
Nate noticed an entry halfway down the list.
CLASS 2 ASSAULT ENERGY CELL
BATCH 7C-41
The date was six weeks before the academy exercise.
Directly beneath it was another item.
CONDUCTIVE BRIDGE ASSEMBLY
BATCH 7C-41
Nate read both entries again.
"Same batch."
Dax nodded.
"Moved together."
"Can we trace where they went?"
Dax opened the destination record.
Part of it had been deleted.
"No final destination."
Nate thought about the cell Cale had inserted into the training system and the black bridge hidden beneath it.
They could not prove these were the same pieces.
They could prove the same combination had travelled through C-19.
Cade copied the manifest into the mission report.
"Command gets everything."
Dax continued scrolling.
Several more transfers used codes Nate did not recognize.
Then one entry appeared with a written destination.
MALVERN TRANSFER SITE
Kellan saw it.
He stopped moving.
Nate looked at him.
"What?"
Kellan did not answer.
Cade noticed too.
"You know Malvern?"
Kellan looked at the name again.
"Yes."
"What is it?"
Kellan’s expression had changed completely.
"That route shouldn’t exist."
"Why?"
"Because Malvern was shut down years ago."
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