POV: Alpha Jackson Reynolds
The mountain had begun to speak. Not in the whispers of the wind through the pines, but in the deep, resonant thrum of stone shifting against stone. The activation of the Lunar Reservoir had done more than power the defense grid; it had acted as a key, turning in the lock of a hundred-year-old mechanism.
I was in the middle of a tactical briefing with Alpha Jessie and Royal Delta Kaelen when the mind-link shattered my focus. It wasn’t the steady, professional tone of my Beta or Gamma. It was Head Warrior Vane Lowe, and her mental voice was sharp with adrenaline.
Alpha. You need to get to the sub-level four, sector seven. Now.
"Vane? Report," I barked back, already signaling to Caleb and Mark.
We were running a structural sweep of the lower foundations to se
