Rebel's Quest Read Online Free PDF Page B

over her head, ensuring she covered every strand, which otherwise would shine in the light of the twin moons. The tight helmet usually fit her perfectly, and she was surprised to find she had to adjust the chin strap. Have I lost more weight? Damn, that’s bad.
    Truth be told, she was exhausted. Her ankle burned, and her mind still reeled from the onslaught of emotions during the evening. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a tube. Taking two pills, Roshan considered for a second, then popped one more pill, just to be sure. Tonight would be stressful since she had to get to the rendezvous point just north of Ganath at the appointed time. She had pushed herself hard since she got back from the disastrous battle three weeks ago, south of the Merealian Mountains, but she couldn’t slow down, not just yet.
    She made sure the wall closed behind her before she punched commands into a computer console, sending an elevator up through the floor. Made of transparent aluminum, it would take her down into a long tunnel lit by winding phosphorous tube-light, a corridor that stretched for miles, branching out in six directions under her house. Never taking anything for granted, Roshan scanned the tunnel with a remote sensor located in the elevator. When she received an all-clear tone, she set the elevator to descend.
    As she stepped out into the tunnel, Roshan heard only the soft hum from the light fixtures. However, she vividly recalled the evening she’d run into two Onotharian guards who’d found the tunnel’s exit. She shuddered at the memory of how she’d had to deal with them and fought the urge to wipe her hands. Instead she adjusted her back-strap security carrier and walked over to a small cart. As soon as she sat down on the narrow saddle, the vehicle came to life and hovered a few centimeters above the ground.
    Roshan’s ankle ached, as did her head, but she shrugged off her pain. It was finally time to take action, and she was full of anticipation regarding tonight’s meeting. A sprained ankle wasn’t going to keep her from playing a part in the ongoing battle. She’d been through worse.

    *

    Andreia was about ready to call it a day and return home to her apartment in the Onotharian Leadership Compound. Standing at her office window, she could see it in the distance, an impressive two-hundred-and-fifty-floor structure, heavily guarded by force fields and patrolling assault craft. The resistance had tried to destroy the military installations at the far end of the compound numerous times, but so far, nobody had been able to even make a dent in the composite-mixed, concrete-reinforced fortress.
    It was like a city of its own within the Gantharian capital, its base covering ten blocks in each direction. It contained every possible type of store, and the residential area hosted Onotharian dignitaries, high-ranking senior military members, and wealthy Onotharians who no longer felt safe residing on their Gantharian property. Andreia had always wondered why they felt that way, since the Gantharian resistance never went after soft targets.
    Instead, they attacked military installations and interfered with the Onotharian governmental process, even used self-proclaimed embargos that had thrown some Onotharian merchants out of business, but the Onotharian minority rarely suffered any collateral damage unless they brought it upon themselves.
    Andreia walked down to the lobby, stepped into the hovercraft always at her disposal, and asked the chauffeur to take her to her apartment. She had more work to do, but it had nothing to do with her official duties.
    The technically enhanced hovercraft hummed louder as it rose above street level and entered the air-corridor that would take them to the two-hundred-and-tenth floor where she lived. Normally, Gantharian hovercraft didn’t run higher than two meters above the ground, but the Onotharian version had flight capability.
    The hovercraft flew through the automatic scanning