Alpha Strike: [An Interstellar Weapons Platform’s Guide to Organized Crime] (Book 3 title)

The soft crunch of moss and stone echoed underfoot as Antchaser led Maggy and Garrelt along a narrow path that wove between towering redwoods. Overhead, bands of mosslight filtered through the thick canopy, painting the trail below in shifting, dappled shadows.

Garrelt glanced up at the glowing canopy. "As much as I like the Deep, I'll admit, I'm looking forward to seeing some real sunlight again."

Antchaser gave a quiet chuckle. "Never understood what you surface folk see in the open sky. At least in the tunnels, you've got a chance to see something coming before it drops on your head."

Maggy didn't join the banter. The two men had grown closer since the Mud Drake incident, bonded by a shared appreciation of traps and mechanical trickery. It wasn't quite the mentorship that had blossomed between Bert and Boarslayer, but she'd caught them more than once hunched over blueprints or gadget parts, each offering insights the other lacked.

Friends might've been too strong a word. Antchaser's rigid pragmatism often clashed with Garrelt's easygoing charm, but they operated with a kind of mutual respect — two craftsmen recognizing the skill in one another.

It was... nice, in its own way.

Maggy smiled faintly and turned her eyes forward, scanning the tree-lined cavern wall ahead as it emerged through the trunks. This was the first time either she or Garrelt had ventured into this part of the forest. The goblins had long warned of its dangers, and Robert's few attempts to scout the area had ended with his teams chased off by swarms of Demon Ants.

Now, in hindsight, the truth was obvious. The Dungeon Core had been keeping them away for its own reasons.

She narrowed her gaze, heart quickening.

I guess we're about to find out what it's been hiding.

A few hundred meters more, and the forest gave way. The trees thinned, revealing a sheer stretch of cavern wall — and what was embedded within it.

Maggy and Garrelt stopped mid-step. Their jaws dropped.

"Is… is this an Old Ruin?!" Maggy breathed. Intact Old Ruins were vanishingly rare. Rarer even than growth-type dungeons. And whenever they were discovered, they teemed with relics and devices that baffled even the wisest scholars and mages. Her heart pounded, and without waiting, she broke into a run.

Set into the stone like a relic unearthed from the bones of time, the structure rose at least four stories high. All clean edges and sloped geometry, it was a seamless blend of angles and curves that made it difficult to tell where one section ended and another began. The material shimmered faintly beneath the mosslight, a sleek, metallic black that drank in the glow and returned it as a shifting iridescent sheen.

Massive pillars framed what appeared to be the entrance — wide and recessed, like a silent maw sealed shut by a segmented barrier of matte alloy. Across the building's face, thin lines of light traced symmetrical patterns, glowing circuit-like veins in soft blue and green hues that shifted ever so subtly as the eye lingered on them.

Maggy slowed as she neared the wall, eyes wide with awe. She lifted one hand and brushed her fingers across its surface. It was warm — not with sun-baked heat, but something deeper. A low, pulsing warmth, like the slow breath of a slumbering beast.

"No…" she murmured, voice thick with wonder. "No, this isn't an Old Ruin. The design's too clean. Too intact. And look — there no signs of age or decay. No corrosion or weathering. It's similar, sure. But…"

She stepped back slowly, gaze sweeping up the monolithic face of the structure. "It's like someone used the same ideas, but built it from scratch. Newer. Sharper. Like a second draft done with cleaner tools."

Garrelt came up beside her, silent. One hand hovered near a javelin at his hip, a reflex more than a threat.

"You think this belongs to Alpha?" he asked. "One of his… facilities?"

"I…" Maggy paused. She had suspected that the Dungeon Core had some ties to the Old Ruins, given the artifacts they had seen and the design of the Dragon's Garden. Hell, Alpha had understood her teacher's artifact well enough to not only copy it, but improve on it. This wasn't mere resemblance. It was reinvention. A leap beyond imitation, built on the same foundations — but reaching for something far greater. A whole different scale.

A storm of emotions flickered across Maggy's face — wonder, disbelief, the sharp edge of curiosity — as her mind raced and tried to make some sense of what she was seeing.

Antchaser, who had lingered behind, finally stepped forward. "Alpha calls it the Transit Nexus. I don't know what it's for, but he's been building it ever since contact with the village started."

"Transit?" Garrelt repeated, frowning. "Like a trade hub?"

Antchaser shrugged. "Could be. All he said was it's not fully online yet. Something about Deepstone being hell to cut through."

Maggy turned back to the sealed entrance, her mind racing. She could feel the flow here — not magic exactly, but something structured. Intricate. Patterns, systems, rhythms her instincts recognized, but her training couldn't decipher.

A building etched into raw cavern rock. Metal walls that shimmered like oil. Veins of light pulsing to some hidden beat. And not a single speck of dust.

Antchaser strolled casually past Maggy, heading toward the sealed entrance as if the sheer gravity of what they were seeing didn't faze him in the slightest. Garrelt paused for half a breath, then followed after, boots crunching softly on moss and stone.

Maggy lingered for a moment longer, still staring up at the massive structure in awe. But when she realized the others were leaving her behind, she blinked and panicked.

"Wait for me!" she yelped, dashing after them.

As they neared the entrance, the segmented metal door began to unfold. Hexagonal plates shifted and retracted into the walls with smooth, precise clicks, revealing the interior beyond.

From the opening, a familiar figure stepped out.

"Doctor?!" Maggy gasped, then broke into a run and threw her arms around the older woman. "I don't get it. What are you doing here?"

Dr. Maria chuckled and patted the girl's back. "Waiting for you three, of course. Alpha said he has a way for us to get ahead of Robert and his bandits."

Maggy pulled back, brow furrowed. "But… the closest exit is near the Demon Ant nest, isn't it? Why come all the way out here?"

Dr. Maria gave a small shrug. "I'm not entirely sure myself. This is my first time seeing this place." She turned to glance into the depths of the structure. "Though… based on what's inside, I think I might have an idea."

Maggy's eyes sparkled. "Really? What is it? Tell me!" she pleaded, practically bouncing on her heels.

The doctor laughed again. "It's probably better if you see it for yourself."

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With that, she turned and stepped back into the structure, her lab coat fluttering slightly as she disappeared into the soft interior light.

Garrelt and Maggy exchanged a glance. Without a word, they followed, their footsteps quickening. Antchaser fell in behind them, silent as ever.

——————————————————

The interior of the structure was unlike anything Maggy had ever seen.

The walls curved gently inward, smooth and seamless, without a single joint or brick. They gleamed with the same dark metallic sheen as the exterior, but here the glow of embedded lines pulsed brighter — soft white and cool blue veins running along the surfaces like living circuitry. The air inside was dry and still, yet carried the faint scent of ozone and something sharper, almost sterile, like an alchemical lab scrubbed spotless.

The corridor opened into a massive chamber, wide enough to house an entire village square. A smooth black floor stretched across the space, inlaid with hexagonal tiles so tightly fitted they looked like a single unbroken sheet. Along the vaulted ceiling, light panels flickered softly to life in long, sweeping arcs, illuminating the space in even, shadowless brilliance.

A dozen sealed archways, arranged like the fingers of an open fan, extended out from the chamber's far wall. Leading to each was a set of tracks, forged from the same alloy as the walls, yet etched with faint runes and inscribed markers Maggy didn't recognize. They gleamed faintly with kinetic potential, as if the energy bound within them merely slept, waiting to be stirred.

Each track disappeared into its own tunnel, massive and round, their entrances sealed with bulkhead-style doors. The doors pulsed with status lights: red, yellow, green — most seemed dormant, but two blinked a soft standby blue.

Flanking the station platform were several more structures: a console station built directly into one wall, glowing softly with menus written in neat, angular characters. A row of glass pods with reinforced doors. What looked like a loading dock fitted with mechanical arms, lifts, and container cradles sized for cargo the adventurers could only guess at. Even dozens of comfortable looking benches — some scattered around platforms, others clustered into various lounge-like configurations.

It was clear this place had been designed to hold hundreds, if not thousands, at once. And yet, for now, it stood empty, save for their small group.

Dr. Maria led them further into the station, toward one of the platforms lit in blue. As they approached, Garrelt stepped to the edge of the track, frowning.

"Are these… mine cart tracks?" he asked, crouching beside the rail. He ran his fingers along the groove. "Is this supposed to be a mine? No. It's too clean. And where's the cart? The animal team? Anything?"

Garrelt had seen his fair share of mining operations in the outskirts of Halirosa. Mines attracted monsters like flies to honey, and adventurers were often hired to keep the tunnels safe for workers. He'd seen spirit-powered pumps, arcane filtration arrays, even self-driving carts. But nothing had ever looked like this.

"Oh, you can reach the mines from here," said a new voice.

They turned as Hugo approached, armored in his usual carapace gear that somehow looked more natural here than it ever had in the open air. Beside him walked a silver Demon Ant, the telltale peaked cap of Alpha's control perched squarely on its head.

The two of them joined the group. Hugo and Garrelt exchanged nods while Maggy's eyes dropped to the capped silver antborg standing beside them.

"If it's not a mine," she asked, "then what is it?"

"This," Alpha said, gesturing around the chamber, "is the key to turning this cavern into more than just a dungeon attraction. I'm building a destination. A hub for adventurers and Deep Tribes alike — a place to gather, trade, and travel."

He panned his gaze across the glowing archways. "Once operational, this station will allow adventurers to travel quickly and safely to a number of interesting locations I've uncovered in the region. As the system expands, so will its reach — offering even more routes and destinations."

Alpha turned toward them, voice laced with a grin. "Including Halirosa."

Maggy gasped. "These tunnels go all the way to Halirosa?!"

Alpha chuckled. "Not quite. Not yet. But they'll get you close. Close enough, maybe, to beat Robert and his crew to the city, and stop them before they twist the narrative in their favor."

Maggy looked around, wide-eyed. "How long until it's finished?"

Alpha gave a shrug. "I started designing this place not long after first making contact with the village, but I've had to shelve the project more than once. Higher priorities. Like dealing with our bandit infestation." His antenna twitched slightly. "Now that most of that's behind us, I plan to finish the prime tunnels and have the system live within six months."

Garrelt raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you meet the goblins just a few months ago? You built all of this in that time?"

Alpha shrugged again, the smirk practically audible. "What can I say? I'm a hard worker."

The truth, of course, was a little more complicated. From Alpha's perspective, the project had taken years of Translight time to reach this stage. But with most of the construction automated, progress hadn't required constant oversight. The real bottleneck had been power — enough to run the Translight generators without overtaxing the system.

Now, with the Kigendoro safely secured and its energy output under control, those limitations were finally being laid to rest.

Dr. Maria turned in a slow circle, taking in the vast, silent expanse of the Transit Nexus. When she faced Alpha again, her expression had sharpened, the weight of understanding settling in her eyes.

"You do realize this place is going to become a massive target, right?" she said, voice firm. "And I'm not just talking about what you're planning. Even the existence of this facility — its location alone — could throw a wrench into the operations of half the major clans and sects in Halirosa. The simple fact that it offers rapid transport to multiple sections of the Deep? That makes it valuable beyond reason. Everyone will want to control it."

Alpha's antenna dipped in acknowledgment. "Oh, I'm well aware of that possibility. That's why I don't plan to open this place to the public anytime soon. Even after it's finished, I'll still need to establish outposts on the far ends of the tunnels… and, of course, make sure I get first pick of all the shiny loot before anyone else does."

He burst into laughter, the sound echoing strangely against the Nexus walls.

Dr. Maria exhaled through her nose, shaking her head. "As long as you're planning accordingly. The consequences of this place falling into the hands of one of the more ruthless clans would be... terrifying."

Garrelt crossed his arms. "With all that in mind, you're still trusting us with this secret?"

Alpha turned toward him, one antenna arching in amusement. "Would anyone believe you?"

Garrelt's jaw tightened. He didn't respond, but the crease between his brows deepened.

Before anyone could say anything else, Alpha turned toward the platform.

"I think that's enough questions for now. We have a train to catch."

Maggy opened her mouth, probably to ask another one, but the sudden rising hum from the far tunnel cut her off. The platform lights flickered, then flared brighter. A faint wind stirred the air, subtle at first, then surging as the tunnel pulsed with incoming energy.

Then came the sound.

It started as a distant howl, like wind through a narrow pass. It deepened, grew louder, until the entire chamber vibrated with the low roar of something approaching at impossible speed.

"What is that?" Garrelt asked, his hand instinctively dropping toward his javelins.

The air near the tunnel warped with pressure. The blue status lights above the tunnel turned white.

And then—

WHOOM.

A sleek black blur shot out of the tunnel like a bolt of thunder, trailing a wake of displaced air. It slowed instantly, decelerating in a way that shouldn't have been physically possible, and came to a gentle, whisper-quiet stop at the platform with a low pneumatic hiss.

The strange metal carriage — if it could even be called that — was unlike anything any of them had ever seen.

It was just a single car, long and narrow, its surface smooth and dark with a faint violet shimmer, like oil on water. There were no windows, only sleek ridges that hinted at reinforced compartments. Thin lines of softly pulsing light traced along its edges, syncing with the glowing rails beneath.

A seam appeared near the middle, splitting open with a hiss of air. The door slid sideways into the body with liquid smoothness, revealing a softly lit interior lined with seats of strange, bone-white material. Everything gleamed with surgical cleanliness, bathed in a calming blue-white glow.

Maggy stood frozen, eyes wide. "That's… That's a 'train?'" she asked, the unfamiliar word slurring slightly on her tounge.

Alpha's voice held a distinct note of satisfaction. "Prototype Model 3, Subterranean Recon Transit System. Supersonic. Low drag. Minimal footprint."

The antenna of Alpha's antborg gently stroked the surface of the train as if were a prized horse.

"Right now, it's just for rapid personal deployment. Later iterations will handle larger loads and more cars. But for now…" He turned to face them, antenna twitching. A map of the surface terrain appeared. A line stretched roughly 90% of the way from the goblin cavern to Halirosa. "This one'll get you to the target exit in just under five hours."

Maggy's jaw dropped. "That would take days on foot!"

"Exactly," Alpha said.

Antchaser stepped up to the open doorway and peered inside. "Feels weird riding in something this fast underground…"

Garrelt stepped forward, shoulders tense. "Is it safe?"

Alpha's antborg gave a mechanical shrug. "Perfectly safe. Statistically speaking, the safest option you've got right now. Just keep your hands and feet inside at all times. Oh — and don't stand when it starts moving. Trust me."

Dr. Maria had already boarded and taken a seat near the front, looking completely at ease.

"Well?" she called back. "Let's not keep Robert waiting."

One by one, they stepped aboard, the door sealing shut behind them with a soft chime.

A moment later, the lights in the tunnel shifted once again.

The train began to hum.

And then they were gone.

A blur of motion.

A snap of wind.

The Deep roared with thunder once more.