Convergence by Alex Albrinck

excitement rising inside her. He was leaving the room early. She’d not need to wait here for hours until his replacement arrived.
    Bernard moved to a small glass panel near the elevator. Ashley changed her positioning to check the wording.
    In case of ghosts, break glass.
    Ghosts?
    Warning bells sounded in her head. Something was wrong.
    She’d nearly made the decision to teleport away when Bernard smashed the glass and pressed the red button now exposed.
    With a terrifying suddenness, Ashley found herself hurtling toward the ceiling of the data center. She screamed in pain as her body smashed into the ceiling, even as she realized she was now perfectly visible to the human man standing slack-jawed below.

X
    They’d eliminated the stealth advantage the Alliance had so long enjoyed. They now needed to exploit the newfound discovery before the Alliance had the chance to adapt and respond.
    With the cheering a fading echo, Athos and Scott commandeered the comm station aboard the Chameleon , establishing an underwater conference call with the remaining ten captains. The discovery of the base entrance represented a great victory against the Alliance, the first in a series of many. They’d long masked their numbers and strength, slinking about beneath the oceans, inflicting subtle but effective blows against the Aliomenti.
    They would soon pay for each affront to the greatness of the Aliomenti and their Leader.
    “There’s a hidden genius to the location.” Athos drummed his fingers as he spoke. “They cannot absorb a direct attack. I suspect that most of their people remain here at all times, with only a few daring to venture out into the world.”
    “And we capture them, thanks to the Hunters,” Jude noted.
    Athos felt his lip curl up in a smile. “The location has a certain genius to it, as I noted. The water and landmass have provided a form of Energy insulation for centuries, thwarting even Porthos’ talents. They’re able to live there in safety, and major transportation occurs in submarines beneath the water. They generate no massive Energy bursts through teleportation, no flying machines drawing the attention of human or Hunter. They’ve developed an impressive system.” He smirked at Scott. “But that system will prove their downfall. They’ve spent so much time trying to avoid detection that they’ve never bothered to figure out what they’d do when we inevitably cracked their code and discovered their secrets.” He pounded his fist on the comm station. “Checkmate, Will Stark.”
    The captains roared with laughter.
    Scott, still grinning, glanced at Athos. “So… how do we get inside?”
    Athos gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”
    Scott pointed at the viewscreen, where they’d displayed a sensor driven green-and-black view of the tunnel. “One of those spheres came close to my ship. I’d say it’s about one-tenth the size of my sub. Yet if you watch the spheres, they’re only able to get two of them into that tunnel.”
    Athos cocked his head. “Meaning?”
    “Our subs won’t fit, sir. We can’t sail them up the tunnel.”
    Athos caught himself before revealing the fact that he’d not considered that. “We were never planning to sail our submarines through the tunnel, Scott.” He laughed, hoping he’d give the impression that Scott’s analysis was worthless, that he, Athos, had already figured it all out.
    Jude’s obsequious voice crackled over the comm station. “We weren’t, sir? Why not, if I may ask? We arrived here in armored submarines. Why would we then not sail them through the tunnel to the Alliance base?”
    Thankfully, his mind had constructed a compelling argument in support of his blustery proclamation. “You may ask, Jude. And I’ll answer. First, as Scott noted, our submarines are simply too large to fit in the tunnel, which was a concern for me as soon as we recognized the fact that the Alliance base wasn’t a freestanding structure. We might