The warehouse district on the outskirts of San Jose was a maze of industrial buildings and storage facilities that had seen better decades. Eli parked his car between two shipping containers, checking his mirrors for any sign of surveillance before walking toward the anonymous gray building where Emory Thorne had agreed to meet him.
Three days of suspension had given Eli time to think, to plan, and to realize that his investigation needed to move beyond OrionX's official channels. If there really was a conspiracy to cover up the truth about Meridian, then the evidence he needed wouldn't be found in corporate archives or boardroom meetings. It would be in the memories and private records of people who had survived the disaster and its aftermath.
Emory was waiting in the coffee shop on the ground floor of the building, sitting in a corner booth with clear sightlines to all entrances. He looked haggard, older than his forty-two years, as if the stress of recent events had accelerated the aging process.
"You came," Emory said as Eli slid into the opposite seat.
"You said you had information about who really sabotaged Meridian. After what happened in the boardroom, I'm willing to listen to anything."
Emory nodded slowly, studying Eli's face as if evaluating his trustworthiness. "What I'm about to tell you could get us both killed. Are you prepared for that?"
"I'm prepared to find out the truth about what OrionX is covering up."
"It's not just OrionX." Emory's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "The people behind Meridian's sabotage have connections that go far beyond one aerospace company. We're talking about defense contractors, government agencies, investment groups with budgets larger than most countries' GDP."
Eli felt a chill that had nothing to do with the coffee shop's air conditioning. "You're talking about a conspiracy that crosses multiple organizations?"
"I'm talking about an ecosystem." Emory pulled out a tablet and opened an encrypted file. "Look at this: the companies that benefited from Meridian's failure. The defense contracts that were awarded after the disaster. The insurance payouts, the research grants, the personnel transfers."
The data on the screen showed a complex web of financial and organizational connections that painted a picture of systematic profit from space disasters. Companies that provided "improved" safety systems after accidents. Insurance firms that collected massive premiums based on elevated risk assessments. Defense contractors who received emergency funding for "enhanced" space security protocols.
"This is..." Eli scrolled through pages of financial analysis, personnel records, and timeline correlations. "This suggests that certain organizations have a financial incentive to ensure that civilian space missions fail."
"Not fail," Emory corrected. "Fail in specific ways that justify increased funding for military space programs while discrediting civilian efforts. Meridian wasn't random sabotage—it was strategic business development."
Eli stared at the data, his engineering mind automatically cross-referencing patterns and calculating probabilities. The picture that emerged was horrifying in its logic: a shadow network of defense and financial interests that viewed space exploration as a zero-sum game where civilian successes threatened military budgets and private profits.
"How did you get this information?"
"Six years of investigation. I couldn't let go of what happened to Marcus and the others. I used my clearance levels, my contacts in the aerospace community, my training in systems analysis. Piece by piece, I assembled the real story of what happened to my friends."
"And now they're planning to do the same thing to the Saturn mission?"
Emory's expression darkened. "The Saturn mission is different. Bigger. More visible. If OrionX succeeds in reaching Saturn's Roche limit, it establishes civilian space exploration as a viable alternative to military programs. That threatens billions of dollars in defense spending."
"So they'll sabotage it."
"They'll try. But this time, we can stop them." Emory leaned forward, his eyes bright with the intensity of someone who had found purpose in pursuing justice. "I know how they operate, what systems they target, what their sabotage signatures look like. And you know the current mission systems better than anyone."
Eli nodded slowly, understanding that they were discussing something far more dangerous than corporate politics or technical investigations. They were talking about actively opposing a network of powerful interests that had already demonstrated their willingness to kill to protect their agenda.
"What do you need from me?"
"Access to the current mission systems. Real-time monitoring capabilities. And most importantly, someone with the technical expertise to recognize and counter their sabotage attempts when they come."
"I'm suspended. I don't have access to anything at OrionX."
Emory smiled grimly. "Eli, you designed those systems. You built backdoors and diagnostic protocols that even you probably forgot about. And more importantly, you have something they can't account for."
"Which is?"
"Noah Mercer. A former pilot with intimate knowledge of aerospace systems who doesn't work for OrionX, doesn't appear in their personnel databases, and therefore isn't subject to their surveillance protocols."
Eli felt a surge of protectiveness. "I'm not putting Noah at risk."
"Noah's already at risk. Everyone connected to you is at risk. The question is whether you're going to use that risk to save lives or just endure it passively while other people die."
The truth of that statement hit Eli like a physical blow. He realized that his suspension from OrionX hadn't ended his involvement in the Saturn mission—it had just changed the nature of his participation from official to underground.
"Alright," he said finally. "But we do this smart. We document everything, we build redundant evidence stores, and we prepare contingency plans for when they realize what we're doing."
"Agreed." Emory closed the tablet and extended his hand. "Partners?"
Eli shook it, sealing an alliance that would either save the Saturn mission or get them both killed in the attempt.