Lee had started down a new page when Zane flipped his hologram towards him. “What do you make of this formula?” Zane asked, highlighting a grouping of symbols two-thirds of the way down the page.
Lee scrunched his brow, leaning in closer. “Verinity? I don’t recognize that symbol next to it, though.” Verinity was found in plenty throughout their galaxy, he’d looked at a map covered with it just days prior. And it was one of the leading components in present energy advancements, although he’d never seen it used in the context of neutrinos… “Maybe for their energy cells?” Although that didn’t make much sense, it seemed redundant.
He watched as Zane flicked down to another page. “Wait, wait, wait, stop there.”
A single term was circled, beneath yet another equation. Its name scrawled in a barely legible note.
Verinity.They were onto something then, at least from what the Commander had gathered. Lee wished for thenthtime that he could have seen their mainframe directly.
“I’ll keep an eye out for more of them,” Zane said, returning back to the page he was working down.
The energy component was still scrolling along the neurons of his brain as Lee reached the end of another page. He was mentally preparing to start in on another when his hyperband buzzed.
The Greatest Romp You’ll Ever Find: so, u guys want me to give u space or what?
Lee only had to glance around in a couple of directions to locate Kat, where she leaned up against the green juice bar on long legs. Her vanilla-blonde ponytail brushed the counter behind her as a drink was set down at her elbow.
Smiling to himself, Lee sent back a reply, stealing a glance back over as she looked down to read his message.
Lee: whatever you want, starflower
A broad grin sparked across her lips, before it was swiftly interrupted by the recycled straw of a green juice.
Zane tensed across from him as Kat joined them, stealing the extra chair away from a VL’s table next to them.
“He helping now?” Kat directed a thumb towards Zane.
“Yep,” Lee said.
“What would your daddy say?” she tsked, shaking her head all disappointed-like.
“I’d say, tothe fuckwith him,” Zane challenged, dark eyes flashing. Then he relaxed a little, sinking his eyes back down to his holoblock. “He’s off again to the De Myra Solida grouping—that is, if he didn’t already return to prep for the General’s latest council meeting or whatever.”
“De Myra—” Kat said, brows coming together. “We were just there.”
“Twice,” Lee said, slowly, sitting up a little higher in his chair.
Zane looked up, glancing between them. “I had one out there this past month as well...”
“He’s had us testing for dark rays with the sample matter we collected out there. I wonder if they’ve sent anyone else out there recently… Has your dad mentioned that particular grouping before?” Lee asked.
“I honestly couldn’t say.” Zane frowned. But Lee looked back at Kat, her shoulders perked up where she now perched at the edge of her chair, positively bursting with curiosity.
“There is obviously dark radiation present. We confirmed that ourselves, making it a viable candidate. That also explains how it would have been able to remain undetected this long…” Lee mused.
“One of the engineers that was onboard Segura, when he mentioned the base, he also mentioned their transports and needing supplies,” Kat recalled, eyes growing distant, like she was recalling the memories from onboard the ship. “Do you think there’s a shadow market out by De Myra?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Zane said. “He doesn’t usually mention details, but I’d wager that’s where a lot of Dad’s audits have been. I read they were looking into recent transactions…”
“Having a base in close proximity to a shadow market and the more active star systems would have been ideal for someone like Segura. Someone who was looking to avoid a public transaction but still be able to find and afford parts like that…” Lee said, considering.
He glanced between them. Could it actually be so simple as this? Locate the shadow-markets and they would lead them to their base?
“So then here’s a question,” Lee said, slowly. “How much of this has General Narron already realized?”
The General was already using their radiation signature to try and track them down once more. The fact that Segura had managed to escape notice last time was merely a fluke, an asteroid-sized fluke, and one the General’s scanners would likely be searching for this go-around. And with all the funding reallocations and auditing team onboard, monitoring imports and the shadow markets, they were lucky he hadn’t found them yet.
Elbows collapsing down against the table with that fresh reminder that time was not on their side, Lee sifted through all he knew about the star systems in the area. “If we really are considering the De Myra Solida grouping and its surrounding systems as potential base locations, we can already cross off a couple of the planets,” Lee said, sitting up again, and glancing first to Kat, and then over to Zane. “Which narrows down our search—by a decent range.”
