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‘Seems we have shit to sort out,’ Kage groused.
‘Kweli,’ Kainan nodded. ‘Been quite the evening for you, we hear.’
‘Naam. Chased akinaiacross the metro to Raha. Found him passing our data to an associate of Ruben Presley, AKA Ruben Rinnax.’
‘Aran, your intern,ay?’
‘Pains me,’ Kage admitted. ‘I believed so much in that kid. He could have told me, and we could have worked it out. ‘Stead he chose to give in to the fear. Pretty shit.’
‘We feel you, brother,’ Xion murmured. ‘Hopefully, you and he can come to some understanding.’
‘And restitution,’ Riv growled. ‘He’s got to pay for trying to steal from us.’
‘No doubt,’ Kage agreed morosely.
‘So where are we at now? Mirage?’ Kainan asked.
The AI piped up. ‘The new player is on a ship to Rhesus right now. I’ve tapped into all his systems, from his comm tab to his ship’s onboard intelligence and, further, to Rinnax Holding’s drives. It will take me a few days to sift through all the data, but something of note has come to light.’
The Riders shifted in their seats, bracing themselves for what they were about to hear.
Mirage filled them in. ‘Remember during the Dunian coup when we suffered the loss of Major Levine? The Galician corps pilot of one of our corvettes that the Technocracy had downed over Paris Minor?
‘Naam, of course,’ Kainan said. ‘The corvette, call-name Aura, disappeared completely, with no trace. We searched for it, butnadasign of it was found.’
‘Well, I’ve found it,’ Mirage announced. ‘At Rinnax Holding’s HQ. It’s showing up as salvage and has been slated for deconstruction this week at their warehouse on Enia. Seems they’re trying to work out how our tech works.’
‘Thekinaisstole our corvette?’ Riv clipped. ‘How did the hell did they get their hands on it?’
‘Here’s where it gets interesting,’ Mirage continued. ‘I’ve found comm messages between Rinnax Holdings and an anonymous entity stating that The Technocracy scooped it up during the coup attempt on Dunia and handed it to this anonymous someone in the Rhesian government, who then passed it to Rinnax.’
‘Bull! Who on Rhesus?’ Xion said.
‘Doesn’t say. The message sender is encrypted. However, a data string resembles the same anonymous code on the cloaked comm that also ordered the hit on Harlow during the Dunian coup.’
‘The sender must be one of the benefactors we heard about in the call,khosi,’ Kage said, jerking his chin to Kainan.
‘Naam,’ the Riders’ leader confirmed.
‘What call?’ Riv asked.
As they’d not heard about it yet, Kage gave Riv and Zane a quick wrap-up on the intercepted call between Ruben and Faron Rinnax.
The Riders fell silent, each digesting the information so far.
Shortly Zane grimaced. ‘Brings up a few issues, brothers. One - The Technocracy and the Rhesians worked together somehow, before or during the Dunian coup. Two - the attempted hit on Harlow came from a person or persons senior in the Rhesian government or royal household. Finally, it looks like they’re also investing in Rinnax Holdings. Handing them schills to steal our tech and Harlow’s research. Brassy as fokk.’
‘Can’t let this happen,’ Kage said. He was notoriously protective of The Sable Group’s tech. ‘We must get our shit back, or at least prevent these losers from stealing it from us.’
‘Agreed,’ Riv said tightly.
‘Only way to do it is to get it back, by all means necessary,’ Kage added.
‘Then that’s what happens,’ Kainan said. ‘I’m volunteering you, Kage, and Riv to retrieve our corvette, carte blanche. Kage, you can see what needs to be done to get Aura working if it isn’t already. And the mission needs two of you anyway if one of you needs to pilot the corvette back. Mirage will provide support. That enough, or do you need anyone else?’
‘Nada khosi, we can handle it,’ Kage ground out, nodding with Riv in agreement. ‘We don’t want to make any waves, so it’s better we remain a small unit and keep this tight. We’ll infiltrate quickly and recover our corvette and any other key intel pertaining to The Sable Group and why Rinnax Holdings is targeting us. We don’t know how the enemy will react to contain us or prevent our shit from being recovered. But if we need reinforcements, we’ll shout.’
‘Sounds good?’ Kainan asked the assembled Riders.
