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Rina scowled. ‘At least someone’s in a much better mood than I am.’ She then broke into a tired smile. ‘If whatever happened last night means you’ve both pulled your fokkin’ heads in and decided you’re better off together, then I’m delighted for you.’
Selene beamed. ‘Thank you, Ri. This time, it feels like he’s ready to explore something meaningful.’ Her face fell for a moment, and she lowered her voice. ‘We’re taking it day-by-day though, for reasons I’ll tell you at the right time when I have his permission.’
Rina nodded. ‘I understand—secrets between lovers and all that shit. You look happy, Sel, and that’s what matters.’ She paused for a moment. ‘Which is why it sucks that I have some not-so-happy news for you.’
Selene sighed. ‘What now? I don’t think I can take any more bad news.’
‘Then I apologise in advance,’ Rina said sombrely. ‘Because there’s no way to say this other than to cut to the chase. Earlier today, we received a distress signal. Well, more like we intercepted a radio signal from a seemingly impossible origin. It was patchy, to say the least, but our comms team managed to splice it together -’
‘And what?’ Selene urged, leaning closer to the screen.
‘We think it came from Sheba. Our techs managed to match the voice to our Dunian key personnel database. We keep voice data records of all our government civil servants and their families.’
Selene felt her stomach sink. ‘Are you sure?’
‘There’s no doubt.’
‘What did it say?’
‘The exact words?’ Rina looked down at a display on her end of the call for reference. ‘It said,‘This is Sheba Munene of the Haven Mercy Ship. This message needs to be relayed to the Prime of Dunia. Tell him that I - and the ship I was on, The Haven Mercy - have been captured by The Technocracy at the attached coordinates. Please come and get us; we need help to escape.’
Rina swallowed as she studied Selene’s face. ‘The message also includes a location in the far reaches of Pegasi.’
‘No, not Sheba,’ Selene whispered.
Just then, Kainan thundered up towards the command deck from his quarters, taking the stairs two at a time. He’d pulled on a Sable Group fleet jumpsuit and held his comm tab in his hand. ‘Selene,’ he growled urgently. ‘Sheba. That your sister’s name?’
She whirled around, her heart racing. ‘Yes! What have you heard?’
‘A distress signal. Sent on wideband and also to The Sable Group’s comm nodes. I’d turned off mine since last night, which is why I missed it. Kage also sent me a few messages that I also missed. The call came direct to our nodes. Which means a Rider is involved.’
Selene rose to her feet. ‘That’s what Rina was just briefing me about. Her techs also got wind of it. So what do we do?’
‘Let’s call the rest of the Riders,’ Kainan said decisively.
He strode to the pilot controls and flicked on Mirage’s wake switch.
‘Mirage, raise Kage and whoever else in the core Sable Group you can find. Get them on screen for a con call now, please. Add Colonel Rina to the call as well.’
‘On it,khosi,’ the AI said.
‘I need to get dressed,’ Selene said distractedly.
‘Go,’ Rina said. ‘See you in a few.’ She disconnected the call.
‘Khaji, normal clothes, please?’ Selene said, calling out to Kainan, lifting her crushed ball gown.
He gave her a quick glance. ‘My quarters. I’ve got a few jumpsuits in the cupboard there. They’re nanotech, so they’ll adjust to your size,khamila.’
‘Thank you.’
She rushed downstairs, appearing minutes later in a jumpsuit similar to his own.
Kage was speaking on-screen as she walked up to the command deck. His holo was flagged by feeds from the other Sable Riders who appeared alongside Rina. ‘How did the message get to our nodes?’ he was saying. ‘That shit is locked down tight.’
‘There’s only one explanation,’ Kainan said drily. ‘Which also explains the ‘us’ in her message.’
The Riders slid into their neural network, speaking amongst themselves.
