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‘He just took off like the loser he is, and this is where he fled to,’ Selene snapped, rage flowing through her body as she ran her eyes over her sister.
Sheba had bags under her weary eyes, her hair was mussed, and she had a bloody scratch across her forehead. Yet she stood there defiant, judging by the narrowed set of her gaze.
‘Who speaks on your behalf?’ Dunia’s ex-Defence Minister said. ‘I need to see their face, so I know who I’m negotiating with.’
Selene made another half movement, and Kainan shook his head imperceptibly. He muttered into his HUD. ‘If he sees you, Selene, he’ll do whatever it takes to get at you. You’re his ultimate bounty. We can’t risk that.’
‘We can’t risk my sister either,’ she said tightly.
‘Then leave it with me. I don’t want to have to negotiate three prisoner handovers instead of two.’
‘Makes sense,’ she said after a beat. ‘But please help her.’
‘Of course,khamila. But whatever you do, don’t reveal yourself to her until we’re safely off this ship. Otherwise, she may ID you, and we lose our negotiating edge.’
The conversation, low, whispered and masked by their helmets, was out of Massimo’s earshot.
The large man grew impatient, and he gripped Sheba even tighter. ‘Someone, please talk to me now. Otherwise, she dies!’
Kainan signalled that Selene stay back while he moved forward and tugged off his helmet.
He faced Massimo, nailing the treacherous man, somewhat diminished in size by his recent ordeals, with a cold glare.
Massimo responded by pressing his gun harder against Sheba’s neck, and Selene saw her sister grit her teeth. Selene took a harsh breath while Ki’Remi, inert at Sheba’s side, clenched his jaw and fists.
‘Who are you?’
‘I’m a nobody,’ Kainan shot back. ‘But we’ve already met. In your study. Before you legged it like a coward out of Dunia.’
Massimo flushed. ‘I hardly recall you. I don’t care where we met or whoever you are in The Sable Group’s hierarchy. All I know is that you’ve spoilt my plans.’
Kainan quirked an eyebrow. ‘Which were what exactly? From what I’ve seen, any plan you’ve tried to enact has turned into a fokkton of manure. Now let the woman go, Massimo. Whatever game you’re playing, The Technocracy is done. We’ve prevailed against them.’
‘All I need is Selene Munene. And her ability to speak to Dunia. I won’t let this woman go until her sister shows up.’
‘Why? What have you planned for her?’
Massimo sneered. ‘The plan is to entice her here. So I get face to face - to persuade her to communicate with Dunia’s sentience. And pass on a critical message.’
The contempt fell off his face, replaced with a cold, calculating glare. ‘After which I’ll get rid of her -.’
‘Just so we’re clear, get rid of Selene? The Prime of Dunia?’ Kainan said, his voice dripping with barely controlled rage.
‘Yes! Keep up, man! After she shares her planet’s powers, she’s no use to me alive. Neither are any of the Dunians who supported the shit show we just experienced. All because the former Prime and his unremarkable daughter had no vision for the planet’s best future. On that note, why are you here? I didn’t send for you. I hadn’t enacted my plan yet. I was waiting for the rest of The Technocracy fleet to get here so we could advance to Dunia and use my little prize as leverage.’
Kainan arched an eyebrow, and Massimo scrambled to fill in the silence. ‘Maybe one of my dynasty members was loaned some schills and hired you to find me?’ the desperate man said. ‘It’d be incredible given all the lives they’ve been lazy, ungrateful and severely unintelligent mooches. Who loved untethered access to my accounts more than anything in the entire system.’
Kainan’s jaw tightened. ‘Fokk all this talking, Massimo. It’s not all about you. And we weren’t hired by anyone to fetch you. We have separate business with The Technocracy.’
‘Fokk you! Fokk the Sable Group,’ Massimo ranted. ‘You’re all fokkin twats. Loyal to no one, easily bought by the highest bidder. And frankly, a piss poor set-up.’
‘I’d be careful how I phrased that. The piss poor set-up you speak of kicked you off Dunia and quelled an uprising. With ease and great pleasure.’
‘Pah! You were lucky,’ Massimo blurted, spittle flying everywhere. ‘You only had to deal with three of the crats’ capital ships. You’ll fail against fifty, which is why we’ve been holding out here in the back of nowhere for days. Waiting on the rest of The Technocracy’s massive fleet. I convinced them to come - seeing how desperate they were to prevail. But we needed a few more days to ready ourselves for the entire crat fleet to rendezvous with us before we attacked Dunia en masse. But instead, you showed up to try and attempt to ruin our plans!’
‘Like I just said, our pleasure.’
‘Now that you’ve downed this ship and since you prostitute ourselves for cash, can you either bring me Selene Munene or, if not, get me to safety? I’ve got a few million schills I can pay you. Either get me the bounty I need or get me off this sinking boat with a promise to drop me off in Zanyria, and I’ll return these two to you unharmed. In addition, I’ll throw in a few bags of jewels. You’ll be well recompensed.’
