Page 132 of Stars in Halo

Xion’s grip on the controls tightened as he stared out into the darkness, his mind racing with the possibilities and risks of their plan.

Beside him, Mirage’s expression was unreadable, their gaze fixed on the approaching blips on the radar.

The seconds stretched into eternity before Mirage’s voice broke through the silence.

‘Contacts incoming,’ the Sable AI announced, their voice calm but laced with readiness. ‘Sable attack frigates copy?’

The seconds ticked by agonisingly slow until finally, the comm crackled to life with Kage’s voice. ‘Xion, we also have visuals on Akira’s ships. Ready when you are.’

Kisan confirmed the same soon after.

The Sable warships were positioned, primed to intercept and engage at a moment’s notice.

Xion focused on the holo displaying Akira’s convoy.

Adrenaline coursed through his veins; his senses heightened as he prepared for the showdown ahead. ‘Before we go in, make sure the freighter stays untouched. My woman’s on it.’

‘Copy,’ his fellow Riders said.

Xion switched the neural band to his Katya’s link. ‘Khaliya, brace yourself. We’re about to attack. As soon as we do, you focus on getting the fokk out of there.’

He caught a double tap as Katya returned the signal that she understood.

With a nod to Mirage, Xion issued the command to engage.

Mirage’s hands flew over the controls.

The Tachy banked at a higher elevation than Akira’s freighter, giving it a panoramic view of the vessel and its escorts.

Still stealthed, the Tachy fired a spread of metanoid projectiles intended to disrupt the Clawed Vengeance’s mechanisms from the exterior.

Kage focused on the left escort while Kisan fired on the central vessel in the tiny fleet. The surprise attack was coordinated with precision and unity, leaving the pirates reeling.

The arrowheads of the Sable weaponry were tipped with a metanoid disassembler device.

When their weapons punched through the hulls of all three ships, thousands of ‘noids poured out like a stream.

They smashed through hull plating, chewing reinforced armour and walls like soft candy.

The objective was to access and strip all data from Akira’s systems, using Mirage’s quantum touch to guide the metanoids.

‘Mirage, you need to tell me the second we’ve got Katya safe, then it’s BOOM time.’

Fingers flying across the console of the ship’s controls, Mirage nodded. ‘Of course, khosi.’

Katya’s fingers dug into her hand-rests when the Clawed Vengeance lurched, throwing everyone on the bridge off balance.

She winced when a few of the standing Claw members tumbled, some colliding with their stations.

Fires broke out of some consoles as panicked voices cried out.

Alarms blared throughout the vessel, and the crew members scrambled to their positions, shouting orders back and forth.

‘What’s happening?’ Katya demanded in mock terror, knowing full well what was unfolding.

‘What the hell is going on?’ Akira growled, rising from where he’d fallen and staggering forward to check the monitors.

Kora, the pirate ship’s pilot, was staring with horror at the holo screen. ‘Boss, unknown bogeys are targeting us. They’re stealthed and masking their signals.’

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