Page 29 of New World

Yi exhaled sharply, shaking his head. It was as if his nerves were still raw from earlier. His mandibles twitched in agitation, but his eyes sparkled with something else—excitement.

“What man?” Tiv asked.

“Tiv, you won’t believe what happened,” he exclaimed, his voice dropping in awe. “Dorane LeGaugh stepped in and saved me.”

Mei tilted her head, the name unfamiliar. “Who is Dorane LeGaugh?”

Yi looked at her as if she’d asked who the sun was. “Dorane LeGaugh! You know, the wealthiest man in the galaxy—except for maybe Lord Andri Andronikos.” He waved a hand toward the towering skyline. “He owns this moon, the freighters, the markets, and he even has his own personal army. The guy is practically untouchable!”

Mei’s brow furrowed slightly and she listened as Tiv demanded her brother tell her everything that happened. Wealth and power were nothing new—back on Earth, there had been young men just like this Dorane. Of course, they hadn’t owned a moon or a fleet of space freighters, but they had still wielded influence, status, control—and a man like that also had something she needed right now: information.

Information was the most valuable currency in the galaxy right now as far as she was concerned.

Three days later, Mei continued exploring the city with one focus—finding more information about Dorane LeGaugh. The upper beams of Cryon II were her highways, a personal labyrinth of catwalks and scaffolding that let her move unseen.

Yi’s schematics of the lower levels had proven useful. The underbelly of the moon was a different world—darker, harsher. The place where secrets thrived.

It was here that she spotted him again. Dorane LeGaugh.

He walked with purpose, flanked by the two figures she had marked as his bodyguards—the slender, feline-featured woman with golden, slit-pupiled eyes, and the massive, armored Zurkaan brute.

Mei followed them from the beams, shrouded in shadows, watching as they disappeared into a drinking establishment.

Interesting.

With her hood drawn low and a scarf covering her lower face, Mei descended, blending into the ebb and flow of customers filtering inside.

The establishment was dim, its lights casting a faint reddish glow against metal walls. The air was thick with smoke, spiced liquor, and the low hum of conversation.

At the far end of the room, Dorane took a seat in a booth, across from a woman who was more machine than flesh—her face half-replaced with sleek cybernetics, her limbs humming with hidden enhancements. Mei sensed this wasn’t a social meeting.

Mei didn’t pause, didn’t hesitate; she was weaving between patrons, her focus razor-sharp. On a nearby table, a half-finished drink sat abandoned. She snatched it up, the movement seamless, natural. A ruse. A cover.

A drunken man stumbled past, swaying into her path.

Mei used the moment, pretending to lose her balance, and when the drunken man toppled, her free hand darted forward and slipped a small tracking device into the lining of Dorane’s jacket.

She caught herself with a slight stumble, turning just as the cyborg woman’s head snapped toward her.

Mei kept her eyes down, ducking her head, acting like just another clumsy customer. A low, mechanical mutter came from the woman’s metal-plated lips. Mei didn’t react, didn’t acknowledge the mild threat.

Instead, she twisted away and stumbled to the bar where she slid onto a stool, her back to them, her ears tuned in. She could see their reflection in a gap between a stack of glasses. The mirrored surface of the walls distorted their features, but it was enough that while she couldn’t hear the conversation, their body language told her everything.

Dorane was not happy.

His jaw clenched, his fingers drumming on the table, his body language sharp, coiled like a blade ready to strike.

The cyborg woman was speaking in low, measured tones, but Mei recognized the arrogance that came when someone thought they were more skilled than their opponent. This wasn’t business. This was something deeper, darker, more ominous.

Mei didn’t watch Dorane. Instead, she watched the woman.

Everything about the cyborg felt wrong. It wasn’t just the cybernetics. Mei had seen plenty of enhanced beings over the last few days. It was the way the woman moved—too still, too precise. Someone waiting to strike. Someone like Mei.

Mei lifted the drink, pretending to take a sip when the bartender looked her way. Her plan had been to locate Dorane, slip the tracking device Tiv had given her somewhere on him, and follow him.

She had accomplished that mission and should have left, but she didn’t. Shit was about to blow up, and her gut was telling her that Dorane and his two friends were going to need all the help they could get.

For now, she would watch and be ready. But she had the feeling that whatever was about to happen—it wasn’t just Dorane’s problem anymore.

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