Page 4 of Stars in Mist

‘Do AIs flirt?’ Riv wanted to know with a smirk on his lips.

‘Fokk off, Rider. Even if we did, I wouldn’t tell you. What I will clue you up on is that the Galaxy skiff has landed.’

‘Where?’

‘At a lower fee loading dock, one of the many clustered on the outer rim. Up close, it seems to be a four-passenger transport.’

‘Show me.’

Mirage sent an image to his node.

Riv ran his eye over its frame.

It had a sleek, teardrop-shaped hull with the sweeping wings of a former luxury cruiser.

While once a beauty, its age now showed in the dull finish, exposed access grills, and discolored engine rigging. The rail gun battle slashes across its rigging, indicating that the boat was a product of turbulent times.

It was also toothless, stripped of its original issue top-mounted laser cannons.

From the schematics rotating on Mirage’s holo, Riv guessed the ship was spacious despite its compact size.

Mirage’s telemetry included its power source stats. ‘Turns out it has an older model 0.2 hyperdrive that had been swift back in the day, but would now classify it as a clunker.’

‘I wonder how well it flies now and, of more significance, who is flying her?’ he murmured to no one in particular.

Mirage shrugged.

‘Any eyes on the pilot?’ Riv continued.

Mirage nodded. ‘I’ve hacked the cameras, but all I’ve caught is this.’

Footage shimmered on the screen of his comm tab. Riv threw the vision into a holo projection. It revealed a dark figure wearing a cloak.

They pulled their hood closer to their face as they approached the camera and hid their features.

‘They’re being cautious,’ the AI mused.

‘It’s what I’d do on Neron N13.’

Turning away from the holo, the Rider nabbed his cross-body satchel, throwing it on.

‘Wish me luck,’ he murmured, sliding down a plexiglass staircase towards Glimmer’s bay.

Mirage waggled their fingers, eyes glued to the holo. ‘Stay safe out there.’

‘Sante. Always.’

Riv stepped into his gunship’s hold and boarded his waiting flyer.

Earlier, Mirage had hacked the station’s AI, giving it the impression that his gunship was set down on the rock. To any onlooker’s best knowledge, Glimmer was a small, nondescript cruiser with Rubens-097 sublight engines of Galician origin parked at the station.

In reality, the Sable-designed stealth craft was hovering a few klicks away from the asteroid.

They’d broadcast the same data to all neighboring ships.

Inside Glimmer’s hold, Riv stealthed his smaller vessel. When his flyer’s shield mode matched the giant gunship’s, the bay doors opened, and he slid into outer space, heading for the asteroid.

After a careful check, he landed behind the external mooring area. He left Glimmer Junior hidden and cloaked before prowling towards the atmosphere-controlled bay.

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