Page 115 of Stars in Umbra
‘Game’s up, I see.’ He let out a long, ragged sigh. ‘I’ve got a hella lot of explaining to do.’
Rina entered the cage and went to his side in a breath, steadying his shoulders, whispering reassurances as his eyes darted between the Riders gathered in the holo’s light.
‘When you’re ready,’ Kainan muttered.
Mo knifed and sat up with Rina’s help.
His eyes searched hers, and she gave him a slight nod and stroked his arm.
He took strength from this and turned to face the music.
In slow, halting, timbred sentences, he outlined the situation and his past as a ghost assassin, an elite gun runner, and mercenary forged in the underworlds of Pegasi.
He shared how he got shackled to a neural controller implanted years ago after being kidnapped and drugged.
He described how his every step was manipulated by invisible hands until the very people he protected became his assigned targets.
The heft of that revelation lingered in the Data Nexus, casting long shadows across the room even as the Riders’ holo-presences remained suspended in crisp clarity.
‘So when we bumped into you at the Justice Center, you were battling the command to kill us?’ Zane drawled.
Mo hung his head, shame spreading color on his ruddy cheeks. ‘Naam.’
The disclosure of his past as a trained assassin responsible for the deaths of figures like Vesk Tyran was chilling.
As was the brutal fact that he’d been moments away from eliminating his friends.
The truth hovered over the gathered group like an unspoken storm cloud.
Kainan huffed, then glanced toward Rina. ‘Do you trust him?’
‘I do,’ she replied, steady and without hesitation, her palm, still encircling her man’s upper arm, tightening. ‘Despite being coerced and threatened, he chose not to assassinate you. That has to count for something. While I might not have known him for years, I’ve seen who he is at his core. What he clings to isn’t hate. It is honor. Mo isn’t just a weapon. He’s a man of integrity and kindness, node or no node.’
The room went still.
Kainan’s jaw ticked. Then, after a long breath, he gave a single nod. ‘He resisted orders to kill us. Torture didn’t break him. That’s ample reason for me to believe in his loyalty to us.’
Zane moved first, prowling forward within the holo display’s boundaries.
‘May I?’ he asked. ‘I need to probe you.’
He didn’t have to utter the reason, but certainty was required as well as a truth check.
Mo met his gaze, then offered a nod. ‘Not too deep now. You don’t want to eviscerate us all.’
Zane jerked his chin in assent and closed his eyes.
His psi-signature, potent enough to reach from Eden II, where his physical body stood, to Dunia, expanded in a gentle hum.
It brushed against Mo’s consciousness.
Even Rina sensed it, a tingling force creeping along her spine. Mo’s expression tensed, but he held steady.
The psionic pass was light.
Zane took great care not to trip any embedded traps or push past Mo’s willing threshold. When he opened his eyes, he spoke with certainty.
‘He’s telling the truth. On the conscious level, at least. His pain is real. His story checks out.’
