Page 154 of Stars At Dusk

Faron snarled at him and continued his pacing.

Kage changed tack, choosing to appease his captor.

‘Well, you outwitted The Sable Group. You must be all proud of yourselves.’

‘We are,’ Faron said after a beat.

‘So good you’re attracting attention, System-wide. We heard rumours the Rhesians, the royal house no less, like your work.’

‘They think we’re the shit,’ Faron gloated.

‘So, how do you work?’

‘We’re fixers. We provide whatever service any state needs - from private security, equipment, tech and logistical support to high-intensity operations. A paramilitary mercenary consortium and a supplier of key systems and components.’

Kage raised an eyebrow.What a load of try-hard BS,he thought.

‘Try hard’ because he’d never heard of them before the last few months. And he doubted they’d any real military experience. Let alone their piss-poor hand-to-hand combat and torture skills. What they were was a pack of greedy tech heads and bolos masquerading as mercs.

‘Impressive. So who are your customers?’

Faron laughed. ‘We’ve many. One of them extremely generous.’ His chest puffed out as he spoke.

Kage egged him on, playing to his ego. ‘Is that right? Impressive.’

‘100%. We’re expecting a fat deposit of schills at the end of this excursion.’

‘From whom?’

‘From our most profitable benefactors, The Klastsch.’

Kage shrugged and blatantly lied. ‘Never heard of them.’

‘Allow me to illuminate you,’ Faron waxed on, confident Kage would never leave The Haiku alive to further unveil what he was sharing. ‘The Klastsch was founded by a man we’ve never met, Ankis, who’s assembled mainly Rhesian but also Allorian and Falasian ex-military officers, members of the royal house, and a few of the elite and aristocracy on each planet. The group aims to unify the three planets’ governments — into a Greater state known as the Triumvirate. Their focus is on sharing resources and power, given the three planets are struggling in their own way. They aim to expand further and bring more of Pegasi’s planets under their wing. And they intend to use whatever needs to be done to achieve that end.’

‘How?’

‘Members swear unquestioning fealty to the organisation and promise to take its secrets to the grave.’

‘Including Rinnax Holdings?’

Faron merely shrugged.

Kage pushed further. ‘And where can we find the Klastsch?’

‘The group is headquartered on Falasia, where a central committee oversees the activities of small, three-to-five-member cells on each planet. They only work through intermediaries. That’s why key members of the Rhesian Royal House reached out to the Rinnax Group to do their dirty work.’

‘How ‘bout this Ankis, their leader? Ever seen him?’

‘Only at two briefings, briefly, via holo.’

‘Where’s he at?’

Faron shrugged. ‘Who knows? He’s always in the wind. Never seen his face either. He hides behind a series of elaborate virtual masks and altered voices. Can’t nail down his identikit. And when we tried, our hack got rerouted, frying the brains of our operator.’

Faron’s face fell with the last sentence.

Another clone sacrificed to the cause,Kage thought. ‘So The Klastsch are paying your fee on this excursion?’

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