Page 155 of Stars At Dusk

‘Via the Rhesian Court, yes. They’ve been paying us to get at The Sable Group.’

‘Any idea what Ankis is really after?’ Kage asked.

‘Your intel, of course. You seem to have an unfair advantage in the System, and this is simply a way to balance the power.’

‘By stealing it?’

‘How else? You won’t share it freely, that’s for sure.’

‘Maybe if you asked nicely,’ Kage grinned. ‘Know what? I get their play. The Klastsch need Sable tech to make their mark in the System. Pure genius,’ Kage said sarcastically.

Faron fell silent.

Kage kept up the relentless questioning. ‘Speaking of, why are we floating around? Waiting to hear from your overlords?’

Faron grimaced. ‘We just executed part one of the plan. Now we’re waiting on instructions from Ankis on how to proceed. He’s a cautious man and doesn’t provide more than is necessary for each step. We’ve given him a sitrep and let him know you’re now a guest of the Haiku. He’ll get back to us when he’s ready.’

Faron turned on his heel and walked away, seemingly weary of conversation.

Kage wondered who this Ankis was. He hadn’t heard the name before. This was a new player in the field, a hostile determined to get to the Riders personally. Kage was intrigued by yet another mystery to solve.

Got all that?he ventured. He’d been silently transmitting his conversation with Faron via his node to the Riders all along.

Copy,came the reply from Mirage.

Kage relaxed, sat back against the bulwark he’d been thrown against, and settled in for the long wait.

Kainan

Back at The Sable Group conference room, the four Riders and Mirage huddled around scrolling holo screens.

Kainan paced the room. ‘First things first, we get Kage out. Next, we didn’t have a name before for who was involved in The Klastsch but we now do. We need to find out who the hell this Ankis character is, and what about us irks him so much.

‘Agreed,’ Riv said.

‘Here’s how we get into the Rinnax ship,’ Kainan said. ‘Remember the pods we developed for the Galician interstellar rescue op?’

Riv nodded. ‘If memory serves, each can carry one armoured trooper.’

‘Naam. The pods have integrated cutting blades.’

Xion leaned into the conversation. ‘But no explosives of any kind. What are you thinking?’

‘Just like we did on the rescue op, we’ll each get into active ones and launch to The Haiku, along with a few semi-active and inert pods, some empty, some filled with explosives,’ Kainan explained. ‘Each active pod will scan for FTL radiation to check that it’s nowhere near the drive section. Then find their way to the Haiku’s hull and drill through it, delivering each Rider armed with close combat and low-power weapons. Meanwhile, the inactive and empty pods will overwhelm their systems, and the semi-active explosive ones will go off, further confusing them.’

‘We’ll probably need the Phantasm for this,’ Xion said.

‘Nada. The Notus I frigate can handle it,’ Kainan countered. ‘It’s smaller but can carry at least 20 pods. With Mirage’s remote piloting, it can get closer to the Haiku in stealth mode, jump into the orbit of the hostiles, launch the active boarding pods, scatter the diversion pods and even perhaps a few orbital assault platforms and jump away.’

Riv sat back in his chair, contemplating Kainan’s plan. ‘So just us three then, seeing as Zane is out?’

‘Three is more than enough,naam?’

Xion nodded. ‘Let’s do this. Need five kahawas to wake me up tho,’ he said drily.

‘Five coming up,’ Mirage said as the food replicator in the corner whirred to life.

‘Suit up, brothers,’ Kainan urged. ‘Mirage, get those pods ready and loaded on the Notus. Once we’re armed and ready, we need flyers at the 517 terminal to take us to the port.’

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