Chapter 1 #3
Zalis brushed his fingers along the console.
The ship was an older model, rebuilt and upgraded with the latest in Mahdfel tech.
It was a beautiful monstrosity; not as powerful as the setup he had on the Judgment, but adequate for the task at hand.
What mattered most was when he sat at his console, the rest of the world vanished.
The entirety of the ship’s functions blinked and glowed on the screen.
Someone established a feed with the Judgment, no doubt a conversation with the warlord.
Zalis’ horns itched to listen in on that conversation.
Another person in Havik’s cabin—Thalia—downloaded the newest episodes of Endless Hope and Suffering.
All systems were operating within guidelines.
Water usage had increased. Atmosphere was stable for the number of crew and additional passengers.
Had Ren even considered the strain his mate would put on the ship? Zalis did not believe so.
The feed with the Judgment terminated.
The call had not been recorded, but the data lingered in the buffer for a time. It would be nothing for Zalis to crack the encryption and listen to the conversation undetected…
He entered a command and the screen vanished, erasing the temptation to eavesdrop.
Time to work.
While his equipment was sufficient for what the team required when away on missions, it did not have the capability to both trace the message Emmarae received from her missing sister and decrypt the corrupt councilor’s data device.
He examined the data device. The chip had been concealed inside an obsidian glass pendant.
Little more than a basic consumer model, the security settings were meant to inconvenience the curious rather than prevent a data breach.
Unless the councilor had additional security measures installed, which would make decryption a challenge.
It mattered not. All things gave up their secrets to the determined, and Zalis was determined.
Neither task was terribly complicated, so there was no obvious advantage to starting one before the other.
The worry on Emmarae’s face haunted him. She was Terran, pale with pale hair and pale eyes, as if worry drained away her interesting features.
Trace the call first, then decrypt the data device. Not for Ren. For Emmarae, to ease her worry.
The trace spread backward, a line that stretched from point to point across the communication hubs, connecting Emmarae to her missing sister.
Allegedly. The actual message was empty.
The task was not particularly difficult, but it was tedious.
As a message was sent across the galaxy from communication hub to relay to satellite, it gained a signature.
The protocol was designed to identify points of failure and had the charming side effect of mimicking the archaic practice of stamping a passport.
Well, Zalis considered it charming. Such quirks brought warmth and personality to otherwise dull standardized systems. Standardization was fantastic for ordering replacement parts, but Zalis spent the majority of his time staring at screens, analyzing data, and looking for patterns.
He was always delighted in finding unique patterns.
While he waited for the trace to finish, Zalis removed a small device from his pocket.
He turned it over in his hands, inspecting the wings.
The drone was the size of his thumbnail, could record both audio and visual, and had a decent flight range.
It was a handy little piece of tech, but the design was inelegant.
Perhaps inelegant was not the best descriptor. The design was uninspired.
The sensation of being watched made Zalis’ skin crawl.
Ren lurked just over Zalis’ shoulder, observing his work.
“Have you traced the origin of the message?” the male asked.
The question validated what Zalis sensed and broke his concentration.
“Your proximity is distracting,” Zalis said, setting the drone down and swiveling in his chair to stare down his unwanted visitor.
No. He did not like the honorless liar, Ivon Ren.
Ren took a step back, which was still too close for Zalis’ comfort. He held his feline, Murder Mittens. “I am encouraging you,” he said in a cheerful tone.
The large feline’s eyes were closed with contentment as Ren stroked the top of her head. Its tail swung lazily in the air.
“Take three paces back and encourage me from there,” Zalis said, pointing to the corridor beyond the doorway.
“That’s so far away. My encouragement is best experienced up close and personal.”
The feline squirmed, and Ren lowered its massive form to the floor. It went straight for Zalis. Ren swore that the feline was a hybrid with a domestic species and was harmless, but its large paws and sharp claws said otherwise. The feline was far from harmless.
Zalis did not flinch as it rubbed the length of its body against his legs. Instead, he returned his gaze to the screen. “Do not look at my screen.”
The feline reached up, placing two massive paws on his thigh, and then stretched. Tiny pricks of pain blossomed as the claws pierced the trouser fabric.
“I am working,” he said, carefully extracting the feline’s paws.
To find the missing sibling of Ren’s mate.
Zalis did not object to the unexpected mission.
It was a worthy use of their time and resources.
He objected to the way Ren announced he had a mate and would entertain no questions.
Zalis was bubbling over with questions. Where had she been?
Why the separation? Had he rejected her? Or, more likely, had she rejected him?
“This is work?” Ren reached around Zalis and grabbed the drone. “You fidget with a toy while my mate worries—”
Zalis snatched it back. “This is not a toy. It is a highly advanced piece of technology.”
“It is pink.”
Heat flushed his face. He had thought wings and a coat of paint would disguise the drone as an insect. Pink was the appropriate color for the insects that flitted in the garden of his childhood home.
“Not everything must be gray and devoid of color.” He could explain the reasoning behind the design, but the thought exhausted him. Instead, he set the drone down on the console.
This was a mistake.
Murder Mittens stretched up and batted at it.
“I do not understand the point of your feline,” Zalis grumbled, rescuing the drone.
“Entertainment, companionship, and rodent control,” Ren answered, still annoyingly cheerful.
Zalis searched for the perfect rebuttal, a comment so cutting that Ren would leave.
No such words existed.
A quiet alert issued from the computer, rescuing him from unwanted conversation.
“I have located the origin of the message,” Zalis said, sending the coordinates to Ren.
“That was fast,” the male said.
“Yes, in part because I am talented, but mainly because this is an obvious trap. The encryption is outdated and known to be easily cracked. Modern communications use different encryption methods.”
Ren made a thoughtful noise, pulling up a star chart on a tablet.
Stars, this male would never leave.
“You have what you desire,” Zalis said. “Go away so I may work in peace.”
Ren waved a hand at Zalis, not looking up from the tablet’s screen. “Murder Mittens demands attention because you ignore her. If you pet her, she will lose interest,” Ren said as he departed.
Zalis stared at Murder Mittens. The feline stared back.
Ren had a talent for cracking Zalis’ horns, but that did not mean he was incorrect. About the feline, at least.
Cautiously, Zalis stretched out a hand.
The feline rose on her back legs and bumped the top of her head against his hand. A pleasing rumble emanated from her chest.
Astoundingly, Zalis felt the tension in his own chest ease.
He smiled. Perhaps there was some point to the feline after all.