Page 143

He tried again to reach Miral, using a direct neural link, an encrypted back channel, and even her ghost tag.

Still nothing.

That was when he swiveled to find Savvine staring out of the cell’s porthole at the beautiful, cold starlight of Pegasi’s celestial skies, millions of klicks away.

He swallowed the ache at her stunning appearance, even as she turned with a strained expression. ‘Xander, what in perdition is going down on our watch?’

22

Wolves Hunting Rats

MIRAL

Miral glimmered into the secure tech chamber adjacent to Xander’s office aboard theSombra.

The room was cool and dim, lit by a lattice of glowing mauve circuit veins threading across the walls and ceiling.

Holo glyphs hovered in stasis above the central ops node.

She surged forward in a rush, her glyphic skin pulsing with silver strobes as she interfaced with the core, initiating a galaxy-spanning holo call.

She waited a minute before a voice answered in the adjoining universe.

An obsidian-skinned figure, uncannily similar to her, appeared on-screen.

A smile broke over her counterpart’s face. ‘Sister, I see you.’

Miral gave a slight bow. ‘I see you too, Mirage.’

She pulsed and sent a sub-neural request.

Mirage’s brow arched. ‘I believe we need a confab with Kainan and Zane.’

‘Agreed.’

‘Give me a few.’

Mirage glimmered away, while Miral stood stock still, waiting.

Minutes passed until finally, three figures materialized in the room with her, in full-body holo projections.

Kainan Sable sat in a massive command chair, backlit by the stormy windows of Sable HQ on Eden II.

Mirage perched beside him, arms crossed and jaw tight.

To Miral’s left, Zane Sable sat on the edge of an oak table, hip braced, feet interlocked before him, brows raised.

He was a lean, towering, striking, and muscled man in an exquisite suit.

He had dark, thick hair with silver highlights, a neat mustache, and a beard with piercing blue eyes.

His elegant presence contrasted with his more relaxed-dressed companions.

He was the Sable Group’s business and financial controller, overseeing its sales, logistics, private equity, and finance divisions.

He was also a psionic meta-shifter with the power to cast his mind over vast regions of space.

Which made him a lethal operator and one of the most brilliant thinkers and strategists in all Pegasi.