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Kaal grinned and growled in a timbred rumble. ‘We’re kindred spirits,jefa.’

Fokkthis men and their way of turning a moniker into a seductive promise.

Yet, as Savvine stood among this motley, deadly crew of warriors, thinkers, hackers, and ghosts, she sensed their mettle and readiness.

She’d worked with myriad security and military personnel, from fast-talking blusters to the menacing real deal.

This pack was the latter, perhaps even the most lethal she’d ever met.

Her gut told her she could trust them to have her six in a firefight.

Then came the unbidden thought.Were they all shifters like Xander?

Xander’s eyes tracked her assessment of them all with a slight turn to his lips as if provoking her to discover otherwise.

She shivered, for there was no doubt these men weren’t thugs hiding behind guns.

This squad of elite warriors was deadly and ruthless to the core. Calculated, fierce, and disciplined.

Given the evidence so far, they probably had the ability to conduct protracted, complex, and challenging operations involving high-level, precise military skills and utilizing the full extent of their available weapons and capabilities.

Still, they operated like a corporation, not a gang, like a unit that rewrote the rules and built a sophisticated command structure.

Impressive.

Miral glided in last, her presence as cool as ever in her synth-flesh form, dressed in a gunmetal suit and boots that hummed as she walked.

The AI wore a midnight blue ensemble glittering with starlight-coded glyphs, her synthetic skin glowing beneath it.

She leaned against the glass wall, arms crossed, amused and observing.

‘Miral.’ Savvine acknowledged her, cautious but polite.

‘Chief Bianchi,’ the AI purred. ‘I’ve synced this room to your bio-sig, and I have a locked-down firewall in operation, no external uplinks. No override access. Nothing you say here leaves the walls unless you want it to.’

Savvine gazed around the room slowly, taking it all in.

The precision. The cohesion.

The unspoken command Xander had in this space.

The loyalty of the men who stood by him without question.

With her omnipotent glow, even Miral deferred to him with a deference Savvine suspected was not the norm.

It appears she and the Bianchis underestimated thesekinais.

Not her, not anymore.

Samira crossed her arms and faced the Signet team, meeting their gazes with her steady one. ‘I’m here on behalf of Eugene Bianchi to get a cost and build estimate for a new frigate toreplaceThe Odalon.We request a fast turnaround, full spec, no corners cut. We’ve got the funds, and we need it yesterday.’

‘You would,’ Xander drawled, eyes glinting. ‘The Bianchis are rolling in it.’

She smirked. ‘Seems we’ve been outmatched in the weapons and threat vector security by you folk.’

Santi’s grin widened. ‘Nice to meet our match, then.’

‘You hinted at a ship build in your message to thecapitán,’ Miral said, ‘so here’s a little something we prepared earlier.’