Page 19 of The Last Hunt
The Archer de-cloaked as soon as they were within scannable distance from Omega Starbase. Aethon’s not sure that Bladesbearer bought his ruse of pretending that he’d given up on searching back at the jump point. He’d kept the Menace at a decent distance from Bladesbearer’s ship, but he’s not certain of her full scanning capabilities. If she has a mirror-cloak, she might have upgraded her Bracken-class ship’s sensors as well.
Aethon had thought they were going to avoid the starbase, but they appear to be heading straight for it. There’s no way Daik Montrose is anywhere near Omega. It’s too well trafficked, and there is too much corp presence at the station including Brimstone Industries - one of the richest mining corps in existence. Brimstone is providing the credits for Daik’s bounty, and though Aethon hates that corp down to his very bones, he’s not above taking their credits. He wonders what exactly Daik did to piss Brimstone off.
“They’re going to Omega?” Aethon says. He leans back in his chair as he watches the Archer make for the huge starbase. “Why?”
“Perhaps they want to visit the quadrant’s largest cube of solid tritanium,” CAL says, his voice laced with sarcasm. “It’s a big tourist attraction on the starbase.”
Aethon rolls his eyes. “Maybe Bladesbearer is aware that we’re still following her and thinks she can lose us in the traffic.”
“Does she have a reason to think you’re that bad of a tracker, Captain Trell?” CAL says. “The more likely explanation is they need something.”
“So we’ll wait them out,” Aethon says. He puts the Menace in orbit around a tiny, mostly metallic moon near the station, hoping the low level of radiation from it will mask his location.
“I hate to encourage your sudden fit of unethical behavior,” CAL says. “But if we wait here they could take the Lightway from the station and then we’ll have a very hard time finding them again.”
“Omega has a Lightway now?” Aethon groans. He runs a hand back through his hair, irritated with himself for not knowing. Lightways are less taxing on ships than jump points, but can’t transport as far.
“Yes, they installed it as a jump point alternative for small family ships, or people without their own ships who want to visit the station from nearby planets,” CAL says. “A public transport leaves on the Lightway every forty-five minutes.”
Aethon runs through his limited options. He could stalk Bladesbearer’s ship through the crowd. If she hasn’t yet noticed that he’s still following her, he might be able to keep up the ruse for a little while longer. But he can’t risk losing her. He has to get to this bounty before her. Aethon is starting to feel more and more like shit for shadowing Maeve Bladesbearer. He wonders why she wants this bounty so badly. She’s always been a closed off person, but she seemed downright fierce in her refusal to tell him why she wasn’t willing to split the credits with him.
The comm line beeps and Aethon turns his attention toward the dash.
“Receiving a call from Andromeda Trapp,” CAL says.
Aethon leans back in his chair and rubs a hand over his face. He’s usually not this bad at being stealthy - but the whole shadowing thing has him making stupid mistakes if people are able to find him easily enough to hail him. “Put her on.”
The screen blinks on and Aethon nods in greeting. Andromeda Trapp nods back. “Trell,” she says.
Trapp is a hunter for Two Roses. She started soon after Aethon did, and she’s one of the most consistent hunters around, typically going after mid-range bounties. She has dark skin and long, curly white hair. Trapp’s silvery eyes indicate a mod of some kind - no human has eyes that color naturally. They’ve never worked together before, but he trusts her more than some other hunters. Or at least she hasn’t stabbed him in the back. Yet.
“Trapp,” he replies. “You out here chasing Daik Montrose?”
Trapp snorts. “No way. Too rich for my blood.” She leans forward, one brow raised, her intense eyes unblinking. “But when we picked you up on sensors, I thought I might pass along a tip I just got.”
“You picked me up on sensors that easily?” he asks.
She shrugs, her lips quirking up on one side. “I’m just sitting here, waiting for a delivery from Omega of some spark-cells for the Jurassic.” She pats the arm of her chair, indicating her ship. “But GEM was bored, so she was trolling some of the other AIs. She’s the one who picked you up.”
“Trell. CAL.” The voice of Trapp’s AI is mischievous. “I wanted to play a prank on you, but Meda wouldn’t let me.”
Trapp rolls her eyes. “She’s relentless.”
“GEM,” CAL says, his voice annoyed. “I see you’re - as the organics say - back on your bullshit.”
“Merged with any good algorithms lately, CAL?” GEM replies. “Or have you still not updated your sexuality subroutines?”
Trapp raises her hand and shushes her AI. “Sorry,” she says. “I forgot how much they hate each other.”
Aethon chuckles. “No problem. So you said something about a tip?”
“Yes,” Trapp says. She pushes her curls back behind her shoulder. “What’s it worth to you?”
Aethon sighs. “You know, I already have a plan to catch Daik,” he says. “I don’t need your tip.”
“Right,” Trapp replies. Her lip curls revealing an abnormally sharp canine. “A plan.” She shrugs. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it.”
“Wait -” Aethon says before he can stop himself. Trapp pauses, her hand halfway to the button to cut off their connection. Aethon grits his teeth. He would really rather not shadow Bladesbearer, and if Trapp can give him a decent piece of intel, maybe he won’t have to. It would certainly make CAL happy.