Tazhr

TAZHR

It had been a long five days.

The cryptic data files taunted me, their secrets buried under layers of subterfuge. Endless hours spent scouring the multitude of logs, messages, and transactions yielded more frustration than insight. Conii excelled at obscurity. But I would unravel her lies—I had to, for Havek's sake.

The first enigmatic thread I seized upon was a string of clandestine payments to one "KV." I cross-checked shipment logs and inventory records seeking any aligning activities, but found nothing overly suspicious. KV was a specter, leaving no tangible traces. Still, the timing of the payments made me certain they were instrumental in Havek's downfall. I had to locate them and extract the truth.

I descended to Thodos Station's seedy underbelly on my hunt, flashing Conii's name and credit to loosen tongues. While she still lived, it afforded access and fear few dared refuse. After greasing enough palms, whispers of an elusive information broker surfaced.

Finally, I banged on the dingy backdoor of what appeared to be an abandoned hab-unit in the unfashionable lower decks. A battered Nazok female emerged, reeking of sour ale.

"KV here?" I demanded without preamble. Her bulbous eyes widened in alarm, hands raised in surrender.

"Don't want trouble, sir." Her gravelly voice shook. "Ain't no KV here. You must be mistaken."

I stepped forward menacingly. "I suggest you end this charade quickly, unless you'd like me to come in and tear the place apart? Or perhaps start cutting pieces off you until you remember?"

She cowered under my glare. "No need for violence! I'll fetch who you want." She scuttled off muttering, "Blasted clients can never use the front entrance..."

Moments later, a spindly, pockmarked female emerged scowling. "This had better be important, interrupting my work like this—" She froze upon seeing me looming in her foyer.

"KV, I presume?" My hand rested meaningfully on the knife at my belt. "You and I need to talk."

Her eyes darted toward a hidden control panel and I laughed harshly. "Go ahead and call your security. I could use the entertainment."

With a sigh of defeat, she beckoned me to follow. I had to duck entering the low-ceilinged room cluttered with monitors, aged computers, and tangled masses of wires. KV fidgeted nervously as I surveyed the space.

"What is it you want? Why are you harassing me and my staff?"

I tossed a credit chip onto her console by way of explanation. "I'm investigating certain payments you received from one Conii Haldek in the past few months."

KV visibly paled at the mention of Conii's name. "I provide services at my clients' discretion," she replied carefully. "The details are confidential."

My fist crashing down made her jump. "Not when they involve framing of my family members! Tell me what she paid you to do."

"Nothing!" KV insisted shrilly. "I never asked what she wanted the documents for, I swear on my life!"

My blood ran cold. "Documents? What documents?"

"Fake identity documents." The words spilled out in a panicked rush. "New background, criminal records. But I don't know who for! I turned the job down!"

Rage flooded me at her confirmation of Conii's deception. Only with great restraint did I resist crushing KV's skull right there. "If I find you've lied about your involvement, you'll pray for death before the end."

She collapsed, sobbing and begging incoherently as I stormed out. One more vile pawn in Conii's games. At least now I knew how she must have manufactured "evidence" against Havek. But KV was useless for connecting Conii directly to the crime. I needed more.

The next name to arise in my search was an elusive Agent Velas who exchanged encrypted communications with Conii in the weeks preceding Havek's arrest. The content was indecipherable, but my gut said this Velas figure was integral. I had to unmask them.

This time, my inquiries led me to a private docking slip in Thodos Station's affluent inner rings. Supposedly this was a business front for a Zentari mercenary who offered discrete, no-questions assassination services.

An ideal middleman for Conii's scheme.

Approaching the nondescript hangar, I noted the peculiar lack of any identifying markings. I nearly reached the access panel when the barrel of a carbine pressed to the base of my skull halted me cold.

"You are trespassing on restricted property," a rasping mechanized voice intoned. "State your business immediately or you will be neutralized."

I raised my hands slowly. "I'm seeking Agent Velas at Conii Haldek's behest. She assured me Velas could assist with a matter of mutual interest."

"Lies," the automated voice replied. "You are syndicate filth, here to threaten or coerce. But you will find no mercy. Leave now and you may yet escape termination."

The pressure of the gun ground painfully against my vertebrae. I had seconds to turn the tide before this sentry executed me.

In a move too fast to follow I spun, knocking the weapon upward as I slashed with my knife. The blade lodged deep in the metal chassis of the combat mech, sending up sparks. Wrenching the knife free, I dove for cover as blaster-fire streaked overhead, the mech's calm tones alarmingly dissonant against the onslaught.

From behind a cargo container, I launched into a sprint for the hangar entrance. The heavy footfalls of the damaged mech pursued me as searing plasma bolts bored into the perma-crete at my heels. I slammed my palm against the access panel and dove through as the door hissed open.

Blaster smoldering in the mech's grip, I snarled in frustration as the impenetrable entrance sealed shut once more. This Velas would remain untraceable for now. And I was no closer to clearing Havek's name.

But I would not be deterred. The threat of more false leads and bloodshed could not stand between me and justice. Conii's web would unravel, no matter how I had to tear it apart. Havek's freedom depended on my persistence.

Returning to the safehouse, my bleak mood sinking lower, I nearly missed the innocuous payment entry to one "JP." I traced back, heart pounding. There—a meeting with Jaxus Plarr mere days before the falsified reports condemned Havek.

This was it—the connection tying Conii to the frameup directly. After days of dead ends, finally, my vital lead!

Tomorrow could not come fast enough.

I watched Emma closely as I shared the scant details about Plarr, hungry for her insights. Her gaze grew distant in that endearing way which meant her agile mind spun into overdrive. Moments later, her eyes refocused, alight with revelation.

"He met with Conii right before the evidence appeared?" At my confirmation, she continued eagerly. "Then the timing is key. We need to look for changes—anything out of the ordinary that happened right after."

We poured over the files she copied, searching for the breadcrumb that would lead us to JP. Somewhere in this labyrinth of figures and aliases, the path to freedom awaited. We just had to find the first step.

"There has to be something we're missing," Emma muttered, scrolling intently through shipping inventories for the third time. "Some detail we glanced over that will make the rest fall into place."

Her unwavering faith fueled me. My extraordinary mate, worthy partner in this quest. With her at my side, no mystery could elude us for long.

My eyes scanned columns of transactions, blurring together. There—an anomalous entry, a payment to "Kesh Ventures" days after Plarr's meeting with Conii. Ventures implied business dealings. I cross-checked Conii's recent meetings and messages. Nothing. Dead end.

I pushed back from the terminal with a frustrated growl. We were running out of time. If I couldn't decode Conii's web of deception soon, there would be no hope for Havek.

Sensing my darkening mood, Emma squeezed my hand. "We'll find it," she said firmly. "There's always a clue, remember? We just have to keep..."

She trailed off, staring fixedly at the screen. I followed her gaze to the payment log, heart suddenly pounding. Kesh Ventures, with an address. KV. The informant who crafted false documents to frame Havek.

But this address was somewhere different from where I had been before.

"KV helped manufacture evidence against Havek, didn't they? What if JP is their contact with the underworld, recruiting false witnesses?" Emma's eyes shone with excitement. "Maybe even one himself?"

I pulled her into a crushing embrace.

"You're right. Plarr is our link to KV, and through them, to Conii herself. We found him, we have our proof." I clasped her face between my hands. "I could not do this without you, Emma. Stay close to me."

Venturing once more into the lawless underbelly of Thodos Station, hope quickened our steps as we headed to the mystery address. The grim maze no longer seemed quite so bleak or endless with Emma beside me.

We slipped inside a cramped, choking bar, its smoky haze stinging my eyes. I cornered the bartender, a wizened Fanaith female playing with the latest percomm.

"We're looking for Jaxus Plarr. Seen him?"

She didn't bother to look up from the screen. "Sorry, never heard of him. We see a lot of people here. I don't ask for names."

I knew how to deal with this. People remembered a lot more after you shook them for a bit.

But, Emma interjected, pointing to a tiny red dot in the corner by the ceiling, the paint around it bright against the rest of the faded walls.

"That security camera—it's newly installed, yes? Added after a windfall, just like that percomm?"

The Fanaith fidgeted nervously under Emma's scrutiny. My clever mate's intuition struck a nerve. I leaned in, teeth bared. "This Plarr. Is he worth enough to you to risk bringing the wrath of the Vinduthi on you?"

Sweating, the Fanaith gestured desperately to a heavy iron hatch built into the rear wall. "Back there! All I know is I was paid to hide him!"

I shot Emma a triumphant grin. She flashed a delighted smile in return, obviously pleased to have advanced our cause.

Then she surprised me yet again. "I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. How can we make it up to you?"

She elbowed me lightly, and I blinked for a moment before catching on.

I pulled out a handful of credits and handed them to the bartender. "For any damages."

We burst through the hatch to find a lumpy blue Meaux clad in a filthy black and leather coat sprawled back on a cot, eyes fixed on a triD porno. I hauled him up, fangs glinting. "Why did Conii pay you? What lies did you tell about my friend?"

He squealed denials until Emma gently interrupted. "Those marks on your wrists—restraints? What made you so afraid that you'd go to such lengths to hide?"

JP's eyes darted wildly at her second damning observation. He licked his lips, voice quavering. "S-she said she'd kill me if I didn't testify against the Vinduthi! It was all Conii's idea, I swear!"

Emma met my eyes, radiant with achievement. At that charged moment, I longed to seize her in my arms and never let go. But answers still remained to be coaxed from the sniveling coward.

"Keep talking," I snarled at him. "Or shall my mate deduce more uncomfortable truths?"

JP collapsed against the filthy wall, whimpering. Emma's gaze traveled over him clinically before catching on his left boot. Kneeling, she pointed out a strange modification.

"This custom steel capping around the toe. Smugglers sometimes use similar compartments to hide contraband from searches. What are you concealing in yours?"

JP erupted into fresh sobs at her third damning observation. "The datastick! With the evidence against the Vinduthi! She made me store it in case the Investigation Bureau had questions!"

He pried off the steel cap with trembling fingers, revealing the incriminating gap within.

But it was empty.

"Believe me, I didn't kill anyone!"

I let him see my fangs. "Trust me, I can tell. Me, I've killed people. I've killed a lot of people, and I can tell someone who's a killer from someone who's a cheap crook for sale to anyone who asks. I bet you can tell that, too, can't you?"

"She made me!" he said. "It wasn't my idea! She said she had a job and when I met her where she told me too, there was some other guy and then they killed him! Right in front of me! And then she said she'd pay me if I took a stick of evidence to the magistrate!"

"And did you? Did you tell the magistrate that? Think carefully now." I lifted him slightly off the ground.

"Yes! I told them what she said to tell them! I had to! She would have killed me if I didn't!"

"Interesting. And what do you think I'm going to do if you don't do what I tell you to do?"

"You're gonna kill me," he said miserably.

I nodded. "Good answer. But I'm a nice guy, so I'm gonna give you just one chance to live. Got it?"

"Anything," he said. "I'll do anything." I could tell he meant it.

"You just need to stay still."

Outside of the bar, I called for a squad of the Syndicate's soldiers to come watch Plarr's bolt hole.

"Why aren't you taking him to the magistrate right away?" Emma asked.

"Because the son of a bitch that convicted Havek is an old enemy of ours," I admitted. "Now that we have evidence to present, we need to get it to a more… sympathetic ear."

I pulled Emma to me urgently. "You are incredible," I told her fervently. "How did I ever get on without you before?"

She flushed prettily at my praise, demurring it was nothing special. I silenced her protests with a fierce kiss. "You saw what I overlooked. Never diminish your gifts." I tenderly brushed a stray hair from her eyes, awestruck by this woman who had become my entire world.

Wrapping her hand in mine, I led her way.

"Where are we going?"

"To the safehouse," I answered. "There's work we need to finish."

"What kind of work? Isn't that it? If Alkard takes Plarr to the magistrate in the morning, then it's all over, isn't it?"

I smiled. "Of course it is. I wasn't talking about the case. I'm talking about far more important work."

"Then what other kind of?—"

That was the moment she figured it out.