Page 76 of Stars in Aura

Ki’Remi lowered himself into one of the enveloping chairs across from her, fingers steepling as he met her gaze, his own focused, unwavering, all business.

‘How’s the full sweep on Issa Elaris going?’

Mirage tilted her head, considering him. A feline gleam danced in her eyes, a predator toying with prey just for the entertainment of it.

‘My, my, Sable,’ she drawled, blowing a perfect circle of smoke away from him. ‘So impatient about this one mysterywoman, ay, that you visit in person for a report? Fascinating. How deep has she burrowed her claws in you?’

His jaw ticked, the muscle flexing once. ‘Do you have any results or not?’

She laughed, the sound husky and decadent, like the first pour of a vintage spirit into a crystal tumbler.

‘Oh, darling,’ she exhaled, shaking out her light pulsing locks. ‘Do I now?’

The walls flashed, with interlaces of data dancing over the surface. These threads led to Mirage’s intelligence core, which wound into the basement and caverns of the building far below them.

Extending into a web that snaked throughout Eden II and beyond. ‘I can do all things.’

She set aside her cigarillo on an ornate stand and closed her eyes.

The thrumming of real-time processing filled the space as she accessed her subtle undercurrent of whispered streams, her consciousness unfurling into the vast net of SysNet.

Into Pegasi’s deepest information repositories, classified archives, corporate records, criminal syndicates, and black markets.

Seconds ticked by. Ki’Remi’s fingers drummed against the polished table.

‘Anything?’

Mirage’s golden eyes snapped open, alert, keen, and assessing.

Slowly, she smirked, but a wariness laced her lips like she didn’t like what she saw.

‘Sable,’ she murmured, tilting her head. ‘You ever glimpsed a ghost before?’

His brows lowered, but he remained silent, waiting.

‘Because your girl?’ Mirage gestured, tapping her temple. ‘She’s a specter.’

Ki’Remi’s stomach clenched, a subtle, creeping dread crawling through his gut.

‘No one’s a wraith,’ he rasped. ‘Cept for maybe us Riders if one goes by the exaggerated rumors of our prowess.’

Mirage gave a slow, deliberate blink, the corner of her mouth quirking as if she were about to prove him wrong.

‘Not an exaggeration. To mere mortals, you’re specters and phantoms. Nonetheless, this woman might even be a step above a poltergeist phenom,’ she murmured. ‘Take it from me. I’ve pulled at Issa Elaris’ threads and found tendrils and smoke signals disappearing into the aether. It’s like she’s not from this reality.’

He frowned, impatient. ‘Explain.’

She sighed, sitting forward now, her demeanor shifting from teasing to business.

‘It’s as if she did not exist until a few years ago, at least in this universe and beyond. I pinpointed her arrival on Eden II a few years ago when she applied for a medical license as an experienced surgeon and started working at a local hospital, after which she transferred to the mercy ship rotations. All official. All clean. But preceding her time on Dunia?’ She leaned back again, exhaling a stream of smoke.

‘Nothing.’

Ki’Remi’s brows pulled together. ‘Nada?’

‘As in,’ Mirage tapped her temple again, her voice mocking yet tinged with genuine intrigue, ‘not a trace in any accessible database. No birth records, citizenship logs, previous employment history, or digital footprints. Not even a deleted one I can recover.’

She lifted a brow. ‘Now tell me, Sable. What kind of normal person has zero intel formeto work with?’

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