Free Cassandra Kresnov 04: 23 Years on Fire by Joel Shepherd

of our interests to see apprehended.”
    “A GI,” Sandy told the gathered CSA chiefs, the display screen filled with all the information that Mustafa had shared with her. “Goes by Eduardo.”
    “Designation?” asked Naidu.
    “GI-4337-HK. That’s pretty high; 37s were about the fifth successful variant on the 43 series, known to be a little unstable on three of seven main psych-axes. There were a few non-combatant 4339s made for Intel and service functions.”
    “Poole is a 4337,” Chandrasekar observed.
    “Yes,” Sandy confirmed.
    “Unstable, you say.”
    “Poole’s eccentric,” said Sandy. “No signs of instability.”
    Chandrasekar shrugged. “Just saying.”
    Sandy gave him a longer, displeased look. Chandrasekar was unbothered. They all were these days, all these CSA old hands; she didn’t intimidate any of them. Which was nice, because it showed how intimately she was trusted, and how many friends she had. But sometimes, it came with disadvantages.
    “How did he get in?” Lodra asked.
    “Stealth approach to farside, then hiked in.”
    “Not many ships stealthy enough to get through our grid,” said Alam with a frown.
    “Which implies whoever put him in is well equipped,” said Naidu. “One of the Torah Systems.”
    The Torah Systems were everyone’s problem these days. Seven years ago, the old League regime had collapsed, replaced with a new government that grudgingly accepted its defeat at the Federation’s hands. Several League systems, only made viable by the centralised economics of the war effort, had been abandoned as the League’s economy shrivelled. Reports from those systems had not made pleasant reading. Whole cities had imploded, civilisation collapsed, rampant violence, along with disease and even starvation.
    Federation humanitarians had wanted to intervene and help, but the Torah Systems were still nominally League territory, and a Federation push there could potentially restart the war. The League said it had everything under control, and everyone played along with that pretense in the name of peace. Meanwhile, the Torahns died.
    Until recently, when a semblance of new authority had emerged. New Torah, they called themselves. The more astute media commentators thought “New Terror” more appropriate. Media of any kind were not welcome in New Torah, and several intrepid outsiders who had penetrated inside, to attempt to find out what was going on, had never returned.
    What was known was that New Torah had military tech, and lots of it. Those systems had been the engine room of the old League war machine, and were now stuck with lots of weapons industries, and no one to sell to. Sandy had always wanted to know if those weapons industries had included the capability to make GIs. Mustafa and other League officials had always insisted otherwise. Sandy remained unconvinced.
    “Seems likely,” Sandy agreed. “Ramoja says Eduardo is not here on League authority, yet it seems that unlike some others, neither is he here to defect. Exactly what options that leaves open, Ramoja won’t say, save that it’s better we find and grab him before we find out the nasty way.”
    “Any idea why Ramoja’s talking now?”
    Sandy shook her head. “You know what it’s like whenever the ISO tell us anything. It’s pointless speculating why they’re telling us until we know more. Usually their intel’s good; they know we can make their life real difficult if they screw us with bad info. Let’s just grab Eduardo and then start speculating.” There were nods around the table, no one disputing. “He’s given us some uplink codes, apparently recent, and a very short psych profile. The summary of which is ‘unstable.’”
    Another glance at Chandrasekar. Chandrasekar raised his eyebrows, innocently.
    “Well,” said Director Ibrahim from the head of the table, “I think that concludes whatever useful discussion we can have. Let’s take this information and get to work. Cassandra, I’m