The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Confirmed Paranoia

Naryan was scanning a report she had pulled up on her tablet when she heard the shower in the hygiene suite power on. A curious look over the passenger bay yielded most of both her legionnaires and the Ventru nestari much as they were a minute ago. A glance at the sleeping bays confirmed they were still in privacy mode, a number of the Ventru choosing to grab some rack time during their diurnal cycle.

She sucked in a quick breath then shrugged. Ultimately it didn't really matter who was in the shower. Only, when she took in that quick breath, she caught a scent she still wished was all over her body.

"Lash?" she said out loud.

"Narya," came the rumbling response as a familiar figure sat beside her.

Feeling that presence even as she heard him say the diminutive form of her name, she snapped her head around towards it, eyes wide. Then, carefully throttling back her emotions, she lifted a brow instead.

"Well, you're looking a little less pale," she said. Lash, in a simple shirt and track pants, both in dark gray, chuckled.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he dryly noted.

"We're vampires, remember? No sunlight. We're supposed to be pale!"

"Right, right, I keep forgetting," Lash said with a wry smile. Then, a bit louder: "Two, cancel emergency medical command access for Captain Kingsguard."

"Hey! I might still need that!" Naryan lightly protested. "In case you need to take another extended nap or something."

Lash frowned.

"No more naps. You have my word on that." Then he was standing. "C'mon. We've got a couple of things to do before we get to Esbjerg!"

A snap of his fingers made several of the Ventru look up, the big vampire having used the sound before to get a nestari's attention in battle. Pointing at Narcist, Truk, and Ballan, he indicated they should join him in the gunship's galley, which doubled as the fabrication bay with a trio of 3D printers.

As the five of them stepped into the galley, Lash reached out and used a hand on a palm plate to activate the fabrication function.

"As I indicated to our good Captain Kingsguard here, we've a little business we need to take care of before we are gear down in Esbjerg," the veteran spec ops operator indicated as the four of them looked at him.

"First things first. Two, I need a full biometric scan on all assets currently on board. And advise One to do the same on my authority. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged, Lord Commander," the AI replied. "Stand by, scanning."

There was a slight pause before:

"Scan completed."

Lash nodded in satisfaction and opened his mouth to give out the next set of instructions. Only to have the AI continue on before he could speak.

"Security alert! Be advised, an anomalous tracking device has been detected in one of the assets currently on board. Isolating carrier signal and blocking outbound electronic traffic."

"Anomalous tracking device?" Naryan repeated, looking at the others. "Is one of us bugged??"

"It would certainly explain how the White Flames have been in our back pocket for over a week now, no matter what we do," Narcist pointed out. "The question is who, and I don't think we need to go very far to get the answer. Either it's me, or Wolf, Truk, or Fiadh."

"Right," Truk grimly agreed. "Out of the Ventru nestari on this mission, we've consistently had the most ..."

Abruptly the veteran soldier stammered to a halt.