MSNCP Kiro - A slip of the tongue

[Ryden Kel]

((Outside Temurian Settlement))

The wind cut off the moment they stepped inside, but the silence that
replaced it felt almost heavier. Kiro let the door seal behind them
with a soft hydraulic hiss. The change in pressure made the small
hairs along his ears settle again beneath their wrappings. Better.
Controlled. Contained. Not like outside. Not like the missing ship.
His attention should have been on that. Still was, in the background
of everything else. But the conversation was pressing forward whether
he liked it or not.

Voss: I don’t suppose there’d be a reason for them to switch docking
bays? A… malfunction or…

Kiro had already run that line of thought. Twice. It did not resolve
cleanly either time.

Kiro: I'm not sure what to say...

Ross had already moved to his communicator, the device unfamiliar in
its lack of obvious branding. Kiro watched it with mild suspicion as
it came to life.

Ross: =/\= Ross to Foster. What's going on? We... ::he threw an
awkward side-glance at the rest of the group:: ...we kinda need our
lab back. =/\=

Kiro did not like the word need in that sentence. It implied
dependency. It implied loss of control.

Foster: =/\=You need a what? =/\=

Kiro’s ears angled slightly forward. So. The ship was not simply
relocated. Something was actively happening aboard it.

Ross: =/\=Listen, if now is a bad time - but... we're kinda onto
something here. I could use some of the instruments aboard if you
don't mind. =/\=

Kiro’s gaze drifted briefly toward the sealed door, as if distance
alone could clarify the situation.

Foster: =/\= We’re kind of in a fight right now, protecting the
Pidgeon and trying not to get blown apart… can you hang on for a few
minutes? =/\=

That landed harder than it should have. Fight. Protection. Blown
apart. Kiro’s mind immediately tried to categorize it. Pirate
interference? Rival clan enforcement? External corporate pressure?
None of it sat cleanly.

Ross: =/\= ...sure. Just... - call me back. =/\=

The channel closed. The room felt colder for it, even without the wind.

Ross: Well... sounds like we're gonna have to work with what we have.
At least for now.

Kiro exhaled slowly through his nose. Work with what we have. That was
becoming a pattern.

A’Mayri: oO This may grant us some time to better prepare Kiro and
ourselves for what we can reveal. Oo Mr. Foster and the others should
be with us shortly, yes?

Kiro noted the phrasing. What we can reveal. Carefully chosen.

Voss: I certainly hope so. Can’t be very good for trade to have
someone so touchy nearby. Do you have any idea who they could be
fighting with, Mr. Kiro?

Touchy. His ears flicked once beneath the wraps.

He did not answer immediately because there was no answer that was
both true and useful.

Kiro: It could be anyone.. really... the system is... unstable...

Ross stepped in instead.

Ross: Why don't we start with our most recent findings? The energy spikes?

Good. Redirect. Focus shift. Predictable, but effective. Kiro allowed
it. Allowed them to talk while he listened in parallel layers...
spoken words on one level, everything unspoken beneath it Because that
was always where the real information lived.

A’Mayri began speaking again, technical, structured. Voss followed,
more emotional cadence layered over precision. The pattern was
becoming familiar now: analysis wrapped in urgency.

A’Mayri: From an engineering standpoint, we know that it would take
complex and industrial level equipment to even begin the process of
mining and refining the materials needed to encompass the cores. This
would entail large enough spaces to hold such equipment and would
require quite a bit of power and maintenance. On the scale of Electron
Beam furnaces with a power grid on scale to match.

Voss: In other words, ::too loud, too harsh… she swallowed and tried
again:: In other words, that was clue number one that you weren’t
manufacturing them yourselves. This asteroid couldn’t hold facilities
like that. So we started trying to figure out how these cores worked
ourselves.

Kiro: You did?

Kiro watched her carefully. They had been close to the edge of
something since they arrived. Not just trade negotiation. Not just
curiosity. Something else. Something that felt increasingly like
containment rather than commerce.

A’Mayri stepped in again, calm voice smoothing the tension.

A’Mayri: Madam Voss is most skilled in her line of work, and it has
come into fruition during our… ::small catch:: during our tour to try
and trade these cores with you Kiro.

Kiro filed that away. Try. Not succeed. Not complete. Try. Voss continued.

Voss: We acquired several aftermarket cores in various states of
degradation. Some currently functional, some inert. All the inert
cores had suffered massive failures. But even these dead cores weren’t
quite what they seemed.

Kiro’s posture tightened slightly. That aligned too closely with what
he had already seen. Too closely with what he had already reported.
And been ignored about.

Kiro: What.... I mean... what do you mean?

Ross: ?

A’Mayri followed through.

A’Mayri: We utilized our own containment systems to track these
results, yes. They are very similar to the units you have back in your
show room. After the Madam had noticed the cores in an almost reactive
state to the other surrounding cores as she mentioned, it had opened a
fascinating yet newly concerning discovery.

Kiro’s gaze flicked briefly toward Voss. Reactive states. Proximity
response. That was not unknown to him. It was documented. And
deliberately underreported in official clan summaries.

Voss: Have you ever noticed any behavior that would suggest the cores
can network with each other? Link in any way? We observed power
fluctuations when cores were brought in close proximity - regardless
of their state of repair. Which means dead cores aren’t always so
dead.

Dead cores aren’t dead. Kiro’s throat tightened slightly. That
phrasing carried implications he did not like.

Kiro: Not officially classified as “networking.”

Ross: ?

A’Mayri: Yes…but what would cause them to display above baseline
levels of output even when inert?

Voss pressed on immediately.

Voss: It has to have something to do with how they generate power.
::to Kiro:: Have you ever observed one during its initial power-up, or
do they come to you already functioning?

Kiro felt the question settle into the room like a weight. He could
answer safely. He could answer honestly. He could answer neither. A
gust rattled faintly through the outer structure of the building,
reminding him that even inside, nothing was fully secure. Not systems.
Not people. Not truth.

Kiro: My role begins after stabilization is confirmed.

He let the silence stretch just long enough to be felt. Then stepped
slightly away from the group, closer to the inner wall of the
corridor, as if proximity to structure might help order his thoughts.

Ross: ?

Voss: Okay. There is no reason we can’t at least huddle in the hallway
while we wait, yes? While those of us without fur can still feel our
fingers.

Kiro watched Voss move first—no hesitation, no checking for
permission—just opening the door and pushing the group inside as if
she already owned the space.

His ears tightened slightly beneath their wrappings.

Wrong section.

Not dangerous in the obvious way. Worse than that. Sensitive.

The kind of place where questions stopped being theoretical.

Wind cut off as the door sealed behind them, and the sudden stillness
made the corridor feel narrower than it should have been.

Kiro followed them in a half-step later than he intended.

((Interior Doorway of Temurian Settlement))

Voss: Anyway. Let’s say, for the sake of discussion, that these cores
are, in fact, powered by micro-black holes. Keeping a black hole in
balance to use as an energy source is wildly risky, obviously
dangerous, doesn’t end well, blah, blah, blah - but! The fact that
these cores are doing it at all is fascinating. They’re not destroying
themselves in minutes - they’re functioning as advertised, for what?
Weeks? Months?

Kiro: Then the question is not why they last… but what changes before they fail.

Ross/A'Mayri: ?

Voss: ::to Kiro:: Have you ever managed to get readings from a core as
it fails? The timing of it, the types of energy it gives off?

Kiro was becoming clearly anxious at the level of questioning coming
from these off-worlders... especially that Voss... his anxiety was
spiking and his mind was racing. Clan before truth... or was it truth
before clan? He spoke... without thinking:

Kiro: I have seen crews lose short-term recall during late-stage failure events.

He felt the room go silent...

Ross/A’Mayri/Voss: ?

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MSNPC Kiro
Trader - Clan Gaspara


as simmed by

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Lieutenant Ryden Sylvax
Chief Medical Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
O240109RK1