Casteban Mecetti
(Biot)
A Lonely Booth at the TRADE FEDERATION CONFERENCE
It did not take Casteban long to identify his quarry.
But no, that did not seem right.
He was the quarry. He was seeking the hunter.
She stood out, even without the agreed-upon signifiers.
For as long as he could remember, he'd never seen an unattractive Imperial female. He wasn't sure if they sterilized unattractive people or cast their imperfect babies into an incinerator. Perhaps they engaged in genetic engineering. But whatever eugenics program they practiced, it had produced a seemingly unending panoply of beauty.
In his experience, the more beautiful they were, the more dangerous they were.
But then... that could be true of all women, not just Imperials.
He considered beating around the bush, but that had become increasingly tedious as he advanced in age. Their encounter would be brief. He'd best get to the point.
"The clandestine burst-messaging system we use does not provide sufficient bandwidth for complex exchanges. We need to establish some entity that can meet with me regularly in an official context. An intermediary expected to deal with both governments without suspicion. I suggest using a corporation based in neutral space."
He paused then, adding, "While you chew on that, tell me how my son fares. Honestly and without sugar. I would know how his career advances in Imperial service."
The Ministry of Inquiry had people embedded with Maldor's inner circle, but the transfer of information from the Empire to House Mecetti was slow, brief, and passed through many intermediaries. Merely arranging the loss of the Obscurer had taken months. Nothing resembling personal information could be transferred through so many hands with any degree of accuracy.
But an intelligence officer of the Empire would doubtless have a ream of data on their new defector.
Whether they could be counted on to relay that data accurately was another matter. They'd be inclined to tell Casteban what he wanted to hear.
Or what they thought he wanted to hear, at least.
He'd have to trust his old ears to discern the difference between dissembling and honest discourse.
Alicia Drey