“Okay,” Kandara said. “Go wide. All the methods of confirming their location, trigger them together.”

—

Kruse took seven minutes to obtain the authority to divorce Onysko from the rest of the Delta Pavonis system, using an emergency biohazard quarantine procedure that Emilja provided authorization for. Kandara used the time to summon her bagez and suit up in the office washroom. Her armor was a skintight one-piece, with five individual protective layers; the innermost being thermal regulation, keeping her body temperature constant. Then a self-sealing pressure membrane for biological or toxic weapons, which also allowed her to function in a vacuum or underwater environment. Another thermal layer, this time to resist both high temperature or subzero exposure; on top of that was a radiation reflector, which could ward off energy beams and em pulses. And then the external layer—four centimeters of kinetic protection armor, which was flexible enough to give her full motion, but would harden when struck by bullets or shrapnel; it was also resistant to monomolecule filament. The helmet was a featureless shark-profile, equipped with active and passive sensors, interfaced with Zapata and providing enhanced vision through her tarsus lenses. Her slim segmented backpack provided life support, power for beam weapons, and projectile magazine storage, as well as a field medic kit. Microdrones clung to the base like a cluster of black beetles. Wrist bracelets contained gamma-laser emitters and mini-grenade launchers, while her left forearm had a vambrace mount for a small magrail rifle, with a projectile feed from her backpack.

She clumped back into the office, weighing in at more than eighty kilos.

“Holy shit,” Jessika exclaimed. “You look like a seriously badass fallen angel. Does that thing pack a flaming sword, too?”

“Not today. But nice suggestion, thanks.”

“I’m about to order the shutdown,” Kruse said.

“Wait until I get down to the Gloweth hub,” Kandara told hir. “Then I’ll give you the go-ahead. When you have their locations, close Onysko’s internal hubs, but leave me a route open to intercept whichever of them is nearest.”

“I’m coming with you,” Kruse said.

“No.”

“But we have to deploy our local police. They’ll physically cordon off the area you’re operating in. I’m responsible for minimizing any damage and casualties.”

“Fine. You can create a cordon to stop any of your citizens getting near, but make it very plain to the police that if Arntsen, Fasan, or Cancer exit the area, they are not to try and stop them. I will take them down.”

“Agreed.”

Kandara sighed, which went unheard inside her helmet. “The rest of you need to keep a tight watch on events. I’m going to need constant operational intel.”

“You’ll get it,” Jessika said. “I know how to filter for this kind of procedure.”

Kandara left the office and went down two levels to one of the Gloweth hubs.

“The police tactical team is ready for deployment,” Kruse announced.

Kandara wondered if Cancer’s monitors would be telling her the same thing. “Jessika, when we have locations, can you cut network access in each area, please?”