The Dark Imbalance by Sean Williams, Shane Dix

drink carefully in front of her, she activated scramblers and ciphers and opened a link to her ship.
    Kindling was stationed just inside the protective bubble of the Phlegethon, hidden by the big ship’s camouflage and given clearance by her contact in the council. She had sent it there to act as a relay after catching a tug to the Dark Stressor compact habitat to look for allies. She’d been hoping for a little more time, though; if Roche was already on the move, she would have to hurry to keep up.
    When the connection was made and secured, she spoke via her implants directly to her contact.
    
     Via tightbeam, the lack of emotion in the man’s voice was only magnified; she’d never decided whether it was an affectation or a genuine condition.
    The words came with an image of Roche’s scutter leaving its dock and heading for the Ana Vereine, closely preceded by another ship—a long-range fighter of some kind, angular and harsh. The design was unfamiliar.
    
    
    
     An icon winked in the corner of her field of vision, indicating an attachment to the transmission.
    
    <1 can’t be exact, Page,> he said.
    <1 know that.> She hated it when people used her first name—a fact that wasn’t lost on Trezise, she was sure. She forced herself not to rise to the bait, glancing instead at the data and searching for any of a handful of details she was hoping to find. One was there, as obvious as a nova now that she knew what to look for, and she smiled to herself.
    She wasn’t going to share her small victory with Trezise, though.
     he said.
     She looked up to see the green-faced mercenary still watching her. She caught his image and sent it to Trezise.
     he said.
    She smiled to herself.
     he said.
     Her smile became a snarl. Auberon Chase, his boss and once hers, was a fool, but he was still head of COE Intelligence and safe in HQ, while she was out hunting among the predators.
     he said. <1 volunteered.>
    <1 don’t believe you. Only a fool would want to come here.>
     he said.
    Again, De Bruyn refused to rise to the bait.
    
    She fought to contain her annoyance at his games.
     His voice was smooth and amused. <1 thought you knew me better than that. I was referring to a much bigger target than her.>
    
     he said.
    She broke the line abruptly when she saw the mercenary approaching.
    “I heard you talking to Ken’an, before.” The words rolled from somewhere deep in the back of his throat, sounding as though they were having to fight their way through food to get