A cold wind whispered through the Verge's eastern dock as the cruiser Merciless Edict descended through the smog. Sleek, dark, and etched with the sigils of the Galactic Trade Enforcement Division, it landed with the sound of judgment.
Kai stood at the top floor of his warehouse, watching from behind polarized glass.
"They're here," Yena said, adjusting the cloaked holster on her thigh. "Chain Enforcers. Rank-3 clearance at minimum."
Kai nodded. "I know."
Yena's voice lowered. "They're not here to warn us. They're here to find us."
The lead agent was a man named Thalen Vire, dressed in the pristine white-and-gold of the Chain's upper command. His badge shimmered with power—Trade Auditor, Enforcer Class—and his eyes had the cold, practiced detachment of someone who'd shut down a thousand unlicensed markets.
He walked through the Verge slowly, scanning every terminal and hovering drone, stopping only at key junctions.
Behind him trailed two assistants and a silent data-slave: a black-cowled figure wired directly into a humming Trade Authority archive cube.
At the customs booth, Vire's voice echoed.
"We've detected untraceable CU traffic originating from this zone. Multiple anomalous transactions. Intermittent data shadowing. You've had…" he checked a holopad, "...four surge-level spikes in the past seven cycles."
The customs chief stammered. "It—It's likely due to overlapping relay signals. The storm two cycles ago—"
"Don't insult my intelligence."
Vire waved a finger and his assistant began scanning.
Back at the warehouse, Kai tapped into rogue sensor feeds. Dozens of nodes flickered across the Verge. Encrypted trade relays. Underground networks. Illegal miners. Half of the Verge was dirty.
But Kai's system was clean—painstakingly scrubbed by Echo, shielded through Mynor's backdoors, and cloaked in layered misdirection.
Still, even Echo was cautious.
"Warning: Chain Audit Net expanding. Three relays within 0.02sec proximity of your node."
"They're sweeping tight," Kai muttered. "Too tight."
Just then, a notification blinked to life on his terminal.
Incoming Message: Unknown Secure Protocol[Encrypted – Triple Bounce]
"They're not just hunting anomalies.They're hunting you.
Do not allow a scan of your mainframe.Burn the buffer layer and reroute through the Fractured Veil."*
Kai frowned. "Mynor?"
Yena glanced over his shoulder. "Could be. Could be someone worse."
He stood. "Doesn't matter. Echo, initiate purge sequence: BufferNet Layer 2. Begin Veil reroute."
"Confirmed. Scrubbing local node. Rerouting complete in 17.3 seconds."
Down on the street, Vire halted at Warehouse 17-B.
Kai's.
He looked up at the massive doors, sensors blinking rapidly. His eyes narrowed. The data-slave twitched, then said in a hollow voice:
"Terminal flux detected. Node trails diverging. Encryption fractal pattern unregistered."
Vire tilted his head. "Fractured Veil protocol? That's black-market tier."
He walked to the door, raised a comm link, and spoke one line:
"Authorization 44-Abyss. Open under Enforcer Mandate."
The warehouse doors began to unlock.
Inside, Kai was already moving. He and Yena raced to the backup core, locking out physical access to the main Trade Interface. The Veil reroute had just completed, and Kai yanked the chip physically from the terminal, slipping it into a hidden holoband under his sleeve.
The warehouse lights flickered—then returned.
Vire stepped inside.
Cool. Calm. Dangerous.
Yena stood between him and the backroom.
Kai approached with a slow nod. "Enforcer Vire, isn't it? Didn't expect visitors of your rank this far down the Verge."
Vire offered a thin smile. "And yet, here we are."
He paced the floor, glancing at trade drones and inactive terminals.
"You've had a spike in off-market trade materials, Kai Thorne. Trade Rank rising faster than Chain projections. Three blacklisted goods acquired in under two cycles. One dimensional artifact sold, not bought."
He turned.
"Either you're lucky. Or you're lying."
Kai smiled coolly. "Maybe I'm both."
The inspection lasted hours. Vire asked questions designed to trip Kai up. Yena fielded half-truths with grace. Echo kept rerouting background logs in real time.
Finally, Vire paused before the back terminal.
He stared long.
Then walked away.
"I'll be watching your records," he said. "The Chain doesn't tolerate shadow traders."
Kai said nothing.
Vire turned, his coat swirling behind him like judgment incarnate.
"Good evening, Mr. Thorne."
That night, Kai and Yena sat in silence on the warehouse roof.
"The Chain's onto us," she finally said.
Kai nodded. "But they didn't find anything."
"They will. Eventually."
"Then we get faster. Smarter. We don't hide. We expand."
He pulled up the Trade Interface—rebuilt on a secure shard.
New requests were already piling in.
From the Rift, from rogue systems, and even from a sealed vault station in Galactic Core.
Kai grinned.
"If they want to watch me… they'd better charge admission."
Current Status:
Kai narrowly avoided discovery by Enforcer Vire, a high-ranking Galactic Chain auditor. With the help of Echo, Yena, and a tip from an anonymous ally, he scrubbed his system clean just before a forced inspection.
He has secured several new rogue connections and re-established his interface through the Fractured Veil, a legendary black-market routing protocol.
He now stands at:Cosmic Units: 553.4 C.U.Earth Credits: 377.2Trade Risk Level: MonitoredNotoriety: Low → Rising
But the Chain is watching. And not all eyes blink.
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