Right from the start, Mike knew this thing Lu got herself mixed up in was going to be trouble, and now here it was in the form of UAG regulators showing up at the Crossroads asking about her new friends. He had to warn Lu, so he sent a tag message through the Titi Tech system, knowing that his friend would understand the hidden meaning and stay away.
BACK STORY
Mike and his brothers, Gabe, Rafi and Uri, own the Crossroads, a small starbase on the edge of the Roslexian Sector that contains the Crossroads Cafe, a sprawling establishment that spans three levels at the center of the starbase where just about everyone goes to eat, drink and socialize. A popular hot spot in the area, it's the place to see and be seen, and Mike is the brother with the charismatic larger-than-life personality in charge of running it, making him something of a local legend.
Mike is also one of the very few who knows Lu's secret. Lu is actually Salelu Butwale Ti Orenga, the official pilot of the Singers of Songs. During her last trip into the Astrocyan Realms, where time runs very differently, the crystaline matrix responsible for maintaining the coherent flow of linear time malfunctioned. When Lu returned from what, for her, was a short trip, she discovered that generations had past in Kantostara, and her home world of Bane'ile had long since been destroyed.
When Lu first showed up at the Crossroads, she was a mess. Mike befriended her and did his best to help her with both the emotional reprecussions of what she had experienced and the practical matters of adjusting to her new reality and finding jobs as a light freighter pilot transporting goods and passengers, and now Mike's friend was in trouble. Lu had picked up some passengers and gotten involved with their cause, and the UAG regulators had come looking for them. Apparently it had something to do with that mess between the UAG and Ket's home world of Kataan.
Mike needed to warn Lu to stay away from the Crossroads without drawing the attention of the regulators, so he sent a message in tag, the pictographic messaging language that also has a secret translation known only to those involved in smuggling. Since Lu had done some, shall we say "questionable" runs for Mike's brother Uri, he knew she would understand.
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