Silas Quiet-Article

Silas Quiet-Article is a Crodoc broker on Khesret. He looks like an Admiralty clerk in a better coat: charcoal-black skin, short polished tusks, quiet voice. His office has no Imperial crest.

He wants a ninety-day provenance slice from Aelithstone: handler IDs, refrigeration gaps, correction timestamps. He supplies a courtesy-audit writ and sealed export media. He says a contractor ring has been hiding heat-damaged medical lots. The fee is high because the writ is thin.

He may be telling the truth. He may work for the contractor and need to know which operator name to erase next. He pays for the narrow slice and warns that stealing the full index gets years in remand.