Finnean took few more puffs from the cigar, then put it down on an ashtray. He filled a glass with Lachlan's whisky and took a sip. Everyone in the room made clear they have no questions by then and since everyone invited had ample time to arrive, Finn decided there's no point in waiting anymore. He nodded to himself, picked up the the cigar again, took a puff and began talking.
"Right, on to the main course then," he proclaimed. "You might want to grab a drink or a snack, this will be a bit longwinded."
He took a few more puffs, mostly to sort his thoughts and to give other the time to pick things from the table.
"As all of you probably noticed," he continued, "we're currently constructing Cape in Magellan. That's no secret among the Irregulars, even though we are trying it to keep it below the radar for anyone else. What we -" he nodded towards his brother "- weren't as open about, was the true purpose of the installation. Everything we said was true, it is meant to act as a storage for some rarer materials like relics and to be our base of operations at the midpoint between the houses we frequent the most, but it's true purpose is to act as a storage and refinment facility, a laboratory of if you will, for alien materials that are pretty much confirmed to come from the uncharted systems which become accessible since the Pulse. If you want to know why are we so sure about these systems and materials, it was this broadcast by a facility called 'Quantum Outpost' what convinced us." He pulled out a pocket terminal, similar to Lachlan's, and put it on the table within everyone's reach. There was a paused video message coupled with a transcript on the screen.
"Coincidentaly," Finn resumed, "the broadcast is also the reason why we're trying to keep Cape Horn under whraps, now even more than before. About a day ago have received call for help from the very same group. It wasn't directed at us per se, rather it was broadcasted to all sorts of groups, but the important thing is the same people who built and sold a prototype tech using materials from uncharted regions drew ire of a group called 'Technocracy of Auxo'. We don't really know who they are and our efforts to find out something about them, however limited, were unsuccesfull so far, but it's obivous said group wants to gain access to the Quantum's research and materials and they're willing to shoot at them because Quantum didn't want to comply."
Finn puffed the cigar a bit and looked around the table.
