The sound on the ship had changed. The engines were turned off, the lights were low and Tristan wasn’t at the Cryo’s controls anymore. He was in the pilot’s chair. Alex looked at the closed door and got up to check on Emil. Regardless of what Tristan had said about needing him, Alex knew the samalian well enough to know that didn’t mean he had to keep Emil healthy. “There’s a list of items on your board,” Tristan said, stopping Alex. “Find me the places to procure the best of them, as well as they security layout of those places.” Alex looked over his shoulder, Tristan hadn’t bothered turning to talk to him, so he could take the second or two to look in on Emil. The memory of the beatings he’d received for disobeying Tristan came back to him. Getting beaten again now wouldn’t help Emil. Putting his earpiece in, and then fiddling with it trying to make it fit comfortably, he went over the list. It looked like Tristan was going to be filming a movie. Or a live show, considering he wanted a broadcasting setup. He looked through the net for what the planet they were stealthily approaching had to offer. They had a thriving movie industry, so there were a few retailers, of course the best weren’t available to the public, those were sold directly to the movie companies. He found three options for the cameras, four for the recorder, but only one for the broadcaster, and with that he’d have to get the frequency codes for it to access the network. Security for all of them was respectable, but except for the broadcaster, it would be easy for someone like Tristan to bypass them. The broadcaster would take more work, the movie companies were kind of protective of that piece of equipment. Alex leaned back in his seat and looked at the planet visible over Tristan’s shoulder. Why steal all of that? That was Tristan’s plan, why else ask for the security for each place. Alex wasn’t above stealing when needed, he fingered the earpiece, but what was the point in doing that now? Cameras and recording equipment were available to the public, what he planned on doing couldn’t be so precise that he needed top of the line to get it done. Even the broadcaster, they could buy. It would take Alex a couple of hours at most to create a film company on the net that could pass all kind of checks. And it wasn’t because Tristan couldn’t afford the equipment. Alex had no idea how much money the Samalian had, but he knew he had a lot. Just the duffel bag that had been half their payment—well probably the totality of it—had enough gems and jewels in it they could buy one of the movie companies outright. So what was Tristan’s motivation in wanting to steal everything. It was feeling to Alex that this was theft for the sake of theft, but Tristan wasn’t like that. He was too controlled, too careful in planning. There had to be something Alex wasn’t seeing. Alex didn’t like that he couldn’t see it, because it felt too much like some of the pirates he worked for, who instead of stealing for the riches, did it for the thrill. They became hooked on the adrenaline rush, and planned more and more complicated heists, until eventually it was so complicated it failed and got them killed, or caught. He pushed his concerns aside. He’d do what Tristan wanted, how he wanted it because the alternative would be too painful. He found a site that rated movie equipment and used that to determine what they’d get, then coerced his way into the stores that sold them, He was able to find a place where they could get everything except the broadcaster equipment, but their security was higher than the other two places where each could be obtained individually. He decided on the higher security store counting on one breaking being easier the hide than two. The shuttle shook, the engines powered up and Tristan maneuvered it through the atmosphere. Alex brought out the sensor readout and watched as Tristan weaved and bucked around and through zones that only he understood. Alex wasn’t a pilot. He knew enough to get a shuttle to its destination, but this kind of maneuvering was beyond him. He always had a solid identity in place ahead of time so he could dock at the station, or land at the spaceport. This felt like Tristan was indulging himself. He couldn’t really be worried about that bounty, he had too many identities, and as far as the rest of the universe was concerned, one Samalian had to look like the other. The shuttle made it through the last layer of the detection grid and leveled out. “I have the best place to get what you need,” Alex said. Tristan didn’t respond. Alex stood. “Stay seated.” “I’m just going to check in on Emil.” “The boy’s still in Cryo. There’s no point to looking in on him.” “I’m guessing you have a plan?” “Yes.” Alex waited, but again Tristan remained silent. He sat down and looked at the camera feeds at the ground as they flew. A lot of it was wooded areas, with a small town here and there. Bringing up the planetary net he was able to connect them with travel lanes, some of which were visible on the ground, but most were in the air. Tristan wasn’t following any of them. Alex had gotten bored with watching forests, plains, towns and deserts pass under them when the engine’s pitch change. He looked at the time. An hour twenty-eight minutes since they’d traversed the detection grid. Tristan was flying them toward a town on a plain. Looking at it, something seemed odd to Alex. There’s was a lot of green there. He zoomed on one building and saw that the grass was climbing its base. The paths between building were overrun with grass and flowers. Where windows should be were holes, some of which had vines climbing down. “Well,” Alex said, “This is quaint. What is this place?” “This is where we’re going to have our showdown with Masters.” “Okay, but what is it?” “An abandoned industrial town.” Tristan maneuvered the shuttle close to the ground and slowly flew between the buildings. He settled it inside a tower where the wall had crumbled, and turned the shuttle so it was ready for when they’d take off again. “Gear up,” Tristan said. Alex didn’t question the need for weapons and armor in a deserted place like this. Tristan ordered, Alex obeyed. When he came back, wearing his knife harness over his jacket and gun at his belt, Tristan was watching something on his screen. Alex only had time to recognize Masters before Tristan shut it down and stood. “Keep watch.” And he disappeared down the hold. Alex accessed the news, and all of them had headlines about Tristan. Even the local and planetary news was replaying it. Just how much money was Masters pouring into this to get this level of coverage? Alex couldn’t recall ever watching a story covered to this level. “Is this going to be a problem?” Alex asked when Tristan returned wearing his gun harness. The Samalian glanced at the screen. “No.” He shut it down. “Come.” Alex followed Tristan out of the shuttle, then out of the building. The sun was bright and hot, but a breeze brought the temperature down a few degrees. The silence felt odd with all the buildings around them. Visually they were in a small city, but none of the sounds were there. No vehicles zipping by, no pedestrians talking together, no arguments. Tristan didn’t seem bothered by it, he looked around as they walked, and up at the building, searching for something, but Alex couldn’t figure out what. “Any chance you can let me in on the plan?” Alex risked. Tristan looked over his shoulder and Alex thought he’d forgotten he was here. “Masters’ plan is to use his son’s kidnapping as a launching point to go to war with Mercs.” “He made that pretty clear.” “So he needs to get his son back in secret. His plan probably involves hiding him again and claiming we killed him, or that he died at the hand of one of the bounty-hunters that took us down. He doesn’t care who takes the blame for his death. So long as he can tell the universe his son died, he will be able to rally everyone behind him and attempt to erase us.” “Okay, I guess I can understand that, why are we here then? I know you better than to think we’re hiding.” “I’m preparing. He wants secrecy, I am going to deny him that. This is isolated enough he will reasonably assume he will be able to prevent anyone from finding out about the exchange.” “But you’re going to broadcast it. Okay, that ensures he can’t start a war, but what about the bounty? You still have every mercs and bounty hunter around wanting to claim it.” “When the universe finds out he arranged his son’s kidnapping, I expect he isn’t going to be able to maintain the bounty. Not to mention what the mercs will want to do to him for having been manipulated.” “He’s never going to admit to that.” “He will. Once the events arranged themselves.” The road before them opened onto what had to have been a plaza when the town was thriving, now the large space was covered with low grass and multi-colored flowers. “This is where it will happen.” Tristan pointed up at the buildings. “We’re going to place the cameras up there. It will give us enough cov—” Alex looked at the Samalian, who’d frozen in place, looking up, frowning. Before Alex could find where he was looking, Tristan pulled him away. The ground where they’d been standing became puckered with holes. Over the surprise Alex turned and ran for cover. Gun in hand he tried to find the shooter. Light reflected on something halfway up one of the buildings. Alex backed away just before part of the wall exploded. He tried to line up a shot with where he thought the sniper was, but the reflection was gone. He fired once and ran across the road, putting an entire building between him and the sniper. He looked around, but couldn’t see Tristan anywhere. He checked on the building where the shooter was located, but couldn’t see any indications of which floor he was on. Tristan would take care of him. Alex scanned the area for more people. That shooter was in a sniper position, which meant there had to be more of them. He saw movement in the shadows of one of the buildings behind him. Alex kept turning, he wanted them to think he hadn’t seen them. He saw another one, heading around a building. Either to flank him, or he was following Tristan. Three seemed low, anyone who knew who Tristan was would know they’d need a small army to capture him. Alex finished the circle and took position to watch the sniper. He continued to glance around, but only enough to keep the two men approaching him in his peripheral vision. When they stopped and aimed at him, Alex spun and shot at them. He missed, but his goal had been to send them scattering. Put them on the defensive. Alex ran toward where they were, their yelling made it easy to find them. He didn’t know the dialect, but it sounded like they were cursing each other. One peeked around the corner and his eyes went wide. Then he died, shot in the face. Alex shot at the other man’s position to force him to stay down. When he reached his hiding place, the man had already bolted, leaving his gun behind. Alex collected the gun, while scanning the area, then went to the body to collect that gun. They looked old, but they were functional. He took out the power pack and left the guns there. Moving carefully he headed back where he could see the sniper’s building. The young man who’d escaped him moments before rounding a corner and came at him screaming, brandishing a knife. Alex looked around to confirm this wasn’t a distraction, then waited for him. Just as the man was about to lunge, Alex stepped forward and hit him in the face hard with his gun. The man dropped to the ground, his nose crushed and bleeding. He didn’t move. That one blow had rendered him unconscious? Alex kicked the knife away. Like the guns it was old, and not well maintained. He patted the man with a hand to make sure he didn’t have other weapons and then stood, looking down at him. He wasn’t a mercenary. He didn’t wear any armor and while something about him told Alex he was used to violence, it wasn’t on a scale mercs dealt with. He should have shot him. Now he was going to have to kill him in cold blood, Tristan wasn’t going to give him a choice. There was a scream and Alex looked in time to see someone falling from the building. He winced as he hit the ground. He could try and justify his decision by telling Tristan he wanted to question him, find out how many others were here, but that meant he’d have to first hurt him, then kill him in cold blood. He sighed. “Sorry buddy, I don’t make the rules anymore.” Alex shot him in the heart. He continued watching the surrounding for more enemies, but the next person he saw was Tristan, closing the plaza holding some sort of rifle. He looked at the dead man at Alex’s feet and nodded. “How many did you kill?” “Two.” “Then they’re all dead.” “You think they’re from a local gang?” “Probably.” He dropped the rifle. “That’s a Karovan Hunting Carbine, I doubt it could have done much damage at the distance he shot from. They have no training worth talking about. The one who tailed me answered all my questions before I had time to do any serious pain.” Tristan didn’t say that in a way that sounded like he’d look forward to inflicting the pain, it was just his gauge for how weak the man had been. “Any idea how they knew we were here?” “No. Let’s get back to the ship and try to find out.