Anders took them to the common room, where he emptied the box of chip in a high speed sorter. After a couple of commands it made six columns of varying heights. He took one and handed it to Alex.

    "It's as close to an even split as I can manage without having the captain noticing and demanding a cut. Six thousand and a few hundreds."

    Alex took it. It was about four inches high, about forty chips. He didn't have a clip for them, since he'd only used his cred card until now, so he put them in his jacket's pocket. From Milo's comments at the bar he figured he needed a more anonymous way of keeping his money, so he'd ask Will how to go about doing that.

    But later. He wished them a goodnight and headed for his room where he hoped Will was not. After his time on the planet, he needed time to relax, alone. He wanted to gaze at Jack in peace for a while.

    He limped to his room, and winced as he dropped to his knees to lift the top of his bed. He had a hand in his bag before noticing it was the only thing there. Will had taken his stuff out.

    Not only his stuff.

    It was with effort Alex didn't panic. Will had probably moved his case out of the way. He looked everywhere in the room, even under Will's bed, also empty, and the bathroom. Holding down the panic became more difficult. He couldn't panic yet, he had to ask Will. He'd know where he'd put it.

    He went to the display on the wall and called up the directory. It told him where Will's room was, and his occupation had even been updated to janitor, but when Alex asked for a current location, he didn't get anything back. Of course, the internal sensors were still isolated. He had to get to that next.

    He hobbled to Doc. She was the only person he knew the location of.

    "Where's Will?" he asked, as the door closed behind him. She took one look at him and indicated the raised bed.

    Alex glanced at it. "I don't have the time. Where is he?"

    She stated to stand. "I need to look you over, what happened to you?"

    "Damn it Doc, I don't have the time!" Shock froze her half-way.

    Alex forced himself to calm. "I'll come back once I've talked to him, but it's urgent that I do."

    "Don't you have his contact?"

    "I've never needed to reach him in a hurry, and he's usually somewhere close by."

    She pulled out her comm. "Will, where are you?"

    It was a moment before he replied. "Deck eight, corridor... three, aft section."

    Alex bolted. He winced the whole way to the lift, cursing the last few steps from the pain. By the time he reached the eighth floor his leg still hurt enough he forced himself to walk. Falling to the ground wasn't going to get him his answer any faster.

    He reached corridor three, and he heard the cleaning machine. The corridor echoed, so he still had to walk a third of the length of the ship before he saw Will. He yelled his name to be herd over the machine, and Will looked at him, before shutting it down.

    "Where's my case?" Alex asked still a dozen steps away. Will gave him a quizzical expression.

    "It was under my bed."

    Will frowned. "No. That's my stuff, I took it out."

    Alex grabbed him by the collar, lifted him and pressed him against the wall. "My case was in there."

    "No, just your bag." Will was looking worried. Alex thought it was a good thing, he'd stolen it and thought he could get away with it he was mistaken.

    "It was next to my bag," Alex growled.

    Will began shaking his head, then a look of horror crept up his face. He broke out of Alex's grip and ran.

    Alex chased him, but with his limp he couldn't keep up. By the time he reached the intersection, Will was already turning the next one. When Alex reached it, Will was holding the lift door open and motioning for Alex to hurry.

    Alex leaned against the wall as soon as he got in, taking his weight off his leg.

    "We got to talk to Lea, now," Will said. 

    "What happened?"

    "I had too much stuff. Lea knows the guy here so she can get good prices. I grabbed everything and gave that for her to send down. I gave her your case too. I got to catch her before she sends my stuff down." Will didn't look at him while he spoke.

    "Did you do it on purpose?"

    Will shook his head. "I always put stuff there. Stuff I collect in places we go. When I get too much I have Lea sell it. I forgot you'd put your case there. I'm sorry."

    Alex didn't know if that was the truth. Will was a pirate, so taking other people's stuff was what he did, but he chose to believe this had been a mistake.

    "It's okay. Lets just get it, and be careful next time." 

    Will turned and gave him a hesitant smile. "Got nothing left, so it's all yours."

    They reached the lowest level and Will took off, only to stop when Alex didn't keep up.

    "Go," Alex said. "I'll be there in not too long." Will took off again.

    Alex told himself he was seeing Doc as soon as he was done here. He couldn't believe how painful his leg had become. He'd made it halfway to the hold when Will came running back. 

    "Stuff already left. We got to get ground side."

    With a curse Alex sped up after him. As they hurried down the connector they passed Anders.

    "We need to go down for a while," Alex told him. "Make sure they don't take off without us." He left Anders looking puzzled.

    Will stopped at a booth letting Alex catch up, then he handed him a hypo-spray. "Painkiller." Then Will was running again.

    Alex checked the warnings. For human, local application. No side effects. He pressed it to his leg, as close to where he felt the pain and injected himself. Immediately the pain receded enough to let him walk normally. Doc wouldn't be happy when she finally saw him.

    * * * * *

    This wasn't the same port he'd landed in with Anders. It still looked primitive compared to Deleron Four, but it showed more use. Half a dozen shuttles on the ground, people actually looking them over. The buildings were the same gray, but some were four stories tall.

    Will consulted his Datapad a few times as he led Alex through the buildings. Stopping when he reached a warehouse sized one.

    "This is Harligon, he's the guy Lea sends everything to." He pushed the door and Alex followed him into a disaster of a space.

    The room was large, with shelves on the walls filled with objects. And tables spaced haphazardly also filled with things. They made their way through them to the back, where a wrinkled old man was seated behind a counter, also littered with objects.

    He looked up at them. "If you don't find what you want in there, it isn't for sale."

    "You got something by mistake," Will said. "I got to have it back."

    The man narrowed his eyes. "If I got it, I paid for it." 

    "I'll buy it back," Will said.

    The man shrugged. "They look in there."

    Alex looked at the mess. "You got it only a few hours ago. Is it already on display?"

    "Nah," the old man said. "Takes weeks to go through the stuff I get."

    "Then how about I tell you what it is and you go get it?"

    The man barked laughter. "You think I can just walk in there and pull one thing? I get tons of stuff, tons of it. How'd you expect me to find one thing?"

    "Lea sent you a list of everything in there," Will said. "What we want is a case with a statue in it-" Will's mouth worked but nothing came out. His face grew frustrated.

    "It's a Samalian statue, a foot and a half in height. It's painted to look like it has golden fur. It's holding two swords."  

    The man fixed Alex with his gaze. "Do I look like I give a damn what it's like?"

    Alex grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close. "Listen to me. You're going to go get it, or I'm going to hurt you."

    The man snorted. "You? Hurt me? You're just some cubicle slave out for a walk." He nodded to Will. "Him I'd believe he'd hurt me, but you? You can't even walk straight."

    Alex kept one hand on his collar and with the other he reached for something on the counter. He hadn't even realized he'd noticed it, but his hand went directly for the ornamented knife there. He brought it to the man's neck.

    "Someone in your profession should know better than to judge someone by the way they look, or walk. The item in question was taken from me by error and sold to you the same. Now, do you want to go get it?" he pressed the knife harder. "Or am I going to have to go do it myself?"

    The fear in the man's eyes told Alex he was finally taking him seriously, and Alex smiled. It felt good to put him in his place.

    "I'll do it," the man said. Alex let him go.

    "Don't think 'bout calling the law," Will said. "Unless you want Lea to take her business elsewhere."

    The man nodded and took out a datapad. After a few moment of working with it something whirled under the counter. A minute later a panel opened and a familiar case raised up until it was even with the counter.

    Alex's ran his fingers over it. It felt right. He opened it, and sighed in relief. The Defender was there. He picked it up, not only to test the weight, but to look at the felt pad under it. It still had the indentation where is program chip had been. He knew there couldn't have been time to make a fake, but he hadn't wanted to take a chance. Not with this.

    "We can go," he said. "No! You said you'd pay!"

    Alex had a strong urge to grab the knife and shove it in the man's chest. Instead he reached in the jacket's pocket, grabbed the chips there and dumped them on the counter. He checked his pocket to make sure there was none left there.

    "That's about six thousand. You better be happy with that, 'cause it's all you're getting." He picked up the case and headed for the door, limping slightly, the painkiller was starting to wear off.

    "Where'd you get that?" Will asked, falling into step. "I helped Anders with a job, it was my cut."

    Alex pulled the door open and stepped out to face two very large men.

    "Mister Oustalo wants a word with you."