Alex headed to the computer lab as soon as the cryo sickness passed. They'd just entered Samalian space, and he had work to do.

    The first thing he did was check on the Johanson Belik identity. Eight month had passed, objectively, enough time for things to have gone wrong, but they hadn't. This meant he could create more of them, so long as he did so on small worlds with simple government systems, then he'd be able to transfer money to each of them from the station.

    But first he needed to work on a second issue, finding Tristan. He contacted the station, and through it, the planetary system and queried it for him. As he'd expected, no results came back. Tristan wouldn't be here under his own name, he was wanted, after all.

    The system was more advanced than he'd expected, Jack had said his planet had been on the primitive side, clearly, that had been a lie. He was still able to slip between the code and look for any mention of the name, He couldn't find any, but the system was only four decades old. Maybe Jack hadn't lied after all, the planet might have been more primitive when Tristan had left it.

    He tried to find body recognition systems, but they didn't have any. He needed a different way to find out where on the planet Tristan was. He pulled all the names from the files on Tristan, anyone he had worked with, been imprisoned with, or had simply shared a transport with. Anyone the Law had felt was of interest. He wrote a search program around those names and let it loose.

    While it worked, Alex created eight other identities, each from a different planet.

    An hour before docking Alex stopped his search program.

    He'd set it to start with the most recent names and go back in time. It had brought up only three names covering the last fifty years, and it was now looking at the crew of the ship Tristan had used to leave the planet, fifteen years before that. If it had had time to get to that, Alex would have looked at the information, but realistically, if anyone from that ship was here, their information would be too old to be useful.

    He put the names and information on them on a data chip and went to pack his things. He still only had one bag, but it was now full, having added half a dozen specially made pants and shirts. With that and the case on his bed he showered and shaved. He didn't know if he'd find Jack here, but wanted to be presentable for him. He thought about putting on the work slacks and shirt, which was what he'd worn most of the short time Jack had lived with him, but they were loose on him now. He'd changed so much physically that he wondered if Jack would even recognize him.

    What was he doing? If he found Tristan here, that was who he would have to deal with. What did it matter what he looked liked? He wouldn't be able to charm the Samalian, he was going to have to defeat him, somehow. He put on the gray pants and shirt and then the jacket. He didn't know what the weapon policy was on this station, but he slipped a knife at the small of his back, in one of his boots and at his left forearm.

    Only a few months after he's started to train with knives, and he already felt naked without some on his person. He wondered what Jack would think of that, once he freed him. The gun went in his bag, in an outside pocket, within easy reach.

    Alex had planned on heading to the airlock to wait for them to be connected to the station, but Will was standing by their door and dragged him to the common room, where a dozen men and women were waiting for him.

    "You didn't think you'd leave without saying goodbye, did you?" Doc asked.

    "I'm sorry, That hadn't been my intention." Alex hadn't planned on ignoring them, but he'd been so focused on getting ready to search for Tristan he'd forgotten all about the people who'd help make him who he was now.

    "S'ok," Will said, "Figured you'd be in your head. Lots of stuff for you to think about now."

    "I notice Anders' not here."

    Terrence snorted. "This is for those of us who actually like you."

    "And Anders is going to be with the captain to see you off. He's the one with your cred chips," Zephyr said.

    "I guess that means I'm going to have to scan them before I get off the ship. He's bound to skim as much as he can off them." The captain had asked how Alex wanted his cut of all the jobs he'd taken part in. He'd opted for ten chips with a thousand on each, and the rest split between ten cred sticks. He had a pocket on his bag ready for them.

    "He wouldn't do that with money you earned working for the captain," Anna said. "He can get away with a lot, but pissing off the captain in such a obvious way can be deadly."

    "Just be discreet when you scan them." Barbara handed him a mug.

    Alex looked at it. "I really shouldn't be drinking right now."

    She smiled at him. "It's Altonian Juice, no alcohol in it, I promise."

    Alex took a tentative sip, and as promised he didn't feel any heat to it. "I want to thank you. Without each and everyone of you here, I'd probably be dead."

    "You joking?" Perry asked. "Lot of *us* would be dead if it wasn't for you. It's going to be rough going back to doing every job the hard way."

    "Asyr is going to be able to take over for me with only a bit more practice."  

    She shook her head. "Oh no. I'm nowhere near ready to take on a ship's system trying to stop me."

    Alex smiled. "Don't worry, I'm going to be testing you every so often." A worried expression crossed her face. "So you better study and practice."

    A shudder ran through the floor.

    "Docking's done," Rebecca said. "So it's time to actually say goodbye. If we're not in the hold by the time they open it, the Captain is going to have our hides." She hugged him. Anna was next and then they left.

    Everyone hugged him after that, Will being last. Alex shouldered his bag and case in hand he followed him to the hold.

    "Mister Crimson," the captain said as Alex reached the ramp. He was at the bottom of it, supervising the unloading of the cargo. Anders was next to him.

    "Captain, Anders." Alex stopped next to them and watched the crates being moved to a truck.

    "Don't worry," The captain said as Alex was opening his mouth. "I've told the buyer to check all the datapads for any kind of infections on them. You don't need to repeat your warning."

    "I'd hate for you to get in trouble because of a trap meant for me."

    Anders rolled his eyes. "Don't think so much of yourself Crimson, it was for all of us. They just used you to track us. I should-"

    "Anders," the captain warned.

    Whatever else Anders had wanted to say he kept to himself. "Is there anything I can say to convince you to stay on with me, Mister Crimson?"

    Alex shook his head. "Jack's too important to me. This was an experience, I have to say, and I don't regret going through it. I'm not sure the man I was before I boarded your ship would manage to so what's coming, but my life is here, on Samalia, I'm sure of it."

    "Very well, Your skills will be missed. Anders, give him his cut."

    Alex watched the man's face as he handed him the box. Alex put it in the pocket of his bag without even checking in it. He kept his eyes on Ander's neutral expression. He'd decided to scan them later, once he'd dealt with his other business, and if he found the count was off, he'd track Anders down and extract what he'd taken out of his hide.

    Alex gave the man a warning smile, to which Anders didn't react.

    Alex extended his hand to the Captain. "Thank you for taking me here, and for trusting me to work for you."

    The man took Alex's hand and shook. "Spend your money like the Law is watching you do it. Pilot your ship like the engine is unstable, And treat your crew like each one of them has a knife at his back."

    Alex tried to understand what that meant.

    The Captain smiled and clapped his other hand on top of theirs. "Be careful, Mister Crimson. It's a dangerous universe out there."

    "I will be. You be careful too. Who ever they were, they were ready for me so it's possible they had ways to fight off the amnesia I gave their ship."

    "You don't need to worry on my account, Mister Crimson. I've been handling the Law and bounty hunters for longer than you've been alive. I will handle this also."

    Alex had no doubt of that. He looked to Anders. "Well, I can't say it was fun, but You did teach me plenty." He waved at the man and walked past him.

    "Good riddance," Anders grumbled when Alex was a few steps away. "What? It is, you'll see, with him off, things are going to start running smoother."

    Alex grinned to himself. He didn't care what Anders thought of him, So long as all his money was on those chips, he wasn't planing on having anything to do with the man ever again.