The sound of the arc welder Tristan used to repair the plating on the hull was such that he didn’t immediately hear Alex call his name. “What?” he took off the visor. Alex was at the bottom of the ramp. “We have incoming.” “Okay, let me know once they’ve landed and how far they are.” He was about to put the visor back on, but Alex shook his head. “We have people incoming, on foot, about half an hour away.” Tristan shut the welder off. “Who?” “Don’t know yet. I figured you’d want to know there were they first.” Alex went back inside. Tristan climbed down off the shuttle. He put his tools away and joined Alex at the sensor. “My instincts tell me these aren’t your everyday common mercs.” Alex pointed to the eight people on the screen dressed in dark. They were still too far to see details, but there was a uniformity on their looks that made Tristan agree with him. He pointed to the central figure, the lone one in pale clothes. “This must be him.” “I have a program running to create a better image from all the camera views.” “How did they land without you seeing them?” “I don’t know. Unless they landed halfway to the other side of the continent and walked here, the sensors should have picked something. If that’s him, you think he has access to some SpaceGov tech we never heard of?” Tristan didn’t want to believe there could be some piece of technology out there he didn’t know about, but Alex was right, any normal atmospheric entry would be detected unless it was extremely far. “No kind of heat signature? Meteorites burning up in the atmosphere?” “No. They didn’t copy your trick.” Tristan’s finger’s itched to turn on active sensors and locate that ship. He wanted to look at it, take it apart, find out what it was that had let them land undetected. An image appeared in the upper left quadrant and Alex enlarged it. On it, he could see in sharp details the black armor the men wore, along with rifles, Military issue Harken. He’d have to be careful, those things could cut through light ship armor. When the firefight started, he’d have to keep on the move. The man in white was the mark. Good. “That’s him,” Alex said. “We got lucky and he didn’t send someone else to get Emil.” “It isn’t luck. I knew he was going to come himself. If he did things through intermediaries, he wouldn’t have shown up in person to hire me. You know what to do.” “I’m already recording the inside of the warehouse. As soon as you two start talking, I’ll use the identity you created to leak the exact location of the meeting to the people in orbit. That only gives you at most five minutes before they get here and start shooting stuff.” “They’re going to land to confirm I’m here and only then will they start shooting. So long as I stay under cover I don’t have anything to worry about.” “Except them.” Alex indicated the group heading in their direction. “I’m not worried about them. So long as I have the boy with me, they won’t shoot. As soon as he admits to being behind all of this, start broadcasting it. Our friends out here need to know so they can direct their anger at the correct person, and the rest of the universe needs to know so he isn’t ever going to be able to do something like this again.” Alex nodded. “About Emil.” Tristan gave the human a dangerous smile. “Don’t worry, I’m going to need him alive until all of this is resolved.” Alex’s hands closed into fists and for just a moment Tristan thought the human would take a swing at him. Then he opened his hands again and focused on the screen, bringing up multiple images. Good, he was learning to control his anger. Tristan knocked on the door to the boy’s room, then opened it. “Hey buddy, it’s time.” Emil jumped off the bed, his face lighting up. “My father’s here?” “I think so.” Tristan crouched before the boy. “You aren’t sure?” Tristan placed a hand on each of the boy’s shoulders. “It looks like him, but we need to remember that there are some bad people looking to use you to hurt him. It’s possible it’s one of them, with his face changed to look like your father. I’m going to need you to tell me if it’s him, okay?” The boy nodded, but there was uncertainty in his eyes. “Remember buddy. I’m going to keep you safe, no matter what. If at any point you’re afraid, just take hold of my hand.” He offered it to him and Emil took it. Tristan took the small communicator out of his pocket, activated it and then put it in his ear. “Alex?” “I hear you. They’re still on their way. All recordings are going. Still no idea where their ship is, or how they landed without being noticed.” “We’re heading to the meeting point now.” He led the boy out and through the unused buildings until they reached the warehouse. Inside he took position in the center of the dozen cameras and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, squeezing it to comfort him. “They’ve crossed the perimeter,” Alex said, “they’ve received the buoy message. They’re consulting what has to be their scans of the complex. They’ve adjusted their direction to head to you. ETA ten minutes, they’re being extremely careful.” In the distance metal hit metal and the boy startled. Tristan smiled reassuringly at him. “It’s going to be okay.” He listened as steps approached. He placed his free hand in his pocket and closed his fingers on the remote detonator. There was a slim chance the mark wasn’t here to negotiate for his son’s return, but to see they were both killed. It would make for a perfect story he could spin to continue his vendetta against mercs. Claim that instead of negotiating in good faith Tristan had murdered his son like the monster he was. Tristan didn’t think this scenario was likely, why bother showing up in person for that? But it was still possible, and if it was the case, he would only have an instant to set off the bombs and run. Two men in black armor appeared, rifles pointed forward. Tristan tightened his fingers on the remote. They scanned the area, rifle always pointing where they were looking. Military training, if they weren’t outright military, they’d just left. The rifles never lingered on Tristan or the boy as they sweep the large space. It took them close to fifteen minutes to be done and the boy clung to Tristan’s leg the entire time. This was certainly putting him in the mindset Tristan needed. The two guards took position on the opposite side of the square formed by the four support beams. Well out of reach. One of them said something that was muffled by his helmet, then more steps approached. The mark became visible, accompanied by four guards. He took position before the two guards and regarded Tristan. “I’m trying to find the other two,” Alex said. “Tristan.” The man said. “Release my son.” “How do I know you’re actually his father?” He looked at the boy. “Is that your father?” Emil took a step forward then hesitated. “Hello, Emil. I’m glad to see you again. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you in the flesh.” “F—father?” The mark pasted a smile on his face. It was good, practiced, but as fake as any Tristan used. “Yes, Emil. It’s me. I’m glad to see you’re all right.” The boy nodded. “Tristan’s been keeping me safe. He’s been showing me things.” At those words, the mark stiffened slightly. Not enough for the boy to notice, but Tristan saw and was glad to know he’d read the situation right. He’d been expected to barely keep the boy alive. Possibly hurt him, take out his anger over being double-crossed on him. The mark motioned to the boy. “Come over, Emil. I’m going to take you away from that…thing.” The boy took another step, but stopped. Looking at Tristan. “Are you absolutely sure this is your father? Remember what we know. Are you going to be safe with this man?” “What are you doing?” The mark glared at him. “I’m thinking of my buddy’s safety.” The man snorted. “His safety? You? I’m his father. I’ve made sure he was safe his entire life. I put him in the best academy, so he’d be prepared for what the universe would throw at him. Even this is part of his education. So he’d know what your kind are like.” This wasn’t what he needed to hear, but it was instructive. He glanced at the boy and he too was paying attention. Did his father know how truly smart he was? Was the boy savvy enough to understand what the words meant? “Got them,” Alex said. “They went around and they’ve taken position on your left and right, three support columns back.” “Buddy, what am I like?” “You’re nice,” the boy said, his expression puzzled. “You’re smart, brave. You tell good stories.” Tristan smiled at the mark, the same kind of fake smile the man had used before. “You’re wrong. That thing’s a killer. He hurts people for money. I’m trying to keep the entire universe safe from them.” He got himself under control. “He lied to you, son. Come to me, I’m going to keep you safe from them.” The boy took another step, then stopped and looked at Tristan. His father ground his teeth. “Do you really hurt people?” Tristan shrugged. “When I have to. The universe is a harsh place. Like that animal, I didn’t have a choice with it. Sometimes people don’t give me a choice either.” “For money?” Tristan shook his head. “No. I’ve never killed for money. Buddy, I’m not a nice person with everyone. But there are far worse people out there. You know as well as I do there are bad people in the universe.” The boy nodded. “He’s lying. He’s a killer, a murderer. He’s the worse of the mercenary scums. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.” “You’re wrong,” the boy said, stunning his father into silence. “You have incoming,” Alex said. “They’re early.” “You really think you can tell my buddy that I’m a monster when I spent these last weeks keeping him safe? We were betrayed at the rendezvous you set up, how did that happen? I spent more time looking after his well being then you have in his entire life.” “Emil, come here, now!” The boy took a few more steps under the strength of the order. “Think buddy,” was all Tristan said, and the boy stopped. He was more or less halfway between them. “Are you certain this man has your safety in mind? Are you sure he isn’t one of those bad people?” “No! I will not have you make my own son doubt me!” the man ground his teeth to keep from adding more to his outburst. He crouched. “Emil, everything I did was to prepare you. You need to see that. I only have your best interest in mind, but that doesn’t always mean I can be nice. Sometimes there are hard lessons to be learned.” “Tristan?” Alex said, “exactly how many mercs were you expected? The sky’s turning dark out here. Oh shit!” Something exploded, the building shook, dust fell from the ceiling, a beam fell in the distance, startling the boy and making him run to Tristan. He grabbed his hand and clung to it. “No!” Another explosion punctuated the man’s yell. “I didn’t set all this up for you to run to him! Emil get back here this instant!” Tristan looked at the mark and mouthed the words, ‘I win.’ “No,” the man growled. “I hired you for one reason and one reason only. I paid you so hand my son over to me.” Tristan pulled the boy closer to him. “No.” The man was shaking. “You think you’ve won? There’s no one here to say what happened. When you’re both dead I’ll just claim you killed my son. This is going to ensure—” Tristan picked up the boy and ran. “You better have gotten that.” “What are you waiting for! Fire! Kill them!” “Got it and broadcasting. But we have another problem.” “Just one?” He zigged and zagged, and the floor exploded around him. “I was so preoccupied setting everything up for the broadcast and watching the sky I never saw the rest of Master’s men approaching?” “How many?” he threw himself in the air toward one of the lone guards. Hit the ground on his back as beams flew over him. “Oh, about a hundred.” He let go of the boy, rolled and jumped up in the man’s face. He grabbed the rifle, pulled down then sent the butt in the man’s face, cracking the helmet’s visor. While he was stunned, Tristan pulled the knife out of the man’s sheath and buried it in his chest between plating. He motioned for the boy to come to him and Emil was huddled at his side the next moment. “If the broadcast does its job, the mercs aren’t going to focus only on us.” He stood and fired in the direction of the mark to force them down. “Yeah, considering the amount of mercs that have already landed, they can go after everyone here if they want to. We have what we needed, I suggest we get out of—” the rest was static. “Alex!” Tristan had taken a step to run toward the exit but a beam grazing him sent him back, and knocked some sense into him. He couldn’t run blindly. He had to take down his opposition. Alex could take care of himself. And if he couldn’t, ultimately, he didn’t matter.