Lenya braced herself for the bump as Drixis’ ship settled onto the black top surface of the Vorsha starport. After a moment, the subtle hum of the engine was replaced with a staccato ticking noise that gradually lengthened until it, too, fell silent.

Drixis swiveled in her pilot’s chair until the green-haired woman was staring Lenya right in the eyes.

She did not look too pleased.

“Get out.”

Lenya sighed. “Aw come on Drix-“

“Get out.” The pilot repeated, monotonously.

“I mean I know I kind of put you in a jam back there, but-”

“Get out.”

“But, come on, you said you’d-“

“Get out.”

Lenya bit her lip and glanced through the porthole to the clear day outside. After a long tense moment of silence in which Drixis, furious and unblinking, stared a hole into her forehead. Finally, the red haired woman pulled herself to her feet with a long-suffering sigh.

“All right, all right.” Lenya raised her hands in a gesture of appeasement. “You’re right, I frakked it back there, and I put you in a bind. You got me to Vorsha and that’s more than I probably deserve. Charlotte and I will leave you alone.”

Drixis’ gaze softened, slightly, and she nodded.

“For what it’s worth, thanks Drix. You probably had every justification to chuck me out the airlock.” Lenya chuckled ruefully and shrugged into the strap of her bag. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Don’t think for a moment that the idea hadn’t crossed my mind several times.” The pilot grumbled sullenly, turning back to the controls of her ship. “You’re lucky I don’t hand you over to spaceport security right now.”

“I know.” Lenya leaned over and pressed an exaggerated kiss onto the top of Drixis head. “You’re a total spretz, and you’re more of a friend than I deserve.”

“Oh get out already!” Drixis groused, though there was the slightest upward tug on her lips. “And, Len?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful, all right? I don’t want to have to crash Rura Penthe to bail your neck out.”

Lenya grinned and opened the hatch to the outside. “Right.”

She stepped out into the sunshine and after a moment, Charlotte’s head poked out of the breast pocket of her jacket.

“Well, now what do we do?” She sighed as she leaned out of Lenya’s pocket to get a look around. “We’re certainly no closer to Titan Station. In fact, it seems we’ve gotten further away.”

“I know.” Lenya acknowledged. “I’m sorry. But we’d be no good to Molly if I got arrested and you got confiscated.”

“I’m not blaming you.” Charlotte told the titan. “I’m just commiserating. So, I repeat: What do we do now?”

There was a long moment of silence where the only sound was Lenya’s boots on the pavement below. They’d left the spaceport and were heading down the street. The sidewalk was mostly empty, but occasionally they would pass another Titan.

“Honestly Charlotte, I don’t know. I’ll be flagged if we try to go back to Titan Station. I’m sure that Imperator will be after us now that I’ve fled custody.”

She didn’t want to say it to Charlotte, but every instinct Lenya had was telling her to lay low, to find some place to hole up for a few weeks until the Imperator gave up on finding her. But, the titan woman knew she could never justify wasting the time to her human friend. Not when Molly was in danger of being sold and carted off to an unknown part of the galaxy and an unknown fate.

Not to mention the fact that if she brought Charlotte back to Titan Station and was caught, Charlotte would also be taken and sold as well.

Lenya stopped short. That hadn’t occurred to her before.

“So where are we now, anyway?”

Charlotte’s voice brought Lenya out of her thoughts and back into the present. She shook her head and looked around.

“Well… We’re on the planet Vorsha.” Lenya muttered, glancing up at the slightly purpled midday sky. “Actually, that might work to our advantage. I have a few associates who are already here, they might be able to help us out. And after that I know the perfect place for us to disappear. First, there’s something we need to do.”

“And what’s that?” Charlotte asked, not entirely liking the look on her giant friend’s face.

“We’ve been playing passive, letting him chase us.” Lenya continued. “I think it’s time we changed that. I think it’s time we were a little more proactive.”

She reached for her pad and dialed in a code.

*.*.*.*

“What is this place?” Molly muttered staring up at the Olympian skyscrapers that surrounded her and trying desperately to fight down the wave of panic she felt at being near the monolithic structures.

“This is Tremarla. It’s the capital of Vorsha.” Vanser said, glancing around, as if instinctively assessing the area for possible threats.

“What’s with the posters?” Molly asked, pointing to one of the giant images plastered to the side of the building that they were passing by. Each one was black and featured a titan in costume. They reminded Molly of comic book characters.

“Huh? Oh those.” Vanser chuckled. “Those are Tol-bot players. It’s a popular sport here in the Empire. The Grand Championship is coming up soon, and they’re holding it here. I mean, it really should be all over with, but Ri- Uh, the Iron Maiden postponed it.”

“Iron Maiden?”

“Yeah.” Vanser pointed to one of the larger posters that featured a woman dressed in tight black leather, her features obscured by a black helmet and faceplate. “Iron Maiden. The current champion. She decided to postpone the tournament for several weeks. She didn’t really say why.”

“She looks scary.” Molly muttered, staring up at the large imposing image.

“That’s the idea. It’s supposed to intimidate her opponents. She’s nice in person… I’m sure.”

They continued walking, the images of Tol-bot competitors staring down at them as they passed.

“So these are all players?” Molly asked. She noted that the costumes reminded her of professional wrestling back on Earth.

“Yeah, each player adopts a persona when they enter the Arena.” Vanser explained, point at the players as they passed them. “Iron Maiden, Reefsman, Daemon. That one is Starchild. And that one is Dibilique.”

The player on the poster that Vanser had suddenly stopped in front of was a rather curvy red haired woman in a black and red body suit which had been obviously tailored to show her assets to her greatest advantage. Her hair was cut short and a dark red domino mask covered half her face. Nevertheless, Molly could tell that there was an attractive woman underneath the costume.

Which was likely why they’d been standing in front of her for several minutes now.

“Hey…” Molly muttered poking Vanser in the neck. “Vanser? You still in there?”

“What? Yes, of course I am.” Vanser muttered, resuming his walk.

“What, you attracted to her or something?” Molly teased. “Does Vanser Nix have a crush?”

“No, of course not.” Vanser muttered. “I, uh, I might have been a fan of her when I was a teenager. But, I… she’s a good player. She hasn’t won a title yet, but that’s mostly because Iron Maiden’s been completely stonewalling the competition. She’s good enough to win, I can tell… She probably will win a championship, someday.”

“Uh huh.” Molly muttered, a sly smile on her face. “You, my friend, are totally crushing. Vanser Nix has a celebrity crush.”

The Imperator rolled his eyes but chose not to comment.

They resumed walking when Vanser’s pad beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket and read the message that appeared on the screen.

“Someone’s spotted our little friend nearby.” He muttered. He raised his hand for Molly to climb into his palm and then carefully lowered her into his pocket for safety. “If we hurry we might be able to catch up with her.”

*.*.*.*

Lenya ducked into an alleyway to catch her breath. She’d deliberately allowed herself to be seen by the authorities, knowing- or at least suspecting- that word would get back to her tail. If he was on the planet at all, she had no doubt he’d reached out to the locals. And if he wasn’t, well, the Peacers would have no reason to be after her.

Her pad buzzed and she glanced down at the message and smirked.

“Are we good to go?” Charlotte asked, as she peered down at the screen. Of course, she was unable to read the script that was printed thereon.

“Yeah.” Lenya slipped the pad back into her pocket. “They’re ready.”

*.*.*.*

Vanser quickly made his way over to where the report had indicated his fugitive was last seen. It didn’t take him long to spot her, even in the somewhat crowded area. Her red hair stood out like a beacon to him.

Quietly, so as not to spook him quarry, he began to walk closer to her. He kept his eyes focused on her completely.

She glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she spotted him and, before Vanser could even try to stop her, she took off running.

“Shaka!” The Imperator muttered before pulling himself into a sprint after her.

She’d had an impressive lead on him, but Vanser had physical training and this time she didn’t have a ship to jump into to escape him. He was quickly gaining on her.

Something rammed into his side and Vanser fell to the ground. He had enough presence of mind to roll with the impact and land on his side so Molly would be safe from harm. Unfortunately, while Molly was safe from his crushing weight, she wasn’t terribly secure in his pocket. He watched in horror, as she flew from her hiding spot and out onto the sidewalk in front of him. As if in slow motion, he watched as her body landed on the sidewalk and lay crumpled like a broken toy.

Right before the two men who had knocked into him landed on top of him. They were in the middle of a brawl and he’d had the misfortune of getting in between them.

“Get off!” He yelled, but the two men were too caught up in their squabble to hear him. Vanser kept his eyes locked on Molly’s form, which was just beginning to stir, and prayed that she wouldn’t be crushed by an errant step from one of the two goons on top of him.

Vanser glanced up and saw the woman he’d been pursuing. She had a triumphant look on her face that quickly turned into one of shock. Vanser followed her gaze and saw that she was looking directly at Molly. A second later she took a step towards the tiny human.

“No!” Vanser muttered desperately as he tried to untangle himself. But it was no use. Vanser watched in horror as she knelt down next to where the red haired human lay and carefully picked plucked her from the ground with her fingers.

The two of them locked eyes, Vanser’s a mask of fury. The thief smiled placidly and with a smile and a wink, disappeared into the crowd.

Fury built inside Vanser and he surged to his feet, knocking both of the brawling men to the ground. Before either of them could recover, Vanser picked both of them up by the scruff of their necks and slammed their heads together with a rather sickening crunch. He threw each of them to the ground where they both lay, moaning and holding their heads.

Vanser grabbed his pad and called in local law enforcement to come deal with the two of them. Meanwhile he kept his eye out for the runaway thief. There was no sign of her. She and Molly were gone.

*.*.*.*

“Is she okay?” Lenya asked frantically as she lowered Molly’s injured form into her pocket next to Charlotte.

“Oh sweet Jesus, you found her!” Charlotte exclaimed, running a hand over Molly’s unconscious face as if to convince herself that her friend was really there. “What the hell happened to her?!”

“The Imperator had her with him.” Lenya panted as she weaved through the crowd. “She fell out of his pocket when my friends knocked him over.”

“Well, she’s still breathing, and her eyes are opening. I think she’s coming around. She’ll probably have one hell of a headache though. Why would he have her?”

“I don’t know.” Lenya admitted grimly. “But I’m sure it wasn’t for anything good.”

“You don’t think he….” Charlotte’s face paled. “I mean…”

Lenya shook her head, but didn’t deny the possibility.

“Oh god…” Charlotte muttered. “What do we do now, Len?”

“We hide out for a while.” The Titan answered, ducking into another alley. “Fortunately, I know the perfect place for us to disappear.”

*.*.*.*.*

“You can’t blame yourself, Vans.”

“Can and will, Rixie.” Vanser growled, running a hand through his hair. “It’s my fault. I should have been more observant. I never should have let those two oafs knock me to the ground in the first place. And… She’s so small, what if the fall killed her? What then?”

“Humans are a lot more durable than they look.” Rixie told him gently. “Alex has fallen from the top of my head and been fine. He might have been a little winded afterwards, and maybe a little bruised, but nothing that didn’t clear up in a day or two.”

“Still… Even if she’s physically fine, and I’ve no guarantee of that mind you, that still leaves her in the hands of that thief.”

“So you’re no closer to figuring out who she is?” Rixie asked, tenting her fingers and resting her chin on them.

“No.” Vanser muttered sullenly. “I’ve given Pryvani her description and called in a favor or two back and headquarters, but that was earlier today. I haven’t heard anything back from any of them.”

“Well, you’re doing everything you can.” Rixie muttered sympathetically.

Vanser sighed and shook his head. “Meanwhile, Molly is probably being sold to some lowlife on the black market.”

Rixie shook her head. “Think positive, okay?” A small smirk tugged at her lips. “If nothing else, I’ll be there in a little while. Maybe I’ll be able to help.”

“I think you’ll be a little busy.” Vanser rolled his eyes. “Besides, she’ll probably try to jump the planet before that happens.”

“Still. You never know.” Rixie shrugged. “Maybe she’s a tol-bot fan.”