Nest pushed the ATV up the ramp and onto the ship, ignoring the sudden drop from 1 G to .33 G. He zipped past the prone Titan, checking just long enough to confirm the man was breathing.

He appreciated the training they’d done at Tayas Mons. Imperator Tam and Archon Raptis had set up a series of courses in the Titan areas. At the time, it had seemed like overkill – the Jacks were there to defend Avalon, after all – but as he gunned his ATV through the closing door from the cargo hold to the commons area, he was glad to have had the chance to get used to it. It was a different terrain, but it was just a terrain.

As he cleared the door, he could see that the man had also stunned the younger woman; he was heading toward the ladder that led to the upper deck of the ship.

There was no time to check on the woman. Nest pushed the ATV to the limit. He pulled a rope from the console of the ATV, and extended the collapsed grappling hook. He locked the handlebars, and hoped that his aim was true, his timing was good, and that Lokagos Donta would forgive him for totaling his ride.

He leapt, and threw the hook, just as Margu began his climb.

Margu didn’t notice the hook, or feel the weight of the person pulling at his pantleg; he was trying as best he could to ignore the searing pain in his right hand. He held his blaster in his left, set on its lowest stun setting. He had to keep it in hand. If Liss popped up, he had to be ready to fire.

But that meant putting his weight on a hand that was mostly ground meat held together with lattice gel. And while the lattice gel had healing and analgesic powers…it wasn’t meant to hold at this level of activity.

Still, Margu’s will was strong, and while the last couple of rungs ended up slightly slick with blood, he pulled himself onto the upper deck, and gathering himself, he walked toward the bridge.

Liss Peten had her bridge door locked, and was mildly surprised to hear the intercom buzz. “Little busy,” she said.

“Vilum is just finishing up on the conduits, I thought you could use some help.”

“Yeah, sure, just a sec,” Liss said. She keyed in the unlock code, and looked up toward it.

She caught it out of the corner of her eye, just a half-second too late to re-lock the door. The visual of Margu, trying to keep his left hand low, and out of sight of the camera.

It was too intentional.

Liss didn’t panic. As the door unsealed, she said, “Lockout, Peten-Four.”

Margu frowned as the door finished opening.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” he said, raising his weapon.

“You don’t think so?” Liss replied. “Margu, what the frak are you doing?”

“We’re going to land,” he said, quietly, “in the city center. We’ll vent air from the cargo bay and use it to build up a vacuum. If we do it right, we can collect a few thousand humans. Most won’t survive, but it will be enough.”

“Margu, we aren’t doing that,” Liss said. “Even if it wasn’t evil, it wouldn’t work. They hit us with an EMP once. You think they won’t again, if we try to do this?”

“I’m sure they’ll try,” Margu said. “But if we turn power off before landing, come in hard, we can do a quick restart.”

“Margu, that’s insane,” Liss said. “That’s not a plan for anything but killing ourselves! I know it’s three million credits each we’re losing, but….”

“It’s my life, Liss,” Margu said, quietly. “If I don’t do this, they’ll kill me.”

Liss stared at Margu. “What have you done?”

“I have had a couple of runs go bad,” Margu said, quietly. “I was working with Snyusia, trying to bring things in for the Overseer on Archavia. We had the importer lined up. Had everything set. But the Imperials have cracked down. Anything gets near the Insectoid border, they keep a close watch. You know, ever since the Dunnermac Roe shipment back in ’04. Had to drop cargo twice, and the second time, had to blow the whole frakking ship. They were understanding the first time….”

Margu shook his head. “I owe them about Ҧ1.9 million, Liss. If I don’t come up with something here, I’m frakked.”

Liss felt something tugging at her pants, about knee-high. She fought the urge to look down at it. She wasn’t going to take her eyes off Margu. She hoped she was right about what it was.

“Where are Vilum and Xele? You didn’t kill them, did you?”

“No,” Margu said. “When we get the humans aboard, we’ll need them to help wrangle. They’re stunned. And that’s all I intended to do to you. But you locked out the gorram controls, Liss. I need you to unlock them for me.”

“The frak I will,” Liss said. “Margu…I will try to help you. I will. I’ll take on part of your debt. I’ll…I’ll even take out a loan on the Akelois. I do owe you, I know. But this is murder. I can’t crash a ship into the middle of a city full of people….”

“They’re animals, Liss. Just animals. You’ve moved kokgrr-skin leather before, don’t tell me you have a problem with dead animals.”

Liss felt the slight push against her hip, so she spoke loudly to cover what she expected was a human landing on the controls. “That’s different, Margu! Those things were dead already, and the Ler had already brought them back from endangered levels, it was bureaucracy that was keeping their hides on Fribbulus Xax. This would be killing the people that just kicked our arses back there – animals couldn’t have done that, Margu. You know it, and I know it.”

Margu kept his gun aimed at Liss, and brought his mangled right hand to the keypad on its butt. He hit a key four times. “I just moved this to kill,” he said. “Xele and Vilum should be awake in about twenty minutes. You won’t be. I know you, Liss, I can guess your lockout codes whether or not you cooperate. But if you aren’t going to help me, I’m not going to be gentle.”

Nest tried to orient himself on the control board. He was shocked the woman hadn’t reacted to him climbing her – she had to have known. In a different time, he would have found the climb quite enjoyable – she was attractive, and quite fit. But he was doing his duty. So he’d leapt to the controls, and now was trying to figure out what his next move would be.

He wasn’t a pilot. He didn’t know what he could do, other than fire his sidearm at the assailant – Margu – should he shoot the woman – Liss.

“Gravitics,” Liss said.

“Huh?” Margu replied.

“Gravitic controls aren’t locked out, you know.”

“Well, of course they aren’t. So what?”

Nest looked back at the woman, then looked back at the controls. Of course. She knew where he’d leapt to. And the labeling was billboard-sized.

Liss shifted slightly to keep the human screened. She hoped she was right about them. She hoped he would catch on.

“Margu,” Liss said, “put down the blaster. You looked out for me after Neith. You don’t want to do this.”

“I looked out for myself,” Margu hissed. “I gave you no reason to testify against me, so you didn’t. If I had turned on you, you would have gone in for five, six years. What you knew would have sent me away for decades. I didn’t care about you, I cared about me. Don’t think warm feelings are going to keep me from pulling this trigger, Liss. They won’t.”

Liss looked at Margu carefully. How much of this was true, and how much was a lie…it didn’t matter.

He would pull the trigger. She believed it.

“All right, Margu,” she said, “I have to sit down to do it right.”

Margu nodded, and waved her to the pilot’s seat. She slid into it, and said, “Press the orange button twice, and the keypad will unlock. Then it’s just a matter of keying in the level. Six will work, and you’ll be okay, I hope. Hit the red button, and it’s locked in.”

“What?” Margu asked.

Nest nodded. He jumped on the Orange button twice, then ran to the keypad. He looked at the screen, verified the number, and ran to the red button.

“I’m sorry, Margu,” Liss said, as Nest leapt on the red button.

Margu was yanked to the deck hard by the sudden increase in gravity, from 1 G_Ap to 6 G_Ap. His left hand hit the ground and the gun skittered away.

Liss leaned her chair back, under no illusion that she’d be able to maintain consciousness for long. “Nice job,” she said. Then, as she began to feel the tunnel vision of an unending vertical climb overtake her senses, she said, “Emergency beacon, activate.”

And she drifted off into slumber.

* * *

Liss began to fade back into consciousness, unsure if this was a good or bad thing.

“Brinn says the sedative should be clearing any minute. You’re sure you don’t want me in here, boss?”

“No, Rixie. I…may not be dealing with them in a way that you want to be exposed to.”

Liss heard a slight chortle. “Pryvani, do you think I don’t know everything you’re involved in? You hired me to be your security chief. I’m well aware of the dark runs, and the network that you have that’s based out of the restricted zone.”

“I didn’t tell you to look into that.”

“You didn’t tell me not to. And boss…if there was anything I wasn’t comfortable with, I would have told you. You’re loyal to the Emperor, you pay your taxes, even on illicit profits…and the incident on Iaena….”

“I had nothing to do with that.”

Liss opened her eyes, just a slit. She could see two figures. One was terrifying, a towering figure, one she feared immediately.

The other was a tall, dark-haired woman with braids.

“Pryvani,” the tall woman said, gently, “when Alex was threatened on Narena…I didn’t have to kill Melaskah. And if anyone knew exactly what I’d done, and how I did it…that was a violation of regs so serious that I could be prosecuted for it.”

“Nobody’s prosecuted an Imperator in two hundred years.”

“I didn’t say they would. I said they could. It was, by any legal definition, murder. I had a duty to cease using force as soon as I had him subdued. I didn’t. And I don’t regret it.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Pryvani asked.

“Because, boss,” Rixie said, calmly, “I trust you with my secrets. Just like you trust me with yours. And if you ever need me to be…if you need me to be more involved….”

“Rixie,” said Lady Pryvani Tarsuss, “I like and trust you far too much to get you involved in that side of things.”

“And I like and trust you, boss,” Rixie said, “even knowing what I know. Enough to get involved wherever I have to.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Rixie…you are too good to be pulled into this.”

“No, boss, I’m not. But we should hold this conversation for another time. Subject three is conscious.”

“So she is,” Pryvani said. “I’ll signal if I need you.”

“I know.”

Liss opened her eyes, and watched as the Jotnar woman left the room, sealing the door behind her.

She glanced around. She was surprised to see that she wasn’t restrained. None of them were. They were lying on hospital-style beds, all four of them, with medical monitors nearby.

“Good morning, Captain Peten,” Pryvani said.

“I’m not sure it is,” Liss said.

“That depends,” Pryvani said. “Ah, the others are waking up.”

“Mii biru?” Vilum said.

“Margu stunned you, Bierdna,” Liss said.

“And me,” Xele moaned. “Where are we?”

“Liss, gorram it…you delivered us to Tarsuss.”

“Only after you betrayed us, Margu,” Liss sighed.

Margu stumbled out of bed, and walked toward Liss, but he bounced off the air halfway to her, falling back as if he’d hit a wall – which for all intents and purposes, he had.

“A forcefield, Mr. Peten,” Pryvani said. “I assume, that is, you are Margu Peten? Your DNA says you’re Joru Nuprate…but that identification is hardly designed to hold up to scrutiny. You really shouldn’t trust DNA hackers who operate out of Kaol, you know. Kaol is a wonderful place to hide out and make connections, but for falsified identification, you’re better off going to Druza. I’d think someone with your reputation would know that.”

Pryvani walked over toward the man lying on the ground. She was a short woman, but from his angle, she seemed to loom over him like a monolith. She looked down at him impassively, before turning, and walking back to a spot in the middle of the room.

“You were trying to collect humans,” Pryvani said. “Why?”

“I’m not going to tell you that,” Margu said. “I want my attorney.”

Pryvani laughed, a bitter, mocking laugh that she had learned from her mother when she was very young. “Mr. Peten, do you honestly believe that you’re going to get one? The Akelois left Valhalla Station. A few hours later, its emergency beacon was activated on Avalon. My security chief – who’s a former flag Imperator, I should note – communicated that we would handle the investigation of it. There are a couple of different reports I’m ready to file, including one where you are all reported killed. Based on how things went last time, I doubt they’ll even ask to see the ship.”

“We were here to collect humans,” Liss said. “Margu had told us that it was for resale as pets. After the humans fought us off, he admitted that he’d made the arrangements with Siabo Snyusia.”

“Well. And I should believe that none of you knew before you landed?”

“It’s true, Lady Tarsuss,” Vilum said.

“Like a maggothead wouldn’t know what the Insectoids wanted.” Pryvani said.

“He’s recovering,” Xele said. “And…look, we’ve all done bad things, Lady Tarsuss…but I wouldn’t have done this if I’d known…humans shouldn’t be fed to anyone. It’s evil and wrong.”

“And yet I would imagine that Mr. Vilum here has eaten them?” Pryvani said.

“No,” Vilum said. “Not that I wouldn’t have back when I was plugged in. I would’ve done anything they told me. But I didn’t rate humans. It was hard enough for the Overseer to get them after the Rutger Massacre, they wouldn’t waste them on us.”

Pryvani nodded. “Mr. Peten?”

“We didn’t take them from your reserve,” he said. “We were gonna take some of the strays. That’s all. Not the ones you still owned.”

Pryvani walked up to border of the forcefield, and looked at Margu, who had managed to get back onto his bed. Margu looked back at her, and the color in his face drained. The look she was giving him was rather like the look one gives dirt on one’s shoe.

“Mr. Peten,” Pryvani said, “I own no humans. They are people. One cannot own people. Not without sacrificing one’s soul.”

Margu swallowed hard. “Then…then we’ve done nothing against you.”

“No,” Pryvani said. “You haven’t done anything to harm me. If you had merely tried to harm me, this would be a simple matter, one I might even be willing to forgive. But you did not try to harm me.”

Pryvani stared at Margu, and if ever a look could have killed, it would have been that one.

“You did not try to harm me. You tried to harm my friends. And that is something I cannot and will not forgive.”

Pryvani walked back to the middle of the room, and faced her four prisoners. “I find it interesting that none of you are arguing.”

There was a long quiet, before Liss said, “Lady Tarsuss…I cannot ask your forgiveness. It isn’t yours to give, like you said. But I would ask…what do the humans want?”

Pryvani walked over toward Liss, and looked at her carefully. “Captain Peten,” Pryvani said, “that is a most excellent question. They communicated a number of requests when they contacted us for assistance with you. Of course, they were disappointed that they had to call us to assist; I suppose they didn’t have to call us at all. Six-Archavia gravity would have killed you after a while, you know. But if nothing else, your ship was laying atop a lot of downed virgin timber, it would have been a shame to waste all of that.”

Pryvani took out her pad, and looked it over. “Now let’s see. Palemst Themego has given a very thorough report. He says you helped direct him to use the ship’s gravitic controls to disable Mr. Peten. Why?”

Liss looked carefully back at Lady Tarsuss. She considered carefully. She could try to sell a story of how she’d had a great change of heart, and how she was fully redeemed, and how she would never err again. But she decided to take a chance, and tell the truth.

“Margu had a gun on me, and was threatening to harm, maybe kill me. The human – Palemst?”

“It’s a rank in the military,” Pryvani said.

“Mr. Themego then, he was the only ally I had who wasn’t stunned. And from what I’d seen…I thought he would be able to figure it out. The humans are smarter than I thought they’d be. And he proved me right.”

“So you did it just to save your skin?”

“I wish I had a more noble reason,” Liss said.

“And yet you do,” Pryvani said. “After all, you could have saved your skin simply by unlocking the controls. And yet you didn’t.”

“I wasn’t going to turn the ship over to Margu.”

“You are afraid to admit why you wouldn’t,” Pryvani said. “Why?”

Liss frowned. “I’ve done some awful things in my day, Lady Tarsuss.”

“As have I. But you risked your life to save the humans in Paletine…you didn’t have to.”

“His plan was suicidal.”

“Potentially. But refusing to submit was suicidal for you. As was the plan you executed, had I not had a good doctor on staff and on this world. And yet…you still refused.”

Xele swallowed hard. “Lady Tarsuss, none of the three of us…once we knew who the humans were destined for…we weren’t going to help. If he hadn’t got the drop on me…I would have done whatever I had to. Captain Peten…you had a human turn up the gravity? Really?”

“Really,” Liss said. “To six Archavias.”

“That could have killed us, you know,” Vilum said.

“I know,” Liss replied.

“If it had…I’d rather be dead than have been a part of that,” Xele said.

“Dizmona,” Pryvani said, “why should I trust the daughter of one of the most despicable people alive?”

“Because you know what that’s like,” Xele replied.

Pryvani arched an eyebrow, but kept her face impassive.

“Xele said so. To me, and Vilum, and Margu,” Liss said. “And I know…you don’t have to trust me either. But if you heard from the human soldier, he had to have told you…Margu had to stun her and Vilum. He didn’t do it because we wanted to get the humans. He did it because we had decided against it.”

“And that we would have resisted,” Vilum said. “Like Xele said…I would rather die than feed humans to the Insectoids. They took my birju life. I will give them no more.”

Pryvani nodded. “Where was the rendezvous point?”

“Margu told us it was in the Kokinit Restriction Zone, a small base there,” Liss said.

Pryvani turned, and focused all her attention on the older man. “Kaol again? Margu Peten, you have no imagination. All right, well, if that’s the rendezvous point, I’ll get you on a ship there. The humans asked me to seek justice against you; I will do as they ask.”

“No, you can’t,” Margu said. “If I go to the Overseer empty-handed….”

“They’ll kill you, yes, I know,” Pryvani said. “But there’s no way to deliver my message otherwise. Not so that they understand it.”

“You can’t…I want asylum! I want my attorney!”

“Margu Peten. The Comet. You decided long ago to operate in the cracks where the law doesn’t reach. You know what the price of failure is.”

“You’re just mad that I’m on your world!” Margu shouted.

“I am angry you have endangered humans, Mr. Peten. But this is is not personal. It’s strictly business – me honoring the agreements between myself and the humans who live on this world. Believe me, the death the Overseer will give you is far, far kinder than the death I would.”

Pryvani walked to the middle of the room. “Release force fields One, Three, and Four.”

There was a brief flicker as the force fields surrounding Liss, Xele, and Vilum dropped. “You three, come with me. As for you, Margu…you will be shipping out in twelve hours. If you believe in a God, it’s time to make your peace.”

“You can’t do this! This is murder! Please!” Margu shouted. “Liss, you have to help me! I helped you after Neith!”

Liss paused, and turned to Margu. “I’m sorry, Margu, but don’t think that warm feelings are going to make me interfere with Lady Tarsuss’s plans. They won’t.”

Margu slumped, and laughed, bitterly. “Right. Right. I should have known. After all, I always told Dama you were a smart one.”

“Goodbye, Margu,” Liss said, and she followed Lady Tarsuss out of the room.