Songs of Love and Death

in counterpoint to the Pandea’s cargo flowing out of her holds.

With a shake of his head, Quin padded back over to where she and Nic stood, then sat on his haunches. Serri knew that he wouldn’t discuss anything in front of the guard. She glanced down at him. He mirrored her frown with a slight narrowing of his eyes. One ear twitched, flattening.

Quin was not happy.

Neither was Serri. For all the things she didn’t know, there was one thing she did: Nic Talligar knew more than he was saying about Filar and Rez Jonas.

Minutes later, noise from the Pandea’s airlock drew her attention. The orange- freckled Breffan chief clomped back down the rampway, cannon in one hand, datapad in another, his remaining two arms stiffly at his side.

With an annoyed grunt, he went down on one knee so that his face and Quin’s were almost level. “Paw print here.” He held out the datapad.

“I shall read it first.” Quin’s voice held a haughty tone that Serri knew went back to his council days. “If you’d like to sit—”

“I’ll wait,” the chief said. “It’s only the basic one-page transfer of ownership.”

Transfer of ownership? Not transfer. Impound. Shock roiled through her. They’d already given up the cargo as Nic told them to. And now… this. Serri felt sick. She’d trusted Nic again. And been betrayed. Again.

Quin’s whiskers quivered as his paw hovered over the screen. “This is beastly. We shall be filing a criminal complaint against this station.”

The chief shrugged. “Boss says since we got the cargo, he can be generous. For a mere hundred fifty thousand, he’ll drop impound charges and you can keep the ship.”

Quin’s paw jerked. “Bugger!”

Nic stepped forward. “Deal.”

“Deal?” Serri’s voice rasped as she swung toward him. What kind of game was this now? Or maybe not a game at all, but the truth coming out. Nic wasn’t trying to help them, he wasn’t a DIA agent trying to stop Filar. He was working for Filar, extorting as much as he could out of Quin.

“But we need time,” Nic was saying, “to transfer the funds.”

The Breffan tapped his datapad. “Fifteen minutes.”

“Two hours.”

“Thirty minutes.”

“Hour and a half.”

“Hour.”

“Deal.”

More taps on the datapad. “Paw print here confirming payment at the dockmaster’s office in one hour,” the chief said to Quin.

Quin glanced at Nic, then, with the slightest of nods, slapped his paw down.

“Don’t even think about trying to leave without paying,” the chief said, shoving the datapad back into his utility belt. “Cannons’ll pick you off before you’re even halfway to the outer beacon.”

“Understood,” Quinn said.

The chief nodded and, with purple-freckles in tow and the rest of his team filing out behind them, headed for the corridor.

Serri waited until the airlock door groaned closed. “What in hell’s going on? We don’t have a hundred fifty thousand credits!” She glanced from Nic to Quinn then back to Nic again. “They took the cargo. Deed done. Now go arrest them or whatever it is you do. And get us our ship back.”

Discomfort colored Nic’s features, his brows angling down. “I can’t do that. I’ll catch hell as it is because you know who I am. But it would jeopardize the entire mission if station admin finds out.”

“I take it that means the DIA isn’t giving us a loan.”

“I don’t have the authority—”

“Then what in hell are Quin and I supposed to do? Rob a bank?” She didn’t try to keep the sarcasm out of her words.

“Don’t have to,” Nic said. “Filar can’t extort money from you if you’re not on station.”

Abandon the Pandea? “You’re asking us to walk away—”

“Not walk. Climb. Six levels up to the auxiliary maintenance grid so I can disable the station’s weapons’ system.”

This was beyond unorthodox. The man was insane. “You’re going to dismantle an entire bank of ion cannons?”

“Nope.” He pulled out a thin microcomp from an inside pocket of his jacket. “I just have to shut down the station’s ability to fire them.”

Serri’s mind whirled. “Not you.” She pointed to herself then to Nic. “Us.”

“I can’t. You’re not trained—”

“Weapons systems, computers? Sure as hell am, Talligar. Or are you forgetting who was your study and sim partner in the university?”

“Serri, this is dangerous.”

“And this is my ship, and Quin’s my partner. I’m not stupid enough to let you stroll out of here with only your word as guarantee. I had a taste of your trustworthiness six years ago, thank you very much.” She tugged her rifle forward. “I’m going with you or you’re going nowhere.”

He looked hurt. “Quin trusts me.”

“I feel your plan has merit,” Quin admitted. “And empathically I sense no duplicity from you. But I agree with Captain Beck. We have far more to lose than you do.” He nodded. “I trust you will do all you can to keep her safe. And I trust she will do all she can to keep you honest.”

Serri raised her chin and looked at Nic in triumph. It meant something that Quin believed him. She wasn’t ready yet to grant him that luxury though.

“FILAR MAY HAVE watchers out,” Nic told Serri as they strode for the stairwell. He kept his voice low and even. Which was more than he could do for his emotions. He was annoyed. He was angry. His own career be damned, the one thing he did not want to do was put Serri in further danger, and now he had. It didn’t make him feel any better that he was armed and so was she—though she’d left the larger rifle with Quin, opting for a more easily concealable pistol. “We need to let them see us enter the bank as if we’re securing a loan. Then we slip out the side door and use the maintenance core catwalks from there.”

“Just like Scout-and-Snipe.”

He huffed out a hard laugh at her comment. “A bit more dangerous, but yeah.” He’d met Serri playing the holosim game while at the university. Impressed with her skills, he recruited her to his team—the best decision he ever made. A year later, he recruited Rez Jonas. The worst decision he ever made.

“Why does the DIA care about Filar? Okay, he’s dirty, but Jabo Station’s had that reputation for decades. What are you really doing here?”

Definitely not what he’d been sent to do—including blowing his cover. He waited until two human dockworkers and a Kortish male in garish yellow robes clambered down the stairs and out of earshot. “It’s one thing when pirates get into pissing contests with rival factions. It’s another when legit haulers get hit with an extortion scam. And yes, I really do work for the DIA. They recruited me a few months after you left.” Serri never even said good-bye, never gave him a chance to explain why he’d kept her busy and away from Jonas all those months. He glanced over at her as they climbed, chancing a bit of honesty, as painful as he knew it was going to be. “There was no reason for me to stay at Widestar. You were gone.”

Something flashed in her eyes. “I’m sure Rez had other infidelities you could have helped him cover up.”

They’d reached the next level—one more and they’d exit into the corridor then head for the bank. Nic kept his senses tuned to anyone coming up behind them. It was in Filar’s best interest to let them retrieve the supposed funds, but this was Jabo Station. Filar wasn’t the only thug. Just one of the bigger ones.

Given that, he’d picked one hell of a time to initiate this discussion. “I never meant to hurt you.”