Dan Parsen’s eyes widened when he entered the conference room aboard Cerberus Station. Colenol Taver was there, along with three other men. One of them was that son of a bitch, Shane Threscher. Dan wanted to snarl.

“You’re late,” Taver said.

Dan locked eyes with Shane as he slid into his seat. God, he was ugly. “Pilot’s fault.” Dan always used pathetic excuses with Taver. The old man would let a lot slide so long as you were honest with him. Dan always used flimsy excuses just to annoy him. Being one of Taver’s top men, he could get away with it.

Taver gave him an exasperated look, then introduced Dan to the other men at the table. There was the Cerberus Station administrator, the governor of the Beta Hanson system, an Alliance senator, and finally the chief of staff of the Alliance Navy.

Taver began to drone on about the minutiae of the case as Dan scrolled through the more prevalent data on the digital tabletop. So far an action plan had not been drawn up, so the men in the room, Dan included, would have to draw one up.

A shiver ran down his spine as he thought of Shane Threscher having his back. Ah, shit...

“Are you listening, soldier?” Taver asked.

Dan looked up at the grizzled colonel. He had a square jaw, blonde hair that was mostly white, and leathery skin. He didn’t bother to wear his uniform that was plastered with a dozen different medals and ribbons. “Of course, sir.”

“Thoughts?”

Dan glanced at the high-profile men at the table. “We go in and get Ambassador Silverman and Diplomat Kolivar out.”

As if that wasn’t completely obvious. Taver crossed his arms. “What’s your plan?”

Dan looked at the glowing report between his arms. “It looks like a reconnaissance mission, sir.”

Kirk Farshaw cocked his head. The Cerberus Station administrator was a short man with a round belly. “We know where they’re at. Why not just send in assault and extraction teams?”

Dan pushed the map displaying Acheron’s surface about the table, scanned an area called the Gulch. Apparently it was an old mining city up in the mountains. The area was an oasis now. Dan shook his head. “There’s a large population living down there; about a hundred thousand people. We’d never find them in there during an assault.”

“It’s a recon mission,” Shane said, his bottom lip twisted in a strange way due to the pallid scar running across his face.

Shane Threscher wasn’t a stupid man. In fact, he was very smart. And dirty. A dangerous combination. Dan had to admit he didn’t have empirical proof that the man was coorrupt, otherwise he’d be rotting in some prison somewhere. Probably Acheron.

That would be nice.

But Dan had seen things, connected multiple inferring evidences. There’s no way that op on the Glasarus system went bad because of an honest mistake—there was just no way.

Dan realized he was scowling at the screen between his arms and looked up. “He’s right.” It killed him to admit it, and scared him to know he’d be partnered with the bastard on this mission. Shane knew Dan was on to him. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think he’d be looking for ways to get Dan killed while they were working together. An accident.

Yeah...

“So,” Taver said. “You go in disguised as the locals, find out where Ambassador Silverman and Diplomat Kolivar are being held and then signal an extraction team.” He said it matter of fact.

Governor Scott Cinder shifted his hands on the table. “I can have marines standing by for your signal in a few hours.”

Dan nodded.

“Won’t you want to send in more than just two men?” Senator Wells asked. “You said there were a hundred thousand people down there. How do you expect to find just two?”

Taver passed a questioning look between Dan and Shane. They were his best men, so they had to come up with the answers.

“There are a lot of people down there,” Shane said in his scratchy voice. “But you can’t keep something as big as a fucking alien being your prisoner much of a secret, now can you?”

Taver nodded to himself. Shane had a good point. Retuailian criminals—which were very few in Alliance sectors—were never sent to Acheron.

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“Sir,” Dan said to Taver. “We’ll figure it out. We know they’re in that city and we’ll search as long as we have to until we find them. It’s only a matter of time.”

Taver looked thoughtful. Then he glanced toward Senator Wells who nodded his ascent. Taver was in charge of his men, but the ultimate authority here was with the Senator. Everyone else was just backup.

They ran through the particulars a few more times just to let everything sink in. Dan was quicker than that, but these types needed more time to process information of this nature.

“I want this mission launched as soon as possible,” Taver said. He turned to Dan and Shane, “Follow Ms. Yuen, she’ll get you prepped.”

After everyone filed out of the room, Dan turned to Taver. “I don’t like being paired with him.” The colonel knew who Dan was talking about.

“Too damn bad.”

The bad thing about playing games with superior officers just to annoy them, was that they always ended up winning. They were in a position to kick your balls harder than you could kick theirs. It was a game between Dan and Taver.

Taver knew he could trust Dan. They had a long working relationship together. Dan had covered for him, both times when the old colonel would have had to suffer embarrassment and even a possible discharge. The old dog had spent his whole life in the Alliance military. He probably wouldn’t know what to do with himself when he finally retired. “He’s going to get me killed the moment I have my guard down.”

Taver raised an eyebrow. “Then don’t let your guard down.”

Dan nearly chuckled, but he had to stay serious. This was serious. “He’s dirty!”

“And that, soldier,” Taver said pointing a finger as they left the conference room, “is a strong accusation. You have no proof, and never did.”

Dan breathed out heavily. The colonel was the most stubborn man he’d ever known. There was no changing his mind once he had it made, and he had it made. “Fuck it. I’ll take care of myself.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, son.”

Dan changed the subject. “Since when did you get an aide?”

The old man turned to him defensively. “Since I got old, dammit! Now stop your yapping and get prepped!”

Taver wasn’t stupid, and from his point of view, Shane Threscher wasn’t dirty, but Dan knew he was, and Shane knew that he knew he was. He would just have to take care of himself.

* * *

Dan changed into the prison garb Ms. Yeun had prepared for them. They were going to be dropped on Acheron with a batch of legit prisoners to sell the ruse. It was a good plan.

The transport shuttle had already been prepped. “Is this an irregular prisoner drop?” Dan asked the pilot. It might seem suspicious.

The man shook his head. He was wearing his flight suit and had his flight helmet tucked beneath one arm. “We do irregular drops all the time. Cerberus Station isn’t meant to be a housing area for prisoners. They’re just here to be officially remanded to the planet’s surface.”

Dan glanced toward Shane, then to Ms. Yeun. They were both listening. “But why the irregular drops?”

The pilot shrugged. “Various reasons. Sometimes prisoners don’t get along, so they get dropped earlier than scheduled. One batch was dropped early simply because the cell they were in got flooded.”

“How did it get flooded?” Cerberus Station wasn’t that old.

“The prisoners clogged the toilet and it overflowed.”

Dan chuckled. “Administration can’t wait to get rid of them, huh?”

The pilot smiled.

Yeun moved up behind Dan, put her warm fingers on his neck. He jumped when the needle bit. “Owe,” he said, rubbing the side of his neck. “What was that?”

She smiled. “Two things, actually; a tracker and a sub dermal communicator. I’ll be able to hear everything you say.”

“And will we be able to hear you?”

Yeun nodded. She was a tall woman with light skin. Her hair was pulled back tightly into a ponytail. She wore black slacks and a jacket over a white blouse. She didn’t look like the techy type, but Taver wouldn’t have chosen her to be his aide simply because she was nice to look at. “Mhm.”

“Great.”

“Don’t like it?” She asked.

“What?”

“Like to be on your own?”

“No. No, seriously—“

She turned back to her table of gadgets, leaned over to grab a box as Shane stared at her ass, head tilted slightly.

The ugly bastard glanced at him and Dan shook his head. Yeun opened the case, revealing a portable computer station.

“Is that what you’ll be using to communicate with us?” Dan asked.

She nodded and Shane stood. He moved up to Ms. Yeun, giving her a lascivious look. “I prefer to communicate in person.”

She scowled and turned around to face her equipment. “Testing, testing, can you hear me?”

Her voice was inside Dan’s head. Literally inside his head. It felt, strange, like she was whispering inside his ear, her voice vibrating the inside of his ear. The only thing that was missing was her warm breath against his neck. “Loud and clear.”

Shane looked Yuen up and down, standing directly behind her. It was harassment, but she chose to ignore him.

Dan moved up to the table, saw some small devices. They looked like little silver beads. “What are these?”

Yeun turned toward him, smiled. “Those are audio recorders.”

“Why are they shaped like that?”

“They’re designed to be easy to hide or spread.” She smiled and then brightened somewhat. “Or hide”

Easy to hide. “Like in your shoe?”

“In your shoe, in your hair.” She paused. “And in other places.” She looked uncomfortable for a moment.

Dan chuckled and Shane finally moved off toward the edge of the shuttle bay when Colonel Taver arrived. “Are they ready to go?”

Dan and Yeun turned to face the old man.

Not even close, Dan thought, glancing toward Shane. If it came down to it, he’d kill Shane before Shane killed him. He was going to be on his guard. He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Maybe when they were alone, Dan could get the bastard to admit something, either on purpose or by accident. No, that wouldn’t work. Yuen had put those communicators in their necks. If they lost communications, however, Dan would have an opportunity to talk to Shane on a more personal level. It was a longshot. This gear of Yuen’s was top notch, the best the Alliance military had to offer. It was unlikely anything would go wrong with the equipment, but Dan decided to be prepared. He backed into the table, swiping a few of those audio recorders.

Before the prisoners were loaded onto the shuttle, Dan and Shane were thrown into a holding cell that was due to be emptied, that way none of the prisoners would open their mouths after they were on the ground. To them, Dan and Shane were just two more unlucky bastards bound for Acheron.