As the waitress brought me my second cup of coffee, with orders to keep them coming, I listened to the man who had harassed me outside my room.

I learned that his name was Gascu and that he, along with several hundred others, lived in the town of L'fal. It was a day's ride from Space Port 66 and in desperate need of help . . . or so he claimed.

I held up a hand. "Hang on a second. I find people, I kill people. Sometimes I find 'em and hand them over to the authorities, but that doesn't happen all that often. I'm a gun for hire. I'm not a good person, so I don't know if you've come to me with the wrong perception of me. I don't think I can help you."

"But you can, you told me last night," Gascu said eagerly. "You promised."

I groaned. Held my face in my hands with my elbows propped up on the table top. "I did?"

"Yes. You told me you would help us get them back."

I frowned at him. "Get who back?"

"Our children," Gascu said. "They were taken and you told me you would be able to get them back."

I sat up. "This is about children?"

"Yes."

I felt myself falling into the same old trap but couldn't help myself, not where children were concerned. "How many kids are we talking about here?"

Gascu swallowed hard. "All of them."

I drank the coffee and willed it to work faster in returning me to sobriety. "Okay, go back to the beginning. Explain it all to me. I need to understand what it is I've got myself into here."

Gascu laid it all out for me.

The inhabitants of L'fal were a simple people whose aspirations only went so far as working the land and sustaining themselves with what they had. They did a little trade with Space Port 66—but it didn't amount to anything exciting. Mostly a dozen or so locals travelled to Space Port 66 every fortnight to sell excess produce and raise some cash. They would use that to purchase whatever was needed back in L'fal, then leave for home.

They were about community, about family. About appreciating what they had. When Drift World had been settled, they had rejected the idea of living in a city and had established the settlement of L'fal as an alternative to that.

Where the name of L'fal came from, nobody knew. It had been chosen by whoever settled the town in the first place. The name could have carried great meaning, or none at all.

Life hadn't been easy for them, but for the most part it was a good life that they appreciated. That is, until the arrival of Kajo.

Leading a crew of pirates, Kajo had gone to L'fal and demanded the majority of their goods in return for their protection. When Gascu had told him that they had nothing to be protected from, Kajo demonstrated how that was not the case.

He took a man chosen randomly from the crowd and executed him on the spot.

'Now do you believe you have nothing to be protected from?"

In order to protect those under his care, Gascu agreed to meet Kajo's demands. But after two years of doing so, the town of L'fal was suffering. When Kajo landed his ship at the edge of town and disembarked with his crew, Gascu told him that there would be no further supplies. They did not have the food to give.

That was when Kajo ordered his men and women to round up every child in L'fal and take them to his ship. He had hoisted Gascu up into the air by his neck and snarled, 'When you give us what we want, we will return your offspring to you. Until then . . . consider them mine.'

Watching the pirate ship ascend into the sky, Gascu had vowed to fix the situation. How he would do it, he did not know. But he would do whatever it took to get their children back. And so, with a heavy heart, he had journeyed to Space Port 66 to find help.

"Kajo?" I said, pondering the name. "I don't believe I've ever heard of him."

"He is not humanoid like us. Neither are his crew. They seem to be from all different races. Many of which I cannot identify, other than by what unites them . . . their brutality."

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I nodded slowly. "Often, these pirate crews are like that. A real mix of different backgrounds, united by their greed and a bloodthirsty nature."

Gascu looked downcast. "I fear we have lost them already."

"The children?"

Gascu nodded.

"You can't think of that. You're a leader, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then you have to present hope to your people. Otherwise you've lost them already. The children and the men and women looking to you, to know what to do in this situation."

"Can you help us?"

I looked at the dribble of coffee remaining in my cup. "I'm just one person. You're talking about an entire crew of pirates."

"So you'd need more people. Correct?"

I laughed. "Got an army back at L'fal you're not telling me about, Gascu? Look, this isn't my kinda thing. There'll be someone else, someone better suited to this type of work here somewhere."

In my heart of hearts I had already committed to helping him. The kidnapped children had sealed the deal. It would always be my weakness, the flaw in my personality. I already knew I would leave Space Port 66 and travel to L'fal with Gascu to assess the situation for myself. But before any of that, I would try something else first. It was a long shot, but it had to be worth my time and effort to at least give it a try.

"What's it like?" I asked him.

Gascu frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Your town. L'fal. Is it a good place?"

"I would not lead the town if I did not believe it to be. We are a good, kind people. We work hard for what we have and we keep ourselves to ourselves."

I rose from the table. "I will meet you outside my hotel at the close of day."

"Where are you going?"

"To try sort something out. If I'm unsuccessful, then I will have others with me. They will help and I will expect you to pay them what they ask. No questions. Agreed?"

Gascu nodded his head vigorously with enthusiasm. "Whatever the cost."

I left the diner and did not have to look back to know the man from L'fal was watching me walk away, no doubt wondering if I would return.

When I arrived at the entrance to the observation tower, I was informed that Lerii was no longer there. After some coaxing, and an exchange of credits, I was able to ascertain that Lerii and a security team were headed for a secure hangar bay in order to go off-world. If I hurried I might catch them. I got the number of the hangar and I paid my cab driver a bunch of credits to get there as swiftly as possible.

A hair-raising high speed dash through the crowded streets of the Space Port ensued, and at several points I had wondered if I'd made a mistake. If this might be my last day in the realm of the living.

We got to the hangar building just as Lerii and her entourage were exiting an armored vehicle, flanked on all sides by floating gun platforms. I was able to grab Lerii's attention just as a dozen or so weapons were trained on me and I was ordered to freeze.

"Put your weapons down, Miss March is an acquaintance," Lerii said, smiling, as she waved me over. "I am about to go off-world for several days, so please make this quick."

"I will. What do you know about the town of L'fal?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"Their leader wants to employ me to help them."

"Whatever with?"

"It seems they're up against a pirate and his crew. They've taken the town's children and are refusing to let them go unless they give him everything they have."

Lerii digested this. "I see. And what do you wish for me to do about this situation, Miss March?"

"Well, I thought—"

Lerii laughed. It was light, and almost trite. I felt my anger rise. "I don't run the entire planet. My purview does not extend beyond the boundaries of this Space Port I am afraid. If the people of L'fal have an issue with pirates, I'm afraid that is for them to deal with. Much as I sympathize."

"I see."

"You're disappointed."

I bit my tongue. "Of course not. I understand the position you are taking."

"It's not a position I am taking, Miss March. It is the position I am in. It's really as simple as that. Who is the pirate harassing these people?"

"They call him Kajo."

I saw a flash of recognition in Lerii's eyes. "I am familiar with the name from my intel reports. I can pass along any information we have on him and his crew if that is of any help."

"I'm sure that would be useful, yes."

An assistant appeared at Lerii's side to usher her away. "And this is us. Good luck, Miss March."

Moments later, I stood the other side of the street and watched as the clamshell doors forming the roof of the hangar opened outward and the starship Lerii had boarded rose up into the air, the sun glistening at the edge of its silver wings. It climbed into the blue sky, flanked by half a dozen starfighters for protection and was soon so far away that I could no longer follow its progress.

Well, that's that, I thought.

I found a street tavern and sat in the sun nursing a drink while I pondered what to do next. I doubted Lerii's attitude toward the people of L'fal was anything unique. It had probably been the same for every leader the Space Port had ever had. Dismissive of any problem that didn't affect them directly enough for it to be a headache.

I rarely rolled from one job to another. And with a price on my head, I was eager to get away from Space Port 66 and the eager eyes of those looking to cash-in. But Gascu was sincere about the plight of his town, and I could see he was genuinely upset that Kaju was holding their children hostage. However as I had told him, I was one woman. Taking on a crew of pirates was a big ask—possibly beyond my capacity to handle by myself. I would need help.

I guessed I'd always been a sucker for helping those in need. And on this occasion, it surpassed my desire to go into hiding until I could decide what to do about the situation with Neko Hohst.

The more I thought about what to do, the clearer it became. When a plan had formed in my mind, I finished my drink and walked off under the unfaltering glare of the sun, looking for danger everywhere, my hand never far from where my blaster rested on my hip.