"Okay, as one of the uninitiated in the art of bribes… why aren't we just bribing the guards?" Pixie asked after Ali and Rila had finished explaining their initial plan to the senior staff of both the Faraday and Endeavour.

"If USEP bribes the guards to get Wood out of jail then not only will we have blown his cover, but possibly a bunch of other USEP ops." Rila explained as succinctly as she could.

"But you already picked up where he left off…" Ensign Mishri Chopade said. He was the Endeavour's senior scientist and his confusion was clearly written over his young, tawny face. He had been promoted into the role during a crisis and had performed so well that he had retained it, though occasionally he felt like he wouldn't mind a little more experience.

"Yes and no," Ali agreed with a reassuring smile. "Wood spent months working with the various… let's call them businesses on Peshtar. He earnt himself a reputation whilst gathering intel on dangerous groups. I came into the picture as if he was simply the middleman; I provided the weapons and he was supposed to sell them."

"It makes sense logistically. It's not uncommon for USEP members to trade their gear on the black market, but they rarely do the dirty work themselves. The combination of Wood's cover, his history with Ali and her history with the groups that operate on Peshtar made a kind of logical sense," Rila added as if it were all perfectly obvious. "We don't have the time to build the kind of cover that would allow Ali and I to run the dirty work ourselves without it looking suspicious."

"Hence the elaborate heist?" Narla teased.

"It's not technically a heist," Ali said, "we're not stealing anything."

"I mean, technically, you're probably stealing Ben," Claire giggled.

Ali rolled her eyes though she was smiling. "If he wants to stay in his cell then I'll happily leave him there." Spud and Claire shared an amused look as if to say 'that's our Ali' but said nothing further. "Are there any other questions?"

There was a moment of quiet as everyone looked around the room to see if anyone did. Ali was about to confirm that they knew what they needed to do but was stopped. "Actually, yes," Olkant said as he finally looked up from the terminal he had been using, "what do you plan on doing if he's no longer in his cell?"

Ali and Rila shared a look. "Where is he?" Rila asked.

"I haven't isolated his biometric yet but I do have this video from the jail block that he was in before," Olkant explained as he pushed the data to the holographic display in the conference table. They all watched the security footage show a group of thugs manhandle Wood out of his cell. Rila muttered something the translators didn't catch and Ali sagged in her chair in frustration.

"What?" Grey asked.

"The ringleader is the nice gentleman that I waylaid so that we could complete our deal," Rila said.

"Well, at least we didn't spend too long on that plan," Ali muttered to herself before turning to Rila. Her suspicions were confirmed in the look on Rila's face, this was revenge.

"What now?" Spud asked.

The silence lingered as Ali thought before finally shrugging. "Same basic plan, it's just a different location."

~-x-~

Even if Ali tried to vocalise it, there weren't enough words to express her relief and gratitude when Rila arrived at the beamer with the rest of them. Barely an hour earlier Rila had admitted that she couldn't go with them because of her own history running with gangs in the sector's underworld. Ali had understood and promised that it was entirely Rila's choice. It was unusual to see Rila so vulnerable and Ali couldn't betray the trust that enabled Rila to open up to her.

As Ali turned to her second in command, Rila clicked her tongue in the equivalent gesture of a shrug before adding that they'd never pull it off without her.

The first step was getting legitimate invitations into an underground - as if there was anything else on Peshtar - gambling and burlesque den. That led them to one of Ali's old contacts in a relatively inconspicuous shop not quite on the beaten track.

The chime as the door opened alerted the proprietor to the new customers entering his shop and the large toad shaped eshbat hopped alongside the counter to greet them. "Jullo, you old botut, how's business?" Ali greeted cheerfully as she pushed the hood of her trusty green jacket off her head.

Jullo barked with laughter. "That's what I like about you, Ali. You insult a man in his own language just to make sure he knows you mean it." Despite the translators filtering out the original words and replacing them with the translated version, most people could tell what was original and what wasn't. He immediately sobered up as he took in the three of them. "What do you want?"

"I need you to organise a meeting." Ali leant on the counter between them as she explained that they had an offer for the man who ran the establishment but he'd never meet them without a reference. Jullo frowned unhappily before telling them to wait. Ali turned back to Ed and Rila.

"What makes you think we can trust this guy?" Rila asked as she stepped up next to Ali from where she had been pretending to peruse the wares on display.

"Oh, we can't." Ali shrugged. They were on her old turf after all, she knew her way around this familiar playing field. "But the last time he crossed me I relieved him of one of his testicles. Chances are he won't cross me again unless there's a bounty large enough for us to have heard about."

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Rila seemed to consider that a reasonable answer. However, Ed did not as he visibly flinched. "You did what?"

Ali shrugged, clearly unrepentant. "He's an eshbat, they grow back." Ed decided that - for his own sake - he didn't want to know. Ali just shared an amused look with Rila, some things translated across species.

It didn't take long for Jullo to return with a code and a time that would get them a carefully watched entry for them to conclude their business. Ali thanked him with her sweetest smile and promised him that this didn't even remotely make them even. Jullo gulped as a sign of agreement and Ali nodded before turning to leave.

They blended into the sparsely crowded side street with relative ease, then allowed the flow of the main street to swallow them up as they joined it. As they neared their destination Ali took off in a slightly different direction to Ed and Rila. They were going in via the front door, she was taking the alleys to the workers' entrance and her senses were working overtime as she tried to shake the feeling of being watched. On planets like Peshtar you were always being watched, one slip and you were a target. Though part of Ali really wanted someone to try something stupid - she had some emotion she'd happily work off on an attacker - a larger part of her knew that she didn't have time for such delays. Not to mention that it was stupid to want a fight, even though she knew she was good, there was always a chance that she'd lose.

That said, she was expecting something to go wrong. She just didn't know what yet.

She met up with Waarlm and Olkant at the workers' entrance without incident. Waarlm was sat casually against a wall and Olkant was on the wall next to him with a scowl on his six eyes. Ali figured the cleanliness of Peshtar wasn't up to his standards. "Any trouble?"

"None at all," Waarlm promised as he stretched out in anticipation of them needing to move.

"Rila and Ed are at the main door now," Olkant said with his eyes on his scanner.

"Okay, how long till your hack does it's trick?"

"Rila just needs to tap the device against any console to transfer the code. It should take under a minute and will self delete after another minute," Olkant explained. Ali nodded to herself as she and Waarlm turned to the door to wait until it unlocked so that they moved quickly enough. It would be embarrassing if they picked the lock only to let it fall shut before they'd even got through it.

Waarlm heard the click of the magnetic lock disengaging seconds before Olkant registered it on his scanner and Ali heard it too. Isharates had very sensitive hearing. He pushed the heavy door open and allowed Ali and Olkant to slip past him before he followed them into the dimly lit corridor. Olkant directed them between supply closets, kitchens and dressing rooms until they reached a small security office. Waarlm padded quietly into the room before quickly encompassing the lone guard into a kind of sleeper hold until he passed out. Olkant instantly pulled himself into the now vacant chair to gain access to the computer systems.

Ali and Waarlm hung over the back as they waited for his assessment. "I've got control of the cameras, door controls and limited access to other systems. I should be able to keep them off your back if you're quick. I've downloaded a map of the vaults into your scanner."

Ali nodded and retrieved her scanner to confirm that she had the map. If need be she could sync it to the rudimentary 2D holographic display that clung close to the arm of her uniform if she wanted a more hands free version, but by now she was so used to handling a scanner and her pistol at the same time that she rarely bothered.. "Okay, I'll be back soon."

She had basic knowledge of the layout of the building from their original intel so with Olkant whispering in her ear about staff movements it was relatively easy to get to the door that would lead them to the underground portion of the establishment. In principle it was designed for securing the money that flowed through the casino, in practise it also served as a place for the proprietors to deal with their enemies in privacy and securely.

Unfortunately the basement was designed to conceal it's contents so once the door closed behind her she was on her own. Her comm wasn't tied into the building's systems to allow Olkant to continue talking to her. She ducked into a quiet alcove so she could activate her scanner to work out where she needed to go. She felt lucky to discover only four other life signs, then chastised herself in the intervening period before her scanner confirmed one of them was Wood's biometric. Now they were lucky. She wouldn't have waited to have him killed if it was vengeance they were after. She cringed, maybe it was a trap? Too late now. She'd just have to be careful.

She hooked her scanner back onto her belt and brought up her pistol before carefully making her way through the corridors, occasionally glancing at the map on her arm as she did.

In the end she was able to avoid the two patrolling guards with a combination of timing and stealth and reached the storeroom with a single guard and Wood. She pressed herself against the wall and listened intently as she tried to focus her mind to convince Wood to do something - anything - to get the attention of his guard. Suddenly she heard a scraping sound and she quickly stepped out to shoot the guard in the back.

She waited just long enough to make sure he was out cold on the floor before hurrying to where Wood was sat and secured to a chair. She wasn't sure if he looked more confused or indignant, but definitely injured based on the bruises and bust lip. "What is going on?"

Ali gave him her most innocent look as she dropped behind the chair to examine the cuffs on his wrists. "I think the technical term is jailbreak."

She couldn't see Wood roll his eyes at her nonchalance. She was halfway through picking the lock when the alarms went off causing them both to glance up. "Don't jailbreaks normally involve less… alarms?" Wood asked as Ali focused back on the cuffs.

"One thing at a time," Ali said as if it were perfectly normal, though not entirely hiding the irritation or worry from her voice. He didn't distract her further and despite everything the practical reaction made her smile. Once she'd made quick work of the lock he pulled his wrists back in front of him, rubbing at them and glancing at her as if he'd really like to learn the story behind that skill. She gave a single wry chuckle as she cut through the ropes holding his legs to the chair. As he stood up again, completely free, she was struck by the unexpected urge to hug him, but managed to restrain herself then noticed the way he was holding himself. She instantly had her scanner in her hand. "You've got a broken rib."

"Yeah, and half a dozen other minor injuries," he replied tersely as if she was getting in the way, "I'll deal with it when we're out."

Ali scrutinised him for a moment before conceding he was right and holstered her scanner before she unhooked a spare pistol from her belt and held it out to him. It was his turn to give a wry chuckle as he took it. "What, you think I don't plan for the inevitable cluster?"

"What's the plan?"

"Olkant's hacking the security systems and Waarlm's watching his back. Rila and Ed are distracting your hosts with a business meeting. The plan was to get out the way we came in, but until I know what that alarm is for…"

"You sound like you have a suspicion," Wood observed as they started moving, Ali fell into the lead because she had the map. If he had specific questions about who those people were, he didn't think they were relevant enough to ask at that moment.

"If I had to guess, a fight broke out between Rila and a patron due to her history," Ali admitted. Wood didn't ask any further questions and they made their way out silently to avoid detection as much as possible. As Ali had feared, the literal jailbreak had been the easy part.