"If it wasn't so frustrating, I'd be impressed," Ali groused as she slumped back in her chair. "How do you lose a sodding princess!?"

"Sounds like you're having as much luck as I am," Rila admitted, though far less dramatically than her captain. "How far did you get?"

"Tracked her back to Taurr with the survivors from Bert's betrayal, she stayed a few months, then a series of diplomatic missions during which she seemed determined to lose her security detail on before finally managing it about nine months back."

"That tallies," Rila agreed. "I got her one step further on a transport that made a stop at Brulchor but beyond that…"

"There can't be that many taurrans passing through Brulchor, even if it has a major port," Ali said.

"Enough apparently, either that or she falsified the logs - or paid someone off to do so," Rila speculated as her eyes continued to scan her data. "If she's running from something, Peshtar might be a decent place to start looking…"

"We've got nothing else, but if someone wants to hide and they've gone to Peshtar, I wouldn't hold too much hope on even our combined contacts being good enough."

"Then let's hope she's not in hiding," Rila agreed. "Or that she wants to be found by the right people."

"And in what circumstances would we count as the right people from her perspective?" Ali teased.

~-x-~

Somehow, Ali wasn't surprised to find herself in another dingy bar on Peshtar. By now it seemed that every time they needed to track down a new lead they ended up in such a delightful establishment.

As she scanned the crowd it seemed that Rila's educated hunch had paid off, and she spotted a taurran at the bar. She tapped the back of her hand on Ben's arm to let him know she was moving and he quickly followed her line of sight to work out what she was doing.

She sidled up to the bar and leant on her elbows next to the taurran. The bartender came to take their order and when he returned with their drinks she asked, "I hear you can get a message to Yallu for me."

If he was suspicious of her intentions he didn't react. Ali was taking Rila's word for this contact, it wasn't one of her own, but unfortunately she needed to be the one delivering the message. "Sure, what is it?"

"Tell her Ali Turner's back in the game, and I've got some goods she'll be interested in."

Ali could feel the subtle shift in the way the taurran next to her held himself, but otherwise didn't react. It wasn't until Ben pulled a face when he tried his drink and muttered "this is why I don't let you pick the drinks" that the taurran pushed his empty glass away from him across the bar and stood up. Ali was deliberately not watching him, a grin still on her face at Ben's comment, who she knew was tracking the taurran. He hadn't liked any of the plan Ali and Rila had concocted.

The reason for that played out in front of him as he watched the taurran pause to whisper into the ear of a nearby jetran who repeated the word "USEP" as if it were a curse. Given the way that it muted the whole room, it might as well have been. The jetran quickly made them as the outsiders and stood to approach them as the taurran discreetly slipped out of the door.

Ben tapped Ali on the arm so that she turned when their new friend was close, though one hand still rested loosely on her glass on the bar. "I hear you two have a history with USEP."

"Got kicked out," Ali said with a shrug. "Twice," she added brightly. Rila, you got him?

Yes, try not to get into too much trouble.

The other jetran was unimpressed. "I think you should leave."

"Oh, you're just gonna let us walk out of here are you?" Ali asked, biting her cheek to stop herself laughing at the spike of frustration she felt run through him, not exactly helped by the resigned amusement she could feel from Ben. "Sure then," she added, knocking back the last of her drink and took a step away from the bar.

Neither Ali nor Ben were surprised that the jetran grabbed Ali's arm. She deliberately looked him in the eye, then at his hand, and then back to his face. "I'd pick your next move very carefully," she warned.

For a moment he hesitated, before swinging for her head. Ali stepped forward to stamp hard on his foot as she raised her arm to block the punch. She thrust her hand forwards down the side of his head and curled a fist around the first tentacle she found. He let out a screech that barely registered within human hearing range, Ali didn't take pity and pressed her thumb harder until the hand that was wrapped around her arm slackened enough for her to swing her elbow at his head and send him tumbling down to the floor.

It was no surprise that everyone else in the room had bristled at the scuffle, a few standing up. What do you reckon their odds are? Ali teased as she and Ben both automatically turned to put their backs to each other.

Probably better than you think. Ali could feel the eye roll in Ben's reply.

Bet I can take more than you.

Loser buys drinks for the next week? And damages.

Ali almost laughed out loud. Grey was right, she was a terrible influence. Deal.

Both of them waited for someone else to make the first move, knowing that at the bar they had a relative vantage point unless the bartender planned on turning on them too. Once they were in amongst the tables and chairs they were isolated and surrounded. After a tense moment someone broke the stalemate and charged at Ali, who quickly sidestepped their attack and used their own momentum - and the fact that her not being in the expected place put them off balance - to slam them into the bar and they fell to the floor.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

It unleashed pandemonium.

Ben saw the first gun being raised, but his tetnar allowed him to warn Ali almost instantly, and they both dived into the crowd. Ali grabbing someone's wrist as she darted past to spin them into the person behind them, causing an argument to break out between them and a handy distraction. Ben just opted for straight up punching his first assailant in the stomach and didn't stop to see what the reaction was. Instead he picked up a chair to swing at the jetran brandishing what looked like a pool cue at him, the motion floored his opponent but put him directly in the path of a yertan. He sidestepped the glass - or maybe it was a bottle - that had been aimed at his head thanks to a warning from Ali before using that to turn so that he could wedge the chair against the yertan's prominent spines and twist them out of his path.

That was when he caught sight of Ali with two isharates looming in on her, but before he could even offer a warning she grabbed the table and flung her legs under it to kick a chair into the path of the isharate on the other side, and simultaneously ducking under the double armed strike the one behind her aimed at her upper body. Quickly rearranging her legs into a crouch so she could let go of the table, Ali slammed her elbow backwards into the lower torso of the isharate behind her, who dropped in pain.

We need to get a move on, he warned.

Ali pushed herself back to her feet, grabbing a discarded bottle on her way past and smashed it over a vellurian's mantle as she passed them by. She stopped only long enough to pick up someone else's nearly full draught of what she presumed to be beer - or it's equivalent - and threw the contents into the face of the approaching desid.

Little help! Ali's call was far too cheerful for him to be worried, and he was able to see her turn into a jetran's grab, before jumping to use his grip to kick both feet into the human charging at her. She then shifted her weight to drop her weight as best she could, and the move would probably have worked on a human, but the jetran's telepathic senses allowed him to predict and counter. That was what she wanted help with, as she jerked her head back in an improvised headbutt.

Jump. He advised, as he ducked under another punch and swept the cue he'd stolen through the jetran's shins. The pain was enough to make the jetran stumble and Ali dropped back to a knee to throw him over her shoulder and send him sprawling.

Thanks. She grinned as they caught each other's eye briefly, before both jumping back to their feet. You got a plan to get out of here?

Working on it, unless you have something?

Not yet, assuming I'm not allowed to use fire.

No. Ben confirmed, knowing damn well that she'd far too happily take silence as resigned acceptance.

They had managed to get nearer the door, and they also knew that they'd been lucky the weapons fire had been limited, thankfully the other patrons knew the dangers of projectiles in confined spaces and crowds. Thankfully their tactic of pitting their assailants against each other gave them breathing space as they tried to deliberately fight their way back towards the door. Even if it did involve Ali jumping over a table in an improvised tackle. Only to have to twist and grab a chair to smash into the person who tried to take advantage of her temporary floor bound state.

Ben finally got to the door only to find their path blocked by a grumpy looking yertan. Could do with a surprise, he suggested lightly.

Sure, I'd suggest getting out of the way, Ali replied with a smirk that he wasn't quite sure how he could feel as a thought.

Because of their tetnar Ben knew exactly when to side step out of the yertan's field of vision to allow Ali to pivot a human to barrel the pair of them through the door and tumbling to the floor of the street. Neither Ali nor Ben waited for anyone to recover their wits and took off after them, running straight past them - or leaping right over in Ali's case - as they tried to get out of sight as quickly as possible.

Finally they came to a stop in a dark and quiet alleyway with enough crates to block them from view as they both collapsed against nearby walls to recover their breath. "I hate to admit it," Ben said after a moment, "but I lost count."

Despite the way she was still panting for breath, Ali couldn't help but laugh.

~-x-~

Once they'd confirmed that they'd lost any potential tails or problems, it wasn't too difficult to rendezvous with Rila. Who had managed to follow the taurran all the way to an old apartment block and even knew which one he'd stopped in.

"It would be typical of us to get shot now, after surviving that bar fight he started, wouldn't it?" Ali muttered as she considered their game plan.

"I take it you want to keep numbers down then?" Rila asked. "In an attempt to appear less confrontational."

"Part of me, yeah," Ali confirmed. Then glanced at her scanner again. "Unless they've got some good anti-scanning tech, there's only two of them in there… Rila, mind keeping watch?"

"Sure, though I don't know what you expect me to do if we're ambushed."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Ali said with a grin. Rila's tentacles bobbed at that, all three of them knew just how dangerous Rila could be. Then she turned to Ben and ordered him to holster his gun, the look on his face suggested disagreement, but he relented because not only did she outrank him, he also knew she was right. They needed Klandra's help, and that meant convincing her that they weren't a threat.

Ali stepped up to the door and made quick work of the lock, a couple of misspent years would do that, only to step into the dark and humid room that opened in front of them.

Neither of them were surprised to have guns instantly drawn upon them once the door shut behind Ben. "Breaking into apartments is a dangerous business," the taurran who Rila had followed from the bar greeted them as he pointed the gun at Ali's head.

"I didn't think you'd answer if we knocked," Ali replied.

"I said you'd have been followed, Shkarn," another voice called from the shadows, and as Ali's eyes adjusted she could just about see a silhouette for Klandra, she couldn't see any details, such as her grey skin or the painted red horns, but she could just about see the outlines of her features. She quickly dismissed Shkarn's apology before he'd even finished it and fixed her eyes on Ali. "How can I be sure it's the real Captain Alice Turner that's graced our presence?" She asked in a raspy hiss that Ali knew was laced with sarcasm despite the serious point she was making.

"I guess I could tell you about our first meeting where I called you Bert's latest piece on the side, or that I shot your gun out of your hand…" Ali said, using it as both proof and reasoning to move on to her real evidence. "Or we can just skip straight to the permanent impression you left on me," she finished holding out her hand palm up for either Shkarn or Klandra to examine.

Klandra cast a quick glance at Shkarn to ensure she wasn't about to block his shot, before taking a tentative step forward with her hand outstretched to take ahold of Ali's wrist. "Madam, it could be a ruse -"

"If either move, shoot one," Klandra dismissed as her scaly hand wrapped around the back of Ali's hand to bring her palm into view. She wasn't sure if she was more or less surprised to see the thin scar that travelled the length of her palm, the same place Klandra had cut years earlier. That plus the memories was enough to convince her. She dropped Ali's wrist with little care and retreated a couple of steps. "Well, given all the trouble you've gone to to find me, I suppose I better hear you out before I decide whether or not to kill you."

"How generous," Ben muttered.

"I wasn't speaking to you," Klandra hissed, and Ali bit her lip to stop her laugh at Ben's frown. "Captain Turner?"

"I know you have no reason to trust us, but we need to talk about Bert," Ali explained. "And what his plan was."