“That… uh,” Ayna began. “That sounds like a close call, alright.”

“Yes,” Gaylen replied.

There was a darkness over him. Ayna had seen it on occasion; a little reminder that he had survived quite a lot of violence in his time. She supposed he was angry at having been blindsided. She sure would be.

“So…” she said next, and made a last-second decision to not try lightening the mood with a cheerful tone. “How is everyone?”

“Better,” Kiris said, and rubbed her neck. “Our medic knows what she is doing.”

“I do,” Herdis agreed.

The woman had used the Addax’s little medical station to fix up her face, so a cut and brutal swelling were reduced to tiny scratches. She had also glued Bers’s hand back together, and the big man sat in his seat in the Addax’s living room, slowly clenching and unclenching it.

Ayna cleared her throat.

“So, what does this mean, going forward?”

“It means guns,” Gaylen said. “Corps are bastards, but we’ll risk their wrath. I’d rather get caught smuggling them through a scanner than get murdered by black ops agents, once they’re done asking questions in a bad way.”

“Speaking of… corps,” Ayna said hesitantly. “Are we sure these players aren’t working with them? I mean, they knew about our group before a day had even passed.”

“So did the lowlifes,” Gaylen pointed. “My guess is the Heg agents, who I’m assuming those men were, have connections to those instead. These types of gangs have ears on the streets, and a bit of bad luck leads to them hearing that someone is asking the wrong kind of questions. They could have told the agents. Or maybe the agents are using the same ears. There isn’t much loyalty in the galaxy’s dank, shady corners.”

Ayna noticed the way his hands were clenched; not white-knuckle tight, but enough that he looked ready for a fight. It was the same with the hint of tension in his shoulders.

“And don’t worry about the corps,” he added. “If they had close ties to the Heg, the agents could have just had their guards arrest us on trumped-up charges. No…”

He was staring off at nothing, but doing it sharply. With that darkness of his.

“This remains a game of streets and shadows. I can’t fight boardrooms, but this game I can play. And I intend to win.”

“Good,” Ayna said, even as this whole thing left her a touch unnerved. “Good. Look, I’m just glad you’re all okay.”

She made it a point to look Gaylen, Bers, Herdis and Kiris each in the eyes, and was happy to see at least a slight softening.

Jaquan, meanwhile, sat a bit to the side, almost like a neutral party.

“What about you, Ayna?” he asked.

“Nothing dramatic, like I said,” she replied. “I just followed those jokers until I had something to report about, and…”

She accessed the controls on the main table, and brought up a rough holographic map of the city core. She spent a moment getting her bearings from such a different vantage point, then zoomed into the suburbs, that comparatively small ring around the cluster of huge towers.

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“Here,” she said, and with a touch at empty air she created a glowing red dot on the map. “I had to be extra careful around there, as it doesn’t really seem to be a residential area. There were almost no people around, so I had no crowd to weave through. But that also meant little ambient noise to drown out their footsteps, and following them from a distance was easier.”

She started a smile on the side of her mouth, and wanted to make a playful boast about her abilities, but the mood around the table stopped her again.

“Anyway, the houses mostly seem to be cheap storage places. But our boys in green stopped outside one with actual people, and had a conversation on the doorstep.”

“About what?” Gaylen asked.

“Well…” Ayna shrugged, a bit awkwardly. “The one who doesn’t like handshakes, Sammy…”

Bers let out a short, low chuckle.

“... isn’t very happy with us. He didn’t share all the embarrassing details, but he definitely isn’t willing to forgive and forget.”

She hesitated, and thought back on a conversation she’d listened in on from a distance, and mostly around a couple of corners.

“Look… I risked one peek at the folks they were speaking to, and they didn’t wear those green jackets. I don’t think they are members of the exact same outfit, but associates, rather. Somehow. But they were pretty informal with each other, and fairly respectful. The interesting part is their mutual friends.”

“We are listening,” Gaylen said, and indeed he was. Intently.

“No names,” she told him. “But there were references to, I quote, ‘our offworld friends’.”

“And how deep did that friendship sound to you?” Jaquan asked.

Now Ayna did chuckle a little.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. They sounded just a bit sarcastic about that point. But there is some sort of meeting coming up, I think. Sammy and his boys talked about handing an unnamed ‘him’ over to the offworlders. But they wanted the right price, and some sort of guarantee. Clearly both sides knew all the details, and they didn’t go that deep in.”

“Mardus,” Gaylen mused. “Either the green jacket group was behind the arson after all, or they somehow caught him afterwards.”

“That seems like a reasonable guess,” Herdis said. “But now what do we do about it?”

“We find out more about the green jacket group,” Gaylen said. “They have a footprint here, contacts, neighbours, enemies. They’ll be a lot easier to find out about than the Heg agents. And in their shoes, I certainly wouldn’t bring Mardus to that meeting. Not until everything is agreed on. Not when dealing with those types.”

He thought for a moment.

“It sounds like you got along well with this Kassuk guy. Did he mention his workplace? Do you think you could hit him up again?”

“I might, yes.”

“Then just ask him straight up about the green jackets, and say they bothered you. Just make out like you want to know where not to go. And keep Kiris next to you, so we can feel confident he doesn’t have ulterior motives.”

Most people gain ulterior motives when they see Gorgeous Goldie, Ayna thought, but once again managed to swallow it. She felt rather proud of herself.

“It’s dark outside now,” Ayna pointed out. “I could do some checking out. Just drift along with the night-life and see what I pick up.”

Gaylen’s face foretold a nixing of that idea.

“I know you’re a big girl, Ayna. Metaphorically. But I fully intend to fly back with, at the very least, everyone I left with. And until we have a better view of our enemies, and what they can bring to the table, we play things very safe from now on. We leave this docking tower as a group. And armed. And with backup plans, and a rented vehicle waiting for us. Jaquan, can we afford for you to leave the engine room?”

“You know I hate leaving it at all,” the man said, and Ayna suspected he was only half-joking. “But yes. If we need to make a hasty fly-off, the Addax will carry us. Of course, I would recommend a couple of more days for the engine to cool.”

“Then, starting tomorrow, we travel in threes at the minimum. In the meantime, we’ll prepare and rest up. Herdis, I want you to prepare a set of booster patches.”

“I can do that.”

“I know you can. Anyway: We got through the day, everyone. As we have so many times before. Now we just need to do it again tomorrow. And do it better. Given the size of this place, I don’t expect it’ll take long for the next development to come along.”