The hours had passed, and there out in the darkness sat the unremarkable restaurant.

Behind and on either side of the three of them were dark storage houses and empty streets, and in front was a walkway made of floating connected pieces, and the vast ocean. Boat lights glowed here and there, although the only moving ones were a good distance off. This was a place for cheap, floating residences. And the restaurant that served them was apparently a rendezvous for secret agents

“What do you think?” Gaylen said.

“Does anyone else kind of miss Ayna right now?” Jaquan asked. The lighting in the area was less than stellar, and if the restaurant had outside lamps they had been turned off.

“We always managed before getting her,” Gaylen pointed out. It was meant to be reassuring, but he then felt a bit foolish for dismissing an undeniable advantage.

“The entry will be over there,” Kiris commented and pointed to the floating building’s western side, invisible from where they stood. They’d all gone over a public map together. “Do you think that boat is a coincidence?”

They could vaguely make out a boat anchored either right up against the western side or just about. It was one of those bulky, boxy affairs so popular on this planet, and completely unlit. It could just be a vessel used by the restaurant staff. But it seemed rather big for that purpose.

“Quite possibly not,” Gaylen replied.

He touched his holstered gun.

“But the way forward is forward,” he said. “We’ll play this like the seasoned folks we are. Kiris, stay close enough to me to give subtle signals if you feel they aren’t being on the level. Just let me do the talking and do your observation magic.”

“Happily,” she said.

“Jaquan, keep whatever distance will be available, and be our backup. In case of trouble.”

“Absolutely,” the man said and adjusted his baggy hat.

“Let’s do this thing,” Gaylen said and stepped out onto the walkway.

The pieces bobbed slightly under their weight and a light drizzle played music on everything around, including the rim of his new hat. Without city bustle around the din really was quite soothing. But this was no time for relaxation.

They reached the platform the restaurant floated on, and still the building was dark and silent. And still nothing happened.

Gaylen was the first around the corner and got a better view of the boat, framed against distant city lights. It was every bit as quietly expectant as the building and every bit as conspicuously big as it had seemed from the shore. He kept his senses on alert as he walked by it and to the main entrance.

There was an old comm next to the door but no button, so Gaylen rapped his knuckles. Moments later the door was opened. The woman was young and dark-haired and clad in a dark, unremarkable jacket.

“I called this morning,” Gaylen said. “About Jan.”

“Right,” the woman said neutrally. “Come on in.”

Gaylen followed her, followed in turn by Kiris and further back by Jaquan. His friend closed the door as they followed the woman along a divider wall and to a counter. The interior was minimally lit by a handful of table lamps. It sufficed to show two men sat by one of the small tables, apparently eating jointly from an appetiser basket.

“Let me just get into character,” the woman said and walked around the counter, to stand behind it like this was a normal exchange.

There was a reflective surface on the wall behind her. Jaquan stood still by the door.

“So we’re not playing at anything?” Gaylen asked and faced the woman. Kiris stopped right next to him, putting a hand on his back to relay subtle signals as needed.

“Only us in the know here tonight,” the woman replied.

Her smile was small and plain; no affectations.

Good.

“I got your location, and the phrase, through a contact in the Fringe,” Gaylen said. “Are you authorised to make payments for information or items valuable to Federal Command?”

“Within reasonable limits,” she told him. “On a case-by-case basis. Which do you have? Information or item?”

Kiris tapped a finger on Gaylen’s back a few times; it was the signal that the Chanei wasn’t entirely sure about the situation.

“Both, really,” he said. “But I left the item off-world. Just for safety, you see.”

“Can’t blame you for that,” the woman said professionally.

She placed three glasses between them.

“Are you with an outfit?”

Gaylen shook his head.

“Just freelancers, who happened to stumble across something.”

“Right. But I am going to need some actual details before this goes any further.”

“Black Tiger,” Gaylen said.

The woman really was a professional. The effect the news had on her were just barely perceptible to him, but that of course meant they were glaringly obvious to Kiris and her fingers confirmed it.

“Do go on,” the woman said and now took out a bottle.

Gaylen glanced to his right. The two men were very deliberately engrossed in their appetisers, eating slowly to make it last.

“I don’t actually know what it means,” Gaylen admitted. “But I did find the wreck of a ship captained by a FedCom agent named Vendyl Mars. There was no one left alive, but their final record made it clear that their record keeper is very important. So I salvaged it. It is currently in storage somewhere safe and secure, and coded to my DNA.”

The woman opened the bottle and slowly poured a frizzy red drink into one of the glasses.

“It was wrecked, you say?”

“On a rogue world,” Gaylen told her. “Drifted there after being damaged, probably by pirates that came after the keeper just after we got it.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Well, this is quite a development,” the woman said and poured another glass.

Jaquan was still ready. The two men were still doing very little.

“And quite a lucky find,” she went on. “I am glad you came to us and not to the other side.”

She poured the third glass and pushed two of them across the counter.

“How quickly can you return with the keeper?” she asked, and had a sip from the third glass.

“Definitely within a month,” Gaylen said. “Is that acceptable?”

“It is,” the woman said. “Silent ops are best when they have some leeway.”

She had another sip and Gaylen picked up his glass.

“What about payment?” he asked. “I want that settled before we go any further.”

“Will you accept credit with the Federal Bank?” she asked. “It would be the easiest way.”

Gaylen thought about it for a moment. But he couldn’t return to Fed space, and he was the only proper pilot on the Addax. And damn if he was going to trust someone else to go fetch his money.

“Actually, no. I need cash. And I prefer rils.”

“I can arrange rils,” the woman said. “It’s a bit of a job to get a large amount together, but with your travelling time I’ll definitely have it ready by the time you come back.”

She had another sip.

“Aren’t you going to have any?” she asked invitingly.

Gaylen looked down into his glass. Kiris put a finger on her own glass and pushed it slowly back to the woman. The hand on Gaylen’s back signalled danger.

“Is something wrong?” the nameless woman asked the Chanei.

“Yeah,” Kiris said. “Have a sip of this yourself.”

Jaquan’s reflection moved very subtly. The men stopped eating and were perfectly still and silent. The woman watched Gaylen and Kiris.

Gaylen let his hand hover by the pistol, but actually gripping it might set things off.

The woman attempted a smile.

“Look, I don’t think-”

“It’s too late,” Kiris told her, cold and humourless. “I’ve analysed your tells. You are not acting in good faith.”

She nudged the glass again.

“But prove me wrong.”

The woman slowly lowered her own glass and Gaylen did the same. The counter was thin enough to reach across. He couldn’t see a weapon on her, but that didn’t necessarily mean much.

“Chanei...” she said with a hint of exasperation and a bitterness to her smile, before letting it fade away.

She inhaled slowly; the only audible breath in the building. Gaylen sensed she was taking in their measure, and stared right back unflinchingly.

“You are out of your depth,” she then said with a hint of menace. “And we need that record keeper.”

She held his gaze for another silent while, but he let her be the one to speak next.

“Obviously, killing you won’t bring it to us. But I simply can’t take any chances. I’ll let you go off to fetch it, while these other two stay with us. As collateral.”

“No,” Gaylen told her simply.

“Your negotiation position isn’t as even as it might seem,” she told him.

“Still no.”

“What are you, a hero?”

“No.”

“So what exactly are you going to do here?” she asked.

“Take my hat off, I suppose.”

She looked confused, but Jaquan’s reflection took the signal. He snatched off his baggy hat and flung it over the divider wall. The woman reacted like a viper and brought her hand up. Gaylen drew his gun. Kiris drew hers and flung herself to the side.

The flashbomb hidden in Jaquan’s hat went off with a loud crack, and hissing, strobing flares danced erratically about the air. Gaylen felt something hit his chest just as he pulled the trigger. The woman ducked behind the counter and the shot went over her head. Kiris fired straight into the counter, but the plasma stopped on an armoured plate.

Gaylen glanced down to find a dart lodged in his armoured vest, then towards the two men, catching them scrambling on the floor, away from the lights that blinded and gave them away. Then he launched himself over the counter, hoping to capture a hostage, but the woman scrambled out of sight with something in her hand.

A shot came from the general direction of the two men, striking the counter, then another one.

“Team outside the door!” Jaquan yelled, and Gaylen glanced at the reflective surface to see his friend in cover next to the entrance.

Gaylen poked his gun hand around the counter and fired a blind shot towards the woman.

“Yes, there’s a team outside!” she yelled from somewhere. “So give up!”

“Oh, really?” Gaylen said defiantly. “How about this?”

He held his empty hand up above the counter, before slowly rising into full view. The woman had taken cover behind a pillar, and definitely had some kind of weapon. He caught a glimpse of the men among the tables and chairs, illuminated by the flair flashes.

“Well, go on,” he said, with the pistol held to his own head. “Go on, with stunners or darts or webbers or whatever else you have. Make my finger twitch. I’m the only one who knows exactly where the keeper is, and the only one who can access it.”

With everyone frozen at the moment, he risked taking a step.

“So go ahead and lose your prize.”

He took another step and pointed to the southern row of windows.

“Shoot a hole for us when we get there,” he said to Kiris. “Then we leave.”

Jaquan started moving away from the door, crouched low and ready to let off a shot.

“And you,” Gaylen went on and pointed towards the woman. “You can damn well wait until I-”

“Team, circle around,” he heard her whisper softly.

Gaylen didn’t hear anything outside. The windows and walls were soundproofed.

“You see what I’m doing, lady!” he said as the three of them continued to inch their way to the south wall.

“You’re not suicidal!” she shot back, staying in cover and out of Kiris’s aim.

“No, but I’m not giving up my insurance. Now have your lackeys stand down!”

They were six steps away from the wall.

“I don’t think you-” the woman began.

“I’m holding a gun to my own head and you think you can intimidate me?” Gaylen said, putting more power and contempt in his voice.

“I see movement outside...” Jaquan muttered.

“Look...” the woman said. “Look...”

“You had your chance to just play straight,” Gaylen said as he came to a stop. “Now you have five seconds to tell your team to let us through, or everyone loses!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Gaylen saw Kiris point her gun at the window. Jaquan kept his trained at the enemies inside.

“Five. Four.”

“I can’t just let you walk away!” the woman insisted.

“Three.”

“We c-”

Thanks to the soundproofing there was no warning whatsoever. Just a sudden awful smashing noise, a shower of glass, and flying tables as a boat crashed in through an east window. It came to a stop in between Gaylen’s group and the woman’s group.

“Hop in!” the man behind the wheel said.

With the soundproofing gone Gaylen heard rushing feet coming around. He hadn’t survived this long by being slow to react, and so he ran for the boat, keeping his head low. He vaulted over the side even as plasma streaked through the air, and crumbled down onto a wet floor. He stuck the gun up over the other side and fired as Kiris nimbly joined him and Jaquan made his considerably clumsier entry.

The man at the wheel gunned the engine and the thrusters pushed the boat across the floor in a scraping, wobbling, unsteady fashion. They did pick up enough momentum to smash through the windows again, and just like that the boat was back in its element.

Gaylen, Kiris and Jaquan fired towards the hole, and at the door as it opened, and only a couple of shots were returned. The man then sent the boat into a sharp turn, going around the building and out into the sea.

With danger not an immediate issue, Gaylen turned to take him in. He was rather nondescript, short-haired, and clad in a large coat and a hat much like Gaylen’s own.

“Look, I’m sorry about all this,” the man said over the sounds of the sea. “I’m Jan, but I also go by Fredrak. You should have been talking to me back there, but the place has been taken over by enemy operatives.”

“These things happen,” Gaylen said neutrally.

“They certainly do,” Jan/Fredrak said. “Now... I would like to talk about Black Tiger. And that record keeper.”