Everything had gone wrong so far, but nobody had been shot, and maybe that was all I could ask for on Station 26. Small victories and all of that. Course, I wouldn't have put money on guns staying holstered for that long in this room.

Tash had led me to the meeting place, not that far from where we'd made the plan, but it was clear from the start that we were under-armed and short a couple dozen people. Before entering the right building, we'd passed half a dozen Carr's men, with four more at the door.

If Tash was nervous about all of this, she didn't show it.

There were two winding, dimly lit hallways between us and the exit, a left and a right turn. Over the course of that, there were two doors they could shut on us, but there was a window we could jump out of if needed. The Pent's insistence on building like it was planetside was a blessing this time.

The room they'd brought us to and then left us alone in was a clever choice for this sort of meeting. Carr had ensured there were multiple doors and not enough furniture in the room to block them. He'd ensured that Tash and I were surrounded, even if we couldn't see anyone else in the room.

The silver lining of being trapped was that Carr was less likely to feel threatened and pull a gun. The downside of being trapped was being trapped.

Carr was late, but being late was practically a custom on Station 26. Tash sighed, chewing her lower lip in an attempt to hide her frustration. The issue was that Tash cared way more about this deal than she was supposed to, and she had to hide that.

The whole plan relied on her acting like she was picking up some random trash Jie wanted to punish. Even if she did it well, there was a chance that Collings was dragged into here while still conscious, and then he'd probably say something stupid.

It was Collings, after all.

One of the two doors not behind us hissed open as a heavyset man came into the room carrying a mishmashed assault rifle clearly built to be intimidating instead of effective. The atmospheric mask covering the bottom half of his face fogged and defogged with his breath.

I offered a polite nod, hired gun to hired gun, but he didn't return it.

"Where's Carr?" Tash asked.

There was too long between the question and response. "Mr. Carr won't be here for this meeting. He has more important matters to attend to."

"I was under the impression he was coming."

There was a breath too long again. "If Lady Jie cares, she can come herself as well."

"She's not coming down here to pick up some trash."

"Then you'll understand that Carr wasn't keen to deliver."

Tash chose silence over 'fair enough.'

The door opened again, and a lithe Asian man stepped through wearing a long black jacket with hair slicked back and tied into a tight ponytail. He pushed his coat back as he walked in, flashing a gold-plated handgun. Three more guards followed him into the room.

"Shit," I heard Tash hiss under her breath.

"Tashy," the man opened.

Shit.

"What're you doing down here? Does Jie have you picking up her garbage now too?"

"I had the time."

"And then, who's this?" the man waved a lazy hand at me.

"The escort Jie sent with me to ensure you didn't try anything stupid, Aiguo."

It was a disaster that these two knew each other, but it was refreshing to run into someone in Station 26 who didn't know me. The years away were supposed to mean something.

"Woo, she short-staffed then? Did I miss an invite to the party upstairs?"

"She didn't want to waste money collecting shitty debt," Tash offered as an excuse. "Speaking of which-"

"All in good time. We're still waiting on a couple guests," Aiguo answered before turning to the masked man behind him, "speaking of which, grab our guests some chairs, don't make 'em stand."

That was a classic. Sitting down made you vulnerable, but if you kept standing, you seemed suspicious.

The masked man left the room before Tash processed what he'd said.

"What do you mean 'other guests'?"

"Right, so, this jackass wasn't only racking up debt on Songlai-"

"Station 26," Tash corrected.

"Right, right, sorry. He wasn't only racking up debt on Station 26. Get this. Guy convinced the Videsshai to lend him some money too."

Shit again.

"Don't think they'll be necessary," Tash interjected.

"Respectfully as I can be to you as a representative of Lady Jie, Tashy, we're gonna bring 'em in so they can offer a better price than you if they wanna."

"I was sent here with the understanding that the price was Lady Jie pretending not to see Carr's operations on the docks."

"Look, hey, that is the agreed-upon price," Aiguo got out of the way for a moment as the guard returned with chairs and began placing them around the table, "but those Videsshai really seem to want his head. There's a chance, slim as it may be, that it's more profitable for us to give up on the docks but take their money."

"There's no way this idiot is worth that kind of money," Tash pointed out. It was clever for her to use the word idiot; easier for her to tell the truth than call her brother garbage, though calling him trash would still be accurate.

"I'm on the same page as you about that, but they might not be, and my job is to make Carr as much money as I can. You've been high enough with Jie to know that, Tashy."

"Lady Jie's gonna be-"

"Not if she gets more money selling the bitch than she would by putting him to work in the mines. Now, sit down, we might be here a while." Aiguo motioned for Tash to sit, and she did.

I didn't sit right away, and the heavy set guard that had grabbed the chairs put the last one pointedly down in front of me, then stared.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Kaito, the last chair should be for our coming guests, not the hired help."

The man, Kaito, sized me up for a moment longer before grabbing the chair again and heading to the empty slide of the table, placing it essentially right in front of the last exit to the room.

I had to give them credit; three parties were coming to this meeting, and the room had three main exits. If it weren't for the half dozen people between Tash, myself and freedom, I would have called it excellent de-escalation.

"How you been, Tashy?"

"I'm not here to talk."

"Don't be like that, we got time, and it's been so long since-" Aiguo chuckled instead of finishing his sentence, "Well, you know what happened, and I don't have to embarrass myself in front of the crew."

"I was worried I would have to do it for you."

"Oh, so she will talk as long as she's getting a shot in. Fucking typical," Aiguo shook his head. "What about you, tough guy? You feeling chatty?"

"No."

"What's your story?" he asked.

I stifled a sigh; there was a balance between avoiding any conversation for safety's sake and pissing off the person Tash was supposed to be charming. "I'm a merc."

"Didn't expect Jie to send someone outta house," Aiguo shrugged, "but I guess that was obvious when you walked in here without the colours."

"Maybe I'm cheaper."

"Doubt it based on the scrambler. Been trying to scan you here for a minute, and something's stopping data from going through. Safe to assume that's you?"

"Yep."

"How about you turn it off and let me take a look?"

"Stop harassing the help Aiguo," Tash cut in.

"You're just gonna let her call you the help?"'

"I'm being paid to," I pointed out.

"That's a philosophy I can get behind," Aiguo nodded. As he did, the final door of the room opened with a soft hiss, and a massive carapaced arm came into view.

There were three kinds of Anteraxi in the galaxy. Most were drones, around the size of most species and a lot lighter; they were short-lived but smart, organized people. Most stations with Anteraxi populations had one or two of the second type, Queens, huge, bulky women who acted as brood mothers for the species like the one we'd seen back on Mythellion.

Then there were 'Rebel Queens.'

Rebel queens were queens that weren't fed, or given treatment, for the hormones to channel their young metamorphosis. The millions of calories that went into reproductive systems in standard queens went toward muscle and carapace.

Queens were rare, rebel queens were a rounding error among Queens, but with trillions of Anteraxi you'd see a few around in a lifetime. They were never a good sign in my line of work.

The rebel queen ducked to avoid the doorframe as she pushed into the room, then stood up to her full height, her antennae almost scraping against the ceiling. Based on an oversized weapon on her hip, she was a guard like most of us in the room. Unlike the rest of us, she was wearing civilian clothes instead of a plated jacket.

That was fair; I'd seen a bullet bounce off a rebel in my day.

The queen didn't turn her head to scan the room with her compound eyes, instead only pausing for a moment before speaking up. "Where's the mark?"

"Hello Savita, didn't think you were going to make it," Aiguo greeted.

"Where's the mark?"'

"My friend will grab him now," Aiguo answered. The masked guard that had brought in the chairs left the room again, letting the door slam behind him.

The queen, Savita, stooped to look back through the door she'd come through. "You're good sir," then she stepped to the side.

The next person to walk through the door was someone I recognized by reputation as opposed to looks, a midnight black Ashiir with their fluffed wings folded neatly behind their back, specks of poisonous red seemed to dance along their exposed skin, with the rest covered by a loose maroon fabric. They surveyed the room with their burning coal eyes.

We had a rebel queen and Moldielki in the room with us. If anything went wrong, we were fucked.

"Aiguo, it's a pleasure to meet you in person," Moldielki opened; even though the translator dampened the sound of his voice, I could still feel it vibrating against my chest, "I assume that these are the representatives of the illustrious Lady Jie?"

"Yes," Tash and Aiguo answered around the same time.

"I appreciate the extended trust in sending such a meagre outfit for the meeting. After all, these negotiations should be a formality. Sevita-"

Despite being almost three times the Ashiir's size, the queen stood at attention.

"-you're crowding the room; fetch Elias so I have nominal protection and wait outside."

Anteraxi didn't have the same facial expressions as humans, but I still recognized the look of 'I'm being paid too much to argue about this.'

"Now, do you want to bring the vermin in here? I don't negotiate unless I can see the prize," Moldielki said as they took a chair at the table. Sevita stooped out of the room, and a moment later, a human guard that had clearly been hired off of the Station came into the room.

"My associate is just grabbing him."

"I don't appreciate being made to wait Mr. Aiguo; coming to this station for negotiations with Carr is already taking some of my precious time."

"If you aren't interested in this, you don't need to be here," Tash pointed out; there was a little too much hope in her voice for my liking.

"My time is precious, but ensuring that others know they cannot take advantage of my organization is paramount to our success. If we are not gutting him ourselves, it will be because we are confident he will be locked away with one of you."

Tash uncrossed and then crossed her legs under the table. She needed Moldielki to give up on this. Carr already had Collings, so he didn't need to negotiate for money, but Tash? Tash had been counting on giving Carr a favour she could personally swing to get her brother out of this. She didn't have Lady Jie's money to offer. If Moldielki offered enough to convince Aiguo, Tash couldn't offer anything to match it.

The door opened, and Tash flinched. I'd met Collings back in my time on Station 26, but he looked like a different man now, gaunt and bruised with dry blood on his face from a recent split lip. It looked like he might have been in the same clothes since Carr had caught him, and they looked like they were several sizes too big now.

Moldielki spoke up before they'd even pulled Collings all the way into the room. "This is what you're offering? He's half alive."

Tash sucked in air. If I wasn't a step too far away, I would have tried to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"He's been having a rough time with some of our hires," Aiguo shrugged, "turns out he owed a few of them money coming into this. Who knew?"

"Not exactly offering him in mint condition," Tash finally commented.

"Look, ain't we all talkin' about this guy for the sake of choppin' off some fingers? Making him work to death in the mines? Whatever you Videsshai plan on doing with him.." Aiguo waited for Kaito to shove Collings' limp body into a chair and shove it hard enough into the table that he stayed. "Let's not get hung up on a couple of bruises."

"I'm not keen on the medical bills it will take to get him out of this backwater," Moldieki explained, folding their midnight black arms as they did, "I might have changed my opinion if I knew the condition he would be in."

"Sorry about the scrapes; I can patch him up before you head out if you're that interested in taking him off our hands."

"Hm," was all that the Ashiir offered as a response.

"Do you want him or not?" Tash asked, "Jie will put him to work in the mines tomorrow, tied to an IV as long as his wrists and neurals work." It was a callous reminder about how Station 26 was even though Tash was using it to try and save her brother.

"Allow me time to consider," Moldieki answered, "the Videsshai aren't keen on wasting resources on something hasty as you seem to be on Station 26."

"I'm telling you to not waste resources at all."

"Tashy, please."

"...Tash?" Collings murmured from the edge of consciousness. Shit.

"What was that young man?" Moldieki asked then waved back to the door. Another man he'd hired on the station came into the room.

"Mmmmm."

"Hey, Jackass," Aiguo grabbed Collings by the hair, holding his head off the table, "he asked you a question."

There was only quiet in response. Thank whatever fucked Gods watched Station 26 for that.

Aiguo dropped Collings, and his head thumped against the table with a metallic clang.

"Careful with the merchandise," Moldieki chided.

"I am, I am," Aiguo sighed, "Now Tash what the fuck was-"

"Tash…?"

"The fuck is that? You know this idiot?"

"I wasn't told there was a personal connection that would greatly change the price that we're willing to pay for-"

"There isn't a personal connection. A lot of people on the station know me from the docks but I don't know this kid, alright?"

I pushed my jacket an inch back and went to grab the Hammerhead, but there was only one target for it in the room, and it wasn't like I could grab the Nurse without making a commotion.

"He ain't saying my name, and I've kicked his ass twice this week," Aiguo pointed out.

"It's just-"

"Tash?"

"Shut up!" Tash snapped.

Moldieki shot out of his chair and slammed both hands onto the table. The room went quiet. "Enough," their voice rang out clear, a low hum that filled the room. "I was not informed about this-"

"Hey, I did-"

"-and I will not have one of our first investments in Station 26 marred by this sort of slight or lack of oversight from Lady Jie. I will be back to speak with you in a moment." Moldieki stood up straight, and their wings fluttered before they turned and went to leave.

"What the hell is going on, Tashy?" Aiguo hissed.

"Elias," Moldieki called as they paused at the door, "I want to start fresh; let's get rid of the problem. Shall we?"

BANG.

Collings' blood splattered across the room.