The fact that the core of Unity never experienced night time was really disconcerting. When Astarte and Karega left the Astaroth night was falling over that section of the city and streetlights were just kicking on. But one short flight up and they were bathed in the light of a summer afternoon dressed in evening wear.

Sometimes when she had business in Sol, Astarte had to fly to several different cities on both Earth and Mars in the course of several days. Often bouncing between night and day on two different worlds. But at least the people there acted like the light outside corresponded with a certain time of day. The people of the Core prescribed to a completely arbitrary definition of night and day.

And since the standard Union day was equivalent to about 14 and half Earth hours, Astarte had no hope of ever adjusting to it.

She wondered how the hell Rachel dealt with it? That girl’s circadian rhythm had to be all kinds of fucked up.

Her mind began to wander towards all the other things she wanted to ask Rachel about growing up on a station before she remembered her conversation with Karega.

That conversation had been tormenting her for days. She agreed with him on a logical basis, but on an emotional basis she disagreed. Rachel was a Union cop, and that made her a traitor to her species and Astarte’s enemy. Any developing feeling she may, or may not be feeling were a betrayal to her mission. She was a Hellworlder pirate, and the only reason she was in Unity was to get back the Terraforming equipment needed to save her world.

And to fuck shit up. But that was implied wherever Astarte and the Astaroth went.

She knew all that, or at least her head did. Because her heart disagreed.

Her stupid heart felt that Rachel had only betrayed her people because she was thoroughly brainwashed by the Union. The poor girl was raised with the hate and fear the Union had towards deathworlders, and she had probably internalized that hate on a very fundamental level.

Her heart felt both sympathy for Rachel, and fury at the Union as a whole. Her heart wanted to fix her, both so that the girl could finally see the truth, and as a middle finger to the Union.

Just thinking about the issue made her head hurt. That and the frequent headaches she was getting.

Either her body was becoming immune to the acetaminophen, or the headaches were getting worse. Maybe it was both. Twice now she had to stop whatever she was doing so that she could lay down and rest her eyes.

They left the landing pad and were greeted by an armed guard contingent. Despite the large pulse rifles and thick looking black armor Astarte wasn’t the least bit intimidated since the guard force was made up of Cék’ek and Ceshix. The Hearts couldn’t even afford Carkic guards, let alone Deathworlder contractors. Instead they had bought the cheapest muscle they could find and dressed them up in gear they could barely lift.

It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.

Since their last visit Karega had spent some time checking in on the financial status of the Hearts, and he had confirmed all off Astarte’s suspicions.

One thing Astarte found particularly interesting was that most of the Heart’s investments laid within private prisons and the cheap labor they provided. Private prisons that had been slowly losing their intake of convicts ever since local police forces like the Maidens and Vet clans rose in power and influence. Those groups owed no allegiance to the Union or their contracts with private prisons, and dealt out justice on their own terms.

The Hearts had flourished off of the oppression and poverty of their own people. Willingly aiding the Union so that they could afford their cushy lives on the most expensive station in Union space. And now that Astarte and the Hellworlders were improving things on Earth the Hearts were in decline.

And instead of tightening their purses and using their remaining capital to reinvest into a more prosperous market the Hearts were doing wealthy equivalent of flailing uselessly.

And everyone knew it.

The only reason anyone paid the Heart’s any attention was so that they could mooch off the extravagant imported delicacies and imported spirits.

Of course Alexandra knew all of this. From what Astarte learned of the woman, Alexandra was a cold and ruthless negotiator. She had a way of twisting other people around her fingers and using them until they were of no more use to her. The only reason the Hearts hadn’t gone bankrupt yet was because of her meddling. And on the other hand, the only reason they were still in trouble was her husband.

He had once been a man with money and connections. But before Alexandra took initiative he gambled away large sums of his family wealth on stupid and sketchy business deals. Had it been Astarte in his shoes she would have known those deals were rotten just from a cursory glance. But Daniel Heart was one of those men who were too convinced of their own greatness and genius. The con men who swindled him likely just fed his ego until he was demanding to make a deal with them.

Tonight however was Alexandra’s show, and her husband and daughter were just her puppets. Which meant Astarte and Karega needed to be on guard. The first party was just introduce them to the high society of Unity’s Terran elite, tonight would be the night Alexandra tried to sucker them into a deal with their failing business’s. And to sweeten the pot she had brought in representatives from Amaterasu, the Central bank, and Ozzanith. All big names that Astarte had never had the prestige to even meet with.

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Alexandra knew that Aster and Kar were onto her game and their financial troubles. She knew that there was no way in Hell they’d ever go into business with the Heart family, so she was using her connections to tempt Aster and Kar into a lesser deal so that they could use the Hearts the make their own connections.

It was a clever plan. Alexandra knew that the only way the Hellworlders would strike a deal with her was if they were planning to stab the Hearts in the back. So, Alexandra offered them a potential back stab on her own terms. That way she could decide when and where she was stabbed.

Unfortunately for Alexandra, the Hellworlders had no intentions whatsoever in making a deal with anyone in the Core sectors.

The whole strategy around the Hellworlder fleet relied on them only building connections within Femeri. By targeting industries with pirate attacks to drive them out of business and then buying up said business they were able to create legal revenue. They then took that revenue and reinvested that into the local economy, thus slowly building the industrial base of Femeri and giving them better backing for when the real war began.

Any out of sector deal would take to long to bare fruit and was thus a waste of time.

Still, it was a clever plan. Astarte would have to take notes. When all your options were bad you picked the bad option you had the most control over.

Karega and Astarte entered the reception room arm in arm, presenting a united front. If both hadn’t previously intimated that they weren’t romantically involved then one might have assumed they were husband and wife. But instead, because of their subtle manipulations at the last party, their was a sizable portion of the assembled guests eyeing them hungrily.

Karega in particular had mastered the art of wooing younger women while also enticing the male crowd in one way or another.

Astarte for her part held herself in a way that drew in the older more experienced players. She had learned how to start a deep scintillating conversation with any of the veteran negotiators, and offered them something they rarely got out of someone younger. A challenge.

This was the dynamic she and Karega had developed over the years. Many business deals began on the floor of parties like this one, and they had learned how to make the social circle revolve around them. It was difficult to balance their work aboard the Astaroth with the different social seasons on Mars and Earth, but they did their best.

Aster had originally dreaded the idea of an endless procession of parties, but early on she had learned a secret. Every party was a quiet war of different interests and players, with the occasional hedonist throwing a wrench into the careful engine of backroom negotiations.

She loved it.

Alexandra and Daniels Heart came to greet them, both standing slightly apart. They independently engaged Kar and Aster in conversation, and then seamless guided them away from each other. Soon Astarte was introduced to about ten different people and quickly found herself engrossed in a discussion on the slight downturn in the local market, while Karega was introduced to a group a men who quickly left the room to examine one of the Heart’s collections, or some other bullshit.

The actual conversations were meaningless since the real goal was to separate them. At the last party Astarte and Karega had been a powerful duo, so the obvious play for this party was to separate them. Something they had been expecting.

The idea was to get them apart and then surround them with family friends and allies to put Aster on the back foot. Maybe even try to put her off kilter.

Aster allowed it, but only because it gave a good look at who was and wasn’t a strong supporter of the Hearts. As she spoke with the gaggle of crones Alexandra had introduced her to she took the time to observe the other groups around the room. Who talked with who, which groups avoided each other, and who was standing alone.

That last part she found the most interesting since she spotted Rachel standing off to the side of everything wearing another gaudy kimono that she seemed to dislike. She wasn’t standing in one place, and seemed to be moving around the room to not look like she was on her own despite not talking with anyone at all. Aster only saw her a few times, but each time she caught a glance Rachel had her eyes firmly fixed on Astarte.

Aboard the Iron Tree the few times Aster had caught her staring she would shy away blushing and ashamed, as if she had been caught doing something naughty. But this time there was a scowl and some quiet judgment. Interesting.

Also on the outside was her father, Gin Hanzo. He was clearly someone other people wanted to approach, but he kept them all at an arms distance. She also caught him staring at her from time to time, his hawkish eyes were clearly dissecting her in his mind. She wondered what she did that might have drawn his attention?

Was he watching her in his official capacity as the Chief of Security, or did he know that they shared blood?

She tried not to let him see her eye twitch when she saw him.

His time would come soon, she could already imagine what his neck would feel like when she squeezed the life out of him.

“Oh dear, that’s a scary face.” Alexandra said in an amused tone.

Astarte blinked and forced her tortures grin into something more benign “Sorry, my mind must have wandered. Where were we?”

The conversation about the latest media craze over Zera’s attack on the CSP had been interrupted by Alexandra’s remark. And now the group had turned towards Astarte.

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense.” One older women to Alexandra’s right said.

“Oh never mind me,” She said with a wave of her hand “I’m just curious how the CSP could fail to prevent a cyborg assassin from making her way all the way into the CSP. Personally I’m wondering if I could sneak in and erase a parking ticket if their security is that lax.” She said playfully just as Hanzo walked behind them. She noticed that he was eavesdropping on their conversation, and decided to taunt him.

The Chief of Security paused, and opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated.

Astarte took this opportunity to drag him into their conversation. “Wasn’t the killer supposed to be in prison? I think I heard in the news somewhere that she had a prison record. Did the Union really release such a dangerous women onto the streets?”

Her father frowned, he turned to face her and leveled his sharp gaze on her. “The name the killer used belonged to a dead convict, we are unsure if the two are the same.” He retorted to her taunt. Something in his voice told her that he knew that she knew it was bullshit, and was daring her to expose herself.

“So are you saying that someone is raising the dead, or that someone tampered with the records? Should the police be on the lookout for a necromancer?”

The flock of ladies, who had previously been putting pressure on Astarte turned their gazes on the Chief of Security. They too were interested in how the Chief of Security was responding to this blatant attack. Like sharks they smelled blood and began to circle.

“Even a necromancer wouldn’t explain how she infiltrated the CPS.” One dark skinned Asian women pressed, returning the focus to how she snuck into the heart of the station security.

“Moreover the ADCU report released to the press stated that the Reaper Mantis was an advanced Cyborg. How could the station security let criminals with those kinds of resources grow here on Unity?”

“Please, be patient. This attack has also surprised us.” Hanzo placated.

But Alexandra wouldn’t let go that easily. “My apologies Chief Gin, but I heard that the ADCU have been investigating this criminal for years now. How could you let such a dangerous criminal kill so indiscriminately without any repercussions?” She said, spearing him with her question.

Alexandra’s remark surprised Hanzo. He must not have anticipated her knowing that. Interesting.

“Why wasn’t this a priority from the start” she continued. “I have it on good authority that a third rate junior officer has been the only one investigating this.”

The third rate remark seemed excessive. But Astarte guessed Alexandra didn’t know it was her own daughter. Or maybe she did and just wanted to see Hanzo’s reaction.

While the shark were still in their feeding frenzy Astarte took the chance to slip away from Alexandra.

She walked to the drink station to refresh her glass, all the while smiling to herself. It was a petty trick to play on Hanzo. But he deserved that and so much more. At the moment Astarte couldn’t make any hostile actions against the Chief without bringing the whole Station Security down on her, so until she could snuff him out she would have fun being the thorn in his side.

Now free of Alexandra she scanned the room again to look for any interesting groups. The main event hadn’t started yet and people were still slowly arriving. And not a single non-Terran had arrived yet. Obviously the xeno guests wouldn’t arrive until the last possible moment.

As she scanned the room she noticed something unusual. Rachel was no longer alone, instead a young girl with curl blonde ringlets was pressed awfully close, and Rachel looked stiff as a board.

She obviously wanted the blonde girl to leave, but wasn’t making any overt movements to extract herself from the awkward situation. The only question was whether Aster should intervene or let it play out?