sends me back into the wall. I hit the deck with my knees, jagged pain in my gut, blood in my mouth. Bianchi grabs a disruptor from one of his goons, points it at my head. Auri screams my name, Cat raises her weapon as Bianchi’s goons all draw on her.
“No firing in here please, gentlemen,” comes a sexless electronic voice.
I glance up, clutching my aching belly, breath rasping through my teeth. A GIA operative in a featureless gray suit steps into the room, flanked by a second.
Bianchi bellows in Chellerian. He points to the splattered remains of his ultrasaur with three arms while waving his weapon at me with the other.
“And I appreciate that, Mr. Bianchi,” the operative says, motioning at Auri. “But as we explained, this asset is of vital importance to Terra. We would prefer that she did not become collateral damage to your fit of pique.”
Bianchi tilts his head, looming over the G-man and growling in perfect Terran.
“This is my ship. My world. You have no jurisdiction here, hoo-maaan.”
I can’t see its face, but the operative speaks like it didn’t even blink. “You would not even have been aware of this robbery had we not informed you of it, Mr. Bianchi. Some gratitude might be in order.”
“If you had warned me sooner, my pet would not be dead!”
“The Bellerophon is only a few hours away from the World Ship, sir. On arrival, our Princeps will compensate you adequately for your losses. We require only the girl. As for the rest of these traitors”—the G-man gestures to me and Cat—“we are sure a man of your reputation will enjoy taking his time with them in your holding cells.”
“Waitaminute,” Cat says, stepping forward. “That wasn’t the deal. …”
I turn on her, eyes widening. “Deal?”
She doesn’t look me in the face, staring at the GIA agent instead. “You said we had immunity! You said we could go back to our lives!”
The agent tilts its head. “We lied, Legionnaire Brannock.”
“You sold us out?” I whisper at Cat, hands curling into fists.
She meets my eyes, tears welling in her own. “I … I did it for the squad, Ty.”
“For the squad?” I yell. “You betrayed me for the squad?”
“You heard me!” Cat points at Auri. “Ever since she came aboard the Longbow you’ve thrown the regs out the window! Sucking us all down into the toilet, and for what? For her?” She presses her hands to her breast and whines. “Oh, I’m so sweet and helpless, Mr. Jones, won’t you gather me up in your big strong—”
“That’s what this is about?” I demand. “You and me?”
Bianchi steps forward and growls. “Enough—”
“This has nothing to do with us!” Cat screams right over the top of him. “This is about the Legion! About the academy! Everything we worked for since we were kids, Tyler! Some skirt bats her eyes at you and you throw it all away?”
“It was a mistake, Cat!” I yell. “I’m sorry about what happened between us on shore leave! I’m sorry I messed it up! But isn’t it about time you got over it?”
Her eyes widen at that. “You sonofa …”
She launches herself across the room, slugs me right in the jaw, shoves me back into a display, cracking my skull on the glass. I tackle her backward, we crash into the Trigger display, knocking it over as we hit the deck. Broken glass and flailing fists, Cat pounding on my face and screaming, screaming.
The room dissolves into chaos; a couple of the Chellerians guffawing at the stupid hoo-maaans, the two GIA agents striding in to break us up, Auri crouching low and covering her ears as Bianchi raises his disruptor and fires into the ceiling.
The G-men pull Cat off me, my blood on her knuckles. She’s panting, flailing, still spitting curses at me.
“You bastard! I’m gonna kick your arse so hard, your fu—”
“ENOUGH!” Bianchi roars. “Take them to the cells!”
One of the G-men grabs Aurora’s arm, hauls her up from the debris. “We will be taking Ms. O’Malley back to Earth, as per our arrangement.”
Bianchi squares up to the operative, folding all four of his arms.
“You will have earned the friendship of the Terran government, Mr. Bianchi. I assure you, our gratitude is almost boundless.”
“Perhaps while they are showing their gratitude, they can explain why they had two of their agents aboard my World Ship without my consent.”
The G-man shrugs. “The Global Intelligence Agency has one thousand eyes,