The Calitrexians have officially ‘disowned’ me and won’t pay me for any job. It’s apparently because that merc they had tracking me got caught up in the whole no more artificial gravity fiasco and... Really, it’s his fault for falling for the bait. But now I have to suffer for his ineptness and go back to taking ridiculous small jobs like I did when I was a teenager just starting out. And it seems like the entire galaxy is giving me a bad rap because Vimos Station was also home to a massive alcohol trade, which I might have accidentally blown up.

When you don’t put these things in space station schematics, they get blown up. Everyone knows that.

In any case, I’m sweeping the floors of an impossibly dusty tavern on Deziet right now, while eavesdropping on the patrons. Not my best moment, I’ll admit, but the work pays and at least this way I’ll hear when there are jobs up for grabs. You get all kinds of desperate in places like these. Most of them won’t care if a slightly disgraced mercenary takes on a job, so long as it gets done. It’s all about knowing the right client.

Like the blue-haired woman on her fourth beer. “And they don’t even pay me the minimum rate to guard the stupid thing. I swear I’d get more credits recovering the artefact from a thief then if I stood next to it for an entire year.”

I sidle over to her. “Hundred credits and I’ll be your thief,” I whisper.

She laughs at me. “Sure thing, but only once I’m holding that old jar in my hands.”

“No problem. Where’d you work?”

“Deziet Ancient Cultures Museum. You gonna go when your shift ends?”

I smirk. “Just send me a pic of the jar.”

*

Funny thing about museums, when the one nightshift guard is sitting in a tavern a few blocks away completely hammered, there isn’t much ... resistance. The security systems here are nothing compared to Vimos Station. That artefact is only behind three layers of laser-proof security glass. A simple wire trick with the fire suppressant system lowers the glass and deactivates any motion sensor alarms. I just hit a button on my wristband display on my way out and the entire building returns to normal.

*

I place the jar on the table in front of her and hold my hand out. She falls off her chair in shock. The blue-haired woman eventually recovers, sending me my one hundred credits and smiling broadly at the old jar sitting before her.

“The name’s Tina Mayes by the way. And yeah, I just did that in ten minutes.”

Clap. Clap. Clap.

There’s only one person I know that can pull of that much sarcasm in a slow clap. I turn around and see his copper hair and narrowing grey eyes. Great, it’s Brett. I accept my pay from the bar and head out the door. Hot air greets me and so do the unmistakeable footsteps of a certain Torl following me down the street.

“This is low, even for you.”

I keep walking. “I need the money.”

“You can do better jobs than this for a lot more. So why are you acting like some cheap criminal?”

I roll my eyes. “Isn’t that exactly how you see me? All I’m doing now is living up to your expectations. So quit whining.”

“Then what was Calitrexia for? What was Vimos Station for? Huh? What happened to getting back at the bastards who-.”

“They were paying me!” I whirl around. “And now they’re not. Now that their part of the galaxy is free from slavery, they’ve stopped paying me.”

Brett stares at me blankly. It’s like I’ve just backhanded him. I start walking off again, but he grabs my arm. On my glare he lets go, his eyes fixed on mine with a level of understanding that I’ve never seen them.

“You’re saving up to finish this, aren’t you?” he asks.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Let me help you.”

I scoff. “Have you hit your head?”

“I didn’t notice before, but I think I know why Yana first went with you.”

“Sorry Brett, I don’t swing that way. Towards complete idiots, I mean.”

He shakes his head. “You need someone with you. To stop you from spiralling, because that’s what you’re doing now. It’s what you’ve been doing ever since Yana was... I just didn’t notice it earlier because you’re such an asshole in the first place.”

“No wonder you’ve been single your whole life.”

Brett just smiles, a stupid, ridiculous, way too familiar smile. “I think I want to be your friend.”

I press my hand against his forehead. “You feeling okay? Have you caught some weird, Torl, mind altering virus or something?”

He laughs, swatting my hand away. “Seriously Tina, let me help you on this.”

“Why?” I ask, a rare seriousness taking over. “Why do you of all people want to help me, the person you’ve spent a decade loathing?”

Brett shrugs. “You’ve changed, Tina. Sure your personality is still rubbish and your moral compass is somewhere in the Great Expanse between galaxies, but you’ve actually managed to liberate an entire planet and a pretty large space station from slavery. Even if it’s in your own, completely bizarre way, I think that you’re doing some good. Yana managed to see that through all of your,” he waves his hands about, “you-ness. I reckon if there’s someone there to keep you in line, you wouldn’t be the same as you always were when we didn’t get along. Maybe you’ll even be a decent person.”

“You’ve somehow managed to catch Yana’s delusions about me. If this has happened to even you, then the galaxy isn’t safe. We’ve got an epidemic on our hands.”

“If you would just be serious-.”

“I am being serious! And I’m not about to lead Yana’s little brother to his death dealing with some of the galaxy’s most dangerous people! Because that’s what I’m up against Brett. Not some pirates like last time, but desperate organised criminals who have had their entire slaving industry torn apart by me. They’re not about to just let me take what remains of their empire from them.”

Brett steps forward, eyes darkening to a dangerous shade of grey. “I already told you, Tina. I’m not letting you do this alone. You don’t get a choice in the matter.”

“I’m not letting you do this alone. You don’t get a choice in the matter.” She stands on her toes and kisses my cheek, grinning. “Plus, you’re kind of cute.”

“Fine,” I grumble. “But only because I need your money.”

Stupid sibling resemblance.