Are they still repairing this place? I mean, I get that I did a real number on its insides, foundation and general structure, but last time I checked, it doesn’t take a decade to fix one measly headquarters for the enforcers on a particularly wealthy planet. Then again, I haven’t gone around blowing up enforcer headquarters every time I get the itch. Yana called me impulsive, but I’m not that bad.

At least they’ve finally tightened security. There’s no way somebody would be able to sneak a bomb in here. Enforcers positioned at every possible entrance and exit, windows included, it’s almost like they’ve somehow gotten word that I’m on Torline. It doesn’t make sense. Not that they know that I’m here, some random Torl kid ran away from me screaming a couple of days ago. What doesn’t make sense is that I never brought a bomb last time. I didn’t expect to need it. Though I guess that with all the wreckage I left, they couldn’t figure out what made everything go boom.

And if they don’t give me some answers today, a whole lot more is going to get explodey.

But judging from the three storey high projection of my face on the front of the building, I’m not going to be able to get in using the front door. I’m glad they used that decade old picture though; I’ve got these little silver hairs among the black now that I just can’t seem to cover and I know that they’d look ginormous on that holo-projection. It must be from all the stress of circling enforcer headquarters waiting for a ‘trusted’ contact to show up. If this information doesn’t pan out, I am going to have to take out my frustration on his face with my dagger.

“Tina!”

I make a point not to flinch and fix the bumbling idiot with a glare. “Please, say my name louder like the whole planet isn’t on alert to kill me on sight.”

“Sorry,” Vince whispers, walking in stride next to me. “I just figured because you weren’t making much effort to hide yourself that-.”

“I’m wearing contacts. People aren’t going to turn and look at the random human with brown eyes walking past a giant projection of herself. Didn’t you Torls label me ‘The Orange-Eyed Menace’ or something?”

“But enforcers’ visors can see through body modifiers.”

It’s final; I’m not paying this idiot anything.

“Gee, that might be why I don’t want you shouting my name out. It’s not like I’m about to act like the single most suspicious person in the area because that’d just draw their attention.” I take a breath. “Now, do you have something for me or am I about to be swarmed by enforcers for killing you right in front of them?”

Vince steers us into a café and I reluctantly drop into the seat across from him. “I’ve uncovered some enforcer files about Yana.”

“I imagine they’ve got my name on them too,” I say, flashing a smile at our waitress and ordering an Earth inspired pastry.

Vince waits for the waitress to leave. “That’s the thing. The earliest files, back when she was arrested ten years ago, don’t mention your name at all.”

“But what other reason would they have for investigating a paediatrician? She was taking care of sick kids, not robbing banks.”

“I’m going to need you to promise not to get angry to the extent of say, flipping this table or marching over to those headquarters and taking out your rage.”

I swallow a bite of my newly arrive croissant. “I was never really the emotional one. That was Yana’s territory.”

“Torl enforcers are in league with a slave ring and were going to sell Yana to them ten years ago because the slavers needed someone who could stop child slaves from dying before they got sold.”

“They were going to sell Yana? Sweet, innocent, couldn’t kill the evilest person in the galaxy to save her own life, Yana?”

“The enforcers needed new weaponry and the slavers had plenty to spare.”

I push the croissant away, suddenly not hungry. “They were going to sell a doctor for weapons? What’s wrong with the enforcers on this planet?”

“Tina, calm down. Your contacts are burning.”

“They made her think that she was a trap for me, that they arrested her for hiring me to protect her clinic from gang violence, that they weren’t betraying one of their own kind just for some shiny new weapons. Yana used to defend Torline’s enforcers. She used to go on and on about how that whole incident was a big misunderstanding. She used to say that we were lucky the headquarters was basically empty when it all went down. She still loved her planet and couldn’t wait until the day they forgave her. But it wasn’t her fault. It was never her fault.”

Another customer screams, pointing hysterically at my bright orange eyes.

I stand up. “I’m going to make them pay.”

Vince grabs my arm. “You owe me for this information.”

“You’re right. I’ll give you 500 credits after I’m done. If you find me a way into the headquarters, it increases the chance of me living long enough to pay you.”

“Fine, but I’m gone once you get in.”

*

It’s amazing really, how little enforcers they can spare to guard the, I don’t know, extremely volatile anti-matter reactor powering the headquarters. It only took me five minutes to get here from that little roof entrance Vince pointed out to me. The Torls have got so many myths about me circling the galaxy and they manage to forget how handy I am with a machine. I’ve just got to lock them out of an emergency shutdown and I’ll have ten minutes until the explosion is visible from orbit.

“Valentina Mayes!”

I swipe the screen and turn around slowly, meeting the angry enforcer with a grin. “Yes?”

“You’re under arrest for-.”

“Cool. Could we take this outside please? Preferably outside the minimum blast zone of ten kilometres.”

“Minimum blast zone?”

“Yeah, I’m blowing up your headquarters again.” I stride towards her. “Did you still want to arrest me for something or maybe you wanted to say, run away from the eminent explosion. You could be a hero and try to evacuate the area before the big boom. Maybe even try fruitlessly to stop that reactor from going into overdrive. There are so many better options out there for you then trying to arrest me.”

“Uh.” She runs past me to the control panel, red lights blinking up at her. “What am I meant to do here?”

“Well, have fun figuring that out.”

I slam the evacuate alarm on my way out. In the chaos, nobody pauses to wonder who I am. It is the exact same way they acted last time. Of course on that day Yana was the one who hit the alarm. She was so sure that nobody in the building truly deserved to die. For once, she was wrong. But now, as they all run past me, I take a good look at each of their faces. I need them to run out now for the cover, but if I ever see a Torl enforcer on another planet, some space station or whatever, I’m not setting my weapons to stun.

Very few things in life are worth more than money and if they can’t recognise that then they don’t deserve those things. I learned that the hard way.