Hi, here's new chapter for you. It's little shorter then normal, but I hope you'll enjoy it.

I changed the ending of this chapter it was brought to my attention that Leya is too trustworthy. I thought about it and they were right so I rewrote it. Thanks for pointing it out to me.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I was already walking around the city for half a day and I still couldn’t find any information about Guslak. It was almost like he never existed. From the information my former prisoner gave me I thought it would be easier to find him.

He should have been one of the bigger businessman around here. I’ll try one more establishment and then I’ll return back to the Paladin.

I came before metal building with large neon sign. I looked at it and it read “Rotten teeth”. I shook my head as I walked inside. How could someone name his pub Rotten teeth, I didn’t understand. Of course when I walked inside, it became obvious why the owner picked this name.

As soon as I walked inside I was first hit by the smell of the place which was terrible. It was like fish forgotten on sun. Second thing I saw was that in this pub was only one race. It was some sort of predator race with sharks head. They even had gills on the side of the neck, but from what I saw in the room they could breathe air too.

They were all robust and powerful and they also smelled terrible. As I entered everyone’s eyes moved towards me. I ignored them and moved towards the bar.

As I came towards the bar I saw giant sharkman with rotten teeth looking curiously at me. He was cleaning small cups, but placed them down when he saw me approaching.

“Look at what Golgan brought us here.” Said bartender. As I later found out Golgan was biggest predator on their planet. “Your kind doesn’t visit us too much. So how can I help you lady?” he said and snickered.

“Hi, I would like to get some information about man name Guslak. He should specialize in trading the AI’s.” I said.

He took one of the cups and started to clean it again. “Don’t know, don’t care.”

“Why would you like to meet him?” asked one of the sharkman in the room. He had scars along his jaw and he looked, I didn’t know how to describe it, worn, tired, old.

I looked at him and tried to read him, but with their shark face I couldn’t guess anything. “He has something that’s belongs to me. I would like to acquire it back.”

“So, he robbed you too? Two weeks ago he sold me what he called high end AI, but it self-destructed as soon as I powered it up.” He studied me for a while, then beckoned me to him. “Come and sit with me. I’ll tell you what I know.”

I sat across from him and placed my hand for him to shake. He look at it curious and slowly he placed his hand near mine. I clasped it and shook. “Hi my name is Leya.”

He was surprised, at least I thinks so but then he shook back. “Hi my name is Sharpteeth.”

“It’s pleasure to meet you. I’m walking around this town for almost a day and no could tell me anything about Guslak. I thought he was more known.” I said.

“One would say, but he likes to stay low. He has his own network which brings him potential clients. That’s one of the reasons for you to be careful. They probably already told him about you.” He said.

“I will be, but what can you tell me about him and more important where can I find him?”

I leaned forward when he started to talk. “From what little is known about him, he is one of the bigger players on this rock. He is known to be pretty vengeful and don’t like when people are talking about him. There are stories about him killing them. I personally didn’t see his face as he makes the deals through the proxy.”

“Doesn’t look like nice guy. What about you? Won’t you have problems?” I said.

He encompassed room we were in with his hands. “There is no one here who would betray me so, if it gets out it has to be you.”

“Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone, but can you tell me where can I find him?”

“Sorry, but that I don’t know. If I knew, I would pay him a visit already.” He chuckled.

I hung my head. So much for my lead. At least I got some information about him.

“I heard he’s planning some auction. He got his hands on some super AI and wants to sell it.” Said guy next to us.

I turned to him. “Where and when it will be held?”

“I don’t know, but I can find out. Only, it’ll cost you something.” He said.

I looked at Sharpteeth, but he was just shrugged. “Ok, how much do you want?”

“I don’t want money. You seem to have access to pretty good technology. What I want is decent weapon for me and some of my companions. We want to get out of this rock, but universe is dangerous place and we’ll need weapons to protect ourselves.” He said.

I thought about it, but I didn’t have the materials to build new weapons. I would have to buy them, but that too would cost something. Probably something I didn’t have.

“I would like to, but I don’t have much money. I would need some materials to make them. So if you can get me materials I can made you your weapons.”

“Why should I get you materials? Why don’t you buy it yourself?” he said.

“Because like I said, I don’t have credits. I have only little left, but I can make you first rate weapons if you get me materials. My time working on them would normally cost thousands credits.” I said.

“You’ve got to be kidding. You can be good, but if you don’t have credits you can’t be that good. You would have make credits by producing your goods.” He said.

I leaned slightly forward and placed hand over my left shoulder. I could feel through the sensors as plates on my back slide sideways and revealed Fist. Then it was brought higher so I could comfortably pull it out. I took it and placed on the table. Immediately half the pub came look at it.

“I’m that good. You can inspect it and make your own decision.” I said.

His eyes darted from my shoulder to the Fist and back. “No, I don’t need to. Just this mechanism on your back is better than anything I saw. You’ve got the deal. I’ll give you materials and you’ll make me five weapons.” He said and placed his hand for me to shake.

I smiled and shook his hand. “Hi my name is Swiftfin.”

“Hi, my name is Leya.” I said.

“Where should I deliver the materials?” he asked.

I told him where my ship was and that he should think about the type of weapons he wanted. I also gave him my contact information. He told me he would take preferences of his companions and tell them to me when he delivers the materials. That should be tomorrow around lunch.

When he’ll get his weapons, he would tell me the information about the auction and if it would be possible he would get me the invitation. I thanked him and we parted.

I went straight to Paladin and informed Lany about our situation.

● ● ●

“How’s our preparation going?”

“Everything should be prepared and we can start auction on time. Also Lotus clan is already on place.”

“Did you heard about the woman that is looking around the town for Guslak? We should do something about her.”

“Don’t worry, I already sent someone to take care of her. They should be done before we start with the Auction.”

“Good, we can move to other topic then. How many people have you invited?”

“About thirty. Everyone can take one bodyguard with them. Only exception was made for Baron, but that was within our expectation.”

“Good, let’s look at the building and we can start final preparation.”

● ● ●

Two hours ago Swiftfin called me that he gathered all the materials and that he should arrive in an hour. He was one hour late and I was getting afraid that something happened to him. I was nervously walking around the ship and constantly connecting to outer sensors to check if he already came.

I tried to call him back, but my call wouldn’t connect. That certainly wasn’t good. I called on COM number for the pub where I met him, but they too didn’t know where he was. Both, Me and Lany tried their best to find something about him, but we didn’t find anything. It was like he disappeared.

I was getting desperate when I got COM call from him.

“Hi, where are you? I was getting worried about you.” I said.

“You should be worried about him. We will be holding him until you came to us. We are sending you the location where you can pick him up. You have two hours. We’ll kill him after that.” Said modulated voice and he or she ended the call.

I tried to call back, but it wasn’t even ringing. I looked at the location they sent me and it wasn’t too far from my ship. I thought about how to go about rescuing him as it was trap for sure. My only advantage was that I knew it was a trap which in truth wasn’t much of an advantage.

I called Lany and explained the situation to her.

“You know it’s a trap. You can’t just walk in there.” Said Lany.

“I know, but I can’t let him there. He was caught because of me.” I said.

“I know, but it’s a suicide to go there. We don’t have time to do any recon and going blind there is… is …. is just plain stupid.”

“I know, but I made a promise long time ago and I plan to keep it.” I said.

I went to armory and started to put on my armor and all the gadgets I could.

“What kind of promise did you make?” asked Lany from the door.

“I promised that I would protect the weak and ones that can’t protect themselves. I would protect them even If it costs me my life.” I said.

“Why would you promise something like that?” asked Lany confused.

“Because I would do it. I didn’t have easy life and if there was someone who would help me, it could go completely different way. I didn’t get this chance, but maybe I can give it to others.” I said.

“I… I think I understand little, but still I don’t want them to hurt you.” She said.

“Don’t worry, they don’t know what I’m capable of. I’ll try to take them by surprise.” I smiled encouragingly and head out.

“Just take care.” She called after me.

“I will.” I said back and went towards the warehouse where Swiftfin should be held.

On my way I bought map of the warehouse. It was old warehouse that was later reworked to office space. It was used as offices for about three years when new gang took over the street and destroyed it. After that no one wanted to invest too much money into it and it was left there in its demolished state.

That was two years ago. It’ll be probably changed after two years, but basic corridors should still be up.

As I came towards it, I sent my two drones to scan it. While they updated my map, I continued inside. I didn’t try to hide my presence because I spotted several cameras along the way.

They already knew I was here. It would be pointless to try and hide myself. I was in their territory and they held the advantage. At least they thought so. I’ll have to use all my skills to get better of them.

As I walked through the old warehouse I could see how much time has changed it. There was garbage tossed on the floor and walls that should have parted the office rooms were either tossed down or were riddled with holes.

It was like walking through the labyrinth. Only good thing was that with help of my drones I had detailed map of my way. There would be no problem returning back.

Finally after about two minutes I came through the hole in the wall and there was big room about ten by ten with Swiftfin sitting on the chair in the middle of it. He wasn’t bounded to it. I could see he was swaying from one side to another. It looked more like they drugged him.

“You don’t have to worry about him. I just temporally locked his mind.” Said woman who came from doors on the other side. “He’ll wake up in an hour and he won’t remember how he got here.”

She was slowly moving towards me. She was lightly swaying and it looked like cat stalking its pray. I smiled and went towards her with same sway. I did quick scan but it looked like she was alone here.

She smiled which revealed row sharp teeth. “Someone wants to play with me? It was long time since someone dared to.”

“We can still end this peacefully. No one has to hurt. Just let me take here my friend and I won’t do anything to you.” I said.

She started to laugh. “You think you can hurt me? You’ll find out your mistake in a while.”

She started to run towards me while I pulled both pistols and started to shoot at her. Before I could get through her shield, I saw her gathering some kind of strange energy and hurl it at me. I tried to dodge, but it still cough me and tossed sideways. It was some sort of telekinetic attack. Well that was something new.

I rolled with the impact and started to shoot at her once more. She placed her right hand before her and calmly let me shot at her. All my shots were stopped by some sort of shield made by same energy as one she tossed after me. I sheathed both pistols and went for Fist.

Before I could aim she tossed another attack my way with her other hand. This time I was too slow and it tossed me across whole room and through the wall. I also lost Fist somewhere along my flight. I thought about what to do, but my options were limited. I let my nanobots heal me while I contemplated about what to do.

In the end I placed my hand over the right shoulder and my sword slid into it. I pulled it and prepared for what I needed to do. I willed little more energy into my legs and it really happen. I could feel them getting stronger. I connected to one of the drones and through it I saw her standing in the middle of room next to Swiftfin.

“You run already? I love chase so please run.” She said.

I entered the room once more and focused on her. I could feel the world slowing down and before she could say something I run at her. She was evidently surprised by my speed, but she reacted almost instantly and sent telekinetic attack at me.

I jumped left and this time I managed to dodge it. She immediately sent two attacks and one little delayed. First two were going to my left and right while last one was going in the middle.

I knew what she wanted. She wanted to force me to jump in the air where she could do whatever she wanted with me. That would be my end for sure so I rammed the sword into the floor and braced myself on it. I crouched as low as I could to minimalize impact zone.

When the wave hit me I felt like train just punched me in the whole body, but I still held onto my sword which creaked with strain I put on it. Almost instantly I felt the pressure subside and I was once again free. I used sword to give myself speed boost and teared it from the ground. I could feel some tearing on muscles on my arms from the impact, but I ignored it. My nanobots would heal me later.

I was just couple of steps form her and once again I managed to surprise her. Before she could do anything I was on her and I swung my sword with all the strength I could muster. She instinctively placed her hands before her face and created shield.

When my sword hit her shield both of us were tossed form one another. She hit the wall and went through it while my side of wall held and I bounced back on the ground. I stood up slowly and let the nanobots do their work. Two minutes later I slowly went to look at what happened to her.

I found her behind the wall with the eyes showing white. She had to overdo it with this last explosion. I looked at her and thought about what to do. First I went to Swiftfin, but he was still out so I retrieved my rifle and called Lany.

In the end I bound Swiftfin’s attacker hands and fingers. I used blindfold over her eyes and bound her to the chair. To tell the truth, it was Lany’s idea. She pointed out that she could be using her sight or hands to harness the energy I saw. Bound like that I loaded her into my ship and tossed her into the brig. Only thing remaining was waiting until either she or Swiftfin wakes up.

In the end first to wake up was my prisoner. I pointed Fist at her and waited for her to get her bearings.

“Where am I? What happened?” she said confused.

“Welcome. You’re on my ship. Your plan to capture me didn’t go as planned.” I said.

I saw her immediately straining against the bonds and gathering the energy. It was slower than before and it wasn’t as focused.

“I wouldn’t do that. I’m pointing high-powered laser rifle at you. I don’t think you would be able to deflect them with such feeble shield.” I said and I could see her slowly letting go of her power.

“That’s better. Now we can talk or better you should start talking.” I said.

“If I tell you anything they’ll kill me so, why should I tell you anything?” she asked.

“Well as you are on my ship and when my friend wakes up he’ll tell me everything. You don’t really have a much choice. They’ll think you betrayed them no matter what you do, so you can save your time as well as mine and tell me what I want to know.” I said.

She was silent for about a minute thinking hard. ”What’s in it for me? Why should I even help you? Like you said no matter what I do they’ll think I betrayed them.”

“Well, when I end my business here, I’ll let you go. That should be enough I think.”

“Yes and they would just kill me as soon as I’m out of your ship. No I want you to take me away. You’re definitely not planning to stay here so I want you to take me somewhere else.” She said and leaned forward listening attentively.

She was right. They would kill her, but taking her would be just too dangerous. She could kill me or Lany while we were sleeping. Even from this cell she can control her power.

“You could betray me. I think that you are just too dangerous to take with me.”

“I can make promise on my power.” She said like it should tell me something.

“What does that mean?” I said.

She frowned. “Don’t you know what I am?” She looked at me and waited but I relly didn’t know what she was. In the end she sighed. “Then let me explain. I’m what you would call psychic and when someone like me makes a promise on our power it’s binding. We’re not sure why, but if I brake my promise to you my powers would kill me.”

“Hmm…, but I think it can be easily used against me. It’s all about the interpretation of the promise. I think it depends on what you believe you are saying.” I said and asked Lany if she knew about it. She told me she heard somewhere about it, but wasn’t sure if it was truth.

“Then you can make out all the words I’ll need to say. I’ll repeat them word by word.” She said.

I looked at her and thought about the words she would have to use. “OK here are the words. For duration of my journey on this ship I wouldn’t hurt anyone unless told to. I can defend myself in case of attack, but I won’t do anything to endanger anyone on this ship, be it passenger or crew. I won’t use my powers to affect the ship or alter it in any way unless given permission.”

“That’s pretty thorough, but fair. Ok I’m willing to make this promise.” She said.

“Still you could be lying and no such thing exists. I think I would have to ask someone to confirm your story.” I said.

“If I were you I would hurry. The auction starts soon.” She smirked.

“How soon?” I asked and stood up alarmed.

“I want you to promise that you would take me with you and then I’ll help you.” She said.

I called Lany and told her to check Swiftfin. “He’s still out. Why do you ask?”

“Our prisoner told me that the auction is starting in a while. I need to be there, but I don’t trust her. She won’t tell me anything unless I take her away from this rock. What do you think I should do?”

“I’m not sure. You’ll have to take her probably.” I listened, but she didn’t tell anything more. I almost turned back to my prisoner when she continued. “I’ll install sensors and alarm in the cell and something to take care of her in case she runs away.”

“Yes go and start installing it on the second cell. In a mean time I’ll find out more about this auction.” I said and ended the call.

“So what did you decide to do?” she asked.

“I’ll take you with me, but first I want you to make the promise.” I said.

She smiled, but immediately wore serious expression and rolled her shoulder. “Ok, lets start. I Strike promise that for the duration of my journey on this ship I wouldn’t hurt anyone unless told to. I can defend myself in case of attack, but I won’t do anything to endanger anyone on this ship, be it passenger or crew. I won’t use my powers to affect the ship or alter it in any way unless given permission.”

As she was saying the promise I could see energy around her circulating and with last word it went into her. She bend her back in pain and screamed. I went to her and held her hand until the pain stopped.

She slowly regain her composure and let go of my hand. “Well, lets not do that again.” She said and shook her head. “Ok, now the auction starts at twenty hour, local time. Your friend can be stashed in one of the three rooms in the auction hall where they store more valuable items or she’s presented on podium. That would depend on what time is right now.”

I looked at my internal clock. When I got on this rock I found out that it showed me not only earth’s time but even one they used here. It was twenty six hour time with four days in a week.

“It’s already eight thirty. Where would I found her? Did they already sold her away?” I asked.

Her forehead creased. “She would be probably still stashed on one of the rooms where they have more valuable items. I heard that they want to auction her at the nine hour. They would auction some less valuable items before her.”

“Thanks. I’ll have to go but before that I’ll place you in cell room next to this. My crewmate changed it and she’ll explain to you why you shouldn’t try to do anything when I’m away.” I said and picked her up.

“I already promised. I won’t be able to do anything to you.” She protested as I was taking her next door.

There I found out Lany finishing installing new features on the cell. From the looks of it she was almost finished with them so I left Strike there and went to the bridge. I checked on Swiftfin, but he was still out.

I called to Rottenteeth. “Hi, I have Swiftfin in my infirmary. I would like to transport him to your pub for now.”

“Huh … With whom do I speak?” said Rottenteeth.

“Ah … My name is Leya and I’m the human who was in your pub yesterday. I wanted to know more about Guslak.”

“Yes, I now remember. What happened to Swiftfin that he is in your infirmary?” he asked concerned.

“He was jumped by a psychic and they froze his mind for an hour. He should wake up any minute, but I have to go away for a while so I’d like to place him into your place for now.” I said.

“No prob. Get him here and I’ll take care of him.” He said.

“Ok, I’ll be there in a sec.” I said.

I did quick preflight and lifted off towards the “Rotten teeth” pub. I used bots to move Swiftfin to cargo bay and when I hovered over the pub bots took Swiftfin down where couple of sharmen were waiting.

As soon as they took him from the bots I commanded them to return and speed up towards the auction hall.