Rau's associate arrived a couple of hours into our conversation. He was a Skillian, an Alpha going off his large size, which was about two heads taller than David, with black scales that made him look more like the dragons of human fiction than the normal lizardman appearance most of his species possessed. True to his word, David had kept his drinking to a minimum, taking small sips to keep up appearances. I did the same, though I'll admit that whiskey was a lot stronger than I gave it credit for. I felt light-headed, but it wasn't enough to deter my concentration. From there we switched the tone of our conversation. It wasn't so much about our adventures at that point, but random small talk about menial things to create the illusion of a conversation. He was fairly good at such things, which led me to believe that he had done something like this before.

There isn't much to elaborate on from Rau's conversation with the Skillian. For a meeting that the Salian had been waiting so long for, it must have taken at most five minutes for the entire dialogue to be had. If anything Rau had kept himself in Bliss if only to have the protection of the club's bouncers, who'd prevent most people from causing any trouble within the confines of the club. Or maybe he was there to get addled off of drugs like I had thought before. Regardless, the meeting itself was just to agree to the place of exchange for some good Rau was carrying. What they were exchanging I didn't catch, but that wasn't really relevant to my job anyways.

Consider the era, Keeper. Human's had yet to establish the ACN and the ICS was the fastest means of communication, which the Thulu had complete control of. Though we didn't know the reasons for it at the time, the fact that the Thulu always had such a wealth of information at all times made people, trader's especially, hesitant to share details over the ICS. At least, that's how the Salian's operated. It was much to the chagrin of their associates, but they could not deny that dealing with a Salian usually meant a higher chance of the meeting remaining private. Of course they didn't suspect the tipsy Nereid sitting in the booth next to them, appearing to have a good time with a human without a care in the world. Well... I was enjoying myself, but when it came down to business I had to be serious. Thankfully, David shared the sentiment.

Rau and the Skillian set the meeting to take place, much to my fortune, in one of the buildings under construction on the outer parts of the city. The one that happened to be only a few blocks away from my hotel, which meant getting there would be a simple affair.

They most likely assumed it would be one of the more private meeting places in such a crowded planet, and any other day they would be right. The meeting itself was to take place later that night, and as soon as that detail was sorted out the Skillian left. Rau left his booth soon after, but had noticed David on his way out.

"David, I'm surprised that you are still here," the Salian said, his voice sounding like a distant echo through the modulator attached to his suit.

"I am too," He said, "but I just so happened to run into this pretty lady on my way out, couldn't pass the chance to talk to her now could I?" He motioned to me, and I gave a slight nod to Rau's direction.

"...I suppose that she would be pretty to your kind," Rau said in a dispassionate tone, "About our last discussion, are you sure you will not reconsider?"

"I'm afraid not." David leaned back in his chair, "Considering what happened last time I just don't think I'm getting a fair deal with what you were offering."

The Salian looked at me, or in my general direction, it was hard to tell to see where they were looking at through those goggles. Regardless, I felt him trying to read me, to get a sense for who I was.

I scooted a little closer to David and placed a hand on his forearm, "I think we've been here too long sweetie, didn't you say you'd take me some place nice after this?" I fluttered my eyelashes at him for effect, though I wasn't quite sure if that was planned on my part or the alcohol showing through.

There was a glint of amusement in his eyes as I did it, and he couldn't help but give a half smirk as he held my hand, "Yeah soon, don't you worry about that." He turned back to Rau. "As you can see, I'm kind of busy here, is there anything else you need to talk about?"

Rau looked at us for a little while longer, but didn't say anything. "I suppose not. It is a shame David, but I will respect your decision. I wish you two a good night." The Salian gave us a small bow before he left, followed by his two guardsmen.

"Polite isn't he?" I said.

"Yeah I'll give him that much, but I know he's pissed."

"How can you tell?"

"The way he just kind of lingered there, looking at us. You may not be able to read him through those lenses of his, but he was obviously frustrated by my position."

"You think he suspected me?" I asked.

"No, that's just how he is around everyone. Trying to a get a sense of who they are. He probably stared at me for like five minutes without saying anything when he first met me. That was a couple of months ago if I recall. He just kind of waits for you to react, keeping his eyes on you the whole time. Kind of like what you're doing with your hand."

I wasn't even aware I had kept my hand on Davd the whole time. I didn't snatch it back, but slowly slid it off and onto the table. "My apologies."

"Don't worry about it," he said with a smile, "you have soft hands."

I clasped my hands together, "So how did you react?"

"I didn't. I just kinda sat there. Apparently it impressed him or something because he still hired me. Anyways, you got all the info you needed right?"

"Yes... now it's just a matter of acting."

"Right... need me to walk you back?"

I thought about that for a moment. Truth be told even with the evening we just spent together, and my judgement somewhat addled by alcohol, I still wasn't entirely sure if I could trust David. If anything this could all have been an elaborate ruse for them to lull me into a false sense of security, but the body language of David suggested that it was only a simple question. One that, were I not planning on attacking Rau later that night, I may have taken him up on if only for the pleasant company. But, I had things to do.

"I think I'll be fine, just need a little bit to get over this buzz I'm feeling."

"Whiskey hit you hard did it?"

I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes, "Yes, I will admit I was not prepared for it to be that strong."

"Eh don't worry about it, happens to everyone in their first time."

He didn't leave, and just lingered near me.

"You don't have to stay you know," I said, "Nereid metabolism is fairly strong, I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"I got time," he said.

We didn't say anything else to each other after that, and just sat in the booth. Out of pure impulse, most definitely driven by the alcohol this time, I leaned my head against his shoulder. He didn't react, as far as I could tell, but didn't make any moves to embrace or push me away, and that suited me just fine. Because, for the first time in a long time, I cleared my mind. In that moment I didn't care about Rau, about my job, about my own disappointments with the lifestyle I was leading. No, the only thing I thought about was how warm David felt next to me.

---

Infatuated is a strong word, Keeper, but I will admit there was a definite attraction that I felt towards him in that meeting. It was not as if I didn't have any romantic partners before, but it had been quite some time since I had simply spoken to someone beyond my work. Given that, you would believe that my conversation with him would have been awkward, but if it was he gave no indication of it. At the time I wasn't so sure if it was just a human trait to be conversational or just a quirk of his own personality, but at that time it felt very much like talking to an old friend. It was... nice, though at the time I'd have probably shaken off the interactions as mere business.

You would be correct to assume so. My line of work back then always required a certain amount of separateness from one's work. This job with Rau was perhaps the exception. Initially it was a way to continue on with my work, to perhaps shift my normal clientele to the more downtrodden in the Poros systems. An opportunity to operate on my own, but for unselfish reasons, and that feeling still rung true mostly as the job went on. I will admit, however, that on Engane I found myself wanting to hunt down Rau more for the fact that the Salian was proving to be much more trouble than he was worth. Though a large part of that had to deal with David, and now that he was out of the picture, odds were the job would go relatively smooth.

[Smirks] I am here now, am I not? But of course the main reason for that confidence was because there was no longer a wildcard to deal with. Us Nereid's have developed a number of countermeasures for humans since the War, but considering this was most likely the first case of contact with human, and human technology, for my kind no such countermeasures existed. Granted none of the other species had developed any such defenses as well, which was most likely to David's advantage. Getting caught by surprise in combat is generally a recipe for death, Keeper, and as far as the Poros Systems was concerned, he was surprise incarnate. Then again, I could just be talking up my husband, so who really knows?

But I digress, the fact was that Rau would not have his wildcard with him, and that would mean whatever he had planned would be relatively easy to deal with.

Or so I thought.

---

When we left Bliss we happened to be walking in the same direction for a short while, keeping up small talk as until we eventually started to part ways. Much to my surprise, however, before we separated David pulled me into an embrace. It was a quick motion, one that triggered enough of an alarm from me that I braced myself for an attack of some sort. It was nothing like that, of course, and instead more of what he probably intended to be a romantic gesture. That also appeared to be a cover, because as soon as pulled me close David whispered something into my ear.

"We're being followed," he said, keeping me close.

I spun with him slowly, until I noticed three men off in the distance. Two Skillians and a Fenician.

"You know them?"

"No, but they've been on us as soon as we left the bar."

"Have a plan?"

"Not really, unless 'pull out your gun and start shooting into a crowded street' sounds like a smart plan."

"It doesn't really."

"I figured... they may only be after one of us."

I pulled out of the embrace, keeping my hand entwined with his and keeping him close.

"Maybe, but it'd be better odds for both of us if we stick together, don't you think?" I said in a low whisper.

I caught him smile out of the corner of my eye. "Yeah you're right there, but I'd rather they not find out where we happen to be staying if they're only tailing us for now."

"I'm not sure of the two Skillians, but the Fenician is wearing a combat rig."

"Damn... right well for now let's try and make our way to the lower levels, see if we can lose them in the crowd."

Seeing no better option, I followed his advice and walked with him down the street. We headed towards an elevator that would take us to the lower levels. Bliss was nestled in the center of the city, away from the normal airways that cut through the city. Even being on the upper levels, there were plenty of corners and alleyways to cut into, something that David seemed to pick up on quickly as we walked through the streets. He kept me close to him so he could whisper to me, and while the streets were a little more populated than usual that night, there was very little to make the movements of the three following us anything less than obvious. I suppose our proximity to one another served a dual purpose in that aspect, to not only communicate more securely but to also fool our stalkers into thinking we were so infatuated with one another that we weren't paying attention to much else. David added onto the defenselessness act, stumbling rambling and let out the occasional "drunken" outburst that honestly seemed to be a bit unnecessary. I wasn't too sure what that part was for, but it was too late for me to tell him to stop it without it being suspicious, so I let it continue on. After a while, he whispered to me again.

"Follow my lead," was all that he said, and before I had a chance to respond he dry heaved and covered his mouth.

David rushed off to a nearby alleyway and for a moment I wasn't quite sure what to do. Seeing little other options, I followed him, noticing he'd walked into the depths of the alleyway and took a turn, disappearing from my sight. I had to assume that he was setting up a trap of some sort, so I made sure to take my time veering off the Main Street to follow him. I spotted the three men out of the corner of my eye walking a little bit faster in my direction. I kept up my pace, turning at the last moment to follow David so they would be able to see where I had went. The turn in the alleyway had led off to a small, secluded street nestled between two of the buildings. David was standing there, all traces of his drunken facade gone.

"Can you take care of the Fenician? Not kill him, but disable him," he asked.

What he intended to do clicked, and I nodded at him. He nodded back, and the moment the Fenician's beaked maw showed itself at the opening of the street I sent out a psionic lash, wrapping it around his torso. I pulled back, taking the him off his feet and sprawling past us. The sudden attack must have spurred his allies into action, because the two Skillians all but sprinted into the street, weapons drawn but not quite readied. David, however, was, and had his gun drawn, firing two quick shots, each finding their targets in the Skillians' heads. They crumpled to the ground before the lingering crack of David's sidearm faded from my ears, and he pulled the bodies into the alcove before anyone curious enough to check would notice. I kept my hold on the Fenician, his large eyes staring at me, unblinking. There was a shake to his body, beyond his resistance against my bonds, that gave away some traces of fear. After David had sufficiently hidden the bodies, he loomed over the Fenician, gun pointed at the tip of his feathered head.

"He can still speak, right?" David asked, eyes focused on our captive.

"Yes, how much he's willing to give... well that's up to you."

He nodded and leaned close to the Fenician's head. "Right, well we can go about this the easy way or the hard way. Who sent you?"

No response.

David sighed. "Listen, I'm not the type for torture, but I can't have you following me in the middle of the city and not know who sent you, right?"

Again, nothing.

It was then that David noticed something and stood up, making his way to where he hid the Skillians. He returned with two ear pieces in his palm.

"Didn't catch these the first time around," David said as he handed me one.

I placed the device into my ear, instantly met by a gravely voice.

"What's your status? Team, answer me."

"Well, there's a familiar voice," David said.

It was Palladius.

"Team? Status. Is the human dead or what?

David kneeled down in front of the Fenician. "You're gonna tell him that you found me, and that you took me out."

The Fenician's eyes widened in surprise. "You expect me to lie to my boss? When he finds out he'll kill me."

"Yeah well I'm the one with the gun here and if you don't..." David pressed the barrel of his gun against the Fenician's head, "...well I think you know what'll happen, right?"

Our captive stared up at David, a calculating expression on his face, "...Fine, I'll do it."

"Alright, let him move his arm," David said to me.

I did so, allowing the Fenician to place his hand over his ear, distinguished by a small patch of black feathers amidst the normal covering of dark red.

"Sorry boss, gave us more trouble than we thought, Octul and Xamu are down but we took him out."

"Good, now get back here, we have to track down that bastard Rau," Palladius said, which prompted a smile from David.

"So you're looking for Rau too huh?"

The Fenician gave him a questioning look, but for the moment David ignored him and focused his attention onto me.

"You got the exact location of their meeting right?" he asked.

"Yeah, but what do you need that information for?"

He looked back down to the Fenician, and his smile widened into a grin.

---

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked David.

I should have asked what he was doing on my ship, which was currently floating above the building that Rau was to hold his meeting in. I was now in my combat gear, and so was David, for that matter, which only served to confuse me more.

"Should work," David said, his voice having a somewhat modulated tone to it as it filtered through his helmet, "I mean it's pretty much the exact same thing you did on Cerebi, except Palladius is even more pissed and you've got me with you."

"About that, why are you here?"

David looked at me, his eyes covered by his visor but the way his head was tilted made it seem as if he was confused at why I asked that question. When I didn't say anything he shrugged.

"Palladius is after me, figured I should go ahead and take him out so he doesn't bother me anymore. Nip the problem in the bud at they say."

"Didn't you convince the Fenician to say you're dead?"

"I did, but I'd also be really naive to believe that he wouldn't eventually slip up. Better to take care of the situation now then having it springing up later. Besides, it'd be kind of a slimy move to just send a bunch of extra combatants into your job and not do anything to help, right?"

I couldn't fault his logic there. Still, it was definitely not how I imagined this plan was going to happen.

"So we have Rau and his men, Palladius and his goons, and whoever that alpha Skillian was. Could turn into a three way battle or the Skillian may end up allying with Rau," David said as he fiddled with his weapons.