The airlock entrance to the space station twisted open, and Hale stepped through into a tight hallway, brightly lit with warm artificial lights along the white walls.

“You’re on time. What a surprise,” a familiar voice exclaimed.

Hale rolled his eyes at the human male standing before him.

The fair-skinned man was about half a foot shorter and somewhat stockier than Hale. His sandy blond was just long enough to touch his shoulders. He wore casual, loose clothing, the opposite of the armor and thick suit that Hale wore.

“Still have the beard, I see,” Hale commented.

“I like it,” the man replied.

Hale shrugged. “If you’re trying to look older.”

The man laughed. “You’re just jealous because you can’t grow one.”

“It makes you look like Dad, Trey,” Hale said.

“Is that a bad thing?” Trey asked with a grin.

“Never said that.”

Hale and Trey started walking down the hallway. Even in Trey’s presence, Hale couldn’t relax. He was constantly observing his surroundings, and his hands were ready to grab the pistols holstered on his belt. The small hallway made him feel even more uncomfortable; it prohibited wide movements.

“You’re still paranoid,” Trey noted.

Hale dismissed the criticism. “It’s a habit. I prefer to call it being observant.”

“I’m observant. But I don’t look like I’m ready to shoot at any given moment.”

“I am.”

Trey shook his head. Hale didn’t change his composure to please his companion. He had to protect himself.

As they continued walking, Hale noticed the happiness in Trey’s dark brown eyes and his content smile, which was unusual. It had been a long time since Hale had seen him, but he knew Trey well. He was a serious businessman, who had rarely a moment to breathe. However, he was more than just a business man. Trey was the third largest arms dealer in the underworld. Trey didn’t have time to be carefree, yet here he was much happier than normal.

“What’s her name?” Hale scoffed.

Trey’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“I know you aren’t happy because I’m here.”

Trey chuckled. “Definitely not. If you must know, her name is Keira.”

“How long have you know her?”

“A week ago I hired her to work in my club,” Trey replied with a smirk.

Hale nudged Trey with his elbow. “She’s a dancer, right?”

“I tried to stay away, but,” Trey smiled again, “well, you know how that ended. She’s incredible.”

Hale laughed, shaking his head at Trey’s words.

“She has a sister. She works here too.”

Hale raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Trey led Hale to an elevator. Once inside, Trey pressed a number on the wall, and the doors slid shut.

“Are you and Lorelei still—”

Hale answered before he could finish. “Nope.”

“Not at all?”

Hale huffed loudly. “No.”

Trey’s jaw dropped. “Wow.”

“I’ve moved on.” Hale hoped to end this line of conversation there.

The elevator stopped and opened, and they stepped out into a spacious room with a viewport spanning along one of the walls. Across from them was a mirror-like double door with crystalline handles.

Trey pulled one side of the door open and went inside, Hale following behind him.

“Welcome to my new place,” Trey said eagerly.

Hale looked around Trey’s circular living room. “Fancy,” he replied.

A shiny, black leather sofa was set in the center of the room around a glass cocktail table. A spirally, onyx chandelier hung above the table and provided muted lighting. The carpet was a dark, ruby color, which reminded Hale of blood, but it matched well with the room’s decor. The taupe colored walls and white ceiling were less imposing and were a tasteful addition to the room. Across the back wall spanned another large viewport, displaying the beauty of space.

Trey led Hale to an adjoining dining room. The black dinner table was long and oval in shape with a chair on each side. Hale sat down on one side and Trey on the opposite. A clear glass chandelier similar in shape to the one in the living room hung from the ceiling.

“I thought you might be hungry. My waiter will be here any moment.”

Hale was beginning to find Trey’s hospitality strange. “Sure,” he replied. “I could eat.”

After a few minutes, the waiter came in through the front door and carried two platters, one in each hand. He set them on the table. The first platter held six glasses of different drinks, and the other held two bowls of steaming soup.

The waiter placed the soup and drinks in front of them. “Is there anything else you need, Sir?”

“Not now. Just bring the dessert in about thirty minutes,” Trey said.

“Of course.” The waiter nodded and left the apartment.

Hale randomly selected a drink from the three he had to choose from and sipped it. He set the glass aside and picked up a spoon. The taste of the soup was sweet yet spicy. The potent flavor was a needed change from the bland, packaged food he was used to eating.

“How is it?” Trey asked.

Hale looked up. “It’s very good.”

“I recently hired new chefs,” Trey boasted. “More skilled than the last.”

Hale said nothing in return and continued eating. They finished off the soup in somewhat awkward silence. Hale was never into small talk, especially with Trey, who never waisted an opportunity to mention his financial success.

“I heard you’ve gotten yourself in some trouble with Coran,” Trey said, interrupting the silence.

Hale’s expression remained unfazed, although his anxiety spiked at Trey’s mention of that. He forced himself to breathe normally. “Oh, you heard about that? Didn’t know I was so popular.”

“When it comes to Coran, word travels fast,” Trey said.

Hale reached for a second drink.

“I also heard about her.”

It took Hale every ounce of willpower not to flip the table over on Trey. Why was he bringing this up?

“She’s a princess, right?” Trey continued.

“I suppose so.”

“She must be something.... You’re taking a stupid risk by not returning her to Coran,” Trey warned.

Hale slammed his fist on the table, knocking over the alcohol filled glasses over. “You don’t think I know that?” Hale’s voice thundered.

“I’m just confused. That’s all. She must be some woman.”

Hale leaned back in his chair and rolled the tension out of his neck. “I don’t want to talk about her.”

“I thought you didn’t get attached.”

Hale clenched his jaw. “I don’t.”

“Well, I know your weakness,” Trey sniped at him.

Hale cracked his knuckles. “And I know yours.” He could have easily pummeled Trey to the ground if he let go of his self-control.

Trey stared at Hale’s fists nervously. “Perhaps, we should talk about something else.”

“Good idea,” Hale agreed.

Hale continued to stare angrily at Trey, until the waiter came in with dessert, obviously much to Trey’s relief. Dessert was icy sorbet topped with fruit and served in a tall glass. Hale let a spoonful dissolve on his tongue and closed his eyes. The taste was light and sweet... and too familiar. It reminded him of how his mom used to make it.

“Where’d you get this recipe?” Hale swallowed another spoonful.

Trey grinned. “You recognize it?”

“Of course.”

“I recreated Mom’s recipe as closely as I could for my chefs to use,” Trey answered. “Thought you might like it.”

Hale nodded and turned back to the sorbet. Trey’s including Hale’s favorite dessert in the meal increased Hale’s suspicion that he was up to something. He just couldn’t determine his angle yet. But he could count on that Trey was being very hospitable for a reason. He gladly ate the dessert, all the while keeping Trey in his view to monitor his every move.

After the waiter had cleared the dishes from the table, Trey stood, walked into the living room, and sat down on the leather sofa. Hale followed, but didn’t sit.

He was growing impatient with Trey, who was relaxing on the sofa. “I came here immediately after my last job so you could have your money as soon as possible.”

Trey shrugged. “Which is what I asked. I’m not your bank. You have to pay me back.”

Hale huffed. “Well, that’s why I’m here. I’m not here to spend time with you.”

“I am a generous guy, Hale. I was only trying to be nice. We have plenty of time for business.”

“I don’t care about being nice. I care about being efficient.” Hale crossed his arms. “Unlike you, I can’t just sit around. I have places to be.”

Trey laughed. “You certainly haven’t changed a bit.”

Hale glared at him. “God, shut up, Trey.” He turned to the door.

“Wait, Hale.” He stood up. “Don’t think I’m just going to allow you to leave.”

Hale moved a hand to his pistol.

“Are you really going there?” Trey shouted.

“If you stand in my way,” Hale replied.

Trey sighed. “Alright, fine. We don’t have to talk. Meet me in my office in an hour. I have to get some stuff together.”

Hale moved his hand away from his gun. He relaxed his shoulders. “Honest?”

“Yes.”

Hale walked to the door and opened it.

“I’d recommend waiting in my club. It would give you a chance to see Keira and her sister,” Trey suggested with a grin.

Hale turned his head and nodded, then left the apartment. As he rode down the elevator, he reexamined Trey’s odd behavior. He knew Trey, and he wasn’t the nice person he pretended to be. Hale easily saw through his facade.

The difference between Hale and Trey was that Hale didn’t pretend to be nice. No one who looking to hire Hale was looking for a nice guy.

He wondered if he shouldn’t have threatened Trey with his gun. A part of him felt as if he had overreacted. But he couldn’t deny the result of his behavior was better than he hoped for. An hour wasn’t long at all. If that’s really all he had to wait. He could never know with Trey, who seemed to think that everyone would wait for him.

The elevator halted at the third level, and Hale stepped out. He navigated through a few hallways that led him to the central area of the station. Most of this area was occupied by a hangar, where small ships could come and go as their pilots pleased. The ceiling, about fifty meters high, was a transparent, blue energy shield, serving as the entrance and exit for the ships.

A few businesses were set around the hangar. The one most frequented was, of course, was Trey’s club, which was somewhat famous, although not for the drinks. Trey’s dancers were what drew in customers from all over the galaxy.

The moment Hale entered the club, his attention was directed to a sliver stage along the back wall. Three tall female dancers undulated in sync to the heavy beat of the music, the neon lights illuminating their perfect bodies against the darkness of the club. The middle dancer, a human with a dark complexion, wore an opalescent, skin-tight unitard. The other two wore matching matte, black bodysuits with deep necklines and were both a rare species called Cryys that Hale had heard of but never before seen with his own eyes. Their iridescent skin glimmered when the light hit them, as did their white hair. The Cryys woman on the left had a rose complexion, and the other’s was a deep violet.

Like Pandora’s eyes....

Hale shivered and looked away from the dancers. He made his way over to the bar and sat down, keeping his back to the stage. He ordered a single drink and sipped it slowly.

There was nothing too unusual about this scene to Hale. Intoxicating drinks. Beautiful women. And plenty more vices to choose from.

But being here now was making him feel sick. He knew that he couldn’t take pleasure here if he ever wanted to be worthy of....

Hale rested his face in his hand. He had to stop thinking about her. She wasn’t like him, other than the fact that she was Elani. She was too good for him. But he just couldn’t shake that feeling of having to have her. Other women couldn’t compare to her in his mind. He didn’t understand why. He knew she wasn’t the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. But to him she was.

Hale felt as if she were driving him insane, because what he wanted was so out of reach. And having to be around her constantly reminded him of that. So far he had successfully remained unattached to anyone. He feared that might not be true if things continued as they were. And that scared him.

He sighed. He would have take her to that stupid planet and help her find whatever she was looking for so that he could say goodbye for good before he was too far gone.

Hale was still staring down at the bar counter, with his head propped up by his hand, when he heard the clicking of heels approaching him. The sound stopped at the bar, and Hale listened to a woman speak to the bartender to order a drink of some kind.

He sat up straight and looked to the side. The dancer with the dark violet skin stood beside him and flashed a perfect white smile his way.

* * * *

Snooping around his ship was a terrible idea and a total invasion of his privacy. And he happened to be very serious about his privacy.

But she wanted to know more about him, more than what he allowed her to know. She wanted to confirm that there was more to him than his questionable lifestyle.

Pandora paced back and forth in the bridge of Hale’s ship. He wasn’t here and wasn’t likely to come back for a while. She would have plenty of time for a cursory search of the ship. She probably wouldn’t find anything, but what if she did? The hope of that was too tempting for her, even if she regretted it later.

She turned to the storage compartments all along the walls of the bridge. She bit her lip and hesitantly pulled the first compartment open. Unsurprisingly, it was filled with alcoholic beverages of every color and size. The same could be said of the second compartment she opened, and the third. And the fourth...

The next two she opened contained nothing more than simple clothing. She held up one of his t-shirts to her body; It could have been a dress on her. After she inspected them, she made sure to place the clothes back inside the way Hale had arranged them.

Inside the final compartment, she found a backpack and pulled it out. For the most part, it was empty, except for a few items scattered about in the pockets. Only one of those items appeared to be of any importance. It was a disk the size of the palm of her hand. She examined the device carefully and found a tiny button on the rim.

Pandora pressed it. Instantaneously, a holographic image appeared a few inches above the disk. The image was a picture of a quaint, two story home constructed of yellow stone. A balcony with a white balustrade protruded from the second story and was supported by white, rounded pillars. She thought it was a lovely home. But why did Hale have an image of a house saved on the disk?

She touched the projection with her finger and scrolled to the left, revealing a second image, this one of a family. The father, a human, had pale skin, dark brown eyes, and sandy blond hair. His wife, a beautiful human female with light brown hair and green eyes, stood by his side. Held by the father was a young boy, six or seven, who looked just like the man. The blond headed boy was definitely his son.

The woman also held a boy in her arms. He too must have been the couple’s son, but his face didn’t resemble that of the mother or father. He was a few years younger than the other boy. He had brown hair and fair skin. His innocent eyes were strikingly blue like the color of a magnificent ocean.

Pandora gasped. Hale.

She looked more closely at the others in the picture; they didn’t appear to be Elani. Hale was the only one.

She scrolled to the left again. The next image was of three people, and Pandora recognized each of them. The woman in the middle had a deep complexion, curly hair and was half-siren. Zaya....

The human man, to the left of her, had black, curly hair, and thick eyebrows. Jake....

And the man to Zaya’s right was most definitely Hale.

They all looked younger, probably early twenties, and happier. Especially Hale. He was smiling in the picture. And they all wore similar, almost matching armor. They must have been business partners.

Were they also friends?