Their ruminating was long behind them as they approached Kentar. They were both feeling more like themselves as they dropped back to sub-light speeds, and the consoles dimmed to indicate that the stealth mode had activated. Ali easily piloted them into orbit around Kentar and started scanning. "Okay, the good news is that the activity around his old prison is at a minimum," Ali reported.

"And the bad?"

"There is a lot of activity around a monument to Vekanta - the first leader of a united Kentar," she explained. "Mostly taurran, some kentarian and one human," she added as she assimilated the data.

"What would the taurrans want with that?" Wood asked.

"Not a clue," Ali admitted honestly. "The question is do we investigate the riskier but more likely to hold answers option, or play it safe and risk getting nothing?"

"Investigate?" Wood asked.

"Beamer," Ali replied as if it were obvious, using her thumb to indicate behind her again. Wood followed the direction with his eyes until they landed on the ship's matter-energy transportation device. It was situated where the corridor that that led off the back of the cockpit forked, just after the cabins. He hadn't been paying much attention when he'd been looking for a bunk. He turned back to her with a raised eyebrow. "What? Don't tell me the tough security guy is scared of a little physics."

"When did that last undergo safety testing?"

"When I beamed aboard the Endeavour?" It was as much a question as an answer.

Wood ignored that - mainly for his own mental well-being - and turned his mind back to their options. "The prison," he decided, "if we go after Bert Barker directly we run the risk of alerting him with your tetnar." He didn't say it out loud but he also suspected that if Ali did see something through the tetnar that it would give them more information about where Barker was. This way they potentially covered both at once. "If there's shielding in the prison then we should have longer until we're found out."

Ali nodded. "Can't argue with that."

Other than Ali rolling her eyes at Wood's distrust of the quality of the Hotpot's beamer they quickly made it to the exterior of the security complex that Barker had been imprisoned in. Ali had already scanned the structure as much as it's shielding allowed and hadn't been able to detect any taurran presence, so she was hoping that the taurrans - and Barker by association - were ignoring the parts of Kentar they didn't need.

They entered the main foyer - where visitors were processed - to find a scene of absolute chaos as the kentarian guards were scrambling to restore order and get medical attention for those attacked during the taurran jail break. If they had time they would have stayed to help, but time was the one thing they didn't have so they were forced to ignore their instincts that told them to get stuck in and help out. Wood just about managed to hide his smile at Ali's bold as brass nature when she strolled over to one of the least busy looking guards and requested access to Bert Barker's old cell. She was unperturbed by the guard's indignant response and accusations about her intentions, instead pulling her communicator out and exploiting her family connections whilst pointing out that the outbreak of a war was not the time for petty squabbles over territory.

"I'm not sure making enemies as you go along is the best approach," Wood warned her once they were on their way towards Barker's cell. Ali shrugged indifferently.

~-x-~

Vekanta's monument was barely visible anymore for the sand and dust kicked up as soldiers battled under her stone gaze. Taurrans and kentarians, energy weapons and blades, in a chaotic, passionate and violent dance. Every action causing a violent and bloody reaction.

It was oddly detaching to watch the scene unfolding in front of him without the sound that Bert Barker knew accompanied such battles. He was leaning on a railing in an observation deck on Klandra's ship, protected and isolated from the danger. The taurrans were winning, just barely, because they had capitalised on the surprise generated when their ships opened fire before landing to push the kentarians back on the ground. They didn't need to win, though, they just needed to clear the area and hold it long enough. Never use more resources than necessary, Bert thought to himself as he continued to watch and analyse.

"The kentarians are putting up resistance, but my warriors should have secured the area within the next couple of hours," Klandra reported as she joined him.

"Do we have the equipment we need when they have?" Barker asked as he turned to her.

"In progress," Klandra confirmed. "My engineers think they can make something to do the job and if that turns out to be incorrect my father is sending us the proper tools as we speak."

Barker nodded to himself as he turned back to the battle, watching a kentarian drive their blade through a taurran's abdomen only for an avenging taurran blade to find their throat and cut harshly with an efficient and deep slice. "Have your people noticed that sniper?" He asked casually and Klandra scanned the building they could see from their relatively safe position, she was about to ask what sniper before an energy bolt dropped one of her warriors out of nowhere. She instantly lifted her communicator to her lips to start issuing instructions as she headed back to her bridge.

Barker smiled to himself before a dull ache in the back of his head caused him to reaffirm his balance with the railing. "Alice," he breathed.

~-x-~

"There's nothing here," Wood said firmly as Ali continued to look around the practically empty room.

"Probably," Ali agreed as her eyes traced over every edge, corner and item that was left behind. It seemed so odd that Barker wouldn't have squirrelled something away in some hidden location, but she couldn't find anything that would counteract Wood's assertion. There wasn't anything here. "War zone it is then." She finally gave up looking with a sigh as she turned to where Wood was waiting impatiently for her to see reason.

He nodded and they exited the cell. Wood had barely taken a step out of the door when something slammed into his gut, he grunted in pain as he clutched his stomach whilst turning to see what had just hit him. Ali had a better view and rushed forward to block the second punch whilst reaching a hand out to push against Wood's shoulder. "Roll!" She instructed, twisting to throw her elbow into the face belonging to the person who had just attacked them.

Wood knew a good suggestion when he heard one and rolled with the push she gave him, effortlessly landing back on his feet as he took advantage of his momentum, grabbing the pistol from his hip as he did. Ali had instinctively ducked under the second one's attack to keep her focus on the first. He was about to shoot the one she wasn't currently grappling with when a low scuffle pricked his hearing. He hadn't stayed alive this long by distrusting his own senses and instincts, so he turned sharply to change his target and took out the third that was trying to ambush him.

He turned back to find Ali effectively using one of the other two as a shield between her and the second as she searched for an opening that let her take one out without getting shot herself. She saw him turn back out of the corner of her eye and launched a powerful kick into the abdomen of the one she was using as a shield, toppling them both, allowing Wood to shoot one whilst she grabbed her pistol to take care of the other.

Wood crouched down to remove the face coverings they were wearing. "Taurran," he commented as he turned to where Ali still stood, realising her eyes were screwed shut as she held her head. "Ali?" He asked.

"We have to move," she replied after a moment, "he knows we're here."

"The Hotpot?"

"He hasn't found it yet," Ali confirmed as they both started running. There wasn't any point in a prison complex if you could beam straight into or out of it.

They made it back to the main entrance without mishap, though Ali did stop to inform the kentarians about the taurrans that were still roaming the halls, making Wood stop to grab her arm and hurry her along when he thought she was going into too much detail for the situation.

Once aboard the Hotpot again Ali quickly scrambled into her seat, bringing the controls back online even before she was fully sat down. "Weapons?" Wood asked as he took his own seat.

"Online now," Ali replied as she pointed to a console and still frantically pressing buttons with the other hand. She decided that he could deal with the new interface, it was a fairly standard design and clearly labelled. "Okay, they've set up a sensor grid with their patrols, we're not gonna get out undetected," She confirmed unhappily and remarkably calmly for their situation.

"I thought this ship had stealth capabilities?"

"It does, but they won't do us much good against a net that good when they know we're here somewhere," Ali explained as she thought. "Hold on," she added as she picked a course, straight into the middle of the fleet around them.

"Are you insane?" Wood demanded as he realised what she was doing, waiting until he knew they'd been spotted before he started firing on the ships that approached them. He focused on the ones that got too close or he could disable easily.

"Probably," Ali replied but she wasn't really paying him much attention as she swerved in-between taurran ships and the weapons fire that filled the space around them. Her eyes flicked between her scanners and where she was going as she watched an escape route open up. Once it had, she pulled a tight u-turn almost straight into a taurran ship that had been closing in behind them. It almost looked as if she'd only just seen it as she dodged around it, but she had expected it and because they had expected her to crash, it enabled her to find a patch of open space to jump to light speed.

Ali finally let go of the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding now that they were relatively safe, for now. "Did that just happen?" Wood asked and she nodded slowly. "Don't do that again," he ordered.

"Sorry, no can do," Ali replied honestly. "They're gonna be following us and I have a way of evading them," she explained as she started tapping away at the console again.

"Why are you overriding the safeties?" Wood asked. Ali chose not to answer him because she knew how he'd react. Instead she simply warned him to hold on as she came to a far faster stop than was recommended. At least she'd remembered to boost the inertial compensators this time. She quickly changed their course and jumped into light speed again. "Wow."

Ali giggled at his slightly breathless reaction.

~-x-~

At the sound of the comm, Barker looked up from where he was explaining to Klandra and her engineers where they needed to set up their equipment to start their excavations. Klandra flicked it open and one of her captains appeared on the screen. "The ship jumped to light speeds." Fashk confirmed.

"Then you better be able to track her," Barker retorted and dismissed the connection as he turned back to the map.

Klandra scrutinised him for a moment before ordering her people to their newly assigned tasks to dismiss them from the room. She watched them leave with half an eye on Barker. "Who is she?" She asked once the door closed.

"Alice Turner," Barker replied, standing up straight again, "she's dangerous and we need her."

"Dangerous?" Klandra questioned as if it were the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. "USEP threw her out for mutiny, she has no back up."

Barker frowned in confusion. Not only was he seriously out of the loop after his incarceration, but that explanation didn't ring true. "Alice is fiercely loyal… Mutiny is out of character."

Klandra rolled her hands palms forward in the taurran version of a shrug. "Mutiny and disobedience were the official reasons, though there were rumours it was a cover up." Barker gave her a pointed look. "I don't know what for."

They must have found out, Barker thought drily. "We still need her and I learnt last time not to underestimate her," he said instead. He would not lose everything again. He couldn't. "She knows too much and if it's enough to -"

"Ssh," Klandra interrupted as she put a finger to his lips, "no one will believe her, USEP discredited her and what can one loner do to someone as powerful as you?"

"She had at least one friend with her," Barker scolded as he grabbed her wrist to lower her hand. "She is very good at rallying people to a cause and she doesn't give up when the odds are against her."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't underestimate your new allies."