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The bridge was a mess of bodies, blood and sparking electronics, but no Tristan.

Most of the blood was Jurran's doing. He hadn't waited for Ruefield to open the door. He'd kicked in enough of a dent on one side to get a hand through it and peel the door out of his way. He was much stronger than Katherine had known. He'd never done anything like this before.

As soon as he'd been through he'd screamed and started pummeling people. Even her experienced crew hesitated before following him.

The people on the bridge had put up more of a fight than she'd expected, but in the end there was nothing left of them. Unfortunately it meant they couldn't tell her why Tristan wasn't here, or where this Baran he seemed to be chasing had gone to.

"Coppernic? He isn't here. Did the woman lie to me?" Her coercionist took long enough to reply, Katherine almost said her name again.

"Sorry, Boss, had something here."

Now that she paid attention, she thought she could hear shots fired, but before she could ask, Coppernic continued.

"To be fair to her, she did only say that Tristan was after Baran and that the most likely place he would be was the bridge, as the ship's captain, that makes sense."

"Boss?" one of the young mercs called, she didn't remember his name. "The bridge's dead." He was at one of the few intact stations Jurran's massacre had left. The screen was black, and there weren't any lights on it. The others were also off.

Katherine looked at the Frenian. He was burned and bloody, his greyish red blood distinct from the human blood covering him. She cursed him softly. He needed to get himself under control. He was endangering both their chance at revenge this way.

"He isn't responsible for the bridge going offline," Coppernic said.

"What do you mean?"

"The systems were rerouted, Engineering now controls everything."

"Couldn't you stop it?"

Coppernic hesitated. "I was busy with Tristan's coercionist. I didn't see it coming."

"They went back to Medical? Where are they now?" they weren't still there, Coppernic wouldn't be alive to talk to her is they were.

"No, that was in the system. He showed up while I was busy with the ship's coercionists. As soon as I noticed him I made him my priority and tried to find where he'd entered the system from. Unfortunately someone in engineering forced a full restart to ensure the transfer of control couldn't be stopped. He came back in after that, but he didn't stay long enough for me to find him."

"Alright people, we're done here." Katherine ignored what coppernic asked. "We're heading to engineering. Be on your guard, the odds are good we'll run into Tristan on the way there."

"Boss?" Coppernic asked again. "What do you want me and Friday to do?"

"Keep working on gaining control of the ship. If you can get the cameras it'll be easier to find him."

"I can't get control of it. I'm not sure you understand, but when I say they transferred full control to engineering, I mean full control. The core isn't visible anywhere in the system. They've cut all access to it. All I can do is access minor local systems."

Katherine looked over her people as she thought. Coppernic wasn't a fighter. Coercionists were primarily support people, so she wouldn't be of any help in a fight, but Friday was a decent fighter. She couldn't leave her without someone to protect her.

"You and Friday join up with us. You stay at the back, out of the fighting and when you get a chance take control of the ship."

"What about the prisoner?"

Katherine sighed. Another complication. "Bring her, but keep her restrained. I don't want her to turn on us if her being a prisoner is an act." She wished she could leave her where she was, but there had to be a reason Tristan had kept her alive. He never left anyone he didn't have a use for alive."

"We'll be there shortly." Coppernic had sounded unusually eager.

Katherine put her out of her mind as she led her people down the levels. Coppernic, Friday and the biochemist joined up with them after they'd got down only a few levels, which meant they'd raced up to join them. Katherine didn't ask why they hadn't waited for them, since they'd been closer to engineering, but their jittering and Friday's cuts did make her pause.

"What happened?"

The two of them exchanged a look. "We--we got in a fight, Ma'am," Friday said.

Friday had, that was clear, but it didn't explain why he looked sick, or Coppernic for that matter. The biochemist looked subdued, like the prisoner she was.

Whatever these two had had to do that didn't agree with them wasn't her problem. They'd known what they were hiring on to. They'd have to deal with it on their own.