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"That--that can't be a ship," Miranda said.

Alex had brought Miranda's ship, "The Proud" to a stop five kilometer away, giving them a few minutes before it would travel close enough for them to register on their sensors.

"It is," Victor replied. "A Valkyrie class ship."

"You know about them?" Miranda looked at him suspiciously.

"Everyone in Law Enforcement knows about the Sovereign Families and their ships. We all dread the day one of them shows up in our solar system."

"Do they cause a lot of trouble?" Alex adjusts the earpiece. He didn't remember it being this uncomfortable.

"Not really, but there's no way to know what they'll do. They don't care about any local law, their whole thing is about ignoring SpaceGov and its laws."

"So they're like corporations, then." Miranda sounded displeased, again. Alex was getting worried. She and Victor had been getting into shouting match since getting out of cryo. If she couldn't get that under control, this job wasn't going to go well.

"No, it's Planetary Government the corporations push around. SpaceGov they like. It maintains a semblance of order in the rest of the universe, does what it can to protect their shipments, runs the insurance system that covers what they do lose to piracy. The Sovereigns don't care about any of that,. They have enough money to buy their way out of anything."

"They and the corporations are why there are mercs," Alex added. "Easily ninety percent of the jobs on the boards come from those two groups."

"How come I've never heard of them?" Miranda asked.

"Probably because you never bother looking into who offered the bounties you collect." Victor's reply was dry. Alex gave him a look. If Miranda being surly was going to be a problem, having both be that way meant they might as well not bother doing this job. Victor mouthed 'sorry.'

"Unlike you Law types, I trust the people who put up bounties on the boards."

It was a good thing Alex had his back to her, the pained expression on his face would have her lashing out at him.

"SpaceGov managed to keep anyone else rich enough to join the ranks of the Sovereign by making it illegal for the manufacturer to make more Valkyrie class ships, but there's enough money into those ships that it's just a question of time until they find a way around the restrictions, or someone pays them enough for them not to care. Then we'll have a thirteenth city ship flying around."

"Victor, get ready, they're about to detect us."

"This is such a bad idea. They're going to contact the department and find out I'm a file sorter."

"Wait, you brought on someone who doesn't even have field experience?"

"Don't worry about that part, I've got that covered." The indicator they were being contacted lit up and Alex put the message on the speakers.

"Unidentified ship, this is the Sovereign ship Priam's World. Identify yourself. Be advised that the Priam's World is a Sovereign ship and as such it isn't subject to any of the Laws you might be here to enforce."

"You're up, Law Man," Miranda said.

Alex tuned Victor and his conversation up. He used the connection to slip into the ship's system, sheathed in a cloaking program. This wasn't about taking control, not that he could in the little he had, it was about remaining undetected while he did his work. He found the communication center and inserted a small program among it. If someone tried to contact Victor's old department, the program would redirect the communication to a node he'd set up to mimic it. Identical except for Victor's information.

Then he added the communication history between the department and the ship's security office in regards to the transfer of the prisoner, he did a quick search of the people with the proper authority and routed the exchange through their comms. He also made sure no one in that office would be advised when the files were accessed. It wouldn't do for the person linked to the conversation to find out about it.

"I understand," Victor was saying. "But it's all been arranged and approved."

"Yes, but at no point were we informed as to when you'd be here," the woman replied. Alex typed some information and sent it to the screen before Victor. "The person you want isn't been prepped."

"You never provided the department with your itinerary, so we couldn't tell you when I'd be here. As for my prisoner, I'll be happy to pick her up myself from wherever you're holding her."

"Alright, hand over control of your ship and I'll have someone from security meet you. You can work this out with them."

"Thank you Priam." Victor ended the connection and slouched with a sigh.

"That wasn't half bad, Law Man."

Alex made sure there was nothing incriminating in their system before allowing the Priam's World to take control. "You okay Victor?"

"I'm fine, but I'm telling you, there's no way I can pull this off."

"You'll be fine. Miranda, it's time for you to change."

"I don't see why I have to. This is entirely serviceable."

"It isn't how Law agents look. I wish we could have gotten a uniform for you, to make it more credible, but maybe they don't know our specific procedure, so if you put on something less alluring."

"This isn't alluring."

"Miranda, what you're wearing is so tight if you were on Bramolian Six, you'd be arrested for indecent exposure."

"Must be a bunch of prudes in charge of that place." She headed to the back, where the one room was located.

"If she can't control her attitude, this isn't going to work."

"People in the Law can have attitude."

"Yes, but she isn't Law. Unless you have something set up to cover her, if she gives anyone a reason to look into her, they're going to see she isn't what I claim she is."

Alex did a quick check of the node he'd set up. It would be easy work to add Miranda to it. Unfortunately it had already been accessed. Someone on the Priam's World had verified Victor's credential. If he added Miranda to the roster they might notice the difference.

"For the amount of money I pay her, she'll play her part."

"I can hear you!"

"Then you know what's expected! Keep that attitude under control!"

"I don't have an attitude." She came out of the room wearing armored pants and jacket in matte gray. They fitted her well, but didn't show every curve. "Well?"

"That's armored isn't it?"

"Yes. And before you complain, you said we should be going in with a team. Since it's just the two of us. I'm armored, and armed."

"What weapon?"

Miranda took out a small gun from behind her. "It's a Nurri FND-32."

"It'd be better if you had a Kentric, that what the department uses, but I guess that if you have to take it out, we're already in too much ship for it to matter."

"You have any comments, boss man?"

Alex shook his head. "He's the Law. He knows what to expect, so follow his lead." He tapped the earpiece. "I'll be watching and giving you support, but avoid turning this into a firefight. This is a quiet operation."

"I know how does go, you know."

Alex didn't reply. He'd gone through her history. Maybe she knew what a quiet operation was, but Miranda was more likely to run in shooting around to get everyone's attention, then use whoever was closest as a hostage until she got what she wanted. He really hoped she could follow orders.

"Victor," Alex called, as the ship landed in the large hangar. "Miranda needs a name from someone in your department. I can't add her name there at this point."

"Becky Newland."

"She your girlfriend?" Miranda asked.

"No, she's this prissy detective who bugged me recently. I figure you fit her role."

"So you want me to argue with you the entire time we're getting the medic?"

"Miranda," Alex warned.

"I'm joking. Come on, get a sense of humor. I can do the job."

"Then go do it. You two are up and there's a security officer waiting."

Alex quietly tapped the camera system on the ship and located Victor and Miranda as they exited the ship. Victor handed the data chip with the transfer ordered. The security office inserted it into his datapad, read it, then typed something.

Alex cursed. What was he doing? A request for confirmation went out to the officer in charge, the one Alex had said had handled the preliminary contact.

He sent a program to intercept the request and went scouring the system for that person's communications. He needed a large enough sample to get his program to come up with a convincing response.

His program informed him the interception had worked. Alex had it send a confirmation of receipt while he compiled the communications. The request was simple, he just wanted to make sure everything was in order.

Alex had the program go through the compilation for the man's phrasing and usual mood in his communications. He had it look for response types for useless questions. And he had it compose a simple positive response.

How much time had passed? Victor looked calm, but Miranda was fidgeting. The security officer glanced at this datapad but didn't look to be worried about the delay.

The program told him it was done and Alex sent it, giving it the proper provenance. The officer glanced at his datapad again, read what was there.

Miranda tensed and Victor gave her a look.

The officer spent longer reading than Alex thought he should. Had his program gotten something wrong? Maybe the sample he'd collected had skewed in the wrong direction? He should have prepared for this eventuality. Tristan would have thought about it. He'd have thought about everything.

He forced himself to breathe. Panicking wouldn't help rescue Marie, or Tristan. He needed to stay calm. That was the secret to running a job. He'd forgotten that in the years Tristan had been in charge of his life.

He couldn't wait for things to be back to normal.

The officer put the datapad away and spoke. Miranda and Victor relaxed, then they followed him out of the hangar.

Alex relaxed too. Now, so long as nothing went wrong, it would be a long time before anyone noticed that Marie wasn't there. At least it would take someone important enough to want to deal with her directly before that would happen, and based on the contact history for her lab, no one like that had dealt with her since she'd arrived.

Alex eyed Miranda. If nothing went wrong.