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The threat in Alex's voice made Will take a step back.

It had been directed at Anders, but even Aliana stepped forward to protect Will. She made sure not to block his view, but she was ready to stop any of this disaster from reaching him. He placed a hand on her arm. He wasn't in danger--not from Alex, anyway. Not unless he stepped between those two.

Anders's smile was warm, which meant he was planning something. Will knew that smile; he'd been on the receiving end of it often enough.

"Hey, I heard you were putting on a job. I thought to myself, 'Anders, you can't let your old pal Crimson deal with such a thing on his own.' So I told Will that if he wanted me to, me and my friends would be happy to come and help."

"You heard about it?" Alex leveled his gaze on Will, and now he did move behind Aliana.

"Not me." His voice cracked. He knew who had told Anders, but he didn't say it. He might hate Anders and everyone who worked for him by association, but you didn't rat out on the crew.

"Aww, don't be pissed at him," Anders mocked. "Willie didn't say anything. He kept your secret, like the good little lackey he is."

"Watch it, Anders," Aliana said. "The captain's not here to protect you, and I get the feeling Crimson isn't going to care if I pound your head in the floor."

"Who cares what he minds," a woman said, stepping out of the hatch. "I do, and you know that I'm going to break you if you even look at Anders funny."

"Barbara," Anders said with forced exasperation, "I told you and the others to stay inside until I'd explained how valuable we were to Crimson."

Will looked at Alex, but all he saw on his face was anger and death. He had to know this was all an act. Will hadn't heard everything Anders had planned for this meeting, but he had caught the instructions to not pay attention to how angry he might sound. It was all to put Crimson at ease.

"You didn't say anything about letting them threaten you."

Anders looked at Aliana and dismissed her. "Come on, you know she's no threat. She's just Will's... What is she?" he directed to Will. "Your safety blanket? Nah, more like your pity f--"

"Keep that up, Anders," Alex interrupted, while Will held on to Aliana's arm to keep her from going after Anders, "and I'm the one who'll gut you."

Barbara stepped between Anders and Aliana, crossing her arms over her chest.

He pulled on her arms and Aliana looked at him. "Boss deals," he said, hoping she'd listen. He trusted Alex to handle Anders. This wasn't the Alex from back on the Golly, who'd let Anders push him around because he didn't want to cause a problem. He wasn't even the one from the end of his time with them, who'd gained the confidence to not let that shoving continue, while still managing not to cause problems. No, this Alex would have no problem ending Anders if needed.

The problem was that Aliana hadn't known Alex, so she didn't trust him like Will did, and she hated it when Anders used slurs on him. He loved Aliana, but sometimes her temper got her in trouble. Or in the brig, for sending Anders to the medical bay.

Anders raised his hands. "I'm not doing anything."

Alex motioned to Barbara. "Control your people, or I'll do it for you." He looked at the hatch where a few forms were shadows, just out of the light. "How many did you bring?"

"Barbara, back off, now," Anders ordered. "Eighteen of them. Had to leave a few behind to help the captain, you know. He's still working while we're on this little vacation."

Will had no idea how Anders had convinced the captain to let him come, not when he wouldn't let Will take his friends, take people he trusted. He had his suspicion why he'd allowed it, but he didn't like the danger it caused here.

He'd especially hated how smug Anders had been about it--listening in on every conversation Will had with Alex, making sure he didn't ruin the surprise.

"You managed to convince eighteen of them to follow you here?" Alex asked.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"If the tone wasn't clear enough, I mean that I'm surprised anyone would follow you out the Golly without your captain to ensure you don't just leave them to die."

Will frowned. Alex had to have forgotten how things went. Anders was an ass, but he did look out for his people. It was everyone else he had no problem throwing in the propulsions system.

"I look out for them," Anders replied. "You're the only one I had no problem seeing die."

"Oh? So no one died under your watch?"

Anders shook his head. "Of course I lost some. This isn't a safe job."

"And you certainly don't make it any safer. How many died because of blasts aimed at you?"

Anders clenched his hands. "They were protecting their leader; that's what they're supposed to do."

"Only if said leader can't protect himself."

Will snickered, even if this made no sense to him. Barbara glared at him.

Alex spoke over his shoulder, for the benefit of the people with him, who Will hadn't even looked at yet, too fascinated by the confrontation.

"This is Anders. Think of him as the top gang boss among the Golly's crew. He tried to get me killed a few times while I was traveling with them."

"I was protecting my position," Anders stated.

"Really? From a cubicle jockey who didn't even know how to hold a gun? How could you screw that up?"

Anders took a step forward and Alex smiled triumphantly.

Anders stopped and studied Alex.

Will looked at the people with him. Two were reaching for what had to be hidden weapons, but they weren't who grabbed his attention. They were mercs. It was the man on Alex's right, the one who didn't do more than watch what was happening. Everything about him screamed "Law!" extremely loudly.

He didn't know what that man was doing here, but a few things fell into place about how Alex was behaving. He wanted Anders to lose his temper, was looking for a reason to end him permanently. Alex was no longer taking Anders's bullshit, and it was going to fall on Anders to not do anything that would get him killed.

Will smiled. This should be fun to watch.

"Look," Anders said, his voice controlled. "You need help. There's what? The five of you, plus Willie and his...girl? Do you even have muscle for your crew? I did some reading on that target of yours. You need muscle for something like that--not just his girl, either."

"Wait, you read up on the Sayatoga?" Alex was smiling, trying not to laugh.

Anders's face darkened. "Yes, I know how to--"

"Don't you mean you had someone read it out loud to you? How small were the words they had to use for you to understand them?"

"Watch it, Crimson, or I'm going to make you eat those insults.

Alex's smile brightened, and Will knew for certain now he was doing this on purpose. He'd definitely changed. The Alex he'd known, even at the end of the trip, wouldn't have looked forward to a fight with Anders.

And Anders was realizing it too. He swallowed his anger. "Look, I'm sorry."

Will gawked.

"Yes, our history is filled with confrontations, but I always respected that you were after your man, so--"

"Was that before you tried to seduce me?"

"I was drunk, okay? I saw it as a way to control you. It's in the past. I'm not here to take over your job. I'm here because I want you to be with your man." He sighed. "Call it me making amends for the way I treated you when you were traveling with us."

This went beyond Anders trying to protect himself. He was up to something, as always. Will just wished he could figure out what that was.

"Fine." Alex didn't sound surprised by Anders's behavior. "Get the others in the light, so I can see who you brought to try and stab me in the back."

"Crimson, I--"

"Just shut it, Anders." Alex sounded tired all of a sudden. "I don't have the patience for games anymore, and even less for yours. The truth is that you're here because you're still upset I didn't die on the Golly, that I'm still alive. I just don't care. The moment you try something, you're the one who's dead."

"You're growing paranoid, Crimson." He let out a whistle and the people in the ship exited. Will counted them so that when Alex looked at him, he could confirm it.

"All there."

Alex looked over the group. Half of them weren't part of it when Alex was on the Golly, and Will had no idea if he'd remember any of the others.

"Zeph, Tim," Alex said. "I'm glad to see this guy hasn't gotten you killed. Although I have to admit I'm surprised you've followed him into this."

Right, Will realized those two Alex had a reason to remember. They'd been assigned to train him by Anders. Or at least that had been what Will had managed to find out. He was sure there had been more to it, but in the end, Alex had become a better fighter and remained alive.

Alex's gaze lingered on one of the men, Milo, one of Anders's more recent additions to his group--or maybe not. Will had never bothered keeping track of the coming and going in that group.

Alex sighed. "I've introduced Anders, now meet his merry band of miscreants. The only advice I have for you is to never turn your back on any of them." Alex considered something. "And to avoid 'accidents', I'm going to introduce my crew. The ex-Lawman is Victor, he's muscle. Jacoby is our pilot and extra muscle."

The older man nodded to them.

"The bounty hunter is Miranda. She's our way in, as well as muscle."

The woman looked Anders over and licked her lips. Anders only now noticed her and he ogled. Will glanced at Barbara, who was glaring at the bounty hunter. She was good-looking enough, muscular, tall, but he didn't care for how she dressed. Aliana didn't need to advertise what she had, and he loved that in her.

"Mary's our medic. She has an edge to her, so do yourself a favor and don't piss her off." Alex smiled. "She reminds me of Doc." He nodded to Will. "You already know my locksmith, and Aliana is his girl and muscle."

Will straightened at being specifically included in Alex's crew.

Against his own advice, Alex turned his back on Anders and the others. "Come on, I need to go let some muscles know they aren't needed anymore." Miranda and Mary turned and followed Alex. The two men didn't move, watching them. At least they had good instincts, Will thought.

Murray leaned in close to Anders and whispered. Anders shook his head, took a step forward, and turned.

He spoke loudly. "Let's make something very clear: Crimson is the boss. I don't want to hear anything about taking his place. This is his job. The next one to even suggest it isn't going to have to worry about what Crimson will do to them, because I'm going to make sure he or she's dead before he can hear of it. We are here to give Crimson support, nothing more. If you can't follow my orders, get back on the ship and return to the Golly, because I have no use for you."

Will swore Anders's gaze lingered on Zeph and Tim as he spoke.

The man turned and walked fast enough to catch up to Alex, who hadn't slowed to listen to his little speech. Will watched the others follow Anders, and fell in step with Aliana at his side and Alex's two mercs.

Aliana leaned in and whispered, "Anders is up to something."

"Sounds like you don't trust him," the Lawman said. Will couldn't think of him any other way, even if Alex said he wasn't that anymore. He was just so loud about it.

"Don't," Will said.

The man looked at him. "Don't what?"

Aliana sighed. "No, we don't trust him."

"Yeah, I got that. I thought he was warning me from saying it or something."

"Not that it's any of your business," Aliana said, "but William is a man of few words."

Will smiled. It was certainly a nice way to describe his condition. One of the many reasons he loved his girl.

The Lawman looked at the pilot, who shrugged.

Will looked over his shoulder, and it took him a moment to understand why. He was looking for the non-existent bodies. Somehow they'd gone through all that and no one had died.

The day was still young, he reminded himself.

* * * * *

Will glanced at the lock, and the numbers floating around it quickly fell into place. It was open, but also not a very difficult one. He looked around the room as he entered it, and was reminded of Asyr's lab, except this was much bigger, and had a lot more computers--a dozen of them along the walls that some of Anders's crew were looking at. At the back was an area to watch vids, but most of it was empty.

Alex was standing in the middle, facing Anders. "You're lucky Mobius gives discounts on full-day rents, since that's what I went for. The lounge on my ship only sits four. Even the conference room I used here wouldn't have been comfortable. So most of you get to stand while I go over the job again."

He closed his eyes and took a breath. He didn't look happy. "This is a rescue. The target is a Samalian named Tristan." A face appeared before him, making Anders step back. Alien, black fur with white spots on it. Large muzzle. It looked a lot like the hologram Alex had with him on the Golly.

Will looked around at who was at the terminals. Alex didn't have his earpiece in, so the medic or the Lawman, the only two of Alex's crew sitting at one should be handling the projection, but neither looked to be doing anything at the terminal--just watching the exchange.

Anders looked at the image, then Alex with a disgusted expression on his face.

"This is in and out. Minimal disruption, minimal damage." Alex looked over Anders's crew. "And no dead. The Sayatoga is going to be pissed enough we're taking a revenue source from them. I don't need them coming after us because you lot were kill-happy."

Anders shook his head, but didn't say anything.

"Miranda and I are the way in. Miranda, did the Sayatoga ever get back to you?"

"Yes, they gave me their trajectory for the next year. I checked with Jacoby and it should be less than four months to reach them."

"I'm going to be in restraints. From what she explained, a security team will meet us. There shouldn't be more than eight of them, probably as few as three; I'm not considered enough of a risk to warrant a full team. There were sixteen of them when she delivered the fake Tristan to them."

Anders lifted an eyebrow and Will wondered what that was about too, but Alex just continued.

"They were also armed with military-grade rifles. But again, I'm not the threat he is, so they shouldn't be heavily armed. The two of us will take them down with Jaco-- Well, now it's going to be two of yours standing ready to assist if it's needed."

"We'll be ready," Anders said.

Alex took out an earpiece. "I'm going to hide myself, Miranda, Mary, Will, and Aliana, plus two more from their scanners. I'll also arrange for the Folly and the people guarding it to be ignored. We get to the cryo processing room, take Tristan out, Mary treats him so he's functional. We get back and we get out of there. She'll see to any other injuries while we're flying off. Time is going to be tight and something I can't control. I've peeked into their system, and they have more coercionists than I expected. They aren't your usual corporate types, who'll sit back and wait to be told what to do. These guys are active inside the system."

"You're just taking two extra muscle?" Anders asked.

"What part of 'in and out' did you miss?" Alex replied. "This is a stealth mission. Smaller is better."

"So what? You expect all of us to sit in your ship and wait?"

"I didn't ask you to come. You invited yourself. Did you bother asking Will what kind of mission I was arranging?" Alex looked at everyone in the room. "Clearly not. I had muscle lined up. Just the right number I needed. I'm under no obligation to alter the mission so you can get your thrills. Just what exactly did you expect me to do with you?"

"How about you do the sensible thing?" Anders took a chip from a pocket. "Murray, sit down, plug that in, and get it to show up here." Murray did as instructed, and the Samalian's face was replaced by the schematics of a ship.

Anders manipulated it until they were left with half a dozen decks. He indicated a large section by the hull. "This is the only hangar, so the ship will be in there." He moved the focus with ease until it showed another section with a space taking three decks and a quarter of the ship. "That's the cell area. I couldn't find the actual layout."

"Actually," Mary said, "the Sayatoga holds its prisoner in cryotubes. It's an older tech, but pretty stable and less power intensi--"

"Don't waste your time, Mary," Alex said. "Anders won't understand any of it. I'm amazed he knows how to manipulate this. Who compiled all this for you?" He looked at the man at the terminal. "Was it you, Murray?"

"I did the research."

Alex looked at Will. "Did he bribe Asyr with to get her to help him?"

Will shrugged. Unlike Anders, he didn't monitor what everyone in his crew did. He didn't think Asyr would ever want to help the man, but he couldn't be sure.

"You said you want this to be stealth," Anders said through gritted teeth, then took a breath. "In and out, as quickly as possible, but if you don't want to be noticed by the people on the ship, that means you need an indirect route." He zoomed out until both rooms were visible and a route was highlighted from one to the other, moving over the six decks. Definitely not a direct line.

"That's a long route, and yes, before you say it, I had Golly calculate it. I can't figure something like that out. I'm sure you can make it, but without anyone noticing? Without one firefight? Or one person being able to sound the alarm? I don't care how good you think you've become, no one is that good."

Alex studied the map. Turned it, zoomed in on some sections. "Golly figured out this route?"

"Based on the lowest probability of running into any of the crew, while having an injured crew to carry."

"And you thought of those parameters?"

"Yes," Anders replied, barely controlling his anger.

"I'm impressed," Alex said, sounding genuine and not like he was trying to goad Anders. "Okay, then what are you suggesting?"

"The alarm is going to be a given; you can't avoid that. I talked with Asyr, and unless you're constantly monitoring the system, you can't stop that from happening."

"That's right," Alex answered, reluctantly. "But I don't consider that much of a problem. Tristan is going to be able to help deal with any extra security."

Anders made a visible effort to control his tone, but some of the disgust slipped through. "I'd love to know who your guy is, if you think going from seven to eight people is going to make a difference. And he's going to be out of it, right? That's what your medic's for."

"She's there in case he's in worse shape than expected."

"Okay, regardless, you say that when they thought they were getting this Tristan, they added people and heavy weapons. How long do you think you can hide that's who you took out of his cell? How long until they bring out the big guns against your group?" Anders moved the zoom to a section aft. "All the heavy weapons are in there."

Alex studied the section. "You want to take the armory."

Anders nodded.

"Okay." Alex hesitated. "I can see the benefits, and on top of keeping them from using heavy weapons when I bring Tristan back, they'll be preoccupied fighting you, not me."

Anders shrugged. "We're going to have everything in there to play with, weapons and armor, once Will gets me in. What do I care how much security they send my way?"

"What do you mean, 'once Will gets you in'? Will's coming with me. I need him to get me in the holding area."

"No, you don't," Anders replied, borderline insulting. "Look, I talked with Asyr. She and Will have this contest going, and yes, he's faster than her most of the time, but it isn't by a lot. You're better than her, right? So you can handle the locks. Isn't that what you're going to do at the start of everything?"

"No, I'm telling the security system to ignore us."

"Same thing."

"It isn't, but even if it was. I'm going to be busy. Even with your distraction, there will be guards."

"Sure, but that's what you have his g--" Anders took a breath. "Aliana for, as well as the Lawman and bounty hunters, and you said you're bringing two extra muscle. Just on her own, Aliana can take care of your security problem. She's that good."

Alex looked at Will, and he beamed. He didn't like that Anders was using her to get his way, but he was right. His girl was amazing. "She's great."

"Look, if you're still worried, I'll lend you four of my people, instead of two." A handful of people stepped forward: Tim, Murray, Viv, Lolita.

"No," Alex said flatly. "You're too eager to get your people with me. They're too eager, considering how they used to feel. Since you're are going to be drawing attention away from me, I'll be fine without any extra support. My crew will handle it."

"Crimson, be reasonable, this is your man's safety we're talking about," Anders said without any noticeable dislike in his voice. "You really want to risk that? You need at least--"

"I'll do it," Zephyr said, not moving from where he was leaning against the wall.

"See, there's your first volunteer." Anders was smiling, but Will hadn't missed the flash of anger. This wasn't who he'd wanted with Alex. One of the others.

Alex glared at Zephyr, who looked at him impassively. "Fine, but he's the only one I'm taking."

"Alex, be reasona--"

"Anders, not only do I not trust any of you, but you're going to have the bulk of the security force on your ass. You're going to need everyone we can spare not guarding the ship, because if they get through you, then they're coming after me."

"Fine, but I still need Will. I don't have anyone who does what you do. If we try to get through that lock, they'll know about it before we're halfway through. They get to us before we're in and we don't have anything to defend ourselves with. They vaporize us and drop on you with enough firepower to take over a small planet."

Alex thought it over. He glanced at Zephyr, who was now ignoring the conversation. "I still need him. I can't take control of the ship. I explained why."

Anders smiled. "So you can't take over the computer because you're going to busy?"

"Yes."

"Then why not make the point of the computer moot?

"What are you talking about?"

"Release everyone. That's a one-time thing in the computer, right?" The Lawman was on his feet and not happy. "Not only do you get a distraction to keep everyone in the ship busy, but can you imagine how grateful they'd be?"

"You can't seriously be listening to that," the Lawman said.

Alex looked like he couldn't speak. "Are you fucking insane?" he finally managed to say. "Did you look at who's kept there? They are the worst of the worst, and you want to let them out? Absolutely not."

"Think about it, they--"

"No! You want Will? Fine, you have him. And Zeph's with me." He headed for the door, grumbling. "I can't believe he even thought letting them out would be a valid option."

Anders watched Alex leave, followed by his crew. The smile on his face worried Will, a lot. Anders caught him watching and his smile broadened. "What about that? You're working for me again, short stuff. And without any protection this time. Trust me, I'll be gentle."

Will grabbed Aliana's arm before she moved. He shook his head. She looked at him questioningly, but he shook it again. He couldn't believe Alex had let this happen. Anders was cunning, but Alex wasn't stupid, which meant that Will had missed something.

And he hated that.