I raced through the corridors, cursing the cameras. Cuff on or not, there'd be no way to hide what I was doing.

That was fine, really. We'd been subtle long enough.

Now it was speed I needed. I needed to get to that tower.

But for all the time I'd spent on the dome's surface, I still hadn't been above the warren of hallways, dormitories and common rooms that made up the underlayer of the research base.

I slowed, a spark of intuition hitting.

What I needed was an ally.

I changed course, making a bet.

The largest gamble of my life had been leaving Loree in that room. But she'd told me not to underestimate Tilly. More importantly, she'd told me, and shown me, not to underestimate herself.

I turned sharply, aiming for the area of the schematic that had been discreetly unlabeled. Usually the interesting things were kept in the blank spaces.

Before the next intersection I stopped, listened. There, the faint crackle of stun sticks charging up.

The need for secrecy long behind me I let a howl rip through my throat as I pounced on the Themis guards.

I dropped below their strikes, spinning to kick their legs out from under them and then used their own weapons to take them out.

I might've been grinning a bit at that last part.

Maybe a lot.

Bursting through the door they'd guarded it was clear that the R&R station and armory for the Themis guards lay between me and my quarry.

Which was fine. Better to take them out now than have to worry about them coming up my backside later.

“I'm a pretty peaceful guy, actually,” I told the first one that reached me. “But it's been a long few days.” Blow to the gut, crack on the head, spin to the next. “And because of your stupid surveillance bugs, the nights have been just as long.” Kick to the chin, toss him into the pair rushing me. “So I'm a little cranky.”

In five minutes the room was cleared.

I pressed the end of one of the sticks to the door panel until it popped, hiss and gave up in a shower of sparks, releasing the lock.

Madden glared at me from the lower bunk. “Sounded like you had a bit of a party out there. Nobody thought to invite me.”

I tossed him a pair of sticks. “Nah. That was just round one.”

He surveyed the room and let out a long whistle. “What are you planning as a follow up?”

“Fight our way through most of SysSec to take down a madman with a mind control virus. Wanna come?”

He stepped back, evaluating. “Are you crazy?”

“Do you care as long as you get a good fight out of it?” I countered.

“Fair enough.” He grabbed another handful of stun sticks and headed out. “Come on, I know a back way to the research layer. Fertilizer pipes.”

I trotted next to him. “How do you know about them?”

“Got assigned to them last time I got in a bit of trouble.”

Useful. “Speaking of trouble... need that cuff off? I don't know who's controlling the shocks right now.”

Madden shoved back an access hatch, started climbing the metal ladder that had been hidden behind it. “Nope. Pain is good. Makes me angrier.”

The climb stretched for long minutes. Even in the dark, Madden never missed a rung. My night vision helped, but other than the ladder and Madden's backside, there wasn't much to see. Finally he held down a warning hand. “About to hit the surface.”

“Any other guard stations up there to worry about?”

“Nah,” he whispered. “Workers are on lockdown at night, if the eggheads are up, they're playing with their toys or arguing with each other about how to break the universe.”

I thought about Doc and Nurack. “Sounds like the mad scientists I know, yeah.”

“You know weird people.”

“Keeps life interesting.”

We emerged from the hatch to a small grassy area with a few scattered pumps and metal covered boxes, all enclosed by hedges. “They don't like having to see the workings,” Madden explained. “Spoils their concentration.”

One moon hung huge and round in the deep indigo sky above the dome, another, smaller one waning, almost setting.

The winding hedges cast long shadows, breaking any direct path to the tower that jutted through the middle of the surface, making far too many ambush spots.

At least, that's what SysSec would think.

“All right, ready to go play?”

Madden cracked his neck. “If you'd told me sooner we'd be getting into fights with Imperial goons, we'd have been friends faster.”

We took off running, zigzagging across the open spaces. “Not sure if we're friends now,” I retorted, diving over the hedge to take down the SysSec agent crouched there.

“Don't have to be a jerk about it.” Madden kicked the guy as he ran by to tackle the next.

“Trust me, I'm the nice one of my family.”

Despite their numbers, SysSec was at a decided disadvantage. They'd relied too long on their blasters and plasma rifles. When it came down to hand-to-hand, they were slow, clumsy. Or maybe that was the virus, screwing with their thought patterns, interrupting their true reflexes. Either way, I wasn't arguing.

Inch by inch we battled our way to the tower.

How many agents had Stanton brought with him? I wondered, dropping another pair to the ground.

At the foot of the tower Madden paused, breath a touch ragged. “Now what?”

“The sensible thing would be for you to wait here, watch my back.”

His face twisted. “Damn, that sounds boring. But maybe I could use a breather before round three.”

I clapped his shoulder, wrenched the door open and charged up the stairs. The open center made me uneasy, so I ran, pressed against the outer wall, eyes peeled for snipers above.

But nothing came.

The pounding beat of my footsteps echoed up the empty stairwell, my thoughts circling with every spiral.

Where was Loree? Was she safe?

The Pack had never exactly committed treason before, but if she'd been hurt by that prince...

Where were the guards, dammit?

At the top the stairs stopped at a brief landing, then two steps to the door that must lead to the the equipment room. I eyed the lock on the door. Old style mechanical lock, Not electronic. The stun stick wouldn't do anything but maybe melt something closed.

Good thing I came prepared.

I slipped the hairpin from my pocket, the glitter of the jeweled top winking at me. “Like you're right here, babe.” I muttered as I slid it into the keyhole, eased the pins into place one by one. Lock opened, I waited, stretching every sense to see if my presence had been discovered.

No sound other than the steady rhythm of machinery.

No movement.

Flinging the door open, I leaped through it, rolling to the side.

But there was no attack.

Wide open arches looked out over the entire dome, a lattice of thin pipes jutting out from their lower edge.

The pipes led back to a tangle of machinery and pumps. And at the heart of the nest, five oval capsules, each as long as my arm.

Four had been on the schematics, containers for the suppressant.

One was the virus.

And I had no idea which was which.

A soft cough behind me broke into my thoughts.

Madden stood in the door, his face oddly grey.

“We've got a bit of a problem.” He stumbled forward as Stanton shoved him further into the room.

As he fell I saw the blaster in Stanton's grip.

“Sorry. Sneaky for an old guy. And he cheats.”

Stanton stalked into the middle of the small chamber, two agents on either side. And all three held blasters. “You've made quite enough trouble, beast. Time to end you all.”

I shrugged, figuring angles. Three opponents shouldn't be a problem. But how to keep anyone from hitting the virus capsule? “By now, Loree will have told Vandalar all about the virus. You'll never get him.”

Stanton laughed. “You've obviously never met the charming prince before. Of all the things he does with women, listening isn't one of them.”

Huh. Treason it would have to be. I marked it on the to do list for later, kept thinking.

“Your little handful won't keep him interested for long. Now that he's announced his presence at Themis, he'll have to come out for the ceremony. We'll get that on the Imperial calendar as soon as you've been handled.”

“Round three?”

Before I registered what he was saying, Madden jumped towards Stanton.

All three agents fired, the stink of burnt flesh filling the chamber. With a bellow, Madden charged on, arms wrapped around Stanton's waist, driving them both out the far window.

“Dammit, you idiot!”

The SysSec agents gaped, then spun to fire at me.

Far too late.

Once I was very sure they weren't getting back up, I leaned out the window.

Stanton's body sprawled across one of the hedges, limbs twitching as the current from the force field wires burned through him.

Finally. It was over.

“Gonna haul me in?”

Madden clung to a pipe, blood-slicked fingers slipping to the ends.

I grabbed his wrist, heaved until we sat slumped on the floor.

“That was stupid,” I muttered.

“You were overthinking it.” He groaned. “I think it might be time for a doctor.”

“With luck, that's who's coming now.” We pulled ourselves to our feet.

Footsteps marched up the stairway, and I braced for round four.

The Crimson Guard flooded through the room, circling the perimeter.

Prince Vandalar wafted in, stupid cape and all.

But I only had eyes for Loree, pushing past him and rushing across the room. She wrapped an arm around my waist, and I pulled her into me, letting her pure, clean scent wipe away everything from the last hours.

She glared at Madden. “What's he doing here?”

“He's... well, maybe not one of the good guys exactly.”

Madden snorted.

“Kinda like us, really.”

“Goof. You're heroes, remember?”

Her fingers laced through mine, and all was right with the world.

Vandalar sauntered over.

“You know, I'd really like to keep Loree. No, nothing like that.” he waved with one manicured hand. “She'd make a fine general.”

“Like hell,” I growled, and tensed. Taking on the Crimson Guard wasn't high on my list of things to do at the moment, but I could rearrange the list if needed.

His shoulders slumped dramatically. “That's what she said. Pity.” Vandalar looked over the edge to Stanton's twitching body. “Looks like I'll have more than a few replacements to make.”