Charting a course to a specific system or planet was complicated, to say the least, in the days before Quip Alec had kept books with the delivery schedule of the stations. Jumping from planet A to get to planet X often involved many other stations in between. Quip took all of that into account by tapping into the Baronhood's central network.

  "It looks like it's a two-jump ride, Alec. It appears as though the only connection to this mining planet is Earth Prime." Alec's back muscles involuntarily twitched out of tension. He hated going back to that planet and was quite grateful the wealthy heart of the Baronhood had little use for honour, which meant little use for Alec.

  "When's the next jump from here?"

  "We are in luck. With the perceived necessity for grape-berry wine, it appears as though this planet opens a rift hourly. Probably why the station is so reinforced here."

  Alec looked out the cockpit window at the large black walls of the rift station before him. The baroness had no reason to stop his travel, nor did of his clients. It never stopped Alec from feeling apprehensive before a jump. Sitting there in the line of traders and the ever-present sluggers was claustrophobic for Alec. With no one left in the cell to distract Alec with memories, he stepped through the connecting hatch into his living quarters to wait for the jump.

  "Tell me more about the Seltar III contract. Look it all up and allow the alerts. Better yet, tell them we'll take it. If it's the only one on the docket, maybe it's fate." Quip took a moment to process but came back quickly.

  "It appears as though this was the first rift planet to join the Baronhood's system. It seems well fortified, and yet they are facing a rebellion."

  Alec knew this part already; it's why he had avoided the contract until it was the only one left. Quip interrupted his thought process.

  "Alec, this planet's information is locked behind a security wall I cannot breach. The clearance level will take some time to crack, and they will definitely know if I do. In fact, I can confidently say, if not for this contract, we would not know of this planet's existence."

  "Don't alert them quite yet. What about taking this another way? Target baronhood officials from a lower security level. Check their messages dating back to the start of the Baronhood for mention of Keltar III. Compile it and make some creative leaps. Tell me what we are getting into."

  "Alec, I'm not being difficult this time. It will take a while."

  Quip's voice fell silent as he began scrubbing ages of ancient communications. Alec took the moment to take another happy flare from the desk. He sparked his thumb and breathed in contentment. His mind wandered back to the face of the youth. That look of accusation he had seen in the boy's eyes was a mirror of the child from his youth. Alec had sworn to protect him, and he had done his best. The one enemy he had felled for himself but could not save any others from was time. What all others saw as a gift in immortality, Alec had considered a curse when his mind wandered. He would bring it back and anchor it in Aamoranth and purpose, but with the fresh image of his latest contract in his mind, Alec found it difficult to see anything but a curse.

  The rift-station countdown began to light up the sky in its giant forty-foot numbers. Alec heard the alarm and climbed into the cockpit. He fired Quip up, he left the mute switch open, and he wanted to hear what Quip compiled as soon as it became available. Preparation means protection. It was an old adage from his ancient training and one that stuck with him. Alec's mind was constantly processing "what ifs" to mitigate any surprises he may face.

  This grounder was old but extremely fast. Compared to the earlier crossing, this one was like precision clockwork. Alec quickly scanned the area for the boy who had stumbled through the rift and was saved on this side. He wondered if the young grounder had made it back to his planet of origin or if he was now a permanent member of this crew. He couldn't see him. As the vehicles were signalled, Alec lurched his rig forward. He heard a thud from the side of his vehicle, and he pulled up that view on the vidtronic device. Nothing but an empty road met his view; maybe one of the crew had hurled a rock at his vehicle out of disdain for the baronhood. It had happened before, but it usually wasn't that loud.

  The pinhole headache was near immediate in this jump, and as Alec drove through the milky view of the rift, he was met with yet another rift station. He would hold up here, maybe resupply his Cafe until the jump to Earth Prime. He pulled up into the rift-station with very little local militia. This planet must be poor. There was a general goods store, and kilometres off in the distance, Alec could see a small settlement. The general store would do. He pulled up one side of his rig to the wall and activated Quip's passive defence system. With practiced moves, he took out the revolver and holstered it.

  "Be right back," he muttered to Quip as he set a spurred boot down in the dust of this worn-out planet. He walked up to the general good store, which matched the rift-station, built out of scrapped wood and sheet metal, giving it an archaic look. There was even an actual bell above the door; it chimed softly as Alec walked into the small space.

  Up at the front was an elderly Teretha man, his long braided hair was done in the style of his people, and he wore a small, rounded hat with a short brim. Tied to the fringes of his jacket were what looked like an odd bird feather, but on closer inspection, Alec realized it was frayed wires. The artwork was extremely detailed. His examination of the space finished off with two minor threat assessments. They were both of the local militia, one old and one young. They stared at the Teretha man with disdain. Alec had seen it before.

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  Alec had often marvelled at how people could argue over blood and bloodlines. Perhaps it was because he had little blood left, and his veins flowed with the blessed Aamaranth. It seems those left out of baronhood blood often chose to oppress the Teretha over their blood. Thus, the cycle of this dystopia continued.

  The two militia members knocked some merchandise over, caught in the midst of some derogatory joke. The younger of the two kicked some of it, scattering it. No one was afraid of the Teretha people, quite the opposite, what few he had met, he had always had good and honourable dealings with. He was confirmed that this man was 'Of-the-blood', as the baronhood had come to label them, when one of the two militia boys loudly used the word "Blooder".

  Alec hated the term; it implied violence to a people he had never known to be quick to violence. More often than not, it is better applied to the one using the term, as Alec saw proof in the young whelp looking at the shop owner in defiant challenge with the slur. The shop owner did not raise his eyes but instead answered the whelp humbly and quickly. This behaviour was common amongst the coalition of planets that Earth had colonized centuries ago.

  Although to Alec they looked so akin to the earthly humans, they must be ancient ancestors. The Teretha people were crushed in the war, and the ones left were indentured as slaves or relegated to planets devoid of resources. The places the baronhood wouldn't go.

  Alec eyed up the two militia with a calculating digital eye. Both wore dark brown outfits, although the youngest's was of much better make. They each held a purple flame emblem, and the better-dressed one also had an officer's fold in the front of his jacket. Each carried a 16 Slug pistol, small things but effective to anyone not in an impact suit; they could tear apart.

  "What are you looking at?" The tone was whiny and grating, the kind of voice that is used to being catered to simply for existing. Alec didn't care, and that seemed to offend the party. He could see the Teretha man take a step backwards, looking at Alec, an imposing stranger standing toe to toe with a small soldier who was not sensing the danger he was in. Alec winked subtly at the Teretha man and waved a quick motion with his hand down by his hip. 'I got this.' It was Teretha's handspeak, and the man took it in stride that the stranger knew his people's secret language. The expression on the shop owner's face was one of tense apprehension, and it did not change with Alec's attempt at comfort.

  "Look, old man shaky here can't keep his hands still. Step aside so me and this blooder can conclude our business, then if I'm feeling nice I'll let you go next." The boy sneered the last, and Alec felt that twinge he got in the back of his head just before a battle. He calmed it. This boy was foolish and ignorant, but he didn't deserve death. That kid from the last contract was really getting to him. This was not a battlefield. In fact, this was behaviour Alec would have chalked up to normal just days before.

  "Apologize". Alec's voice was calm and level. He hadn't used his modulator to adopt this planet's speech, though, so it came out in the refined tones of the grape-berry planet.

  "Oh, look, we got ourselves an offworlder! Not many of you are in this forsaken place. This system is on the interplanetary exemption list."

  Alec heard the implication in the subtext. Being on the exemption list meant things were too broken, toxic or dangerous to be considered safe for the wealthy elite. Why they didn't cull them, Alec knew. The illicit services that were supplied to the depraved baronhood were well-served on worlds such as these. Most have common sense to stay in the rift-station. Alec regretted setting Quip to work over preparing for the small jump.

  "I was wondering where that rig came from outside! Now we can play Earthlings and blooders, look, he's even got an old gun." The boy pointed to Alec's large revolver on his hip. He responded by pulling his coat over it.

  "Won't be using that on you today, and you can thank whatever backwater gods are on this planet I'm not. Apologize", his voice stayed level and the boy, finally seeming to realize he had cornered an imposing beast, thinking he was going to have some fun. It didn't stop his defiant youthful ego, however, as he looked from Alec to the Teretha man.

  "Bio— oo—— der", the boy emphasized the word, staring a dagger at first at the Teretha man and back to Alec. He raised the index finger and ring finger of his primary hand and raised them in the air defiantly towards Alec. He considered it for a moment; the gesture must be this planet's equivalent of the middle finger on his ancient Earth.

  All in the shop heard 27 crisp cracks, popping like small children's firecrackers, before anyone realized what had happened.

  Anyone except Alec. In the moment the boy had taken to change his gaze from Alec to the Teretha man, he had reached out with his other hand. It was odd math, but the kind that made sense to Alec. One turn and twist of his deft and powerful hand, and 27 bones in the whelp's hand cracked in unison.

  The boy screamed. Alec smiled.

  The Teretha man looked shocked, then gathered himself, quickly grabbed ice from a nearby cooler, wrapped it in a cloth, and handed it out to the older officer. He wrapped it around the younger's hand, while he whimpered like a sick infant. Alec marvelled, even in this moment, that Teretha could choose peace; that is one skill he never had.

  Alec had lived so long that he understood that karma, goodness or perceived "law" needed agents so that people like the Teretha could choose peace. Alec was the inevitable force that balanced the scales for people like Teretha, that was, until the BaronHood turned him into their own kind of slave. Goddamned Aamaranth.

  "You can't shop here. Please leave my shop." His voice was loud with the annunciation that gave the Teretha their almost musical accent. It was also directed at the militia, so they could hear, and both smiled in exaltation as they left.

  The handspeak the man was spinning told Alec a different story. The man was grateful, but the hurt boy was connected. Alec understood and hoped this wouldn't wreck the job he had here. He wasn't too concerned; the emblazoned badge the Baronhood gave him provided a political armour amongst those in the know.

  The older militia gathered his friend and began to run to the door. The Teretha man piled up the items the boy officer had dropped, mostly junk food and happyflares and pushed them into his hands, mumbling something about no charge.

  Rather than cause this poor man any irreparable damage by his brash actions, Alec walked back to Quip. Cafe would have to wait. The rift-station projected large numbers of a 25-minute countdown. Alec would make his way to the head of the line and prepare for the jump to Earth Prime before his intended goal.

  He needed to forget the face of the last contract and get his head back in the game. Life has purpose. Aamaranth gives life.