The ground woke him. He was dropped face first and his muzzle hit the loamy soil, sending a jolt of pain and shocking him awake. He was on his knees, face in the ground, ass in the air. Was it an accident or were they trying to humiliate him?
His wrists were tied behind him, which made changing position difficult. He rolled to his side, then his back, ignoring the pain that caused to his arms, while they were covered he ran a finger against the binding. Not organic. He caught his breath while he lightly scraped a claw against it. It left a scratch.
He tensed and forced his body to a sitting position. He was looking at six mercs. Six big men in not too shabby armor. They pointed Dorac F-21 rifles at him. Good choice, a lot of stopping power, but the cycling between shots was five seconds. Longer than Tristan cared for.
Looking over his shoulder he saw five other mercs plus one Samalian. Whoever looked different from the rest tended to be in charge so he turned himself around. The mercs were just as big. The one woman was actually bigger than the men.
He studied the Samalian; the mercs weren't important. He’d had a rough life recently. Half his chest and face were without any of his dark brown fur, being instead badly scared. Not shot or cut. Burned. He looked bad. What was he doing here instead of in a hospital?
Who was he? The way the burned Samalian glared at him he knew Tristan, but Tristan couldn’t recall ever burning a Samalian. Especially not one as recently the livid flesh indicated they those burns had been caused.
“You must really be happy with yourself,” the Samalian growled, and Tristan’s head jerked up. He knew that voice.
He looked at those light brown eyes, searched the fur for any white in it, and he found it. “Justin?”
“Oh, you should see your face. Did you really think your plan to kill me would work?”
Tristan smiled. “You’re alive!” His little brother had managed to survive. If he’d been able to, he would stand and hug him. “How? Alex told me that Anders merc killed you.”
Justin snorted. “He tried. Of course that human thought throwing me into space would be enough. But I’m going to make him pay when I’m done with you.”
“He’s dead.”
Justin’s remaining ear canted.
“I killed him.”
“You killed him?” the indignation in Justin’s voice was amusing.
Tristan shrugged. “He hurt Alex.”
“That name again.” Justin’s brow furrowed. “Was he one of the humans in the area with you?”
“Wait, that giant head, that was really you?” he chuckled at Justin’s stormy expression. “Sorry, I was coming down some pretty hard drugs. I don’t know what was real and what wasn’t on that ship.”
“Yes, that was me.”
“I should have known. You always like making yourself to be larger than life.”
“You’re one to speak. One of the most wanted criminals in the universe. If I’d announced you weren’t on the Sayatoga, every bounty hunter would have been after you. You wouldn’t have had a moment’s peace.”
“But you’d never have been able to capture me and exact your revenge.” Tristan looked around. “What’s with them?” All the mercs were looking at them, their rifles angled to the ground. Tristan found the scraped line and ran a claw over it again.
“You really think I’m going to take any chances with you?” Justin looked at his man. “Guns up. I want them aimed at him all the time.”
Tristan heard the rustle of closing as they realigned the rifles on his head.
“How come it’s only him? I thought I told you to bring everyone else with that was with him. They’re all responsible for what happened to me.”
More rustling behind Tristan, unease this time. “There was only one other. We were going to secure this one and go back for him, but he came after us. He killed a good third of us before the building security showed up. So we figured you’d rather have him than no one at all and the four of us headed right here.”
Tristan smiled. “That’s what Alex does.”
Justin looked at him, ear canted. “Another Alex?”
“The same one.”
“The same one?” Justin studied Tristan’s face. “You’re telling me you didn’t break him in the time it took you to get here?”
“Break him?”
“Yes, humans are so fragile. They always break after a while. You have no idea how tough it is to find one that can keep up with me.”
“No, I haven’t broken him.” Tristan didn’t hide the annoyance he felt.
“And you didn’t toss him aside? Just what is he to you?”
Tristan opened his mouth to give a snide reply, but stopped. What was Alex to him? In spite of what they had done, of what he had told Alex, he hadn’t put a name on what they were. “Partner. Alex is my partner.”
“Your toy, you mean.”
“No.” Tristan was indignant. How could his brother even think that?
“Then he’s a mark. Someone you twisted around your finger tightly to that if he ever learned you were captured he’d come to your rescue.”
“Yes—no!” Tristan shook his head. “Yes, he rescued me, but no, he isn’t a mark. I care about him.” He smiled. “I really care about him Justin. You have no idea how good that feels.”
Justin looked at him with disgust, then he laughed. “You care about one of them? Oh if Father could only see that. And to think he thought I was the inferior one.”
“Here we go again,” Tristan grumbled.
“It’s true! He spent all his time with you, and how do you repay him? You throw away his most important lesson.” Justin motioned to the surrounding people. “They don’t matter. Only we do. At least I still live by father’s rules.”
“Right, you learned how to you one of those rifles yet? Or did you forget Father’s rules about learning everything about the environment you’re in? Learn all the tools at your disposal. What you think that stopped at anything more complex than a wrench? Father might have been anti-technology, but you aren’t, so what have you learned?”
Justin snorted. “I learned that the most useful tool is money. And I mastered it. Why bother learning to use something when I can pay someone to use it for me.”
“And how did that go? I mean, how hard did those people fight to protect you when someone took your ship? How hard do you think these humans are going to protect you when me and Alex start cutting them down?”
“Your human isn’t here. It’s only you.”
“He’s coming.”
Justin looked in his eyes, then straightened. “Did anyone follow you?” he asked one of the mercs behind Tristan.
“Of course not,” the same as before replied. “We left him on a roof without any other ships, and up to his neck in people trying to kill him. We headed straight here. No one could have followed us.”
Justin smirked at Tristan and opened his muzzle, only to close it and frown. When he looked up Tristan knew he’d finally heard the light whine over the sounds of the forest. Humans wouldn’t hear it for a while still, but he’d expected his brother to pick up on it sooner.
“I told you, he’s coming.”
Justin glared at Tristan, then over him. “No one followed you? Then what is that?”
The merc Tristan could see looked at one another in confusion.
“What’s what?” the spokesman said.
“There’s a ship approaching. Are you deaf? Even I hear it and I’m missing an ear.”
“They’re humans,” Tristan offered.
“Shut up. One job. I gave the lot of you one job, and you fuck even that up. Why do I even bother?” Justin cursed. “Now I’m going to have to hurry this along.” He glared at Tristan. “Why do you always have to ruin everything I do? Can’t you leave me alone for even a minute?”
Tristan canted his head. He could see the desire to kill in his brother’s eyes, but he also knew him enough to know how to prolong this. “I was leaving you alone. I’d put you out of my mind, until you came and attacked me.”
“I was protecting myself!”
“Justin,” Tristan spoke as gently as he could. He knew his warning wouldn’t do any good now if it hadn’t before, but now he was just playing for time. “I wasn’t coming for you.”
“You killed father!”
“And he deserved it.”
“Because he stood in your way. Save it, I heard that lie before. You killed him because he a threat to you, just like I am.”
“That’s why I killed him, but not why he deserved it.”
“Oh? You have a new justification? This should be amusing.”
“He abused us.” The revelation was recent, now that he could look back on what he’d seen not just of how humans lived, but his time in the Samalian town. How parent interacted with their children without the filter of his father’s belief. “He treated us like animals to train.” He nodded to the metal cage. “Justin, he caged us. What kind of father does that to his children?”
“The kind who wants them to survive!”
“Justin, Father was a monster.”
“Shut up! Father loved us! He made sure I would—”
The hover flew over them and kept going, now low enough it scraped the top of the trees.
“He’s out of control,” one of the mercs said, and Tristan feared that he was right. This was too low and too fast to land safely.
“Well, looks like this time you put your faith in the wrong person,” Justin said, watching the trees settle.
Tristan laughed. Faith. Justin had no idea how right he was. He believed in Alex. He knew his human, and he trusted him to come out of this alive.
Justin looked at Tristan as the sound of a crash was followed by an explosion, and while he looked like he would gloat, whatever Justin saw in Tristan’s eyes silenced him. He glanced in the direction of the explosion, then looked at Tristan.
“You four, go check the explosion.” He paused. “Make it the six of you. Go make sure no one survived.”
“Boss, is that safe? You said this guy was really dangerous.”
“I gave you an order! Do I have to bash your head in for you to obey it?”
Seven of them headed off, grumbling about crazy Samalians.
Tristan waited. He approximated the crash site to have been beyond the river so they would have quite a walk ahead of them, and he wanted to make sure they were too far to come back.
Justin smiled at Tristan. “I don’t know what you have planned, but whoever that was, they’re all going to be dead if the crash didn’t kill him.”
“If you think seven mercs can stop Alex, you didn’t listen to what they said. You should send these too, maybe they’d have a chance then.”
“Do you think I’m stupid? I know what you’re trying to do. You want me to send them away so it’s just the two of us. You don’t want anyone here to hear you beg.”
“Me beg?” Tristan tried not to chuckle. “Little brother, you really have a twisted version of our history.” Tristan saw the slap coming and didn’t move. He hadn’t expected the claws and they stung as he straightened his head.
“You’re the one who doesn’t remember right. Who keeps cheating, like bringing in people on our private argument.”
“Says the guy with eleven mercs at his side. Come on Justin, for once stop with the posturing and just do what you want. You want me to suffer for all the things I took from you, right? So get on with it so we can move on to more interesting things.”
Justin leaned in. “Oh, you think this is funny? You think this is one of your elaborate plans to trick me into handing you whatever it is you want?”
Tristan lowered his voice to a whisper. “Justin, this isn’t a plan. I’m just going with what you set up.” Justin had to lean in closer. “But if I can give you a piece of advice, the next time you send someone to capture me. Remind them that claws can cut through plastic.” The binding snapped, and he grabbed Justin by the neck, lifting him as he stood and throwing him at the mercs before turning and running in the opposite direction. He headed away from the explosion. There was no need to risk running into the other mercs.
“Go after him!” Justin yelled. “Kill him! Not you two! You two stay with me!”
Tristan smiled. Two less was to his advantage.
The humans were noisy. They had no idea how to move in a forest. He stopped behind a tree trunk large enough to hid him and waited.
“Do you see him?” the woman said.
“No,” a man replied. “And with his dark fur and all the shadows he could be hiding anywhere.”
“We should have grabbed the thermal goggles when we got here.” A third voice said.
“Oh and in what universe did you know this guy was going to manage to escape, and we’d have to chase him through the forest?” the woman replied.
“Maybe the two of you should quiet down so he won’t know we’re coming after him?”
Too late, Tristan thought as the barrel of a rifle past his hiding spot. He grabbed it, pulling it out of the man’s hand as he turned and elbowed him in the face. He brought the rifle to his shoulder and short the woman in the chest. She flew back from the point black shot, but her armor too enough if the blast that she was groaning when she hit the tree. He fired in the man at his feet and his face vanished in the flash of the blaster shot.
He crouched down, listening for the third merc. He was careful, but still made noise as he made a circle to get around Tristan.
“What happened?” Justin yelled. “I heard blaster shots!”
Tristan used Justin’s voice to cover his move around the tree. He waited for the third merc to become visible and took him down with one shot to the head.
“Someone answer me!”
Tristan stepped to the woman and shot her int he head.
The only mercs left were with Justin, but they would expect him to come from this direction. He began making a large circle around the cabin to take them from behind. He could hear a fight in the distance, so Alex and possibly Jacoby were dealing with those mercs. He moved carefully, scanning around with the rifle in case someone came at him. He should hear them coming, but it was possible one of them knew how to move quietly.
He felt the string against his feet as he lifted it to take another step. It broke before he could do anything about it but throw himself to the side so that the trunk that came swinging down at him mostly missed him, but it was a side branch that caught him on the right side and buried itself there and in the tree it shoved him against as the trunk’s momentum ripped it off.
He bit down on his lip to keep himself from screaming as flesh was punctured and ripped. Unfortunately the branch didn’t rip itself out of him. He needed to feel around, find a way to get out of it, but he couldn’t get his body to obey him through the pain.
He closed his eyes, took slow, deep breaths. Pain was just a response from his body, and he could ignore it. He moved his left arm behind him. Felt for the trunk. He found where it had splintered, there must have been a weak point because the branch didn’t feel too large.
“I’m guessing you thought I’d forgotten about traps,” Justin said, accompanied by the two mercs.
Tristan let his arm go slack and leaned his head back against the tree. He wasn’t getting himself out of this, so he was back to playing for time. “Yeah, I figured you’d forgotten that rule too.”
“Actually, I’m surprised you didn’t get caught in the snare over there. That’s where you were shooting from right? My men set up a lot of traps all around here.”
Tristan sighed. “Of course they did.” He opened his eyes and look at the merc on the left. “Let me guess, Justin didn’t tell you how to set up the traps, right? He just said to set some up and it was up to you to figure out what would work here.”
“Don’t answer him,” Justin snapped as the man opened his mouth.
“And you complained about me forgetting father’s rules?”
“Oh, like you know how to set up traps after all the years away.”
Tristan smiled. “Give me to time to heal, and I’ll show you the kind of traps I can set, without looking them up on a datapad.” He rested his head back. “When did you get here, anyway?”
“A few days ago. I figured you’d be in the city, so I sent my men to wait there. When I heard about the attack, I knew it was you.”
“Okay, but how did you know I was on Samalia?”
Justin smiled. “You’ve gotten careless. I tracked transactions on your accounts a few months ago.”
“You can’t, I never use the ones you know about because…” his voice trailed off. A few months ago would have been before the village. The explosive purchase. He sighed. Alex would have needed more money for that than any one of his accounts had, and Tristan hadn’t told him about the off-limit accounts. He’d have to rectify that once this was over.
“Oh, do you hear that?” Justin put a hand to his missing ear.
Tristan chuckled once, then would have doubled over in pain, if the branch hadn’t kept him in place. “All I can hear,” he panted, “is my heart.”
“The shooting stopped. I’m guessing your partner is dead.”
“Ah,” was all Tristan said.
“You don’t sound all that broken-hearted about it. I thought you cared for him.”
Tristan smiled. “I’m not sad about that, because it’s your men who are dead.”
“Your one human against six? You expect me to believe he can win that?”
“I trained him. He can survive much more than six mercs. I put him up against thirty criminal enforcers on Parwen a few months ago, subjective.” He stopped to catch his breath.
“What happened?” Justin asked.
“What do you think? He was the only one left alive by the time it was over.” He smiled. “Until now, that was the proudest I was of him.”
Justin frowned. “Until now? You consider six mercs better than that?”
“No, but I consider him beating the crap out of you much more satisfying.”
“You are delusional if you think he’s going to get here without me realizing it.”
“Well,” Tristan smiled. “He’s here.”
The merc on Justin’s left flew back as a series of blaster bolts slam into him.
