Lucretia stood impatiently as CJ reorganized her area of the exercise and training room. More mats were placed on the floor, enlarging the area, and the heavy bags were removed. CJ then went to a locker and pulled out a bo and tossed it to Lucretia, who caught it in the air one-handed. CJ then pulled out its twin.

“What’s this about?” Lucretia guardedly asked. “I thought you wanted to talk.”

“You’ve got one microt to get your eema onto the mats or I’ll drop you where you stand,” CJ replied.

Lucretia barely paused before running to the center of the mats, her bo held tightly in both hands. Once there, she removed her cloak and threw it toward the side. As CJ calmly walked onto the mats, Lucretia asked, “So, are you going to answer me? I thought you wanted to talk.”

“Oh we’re going to talk,” CJ answered. “I’m just going to kick your eema around a while first, since that seems to be the only way you’ll speak the truth.”

CJ charged then as Lucretia disappeared from sight; the only evidence of her location was the whirling bo. In a violent moment, ash met ash in a staccato succession of blows and parries. CJ quickly found that fighting an invisible opponent was difficult, but not impossible. Even though she could not count on reading and predicting the moves of her opponent, she found that attacking the location was good enough. Once she got used to the uniqueness of the situation, she made her first move and took Lucretia’s legs out from under her.

CJ revelled in the sound of her opponent hitting the mat, but the victory was short-lived as the floating bo moved impossibly and hit her behind her knees, knocking her down. In response, CJ rolled and jumped to her feet, her bo ready.

“Not bad for an assassin,” she yelled.

“I’ve been around,” came the reply.

This time the floating bo charged CJ who first parried, then counterattacked. The confrontation was vicious and CJ’s experience netted her five solid hits on her opponent. CJ noted that those hits affected Lucretia’s invisibility in that five gray blotches were now intermittently seen moving around in space.

“First question: what are you still doing here?”

“Enjoying your warm hospitality,” came the sarcastic reply. The floating bo charged again.

CJ quickly counterattacked again and seemed to be pressing an advantage when the opposing bo fell limply to the left. When CJ instinctively turned to the left to counter, she received a roundhouse kick to her right kidney. As she fell, however, she swept her bo hard around and caught Lucretia full in the ribs. Both combatants wound up on the mat.

CJ swallowed her anger and rubbed the bruise on her lower back before rising up to her feet. “The way I see it, your work with the relic is done. Feld no longer has it and it is no longer safe to be around. It’s time for you to move on.”

“You gave us asylum. When we brought KenMark back, you said that we could stay as long as we wished.”

“That was then,” CJ replied angrily. “Since that time, you’ve been less than forthright with us and even then your honesty has been conspicuously lacking. Now, get the frell back up.”

Lucretia replied submissively, “No. I’m done. If you want answers, I’ll give them now. Willingly.”

CJ’s blood was up, though. There was no turning back. “At the moment, I don’t care about that. All I want right now is your hide, you impertinent little tralk! Now, get the frell up or I’ll beat you to death where you lay!”

The gray woman reappeared on her knees three paces in front of CJ. Her arms were clasped behind her back and her head was bowed. “I submit. If you wish to murder me, then be quick about it. After all, once a peacekeeper always a peacekeeper.”

Upon hearing those words, CJ let loose a gutteral growl of suppressed epithets as she strode forcefully to the front of the kneeling woman. She then shoved Lucretia head backward with the end of her bo stick, keeping her enemy’s head steady as she stared levelly into Lucretia’s eyes.

“Answer me! Why are you still here?” CJ ordered.

“Because my life is forfeit. The Mentaths did not hire me as a freelancer. I was captured and given a choice between accomplishing this task or immediate execution,” Lucretia confessed. “You heard the protocols earlier. My capture means death on most known worlds.”

“Then why didn’t you kill Feld when you had the chance?”

“My freedom depends primarily on recovering the artifact. KenMark’s death was secondary. Once that relic’s powers were unleashed, my death was inevitable.”

“That may be so,” CJ mused aloud, “but why Feld? Any why rescue Sondra?”

Lucretia paused and considered her response. “KenMark and I have crossed paths before. I knew what he was capable of and I knew that he had a ship capable of getting us out of there. But, without rescuing Sondra, he was not going to trust me. Sondra was my ticket to KenMark and KenMark was my ticket out of there.”

CJ nodded and removed the bo stick from Lucretia’s chin. “Get up,” CJ ordered.

Lucretia looked into CJ’s eyes in order to guage her intent. Seeing no clues, she slowly rose to her feet.

“Start walking. We’re going back to the bar.”

When Lucretia and CJ returned back to the main bar room, they saw Kat and Cel enjoying a couple of Moyaritas, while Bern and Lippy were at a side table sharing a deep discussion of some sort.

“Lippy, take our guest downstairs and put her in the special quarters we set aside for people like her. Please.”

Lippy rose uncertainly as the others looked on. “Are you sure, CJ?” The tone in Lippy’s voice made the hairs on the back of Lucretia’s neck stand up.

“Yes,” CJ replied, “and make sure she accepts her new accomodations willingly and without complaint. Her wish for asylum is no longer free. There’s a price to be paid and I aim to collect every credit I can.”