A handshake and a thumb print sealed the deal. Half of the tools and all the top grade glet he'd managed to grab from the Rath-Yatra. It was a nice pay day. Good enough to let Anjali and Dwayne relax for a couple days before he started sniffing around for the next job. The foundry bosses often made bar room deals with the miners that came into X-Zoomers. Dwayne had sold to them before. They were older than he was. Made a lot of money during their hey day in the void and resigned to a quiet ground life and a manufacturing business. It didn't seem a bad plan. Dwayne wasn't quite certain he was built for it. It was always a hoot to kick back and have a pint or two with them. Swap a few stores when he could.<br/><br/>"...grabbed her right out of the passenger line and slapped a slave collar on her." Gerald concluded.<br/><br/>"That's illegal as hell!" Dwayne exclaimed.<br/><br/>Gerald held up a finger as he drained his glass, "Mmm. One would think. Dock district Peacekeepers rocked right up to 'em. Smug fucker whips out an authentication document, thumb printed by a farm's district circuit court judge. He marched right off with her."<br/><br/>A gentle breeze might have knocked him over. Dwayne just sort of stared at Gerald, slack jawed for moment, "For delinquent debt!?"<br/><br/>Gerald held up hand, seeing that he'd clearly struck a nerve, "Now all that got sorted. Capital District Supreme Court ruled against the authentication document. That farm district judge lost his bench. She sued her creditor and got damn near everything she asked for, less what she owed. Ruined him and rightly so. But to think things actually got that far. Slave trade's a bloody menace boys. If they got collars, I don't even let them in a foundry anymore. Bring me free worken men and women with families to provide for or take it to the damn house."<br/><br/>The conversation set Dwayne's thoughts in a different direction. Anjali was technically property. Would they ever disembark and find colonial forces waiting for them? Legitimate or otherwise, he hated slavers with white hot passion. A bounty job he took once lead him into one of the poorer districts of the Lighthouse. A couple of collared young men had over powered their overseer and were busy tuning him up when Dwayne walked past. He called for help. Dwayne had, but not in the manner the overseer had been looking for.<br/><br/>His eyes found Anjali easily enough. They had many times during the conversation with Gerald and the boys. She was smiling and laughing and enjoying a few drinks on the fly boys tabs. None of them got handsie with her. He kept a sharp eye out for that. Most of him hoped they never saw any colonial forces ever again. Then Casper's voice seemed to chime in at the back of his mind, reminding Dwayne he had a suit of functional power armor in the hold and that he'd just salvaged compatible power cells for it.<br/><br/><i>I want you boys to try...</i><br/><br/>She hadn't taken note of him yet. Or she hadn't come by his table yet at any rate. She was standing at an angle that almost fully faced him for the first time since he'd been watching her. The tiniest amount of makeup had exponential effects. The gold hoop earings accented her already appealing facial features and neck line. And that small bit of lacy fabric, just under her tank top. Dwayne couldn't drink anymore today, otherwise he might get handsie with her. She took up a table cloth and watched more out of curiosity than anything else. Tying it around her waste and stepping up the raised platform.<i>Belly dancing. </i>He'd heard of it but never seen it performed live. Surprised only by his surprise, he remembered her education and formative years were spent learning Indian culture. Knowing how to belly dance seemed to fit that bill. Dwayne had made a conscious effort to think along the straight and narrow. The make up, the pink lace, the roll of her body and the motion of her hips only served to drag his thought process straight back into the gutter. It wasn't until then that he realized that he wasn't alone.<br/><br/>"I gotta go boys!" Dwayne blurted.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center">**********​</div><br/>A large and burly looking minor lumbered over to the platform where the dark skinned beauty was dancing. He dropped two pips into the hat and shoved it hard to his left so the next fellow could tip. If the band stopped, she might stop. That was a bad thing. More dancing was good.<i>More of her is better.</i>He stopped at the platform's edge after shoving a couple of runts out of his way. Just the right touch of makeup too. So many women on this planet slathered that garbage on. This one knew how he liked it. She could certainly fill out pair of pants in all the right places and exposed more skin than any woman ought too. It was obvious. She wanted what he wanted.<i>I likes me some slutty bitch now. And some slutty bitch needs a good hard fuck.</i>He reached up and grabbed her ankle and eased his hand up to her thigh. He was tall, but sadly not tall enough to reach where he wanted.<br/><br/>"Come down here. I'll show ya how ya can shake that ass and that cunt right on my johnson!" he said with more than a hint of pride in his voice.<br/><br/>Something abruptly impacted his face from the right. Blackness too his vision. His mind went blank.<br/><br/>The pilot shook his hand a few times to try and relieve the pain. Large fellows like that sometimes had a glass jaw. It had been more luck than anything. Glass jaw not withstanding, it had felt like he'd punched a glettanium wall. That's what he got for putting hands on Maria.<i>She's going home with me or she's going home alone. </i>He climbed up to the platform to she could stand near her. His eyes roamed over her freely. She was a looker alright! He'd given her enough liquor to put her in the correct mood. He'd give her more if she needed it. He flashed her his best smile. The one that usually melted the panties right off of them.<br/><br/>"My vessel's not far. I could make you some more of those drinks you like. And we could be alone. I could show you things. Things I'd like. Things you'd like. Come with me?"<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center">**********​</div><br/>Dwayne moved fast but he didn't turn it up. This was a crowded place with far too many people for that. Sometime between his leaving the table and his arrival near the platform, Anjali had screamed. He heard it with his ears and felt it in his chest. It hurt. He'd heard similar before.<i>Duress. </i>Within that same time frame the whole of X-Zoomers had boarded the express elevator and plummeted straight to the five hells. He reached up to the platform, reached the belt line of the pilot nearest to her and yanked down before he got hands on her. The man bounced when he landed.<br/><br/>"We gotta go. Now." he blurted looking up at her.<br/><br/>Dwayne silently cursed himself. He should've stepped in sooner. He should've warned her. Instead he'd just watched while he swan lost within his own imagination.<i>Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda. </i>And for his transgression, X-Zoomers was a free-for-all in free fall. The exit stragety was dicey. It was only a matter of time before somebody tried to use a broken bottle or pulled a boot blade outright, or worse. He could return fire if it came down to it, but one lose plasma charge in the this place and the damage would have already been done. Target rich environments were like that. Dwayne saw the next pilot approach him with a certain look in his eye. Clenched teeth, the man reached back as his eyes bore a hole into Dwayne. A similar feeling came over Dwayne. Fighter pilots weren't slavers, but they certainly made his top ten. Dwayne turned it up.<br/><br/>He caught the incoming blow cold in the palm of his hand. Dwayne clinched his jaw. His expression spoke volumes more than irritation and his stare guaranteed agony. He squeezed the fist. The tendons snapped as they were yanked back into place form the pressure Dwayne was applying. The pilot winced, went slacked jawed for a moment, then dropped to one knee.<i>I'm not fucken around no more! </i>One of his buddies entered the fray and swung. Dwayne released his victim and rolled with the direction of the blow, creating a glance instead of the full impact. It hurt, but he was none the worse for ware. Dwayne came back around and planted an elbow into the man's ear. Three more of his friends came forward, one in the lead and two behind. Dwayne planted a heavy boot hill into the lead pilot's solar plexus, knocking in back into the other two. A bottle shattered somewhere behind him. He spun around in time enough to see one more charging pilot come at him. Dwayne had reach on him. The hill of his hand found the bridge of the pilot's nose and the head snapped back. Dwayne screamed as he grabbed the shirt collar and the belt line and heaved the man up and over planting him onto a table. It buckled under the impact.<br/><br/>He rounded once more at the heavy foot falls behind him. Dwayne sobered from the adrenaline almost immediately, dropped to his knees and put his hands up.<i>Peacekeepers. </i>In all of the chaos, he'd lost track of how close X-Zoomers actually was to the market district. They took his side arm and wrist band, forced his hands behind his back and zip tied them.<br/><br/>"Your cooperation is noted Captain. You're under arrest for disorderly conduct. You can pay your fine forthwith." the officer said.<br/><br/>Dwayne looked around frantically. Security personnel flooded into the establishment. His eyes found Anjali finally.<br/><br/>"Just do what they say. It'll be overiwth soon enough." Dwayne reassured.<br/><br/>"She part of your crew?" the officer asked.<br/><br/>"Ya, but she wasn't in this." Dwayne said.<br/><br/>"Oh no.<i>Everybody's </i>in this today. But her cooperation will be noted too."