<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #80BFFF"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;">Peter Halvardson</span><br/><span style="font-size: 120%; line-height: 116%;">'The Viking'</span></span></div><br/><br/><div style="text-align: justify;">Peter laughed when she commented on the 'she is mine' in some ironic way. He knew pretty well, what she feared, being a beautiful young girl under the all those men. And it was doubtful if any of the women would come to her help, beauty always caused jealousy too and female miners weren't the most heart-warming kind anyway. He could have told her, that her fear was somehow justified, he could have told her too, that with her being military police the dangers would probably come from another angle, but for now he kept it to himself. Then another thought crossed his mind and he decided to toy a little with her. After all she would have one hour before work started and some nervous pondering may make her more receptible for what would follow.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"Of course you are mine. Oh, come on, what do you think? All those men here have never seen someone like you in the past decade. You think you can walk in here and the fighting over you wouldn't start? Everybody wants to put his hands on you and get his share of the joy. But I told them now, what would happen if they lay their hands on you before I am finished with you, which won't be soon. They fear me, they will stay clear of you. Which isn't a guarantee that you won't get mugged in some dark place by someone you could never identify later. That's why I told you, be careful were you walk. You are safe with me, but alone? You will never know. And that's the reason why I accompany you to your room. News travel fast here, but a lot of miners are still at work. It will take some time until my threat works and I don't want you harmed. Come on, let's go."</span><br/><br/>He started to walk in his usual quick pace and he didn't look at her, as if what he just said was the most natural anyway. Funny enough, none of it was a lie. The men never had seen an undercover military policewoman. But everybody hated the military police, so nearly everybody would like to hit her bloody probably. That was what Bull had wanted to do, having lost two brothers on Darquel. Peter wouldn't allow that. He had been involved in a lot of things the past seventeen years as a miner, but he had never tolerated violence. He knew that according to military standards he was some really bad guy, but he could look every morning in the mirror and feel good and with a pure conscience. Sandra would learn, what the life as a miner meant and he was pretty sure that at the end of her stay here, she would be a drug user like all others. He may even need to have an eye on her for not exaggerating it. Drugs were some tricky things. They make you feel high and good, better than ever, when you start to take them, but very quickly you get addicted to them. Unlike many other black market dealers the Viking had never put profit before everything else. Yes, he supplied this planet and every other planet he had ever worked on with drugs. But it was a regulated amount he was delivering, enough for the workers to be able to survive and to do their jobs, but not enough to blow out their brains. Indeed he prided himself that 'his' planets, as he called them, were the most productive with the least injuries and death cases. If those idiots at the Universal Exploration Tower and at the Military wouldn't be so stubborn and ignorant, they would see that and it would be official policy. Instead they had banned all drugs after some severe accidents had happened twenty years ago and drug use was a crime, that could send you to a prison planet. Still every miner needed it to do his work, so the black market emerged and soared and military police tried to hunt the dealers downs.<br/><br/>Idiots, they were all idiots. But Sandra seemed to be intelligent. Intelligent enough to be careful, very careful in her actions. She had not reacted eagerly on his black market comment, she had been very guarded up to now. He liked that, she would be a tough nut to crack, but Peter hoped that he would be able to crack her. Maybe for the first time he had really the chance to show somebody with some influence what the reality was and that it wasn't the black market dealers who were doing the bad things, but those big-heads in their shiny suits and big towers. How could you ask for double shifts in a work that was already draining you in a single shift? How could you coop thousands of miners into a place without any amenities? Give them some food that every pig would ignore? Oh, he knew why they did it, because they cared only about profit. But where were those stopping them, caring for the lives of those who had to do the work? He had never seen those in all the years, only hundreds of unlucky, worn-down miners being send to prisoner planets to die there.  <br/><br/>But he had to be careful. She was one of their best and she may toy with him, like he toyed with her. He couldn't allow her to learn the basics of his work or she would learn enough for them to finally send him to the ice-planet. Six weeks, he had to survive six weeks with her, before he could call it quits. He was looking forward to that, he had always liked intellectual challenges, he was a grand-master in the virtual interplanetary chess league and he liked his opponents to be quick-witted and sharp-minded. That she was eye-candy too was some pleasurable side effect. The only thing he disliked was the fact that it was his life being the prize of this gamble.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"Here we are. Your room. Ok, I pick you up here at 0145 sharp. I am looking forward to work with you, Sandra."</span><br/><br/>He threw the bag into her arms and when she walked past him, his hand connected with her ass, giving it a probing squeeze.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"Tasty, as I said!"</span> He chuckled, giving her a wink over his shoulder, when he walked away.</div>