Acquisitions Ch. 02

Control piped up from over by the window. "Maybe we'll head for Andromeda. I understand that that area is currently uncovered, and the population is very humanoid."

"Of course," I said absently, moving over to stand beside the assistant I was to take care of. It took me out of the line of fire, and placed me close enough to the assistant that I couldn't miss--I'd be the first to admit that I was no marksman.

It happened very quickly. The "client" walked over to Control with a credit transfer rod in her hand. As soon as she was within arms reach of Control, Galen suddenly sat upright on the gurney, raised his hand and stunned one of the assistants. I, in turn, stunned mine from only a few inches away. He fell like a sack of potatoes.

Control reacted quickly. She struck out at the agent with her hand, knocking the woman backwards. The agent stumbled into Galen's gurney, knocking both it and him to the floor. Control darted across the room, ducking down behind a desk, only to pop back up a moment later with a gun in her hand. I gaped as I dove behind a sofa, taking cover as Control began firing the gun at anything and everything that moved. I heard a grunt, and peeked around the end of the sofa in time to see the female agent collapse, blood running down her arm from a hit to the shoulder. I couldn't see Galen, but I could hear the discharge of his stunner as he tried to keep Control pinned down and unable to escape.

Control seemed to be concentrating on him, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I wiped my sweaty palm against the carpet, then palmed my stunner and leaned out from behind the sofa. I rested my arm against the sofa's arm, and waited for any part of Control to appear. After a moment, she popped up, arm and gun extended, and I took the shot.

It wasn't a dead on shot, but enough of the blast hit her to take her out of action. The gun dropped from her suddenly numb fingers, and she collapsed as the stun effect seemed to paralyze the right have of her body. Galen stood slowly, his own stunner held in a steady, one-handed grip. He slowly approached Control, kicked her weapon out of reach, and as soon as I was sure she was out of action, I, too, approached her.

She looked up at me with an expression of such anger that chills ran down my spine. I gave her a look of complete disgust as she tried to push herself into a sitting position. I crouched in front of her, just out of arms reach, and said, "That was for Tony, bitch, and every other man you've sent to his death."

As Galen hauled her to her feet and slapped restrainment cuffs on her, I went over to the other agent, to offer what medical assistance I could.

* * *

The sea was the same stunning shade of green as I remembered. I sat on a blanket on the sand, watching the sun sink below the horizon, watching first one, then the other moon rise over the distant hills. Darkness was falling slowly, and still I waited for Galen. I was under house arrest, restricted to my own family home and the small stretch of lawn and beach behind it. Galen would be arriving shortly with the final decision on what was going to be done with me.

Clustered around me in the sand were small candles, one for every man I'd ever acquired who'd turned up dead. My paperwork had enabled the Marshals to track down all the humans who'd been taken. The living ones had been reeducated and returned to their homes. The ones who hadn't survived were given honorable burials. Control had been sentenced to life at hard labor at one of the prison asteroid mining facilities. I looked at the flickering candles and mourned all of these men, as deeply as if they'd been members of my own family.

Galen walked up and sat down beside me in the sand. I sighed and leaned against his shoulder, awaiting the inevitable. He took my hand, laced his fingers with mine, and gave me an encouraging squeeze. Then he pulled something out of his pocket and held it up in front of me. It was a gold cuff, looking almost, but not quite, like a piece of jewelry. "You've been put on probation, Tyna. This will keep track of you at all times, and will also prevent you from using your morphing abilities to change your appearance. You'll be relatively free, and as long as you keep your nose clean, you'll be totally free within five years." He slipped the cuff around my wrist and locked it down.

I'm sure I was gaping at him. Probation? I'd had an indirect hand in the deaths of a dozen or more men, and I was only being put on probation? Again, Galen seemed to read my mind. "It was your testimony in front of the Tribunal. They believe you didn't know about the Anti Acquisitions Act, that you didn't know where the men you acquired were going, or what was happening to them. This," he tapped the cuff on my wrist, "is to appease the hard-liners out there, otherwise, you'd have been cleared of all charges. You're basically free."

"Free," I murmured. "What the heck am I going to do now?"

He leaned in close and slung an arm across my shoulders. "We'll think of something, babe. We'll think of something."

Indeed, we would.

The End