Par had been invited to stay in Mr. Hut's spire, supposedly out of respect, but the real reason was so that the merchant can be watched. Nevertheless, the 19-year old boy knew how to get what he wanted while staying in the boundaries set by his host, limits that had just gotten wider. 

Now that the meeting was done, Par went back to his assigned quarters, listening to business and intelligence reports. The association of mayors and mechants that made up the Guild of Free and Fair Trade seemed to have woken up to the Sphinx's new advances, and word had arrived of an ominous new developement: The Domination had created a new, crude, weapon - a Fusion Cannon - basically a gun that shot superheated hydrogen at the enemy.

Said weapon wasn't perfect; it can only be used once or twice per battle, but its development was such an alarming danger that the Guild was ordering the construction of more Q-Ships - merchant ships with hidden guns replacing parts of the cargo - and arming allied militas on frontier worlds, as well as rallying an coalition of various Planetary Defense Forces and Mercenaries. It seemed that the Guild had finally grown a spine.

But it won't be enough, Par knew. The Sphinx were about to exceed their industrial capacity, yet they were still fighting. And worst of all, it looked as though they were in fit shape to continue doing so, that strains of logistics and supply hadn't -

"Mr. Rapids, Count Jericho and...some guests are here to see you," a computerized voice, a VI, spoke. Said VI spoke with the melodic tones of a girl about his age, similar enough to a real person for people's comfort, or in the Sphinx's case, discomfort and anger. Par nodded in response, then asked:

"Who are these...Guests?" The VI nodded; and, projecting holograms of Reuben and Ahnciel, continued, with a tone that can be mistaken for an actual Sapient being's:

"A representative of the Society of Steel's Steel Rangers - he has the necessary credentials and cyberization - and a gene-mod, Non-Gardner, who introduces himself as Ahnciel. The former wants to see you, the latter is...under the protection of the former." The VI continued.

"Approaching via another route to speak with Mr. Hut is one Rudolf Pendrick, lead scientist of Baskerville Corp." Par nodded at that, guessing that this must have something to do with Benjamin Tops' treachery; that man was doing a lot to bind together Vegas Station and the Guild. Nevertheless, Reuben and Ahnciel interested him in equal measure, and he knew what to do.

"Let them in; security checks would be useless against a Steel Ranger and a Gene-Mod, anyway," Par had that teaching drilled into his head back in the days of his mentoring. "Also, prepare tea and snacks for the Gene-Mod in the suite's living room; I'll be going there."

Count Jericho, Reuben, and Ahnciel would be allowed in after that, to encounter a young man in a simple grey shirt, pants, and laceless shoes. His eyes were wide open in curiosity, and his face was in a smile.

"Welcome back, Count," the 19-year old greeted, before facing Reuben and Ahnciel.

"Hello there," Par - for that was Par - had a voice that was kind and deceptively mild, with an inner firmness that was only subtly detectable. "My name is Paradise 'Par' Rapids of the Guild of Free and Fair Trade." Facing Ahnciel, Par elaborated:

"The Guild is an association of mayors of various space and planetary settlements and leading merchants of various fleets, bound together for mutual benefit and defense." Turning to Reuben, the boy continued:

"If you're here about a certai mutual enemy," Par's voice acquired a barb at the mention of the Sphinx, "I am all ears. In fact, I just came here to get rid of one of their pawns."