"The south side of the plantation?" Solae repeated slowly as she came up to his side. Rene did not physically look worse for wear but she was not ignorant of the life he had just taken. "Which way is south?" she inquired further with effortless deception as if she had missed his nod. The marquise had been mentally tracking their position since they departed Amber Horizon by astrological observation and what she had memorized of the maps from Lord Armon's manor. Fortunately the soldier not in a mood to question why she had suddenly lost her bearings for he was already fixated on the next obstacle and what they must do to overcome it. She could have made excuses. The days had been long, the struggles great, the trauma significant, the journey difficult, and perhaps that is why he did not spend the time to evaluate the innocently placed query.

Rene lifted his arm and gestured, turning to face the southern direction instinctively. His noblewoman companion seized her opening and slid underneath the outstretched limb. Head tucked against his chest she embraced him with the only comfort she was able to provide in their circumstances. A hug was hardly enough to bolster one from a murder, however deserved, but she hoped to impart even an ounce of strength and appreciation. When all of this was over they would undoubtedly argue who had suffered more under the yoke of the rebellion and reach a stalemate. Solae would never concede that she endured the brunt of a war's brutality.

"I told you that the courts have superior tactics," she teased impishly before she stood on her toes and bestowed a quick kiss upon his cheek. Rene looked puzzled but did not object to the sudden display of affection. Solae was pleased that she able to distract him from the task at hand even if the reprieve from grim reality was short-lived. "Let's go before we lose the last light." Patting his back and releasing him from her hold, she strode off nonchalantly towards the densely planted grove.

Rubber trees had been planted at precise (if not slightly crowded) intervals in rows for maximum efficiency both in growth and navigation for the workers tasked with tending to the flora. Closest to them were saplings still being nurtured; it appeared the native jungle was being cleared as the plantation expanded its borders. Beautiful as a tropical forest might be it was not as profitable a resource as what man could manipulate. The further south they traveled and the larger the trees grew, each of them incised and bearing a single alloy tap from which a bucket hung. Cursory inspection revealed that most had been recently emptied and no container was more then a quarter full of the milky white liquid that was being extracted.

Solae and Rene were both silent as they kept themselves alert for any slavers or other employees of the plantation. There was shouting in the distance but nothing nearby more threatening than a small group of birds fighting over a piece of discarded fruit on the ground to their left. There was a bigger score to be made than raw latex. Nearly very man and woman on New Concordia greedily eyeing the prizes that could be claimed in the chaos of a change of power. Looting and plundering was still rampant days after the initial assaults. For the morally depraved this was a golden opportunity they were more eager to take full advantage of than most.

They breached the end of the unnaturally straight line of rubber trees, crouching behind the trunks of the largest two they could find, and saw a sprawling estate with half a dozen buildings looming several hundred feet away from their current position. Five structures were composed of imported concrete and steel, drab gray in color, rectangular in shape, and obvious warehouses for goods awaiting shipment. The sixth was a three-story garish white house, complete with more balconies than Solae cared to count, and flags for obscure ethnic factions within the Stellar Empire. Frequent rains and a humid climate discolored many of the homes in the area and so that this one was pristine, rather than dappled with moss and moldy green, spoke to an obstinate obsession with at least the [i]appearance[/i] of wealth.

Between the couple and the buildings were fields of various crops that were rotated yearly so as to not deplete the soil of its nutrients. One lay fallow far to their right, on the northern most plot, but the others were filled with sugarcane, sweet potatoes, coffea, taro, and sorghum. Of all the choices the sugarcane provided the most potential to conceal themselves on any approach.

"If I can get to one of the buildings, and if they have an AI, I should be able to get in the system and control things from there," Solae whispered. Even with no one in sight she was not taking chances she might be overheard. Had she not known precisely how rusty Rene was in High Imperial she would have continued in its use for the purposes of added security.

"Are you sure?" Rene asked pensively. It was a large gamble to take and he needed to ascertain her level of confidence to help evaluate their chances of success.

"Criminals, or people engaged in criminal behavior, tend to find the back door for law enforcement to override their directives. The one I used on Mia relies on social status and it's so rarely used that I've never heard of it being disengaged. I doubt they even know it exists," she said as she slid down and began to tie her long ponytail into a knot on the top of her head. "Even if they somehow managed to protect against that, however unlikely, I'm familiar enough with the interfaces to brute force my way in."

"We have to get you there first," Rene remarked grimly. Above the harvests, bobbing and weaving around tall stalks and heavy farm equipment, were the heads of those that the slavers had left behind. They were too far away to spot either one of the pair even if had they been standing in the open. Drawing closer, however, would unequivocally gain the attention of the presumed hostiles.

"A trap?" Solae ventured. "I'll stay closer to you this time, but I'm recognizable. If I get a bit closer, make a bit of noise, I can draw them over here where it will be easier for you to ambush them." The marquise frowned to herself. Such a plan would necessitate Rene doing more of what both of them loathed him to do- killing their adversaries. Taking hostages was a luxury of morality, time, and resources they did not have. Fervently she wished there was another way other than [i]through[/i] people. They were out of options and she could think of nothing that would spare their shared conscience.