“How can you stay so calm?” Tychon demanded. Rene opened his eyes though the interior of the container was still pitch black. The soldier was sitting leaning his head into a corner and dozing, a trick everyone learned during basic lest they suffer a mental breakdown from lack of sleep.

“Who says I’m calm,” Rene asked. Truthfully he was worried sick about what might be happening to Solae but if there was one thing you learned in the marines it was that no matter how much you worried or fretted, rest was not to be denied.

“I suppose they train you for this sort of thing?” the fisherman asked more to have something to do, and to hear a voice in the darkness than out of real curiosity.

“Not exactly,” Rene admitted but further conversation was interrupted by the rattle of metal against the outside of the container. Rene stood up and wrapped the wire loosely about his wrist. It was unlikely there had been time for anyone to reach them from off the island but time was difficult to judge in the darkness of the improvised prison cell.

“Keep out of the way and be ready to run for it when you can,” Rene whispered and squared his shoulders. 

“Get back!” a voice Rene thought was Vitger’s sounded outside though he hadn’t heard the man speak enough to be sure.

“Get back against the back wall or I swear I will stun you both again. Rene shifted slightly though he didnt move all the way to the rear. Every inch was important for what he had planned, but it was a non starter if Vitger hosed the inside of the container with stunning needles because he felt threatened.

Blinding light seared Rene’s eyes as the door opened. It was mid afternoon and overcast besides but compared to the pitch black it might as well have been noon in the desert. Tychon cried out in pain but Rene merely squinted making out the dark shape of Vitger at the far end. His heart sank as he picked out the man against the brightness. The container was up off the ground, just over waist height on a man, presumably because it was on wheels of some sort, a factor he hadn’t considered. 

“I’ll give you one chance,” Vitger growled. Rene’s eyes were adjusting quickly and he could clearly see the nervous man and his pointed stunner now.

“Tell me where the blonde bitch is and I’ll let you and Tychon go!” 

Rene felt hot anger blaze in his chest but he fought the emotion down with some effort.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Vitger growled. He waggled the pistol in his hand in emphasis, a foolish and wasteful motion that added no threat save that it might accidentally go off.

“The bitch you are travelling with, information on you is worth something but she…” Vitger’s voice trailed off into a purr.

“It says here that any man that captures her will be made a baron and get her as well,” the lusty growl in his voice made the pulse in Rene’s forehead pulse like a trip hammer.

“I’ll be a bloody noble and i’ll be breeding blondie to boot!” he cackled gleefully.

“Even if I did know where she was, do you really think that Duke Alexis Tan is going to give the most powerful woman in the sector to a stinking peasant from who the fuck cares?” Rene asked with all the scathing aristocratic contempt of a dozen generations of Imperial nobility. 

“It says so right..” Vitger began but as he opened his mouth Rene struck. He flicked his foot forward and the boot he had unlaced flew of the tip of his toes like a missle. It was slightly misaimed but it had the desired effect. Vitger yelped and shied away rather than emptying his weapon into the container. Rene was across the intervening floor like a flash. Vitger realising his mistake tried to slam the door shut. It was a foolish effort, he would have done better simply to roll away and shoot Rene as he cleared the container, but Vitger wasn’t a soldier trained to think that way. Rene hit the door with his full weight, aiming his shoulder opposite the hinges for maximum leverage. The door flew open smacking Vitger aside cursing and squealing in pain and shock. The needle stunner chattered out a short burst but it was Vitgers finger clampinging on the trigger rather than an aimed shot. The metalized ceiling rang with the needle impacts like a distant bell. Rene tumbled from the back of the container, hitting the floor hard despite his attempt to roll. Coarse concrete cut his palms and scraped his shoulder as he sprawled ungainly across the floor. He was inside the metal walled warehouse he had seen on the way in, a half dozen long white containers, identical to the one he had been held captive in stood on integral wheel rigs. 

Ten meters away Vitger struggled to his feet, his lips bleeding profusely and with an ugly pressure cut across his left arm. The Panoponti aimed his weapon, for a wonder the stunner was still in his hand, at Rene and fired but the marine was already diving behind the nearest container. Stunner needles clattered of the side of the container and Vitger screamed a curse. Rene dashed to a bench against the wall and snatched up a heavy wrench as the nearest he could find to a weapon. There was a scream and another burst of needle fire followed by the sound of a body hitting the concrete. Rene dashed back down between two containers flattening himself against the side of of one of them to present a smaller target.. Tychon lay on the concrete, body twitching spasmodically from the stunner needles. Vitger stood over him point the little weapon down at the fallen man. The fisherman must have tried to rush Vitger rather than abandon Rene which was both admirable and foolish. 

“Come out with your hands in the air!” Vitger roared.

“Or I swear i'll put a half dozen needles into his face!” It was a foolish threat to make as nintey nine times out of a hundred it would have failed. Still, you only had to be right once. Rene vacillated with indecision, unable to abandon Tychon and unwilling to give himself up and thrust leave Solae at risk. 
“You have three seconds!” Vitger shouted.