Rene felt the lingering pressure of Solae’s lips on his as she sank out of sight, the floor seeming to swallow her up. Although it was irrational he still felt a small surge of fear that the technology might not work correctly, or that it might be some sort of elaborate trap. Technology varied greatly between worlds, but this kind of system would be at home on Capella at the apex of Imperial might and innovation, the likelihood that it would fail was probably lower than that of Solae being struck by lightning while attempting to use it.  The panel slid shut and he found himself alone in the fake maintenance building. 

Though he didn’t want to leave Solae, there was no benefit in remaining in the building, worse yet leaving the rented aircar out where it would attract attention. Looking around he picked up a piece of scrap plastic and lay it across the access plates seam as a visual indication of whether the plate had been activated then he stepped out of the building and into the aircar. Spinning up the fans he moved it across the narrow street into a concrete parking area attached to a dilapidated warehouse, positioning it so that he could see anyone coming into or out of the maintenance building without advertising his interest in it. The aircar was a luxurious model and was equipped with a communications suite and holo displays, as well as a set of rudimentary sensors. He manually trained the sensors to monitor the maintenance building and then bought the communications gear live.  Ten had provided him with a secure contact channel and the king pins face appeared only a few seconds after he connected.

“Ah, Mr Quentain, no problems I trust?” he asked as his face sprang into holographic existence. Ten was clearly in an aircar also as his image vibrated slightly with the feedback of the fans. 

“All clear so far,” Rene responded, mindful of Solae’s injunction to treat the criminal politely.

“Do we have information on the PEA site?” he asked. Ten touched something of of the holo pickups view and a pair of images appeared in the air. One was a black and white feed, taken from what looked to Rene like a standard military firefly. A firefly was a small surveillance drone, about the size of a man's thumb. They had minimal electronic signature were extremely difficult to detect, consisting essentially of passive sensors, optical and thermal, and a tight beam microwave link to a satellite receiver.  The second appeared to be a hacked view from a security camera mounted high, perhaps on a street illuminator. 

The PEA complex was built along the standard plan of an Imperial Embassy with a central building and two smaller wings depended from the side. The transmitter itself was located in the center where official business would be conducted, with the smaller building providing additional services and accommodation.  At least they would if this were an official embassy, while it was unlikely that Ralch would have altered the procedure dramatically, it was unlikely. A ten foot curtain wall surrounded the building, with the space in between given over to simple gardens that looked to have seen better days. Though there were no guard towers, the corners of the rectangular wall sported stalks of antennae and surveillance equipment.  A pair of boxy armored vehicles, hover APCs of a standard Imperial pattern, squatted at the front and back of the building, blackened areas of garden showed that the crews had cleared space by the simple expedient of employing their cupola mounted plasma cannon to blast away the vegetation. Men in battledress patrolled the walls.

“These are the Duke’s new arrivals I take it?” Rene asked touching the figures and the apcs. The comm holograms were rimmed with light when his finger indicated them, the simple AI able to interpret the question and aiding in its conveyance. 

“Yes, they have been on site less than ten hours,” Ten replied. Another sidebar appeared, showing the schematic of a courier vessel.

“The arrived on the fast courier Decameron, last night. My staff believe this is where the intrusion team that attacked your vessel is based also,” Ten expanded. Rene read over the statistics of the Decameron. It probably had enough space for a platoon of troops and a pair of armored vehicles, though not much more. Securing the PEA was an obvious move if they knew Solae was on Zatis as it was her only real objective. He felt a shiver of fear, while the didn’t mind risking his own life, taking Solae into action against thirty well trained regulars and whatever forces Ralch himself maintained filled him with dread. A thought occurred to him.

“How many men does Ralch have? I assume he has his own troops?” Rene asked, scrolling through the historical feed till he found the images he wanted. A group of men gathered in the courtyard as the APC’s overflew the wall, setting down and discharging their troops with the choreographed grace of a combat drop.  A man stepped forward to greet a soldier, a woman Rene thought, who had come out of the lead APC. There was no audio but it even from the viewpoint of the drone it was obvious the exchange was frosty.

“Somewhere between thirty and fifty of his own mercenaries. He doesn't normally have that many, but he beefed up his staff when the rebellion began,” Ten responded. The kernel of an idea began to form in his mind, though it would have to wait for Solae and her information to flesh it out.

“Thirty to fifty?” Rene asked absently, confused by the ambiguity. 

“The Duke bankrolls him, I think he probably claims extra men and pockets their pay,” Ten replied, a touch of amusement in his voice.

“Probably regretting that now he has guests who can report on it,” Rene snickered. It was a petty scam, apparently totally consistent with Ralch’s character. It was unlikely that he would survive long even if the Duke prevailed.

“I imagine so,” Ten agreed with a shark like smile, “Do you have a plan?”

“I think I might, give me a TO&E of what you can provide, and I’ll get back to you within the hour,” Rene responded, bringing up an additional display screen with a holographic keypad.

“Is there much excitement about the bounty?” Rene asked, recalling the megacredit reward that had been promised for their capture.

“The authorities have apprehended two people matching your descriptions,” Ten replied easily. Rene paused and looked up at him.

“Our doppelgangers from the casino?” he asked. Ten nodded.

“I had enough skin cells from the Lady Solae to fool the initial genetic test, it wont hold up once they get anywhere that can do a sophisticated facial recognition scan, though that is likely to take some time. It will keep the heat off you.” Rene winced slightly, when the deception was uncovered their look a likes were likely to be summarily executed. Ten had sent two of his own people to their deaths without so much as batting an eye. He tried to put it out of his mind.

“Understood. WIthin the hour then, Quentain out.” He cut the link and then he got to work.