Chapter 6

"Um, Daggon, pal, this may sound like a silly question, but… what happened to my microwave?" Vic asked, leaning into his guestroom.

Daggon pointed absently to the gutted microwave before returning his attention to the screen of the computer that he had also appropriated from Vic. Vic decided not to ask. His eyes widened as they took in the contents of the plate sitting next to the computer. A pen, broken in half and dripping green goop.

"Where did you get that?" Vic demanded.

"Club place. Was empty, Vic, but found this."

"Yeah, I know it's empty. It moves every night, like a Rave."

"Rave?"

"Party with loud music and lots of drugs. Is it that… stuff you were talking about?"

"Fek-Maln. Yes, Vic, is very similar. On Sar-Top… relaxes prisoners."

"It's a tranquilizer?" he asked.

"Yes, Vic."

Vic shook his head. "Jess said that whatever it was was acting more like a stimulant on her friend."

"Human blood is different. Make very sick after few times."

"Can you find the lab where it's being made?"

"Yes, Vic." Daggon smiled brightly. "Fek-Maln starts as powder. Some going into air. Can be measured." He pointed to the computer screen which currently displayed a map of the city. "Lab is here."

Vic nodded. "I'll call the station."

Daggon shook his head and caught the human's arm, restraining him. "No, Vic."

"No?" Vic repeated, frowning.

"My job… to return fugitives to Sar-Top, Vic."

"Yeah, but I'm a cop and it's my job to arrest criminals here on Earth."

"Criminals will go to prison. What else matters?" he asked reasonably.

Vic sighed and closed his eyes, more than aware that he was toeing more than one ethical line. "You promise? Your job is to send them back to prison? You aren't going to… vaporize them or anything?"

"Vaporize?" he repeated, frowning.

"Yeah, you know… zap them?"

Daggon's eyes widened. "Zap?"

Vic rolled his eyes. "Kill using strange alien weaponry?" he clarified.

Daggon shook his head firmly. "Not take life. Told you. Take prisoner life-force from body, return prisoner to Sar-Top." Slow learners, these humans. He shook his head and picked up his Collector, tucking it into his jean pocket. "Let Daggon handle, Vic."

"You'll need backup," Vic pointed out, following him from the guestroom.

"No," Daggon said firmly, shaking his head. He turned and placed a restraining hand on Vic's shoulder. "Dangerous. Not human criminals. You let Daggon handle." He gave Vic's shoulder a paternal pat and walked off.

Now he was being condescended to by the Rain Man? Vic stared after him for a moment, then shrugged and dropped on to the couch. None of his damned business at this point. If Daggon had not returned in a few hours, then he would take a car out and see what was going on. If the lab really was there, he would proceed accordingly. Shaking his head, he turned on the TV, smiling when he remembered that the Sci-Fi Channel was having a Twilight Zone marathon.

His smile slipped slightly as it occurred to him that he had been traipsing through the Zone himself for the past few days, but he soon became too deeply absorbed in the show to really mind. He really did need some cheap escapism after the few days he had been having. Alien spree killers, alien cops, alien drug lords, the woman he loved dating again… Well, at least Mel was not an alien, too, he thought with a short laugh.

***

Mel stared after Lana and Reta with wide eyes as they left, Lana's throat now devoid of bruises. "You're telling me that I can learn to do that, too?"

"Mmm hmm." Zin nodded faintly. "What do you think?"

"I think… this is unbelievable, Julius!" she laughed, shaking her head. "It can't be real."


"Why ever not?" Zin asked smoothly. "Think about it, Melanie. You've always felt just one beat out of step, haven't you, like you don't quite belong in normal society, like you're different."

"Oh, I think everyone must feel those things at some time," she protested, shaking her head and pouring herself another drink.


"Ah, but with a difference," Zin said, rising and circling the desk. He sat on the edge of his desk, taking the drink from her hands. "You truly are different, Melanie. You have so much potential," he whispered, brushing her hair out of her face. "I can help you unlock it," he added, cradling her face in his hands and never once raising his voice above that whisper.

"Julius…"

"I can give you the world, Melanie. As a start," he added honestly. He extended his hands to her, palms up. "I don't ask for much in return, just that you have faith in me."

"Faith?" she repeated, her voice wavering.

"Faith," he agreed, proffering his hands again. "Have the faith to walk with me down the path I'm set on."

Mel swallowed dryly and nodded, hesitantly lifting her hands. "What path?" she asked quietly, her hands hovering between them.

"I'm not an ambitious man. All I want is to change the world." He smiled and asked, "Not so much to ask, is it?"

"No, I guess not." Mel smiled and slipped her hands into his.

"You won't regret it."

Mel smiled and nodded. "When do we start?"

"Right away."

***

"Where is he, Vax?" the young woman asked in a quiet voice.

"Inside." Vax inclined his head politely to the Dessarian, ushering her into the club. "This way, Doctor Aeko."

"I'll need more Fek-Maln before I go," Aeko added as they moved through the club.

"Already?" Vax asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You have a problem with that?" she asked, pausing and glaring up at him.

"Not at all, ma'am," he assured her. "Kaden, Doctor Aeko is here to see you."

Kaden regarded Lana's Dessarian liaison with a bored expression. "What?"

"I have an order from Doctor Zin."

"Have you?" Kaden asked, rolling his eyes. Obviously she did or she would not have been there.

"Fek-Maln is dangerous to humans. In the future you will restrict its sale to our kind or you will no longer be able to consider yourself in the Doctor's good graces." Aeko spun on her heel and stalked off, pausing only long enough to accept a small parcel from Vax.

"If she weren't one of our best customers," Kaden grumbled.

"What amazes me is that she can consume that much Fek-Maln and still be so edgy," Vax scoffed.

"Yes, well, you should see me without it." Aeko leaned back into the club. "By the way, Kaden, the human authorities know what you look like," she drawled.

"What?" he demanded, jumping to his feet.

"Oh, and I'm given to understand that there's a Tracker on Earth as well, and the he is currently after you." The Dessarian gave a little wave and left again.

***

"Mother of God, what happened in here?" Detective Maria Cruz murmured, looking around the drug lab. Her eyes settled on the pair of dead bodies, one with a deep stab-wound to the chest, the other without any obvious marks. "Turf war, Vicky?"

"Or something," he said quietly. He was going to have a long talk with Daggon.


"Hey, at least we have this stuff at the source now," she noted.

"Definitely a good thing," Vic agreed.

"Yet you're still in one of your moods," she observed quietly.

"Not the case. It's Mel. Dating some guy. He's…"

"He's what?"

"Everything I'm not."

"So she's into guys who are short, scrawny, and have no sense of humor?"

"Nah. This week it seems to be the rich, intelligent type."

"Oh, them." Maria rolled her eyes. "Boring!"

Vic chuckled and shook his head. "Boring but rich."

"Rich, but boring," Maria corrected him. She winked at him. "So, speaking of freaks of nature, how's John Daggon?"

"Were we speaking of freaks of nature?" Vic asked quietly, swallowing.

"No, but I'm still curious. I mean, come on, Vic, you just moved a mental patient into your guestroom. So what gives?"

"He needed a place." Vic shrugged. "Don't know, Mar. Just… he needed a place."

"Yeah. So, he have a girlfriend?" she asked eagerly. At Vic's shocked look, she laughed and shook her head. "Joking. Not my type, Vicky."

"Wasn't aware you had a type."

"Sure. Guys with working vocabularies bigger than their age."

He chuckled and shook his head.

"You know I worry, partner. I mean, is he safe?"

"Sure he is. Besides, he'll be seeing Jenny Wyatt on a regular basis… Ostensibly it's so he can visit this Karen kid, but Jenny is definitely keeping tabs on him. It's her ass, too, if something happens."

"Yeah, if you say so. I think I'll be seeing Jenny on a regular basis for the next few months as well," she told him quietly. "See what she has to say about this guy."

"You're a mother-hen, Mar," he laughed.

"Can't deny that." Maria winked up at him. "So, do we have any idea on cause of death on this second guy?" she asked.

Vic shook his head. "Going to have to wait on the ME."

"Lovely." She shook her head. "OD, you think?"

"Who knows? This shit is…"

"A 9.6 on the weird-shit-o-meter, yeah." Maria nodded. She glanced at Vic, her expression serious but her black eyes twinkling. "Of course… so is your boyfriend."

***

"He took Kaden, sir," Lana announced quietly, interrupting Zin's evening meditation.

"Anyone else?" he sighed.

"Vax and two others of lesser importance. Erak, another Enixian, and Essa, a Nodulian."

Zin rubbed his forehead in irritation. "Tell me they managed to kill him?"

"No such luck, sir. He is many things, but a fool is not one of them. When it became clear that he was no longer capable of fighting, he fled."

"The boy is learning."

"A bad thing for us," she reminded him quietly. "Sir, something must be done. If this continues…"

"We won't have a work-force, I know." Zin nodded shortly. "Believe me, Lana, I know."

"Rhee's killing has some of them unsettled as well…"

"Rhee deserved death, and not the honorable one you allowed him either, Lana. He ripped that boy's heart out!"

She shook her head in irritation. "That boy of yours is our enemy! Now, I could handle you using Rhee to make sure that the wormhole wouldn't kill the Sar-Top escapees, but it has got to end there, Zin." She sighed deeply and continued, her voice gentle. "Kedriss Daggon is the enemy now. If you can't accept that, we may as well go home now because we will accomplish nothing here. You're wise enough to know this, Zin."

"I may know it, but I don't have to like it." He shook his head, sighing. "Do you ever worry that we won't succeed?" he asked quietly, beckoning her to approach.

"Never." Lana shook her head and sat down next to him on the floor. "I've known you long enough to know that you get what you want. Like that Melanie woman. Besides, who is going to stop you? One heartbroken boy who can't possibly understand the extent of our plans here? He may be a threat to those of us that lack discretion, but he is not a threat to you or your plans. He will be a petty irritation at best for as long as you can remember that he is no longer your friend."

"And I am certain that you will keep reminding me?" he chuckled, shaking his head and draping a fatherly arm around her shoulder.

"Of course. What else is a friend for but to point out one's enemies?"

Zin shook his head again, smiling at her. "You're a good child, Lana. It pleases me greatly that we see eye to eye because, by the gods, I would never want you for a foe."

Lana threw back her head and laughed, leaning into him. "You're a wise man, Zin, a wise man."

Zin smiled faintly. "At least wise enough to know better than to cross a woman like you."

"So, Julius, how are we to deal with the Porter woman, hmm?"

"She will first learn how to heal, then to manipulate energy and matter. If she can learn these, she will be combat-trained."

"And you gain yourself a Cirronian bodyguard bound to you by ties of sex and gratitude." Lana nodded her approval. "A worthy plan, Zin."

"Fortune seems to be favoring us in our plans," he noted. "Why else would the Fates give us a Cirronian to aid us?"

"Why indeed," Lana agreed quietly. "She'll need to be told about the Tracker."

"He wouldn't harm her, Lana," Zin protested.

"He doesn't have to. He need only know of her connection to us and he may begin turning her against you. He wouldn't even have to lie."

Zin sighed deeply. "You're right, of course. She'll have to be told something."


"But what?" Lana inquired gently. "The truth? You have the stomach for that, do you? You've quite nicely managed to avoid lying to her face so far, but if she becomes much more deeply involved, you will have to."

"You think my sentiment for her blinds me to that fact?" Zin asked quietly, shaking his head and smiling faintly. He patted her knee for a moment before reaching up and giving her throat a tender squeeze. "My dear Lana, I care for Melanie very deeply, but it changes nothing. As with every man, woman, and child I have ever encountered, I'll tell her whatever I must to get exactly what I want from her…"