Jaleecee, the camp-serving girl, hurried into the sink area of the massive kitchens and washed her hands at the first available tank. If she had eaten just a few arns ago, she was sure she might have become sick.

She had just returned from the muster called to witness the punishment of the scout who had defended her against the drunken artillerymen a few solar days earlier. The brutality of the scene had left her feeling contaminated in some manner, and she was compelled to wash her hands right away if she wished to be rid of the sensation.

The lone soldier who had come to her defense had miraculously beaten all four men in the unit with nothing but his bare hands. The army peacekeepers had shown up just as the last of the gun crew fell face-first into the dust of the campgrounds. They immediately arrested the scout, and the camp commander held a hearing the very next day.

The four artillerymen appeared in various conditions of bandages, splints, and crutches to testify. She herself had been called upon to bear witness to what had occurred.

The four would-be rapists received only a reprimand and a deduction in pay for their conduct, much to her dismay. The scout, because he was a mercenary and had assaulted regular army officers, received twenty lashes with the whip – five for each man he attacked. Her protests at the unfairness of the verdict had fallen on deaf ears. It was a military matter, and there had been no place for the objections of a lowly camp-serving girl.

The punishment was carried out the following afternoon on the firebase's assembly field. Jaleecee had attended against her older brother's wishes, mainly because she felt responsible for the man's situation. Had he not spoken up to protect her, he would not have been place in the position he was in now.

She expected the scout to have approached his flogging with some outside hint of anxiety. Instead, he arrived with his guards and took his place between the twin wooden posts that had been driven into the foot-trampled ground without having to be prompted by his escort. He looked almost as if he had not a concern in the world.

Unbidden, Jaleecee felt her heart flutter at the sight of the man meeting his fate so courageously. He took a moment to inspect his features more closely. His shoulder length hair was unbound by the normal confining braid, making him almost look like something of the wild spirit. At least he would have looked as such if it hadn't been for his eyes. His pale blue eyes looked made of glass, and just as cold.

She found the combination suddenly thrilling… and she knew she was suffering from the onset of a sudden teenage crush, but she didn't care. There had been so little to spark her romantic interest in the camps. Plenty of the men had tried to regale her with tales of their bravery in battle, but they were just words… stories told and embellished to impress a young girl in hopes of some intimate favor. Never before with her own eyes had she witnessed such a chivalrous act as on that day, till then they had only existed in the fantasy sagas she had read. She never dreamed that one day she'd be the 'lady in distress' in a real life story.

The scout had been her hero in the saga. Her rescuer from a fate better left un-thought about. She had a brief flash of fancy, where the two of them might become lovers and run away together.

They would find a place far from there, far from any war. They would live and love, and raise a fine family. She would bear him beautiful children… with her smooth pale-gray skin… and his unique ice-blue eyes.

The fantasy abruptly died as the scout's field-uniform shirt was removed. She felt her heart stop along with the quit murmur of those around her as the man's bare upper body was revealed under the mid-day sun.

From neck to belt-line; the scout's body was a thatch-work of crisscrossing scars.

The fleeting though of secret passion was forgotten and replaced with near heart breaking sympathy that almost made her want to cry. The scout had lived a hard life by the looks of his abused torso. Pain was probably all to common for him, which is why he seemed able to approach his punishment with eerie calm, while other men had to be dragged and secured by manacles to the posts.

Not so her scout.

He merely reached up and took hold of the posts and waited for the flogging to began with no expression on his face. The captain in charge of the punishment detail gave a silent nod, and the sergeant with the whip administered the first lash. The oiled leather cracked the air and left it's bloody mark on the scout's broad back.

His only reaction was a brief tightening of his back muscles, and a slight narrowing of his eyes. The second lash brought no visible reaction at all.

Jaleecee's heart then skipped a beat, how brave her scout was! She wanted to rush over and hold him, knowing that he couldn't last and remain silent for very much longer. She'd heard that no man had ever kept from crying out from pain for more than five lashes. No matter how long he lasted, she wouldn't think any less of him if he broke upon the next lash. He was her hero!

No sound came from the scout on the third lash… nor upon the sixth!

The assembly of fighting men and support personal, muttered in sheer amazement. The scout showed no sign of distress other than his bleeding back. The sergeant paused a moment in bewilderment and caught the captain's eyes briefly. The superior officer merely gave him the signal to continue and the sergeant put the lash to work again.

By the tenth lash stroke, the man should have been screaming and trying to break free of his bounds, the scout simply stood there with his eyes fixed somewhere off into the crowd.

By the fifteenth lash, he should have had trouble even standing. The scout still stood rock solid, hands still gripping the post without benefit of being bound.

As the twentieth and last stroke fell, the assembly was stone quiet. The captain cleared his throat, and with some astonishment in his voice announced to the gathered witnesses that the sentence had been carried out, and that the scout was absolved of all charges.

The man lowered his hands at the announcement and retrieved his shirt from where the guard had placed it. Two medical personal moved forward to assist the scout and examine his wounds, but he waved them off with a hint of irritability. They watched in opened mouth awe as the soldier turned and walked away from them as if nothing had happened.

The assembly likewise parted to let the scout through, turning to watch his bloody shirtless back as he headed toward his quarters.

From her place in the crowd, Jaleecee likewise watched him go, only her young heart soared with the fact that the love of her life was like no other man she'd ever seen… or met.

After washing her hands, Jaleecee quickly gathered some supplies and rushed back out into the camp. She had made it a point to learn during the hearing where the scout was bivouacked, and discovered that he had a tent not far from the mess tents and kitchens.

She headed in that direction now, dodging around small groups of people still discussing the punishment assembly. She had also learned the scout's name – Tessen Korr. The girl turned his name around over and over in her mind, sometimes trying the version of Jaleecee Korr just for size… and found she liked the ring to it.

Her feet carried her to her destination without colliding with anyone or anything while she was distracted with her mental games. Before she knew it, she was standing before the open flap of Tessen's tent.

Nervously she took a step inside and found the man with his back to her as he sorted through clothing on his cot. She bit back a gasp at the close-up view of his marred back.

At the same instant, the man stiffened as he sensed her. He straightened up now holding a fresh shirt in one hand, but didn't turn right away.

"What do you want, girl?" he asked in a low tone that bordered on harsh.

He then turned slightly to glance at her over one shoulder. She briefly wondered how he had known it was her behind him without looking, but he obviously expected an answer to his question right then, so she pushed the thought aside.

"I… I came to help care for your back," the girl told him, and then gestured with the armful of supplies she had brought with her. "I have sterile water to cleanse the lash marks, ointments to help with the healing, and bandages to wrap them in."

He turned then to face her, and her heart did a dance. He wasn't overly bulky like many soldiers, but he was well muscled. Tall and lean, his long mane of nearly black hair made her think of the Dire-wolves that use to roam the woodlands of her homeworld.

"That is not necessary," he told her bluntly. "I am able to care for myself."

She felt her heart sink. She had not expected her offer of care to be dismissed so out of hand. It had taken all her meager supply of courage to get her nerve up and go to the scout's tent, and she was reluctant to let the effort be for nothing that easily.

"Please!" she said as she took another step toward him. "I feel responsible for what happened. If not for me, you wouldn't have gotten into trouble."

"The fault lies with the other soldiers," he replied. "They are the ones who pressed the matter."

"Still… I feel very badly for what happened. Its the least I can do to help you care for your back," she continued. "Especially after what you did for me."

He tilted his head oddly as he regarded her with unblinking eyes for a moment.

"Helping would give you some peace of mind for this imagined debt?" he asked next.

"Why… yes?" she answered with a hint of surprise. "I'd feel a little better then. And I didn't imagine it… I know what those men planned to do with me. I am not a naive child."

His head leveled again and he gave a tiny nod as if agreeing with some thought he'd had.

"Yes, I suppose it would. And no, you are not an inexperienced child. My apologizes."

"Thank you for saying so. Then you'll let me tend to you?" she asked.

"Agreed," he answered oddly. "What do you wish me to do?"

She indicated he was to take a seat upon his cot, while she moved to the opposite side. Tessen did as he was instructed, sitting down stiffly while she set her supplies down and quickly arranged them in order. She pulled the lid off the container of sterile water and was satisfied to find it still warm enough for cleansing wounds.

She poured out a generous amount of warm water into the largest bowl she had brought with her and took up a few of the clean white clothes.

Jaleecee gently moved aside the fall of hair laying down the scout's back, and made a mental note that she would have to wipe the locks clean of the blood that had gotten onto them as well. His back was ramrod straight with some tension, though she didn't know if it was from pain of the lashes… or perhaps it was her presence in his tent that made him somewhat uneasy. She really was unable to tell which it was.

"This may sting a little," she advised as she dipped the first of the clothes into the water. Then chided herself for the silly warning. She had just seen the man take twenty lashes with a whip without flinching, she doubted if he would even notice her cleaning his wounds after that.

"Understood," was his only reply.

She daftly washed away the layer of drying blood and discarded the first cloth. As she dipped the second one in the bowl she was surprised to notice that the lash marks were very slow to refill with new blood.

"They don't seem to be bleeding much anymore," she announced idly.

"I am somewhat of a quick healer," Tessen replied.

She allowed herself to smile at him for the first time, even though with his back to her and he couldn't see it.

"I'm very glad to hear that," she responded with a new lightness in her tone.

Despite the chore, there was something sensual for her with being able to run her hands over the man's bare back. Cleaned up, the whip marks didn't look as bad as she thought they would.

Within moments, the blood had been washed away, and she carefully patted the area dry with a new towel.

"I have to gently rub the ointment into the wounds and surrounding tissue," she advised next as she took up the jar and applied some to her fingertips. "Let me know if this hurts you," she told him.

The scout merely grunted his acknowledgement and she went to work on applying the medication.

Her fingers made light contact at first, and then gradually grew firmer as her patient expressed no discomfort. Despite her honest intentions, she found herself enjoying the smooth feel of his skin and muscle under her hands. Even the old scars were a strange pleasant discovery for her as she found them. Part of her was thinking she could very easily come to know and love each one of them, if given a chance.

She moved on to treating the surrounding tissues, kneading gently over the lash marks and then with more pressure over the rest of the area. Flogging tended to make all the major muscle groups tense she knew, if left unseen to, the victim could find over-stressed muscles cramping up on them days later.

She was delighted to find the scout growing increasingly relaxed under her care as the treatment progressed. By the time she had worked her way up to his shoulders, he appeared to have given himself over to it.

Not knowing where she suddenly got the boldness, her hands abruptly traveled outside the injury area of his upper shoulders, and made their way down his chest. Unexpectedly, Tessen's hands moved up to lightly cover hers, his eyes had a soft far-off focus and he seemed lost in a dream almost, just as she found herself becoming. Without realizing it, she had pressed herself to his back, her hands now exploring instead of massaging aches and hurts away.

She nuzzled her face against the side of his neck and murmured her thanks for his heroics. She was elated when his head tilted slightly to allow her closer, she lowered her glossy black-tinted lips to the base of his neck and kissed where the shoulder joined it.

The effect was electric.

Tessen's eyes snapped opened into sharp focus, and he rocketed to his feet, leaving the girl to tumble into a heap on the ground beside his cot. His face held the look of cold anger, and the half-Nebari girl wilted under his stare.

"I… I… I just wanted…" she began to stutter out.

"Dangerous, girl," the scout warned darkly with a voice that might have come from the grave. "Very… very… dangerous."

Chiana pushed her way through the crowed refreshment house, weaving her way daftly toward the long bar in the rear with more grace than the multitude of dancers on the floor.

She arrived just in time for a spot to clear, and she glided into it. The barkeep served a few other patrons already waiting and then finally made his way over to her. He nodded to indicate she should "name her poison" so to speak.

Instead, the gray girl removed a wooden chit from her pocket and slid it toward the man.

"Saifree Madden," she simply said as the bartender picked up the chit to glance at the series of runes craved into its face. Satisfied, he slid it back over to her.

"Put that away," he said lowly as he picked up a glass and wiped the inside of it with a cloth. "Rear table… by the kitchens," he finished without looking at her again.

Chiana idly thanked him and headed off in the direction he had given her.

Another trip through the crowd brought her to the destination. The refreshment house customers gave the table and the men around it a respectful wide berth. The massive humanoid in the expense silk and black leather suit halted her before she could get too close to the table.

"Shove off, tramp! The boss isn't auditioning new frell toys tonight," the bodyguard told her.

"Good," the Nebari replied loudly enough for those at the table to hear, "I haven't got the time to watch anyway."

A few of the men at the table snickered heartily at her retort, the big thug on the other hand looked very annoyed.

She ignored the big man before her for the moment and directed her next comment to the older humanoid male sitting in the center of the table booth.

"Raydoon sent me. Word is you're looking for a runner."

The older man's bushy eyebrows rose at that.

"Raydoon, you say?" Madden repeated. "All right, I'll bite. Let her over, Stolie."

Chiana grinned. "You heard the man, Stolie… let me over," she told the bodyguard smugly.

The hired muscle grimaced, but before doing as ordered he motioned for her to let him search for weapons before allowing her that close to his boss.

The Nebari raised her hands while Stolie searched through her big gray coat and around her body. He removed her small silver palm pistol, and before he finished, made a point of reaching behind her to give her firm backside a healthy squeeze.

Chiana merely allowed him the grope without visibly reacting in an offended way.

"Hey… nobody gets a feel for free," she said calmly.

Stolie only replied with a nasty leer as he let her finally pass by him.

She walked the rest of the way over as Madden waved for several of the men to leave and make room for her beside him. All the other men left except for one that Chiana recognized from Raydoon's description as KiEel Ry'Balton, Madden's second in command.

"So… Raydoon sent you?" Madden repeated, as he looked her over, head to toe.

"He said you were looking for a talented runner for a job," she answered.

The boss chuckled openly at that, Ry'Balton joined in with a light crony's laugh.

"Is Raydoon playing a joke on old Saifree?" the older man asked a moment later. "How good a runner can a little slip of a girl like you be?" he asked. He eyed her with a new sort of interest in his aged eyes. "I'll tell you what. You go back to Raydoon and tell him it was a good joke. Then you come back here… and I'll give you a new position. Much safer… and with better benefits than being a runner. You like Aquarrian silks and Delvian fire-crystals, girl?"

Chiana leaned in and smiled sweetly at him.

"What I would like, old man… is for you to take your hand off my thigh," she said smoothly, "Before I cut it off."

She emphasized her words by pricking the man's offending hand with the tip of the dagger she held out of sight below the table.

"Oh, a spirited one," Madden replied as he gently with drew his hand. "I adore that in females."

"As long as you adore me from a distance while we're discussing business," she countered while sliding the knife back into her boot top. "You really should get a henchman who knows how to search a person properly," she shot in with a sly look at Stolie.

"Good help is hard to find," Saifree said with a spread of his hands to indicate his helplessness in that regard.

"Which brings me to the reason I'm here," Chiana went on. "Here's your credit pouch back by the way… and your chron… ring… and this goddess awful necklace you had on."

She casually tossed each item into the center of the table as she called them off. Madden did an amusing dance in his seat as he rapidly checked himself for the missing personal items.

Ry'Balton just blinked his eyes in amazement as his boss took back his personal effects.

"Goddess, you are good," Madden said as he replaced everything. "I never felt… or even suspected a thing."

"That's why Raydoon sent me to you. You need a job done that no one else will touch. I'm the runner that can do it for you."

Saifree re-inspected the girl with new respect in his eyes.

"You don't even know what the job is yet," he said.

"I don't care," Chiana responded.

"You should," put in Ry'Balton in a dry voice. "More experienced runners have tried to crack this shell and have ended face up in a hole with dirt in their eyes… or rotting in some PK prison barrage circling a mining asteroid. You might not be up to the job or consequences, girl."

Chiana reached over and took his drink from in front of him.

"You let me be the judge of that, fancy-pants," she replied snidely. She boldly took a swallow from his glass and then made a grimace. "Ugh! How about you live on the edge a little… and splurge on a better vintage than this swill." She pushed the glass back to him with more than a hint of contempt.

Madden exploded with a huge belly laugh.

"I like you girl, you got mivonks the size of a Luxan's!"

A brief flash of something dangerous flittered through the Nebari's dark eyes for an instant at the comment, but it was gone an eye blink later as she forced herself to focus back on the matters and business at hand.

"We'll talk about body parts later," she said with a smile that did not touch her eyes. "What's the job?" she demanded.

Madden glanced for a microt at Ry'Balton, then shrugged.

"It's a heist of some sensitive documents from a business rival of sorts."

"That's it? You want me to snurch some paperwork?"

Ry'Balton cleared his throat. "That is it… but the business rival who has the documents is Clivea Brendal."

Chiana narrowed her eyes. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"Around the commerce port most likely," Saifee supplied. "Brendal is not only my biggest rival in the gambling and prostitution gambits… he is also the chief prosecutor in our justice system."

"And he is running to be elected Regional Governor this half-cycle," Ry'Balton added.

"And you want to get the goods on him for leverage?" Chiana said with a grin.

"Smart girl. Yes, among other things," said the older man.

"No problem," Chiana said a few microts later.

Ry'Balton looked at her with some doubt evident on his features. "You really think you can do it?" he asked.

The gray girl tilted her head and gave him a half-smirk.

"I once help rob a shadow depository," she revealed.

"And lived to tell the tale? I'm impressed, my dear," said Saifree.

She turned her attention back to the headman at the table.

"Well… now that you're suitably impressed… let's talk price for my runner services."

"I'll pay one thousand Krendar when you deliver the goods," Madden informed her.

Chiana chuckled merrily. "Three thousand Krendar… and up front," she countered.

The boss smiled as if he were enjoying the bickering with the young Nebari thief – which he was.

He shook his head good- naturedly. "Two thousand and a third up front," he offered, "And you get to keep whatever else you find in the vault that you can carry, and has nothing to do with the things that I want."

"Two thousand – five hundred Krendar, half up front, plus whatever else I find." She countered again.

Madden broke into a big grin himself as they hit upon an arrangement he could live with.

"Done," he agreed.

"Done," Chiana confirmed with a nod of her head.

Saifree smiled. "What is your name then, girl?" he asked

Chiana looked back at him for an instant.

"You can call me Pixie if you need too," she said, for some reason picking the strange nickname Berret had called her during some for their few happier times.

Ry'Balton raised a finger to break into the negotiation once more.

"There is one other matter," he informed the young Nebari. "Security is rather tight. You may run into armed guards on the property. Guards that have no problem with shooting intruders first and finding out why they are there later."

The girl turned a look on him that gave him an icy feeling along his spine. The girl's impish persona seemed to fade away for that instant.

"Then for their sake, they had better hope they don't run into me."

The comment was delivered with such emotionless; it even made the older man blink twice. The girl's smile reappeared in the next microt, her features returning to the rascally young girl she had been a brief moment before.

She wrote down a quick address and passed it over to the headman.

"I'll be staying at this place. Have one of your people bring me all the information you have on the job. After I look everything over and case the place, I'll get back in touch with you to let you know when its going down," she told them as she slide her way out of the booth. "Have him bring my first half of the money. I may need to pick up a few things for the job."

Madden nodded his head.

"You'll have everything you need and the money by mid-day tomorrow."

"Good," Chiana said as she walked back over to Stolie. She held out her hand for her pistol and the big thug reluctantly slapped it into her palm.

The gray girl slid the weapon back into her belt with a smile and regarded the bodyguard briefly.

Her head tilted to one side and she silently continued to gaze at him curiously.

"What?" the huge man growled roughly as he crossed his massive arms over his chest.

Chiana's head righted itself and her smile turned sweetly innocent.

Faster than the eye could follow, her knee then pistoned up and plowed deeply into Stolie's unprotected groin. The thug's eyes nearly rolled out of his head as he folded nearly in half, both hands looking to cover his injured area a little too late.

Chiana waited a few microts until his head had come down to the right level, and then she smashed him in the face full force with her heavily leather-padded elbow.

Stolie's head cracked around with a snap and he hit the ground unconscious a split microt later.

"I told you nobody gets a feel for free," Chiana said as she stepped over his prone body.

Saifree rubbed his chin as he watched the Nebari leave. A number of the patrons near-by, who had witnessed the small female knock the bodyguard out, respectfully moved out of her way.

"That… is one dangerous tralk," Ry'Balton said from beside him.

"You'll get no argument from me on that account," agreed the older man. "I don't think I'd want to be the one on the bad side of that little hezmana-cat."

"Think she can pull it off?"

"KiEel, I'd be more surprised if she didn't," the headman replied sagely.