The spacecraft Lovely Angel touched down on the main runway of the only large airport on Ikaria. It taxied to its assigned space. In the cockpit, Kei shut the various systems down as Yuri went to the back to grab the documents that they were given before they left. Kei looked up as Yuri came back. "Mughi still asleep?"

Yuri nodded. "I swear, he could sleep through a supernova."

Kei went back to looking at the surroundings. The airport seemed smaller now that they were on the ground. "Man, what a Podunk place."

"Oh, it's not that bad. We've been to worse places."

"Not many. Anyhow," Kei turned back to her partner. "where do we start?"

Yuri handed Kei some of the printouts. "Well, it looks like we have our pick. Amarnut does a lot of business here. Drug manufacturing, prostitution, off-planet gambling. And," Yuri flipped through the pages until she found the one she wanted. "It looks like Ikaria is a major transshipment point on their smuggling routes."

"What do they smuggle?"

"Everything worth smuggling, apparently. Look." Yuri handed Kei the sheet.

Kei read though it. "Drugs, weapons, toxic materials, exotic animals, people… So, pretty much anything that will turn a profit?"

Yuri nodded. "By some measures, they're the largest corporation in the galaxy."

Kei looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah."

Yuri looked at her partner. "What? What's wrong?"

"I just don't like this business about not cooperating with the local authorities. Not sharing info is going to make our job a lot harder, and they're going to be pissed if they find out we're working here without their knowledge."

"I don't like it either, but you heard the president. Corruption is rampant here, all the way into the Izarian royal court. We just don't know who's on the syndicate's payroll. We don't know who to trust."

"Damn it, doesn't the 3WA have any contacts here?"

"The Ikarians are suspicious of outsiders. No one's been able to cultivate significant contacts in over ten years."

"Except for the Amarnut."

"Seems that way."

Kei went back to looking at the ceiling, but only for a second. "Well, we may as well get started. What do you want to hit first?"

"Well, the syndicate owns a warehouse just outside of the airport, where they store smuggled items mid-shipment."

"OK." Kei got out of her chair, went to the back, and nudged their giant cat Mughi awake with her foot. "Mughi, watch the ship while we're gone." Mughi responded with an impressive yawn. Kei went to the now open cabin door, where Yuri was waiting. She checked her gun and other equipment. Satisfied, she looked at Yuri. "Let's go to work."

The interior of the warehouse looked like the interior of any warehouse. Any warehouse, that is, that had been hit by a level 5 plasma storm and then been attacked by a battalion of Space Marines.

Yes, the Dirty Pair had gone to work.

Amidst the overturned crates, spilled contraband, and unconscious men, Yuri and Kei were interrogating the one man still able to talk. Yuri was asking questions while Kei had him in a headlock.

"Don't you know that smuggling is illegal? I swear, what are they teaching in schools nowadays?"

"Gimme a break, would ya? I made the pay off this month!"

Kei tightened her hold. "Do we look like the local cops, genius?"

"OK, OK!" the man blurted out through a contracted windpipe. "Entrepreneurs, huh? All right. We're a little short on cash, but take that big case over there. It's worth fifty grand easy!"

Yuri looked behind at the plastic crate. It had been knocked over like the rest, but otherwise intact. It appeared to have a climate control regulator, indicating a sensitive, and likely high value, cargo. Yuri turned back to their prisoner. "We're not pulling a shake-down. We want information." She nodded to Kei, who relaxed her hold a little.

The man started breathing more normally. "OK. Whatever you want to know. Just be cool!"

"We'll all be cool, if you answer one question." Yuri leaned in closer. "Where's Vido Zulga?"

"Who?" the man asked, and then let out a squeak as Kei choked him again.

"Vido Zulga, dumbass! You have heard of him, right?"

"Course I've heard of him! Everybody's heard of him! But he ain't here!"

"We know that already! Where is he?"

The man didn't answer. Not because of any absolute, death-before-dishonor loyalty to the syndicate, but because Kei had now increased her grip and was completely cutting off his oxygen. Yuri didn't say anything, just looked on in mild interest as the man turned blue. "All right, Kei. Let's see if he'll give us an answer now."

Kei let him go, and he dropped to the ground, gasping for air. He looked up at Yuri. "I gave you an answer. He ain't here, and I don't know where he is. I don't have an open invitation to his beach house, OK?"

Kei grabbed him from behind again, with her arm against his throat. "You know, we really don't like smart alecs."

The man grabbed at Kei's arm, for all the good it did. "I said I don't know, and I don't frigging know!"

Yuri leaned in close again. "All right, who would? Who's your boss?"

"Him." The man nodded his head toward one of the unconscious bodies. Seeing Yuri's look, he said, "Hey, don't blame me! I'm not the one who beat the crap out of him!"

"You want to join him?" asked Kei. "Tell us what you know! Now!" She started tightening her hold again.

"All right! All right! He gets his orders from someplace downtown. They say what comes in and what goes out! We just do what we're told!"

"Where downtown?"

"Some office building in the plaza! I've never been inside, but the boss showed it to me once, said if we ever got into trouble, that was the place to go." When Kei gripped him harder, he said, "That's all I know!"

"What office building?!"

"The Rubinia Building! Tallest one in the whole city! You can't miss it! Syndicate owns the whole thing."

Yuri nodded, and Kei released him, then hit him sharply on the back of the neck. The man collapsed onto the floor, out like a light.

Yuri sat down. "Well, do you want to try and wake the boss up, see if he can tell us anything else?"

Kei looked over at the boss. "I guess. Man, what a pain! Uh, Yuri," she said, looking back at her partner, "is that crate supposed to be blinking red?"

"Huh?" Yuri looked at the crate she was sitting on. "Hmm." She looked at the readings on the environmental monitor. "Kei, this isn't just an environmentally controlled canister. It's a cryogenic pod."

"Really?" Kei stepped forward to get a closer look. "Can you tell what's inside?"

"Not from these readings. Whoop!" Yuri stood up quickly as the lid came up. "The de-hibernation process must have been triggered when it fell." Kei and Yuri looked inside.

They saw a large, gray, rounded block. Neither spoke for a moment, until Kei said, "Oh, just what every home needs. A rock."

Yuri looked closer. "A breathing rock, it looks like. Kei, I think this is some kind of animal."

"Yeah, I think maybe you're right. Is it waking up?" Kei stepped back a little.

"Kei, don't worry! I know what this is! It's a Kardachan rockbeast."

"OK. So?"

"So, they're herbivorous and very docile. Completely harmless." Yuri reached out to stroke the beast's back as she continued. "They're protected on their planet. They must have been shipping him to a—"

Yuri was interrupted as the animal burst out of its box with a roar. Its six padded feet made a large thumps as they hit the floor. The Kardachan rockbeast is an unusual animal, superficially looking like a large lizard with six legs and a gray complexion, but with a very tough hide, making the skins highly prized. It stopped and sniffed the air, its tail whipping around in annoyance. It noticed Kei, and charged. "Whoa," yelled Kei as she rolled out of the way. She got to her feet as Yuri rushed over. Kei glared at Yuri. "You had to pet it, didn't you?"

"I don't understand. I read all about them! They're not aggressive!"

"Well, I guess this one didn't like its nap being disturbed," said Kei as she reached for her blaster.

"Kei, no!"

"I don't care how rare it is! I'm gonna shoot it!" Which she did, repeatedly, as the beast charged them again. All of the shots bounced off the stony hide, and Kei and Yuri had to scramble out of the way. The rockbeast ran into some crates, demolishing them. As Kei shot it again, it made a noisy dash for the open door at the loading dock and ran off into the sunshine.

Kei looked at Yuri. "OK, Ms. Expert. How do we stop that thing?"

Yuri was looking around. "Now, they must have had—there!" Yuri ran to a corner and picked up a tranquilizer rifle from where one of the warehouse employees had dropped it. "We can use this."

"Uh, Yuri, if laser bolts couldn't penetrate it, how in heck is a dart going to get through?"

Yuri checked the gun to make sure it was loaded. "Well, it is vulnerable in its abdomen. We have to hit it in the underbelly."

"The underbelly?"

"Don't worry, I have an idea."

"Why do I have a bad feeling all of a sudden?"

Kei and Yuri had caught up with the rockbeast. It was roaring and thrashing around, extremely annoyed. Kei was on the back of the rockbeast, having lassoed it with her lariat, and was now hanging on for dear life.

Yuri was on the ground, maneuvering around the beast, trying to get a good shot and cheering Kei on. "Ya-hooo! Ride 'em, cowgirl!"

Kei's arms felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets. "Would you just shoot the thing already?!"

Yuri hefted the weapon to her shoulder, waiting for the right time. When the beast reared up on two legs, she saw her chance, and fired.

The beast came back down in all six legs to protect its belly, but it was too late. It stopped its thrashing, and Kei jumped off. It tried to walk, but only managed to stagger a few steps before it collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Kei came over to the sleeping animal. "Well, I guess it worked."

"Yep," said Yuri proudly, holding up the rifle so that the barrel was pointing at the sky. "Just call me Francine Buck. I bring 'em back alive."

"Who?"

Yuri sighed inwardly. "Never mind. Old Earth history. Anyway, looks like we wrapped this up with minimal damage."

Kei put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Uh, Yuri, look behind you."

"Huh?" Yuri turned around, and saw what the rockbeast had managed to do. "Oh, no! Not again!"

It had taken several minutes to find and subdue the rockbeast, and in that time, it had managed to turn several warehouses into wreckage and trample at least a dozen cars and trucks into scrap metal. As the two took it in, another building collapsed, completing the destruction. "But this isn't fair! It's not our fault! I can't believe this happened to us again!"

Kei squeezed her friend's shoulder reassuringly. "Well, at least there were no deaths this time. I hope." Kei then heard something familiar in the distance. "Uh, Yuri, maybe we should get going."

Yuri cocked her head, listening. "Are those police sirens?"

"Yep."

"Off we go." Yuri led the way as they left the area. "Do you think they'll be able to take care of the rockbeast?"

Kei thought of all the trouble it had caused her and Yuri. "Oh, they'll be fine. Let's check out that building downtown."