Veerna drew a brush through her pure white hair, smirking at herself in the mirror. Ten more minutes until his visit. She'd be ready for him. The question was ... would he be ready for her? She hummed to herself as her hand fell to the pistol concealed in her black leather jacket. Not a bad catch for being in the most secure prison ship in the galaxy, the U.S.S. Barank.

Casually, Veerna went to the door of lasers, looking out at the other cells. All of them were empty except for her own. Apparently, the Federation didn't trust her enough around other prisoners. Or, more appropriately, Sareen didn't trust her around other prisoners. Fair enough.

The laser field lifted exactly nine minutes later to let in Veerna's psychologist, Don Collego. As usual, the young man looked incredibly anxious. He fiddled with his tie beneath his tweed jacket, and his ashen-brown hair was rumpled. To be honest, he was rather good-looking, but Veerna didn't feel like tying herself down—particularly not with somebody who thought she was crazy. "Hello, Veerna," Don said. He stood at the same height as Veerna—six feet exactly—but he was more broad-shoulder than she was. "How are you today?"

The laser field had gone back up, as usual, trapping Don temporarily in the cell with her. Veerna sat down on the edge of her uncomfortable cot. "Well enough," she said with a sly grin. "I appreciate the inclusion of a mirror, Donny."

As usual, he flinched when she called him "Donny". "You did say it would make you feel happier," he mumbled. Don's face turned red when Veerna patted the cot beside her. "I'm fine here, thank you."

"Aw, come on, Doc," she said. "Just a seat? It's too uncomfortable standing around, watching each other."

Heaving a sigh, Don sat down beside her, keeping his distance. "Have you considered the offer the Federation made you?" he asked.

"Oh, you mean the one where I put myself on a leash for them?" Veerna replied. "I've considered it alright. And do you know what I decided on?" She leaned closer to Don, uncomfortably close. The psychologist moved back a little, grimacing. The grimace was about to get a whole lot worse, Veerna thought with glee. She reached into her leather jacket, her long, white fingers wrapping around the gun.

Don coughed. "You're going to work with us?" he squeaked. He seemed even more ill at ease than usual.

The gun pressed against his forehead seemed to change his mind. "Veerna!" he cried.

She gave him a sweet smile. "No, dear Don. I am not going to work with you. On the contrary, if I'm not let out of this cell immediately, I'm going to kill you. How does that sound?"

He seemed incapable of forming a response.

. . . . . . . . .

Xander Weni cursed in the security booth of the Barank. "She's got Collego as a hostage," he reported, turning to face Sareen. The Voldinian mirrored Xander's curse.

"Will she kill him?" Sareen asked him, fingering a white curl in her ponytail. Her displeasure was obvious.

"She'll kill him if we don't give into her demands," Xander answered, wiping sweat from his brow. Gee, first day on the Barank, and Veerna is masterminding an escape. Could your luck get any worse? "What are your orders?"

"Let them out," Sareen ordered. "She'll be coming past here. Watch your back." She moved to leave the booth.

"Hey, wait!" Xander cried, standing up. Sareen turned with a dark scowl on her face, and he flinched. Maybe ordering his superior officer around hadn't been his best plan. "You're leaving me here alone?"

"If you get a clear shot, take it," Sareen replied. "Don't hesitate."

"But what about Collego?" Xander demanded.

"Veerna is an enemy of the Federation. She has declared war on us," Sareen told him. "Collego will be a casualty of that war." Then she marched out of the booth.

Willingly kill Don? But they were friends! How could Xander enact a situation that would kill his friend? In his opinion, Sareen was more concerned with fixing her own mistake with Veerna than she was about saving Don's life. She had to make the appearance that she cared about Don's wellbeing when all she really cared about was getting rid of Veerna. Xander chewed his lip, trying to decide what to do. He grabbed his rifle from next to his seat and went to the door. If Veerna was coming this way, he would take her down—but not by killing Don Collego.

. . . . . . . . .

The laser field had gone down, and Veerna shoved Don in front of her. "Come now, Donny," she said teasingly. "I'm not finished with you yet."

"Veerna, you don't want to do this," Don stammered. Veerna could see him starting to sweat. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"I think I know perfectly well what I'm doing," she replied. "Don't push me, Collego." She let a little of the anger she was feeling seep into her words. It was all Sareen's doing, she knew it was. And Veerna wasn't afraid of taking out her aggressions on one of Sareen's lackeys. Particularly not one of Sareen's ex-boyfriends, she added with a grim smirk.

"Veerna, if you don't agree to join the Federation, they're going to put you to death!" Don sounded panicked ... concerned. Was he concerned—for her?

Whatever. It was probably all an act. Psychologists lied to get people to believe what they wanted them to believe. Veerna didn't trust Don any further than she could throw him. As tempting as it was to see just how far that was, she needed him for the moment. If she gave up her hostage, Sareen would blow her halfway across the galaxy.

"How far to the security booth, sweetie?" Veerna asked.

Don cringed. "Why would you want to go there?"

Veerna shoved the gun even further into his back. "I'm getting tired of you questioning me, Collego," she whispered. "I want to go there so I don't get a crick in my neck from looking over my shoulder. I'm going to blow the brains out of whoever's on duty there if you don't stop trying to go all psychologist on me, you hear me? Now where is the security booth?"

"First door on your right when you go down the hall." Don's voice was low and his gaze was locked firmly on his feet.

"Why, thank you very much," she said sweetly. She forced him forward, the gun pressed close to his back.

True to Don's word, Veerna saw the security booth there. The door was probably locked, but Veerna knew what would get the guard out. There was such a thing as research, after all. "Oh, Xander Weni!" she called in a singsong voice. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

For a moment, there was silence. Then the door opened, and the muscular, tall Xander Weni came out. The black rifle in his hand was pointed at the floor, but if he was anything like the normal Federation guards, he would be able to raise it and shoot in a matter of moments. His brown hair was cut close to his head, and his dark green eyes were narrowed at Veerna. "Let him go," he said threateningly. "I'm under orders to bring you in. Alive ... or dead."

Veerna felt Don stiffen and laughed. "My wonderful cousin Sareen's orders, I assume?" she asked with a grin. "She's so good to me. Apparently she has little care for the life of Don Collego, though. Hmm ... pity, isn't it, Donny? Go ahead and shoot, Weni. See if I care."

Xander raised the rifle, his hand shaking. Veerna rolled her white eyes. "You're a human lie detector, Xander. You know I'm not scared, because I know you won't shoot. So just throw the rifle over here and save us both a lot of time."

Before Xander could make his choice, the entire ship seemed to quake beneath their feet. Veerna banged her shoulder against the wall, losing her grip on her gun. Don dove away, and Xander pointed his rifle at her. "Dead or alive," he said.

"Xan, no!" The cry came from behind Veerna. She turned and saw a short girl in a lab coat rushing over to them, her black-rimmed glasses askew over her dark green eyes. "Barank is under attack! We don't have time for this!"

It was Xander's younger sister, Suzan Weni. Neither of them was any older than eighteen, yet they were considered two of the greatest at what they did in the Federation. The girl's brown hair was a mess, Veerna thought with a smirk.

Then the meaning of Suzan's words sank in. "Under attack?" Veerna said. "Who would attack Barank? Sareen removed all the other prisoners!"

The lights flickered as another blast struck the ship. Xander slung his rifle over his back. "C'mon," he told Veerna abruptly. "If I'm not going to kill you, then we may as well see if you can useful."

The main command room of Barank was not far from where they were. The four of them entered and were met with Sareen's two pistols pointed at them. The rest of the command center was focused on keeping Barank alive. "Well, well," Sareen said softly. "My space pirate cousin. Is this your doing?"

"Why in the name of the planet Vold would I organize an attack on a ship that I'm currently on?" Veerna retorted. "Shove aside, Sareen. There are more important things to do."

For a moment, Veerna thought Sareen would succumb to the temptation of shooting her. Then her cousin stepped aside. "Be my guest," she said.

"Officer Sareen!" It was the communications' expert. "They're establishing communications with us."

"Open the channel," Sareen commanded, moving to the middle of the command center.

The hologram sprang up, revealing the image of a middle-aged man with thinning black hair—human, Veerna thought with distaste. He smirked in pleasure when he saw Sareen. "Officer Sareen," he said in an unpleasant voice. "I am Rulon. It has come to my attention that you have two pieces of my property on board your vessel."

"I don't know anything about your property, but I do know that you're a wanted slaver," Sareen retorted. "You despicable piece of space trash, I ought to blow your ship out of the sky and send you crashing down on some planet!"

"Ahh, but prison ships aren't intended for fighting." Rulon grinned. "It will be far easier for you to hand over the two young women who so brutally escaped from me. One took down two of my men, and the other, three."

Veerna found something of vast interest on her feet. Sareen glanced over her shoulder and saw her expression. "Veerna?" she said, her eyes wide. "You caught Veerna?"

"I can see you there, my lovely prize," Rulon said, grinning when he looked at Veerna.

"I made a mistake," Veerna replied with a shrug. "I got away, though."

"By letting yourself get caught by the Federation? Not your finest hour," Rulon retorted.

"Enough," Sareen interrupted. "Who is the second slave that you require? We may be able to form some sort of agreement."

"You would trade your cousin into slavery?" Suzan said, her voice squeaking. Sareen ignored her.

Rulon's grin widened. "You seem to have a stowaway, Officer Sareen," he said. "The last Atonian is on Barank. Yulia Threden. And if you don't hand her over, we'll knock out your defenses and take them both by force. The rest of you will not receive any mercy. You have ten minutes to decide."

In the silence that followed, Rulon reached forward and shut off the holographic image. His image disappeared, and quiet overcame the command center.