‘I could be enjoying one of those stupid cocktails right now,’ Rosewood grumbled, pacing in the lounge on the Diamond Dust. After a few hours of rubbing shoulders and observing the comings and goings in Nank’s resort, they’d beaten a retreat to Q’ira’s ship. With the volume of ships docking nearby, that had meant a meandering walk across floating, artificial islands of opulent comfort, all designed to pander to wealthy visitors with no hint of authenticity or culture or local life, to reach the docking panel the automated valet system had parked them at.

‘Sucks for you that we gotta work,’ said Cassidy. ‘The Regulator’s on the docket tomorrow. How do we win it?’

Aryn sighed and tossed a despondent hand. ‘If Aestri is as set on acquiring this as we are, I don’t see how we beat her. She’s got the wealth we don’t.’

‘Yeah, we can probably scare others off by pricing them out,’ mused Q’ira, leaning against her resequencer. ‘It’s a hot item with niche applications; unless you already got someone lined up to buy it, it’s the kind of thing that’s so priceless it’ll be difficult to shift. But her pockets are deeper.’

‘So we don’t beat her in the bidding,’ Cassidy surmised, gaze sweeping over the other. ‘Alternatives?’

‘We take her out of the running somehow,’ said Tiran. ‘Stop her from being in the room to bid at all.’

‘Sabotage her ship,’ suggested Nallera. ‘Spike her drink. That kind of thing.’

‘I didn’t see her eat or drink anything,’ said Rosewood. ‘She’s being careful.’

‘And we don’t know where her ship is,’ said Tiran. ‘We’ve got under eighteen hours to come up with and implement a plan.’

Rosewood’s eyes went to the ceiling. ‘What if we get someone else to get rid of her for us? Antagonise someone here and blame her? Or make it look to Nank like she’s cheating?’

‘For us to make it look like she’s cheating,’ said Cassidy, ‘we have to figure out a way to cheat.’

‘Yeah, but… badly. That’s easier, right?’

Nallera tilted her chair back, chewing on her PADD stylus as she stared directly up, thinking. ‘There’s no law enforcement here. The rest of us could just go kick off on her landing pad while Rosewood and Q’ira do the bid.’

‘Way too risky,’ said Cassidy. ‘At least, that’s our backup plan. We need something which, ideally, can’t be traced to us.’

With a small noise of frustration, Aryn pushed himself to his feet – then paused and looked at Q’ira. ‘May I use the holo-projectors?’

‘You sleep here, you can use the damn holos, Professor.’

‘Right.’ With a quick command, he’d summoned a holographic pen to his hand, and his writing hovered in mid-air as he scrawled in space in front of them. ‘Let’s break this down to the different points of failure. Aestri. She has to be present to bid – we’ve largely agreed that stopping that is complex and, thus, onto Plan B, yes?’ At nods, he pressed on. ‘She has to be able to win the auction. She has to be able to pay her bid. And she has to be able to physically collect the object.’

Cassidy’s eyebrows raised. ‘We could use this time to scope out her ship and her security. Rather than jump her before the auction, jump her on the way out. Plant a bug on her ship, follow it, take this fight off-world.’

Rosewood leaned forward, frowning. ‘I assume we’re also still rejecting a heist of Nank’s establishment.’ At Cassidy’s scowl, he subsided. ‘Spoilsport.’

‘No, wait.’ Nallera raised a hand. ‘She has to be able to win the auction.’ Everyone looked at her. ‘What does she need to do that?’

Tiran caught on first. ‘The bidding devices.’

‘Sabotage that…’

Rosewood brightened – then paused. ‘If she sits down and her device doesn’t work, she’ll get another one.’

‘If she knows it doesn’t work,’ said Nallera. She straightened her chair, a slow smile spreading across her lips. ‘I’ve got me a plan.’

‘Miss Q’ira,’ said the security guard at the doors to the auction hall, the dour Andorian’s expression nearly apologetic. ‘You know the drill.’ His tricorder had pinged on the security scan, something setting the sensors off as it swept over her necklace, and Rosewood tried to not hold his breath.

Q’ira placed a hand on her chest, eyes wide and innocent – then the affectation of realisation rose. ‘Oh, don’t worry, darling,’ she purred, and her fingers twisted to extend the gemstone dangling from the necklace. ‘It’s just this little beauty. It’s harmless, see?’ The flick of her thumb on the back of the setting brought the device to life, and the projector set into the gem sent a cascade of holographic twinkling lights shimmering around her like stars. ‘But it makes me shine.’

The security guard hesitated, and for a moment, Rosewood considered trying to back her up. Then he realised what the situation needed and made an impatient noise.

‘God, man, let her have the accessory,’ he said, sounding as long-suffering as he could muster. ‘She’ll cry about it all day if she doesn’t get to show off her new toy.’

Q’ira gave him a look of indignation he didn’t think was fully affected, but the fact her companion had been so dismissive of the device, of which she was so plainly proud, seemed to work. The Andorian stepped back with a nod, and then they were in.

‘We don’t have much time,’ Rosewood murmured as they hurried into the crowd. ‘Did you two have to spend so long on the damn necklace?’

‘Did you want us to get the device inside?’ Q’ira replied pointedly. ‘Now, where’s Nall?’

‘Here,’ said the big woman, arriving beside them with surprising stealth. ‘I’ve clocked Aestri. We got a few minutes – the later the better, so she doesn’t have time to notice. Hand it over.’

It took a moment of Q’ira fiddling with the necklace to prize the projector gem off the setting, and palm Nallera the device nestled hidden underneath – a flat circle in as close a hue of silver to the bidding equipment as Rosewood and Q’ira had been able to recall.

‘You can plant this?’ Rosewood asked Nallera, dubious.

‘Hey, you don’t build things like I do without being light-fingered.’

‘And it’ll work? Disrupt the signals, feed her false positives -’

‘Just – just worry about your job, okay?’ said Nallera, eyes a little wide as she fidgeted. ‘I know what I’m doing.’

Tiran, Cassidy, and Aryn had joined them as Nallera headed off. She still looked the part of Rosewood and Q’ira’s security, all muscle and practicality, but that had its own sheen of invisibility. It made her nothing but staff, the help. In here, attendants weren’t what mattered. The wealthy mattered.

Aryn drummed his fingers on his elbow as they waited and tried to not watch. ‘She’s subtler than she seems,’ he insisted. ‘I’ve seen her pull off harder sleights of hand than this. And, more importantly, not seen her.’

On impulse, Q’ira turned to Rosewood, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him like a puppet. ‘Let me fix your tie,’ she said, reaching to fiddle with the knot at his neck, and he was going to protest until he realised she’d repositioned him so he could stare in one direction without being expected to move or do anything. Conveniently, the same direction as Nallera.

He watched her prowl through the crowd, looking like she was doing a circuit to seek someone out or scope out the room, which was probably the best way to hide in plain sight. Aestri was on the far side of the room, her entourage around her, reading intently from a PADD, her other hand holding her bidding device. As Rosewood watched, Nallera adjusted her path to conduct what he’d expect to be a quick brush past them, only for Aestri’s security guards to watch her the whole way, forcing her to give them a wider berth.

‘They’re paranoid bastards,’ he muttered. ‘Maybe we should have done it.’

‘She already suspects us,’ Q’ira pointed out. ‘And she didn’t let us get close enough to plant it when we were talking.’

‘Damn it,’ Rosewood hissed as he saw Nallera pass them, pause, turn – and then one of Aestri’s security guards shifted to stare her down. ‘They’re not letting anyone near her.’

He watched Nallera have a stand-off with the guard which was, by now, all about covering her tracks rather than completing the mission, a staring match where the swagger was all in the eyes. She won, he fancied, sauntering off with the air of a jungle cat who had just made itself look bigger than the rival, but that didn’t get the mission done.

It also forced her to take a circuitousness way back to them, and there was no swagger in her eyes when she returned. ‘Shit.’

‘Shit indeed,’ said Rosewood, scowling. ‘They’re about to start.’

‘I know! I know, her guards wouldn’t let me close.’

Cassidy nodded at the row of chairs towards Nank and the dais. ‘They can’t crowd around her there. Not enough space. Can we get to her when she goes to sit?’

‘That’s a tight window,’ said Aryn.

‘Right,’ said Q’ira, extending a hand. ‘Give it to me. She already ignores me -’

‘You’re with me,’ said Rosewood. ‘You being anywhere else looks weird.’

‘Well, who else is going to -’

‘Give it here.’ Tiran snatched the device out of Nallera’s hand. ‘I’ll do it. Go sit, prep for the auction, and let me take care of her.’

Cassidy sucked his teeth. ‘Jessa -’

‘And if not, we raid her ship on the way out. It’s a good Plan B. But we won’t need it.’

As she headed off, Nallera gave a small, put-out frown. ‘I didn’t think she had me beat on sleight of hand.’

‘She may have you beaten on being unobtrusive, though,’ said Aryn, and looked to the others. ‘I’m going with you. We may have to figure out who any of the rival bidders are if they compete for the Regulator.’

‘You do know everything about everything,’ said Rosewood, sighing. ‘Right. On with the show. Trust Tiran. Let’s get this done.’

‘Places! The next round of bidding is to begin, with our delectable selection from the Deriot Range!’ The amplified voice of Nank, who hovered above them in the chamber, robes flapping in a way that only made Rosewood think even more of old horror movies, echoed all around.

Cassidy ground his teeth together. ‘I’m going to scope out her security. Figure out how best to kill them when the time comes.’

‘Great show of trust in Tiran,’ said Rosewood.

‘Even when she pulls it off, you have to beat everyone else,’ he pointed out. ‘Go do your job.’

On a whim, Rosewood stuck one arm out for Q’ira and the other out for Aryn, who stared at him for a beat before taking it. ‘Come along, eye candies,’ he said, nose in the air. ‘It’s time to pick up a new toy that bends space-time.’

His heart was thudding in his chest as they approached the seating. The crowd was a little different to those who’d bid on the art pieces the day before, with fewer opulently dressed socialites and more serious-faced professionals. The Andorian mercenaries were there this time, and the hard-nosed Romulan, while the Bolian was nowhere in sight.

‘Here we go,’ he breathed, sliding into the chair. Then, as Nank took to the stage, he saw movement on the far side of the seats, towards Aestri, and caught Tiran slipping through the crowd. Their eyes met for a beat, and all she did was give a small, nearly imperceptible nod.

His lips curled. ‘Alright. Showtime.’ Even if Tiran had done her part, it wasn’t over. Now, he had to do his.