Miss L walked along the brightly lit street, Sheldon following behind her. Despite the late hour, the "dark districts" were alive with activity. All kinds of alien creatures kept turning their heads toward the pair, and Miss L couldn't help noticing.
"You know, we're attracting a lot more attention with you in that uniform than I expected." Miss L drew level with Sheldon. "You're not in the Fleet anymore, are you?"
"No. You want to talk about it? I've got a great answer."
"Sheldon, I'm really grateful that you played along and got into character. But right now we need to stay as unnoticed as possible."
Miss L turned the corner, and they found themselves at the end of the street, where a secondhand clothing store stood. She stopped and nodded toward it.
"You want me to change out of my uniform?"
"Exactly."
"What are you so worried about? Me? You need me, remember?" Sheldon gave Miss L a reproachful look.
"How do I put this... Not everyone in the galaxy is thrilled about the Federation. Especially officers like you. To some of them, you're a perfect chance to settle a score..."
Suddenly, three Farsks emerged from the darkness of an alley.
They were broad-shouldered, hunched, and covered in patches of dark, ragged fur. Their elongated muzzles, heavy jaws, and short protrusions around their mouths made them look like a cross between predators and heavy industrial machines. They moved slowly and heavily.
"Hey, lovebirds! C'mere!" one of them growled. Even his speech carried an aggressive edge.
"Yeah, yeah, talkin' to you!" another rasped. "C'mere, mlekants."
"Who's calling who mlekants?" Miss L snapped. "Three hunched paks got nothin' better to do again?"
"You know their dialect?" Sheldon asked quietly.
"You wouldn't believe the kinds of creatures I sometimes have to deal with," Miss L sighed.
"Yeah, we paks, so what? Your buddy, he interest us!"
The three Farsks moved closer.
One of them stepped nose-to-nose with Sheldon and reached a clawed paw toward his uniform, about to grab it.
Crane immediately slapped the paw away.
The Farsks neighed like horses.
"Hey! This Federate not so easy!" one of them exclaimed.
"Hey, you, robnak! Take off that uniform, or I take it off myself!" The Farsk standing in front of Sheldon sounded serious.
"This robnak turn you into stone. Stay faaaar from him."
Miss L tried to end the conversation, but apparently only made them angrier.
"Eh-eh-eh, Miss L, don't make us mad! We trail this robnak all way from station! Or you want problems too?" one of the other Farsks said rudely.
"Yeah, girlie, shut mouth, or you get some too!" the third one blurted out.
"Is that how you talk to a woman? Nobody ever teach you any respect?"
Sheldon had heard enough.
He grabbed the Farsk's paw and twisted it so hard that the creature dropped straight to the ground.
The other two immediately pulled out automatic weapons.
They were ready to open fire when another Farsk voice came from behind them - deeper and far rougher.
"Hey. What's going on here?"
Footsteps approached, and two officers stepped into the light. One was a Farsk, the other human. Both wore gray-and-orange uniforms and carried laser pistols.
Everyone around here knew the local police, and arguing with them was generally a bad idea.
"We just trade here. Show guns," one of the armed Farsks answered quickly.
He tried to hide the weapon, but he was too slow.
The human officer immediately took the gun from him and shook his head.
"No. Don't. Show me your permits."
"Aaah! Son of the Witch! Let go me!" shouted the Farsk lying on the ground.
His paw was still in Sheldon's grip.
Sheldon had become so distracted by the arrival of the officers that he'd forgotten all about him. He finally let go.
"John, deal with them," said the Farsk officer.
Then he motioned Miss L over with one paw and pointed to where he wanted her to stand. She nodded and joined Sheldon.
"Are you aware that unauthorized use of a Federation uniform is punishable by seven days in detention?" the Farsk officer asked in perfectly standard speech, without a trace of the dialect.
"Of course, Officer..."
"Chao."
The officer pressed a button on his uniform, and the space around him lit up for almost two meters, as if his entire outfit were covered in tiny lamps.
He pointed at the badge on his chest.
OFF. CHAO. RANK 2.
John did the same, lighting the alley even further.
"Now you. Identification."
While the Farsks showed their weapons permits, Sheldon and Miss L produced their ID cards.
Chao took both cards and stepped aside. He ran them through a scanner, studied the information that appeared, and frowned.
Then he returned to Sheldon.
"Mr. Crane. According to the database, you are no longer listed as active-duty personnel. However, the formal termination of your authority has not yet been completed. Your officer identification and your authorization to wear the uniform expire in twenty minutes. Under the new law, I am required to confiscate it after that. Your access to Federation databases will also be terminated."
"I can't exactly walk around naked. At least let me buy something else. Over there."
Sheldon pointed over his shoulder toward the store.
"Granted. Besides, Miss L, I have a few questions for you."
Chao nodded to Sheldon, and he headed inside.
The store was unexpectedly spacious. Clothes were hanging and piled everywhere - a genuine supermarket of secondhand fashion.
Suddenly, a smiling Aurelian salesman appeared directly in front of Sheldon.
He wore a mesh tank top and skin-tight crimson pants.
"My friend! Welcome, Federation officer, to our wonderful store! May I offer you something? This is a great honor for me!"
"Yes. I need some different clothes..." Sheldon began.
"Don't speak. Hush!"
The Aurelian grabbed Sheldon by the shoulders, then dreamily raised his eyes toward the ceiling.
"Vadony, this is the moment!"
"Vadony?"
"Yes! Vadony Tamm. Former costume designer for high-society parties, now owner of this wonderful establishment. That's me, at your service!"
Vadony released Sheldon and crossed his arms, studying him carefully.
The bioluminescent lines along his neck and chest flared a brilliant gold.
"What I actually need is..." Sheldon tried again.
"Don't speak. Hush!"
Vadony thought for a moment.
"Secret agent mission! Undercover at a party full of mafia bosses! Yes? Correct?"
"Well... partly."
"Yes! I know exactly what you need, Officer."
Vadony vanished behind a mountain of clothes.
A few seconds later, he burst back out holding a lemon-yellow jacket and a pair of purple trousers.
He practically sparkled with happiness as he presented his discovery. The golden glow along his neck shifted to a warm yellow.
"That's not exactly..."
"Yes! Super-secret agent! Oh, what happiness!"
Vadony disappeared again.
Sheldon remained standing alone in the middle of the store.
A few seconds later, the salesman suddenly appeared behind him carrying a black leather jacket, a dark sweater, and matching dark trousers.
Sheldon opened his mouth.
"Don't speak. Hush! This outfit is perfect. Go on, try it!"
Vadony pointed toward the changing room.
Sheldon silently went inside.
When he came back out, Vadony was already waiting for him, holding an enormous mirror.
The moment the Aurelian saw Sheldon, he froze in amazement.
"What? Bad?" Sheldon asked.
"Per-fect! Vadony, you've outdone yourself!"
He applauded himself, then bowed to an imaginary audience consisting entirely of Sheldon.
Crane looked at himself in the mirror one more time and gave an approving nod.
Then they headed toward the register.
"All right, look right here..." Vadony pointed toward the scanner.
Sheldon presented his face.
The moment the system recognized him and his information appeared on the screen, Vadony screamed as though he'd just won a million credits.
"Aaaah! Oh my God! The stars favor me! It's Sheldon Crane himself!"
"Wow," Sheldon said.
"I've read so much about you! At first I thought it was you, but I couldn't believe my own eyes, so I told myself, 'Vadony, be professional!' And I was floating on wings like..."
"Just tell me how much I owe you."
"I'm afraid you don't have sufficient funds to pay for..."
Vadony abruptly stopped and gave Sheldon a sly look.
"Don't speak. Hush. I'll give you everything for free. If..."
"If?"
"If you take a picture with me and record this: 'I'm Sheldon Crane, friend of Vadony. Drop by - you won't regret it.'"
"The first sentence will be enough."
"In-cre-di-ble! Incredible!"
Vadony immediately stepped beside Sheldon, turned the scanner's camera toward them, and grinned.
Sheldon managed a slight smile.
"I'm Sheldon Crane, friend of Vadony."
Vadony immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulders again.
"That's all?"
"Of course."
"Please, come back sometime. Promise me."
"I promise..." Sheldon sighed.
Vadony finally released him.
Crane picked up his carefully folded Federation uniform and left the store.
"Ciao, my hero!" Vadony shouted after him.
"What exactly happened in there?" Chao asked.
"Fan and salesman. Two in one."
Sheldon handed him the uniform.
Chao immediately noticed how carefully and neatly it had been folded, as though it were a dress uniform rather than something Sheldon wore every day.
"I'm sorry. Those are the rules."
"I know."
Chao took the uniform.
Meanwhile, John ordered the three Farsks to follow him.
They looked extremely unhappy about it.
"What about them?" Sheldon asked, nodding in their direction.
"Permits expired. They're being taken to detention," Miss L replied, then looked Sheldon over. "You actually have enough money to pay for those clothes?"
"I already paid."
Sheldon noticed the playful look in her eyes.
"What?"
"You look so good! Wow... You're much better without the uniform."
A signal from the marker left by her associates interrupted her.
"Damn it, we need to hurry. Those Farsks already cost us enough time."
"By the way, I wanted to ask. What does 'robnak' mean? Never heard that one before."
"Oh, basically 'idiot' or 'simpleton' in their dialect. You should've seen their faces when they found out who you were!" Miss L was clearly delighted. "Shame you missed it."
"Well, at least you got lucky."
Sheldon had barely finished when he noticed Chao approaching again.
"Sheldon, on behalf of the Galf Planetary Police, I'd like to thank you for your contribution during the war. I took part myself. Served in the Federation Fleet. Now I continue my service here."
He took out his scanner.
"If you ever need work, here are my coordinates."
Sheldon pulled out his own device and accepted the information.
The screen displayed:
CHAO SA. GALF PDA OFFICER.
Sheldon confirmed the transfer.
At that exact moment, the screen flashed with bright red letters.
ACCESS TO FEDERATION DATABASE DENIED. UPDATE YOUR CREDENTIALS.
Sheldon stared at the message for several seconds.
"Thank you, Officer. Have a good evening."
"You too, Sheldon."
Chao nodded and slowly walked away.
Miss L looked at Sheldon.
"So, cowboy. You're a civilian now. How does the new status feel?"
It was hard to tell whether she was teasing him or genuinely asking.
"Let's focus on the job."
Sheldon looked directly into her eyes and spoke clearly and firmly, almost as if he were giving an order again.
"Where's your transport?"
"When you look at me like that, I want to give myself to you right here..." Miss L didn't even try to hide her desire. "Maybe we should try again? I'll be a good girl."
"L. Not now."
"Fine. Follow me," she replied, sounding slightly disappointed, and led Sheldon quickly through the district.
Her transport was parked nearby.
They climbed in and sped toward the marker.
They spent most of the journey in silence.
Miss L tried to start a conversation several times, but Sheldon was lost in thought and answered absentmindedly.
He simply stared through the window at the rapidly changing landscape.
The city soon gave way to dense forest.
Nothing unusual about that. An ordinary taxi could take someone from an orbital station down to the planet in a matter of minutes, with the passenger barely noticing the transition.
When they reached their destination, they found themselves beside a rural road.
A container stood near the roadside.
They got out and opened it.
Inside were a pair of glasses, an invitation, clothes, and weapons.
"All right, let's see who you are."
Miss L opened the invitation.
"Ah. Colton Walton. I know him. Once tried to sell me some garbage contract. Good thing I turned it down."
"What are the glasses for?"
"New feature. Put them on, and they change your face a little."
"A hologram? People still use that ancient junk?"
"Oh, shut up. It's what we've got."
Miss L looked at the clothes, then at Sheldon.
"I don't think you need to change again. But I'd take that blaster."
"I'll manage without it."
Sheldon picked up the glasses and put them on.
Within seconds, a high-quality hologram completely covered his face, making him unrecognizable to both people and most scanners.
A blond, wrinkled man now stood in front of Miss L.
She grimaced.
"You remind me of a certain pirate... Never mind. Let's go. I know the address."
They climbed back into the transport.
A few minutes later, an enormous mansion appeared ahead.
The road leading toward it was packed with vehicles, forcing Miss L to drive carefully.
Their transport stopped at the gates.
Miss L looked at Sheldon one more time.
They didn't have to wait long.
A huge armed man quickly approached them.
"Your invitation, please."
Miss L met his gaze and slowly placed the forged invitation into his hand.
The guard's hard expression gradually softened.
He looked at the invitation, then at Miss L.
Suddenly, she interested him far more than the piece of paper.
"Everything all right, mister?" Her voice became soft and soothing.
"You can call me Fedder. Maybe we should skip this whole thing and go somewhere more private?"
"Maybe next time, darling. But right now, if you don't mind, Mr. Walton would like to attend the banquet."
Fedder nodded and let them through.
Miss L drove casually into the enormous courtyard and parked right beside the fountain, almost in the most visible spot she could find.
Sheldon was about to get out when he stopped.
"Do your hypnotic abilities work on everyone?"
"Um... I'm not completely sure."
"What about the Faceless?"
"Definitely not. That's why I need you. I thought you at least knew how to identify them."
"You seriously think I can just look at someone and know whether they're Faceless?"
"Well... you're Sheldon Crane."
"Excellent plan."
He opened the door and got out.
Miss L had prepared for every possible security measure - scanners, guards, invitations.
She even managed to flirt with a Taress who looked suspiciously like the Prime Minister of the Galactic Council.
His name was Verraskhelion.
Tall and almost motionless, he stood surrounded by crime bosses from a dozen different species.
Taresses were rarely seen, and Sheldon let his gaze linger on him.
A dark robe covered four massive legs. Each of his four arms ended in only two long fingers. His elongated face flowed into an unusual skull surrounded by curling bone structures extending around the back of his head.
Verraskhelion carried himself with stiff, almost theatrical manners.
But even he found it difficult to resist Miss L's beauty and charm - especially when her hypnosis was added to the combination.
That was how she learned exactly who he was.
The "Dark Baron."
That was what he was called within the galaxy's closed criminal circles.
Verraskhelion was considered one of the most influential crime lords in the galaxy, if not the most influential.
Even Miss L was surprised she'd managed to pull that information out of him at all.
And that wasn't everything.
Verraskhelion told her that an auction would take place that evening, offering some of the rarest - if stolen - works of art in the galaxy.
He knew almost everyone present personally.
After all, he was the one who had organized the auction.
When Miss L asked which guests he didn't know, Verraskhelion pointed out several of them.
Then, unexpectedly, he advised her to stay away from the man she'd arrived with.
According to him, that man was going to come to a bad end.
Miss L merely smiled.
Sheldon had been watching her from across the room the entire time.
Seconds later, his device received a message containing a list of the guests Verraskhelion didn't recognize.
How exactly Miss L had managed to send it in the middle of their conversation was a mystery.
But it was enough.
Sheldon now had a difficult task ahead of him: find the single Faceless hiding among several suspects.
He read each description, memorized them, and went to work.
The banquet hall was filled with aliens of every kind, including species even Sheldon had never seen before.
They talked, introduced themselves, discussed the auction, or simply enjoyed themselves.
The elite of the criminal world behaved surprisingly like the elite of the galaxy.
No insults.
No indecent behavior.
At least not yet.
Sheldon pretended to socialize while watching every possible Faceless.
Miss L continued entertaining Verraskhelion, occasionally glancing toward Sheldon.
He checked one suspect, then another.
He talked to them, watched them, asked questions, and moved on.
Nothing in their behavior revealed a Faceless.
Taking advantage of a moment when someone distracted Verraskhelion, Miss L quickly slipped over to Sheldon.
"Found him?"
"You think it's easy? Try it yourself."
"I'm already keeping Verraskhelion busy so he doesn't suspect anything. The second round of the auction starts soon. We need to hurry."
"Yeah. Very funny."
Sheldon took a cocktail from a passing waiter's tray and drained the glass in one swallow.
"Listen. Your guys know how to copy keys. Have them make a copy of the vault key."
"No problem. Find Kelano, and they'll take care of it. This isn't some door lock where you can buy the code from a waiter for a few credits. We need a personal key."
"And your new friend isn't willing to share his with such a charming girl?"
"I don't think so. He resists me pretty well. Although I can tell part of him would still like to get me alone."
Sheldon thought for a moment.
"Then I don't understand how Kelano has a personal key."
Miss L fell silent.
Sheldon seemed to have hit the right point.
"Unless he's someone Verraskhelion already knows..."
"L... Damn it. We're looking at the wrong people."
Sheldon returned the empty glass to a passing waiter.
"Find out which of this guy's close friends are here. Fast."
"Hey, careful. He is the Dark Baron."
"I'm not into your role-playing games. You want me to do the job, show me his closest associates."
Miss L nodded and immediately returned to Verraskhelion.
At that moment, the master of ceremonies appeared and announced that the second round of the auction would soon begin in the grand banquet hall.
Most of the guests began heading in that direction.
To avoid standing out, Sheldon moved with the flow of the criminal elite.
Then he noticed a huge man.
The man perfectly matched one of the known crime bosses Sheldon had seen in the database.
He looked toward Miss L.
No message yet.
Sheldon moved closer and stayed near the enormous human brute, who was covered in Vesperian gold.
He glanced toward Miss L again.
A few seconds later, his device vibrated.
BIG GUY - CLOSE FRIEND OF VERRASKHELION.
Sheldon quickly closed the distance.
From only a few steps away, something about the man's appearance finally erased Sheldon's remaining doubts.
He grabbed the man's arm and locked it in an iron grip.
"Kelano. Got you. Don't move, or everyone here finds out what you really are."
Kelano stopped struggling.
"All right. What do you want, human?"
His voice sounded artificial and completely emotionless.
"The key to the vault."
"That's impossible... It was..."
Kelano tried to pull free, but Sheldon tightened his grip.
The threat became perfectly clear.
"Funny thing about the human body. Weak and vulnerable. If you take the shape of one of us, you'd better be ready to feel the same physical pain we do."
"It was always your fault. Not ours," Kelano hissed.
Then he looked at the unfamiliar face hiding Sheldon behind the hologram and unexpectedly smiled.
"Look at you, Sheldon Crane. You're very much like us."
Sheldon froze for a fraction of a second.
"What? How do you know me?"
"We all know you. All the Faceless do."
Kelano leaned slightly closer.
"Believe me, you're getting involved in something that's going to end very badly. For you as well."
"What are you talking about?"
Sheldon squeezed his arm even harder.
Kelano laughed through the pain.
"You understand perfectly well."
He looked Sheldon directly in the eyes and smiled.
Then, taking advantage of Sheldon's brief hesitation, he suddenly tore his arm free.
"Damn it."
"I can see everything. You don't just understand. You know."
Kelano smiled again.
"But does your girlfriend know?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. You've got two seconds. Tell me what I need to know, or I'll expose you."
"Don't bother."
Kelano slipped a hand into his pocket.
"I won't expose you. You won't expose me."
He pulled out a card and handed it to Sheldon.
"Hangar 77. Code: 1.2.9.9.8.7. That's everything. The card contains a scan of my hand. Take whatever you want."
Sheldon accepted the card.
"You're just giving it to me?"
"Exactly."
Kelano winked.
"See you around."
He grabbed a passing alien woman and headed into the hall with her.
Sheldon watched him for several seconds.
Then he quickly slipped the card into an inside pocket and moved on.
A minute later, Miss L intercepted him.
"Well?"
"Done."
Sheldon tapped the front of his jacket.
"Wow. How did you manage that?"
"I'll tell you later. Let's get out of here."
"And now those door keys are going to come in very handy. Let's go."
Miss L and Sheldon quickly headed toward the nearest door.
Ahead of them waited a series of guards and locked passages they would have to get through quickly without drawing suspicion.