The roar deafened as the sleek craft sailed in over the containers, thrusters down, landing struts deployed. The pointed nose gleamed silver in the light as it swept around and set down on the fired clay. Dust swirled and blew away. With a whine the engines began to spool down.

“Let’s hope this moment doesn’t mark the end of an era, Dek.”

“Yep.”

Kalico stepped up to the gate, nodded to Wejee, who motioned her past. She forced a knowing smile onto her lips. Well, what the hell? This was the kind of fight she’d been born and trained for. Matching wits with one of the most clever and suspicious men alive. Not to mention his Four. The First was the recorder, the technologically enhanced individual who concentrated on the witness or subject being interviewed to determine their veracity and motive. The Second was the monitor, an engineered human being with chips integrated into his brain who stored evidence. The Third was the analyst, who compared and evaluated data. And the Fourth was the enforcement officer who carried out the IG’s will, subdued or arrested suspects, and acted as personal security.

Kalico was halfway to the shuttle before Shig appeared, having come at a trot to be at her side, and there, too, was Talina Perez, dressed in a semblance of a security officer’s uniform. Not having the fine fabric used for the real thing back in Transluna, Kalico thought that Talina’s locally crafted wear came off rather tawdry, but she’d sure never tell Talina.

“Thought you were going to face the tiger alone, did you?” Tal asked.

“This is Corporate politics,” Kalico snapped, tone betraying her tension.

“Of course,” Shig said amiably. “But it would have been so rude of us not to bid the good inspector welcome. I intend to extend an invitation to my house for tea, should it please him. And I have brought him a squash. Freshly picked from my garden just this morning.”

Kalico vented her anxiety. “Shig, do you really think a Board Appointed IG gives a damn about a squash?”

Shig’s beneficent smile belied the sharp intent behind his eyes. “We are about to be in conflict, Supervisor. In many ways, our own Kurukshetra. Families and lineages from our version of Ganhara are set to do battle over Donovan, and the IG may well be our Arjuna. That being the case, it would be well for him to realize that I might be the divine ambassador of the Pandavas. The squash is offered in that spirit.”

Kalico glanced at Talina. “Any of that make sense to you?”

“Nope. But over the years there’s been talk that Shig was dropped on his head a lot when he was a baby. On the other hand, we always seem to come out of it in one piece when Shig starts spouting Buddhist crap.”

“The analogy to which I allude was Hindu,” he said with a sigh.