The inspector spent only another ten minutes examining the scene before they left, heading towards the tram.

"I'm not fond of the Inspector's tone to the Colonel," Vargas admitted to Natalina, as they followed behind.

"It's a necessity of his job," Natalina replied. "But the sooner he can rule out Redgrave, the better."

Ahead of them, the Inspector's questions took a louder turn as Valen stepped past him.

"Colonel, I want that question answered!" Inspector Effran almost shouted, angrily.

But Natalina found her heart was hammering, when she saw Valen's hand rested on his sword.

Ahead, a group of nine or ten people were having a conversation in the middle of the street, loudly laughing.

All of them seemed to be carrying tools, were dressed in thick clothes, and were wearing heavy boots.

Not the kind of work clothes for a farming community.

"Jasper, Vargas, is the way behind us empty?" Valen asked, loudly.

Calinda glanced behind Natalina, and with a forced grin, said, "group of four, wall construction crew, with odd-looking tools sir."

"Weapons out!" Valen barked. Valen barely finished speaking when Natalina heard the hiss of steel sliding across steel as swords were drawn. "Blitz them. Make sure the civilians make it through. See them to the comm station, four blocks down the road."

"Aye, sir," Vargas said, stepping close to Natalina.

"Follow behind us," Jerome said to her and Arnold. "Run around us on the outside, and keep running once you make it. We'll hold the way, and follow when we can."

Past Valen, the advancign group stopped their conversation and charged.

At the same time, Jerome and Calinda charged at the other four, shortswords in their hands. Both of them moved with the easy confidence of professionals, and their approach took the small gang by surprise.

Jerome had punched his sword into the closest man's chest before he could react, and lunged forward to another. Calinda charged wildly into another, driving him back and knocking him into one of his companions.

Arnold ran into the gap Calinda created and Natalina followed, dashing around and just past the fight. One of the goons, a sickly looking man with long, unwashed hair made a lunge for her, but lost a piece of his hand as Calinda kept their escape route open.

As they made it around, Arnold grabbed a piece of pipe and moved to help them.

But the odds had already shifted in their favour. The man who had tried to grab Natalina now lay on the street, unmoving, and the other two were trying to escape from the fight.

One of them lunged desperately at Jerome, who almost casually locked his attacker's arm before swinging the blunt side of his sword into the woman's elbow. She went down with a groan, before being hit in the head with the blunt side of Jerome's sword, but her distraction allowed the last one to slip past and escape.

Calinda didn't follow, instead keeping herself between the fleeing thug and Natalina.

Natalina finally looked back to where Colonel Redgrave had engaged nearly a dozen others. She wasn't surprised to see that the fight was already over, the old Colonel had been outnumbered twelve to one. She was ready to run, to scream and call for help, but she could only stare in mute disbelief.

The only one standing was Colonel Redgrave.

He was surrounded by bodies, and was holding a small sware of what looked like chainmail, rubbing it along the length of his sword.

It took Natalina a moment to remember that Valen was an officer. Blood freezes almost instantly on a cold-stone sword. It had to be scraped, rather than wiped off.

"We have one captive, sir!" Jerome called out, waving. Natalina was surprised at how nonchalant he seemed about witnessing the evidence of Colonel Redgrave's skill with a sword.

"Good. I'm a little curious about who wanted to kill the civilians with us," Valen said, sheathing his sword and marching towards them.

"Eleven," Arnold Effran said, dropping his pipe. "You cut down eleven armed men."

"I did," Valen replied, with as much emotion as he might have put into describing his breakfast.

"I wrote novellas for entertainment rags before I found a job with a newspaper," Natalina said. "I've had work rejected for being too fanciful. And I wouldn't willingly write letting one old man take on eleven and survive."

"Old man?" Valen asked, with an amused chuckle.

"You can convincingly say 'I'm too old for this shit', Colonel," Natalina said, smiling again. "Afraid you qualify."

"I'll endure your irreverence," Colonel Valen replied. Natalina watched as the Old Colonel surveyed the scene at their feet, and smiled in approval. "I see the two of you made short work of those four. Two dead, one wounded, and one escaped. We even have someone to question. Excellent work."

He turned back to Natalina, and added "I won't fault your for failing to get our civvies to escape. It's not your fault they never learned to follow orders."

"I suppose this puts you in the clear." Arnold Effran said to Valen. "Whoever is running this conspiracy tried to assassinate you."

Jerome laughed, and Natalina turned to him, inviting him to explain. "No Colonel alive would expect that crew to get the best of Colonel Redgrave. Which means they weren't expecting him, and were probably after one of us."

"You, Mrs Casper, are the most likely target," Valen said as he joined them.

"I'm not surprised," Natalina replied.

"You know the most, and were probably considered the easiest to silence," Valen said. "Of course, thanks to that, we have our first conspirator."

As Valen finished speaking, the woman Jerome had knocked unconscious groaned and rolled over.

Surprisingly, Redgrave knelt down next to her, and offered her a small flask. "It's just water. You'd probably want something stronger, with the way your head's feeling."

The woman sat up, gingerly testing her broken arm, drank a few deep sips. "It might help me believe what happened. Bad enough I was smacked around by that gorilla, but you made us look like a gang of children."

"You took on Valen Redgrave," Calinda said, crouching next to the woman who had attacked them.

"Who?" The woman asked, confused.

"Really should do your homework. Now, I imagine you want to keep silent about things we want to know. I really wouldn't advise that." Calinda said, smiling. Natalina noticed there was no warmth in that smile. "Because right now, you're a military prisoner, captured while attempting to assassinate a Colonel. Everything that happens to you depends largely on how much you're willing to tell us."

"I'm not talking, harpy," the woman replied.

Calinda smirked. "I don't mind. But if you and I don't develop some rapport before soldiers from the comm station arrive, you're going to be turned over to professional interrogators."

"So I sit in a room and get harassed until what I know isn't useful anymore," the woman said, with a smirk. "I'll be fed better than I have been in years."

"You weren't listening," Calinda said mildly. "Military interrogators will reward your cooperation with food. Keep you mouth shut, and they'll start by pulling out your fingernails."

Their captive flinched but didn't respond.

"And to make sure you don't bleed out, they call in a Crafter to cauterize the wounds." Calinda continued. "This is what we do out of spite when prisoners don't answer questions. Now, I need you to understand that life as you know it is over. One way or another, you're done with freedom. I'm only offering you the choice between a bed in a hospice to get your elbow looked at, or a damp cell lined with Coldstone while you try to stand on your toe-less feet."

Calinda smiled again, with all the warmth of that Coldstone cell she promised. "You have until the MPs show up."

"You'd torture me?"

"Me? No. Professionals would."

"Okay. I'm an enforcer for the Coal Oven, an Undercity gang. Boss sent us topside to watch for the day anyone went into Colonel Darrower's apartment. We were told to kill whoever did."

"You didn't have a particular target?"

"Only that some nosy reporter might sneak inside. We weren't expecting soldiers. And we weren't expecting whatever the burning hell you are," The woman gesture towards Valen.

Valen nodded in response and stepped forward. "I take it your little group was responsible for Colonel Carla Darrower's death."

He said it quietly, almost emotionlessly. But Natalina could hear the fury lying under the Colonel's tightly controlled voice.

"Did you take her sword?" Natalina asked.

"We did. It was the promised payment," The woman said.

"Any idea who your boss was going to sell it to?"

The woman smirked. "The Porters. There's a vein we've been eyeing for years that they'll get us access to. We already broke the tip off the sword to prove it's genuine. The meeting is set to happen soon."

"Soon? How soon?"

"Two weeks from tomorrow. Look, is this enough? To keep me away from the military interrogators?" The woman asked.

"Huh." Natalina said, as she stepped away.

Both Valen and Efran followed her, as they stepped out of earshot.

"You're comfortable with letting me take her into custody, aren't you?" Effran asked Valen. "It is our jurisdiction, but I'm not sure my entire precinct is enough to stop you."

Valen sighed and looked back at the dozen bodies on the street behind him. "I don't like being forced to kill. One more reason I want to find whoever is orchestrating this conspiracy. But thank you, inspector, for allowing my soldier's deception to play out. I appreciate the indulgence. She's yours, with my thanks."

"The bluff was a smart play. But what we've learned only sends us to a practical dead end. I can't make any moves in the Undercity. No one in the Orderlies can. We can't move with the force we'd need to take apart a gang down there." Inspector Effran admitted.

"Neither can the Military," Valen added. "We can move with the strength required, but we can't guarantee it wouldn't arrest their productivity quotas. And even for this, I can't risk those quotas. The Sixth is due."

Natalina smiled. "Looks like it's up to me," she said.

"You have a plan?" Colonel Redgrave asked.

"I do," Natalina said, surprising herself. "I just need to get to the head of these 'Porters', and get there with enough firepower that a gang boss is willing to listen to reason. Once that happens, I get him to take the leadership of this 'Coal Oven', and we find out who they're conspiring with."

"Do you think you can manage it?" Valen asked, with a dreadful intensity that made the hair on the back of Natalina's neck stand up.

She swallowed before answering.

"Yes." She said as convincingly as she could. "I can."