The sun had risen high in the sky, and "Pinch" was running towards her destination. She knew where Johnson was going - there was but one way.

Strangely enough she didn't feel as exhausted as she should have been after taken all those hits during the last fight and after her last race against the clock. She didn't run as fast as before, but she didn't become tired as quickly, and she made very good time. As she reached the hills on which Butter had run away from her, she could overview the valley - and in the distance she could make out a lone, tall figure moving towards the mountains behind the crash site.

That's how it is then. Jesper had pointed the direction, but it was logical the way would lead there, too. The shuttle must have been right above Johnson's hidden space ship as it had triggered the automatic defense with its sensors. Maybe on the other side of these impenetrable rock side - maybe there was a path which she had just not seen in her injured state back then. Otherwise she might have found the ship and would have been finished off by the security system immediately.

She kept running. She was determined to face Johnson. To stop him.

The figure in the valley wasn't moving that fast, it was in no hurry. "Pinch" on the other hand accelerated her steps as well as she could and approached it. She was surprised herself about the speed with which she was chasing Johnson. Not only because after all those events from before she should have been at the end of her bodily strength, but also because she feared what would happen when she had reached him. Jesper's laser pistol was charged and ready, but what would happen if she confronted him? Well, first she had to get to him.

She avoided the woods and stayed out in the open landscape when she herself had reached the valley. This time she noticed that the way didn't feel quite as long as the first time. Sure, with the shock of the crash and her head concussion the way had not been easy for her at all. But now she felt better, apart from what Whitmore had done to her. She felt stronger and more up to the task, physically as well as mentally. She was ready to face whatever was coming to her.

Soon she was close enough to Johnson...

He was about to climb a rocky hill. He had not noticed her yet. "Pinch" pulled out the laser, turned the safety catch off. He legs in a stable stance, the finger put on the edge over the trigger... No, she thought. No hesitation. Not this time. She took the finger down and put it directly on the trigger. The weapon right before her eyes she took aim. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her beating heart through her willpower and to surpress the trembling in her hands. Johnson had his back on her, moving uphill at a leisure pace. A few dozen steps seperated him from her - not a meaningful distance for a laser blast.

Yet she could not do it.

She wanted to stop him. She wanted to prevent him from going about his criminal business, from endangering innocent people. What he did to her and Tammy, what he had been prepared to do to the other children should never happen again. But still it felt so wrong to her. She had never killed anybody, and despite all that happened she still didn't want to. There had to be some other way to bring him down. But if she did anything else, Johnson would react to it. And "Pinch" had the feeling that he wouldn't ract like Sykes and go into panic - he would end her. Without thinking twice, without remorse. Without "Pinch" standing the slightest of chances.

Suddenly an idea came to her. A memory of two days ago, her standing there in a similar situation with a loaded gun, unsure if she had it in her. Until she asked herself:

What if I didn't kill them?

Her finger pulled the trigger. The shot flashed, the blast sounded eerily loud in "Pinch's" ears. She hit Johnson in his right shoulder - got him ice-cold, without any warning. A scream came from him, full of pain and surprise. He lost his balance, fell to the ground, rolled the few steps downhill back into the valley. "Pinch's" heart was thumping inside her chest, and she felt torn. On one hand she hoped that he would survive this, on the other hand she was afraid of what he would do if he did. She kept the pistol pointed at him, the finger ready on the trigger, waiting for his reaction.

Johnson was experienced. He had gotten around a lot and surely had made it through several ugly situations. With his right hand he reached for his own weapon instinctively, but since the shot had injured his shoulder, he took one fraction of a second too long. And "Pinch" beat him to it. Again her finger moved, again a laser blast flashed. This time the target wasn't Johnson himself - but his weapon.

With a crack, a nasty grinding sound and a rain of sparks the shot blasted off the front part of the gun. Johnson's hand reaching for it flinched back immediately. As the sparks were spraying, "Pinch" knew that he wouldn't use this weapon anymore.

In this tiny moment Johnson's eyes looked for the enemy, and he detected "Pinch" at once. It took him a few more seconds before he understood. But he did, and unlike his companions he recognized "Pinch". Although she looked different from before, with other clothes and another hairstyle, he knew who was standing before him. His mouth kept open from surprise and astonishment. His eyes that had narrowed from the pain widened again. He was completely speechless.

"Pinch" couldn't think of something appropriate to say, either. So the whispering wind was the only sound on the plains. No, that wasn't quite accurate. "Pinch" heard her own breath, her own flow of blood, the beating of her heart. The silence became unbearable, and while she still kept the pistol aimed at Johnson who looked at her quietly, she wondered if this moment would last forever and if she was supposed to stand here for all eternity. Come on, say something, she thought by herself. Do something! Come on! She didn't even know whether those thoughts were directed at Johnson or at herself.

Although Johnson didn't speak one single word, his gaze gave away a lot. In the meantime he had come over his surprise and had closed his mouth again. Now he was looking at her with an entirely different expression. What she could see in that puzzled and scared her at the same time. He wasn't afraid of her, although she had the upper hand in this moment. He neither seemed impressed by the laser in her hand nor by the fact that it was her who just shot him. His eyes in fact told very openly that he understood what was going through "Pinch's" head now. And he understood that she could not do it. He didn't even have to speak it oud loudly to throw that in her face.

Get a grip, her thoughts in the back of her head hissed, and this time those were directed at her. It has to end. Here and now!

She had beaten Sykes, in a battle in which despite everything that had happened she hat been the inferior opponent. She had brought an end to Whitmore, defeated him on his own battlegrounds. As she looked into Johnson's eyes she realized that this was just another battle she had to win - a duel of minds, in which it would be decided whether she pulled the trigger one more time or not. When she had met Johnson for the first time, she had wondered what his strength was. It was more than just his intelligence - it was his persuasive power. The ability to make two henchman of the vilest sort to follow his orders without questioning. The ability that made Vera fear him without saying or doing anything big. The ability that now prevented her from shooting him purely by his stance and his facial expression.

And apparently he read in her face that she had realized that. His expression changed, he seemed to wait just like she did. It would have been so much easier if he had just jumped up and tried to attack her, even without his laser. But this was not going to happen. She knew that, and he knew that she knew. And so on...

"So what now?" Johnson suddenly asked. "Pinch" had halfway expected him to put a gloating undercurrent in this question, but he didn't. He sounded neutral, almost laid back, and he seemed to be serious about this question.

Well, she was ready to give him a serious answer as well. "You surrender. It's as easy as that." She could tell how her voice was trembling, but she gathered all her willpower and withstood his gaze. The barrel of her gun was still aiming at him.

For an endless seeming momentJohnson looked at her. Then he shook his head. "No" he replied. "It is not that easy at all." With a nod he pointed at the gun. "You know that this is no stun weapon. You know what will happen when you pull the trigger." His gaze caught hers, he looked her straight in the eyes. Stared into them without blinking, carrying a dangerous expression. "But can you do this? Do you have what it takes?" After another long pause he added: "Could you live with it?"

His gaze pierced her eyes, and she had the feeling that he was looking right into her soul. And he knew that she didn't want to do it. She came here to stop him, but that price she didn't want to pay. Even when she defeated Sykes and Whitmore, she had been relieved that both of them had been still alive. She would have killed Johnson in self defense, but he didn't threaten her now. He couldn't do anything against her.

What about all those people he harmed? her inner voice asked. What about all those he will harm if he gets away? "Pinch" braced herself, but just to keep herself from shaking her head over those thoughts. It's not my decision to make. That can't be a reason to take someone's life.

All of that Johnson could read in her face and eyes, she was certain about that. It was futile to try and hide it from him or deny it. Slowly she lowered the gun. "No, I can't" she admitted. "You're absolutely right."

Then she raised the gun again and shot his leg without warning.

It was as if the walls came down with this single shot, as if Johnson's entire defense was shattered with one strike. The laser beam pierced his upper thigh and left a smoking hole in it. Johnson cried out in pain, his face squinched. The yell echoed in the valley, probably audible for miles. "Damn it!" he yelled painfully. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

"Pinch" allowed herself a small triumphant grin. "I think you grown-ups have had too many wars to understand that there is more than just one way. Kill or be killed? How narrow-minded can you be?"

"What do you want from me?" Johnson tried to hold both his shot wounds at the same time and grinded his teeth while staring at "Pinch" with open fury.

"I told you already" "Pinch" replied. "Surrender!"

Johnson looked down on his weapon in his belt, and his hand twitched in a reflex after it. But it was a senseless gesture. Then his gaze turned to "Pinch" again. "Forget about that, you little..."

Another shot flashed. This time it hit the other thigh. Johnson's yell of pain filled out the entire valley. "Why?" he screamed as he was able to articulate again. "Why are you doing this? You want money?"

"I don't want your money" "Pinch" hissed angrily. What did he take her for?

"So you want vengeance?" Johnson kept asking, clutching his new wound with a moan. "Have I done you wrong? Is that the reason you hunted me down?"

"Pinch" raised her eyebrows. "Done me wrong? Well, that's one way to put it. But that's not the reason either." She took one step closer. "I am here because what you are doing is wrong. Because I believe that someone needs to stop you. Even if I have to do it myself."

Johnson looked at her in disbelief. "An idealist, then? I... just can't believe it." He stopped himself. And turned his look away from her. Pain still overshadowed his face, but "Pinch" could also see that he became pensive right now. Eventually he looked at her again. "Maybe you're right. But this is about a whole lot of money..."

"I know about the stones" "Pinch" countered. "I listened in on you talking about them just before I escaped. And believe me when I tell you that it wouldn't have mattered to me. You shouldn't have taken me prisoner. And you should have left the other children alone - they wouldn't have cared either."

Johnson considered her words. Slowly he nodded. "I couldn't take chances here. Nobody was supposed to know about us here and what we were doing. I couldn't be sure if you or one of the other children wouldn't tell on us."

A deep impatient sigh came from "Pinch's" chest. "And the alternative? Have me tied up at the mercy of your two goons? Blow the other children up in the tunnels? Beating Jesper to an inch of his life just for letting me go? You think this is the right way?"

"Believe me, I haven't wished for any of that to happen like it did" Johnson replied. "Those circumstances were not my choice. But you seem to be a very clever girl. Be honest, if you had been in my place, would you have done so much differently?"

"I would have known right from wrong" "Pinch" threw back at him. "Yes, I would have done a lot differently. I wouldn't have threatened innocent people, I wouldn't have taken children hostage and left them to die, I wouldn't have broken all the rules just to make quick money." With another sigh she raised the gun again. "Maybe I should just keep shooting..."

"No!" Johnson yelled terrified and raised his hands. "Wait! Please, wait..." He looked right into the barrel of "Pinch's" weapon, and at once it was like his threatening presence had vanished - this everlasting shadow that had scared and unsettled her. What remained was a man, a simple man in the clothes of a barely successful mercenary who was at her mercy now and knew it. A man who for the first time in his life was now completely honest towards someone. "I am sorry" he exclaimed, and he sounded sincere.

But "Pinch" was merciless. "Not good enough." She put the finger on the trigger.

"What do you want to hear?" Johnson called out in desperation. "I truly regret what I have done. I admit to having made mistakes. Damn it, what else do you want from me?"

In the distance, on the edge of one of the hills behind Johnson's back, "Pinch" noticed that several figures appeared. They were close enough for her to make out the uniforms and the heavy laser rifles they were holding ready in their hands. Those people were led by a tall figure with broad shoulders... "Pinch" only glanced at this figure, with one look that expressed so much she couldn't even find words for in a hundred years. This figure understood. It raised a hand in a commanding gesture, and the entire troop came to a halt on the hill crest. In silence, the weapons lowered, patiently waiting.

"Pinch" turned her attention back to Johnson. "It's simple what I want: I want it to end. I want you to never threaten an innocent being or scare it to death. I want this galaxy to be safe from people like you so that I don't have to fear for any child to be threatened or intimidated by you ever again."

Johson stared at her in silence for a long time. If he had understood her before, then now he didn't seem to get her anymore. "You demand that I change my life then. That I promise you to not do any harm anymore. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, I know that" "Pinch" confirmed.

"And if I give you my word" Johnson went on cautiously, "why would you believe me that I will keep it?"

"Pinch" took one hand from her weapon to point at it. "Because otherwise I would have but one choice. To keep on shooting."

She saw it, and she felt it: the struggle within Johnson. On one hand the humiliation, the straight possibility that an experienced soldier of fortune with a long history of successful missions would find the end of his career at the hands of a thirteen year old girl which had been his innocent, helpless prisoner just days ago. On the other hand the inevitable realization that she was right about everything and that he had no choice but to succumb to it.

He glanced back at her again, seemed just now to really see her. His glance found the name that was stitched into her jacket. He laughed quietly and shook his head in disbelief. "Is that your name? Pinch?" But just as "Pinch" thought he was about to mock her, she saw his expression. "It really suits you." In his face she could see reluctant respect under all that pain and embarassment. "I knew who your father is, kiddo. He has a reputation with the crowd I usually deal with. They tell stories about him. But even without knowing your name I would believe that you are his daughter."

"You think you could just sweet-talk to me like that?" "Pinch" asked scornfully. Although, in some way she liked what Johnson said to her.

He shook his head. Despite his three bleeding laser wounds that she had dealt him, at this moment he wasn't really angry or hostile. On the contrary, he seemed to admire her. He showed her that kind of respect that she had longed for for such a long time, although he was the last person on this planet she would have expected to. "I have been through a lot" he explained to her, confirming her assumptions. "I have been to almost all corners of the galaxy, having done things for which you wouldn't like me very much. I don't claim to be a good person. And the last thing I'd do in my life is to cower in the dust before a weak little kid."

A threatening spark glimmed in "Pinch's" eyes. "You better not call me little..."

"You don't understand" Johnson interrupted her. "If I just knew that you are Igor Lippson's daughter, it would be enough. But you are more than that." He examined her face. "You saved the children, didn't you?" She nodded, and he did seem relieved. "And Sykes? And Whitmore? You got that laser pistol from the boy, I know that. So I take it that you dealt with those two on your own, didn't you?"

"Pinch" nodded slowly. "They're alive. More or less."

"Astonishing!" Johnson's admiration was now apparent. "I have committed crimes with those two all over the galaxy, and you have accomplished something that has eluded law enforcement units of five different planets. I can't say whether it was just pure luck, but I really don't think so. You have courage and talent, Pinch, and if someone calls you little or weak, then I shall call him a liar. It is not a disgrace to surrender to you. To be defeated by you... could even be considered an honour."

"So you do surrender?" "Pinch" still suspected it to be some kind of trick. But Johnson apparently was serious about it.

"I don't want any quarrel with you, Pinch" he answered with a sour smile. "I'd rather see one day what has become of you, what kind of reputation you have built up for yourself. I would have loved to have you on my side, had I had the choice. Maybe some time in the future when I am done with my sentence and you haven't retired yet I might have the opportunity to team up and work with you. And to be completely honest with you, and I really hope you get me on this..." He hesitated just a bit, but then a tiny honest smile blinked in his face. "Maybe I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"Pinch" got him. She got him completely. Her smile became broader when she heard it. She knew the stories, she had heard tons of them at the academy before. Between enemy mercenaries those words were the greatest compliment possible - they showed respect and appreciation between opponents that regarded themselves as equals. And as Johnson had spoken those words he raised his hands with a small groan and put them on the back of his head as a definite gesture of capitulation. He did this with the calmness of a man accepting his fate and having no regrets about it.

Everybody on the hill watched the events. And nobody seemed to be prouder than the man in the front row, the big, muscular, black-haired man that Vera called her father. Igor Lippson finally lowered the rifle that he had kept battle-ready up to this moment and seemed to shine of joy. "Pinch" just had to look at his face to know how happy he was in this moment and how proud he was of what she had accomplished. It was a pride shared by "Pinch" herself. Never before in her entire life she had ever felt as grown as now.