The next four days passed slowly, Martinez and Lang were both on high alert for the next move by either Pearce or the blackmailer. Martinez had briefed Colonel Young, who agreed with their deductions and ordered the Qatar into orbit above Tian, ostensibly to act as an escort for Ser Becker's private space yacht. As Ser Becker was the civilian Manager of Capella Station, it was normal procedure for him to have a patrol escort when he was travelling. He was on a business trip, visiting both planets of Zhu, and was able to make Huan his first port of call without too much disruption to his schedule.

The personal tension between Lang and Martinez was also high. The night after he had sent his refusal to the blackmailer, Lang had come right out and asked if he could kiss him again. "Just a kiss, to see if you like it," he had murmured, standing right in front of him, a persuasive smile on his face.

Martinez put both hands up to fend him off. "No. I'm sorry but I just can't."

Lang had stepped back immediately, a shutter coming down over his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"I'm not offended, just really mixed up." Martinez stopped for a moment, then continued in a low voice, looking at a spot over Lang's shoulder. "At the moment I really need to concentrate on your safety." He cleared his throat. "Um, maybe you can, um, ask me again when this is over, if you want to, I mean."

Robin Lang licked his lips and tried to put the friendly smile back on his face, he had to draw on all his willpower to stop from jumping on Martinez where he stood. "Oh I'll want to, believe me," he tried to tone down the intensity to gentle teasing. He must have been only partially successful because Juan's eyes flew to his.

Juan had been telling the truth when he told Robin he was mixed up. Apart from the rather large obstacle that they were both men, Juan was used to being the alpha in a relationship. He was not used to being the pursued, he was certainly not used to feeling nervous at the mere thought of a kiss. It was all very unsettling.

Lang took another step back and turned away, "Can I get you a drink? I feel like a brandy right now."

XXX

Nothing continued to happen. Lang went to work as usual, and introduced Martinez as a colleague who was assisting him while he was recovering from his injury. His staff had been flatteringly glad to see him return to work, and quickly brought him up to date with what had occurred in his absence. He showed Martinez the tourist spots around the city and was careful to keep their personal relationship strictly platonic as the other man had asked, especially while they were in his house. He found he enjoyed Martinez' company, as well as the sexual tension simmering between them, but he was definitely looking forward to the pass he was going to make as soon as they had dealt with the court case.

Eventually, the morning of the trial arrived. Lang and Martinez rose early and dressed in their Captains' uniforms. Martinez had been twitchy all morning, he had a bad feeling about today. While they were waiting for the taxi Lang had ordered, Lang put his arm around the other man's shoulders. "How about a quick kiss for luck? You're not really going to make me wait until tonight are you?" he teased, trying to distract him.

Martinez turned in exasperation, a worried scowl on his face. His eyes dropped to Robin's mouth and his expression changed. He brought both hands up, one to each side of Robin's face and kissed him almost painfully hard, crushing his lips on his, then let go, pushing him away, all before Robin had even realised what he was intending. Robin grabbed hold of his arm before he could walk off and pulled him up against his chest. "Oh no, you don't! Our first real kiss is going to be much better than that," he announced, his eyes suddenly hot. "This is my first kiss too, you know, at least the first one I can remember!"

His heart was already thudding in reaction to the ruthless assault as he put both arms around Juan, holding him tight against his body. He lowered his mouth to Juan's full lips before the other man could protest. Juan could feel his heart pounding in his chest, part of him wanted to pull away fast, another part wanted to surrender, just for a minute, just to see what a kiss from Robin would be like, an experiment really. He shut his eyes and opened his lips a fraction, bracing himself to pull back if it felt too weird.

Instead of dominating him, as Juan had tried to do, Robin was slow and gentle. He felt Robin licking against his bottom lip, gently sucking it into his mouth. His tongue slid around his teeth, teasing his way inside. Juan opened his mouth wider to take in Robin's tongue, now flicking against his own, turned his head slightly for a better angle as Robin kissed him harder, deeper. He stopped thinking. Time seemed to stand still as he stood there being thoroughly kissed. He needed more. He pushed his own tongue firmly inside Robin's mouth, hungrily tasting him, again and again. More, he wanted more.

He heard Robin groan as he held him tighter, his breath quickening against his cheek. He could feel Robin's hands, warm and firm against his back. He could feel Robin's arousal, large and solid against his stomach. His own body, hardening fast. Oh my god! What was he doing?

At that opportune moment, the taxi arrived to take them to the courthouse. They both sprung apart, breathing hard, hastily straightening their clothing. Juan stared at Robin in total shock. What had he just done? He was still aroused, more aroused than he could remember being for a long time. If the taxi hadn't arrived, he would have ... He swallowed. He wondered whether he should move out, check into a hotel for the rest of his stay.

Lang felt he could cheerfully have shot the taxi driver. Sweet god! He'd never dreamt Juan would respond to him like that. He tried not to stare at Juan too longingly, he could hardly wait until he got him home that night.

XXX

Martinez had arranged with Captain Almeida for four men from the Qatar to be on hand at the courthouse, two as extra guards and another two disguised as civilians waiting in the reception area. Another six men from the Qatar were stationed in a coffee shop nearby, ready to assist at an instant's notice.

His best guess was that the rescue attempt would take place when the prisoners were either being escorted from the transport van into the court, or from the court back to the van, but he couldn't be absolutely certain.

Although Alan Stewart and Max Lang had wanted to be included in the ground support, Captain Almeida agreed with Martinez that it would be too risky. Both of them were known personally to Pearce and risked blowing the whole covert operation if they were spotted. Instead, they were backing up in the shuttle, hovering high above the courthouse, out of visual range but ready to assist if anyone attempted to escape into space. Stewart adjusted the viewfinder to bring up a clear picture of the courthouse roof and surrounding area. The shuttle's console unit was linked simultaneously to the wristcoms of Martinez, Corporal Brown in the courthouse and Second Lieutenant Wilson in the coffee shop, providing a live feed from each of them. He waited, carefully monitoring the screens in front of him, Max at his side.

They saw the unmarked prison van approaching along the main street. They watched as Captains Lang and Martinez came out of the courthouse to meet the van, baiting the trap. Two guards got out of the van, followed by the two prisoners. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary as all six men proceeded into the courthouse. Two couples walking down the street from different directions, turned into the building behind them. The courthouse was used for civil cases as well as criminal.

Robin Lang felt his shoulders twitching, expecting a blow from a stunner or even worse, a slice from a laser gun, but nothing happened. Myles and Wentworth were dressed in fluorescent green prison suits making them easily identifiable. Both men looked sullen as they went inside, neither showing any indication of suppressed excitement, and Lang guessed they knew nothing about any rescue attempt. He followed them, each prisoner flanked by a guard, down the corridor to the courtroom.

The only warning he got was a faint hiss then everything went grey as nerve gas filled the corridor. "Gas!" he shouted, or thought he did, as he fell to the floor, unable to move. He felt a cracking pain as his head hit the floor and then nothing else.

Up on the shuttle, Alan Stewart pressed the emergency alert that would send a silent alarm through to Wilson and Brown; Martinez as well, though he feared he had already been caught in the gas. He followed it up with a short message, also silent, telling them that the prisoners and their guards had been gassed inside the courthouse.

Corporal Brown put on his face mask immediately while relaying the message to the other three men inside the building. He signalled Khan to follow him and hurried into the corridor, leaving Asimov and Cheng to clear the rest of the building. Grey smoke filled the corridor, spreading quickly. Someone must have released a smoke canister as well as the nerve gas. Brown and Khan switched their masks to heat sensor mode but it was still difficult to distinguish anything as the smoke tended to register as heat.

From their vantage point in the shuttle, Alan and Max saw two men in luminescent green being hustled out the front of the building and into the prison van. The two guards got in behind them and the van started to move off. Something was not right. The two prisoners should have been limp, semiparalysed from the gas, not walking unaided. He called down to Wilson who he could see running towards the courthouse. Wilson veered towards the van and got in front of it, forcing it to a standstill. He sent half his squad to the back of the building while he gestured to the driver to open the back of the van.

Four people stared back at him fearfully, their hands on their heads. "Don't shoot!" None of them were Wentworth or Myles, or indeed prison guards. Two of them weren't even men. They were the two couples that had followed the prison group into the courthouse, all decoys, paid a hundred credits each for the job.

An unmarked van drew up at the rear of the courthouse. Stewart could see men jumping out of it, how many people had Pearce hired for god's sake? Three men vanished inside the courthouse while another three took up stations around the van. The Qatar's men, warned by Stewart, approached stealthily, stunners in hand and took up positions where they could monitor what was happening, yet stay out of sight.

Within minutes, two of Pearce's men reappeared, a man in fluorescent green draped between them. The third man followed with another man in green slung over his shoulder, moving fast to get to the van. Heinlein and Norton, both from the Qatar, fired their stunners simultaneously and the three men hit the ground, the two prisoners falling with them. Suddenly realising they were under attack, the three lookouts returned fire and took out Heinlein, before Norton was able to drag him to safety behind the wall. Bradbury, who had come round the other side of the courthouse, lined up the first of Pearce's men and shot him in the back. He didn't waste time calling for surrender, but fired continuously until all the attackers were unconscious on the ground.

"Clear!" he shouted. "Are you okay?"

"Heinlein is out for the count," replied Norton, "but he's only stunned. Evidently they didn't want to add murder to their charges." Killing a patrol officer tended to be a life sentence.

Bradbury briefed Lieutenant Wilson on his wristcom and stood watch over the bodies, waiting for local officers to come and take them to prison.

Wilson set Hussein to guard the four decoys and went inside to see what had happened to his men.