Maiga's waiting paid off, when Alex walked into the brig and dismissed the guard. Maiga sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes and pretending she was just rather annoyed at being woken up. A glance at her watch told her it was 03:06.

"Don't you sleep?" She asked him.

"I'm on night shift." Alex grimaced. Well that was a lie. "The captain is sleeping though."

"Oh good, I was getting worried. She looked tense."

He ignored her sarcasm and came closer to the cell, held onto the bars.

"I... I can trust you."

It wasn't a question, strangely. No, he'd already decided he could trust her, or he wouldn't be here.

"And?"

"And I need to talk to you."

This would be like pulling teeth she thought. He wanted to talk, but the anguish on his face told her it wouldn't come easy. She glanced around. He trusted her, but could either of them dare speak plainly?

"I've disabled any listening devices," Alex said.

She looked back at him. "The ones you know about."

"I... yes." His voice dropped to a whisper. "So not here. I can't talk here."

"Well, I'd invite you out to dinner, but as you can see, that could be a little tricky."

"I know. Here." He held his hand through the bars and she came forward cautiously. He dropped two small items into her hand. "Put the chip into that reader the captain gave you. It's got plans which will show you how to get to the shuttle bay. Your ship is prepped. Plans and codes to override the computer and open the bay doors are in there too."

"You know my ship can't outrun this one."

"I know. But in a few hours we expect to intercept a cargo freighter. That's when you should do it, while we're tied up there. When our people are on the freighter and the Trebuchet can't leave, I'll cut the power in here for five seconds. That's your signal. The lock will be disabled too. You'll have to move fast."

"The guard?" Maiga asked.

"That..." He nodded at the other thing he'd given her, a tiny tube. "Twist off the end and there's a needle. Prick the guard and squeeze the device."

"Lethal?"

"No, of course not! But it will put him down inside three seconds."

"Right. And after I get out?"

"I've programmed co-ordinates into your ship. We'll dock there for shore leave in six days. If... if you care about your space station, you'll meet me there."

She nodded. She'd meet him there okay. And not just because of the station. He still had more to tell her. So much more.

"Thank you, Alex. Whether this works or not." Butter him up a little. She'd had a plan to get out of the brig before she was even captured, but Alex's contribution would make it easy.

"Don't thank me. Just be there."

He strode out and Maiga lay down, waiting again. But for her signal now. She slept, gathering her strength, and the roaring of the guns woke her hours later as the Trebuchet attacked, just as Alex had said.

Time passed. The Trebuchet's Marines would go across to the freighter and take over, ready to strip out the valuable cargo. Almost an hour passed before Alex's signal came. The lights flickered. The guard looked up, frowned, and then the lights went out.

"Just a power loss," he called to his prisoner, "it will reroute in a --"

Maiga caught him as he went limp and helped him slide down to the floor without hurting himself.

"Been nice knowing you," she said as the lights came back on, showing his peacefully sleeping face. "Bye now."

Maiga left the Trebuchet.

~o~

Max was impressed with his fellow humans. They'd needed so little prodding. A suggestion to the local criminals that this might be the time to take advantage of the situation and so many others had followed their example. As if they too sensed the time had come to seize an opportunity. Only a week had passed since the Trebuchet had been banned from the station and the Chronicle had already started to use the term "crime wave."

Max had nothing but contempt at almost every level for the organised and disorganised criminals that were making the human sector a tense place to live now. But he at least respected their timing.

Now, with his shiny new Watch Commander badge, he sat in a meeting with Chief Neex and the rest of the Watch Commanders, while they discussed their response to the crime problem. He didn't draw attention, sat at the back and stayed quiet. He hadn't even had to give the rest of the commanders any additional orders, Bara had told him she'd made it clear from the start what she expected of them. They were here to get it.

And Neex suggested it himself, which really did tickle Max. When one of us is sitting in your chair, Neex, we'll remember that, and laugh.

"My people are overstretched already," Neex said. "The Watch has proved an effective peace keeping force until the last few days."

"We're doing our best," one of the commanders said, "but --"

"I know," Neex said. "Your powers are limited. That's why I've spoken to station management and they've agreed a temporary solution. You will be deputised to Station Security, giving you the same powers as regular security officers, though only within the sector of the station where the humans live. And Station Security officers will still have seniority. I'll be assigning some to supervise your people."

Max had a hard job hiding his smug smile, as Neex gave the Watch exactly what they'd wanted all along. Exactly what this crime wave had been engineered to get them. Power. With various safeguards of course, that Neex was outlining now, but shortly, they were not going to matter.

The humans were going to be forced to choose between either a crime wave or heavy, even oppressive policing. When the third option presented itself - herself - there'd be barely a whisper of protest. Well, there were a few likely troublemakers of course. But their names and addresses were noted. Max smiled a private little smile. You could say they'd be the first to know when it started.

The meeting broke up after a lot of tedious talk about rules and regulations, that Max ignored. It wasn't going to matter to him at all, never mind for a short time. Most of the commanders headed off for a celebratory drink. But Max headed back to his quarters, saying he'd see them later.

That was a lie. In his quarters he packed a bag with the few belongings he wanted to take with him. The rest he put into a couple of storage cases. They'd be here when he came back. And he would be back. In style. He laughed as he closed and locked the cases. He'd sent the instructions to put them into storage, along with an advance payment on the storage and notice to give up these quarters. Leaving the small, bleak rooms made him feel damn good. Not that his new ones would be any larger, smaller most likely. But they'd have other advantages.

He left his quarters and made straight for the docks. There he boarded a passenger transport, not giving the station a backwards glance. He's done his job here. A job he'd accepted quickly, just glad to have orders and a mission again. And he'd done it well. He could feel satisfied with his work and he'd receive his reward.

Jax had told him to come back when he made full Commander. That was exactly the plan.

Max left the station.