Tristan (Tristan book 1) (Draft 1)

Chapter 15

Like Emerill had promised the card let him in without raising any alarms. He'd chosen to enter through one of the service entrances since after the chaos he created the last time he was here he expected everyone to have orders to shoot him on sight.

It was confirmed with the first group of guards he encountered, but they were too slow. Three of them were dead before they could take out their weapon; the fourth one's arm was broken before he could fire it. He let him run away so he could raise the alarm. It would make reaching Justin's office a little more difficult, but he wanted him to know he was coming.

They did all they could to stop him, but all they managed to do by the time he reached the office was singe some of his fur and become bodies littering the corridors.

The key card unlocked the door and Tristan entered holding his Kytron. He wasn't surprised to find the office empty; he had counted on Justin running as soon as he found out he was in the building. He closed the door and locked it; disabling the lock by undoing a couple of wires.

The office was neat; it hardly showed any evidence that someone had been working here only moments before. The shelves were lined with antique paper books. Tristan had never understood Justin's interest in those things, they wasted space and were easily damaged. Tristan preferred datapads.

Justin's computer was a Kadary, their most recent model. Knowing him he was probably changing them as soon as the newest one came out. Justin liked having the best and most recent of everything, it made him feel like he was on top of things; even if he knew next to nothing about them.

Tristan sat in front of the computer and entered a few commands. Nothing happened. Justin had probably used a malicious program to erase everything on the machine, in effect killing it. But if he'd taken the time to learn the basics of the Kadary he would have known they had installed a resurrection system to ensure something like that couldn't do any permanent damage. With a few specific commands the resurrection program became active and Tristan leaned back as he watched the computer come back to life.

Once that was done he made short work of the security measures Justin had and then pulled up Justin's personal com number. He used the company's system to call it.

"This had better be important," Came the voice Tristan remembered well, "I thought I'd made it clear I didn't want anyone to call me." Tristan remained silent. "Well?" Justin asked after a moment.

"Hello little brother," Tristan said calmly.

There was moment of stunned silence and then, "Tristan," his name was said with hatred

"Didn't you pay attention to anything father taught us?"

"You mean taught you," Justin replied with venom. "I was just the tagalong remember? the second born, the weak one, the one who could never measure up to you. Father put me through the Gerinian hells because of you."

Tristan accessed Justin's files while they talked. He didn't have to search, Justin liked his files to be easily accessible. "Do you really believe Father treated me any different? He put us through all he did so we would learn to survive, at any cost."

"Well, I survived, so I did learn. And I didn't have to go around killing to do it."

"No, you tricked others in doing it for you. I have to commend you on that. But if you'd really paid attention to Father you would have known better than to leave anyone alive who could point me back to you. You would have known better than attempt anything against me at all."

"I just got to you before you got to me. It was just a question of time before you would have come to kill me. You hate me as much as I hate you."

Tristan was always surprised at the accusation. "I don't hate you little brother, I never have," he said as he started compiling Justin's secret project in a file for Emirill, "I don't feel anything toward you at all. You're too insignificant for me to bother. Everything I ever done to you was in repayment for something you initiated. If you'd simply learn to set your paranoia aside, you and I would live lives uncomplicated by each other."

Justin snorted, "You killed Father, so it was only a question of time before you came after me."

"Father died because he stood in my way." Tristan explained calmly as he sent Emerill the file, "I told him I was leaving, that I didn't have anything to learn from him anymore, but he tried to force me to stay. I did what he taught me to do."

"I don't care about your lies, I know the truth, and you'll never find me." Justin cut the connection.

"Haven't you learned by now little brother that I always find you?" Tristan said softly as he looked at the resurrected purchase order for the off planet trip Justin had made. "Except this time I won't be the one doing the chasing."

He sent the flight information to the Sayatoga, indicating that one of their escaped prisoners had been sighted on it. Included with it was a small worm program he wrote that would exchange his medical information in their data banks for that of Justin.

Tristan wondered how Justin would try to convince them he wasn't the one they were after, that he was innocent. After how Tristan had killed some of the Sayatoga's officers, stolen one of their ships and helped a prisoner escaped, they were certain to punish Justin heavily. Even if Justin survived that he would never see the outside of a cryo tube again.

As he finished transferring the money form Justin's hidden accounts to his he reached for the metal diamond in his chest. He unstuck it and looked at it, wondering for a moment how Alexander was doing. Annoyed at the thought he stood and walked to the disposal unit intent on throwing the reminder away.

He looked at the unit with a frown, and instead of chucking it in he placed the diamond back under his fur and left the office.