Tyson Webster Rousseau sat in the window seat of the incredibly well-appointed shuttle as it banked over the partly dreary afternoon sky above OED V on final approach to City Center Terminal. His black eyes took in the vastly expanded colony, already an equal to his beloved New Paris. He could see the massive Government Tower and the near equally dramatic Holloway Tower in the city’s northwest quadrant. Rousseau never really cared for space travel, unlike many he knew, the sharply dressed man in seat A-1 looked at space travel like old Earth viewed air travel… a means to an end.

That end, today at least, was to visit his ‘little sister’, the colony’s Chief Justice. He nearly laughed at the thought. How bad off do these people need to be to have a waste of atmosphere like Astrid running their entire Justice department!? As trumped up, pigheaded, and full of her own grandiose self that she was, Rousseau wondered whom she’d dragged to bed to get such a powerful position so soon in her career. Positions is more like it! Rousseau huffed a soft laugh as the shuttle landed and the light in the First Class Cabin, his cabin, clicked off and let the passengers of actual importance… like himself… off the shuttle before the peasants in the back spilled out like cattle.

At just over six feet tall, Tyson Rousseau’s broad shoulders and perfectly tailored suit gave him a stunning appearance. As he stood, the dark storm of indignation that he almost always felt towards the joke that was his stepfather’s oldest daughter was pushed down inside him, and the warm, friendly, polished charm he was always known for… from colleagues to conquests… washed over his features and as he grabbed his bag, he winked to the golden-haired attendant as he walked by. Tyson had noticed how she had slipped a small scrap of paper in his suit coat pocket as she was handing it back, and he had felt her fantasizing about him most of the flight. He had even played it up once, making sure she was so turned on that she nearly spilled his neighbor’s coffee when it came time for her to come within reach of him. Tyson always enjoyed screwing with the minds of human girls… so easy to manipulate. But as attractive as the young woman was, Tyson Rousseau wouldn’t be caught dead in bed with a service industry worker. A commoner… no better than those in the back Tyson thought as he gave the girl one last charming smirk and walked out to his waiting EGV to take him to the Hilton.

After settling in and unpacking, Tyson went to work. He knew better than to toy with anything near that lunatic Molly Holloway’s damn boyfriend’s floor in Government Tower. He’d heard what happened to the rogue agent that had gone after Lucas Holloway and the CCDA General. Rousseau had absolutely zero desire to end up like Newton. The man physically shivered at the thought of the unrecognizable former Section 31 agent. The BIA Senior Field Agent merely piggybacked off two dozen signals for a total of just 13 seconds to ensure he had the right office… and there she was. He’d recognize that stupid look on her face anywhere. Once he knew where Astrid was, he killed the link, brought up the city cams from all available staff entrances to the building, and went back to work, making sure that he would not be discovered by anyone besides her.

He had used his connections to attend that pathetic excuse for a gala and watched his sister from across the room. Tyson knew that, on a very subconscious level, she felt his presence. But she likely felt she was going crazy because he never announced himself, and as far as she knew, he was last working in Paris on a banking fraud case. After enjoying the mental gymnastics, so many people were exhausting themselves around him to do… making pretty faces for the cameras… Tyson knew he had better things to do.

Hours Later

Following an incredibly sneaky breach of the Chief Justice’s personal security, which included a pair of short-range point-to-point transports and a masterful piece of work popping the lock on the service entrance to Artrid’s place while remaining completely undetected, Tyson cracked the seal on a bottle of water and waited in a chair in the living room, a wrist comm tied into the camera above her front door to ensure he was not interrupted. That’s why he was able to vanish with the arrival of Lord Duroc before anyone were the wiser.

Once the party had left, Tyson blended in and laid in wait until he was certain all had moved on. Astrid went to take her standard evening shower, which was useless in Tyson’s opinion, and he waited for her to close the door behind her before moving back into the room. There he waited completely comfortable in the knowledge Astrid would come out wrapped in some ridiculous robe.

Then a voice the young woman knew very well spoke in the disdainful manner that instantly identified the speaker from the chase by the fireplace.

“My God… I can’t believe you actually wore that trash to such a ridiculous ball?! Honestly, Astrid… I would have thought by now you’d’ve developed a modicum of taste.”

Tyson Rousseau