Next he stood, drew his MK-47 and took a deep breath. Then he stepped into the skylight opening, and began a slow-motion drop into the room below.

Landing with a muffled sound, Adam crouched on one knee and pointed his weapon at Bundnet’s back, fully expecting the crime lord to spin around in his chair toward the sound. But no movement came.

Adam moved cautiously towards Bundnet, weapon at his cheek, sighting along the barrel. Still no movement. He moved to the side of the desk and leaned forward to look into Bundnet’s face.

The large, beady alien eyes were wide open, with a look of sheer terror frozen in them. And across his neck was a smooth razor cut, filled with dark, coagulated blood that had soaked into the front of his gold and green shirt.

But what surprised Adam the most — this was not Bundnet.

Adam sensed another presence in the room He dove to his left, just as a bolt of electric blue energy slammed into the desk, sending splinters of wood trailing after him. Rolling on his shoulder, Adam came up on one knee just as a large, boxy figure appeared out of the shadows near the door to the bedroom. He leveled the MK-47 and fired. Instantly, a shimmering screen of blue light enveloped the figure, and then quickly dissipated. A diffusion screen! His sidearm would be unable to penetrate the shield. He would need something larger — like the flash rifle — to make it through.

But before Adam could un-sling his rifle, the large figure moved further into the room and stopped. It made no further threatening moves, so Adam slowly stood to face his attacker.

It was Bundnet, very much alive and encased in an exosuit. He had an MK-17 leveled at him — and he was smiling.

Hildorians often wore exosuits when off-planet to help compensate for the heavier gravity they encountered on nearly every other world in The Fringe.