Mediator Tricks

It’s easy to stay neutral…until someone acquires a taste for blood.

Another day, another blood bath. As head of the Second Nevada Trade Zone, Jade Dober struggles to keep the halfling population from becoming dinner for the hordes of ravenous wilds that hunt by night.

By day, she stands her neutral ground between “invitations” from the Human Office and offers of “help” from the Horned King. Those “invitations” come with handcuffs and a squad of Being Special Forces goons, and the “help” comes with strings that could wrap her up tighter than the Horned King’s reptilian tail. Jade would gladly teleport to her home planet and leave this mess behind, if it wasn’t for a very pregnant family secret.

At the peace meet, she gets the chance at the trifecta: find out who’s pulling the strings of the Taming Project, gain immunity from prosecution, and obtain the safe, white-picket-fence future she craves.

But in exchange, she’ll have to betray the Horned King.