Previously in Force Majeur
I.e. a reminder summary
Sliver is a twelve year old boy from Ceres who works as a prostitute on Midas streets. One night he is being hired by a group of men who, as it turns out, don't want sex, but killing for fun. Trying to escape them, he bumps into Katze who helps him, winning the boy's gratitude.
The next morning Katze is arrested because one of the clients was a nephew of a police chief. He calls Raoul, asking for help. When in the evening the blondie drags him out of jail, Katze is badly beaten and raped. During his recovery in Raoul's house he meets Julius, the blondie's furniture. The boy is fervently in love with his master.
Raoul and Katze share one secret from the past. A few years back Raoul was involved in a love triangle with two other blondies. One of them was Iason, the other Raoul's mentor Leon Tan. The two competed for Raoul's favours and in effect each one informed Jupiter about the other's 'improper behaviour'. Raoul was called for a witness and when forced to choose, he chose to stand up for Iason. Leon was sentenced for mind cleansing and it was Raoul who had to perform it. It was his first independent procedure and a very traumatic experience too. Afterwards he got very drunk. When brought back home by Iason, he was taken care of by Katze – back then Iason's furniture. The downstruck, sick, and barely conscious blondie dragged the young furniture into bed, seeking for another human's warmth. After that he could never be indifferent towards Katze anymore.
Back in the presence – reminded of Katze's existence, Raoul finds himself obsessed with the man. Seeking for some common ground, he demands to be introduced to Katze's black market dealings. That's how their cooperation begins, and quickly it turns into something more.
In the meantime Katze finds out that Killie is his brother. As we all remember, the kid was brainwashed after he betrayed Riki and the Bisons, and sold as a pet to another planet. Katze discovers the secret data that no one after such a procedure survives more than five years, and many die within one year. His brother is probably dying. Katze feels guilty – he had his share in putting Killie into this position. He runs a thorough search of the Federation registers and locates Killie in one of the brothels on Dygor. He decides to buy him out of there.
He meets Sliver again as the boy keeps hanging around his house. He lets him sleep in his flat (refusing Sliver's persistent offers to 'pay the debt') and spends some quality time with him. He even gives his mother money so that Sliver didn't have to work anymore.
Sliver's mother has a boyfriend named Hinley. He is a leader of the Committee – a group trying to bring Ceres to another revolution. Sliver doesn't like the man and considers him a sponger. During the meeting that takes place in Sliver's home Hinley informs the others that he was approached by 'the men from Tanagura' who want to help them. What the Committee is supposed to do is blow up a few buildings in Tanagura in the required moment. Guy, who is also a member of the group, thinks it's a set-up – he doesn't trust the blondies, but Guy is 'permanently silenced' by Hinley and his buddies as a traitor and coward. Along with him dies his knowledge about the rule he once read of in the papers found in Dana Bahn: In case of rebellion, revolution, civil war, mass unrest... the only law is Jupiter's orders. If Jupiter's functions are threatened, She is programmed to apply extreme measures, up to the means of mass destruction.
What Katze doesn't know is that his efforts to find his brother were being followed by Leon, who regained his memory and now seeks vengeance. Leon manages to get to Killie faster than Katze, then contacts the dealer, informing him that his brother is now in his hands. He wants Katze to hack into Jupiter from Raoul's computer, and shut her down, otherwise Killie will suffer terrible pain till the moment of his death.
Katze does what he is ordered and in return gets Killie's new location. He leaves some money for his mother and for Sliver, then departs Amoi and goes to the clinic where his brother is kept.