Cath

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light crept out from behind Senjen’s bulky frame when it became clear the two very similar looking Humans weren’t about to try and kill each other. His watery lens hopped from one visage to the other a dozen times as he tried to comprehend their situation. QV were all supposed to look unique by design - their outward appearance was a large part of their personality. So the concept of two people looking essentially identical was daunting.

So daunting in fact, that he totally forgot he wasn’t supposed to run his mouth. “With how hot these gadgets are, you might want a few more guns.” He pointed over their heads at the assembled guards. “We could always lend a hand, you know, for a fee. Senjen was just saying he wants to test out his new suit.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light was shocked when it became clear this wasn’t the Jess they knew. Jagged concentric lines emanated along his suit from his headpiece to his tail, and he shot behind Senjen’s bulky frame. After a second he poked his head out over the Utaysi’s shoulder, mouth opening and closing rapidly. From behind, you could see Senjen was now wearing the gelsuit like a large amorphous rucksack.

“What is happening? I don’t understand.” When Senjen shrugged Light did his best to emulate it. He did not want to intervene - he had promised to be quiet - but they were dreadfully exposed now. He needed to know if they were heading for a shootout.

“Hey! Jessica! What is happening!?” He shouted.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light’s suit flagged Jess’ in his periphery and he began speaking without looking. “Ok Jess, these are ready to go. Are we all done here-” He turned quickly and fell silent when a closer inspection revealed an uncanny likeness looking back at him. Light floated closer, until his unfocused eyes were as close as he thought was possible without sucking the woman into his suit. He resisted the temptation to try and examine the inside of this person’s mouth for clues.

“Erm…Jess? How did you change so fast?” He looked around behind her for some kind of explanation.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Ah, Its ok friend.” Light said, picking up on Senjen’s disappointment via his armour lightpads. He patted his robot head. “You’ll get your chance soon, I promise. How about you put it to use helping me with ship tasks, hmm?”

Light spent the day in transit busying himself with minor repairs. While Jess was more capable, he didn’t ask her out of her respect for her status on this job as the employer, or at least the broker. When they were approaching their destination, he finished off by feeding the organic doormat and small collection of pot plants Senjen had collected over the last couple of years. They were protected from the periodic vacuum & lack of oxygen by old blobs of Light’s suit that he’d donated.

When it was time to exit light speed, Light returned to the cockpit. Someone had tidied up all of the clutter which had been floating free since their escape.

“Understood, preparing to be utterly silent and non-communicative. Easy peasy. Okey-dokie.” Light affirmed as the hangar doors slid silently open. He maneuvered them inside and made to park in a workmanlike, non-threatening manner. “Ok Senjen, you’re up.” He sent to his partner in the cargo bay, releasing the ramp from the cockpit while he conducted post-flight checks.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“True enough - If they can follow us through the soup, I will eat a fishcake.” Light remarked, missing the point of the phrase - he loved fishcakes.

“Well…thank you, Jess! We aim to please, don’t we Senjen? Be sure to spread the word of our services, just not too far. We wouldn’t want to tip off the company we stole from, now, would we?”

His suit went inert as Light considered what to do while they waited to reach their destination. There were a dozen little jobs that piled up the moment he looked away. He also wanted to survey any possible damage to his hull, but that wasn’t advisable right now.

“How does your new suit feel on the job? Have you looked through all the services on offer?” He asked Senjen eventually.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The ships had scarcely disentangled before Light was weighing up options.Another ramming action was unlikely to succeed, but was there a nearby asteroid belt that could do the job for them. Maybe they could lose their pursuer in the mess of mobile objects?

He began frantic evasive action before abruptly stopping when Jess told him they were pulling away. “What? Oh! Haha! Success!” He wiggled his appendages in defiance of the fleeing pirates, cooing happily.

“I’m very happy to oblige. Let's get out of this system.” Light signed off comms and plulled them out from the planet’s orbit. Then he plotted a course using the co-ords Jess sent and jumped them into FTL travel with another jolt.

Once he was satisfied, Light pushed through the mess of loose objects that’d come free of their mountings and went amidships. When he found the two of them in the cargo bay he approached boisterously with mock boxing jabs about two centimetres from Senjen’s face that he’d seen Humans apply among friends.

“I knew this old hulk could do it! We have the mass; nothing can stand in the way of that.” He eyed their prize greedily. “We’re close now; I can practically smell those credits. Maybe I will upgrade my suit after all!”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

As soon as Light got an indication on size and mass he knew what he was going to do. Instead of heading away and attempting vainly to escape, he aimed his ship’s hefty bulk right at the other ship.

When they cleared the ridge, their adversary panicked and tried to change course to avoid being rammed. For a moment it looked as if they might narrowly avoid the assault. Then Light redirected all power to the lateral thrusters and they lurched violently together.

There was a terrifying crunch along the length of the hull. Light was thrown off the control pads he held and a hundred objects came loose to float around the cockpit. “Contact!” He warbled.

Then they were free again and careening off towards the endless void of space. Light ran a damage assessment. Nothing serious had broken.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“We’ll be fine; we’re going to need your help loading up though.” Light murmured through his trance.

Once the ship landed he set a new proximity alarm with a tighter radius. Then together they embarked on the fraught task of lugging their new cargo between ships. Light kept an anxious eye on their surroundings at all time and tried to martial every nerve in his body that screamed at him to run.

Just as the last crate was being fastened did the alarm sound. “Close the doors!” He ordered, before careening into the cockpit to take direct control. The scan showed the enemy ship was closer; it’d landed briefly in a field between them before taking back off again thirty seconds later. It was now steaming directly at them - there was no way they’d be able to make a clean break here.

“They dropped boarders, get ready to defend that bay! I’m going to get us in the air!” Light stretched in every direction imaginable to complete pre-flight actions in record time. Then he gunned the engines and took them up off the rocky wasteland.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light gazed into the blackness beyond the cargo ramp. He couldn’t see anything yet. But that didn’t mean they weren’t out there, watching, waiting for them to leave the relative safety of the freighter. It was generally easier to obfuscate a small signature than a large one.

“I like our chances in my ship more than out there in the open with this heavy cargo - I’m bringing it in. Stand by.” He then addressed Senjen directly. “Get out your weapon and take a defensive position. They might be closer than we think.”

Light then plopped down behind one of the crates they were carrying and accessed his neural lace again. His ship soon began to move toward them at a ponderous pace; the remote connection was taxing to maintain.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The reddish swirls on the surface of Light suit jangled erratically as he understood the implication of the recent scan results. His ship hovered thirty metres off the ground as he rescanned to be sure. Yep, there it was. He swivelled towards Senjen, spinning the BangStick back into a ready position by his flank.

“We’ve got an unidentified craft just parked nearby. Did you check the bay for anti-boarding measures? We might need them. Jess!” Light motioned to the gaping cargo ramp before him. “What do you think? Can we scare them off with something on this ship? I need about five hundred second to bring the ship in to land down there.”