Cath

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Huh? Oh, right.” Light looked up from the interface he was using inside his suit. He was shopping for essential supplies to try and stave off buyer’s remorse for the scarabs. They had cost a lot more than he’d been looking to spend, and there was still more investment needed. He sorely hoped another job would come their way soon.

“I was thinking…Maybe we should move our base to somewhere clients know to find us? This place is cheap but…well…” He looked around at the other ships docked nearby. Some looked like they hadn’t flown in a century, with all manner of personal effects littering the ground. “It doesn’t exactly scream ‘hauliers for hire’. Maybe we should dock at one of the container ports instead? Or one of the markets even. What do you think?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Phew! That was some impressive shooting back there, partner.” Light said as they emerged back into the relative brightness of the scrapyard. He cracked the bang stick open and two big red shells popped out, wreathed in gun smoke. He heard short, sharp raps and realised their escort was slow-clapping. Her eyes glowed blue and flashed.

“Smile for the camera; this is going all over our social media networks.”

When they arrived back at the dismantling yard, the picture of them staring slackly into the camera was projected in epic proportions on the wall. Rodion let out another booming laugh and slow clapped as they approached. “Bravo! The boysies who shot the space vermin! You have the parts, yes? Good! Then a deal is a deal, ninety million will conclude our business here today.”

Light hesitated for a moment, but did release the funds into the proffered card reader. The green glow bathed Rodion’s face as he watched the holopad eagerly for transaction to complete. When it did, he beamed widely and grasped their hands to shake. “You are proud owner of three scarab! I will have my men help you load them. I wish you beautiful day, full of opportunity! And don’t forget to come back to Uncle Rodion when you want new QV ship, yes?”

When they got back to the ship, the scarabs were waiting on a hovering flatbed by the cargo ramp. They were dark purple in hue and each about the size of a small car. Their main carriage, largely made up of the long gun, sat on four legs.

Another woman waited nearby. She handed Senjen a holopad. “Control panel.” She said bluntly, tapping a big button on the interface. One of the scarabs got to its feet and looked around. Spotting its new home, it disembarked the flatbed and clanked methodically up the side of the hull until it nestled comfortably between the rocky crevices. The other two scarabs, presumably those requiring new parts, remained still and curled up. Light activated the cargo ramp and the flatbed deposited them both inside.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

85 is still a lot… Light sent back. Then he thought about the near miss they’d had only a few days before. If they were going to make more money with dangerous jobs, they had to invest in their own protection. Even he knew that.

…But these scarabs sound like a better investment than the blister turret. Frankly I don’t like the idea of excavating a vulnerability into the side of my ship if we’re not even sure we’ll be able to fire it. The scarabs have a very low install cost by comparison.

“I’ll let them go for 90, but no less.” Rodion retorted.

“87.5, for a loyal customer?” Light offered.

“Hmmm. No. 90 is final.” He concluded; Light sagged.

“Ok, 90 it is.” Rodion’s features lit up. He grasped Light’s manipular and shook it vigorously.

“Good! Very good! You will like these, very high-quality machines.”

Rodion marked the location of a Tindrel Mountain-class science vessel somewhere within the scrapyard. “Here is where scarabs came from. My crew are very sure spare parts inside. I send someone with you, make sure you’re ok but also you only take what you came for, eh?” He laughed again, slapped Light’s suit jovially. It wobbled like jelly.

“Come back here when you done. I will have scarabs ready to load onto your ship after payment.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Rodion let out a booming, sardonic laugh. “You misunderstand me! I said you can have the parts and labour for free. You think I pay you one hundred million to clear out some harmless little bugs? Look around; I have hundreds of men, women and droids who would do it themselves for that amount. No – call me nosy but I don’t mind seeing what that new rig of yours can do. That’s only reason this offer still stands.”

“And how much are the other two options?” Light asked politely, casting a worried glance back towards the ship. He was keen to avoid confrontation with this burly man and his legions of goons when escape was so far away.

“Hmmm. Twenty million for the 88-T and uh…one forty million for the MAC.” There was another call from the scaffolding in Bulgarian but Rodion silenced it with a raised hand. His beady eyes shone greedily in the sparklight.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Since we are friends, I let you have all three for 100m Veruhn plus 10 for parts and repairs. Orrr…if you want to check the ship these scarabs came in for the parts yourself, I will let you have them for free. Trouble is, it has been…infested…with some space vermin. You’ll need to use that Myrmidon suit real good, eh!”

"Hmmm. And these are the only options?" Light asked.

“Ohh, you won’t like my final offer.”

“Try us.”

“Okay…magnetic accelerator cannon, vertically mounted and dual ended. Its some Chekeri nonsense but could put a round through much bigger ship if you can actually hit them! Not cheap, either.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Rodion’s mouth made an ‘n’ shape inside his neat facial hair. “What can I say? Its uh.. old school, hmm? Auto-assist for drones and fighters, nothing bigger than that. Like arcade game in my office. Duck hunt, very fun, very addictive. You buy or no?” Someone called down to Rodion in Bulgarian from a scaffold erected around one of the starship hulls. He shouted back over the sound of drilling and grinding, gesturing animatedly.

“We might be able to hook up some of our other sensors to get a longer range view, but it sounds like we’d be relying on you actually being a good shot.” Light surmised to Senjen. “What else do you have?” He asked Rodion.

“Well, I do have buyer interested already…but I have three Scarab turrets in stock. One needs new power core and one needs new optics but they pack more punch, huh? Mostly autonomous and give full field of fire! Work good on Tindrel piece of shit ships too.”

He showed them another schematic of a six legged robotic gun platform that could move around the outside of the hull like a beetle on a piece of dung.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Hmmmm, alright then.” Rodion scratched his grey goatee and looked down at the holopad.

“Manned or unmanned, my friends?”

“Unmanned would be easier, given my ship’s rocky exterior. But whatever is cheapest, really.” Light said sheepishly.

“Yeees, Tindrel space rock, huh! Ok, if cheap is what you want, I give you good price for a quad barrel 88-T.” He flipped the pad around to show them a schematic.



“Reliable, Human laser cannons. Took it off an old drone swarm killer, even comes with intact blister. All it needs is a tunnel to it from inside. Simple!”

Light hmmmed and looked at Senjen. “Seems like a lot of work, right? But if that’s the cheapest then maybe…”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light made a daunted sagging motion and noise. “Yes…maybe. I hope so. Lets take things one step at a time and not get ripped off buying shipgrades. Speaking of which, my suit tells me Rodion is open for business again in six hours. I’m going to let the tides take me for a while before then. See you later.”

With that he made his way back to his cubby just off the cockpit and curled up in the rest of his gelsuit. It rocked him gently back and forth, simulating how it felt to be asleep in the great reefs at the bottom of the seas on Vosh. There he dreamed of diseased Humans with asphyxiated mouths that tapped longingly at the doors.

---

The next day, they lifted off again in the ship and made their way to Rodion’s Retrofits. The business consisted of ten huge hangars and six open air pads in the middle of a sprawling breaker’s yard. The garish neon sign on top of the hangars was at odds with the sea of rusted parts all around, and the decrepit scrap loaders that navigated it.

Light took them carefully in to land on one of the open air pads. He seemed to remember this constituted ‘customer parking’. He grabbed his BangStick and shoved it in his suit behind him. “Be careful out there; these guys like machines a little too much sometimes.” He cautioned Senjen.

Workers eyed them curiously when the pair disembarked and made their way through the chaotic series of landing pads to the hangar office. Some of the ships parked up appeared to be mid upgrade – they were splashed with a fountain of sparks and had to dodge part picker droids more than once.

The hangars were even busier. An army of workers were dismantling pieces of at least three different starships. They found Rodion holding court in the middle of it all, shouting orders over the top of a holopad. Light approached him respectfully and when he turned, it seemed the Human didn’t recognise him. Then he burst out in a booming laugh and reached out a hand for him to shake.

“ITAISOL! This is a surprise; I thought you were dead!”



“Not yet, Rodion. Thank you for your concern.”

“Of course I’m glad you’re alive. You haven’t traded in that piece of shit you fly around in yet. Is that why you’re here?”
“Not quite. Rodion, this is my colleague Senjen. He can explain.”

The man eyed Senjen ravenously. “You’re mighty brave walking in here with the latest Myrmidon gear. Some of the boys might make off with you.” He laughed after a serious second and made to shake Senjen’s hand. “Only joking, we’re good as gold! Usually. What can Uncle Rodion do for you?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Yes, you are, aren’t you? I still forget that sometimes. Yours is an interesting history. It is a shame I could not meet the Organic Senjen. I wonder if he’d have been so smitten.” Light chortled. An overloaded cargo lifter rumbled past. The driver was asleep at the wheel; autopilot was taking care of things. “My people have an expression. Love doesn’t live inside people, but as a string held between them. We are all buffeted by the waves of creation, and staying close to those you love is a way to avoid your string going taut and being severed on the reef. I…don’t know if that translated. What I think I’m trying to say is that distance between people can make dating…hard You have to consider our line of work.”

Light laughed along with Senjen at the thought of Jess dating. “That business with her twin was strange right? Anyway, I’m all for defending the little guy, but we need to be careful. Large corporates run this sector, more or less. They’re happy to take our money…But if they catch us taking theirs, they’ll kill us without a qualm.” Light placed the empty bottle down and got up from the chair, ready to go and sleep.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Ok, that settles it. We go to see the Humans. Rodion’s Retrofits, I think it was called? It's not too far from here actually; we can check it out in the morning.”

The tumbleweed bounced over and Light picked it up, toyed with it before setting it back down. “I should be careful not to let you become famous. Before I know it you won’t want to be seen dead with an old trucker like me.”

He looked surprised at Senjen when he talked about dating Ruknar. “Where has this come from? I didn’t realise you…thought like that. Light thought of Symphony, the scintillating Myrmidon sales rep. “Maybe I should date Jess too? Then we can double date.”