EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen was catching only glimpses now that he was in cover behind the counter, but it seemed the fighting was going about as well as he had expected. Even with the surprise now having worn off, the patrons were still outgunned. One of the droids took a hit, but they were still working their way through the patrons alarmingly quickly.

The man remained stubborn, even to the old woman’s commands. Perhaps he had a reason, with the arrival of his soldiers. They were well-armed and equipped with exoskeletons that might bridge the gap to the droids...or they might just end up slowing them down somewhat more effectively. Senjen really had no way of knowing who would come out on top between them, just that it was a fight he was not close to being equipped for. The best he could hope for was to leverage what he could do...especially if it ended up pulling him out of the fire in the process.

Senjen had rushed over to the man and his daughter, his gaze darting to the spotlight just outside the windows. Instinct was telling him that the situation was about to get even more chaotic. Either they came with him now, or they probably wouldn’t get the chance. “Look, there’s no reason to keep her in the line of fire. Let me carry you both out of here, and you can get her help.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

It did not take all that much observation for Senjen to see which way the wind was blowing here. Buying time was the name of the game now, and he had one idea of how to do that. The disks the droids launched up towards the ceiling, he had seen them before, and he had a fairly good idea of their purpose. He had noticed the droid back in the shop had been able to track him through the ceiling, then the disk had revealed itself shortly afterwards. It did not take much to put two and two together. Any patrons that were still alive, Senjen contacted and marked the position of the disk he could see. “Those are sensors; take them out quick!”

At the same time, Senjen dashed across the floor quickly over to Light’s position. “Grab on tight!” He commanded, taking hold of the QV and helping him onto his back. From there, Senjen holstered and set out in a sprint on all fours that was rather startlingly quick. The pace he had floated them through along the passenger lines before was leisurely by comparison, and it would take all of Light’s effort, and probably some help from his suit, to hold on. Though, it was only a short distance he brought them for now, as he stopped them in the kitchen unit next to the man and his daughter.

Senjen could see what the man was occupied with, and could understand why, but it was not doing wonders for his judgment. “These things are serious military droids; this is not a fight we win. Escape, now!” He said as he started to speak more directly to the man’s mother. “I can get them out of here, lightning-fast. Which way do I take them?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The situation quickly devolved into nothing short of chaos. With the layout of this place and how everyone encircled the atrium, the old woman had nearly hit another group of “patrons” on the opposite side. Droids coming up through the center would not be able to take cover from all sides at once, but Senjen made a mental note to take care where he positioned himself, and to keep in mind the backdrop if he ended up shooting anywhere.

Senjen dropped down to all-fours to make himself a smaller, quicker target as he scurried along the floor. He moved to his right, around to the opposite side of light around one of the tables to take an angle on the droids that was closer to perpendicular to that of the old woman. He drew his pistol and took aim. If one of the droids floated up over the edge into view, he would have not hesitate, and he would have a flanking position to help her, but he wanted to prepare any way he could before trying anything aggressive. He guessed that these would be the same sort of droid that he had encountered back in the QV’s shop, so he took an image of that droid and tried to search for the model. Anything he could learn about it would be helpful.

Next, Senjen messaged Light. “Get down and get into cover. Can you sync up with me and give me access to your perspective? Visual, audio, anything you can share.” It had been helpful back in the shop to have access to the QV girl’s perspective, but the fact that she could not see too sharply had been limiting. That, of course, was why Senjen now had installed a software package to translate data from a QV’s echolocation sensors into a usable format.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“What was in that file?!” Senjen questioned aloud. At this point, it was a genuine question, because he had no idea what they could have loaded into that file that would have caused so much damage, so quickly. Did they have any sort of cybersecurity in this place? They had not even verified it yet, so surely the client had not let it execute any code outside of a quarantined environment? If they had, then Senjen could not help but to feel that the client was at least partially responsible for this disaster.

Regardless of how it had come to pass, what was important now was getting out of this situation alive. Nothing else mattered but the crisis in front of him, and just like before, that was something he could focus on. What could he see? What could he hear? There was screaming from below, and the man who had gone over to the edge to investigate...he looked to be dead or wounded. Potentially, someone was attacking the restaurant from the lower levels.

Whatever it was precisely that was happening, the last thing they needed to do was to freeze up. The client and a few others were checking on the girl, understandably, but this was not a place to linger. “Is she alright? We need to get you all out of here. Exits; is there another way out of the building from this floor?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The choices this Human made were bizarre enough to leave Senjen stunned for a moment. Not only did he bring out a small child, but he handed over an unknown file to her for reasons Senjen could not understand. He had been preparing for what to do in case the file seemed like an imminent danger, but he was caught off-guard enough by what the Human was doing that he did not realize until it was too late.

It was sudden when the lights shut off. His sensors could adjust just fine to the dark, and given that QV evolved in the near-lightless depths, he imagined Light was fine as well. Regardless of their ability to see, however, nothing in view could answer the question of what was happening. “What’s going on?” Senjen questioned aloud. His gaze went to his surroundings, to any entrances to try and identify threats. He did not arm himself just yet, but it went without saying that he was on-alert. It did not take much effort for him to appear surprised, because it was not really an act. He and Light may have had more information than the rest, but he still had little clue as to what was happening.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

As amusing as it was, Senjen did not think he would have a use for a discount to the restaurant. Or any restaurant, for that matter. Unless, he supposed, he wanted to take an organic out to eat at some point. From what he understood, there could be plenty of reasons for him to: business, celebrations, holidays, maybe a date, so it was not like he would never have a reason to set foot in one of these establishments again. Though, if he was going to choose one willingly, then it probably would not be a front company for a criminal organization.

Senjen caught the chip and inspected it. He lacked the context to understand any insult that might have been intended towards Light, though the man’s attitude alone was enough for him to understand the irritation. The man also did not seem to recognize him as a Utaysi, though frankly he was mildly surprised that had not been more common. If for no other reason than to avoid having to carry on a conversation with him, Senjen considered simply not dispelling the illusion. He did not need to lie, merely to be...terse.

“I am currently serving Into-The-Abyss-In-Search-Of-Light.” Senjen answered in a calm, even tone.

Senjen was finding himself curious on what this file was and what they intended to do with it. He was even more confused at the small bit of the conversation he had managed to translate. It was hard to tell what sort of relationship these people had to one another, or why they needed to go get a girl for something. It could have been unrelated to their business, but Senjen really had no idea.

After a moment, Senjen privately messaged Light. “Telling them everything now is still an option, if you think it best. Do you think it is possible the other group could be spying on us here, in the restaurant?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

For as long as they were being led through the restaurant, Senjen was simply following close behind Light and letting him take the lead. That did give him a chance to look around, and despite the severity of their situation, he could not help but to indulge his curiosity. The architecture of the restaurant, and most of this area around it, was largely Human. Out of all the aliens he had seen, their buildings were most like what he was used to back home, but that familiarity made their differences stand out even more. Utaysi were climbers by instinct, and even in a gravity well, their cities were built with verticality in mind. Walls were built with holds they could use for easy ascending along lanes of foot traffic, and ramps were only ever used in certain places where heavy cargo was often moved. Coming to this station had been the first time Senjen had seen stairs in person, though he had to wonder why they were even needed in this place? They seemed redundant. The waiter escorting them seemed perfectly willing to float up to the top floor with them, though perhaps that was just because of the nature of their visit.

Senjen observed curiously the chandelier Light had pointed out. It was hard to miss, in any case, but he probably would not have paid much attention to its more odd features had Light not mentioned them. It was easy enough to dismiss it as an ugly light fixture, but now that he was paying attention, it did not particularly mesh with the rest of the restaurant’s style. It was too cold in an otherwise warm space. Out of curiosity, Senjen adjusted the filters on his visual sensors to see if it was emitting any higher-energy wavelengths in the EM spectrum. Shoving strange technology into what was probably a front company also seemed like a poor way to maintain anonymity, in his mind.

Senjen tried not to make eye contact with any of the other patrons on the way. It was strange enough for him to be here to begin with, but at least with Light at his side he had the excuse of just tagging along with a friend. He just wished he had more meaningful observations to contribute when Light questioned him. The only thing that stood out was what Light had already noticed. “No idea. This is literally the first time I’ve been in a restaurant. This tech they have, though, do you think they've had eyes on you since we've landed?” He messaged back.

In general, Senjen did not trust anyone around them at the moment, and the person the waiter had brought them to was no different. However, it took only a short exchange between Light and the Human to make it abundantly clear this was who they were meant to be meeting. Senjen prepared the file and looked to Light, needing only a nod for confirmation.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen had no idea what a QV hunting park was, but he would be glad to try anything to explore a new planet. Alien cultures and experiences, that was why he had taken this job to begin with, and it would be much easier to enjoy it outside the stress of this job in particular. For most of their trip across the station, he was searching through the net for interesting attractions on Korit, and imagining what even more interesting options might only be familiar to locals.

Upon their arrival at the restaurant, Senjen was distracted enough that he might not have noticed anything was amiss had Light not spoken up. He closed out his searches and took a look around, quickly piecing together what Light was probably talking about. “I’ll be honest, clearing out a street seems like a pretty awful way to stay anonymous.”

Instead of heading inside right away, Senjen paused, trying his best to quickly consider the situation, but he really did not have much to compare this to. Was this normal or expected in some way? He had never dealt with a group like the VC, but his first instinct was that there was someone else involved here. Light had just made a point a few minutes ago about the fact that the VC preferred to operate without a traceable presence, so going out of their way to clear out a public street seemed to be just about as strongly opposed to that goal as could be. He sent a quick message to Light, rather than speaking aloud. “I need to trust your judgment on this; you’re way more experienced with them than I am. Is this something they would normally do?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Hmm, I’ve read that laws on Korit are pretty loose; I’m surprised the VC even bother hiding themselves like that. Though, I guess they still have competition and such.” Senjen shrugged. By this point, they had moved beyond the market and were ready to get back on-track to the restaurant. Business in the world outside was still marching on, unaware of anything that had just transpired. Even if they had been, would they even have cared? Korit was a world run by what most of the rest of the galaxy would consider criminal organizations, so how rare was that sort of danger and violence, really? Looking out over the bustling crowds of this massive city all around him, it still did not feel that way on the surface. He could not imagine that they could create a place as impressive as this while living in fear.

With the pedestrian lines above them, Senjen stopped and gestured for Light to hold on to him like before. They probably did not need to waste any more time getting to the drop-off. “You know, you’re going to be getting quite a bit more of a payday than you thought, and you’ve just been through a lot. Maybe after this, we should just head down to the surface? Relax a while. I think you deserve a break. Both of us, really, and I would love to see Korit.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Well, no one died, right? I think that’s something that makes sense to be relieved about.” Senjen answered. Thinking back on it, he honestly felt that he should have been even more terrified in the moment than he had been. The droid had shot at him, and without Light’s warning, he would have been hit. The true extent of the danger had not really occurred to him while his mind was caught in the moment. He supposed that was a good thing, else panic could have caused the situation to end up much worse. Although, now, the possibilities of what could have happened were weighing on his mind the more he imagined them. It would have been even worse if they had not been able to save the shopkeepers. He was glad Light had been the one to face them, because he was already guilty for how much trouble they had caused them.

After a few moments of silence, Senjen tried to focus back in on the here-and-now. “I mean, maybe they’re not infallible? This group seems pretty serious, so I imagine they’ve got the resources to make a good fake. Besides, even if they do learn it isn’t the right file, they might not know where along the way they got tricked. The file passed through more hands than ours before we got it, and it could always have been that the whole thing was a setup, from the VC’s perspective. They could have stolen a fake file from the beginning.”

Senjen shrugged. “I’ll admit, you know them better than I do. Who are the VC, anyway?”