EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

For a short while, Senjen seemed to zone out, lost in thought while in the care of the medics. Though he may have been immune to physical fatigue, even a Utaysi could experience mental exhaustion. Being pushed from one life-threatening situation to the next took its toll, and it was a relief to finally be able to push the danger out from his mind. He could be calm, he could be safe. It was not a problem to disarm for now, and he answered their questions as best as he could. He could give his own information, but he did not have access to Light’s private data. They would have to wait until he came to for that.

Being hooked into an exterior power supply did wonders to help Senjen clear his head, being that he could quite literally think faster at full power. It went without saying that this job had ended up as far more than he had bargained for, but he had at least come out the other side alive, and even considering repair expenses, it was going to be with a profit. Still, it gave him pause to reconsider the choice to leave his homeworld. With what he had earned, passage home would be easy enough to buy. Though, that would mean giving up on the reason he had come here in the first place, and everything he had seen still kept that desire strong in the back of his mind. Surely he had just gotten unlucky? There was no way every job would be like this. Korit might have been rough, but it was still mostly civilized; this sort of thing couldn’t be a daily occurrence. Senjen had no intention of dying for these dreams, but he surely could not give up so soon. As long as Light recovered, maybe he would at least stick around for a job or two with him?

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Setia, Korit, Present Day

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The FGC Hospital was something of a shorter high-rise, nestled between two much taller buildings near the center of the city. The vertical layering of the city gave natural divisions to the hospital itself, which was divided into five departments each specializing in the treatment of one of the known sapient species. At the moment, Senjen was waiting in what locals sometimes called “the aquarium”...or at least non-QV locals. It was the department closest to the ground floor, which specialized in the treatment of Quelun-Vosh. Each department was tailored to match, as closely as possible, the idealized environment of the species it was meant to treat, so the QV department was entirely submerged. Specialized gels like those in their suits were used in various rooms, though as they were more expensive, it was simply water that filled most of the space to save on costs.

Normally, non-QV friends and associates could not visit the aquarium in person, as requiring protective equipment was too much of a liability issue. But without that risk, Utaysi were an exception. Still, even just lingering out in the waiting room, Senjen could see in how many ways the space was not designed for him. QV naturally utilized every direction of three-dimensional space, while Senjen was still stuck on the ‘floor’. Their doors tended to be centered on walls, and sometimes led directly upwards or downwards, so there was a lot of climbing necessary for him to get around. What the QV considered furniture was sometimes out of his reach, or otherwise impractical for him to use.

It was far from the first time Senjen had been in this waiting room. He and some of the hospital staff in this section were familiar enough to know one another’s names, but it was entirely possible this could be one of his last times waiting here. With how much he was pacing back and forth along the floor, most of the other QV in the waiting room had taken to floating up above him.

Senjen’s gaze snapped over to the door each time it opened, and after about a half-dozen times, he saw that it was finally Light returning. He took a few, somewhat cumbersome steps towards the door as he looked up at him. “So...don’t keep me in suspense…” Senjen said, clearly anxiously.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen’s first instinct was to head inside the nearest store as well with Light, if for no other reason than to just get into cover and collect himself. However, he did not follow the boss out the back. Rather, he pulled Light off his back and set him down just inside by the door, then took a moment for some damage control of his own. Senjen stumbled briefly, having to catch himself on the nearest wall while several systems re-calibrated. He had just shut down one of his two power cells and transitioned his body into a low-power state. Only critical systems were active, his senses were dulled, and his reactions were slowed, but he would produce much less heat.

Now much more calmly, Senjen slowly lifted Light up and helped support him. The boss had rushed out the back with his daughter, so they were both well out of sight by now. “Okay Light, they’re gone, we just...we need to get some help now.”

Senjen had seen the medics outside. If he was remembering correctly, they healed people, and they could help Light. He was not sure they could do anything for himself, but he had his own diagnostics and knew exactly how long he could last. He was pretty sure he heard some mumbles of approval from Light, so he stumbled back outside with him, walking them both straight towards the Tekeri. “He’s hurt, um...burns.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

By this point, Senjen had seen more than enough of a pattern with these droids to know exactly what was going to happen when he disabled the droid, so he was ready when the self-destruct started. He holstered his pistols, grabbed the droid, and threw it clear of the truck. However, the inevitable complication came from elsewhere this time. The truck swerved left quickly straight towards the wall. Fortunately, Senjen was clinging to the right side, but he only had a quick moment to react. He let go of the truck and continued to fly forward at an angle towards the wall. His thrusters spun him around, burning at max power to try and counteract his velocity, though they could only somewhat slow him before he made contact.

Senjen engaged his electromanets the moment he came close enough to the wall, though he still ended up sliding along it for a short distance before finally coming to a halt. However, there was no time to stop, and he launched himself back towards the truck as quickly as he could. Now that he was being actively cooled, his mind was not so muddled. He could think and focus, and he could hurry every bit as much as he needed to right now. As he reached the right side door, he saw the gunship starting to come into view.

Senjen reached in through the broken window and opened the door. The truck certainly had some kind of safety features to protect passengers, but he still imagined the crash was rough for a pair of organics. Unfortunately, there was no time to be considerate. He could not stop and check on them; they just had to move. He reached in and grabbed the man and his daughter in his arms to pull them out. “Come on, we’re almost out of this. Just a little bit farther.”

Carrying around three people would be cumbersome, but he just needed to get them off the street quickly. He would bring them into the nearest store and see if he could find some other exit out the back. The gunship could not just go around shooting up random storefronts without someone getting involved, whether it be Korit security or whoever else protected this section of the station.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen and Light were moving quickly to keep up with the truck. He could see the droid hanging on to this side of the cabin, and he could see its drone was watching him. He could not sneak up on it to gain the surprise he had been relying on, though even at a quick glance he could see it was damaged. Flying in from behind, Senjen had to think on his feet. It was struggling with the Human up front for the girl and might have been prioritizing getting its hostage as the best way to ensure its success. That would have to be enough.

Senjen had time to fire a shot before reaching the truck, but the shield easily absorbed it. With his feet, he grabbed a hold of the side of the truck just before it crashed through the window. The droid was just in front of him, so it took most of the glass shards and debris in his stead, not that it would have done much to affect either of them. Senjen had been relying on stealth and cleverness to get an edge on these droids this whole time, and he had one last trick that came to mind: a bit of misdirection and sleight of hand to deceive its threat assessment. While it was struggling over the girl, he fired another shot that the shield absorbed, then bashed the shield with the pistol grip in a vain attempt to break through. And while the drone watched his seemingly desperate attempt to force his way through up high, his other hand drew his own pistol from its holster down low. He pushed it slow enough to pass through the shield, intent on firing at the droid from within.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen was already on a collision course with Light, but he heard what he said. He was responsible for his client, but also responsible to follow his orders. Still, the two were not mutually exclusive. Rather than use his thrusters to slow down, he used them to speed up and guide them as soon as he grabbed Light. As they were floating through the air, Senjen tried to maneuver Light around to his back. “Come on, get those tentacles around me and hold on tight.” He messaged Light directly.

Senjen kicked off of one of the interior walls of the lobby to send them back on a course towards the truck. By this point, he was back to seeing alerts in the periphery of his vision that he was silencing one after another. The extinguisher had delayed the heat issue, but he had not been able to keep calm and still, so he was back on a path to overheating. The gel suit, though, it was cool to the touch, and grabbing it sparked an idea in his mind. QV gel suits could distribute and diffuse heat.

“Focus, Light, stay with me. I’m overheating. The hole in my back, you can use your suit to cool me down.” Senjen messaged him again.

With his thrusters, Senjen aimed them for the nearest opening into the truck’s cabin. He had his gun at the ready, hoping this droid would also be distracted enough when he got an angle on it.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen was in the middle of climbing up when he saw what was just ahead. As fast as he could, he dropped back down, hanging off the back of the truck as it crashed through into the building. Being behind the truck, he was able to avoid the impact and debris, and when he climbed back up, he was witness to the droid with the boss’ bodyguard in its grasp. Fortune, it seemed, was favoring Senjen here, and maybe the bodyguard as well. He had an angle on it from behind, and both it and the shield drone were occupied. With a bit of luck and the element of surprise, Senjen could still make an impact. He did not even finish climbing up; as soon as he had his upper body over the edge, he took aim with his stolen pistol, steadied his arm, and fired three consecutive shots into the droid’s center mass.

It was only a moment longer before Senjen was finally able to climb up to the roof, and it was then that he spotted Light and had a brief pause of understandable confusion. Why was he even up here? Wasn’t he meant to be driving the truck? Regardless, he saw the shot, and he saw Light start to float away from the truck. As startling as it might have been, it was a moment that gave him a laser focus. Light was his client, and his client was hurt, so there was only one real option in front of him.

“Light!” Senjen shouted. He took a few shots at the droid at the front as he rushed forward, but his focus was Light. He leaped from the edge of the truck towards Light, intent on trying to catch him and use his thrusters to help guide him to safety.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen did not entirely expect to disarm the droid. In truth, he was not sure what he was expecting out of anything he did. For the most part, there was precious little time to think about much of what he did; just act and hope his instincts were right. He had the droid’s sidearm now, so he holstered his own and kept it for himself. Aside from preserving ammunition, these alien weapons were overall stronger than his.

The moment he saw them, Senjen braced himself against the edge of the hatch and fired on the droids on the truck trailing them. The trucks were armored, so they could handle hits from small arms. Clearing off the droids was a much greater concern than whether or not he melted the paint. However, this was not what he needed to be doing right now. The other droid was still out there, and there was nothing he could do about it from in here. Letting the droids on their own truck go unchecked could end up dooming them all.

Senjen turned towards the other soldiers. At least one of them was uninjured, and they were all armed. They were better suited for this. “Give them some cover!” He shouted to them, pointing out the back to the other truck. There was no time for doubt or debate; Senjen just had to steel himself, then climb out the hatch to cling to the outside as the droid had been. From there, he had to crawl around the exterior to see if he could find an angle on the droids. At speed, the wind rushing by across the hole in his frame did at least give some much-needed air cooling to his components, at least.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Fortunately and unfortunately, shrapnel bombs were not terribly effective against droids. Senjen could not duck around the corner from the hatch quickly enough to avoid catching some shrapnel, but at that distance, it did not do much more than scratch his frame. However, the droid outside, despite being closer to the blast, was also still perfectly-well intact.

Being that he was just around the corner from the hatch, Senjen was not directly visible to the drone. Perhaps the droid had not expected any of the occupants to be so close to the opening immediately after the detonation, but Senjen was close enough when he saw the sidearm reach around the corner to quickly grab a hold of it. Out of anyone in the truck, he was the one who could actually be capable of wrestling it away...hopefully. The strength of organics could be trained; it could grow or diminish, and exceptional circumstances could push them beyond their usual limits. A physical contest between them was not always decided by who was bigger and stronger. With machines, though, their contests were more straightforward. If one droid’s hardware was superior to the other’s, then it was more physically capable, and that was that. Senjen had no idea what the specifications on these droids were, and if they were stronger, he just had to hope that the leverage he had from this position would be the difference-maker.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen did not have too much difficulty bracing. Even with the force of the truck crashing its way out of the garage, he could wedge himself in place quite nicely. However, that meant he could not be doing anything else but waiting for the truck to straighten out. Some of the other soldiers had to struggle to keep their wounded comrade stable through all the jostling, but none of the rest of them were hurt, at least. Still, the enemy was not going to give up for a moment. He could not stop, could not rest. At least not yet.

Once the truck was stable again, Senjen was already heading right back to the hatch. Initially, it was to help out the truck behind them, as he had saw some of the droids climb onto it. However, he had more immediate concerns when an explosion shook the whole truck and the hatch was ripped off of its hinges. Senjen was stood front-and-center, pistol raised, when he saw the quick flash of a metal hand at the edge of the hatch as something was thrown inside. With where he was positioned, there was immediately a loud clunk when the small object struck Senjen right in the face.

Senjen was capable of feeling pain, but mostly he was just startled. The impact canceled the object’s forward momentum, so it floated for just a moment in front of his gaze before he swatted it directly away from himself in a mild panic.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Seeing as the ride was about to get a whole lot rougher in short order, Senjen pulled the hatch shut for the moment, only to have to move on immediately to the next part of this crisis. He still had the extinguisher close at hand, and now he wasn’t the only one who needed it. As he recalled, not all types of extinguishers were entirely harmless to use on an organic, but there was no handheld extinguisher in use that would be more harmful than actually being on fire. As such, he did not hesitate to spray down the burning soldier.

Senjen locked one hand in a vice grip around the best handhold he could find, holstered his pistol, then took his other hand and pressed against the ceiling while his feet were pushing into the floor. Even moreso than the rest of the compartment’s inhabitants, he needed to make sure he did not go flying around uncontrollably. He would make for too heavy of a projectile for the rest of these soldiers.

In that moment of waiting for the truck to break through, Senjen did have just a brief time to think. What had gone wrong? They had covered the commander well enough from what he had been able to see. They must have if she had started to move to them, so why had she turned back? Why couldn’t it have just gone right for once? Why did more people have to die from all this?