EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Out of all of them, Senjen rather expected himself to be the last to receive any positive comments from strangers. He was replacing his old, worn frame for a reason, and he did not even have time to notice who exactly it was that had spoken up before they were lost in the crowd. Jess was always paranoid about that sort of thing being some sort of corporate advertising trick, but he was not sure what that would even accomplish here. He did a quick search about the club itself, but all he really learned was that they changed theme every so often to a different kind of Human mythology. Honestly, it seemed like an interesting gimmick.

In any case, Senjen quickly shrugged off those thoughts to bring himself more in the moment. Light had looked a bit distracted until he spoke up about the different rooms on the mezzanine. “Eh, seems boring to split people up. Surely the Humans can put together something decent for all of us, right?”

There was a short laugh from Senjen. He looked out over the dance floor as he listened to music that shifted so quickly it did not seem like it could decide what it wanted to be. “I’ve heard of sample platters for your food before; is this like the same thing for music? What do you think about the Human stuff, Ruk?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen had not been aware that it was even possible to transfer an organic mind into a machine, though by the sounds of things, it was not very possible. Even if it was, part of him wondered how many of the organics would even be willing to try. From his experience with them, they tended to be attached to their bodies in ways that did not entirely make sense to him. There were quite a few of them who would refuse cybernetic replacements on principle, even if they were strict upgrades to natural parts. Needless to say, that was not something he could really wrap his head around.

In any case, their arrival at this Cerberus club gave Senjen plenty else to focus his mind on. It was a particularly alien place, compared to most others on Korit. Even other places that were influenced by Human design did not seem much like it, outside or in. After getting through security, they found an interior that was less archaic than the exterior, though quite unique all the same. Senjen could tell there was a strong theme that he had to look up to get a reference of what it was meant to be: an “Underworld”, drawn from some ancient Human mythology.

“Does this remind you of home, Jess?” Senjen questioned with a chuckle.

Jess crossed her arms. “Not...really, no.”

Senjen caught the scents in the air, though they lacked the same connections to him as most of the others. The music and visuals, though, had a striking appeal. Flowers on the dance floor were an interesting choice. There was much to explore, though he was in no hurry. He stepped out in front of the group a few steps and walked backwards, facing them. “I doubt you’d ever see anything like this on Orostro. The old cultural beliefs of the Creators are something that are exclusively meant to be honored in a museum or something. Well, seeing as it’s Light’s day, what calls to you first? Maybe see what is upstairs? Or you all can get drinks if you want them.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Jess and Senjen were both up and getting ready when the others rejoined them. Senjen was perhaps not as openly excitable as he might have usually been, but that was only because he was still letting his worries about the next day occupy his mind. Even with this new job right around the corner, he was still going to be making a major commitment.

Senjen nodded to the others. “Oh, yeah. Jess already called us a taxi. It should be here soon.”

---

It was getting close to dark as the group’s autonomous taxi took them through the skylanes towards their destination, though that hardly mattered in Setia. If anything, the vibrancy of the city was even more readily on display at night. For Tekeri with a more natural circadian rhythm, this was about when they were waking up to go to work, and it definitely showed in the traffic. It would probably take them a few more minutes than planned to get where they were going.

Regardless, Senjen had managed to put aside his anxiety about the next day by instead focusing on what excited him, of which there was plenty. This was something that had been in the back of his mind since long before he had met any of his friends here, and it was so tantalizingly close. He could not help but to want to talk about it.

Senjen was sat beside Ruk, and certainly did not seem to be concerned by any delays. He was perfectly happy in speaking with her. “You know, I’ve been thinking on if there is anything comparable to getting a new body for organics, but...I’m not sure if there is. Especially with a brand new body, it’s like everything becomes brighter. Sharper. You become so much more aware of all the little things you had been ignoring about yourself. Resistance in the joints, sluggish muscle fibers, it all just goes away. And this one...I am going to own alien technology that would never be sold back on Orostro. I wish I could let you experience it somehow. Is there anything that can do something even a little like that for organics?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Of course. How do you think I get through any contracts at work? Still, even with that help, it takes hours to do your proper due diligence. Especially with big corporations like Myrmidon. There’s literal millennia of experience in industry for contract writing. Come on, may as well get started. Oh, and that suit in there could be recording what we say, so keep quiet on this while we’re around it. I’ll fill Senjen in on this whenever you’re out of earshot with it.” Jess explained.

---

When Jess and Light rejoined the others, most of what they would notice would be how Jess seemed to be dreading what she had agreed to for Senjen. That much was completely genuine, but for what she had in mind, she was willing to go through with it. After a quick glance through it with the AI tools, she was reasonably confident to tell the others that she would be able to get through it in enough time that they could still make it to the club Light wanted to go to. Though, given that it was still going to be a few hours worth of rather dull work before then, she suggested that Light and Ruknar do something else to occupy the time, like going out for something to eat or otherwise relaxing. They could all meet back together when it was time to go out again.

While they were away, it gave Jess the chance to fill Senjen in on the job, which provided an entirely new context in which he would be making this purchase. One single job, and he could make potentially about twenty percent of the total cost of this frame. One job that would open up the opportunity for even more well-paying jobs down the road. If this body made him capable enough to complete them, it could end up more than paying for itself.

---

“Okay, so...these videos aren’t anything I would have much control over, then.” Senjen was sat beside Jess, reading over her shoulder as she looked to be juggling five different windows on two different screens.

“You might have some influence over exactly what you give them, but yes, essentially. They will dictate what they want from you, and you will have to give it every month, or else suddenly find yourself responsible for quite a bit more of a debt.”

“And how do I know what they’ll find acceptable?”

Jess flicked over the screen’s focus to a different window. “It says they’ll give you a brief. It would probably be worth asking for some examples before you agree to anything.”

“You see any downsides to trying it?”

“You mean aside from putting out content with your name on it, that you have no control over, promoting a soulless mega-corporation? No, none at all. Aside from maybe the fact that there are no strong definitions of what limits they have on what they could ask you to provide. If it were me, I would want some assurances they aren’t going to ask for anything unreasonable.”

Senjen made a point of rolling his eyes where she could see. “Yeah, I get it. What about the next things?”

“Well, this whole assist program I suppose could help keep you alive in theory, as long as you’re in a settled system. But, it would be expensive to use, and if you’re doing something less than legal, you probably don’t want to be calling in Myrmidon-branded help. You could make some money doing it for others, but the nature of the thing means you’re pretty much guaranteed to be going into danger, and you won’t know how much of it. I don’t know that I would use it in your shoes, but I don’t see any actual problems in the contract. Maybe just that Myrmidon takes a fee for using it, but that’s it.”

As Senjen was not terribly interested in the assist program, he just moved on from there. “What about privacy? I don’t really want Myrmidon spying on me.”

Jess laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. I scanned it pretty thoroughly for that. The point of concern I found for them potentially collecting audio, visual, or location information is in ‘diagnostics’ data that gets sent to the company, as well as with the add-on services.”

“Is there any way to get out of that?”

“If you opt-out, it voids the warranty.”

“What does that get me, even? Can I still get my body repaired myself?”

“That also voids the warranty.”

Senjen crossed his arms. “Maybe I don’t need the warranty.”

“Maybe you don’t.” Jess said, looking over at him. “Since you’re not interested in advertising, the last thing is just the work placements. Basically a job board for limited, fixed-term roles. It’s work. Pay is average, nothing special. I guess you have the option, if you need it. Just make sure that if you accept one, you’re ready to commit and see it through. Don’t want to be penalized for failing your obligations.”

Senjen nodded and, after a few, long moments of silent thought, stood up to his feet. “Okay, alright, I think I’ll be ready. I’ve got notes, I’ve got a plan, just need to...wait until tomorrow. And try not to think about it too much tonight.”

“Yeah, well, at least my job is done.” Jess answered. With something of a relieved sigh, she put away all of the documentation and sent a message to Light and Ruknar both letting them know they were done with all of the contract business.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“It’s no small payday.” Jess answered. “It depends on how many units there are, and if all of them are undamaged, but if the shipment is average and intact, then your cut will probably be somewhere around eight hundred thirty million, give or take a bit. Each. It might not buy that fancy suit in there on its own, but it’s a decent chunk out of it. The bigger point, though, is that this proves our worth to my contacts. Building that connection gets us access to goods you ain’t going to find on the open market, and more jobs. This is a bigger score than most would probably be, but still, it’s regular access to better paying work.”

Jess rubbed the back of her neck. “Tomorrow can work, but I’ve got some prep work to do on my end. We’ll probably leave late. Sen is going to need to go deal with Myrmidon anyway. Now, I have to spend the next few hours reading a stupid contract. We might still have time for that club, depending on how hard it is to get through. Wish he could just read his own contract, but...to be honest, I wouldn’t mind having him with an upgraded body for this job. My ass is going to be on the line too, so a better bodyguard is worth some reading.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Jess resisted the urge to step back as Light approached. She knew his tendencies well, so she was at least not surprised with how close he came. Still, QV could really make one feel claustrophobic, and she did her best to keep eye contact without it feeling weird. “You and Senjen know Ruk better than I do. I don’t...completely know how she would feel about this kind of work. If you think she would want to be involved, then feel free, but this is the sort of thing that you keep only to those who need to know. We’re going to be smuggling something, but instead of benefiting the hospital, it’s going to be for the benefit of our bank accounts. Which, frankly, is a perfectly good cause in my book.”

There was just a moment’s pause from Jess, as if she was listening for footsteps, only continuing when she heard none. “Okay, first things first, the what and the where. The ‘what’ is something you might be familiar with. I’m sure you might have had cause to use devices that can mask or spoof the identity of certain types of cargo on scans. Not a revolutionary thing for a smuggler, but the ones we are looking for are some of the best. They’re an ‘in-house’ product of the Centauri corporation. Their mining division has a presence out in the edges of settled space, but besides minerals, they’re also collecting some more restricted, or just overtaxed, substances and selling them in non-Human markets. Now the ‘where’ is in a, hopefully, unoccupied system around a pulsar. See, the company recently lost a freighter that was heading out to one of their frontier outposts, with a good number of these devices on-board. Now, the company thinks it was pirates, and they’re moving to search places where they might have been intercepted. However, I have some information suggesting it might have actually been an accident. The freighter’s route comes close to a pulsar, and being that these megacorps are always trying to squeeze out every bit of ‘efficiency’, they don’t like diverting to safer detours if it adds another day of fuel costs to the journey. Officially, their pilots have to keep a minimum safe distance so nothing bad happens, but they also ‘officially’ put harsher and harsher quotas on their underpaid employees so they have to cut corners off the books just to keep up. I have it on good authority that this one might have drifted too close to the star on their route and got their ship fried by the radiation. The cargo would have been shielded, though, which means it could still be up for grabs.”

“I won’t deny that there’s risk.” Jess added. “In a perfect world, we get in there, find it quickly, scavenge the wreck, and get out before anyone knows what happened. Big payday for just a little work. Places like that, though, are common haunts of pirates, and scavengers especially. We have to get in on this quick before someone else finds it, and we might have to protect our claim.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

For a moment, Senjen almost felt overwhelmed again thinking about the options, the numbers being given, and the programs on offer. On the surface, the work placements did not seem to be too bad of an option. He was a bit wary about working directly for a massive corporation like Myrmidon, but if they were odd jobs he could choose to take whenever he had time, it could be fine. For the moment, though, he stopped worrying about it. His friends could help him figure this out.

Senjen took the tickets with some hesitation. “Ah, well, if I only have a day to read through and figure all this out, I probably don’t have time to go to a club. Still, I will be back tomorrow, at least.”

---

For Jess, the mention of the castes had her looking annoyed for a moment, but in a place like this, she was holding her tongue. As she nodded long, listening to the explanation, she messaged Light privately. ”Exciting as it might be, I don’t think you want to be getting attached to this thing right now. You don’t have the savings right now, and there’s no way you get even a halfway decent rate without a deposit. Just...be patient. The offer I have might help you out.”

Meanwhile, hearing Symphony’s offer, Jess gave a non-committal shrug. “Maybe. We’ll have to see what our friends are wanting to do. Speaking of, we should probably get back to them.”

It did not take long for both groups to find each other, though both Senjen and Jess had reason to leave quickly. The idea of going to the club was up in the air, but no matter what they chose, they also had reason to stop back by the ship first. Fortunately for Jess, the gel from the room mostly stuck to itself rather than her clothing, so she mostly just had to deal with being slightly moist and mildly uncomfortable during the taxi ride back.

---

“You’re wanting me to read how much?” Jess snapped at Senjen as they climbed out of their automated taxi, outside of Light’s landing pad.

Senjen held up his hands. “I know, I know, but you’re good at this sort of thing. Best out of any of us, for sure. This thing could follow me around for a decade, and you know...you could really do a lot to help me. And with a frame like that, maybe I could help you too? Or at least I could pay you, or maybe…”

Jess sighed, interrupting him. “Just…” She began, holding up one hand and looking away from him. “Fine, I can help. Just give me a few minutes. Light, could you come here a minute? I need to check something with your astronav system real quick.”

Senjen tilted his head, surprised for a few reasons. He had expected to have to persuade her more to actually convince her to donate that much of her time and effort, and on top of that, he was not sure what she wanted with the ship. “Is there something wrong with the ship?”

“No, or at least you better not have broken anything since last time. My usual courier’s been dragging their feet on something, so I might have a courier job or two soon, if they don’t get their asses in gear. Just need to make sure the ship is set to navigate to that sector. We’ll just be a few minutes.” Jess answered.

Jess seemed a bit insistent that Light join her, and once they headed up through the ship, out of sight of the others, she spoke up in a casual voice. "Could you change into your old suit real quick? It could take some advanced flying, and I need to check some things in the suit you're actually going to be using."

Light was willing to comply, so after taking a few moments to change, the pair headed up towards the cockpit. Once they got out of potential earshot of the Myrmidon suit, though, Jess got to her real business. “Not completely sure how Ruk would feel about this one. I’ll make it quick. I’ve spent the last few years trying to make inroads with a certain organization that shall remain nameless for now, and I think I finally have something. I won’t sugarcoat it; I’m looking to get into the trade of black market goods. Tech, specifically. Nothing dangerous, just the kinds of things that corporations would rather keep in-house than to sell on the open market. I’ve tracked down a lead on a particular piece of gear, and if I can recover it, then that’s my in. There are risks, and it could be dangerous, but there’s a lot of money in this trade. Could be a lot for you too, if you work for me.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Ruknar’s reminder was helpful, if nothing else to keep Senjen from rushing into any decisions. This purchase was something for which he had been planning and saving for over two years now. He had been patient for all that time; he could stand to be patient for one more day. This was a commitment that could eat up quite a few years for him, so it was worth it to get the best deal he could.

“Let’s see, and that’s after the discount…” Senjen muttered . “Okay, I can afford that deposit, and...this is my monthly income.” He had made over 1.7 billion GC during the last two years at FGC. Of course he had some expenses, but he had been able to save a significant percentage of it. This was something he could manage, he knew it, but he had to stay calm and keep in mind the advice of his friends. He looked up more directly at the Utaysi. “I just need to take this home, like I said. All the terms and conditions are here in this contract, right? Are there any other documents I need, or are we done for now? If you want to add on the work placement or advertising options you mentioned, I can look at those too.”

---

In the time it took for Jess to saunter her way through the gel into the other room, it seemed Light had managed to overcome the initial awkwardness at the new suit. He wasn’t crashing into the walls, at least. She supposed it was probably safe enough to start swimming her way over closer to him with just a small degree of caution.

Jess glanced over her shoulder at Symphony. “I’m just curious, is all. Buying a gel suit definitely ain’t in the cards for me today.”

Jess’ gaze settled onto the more fine details of the suit, at least as far as she was able to discern. The physical mechanics of a gel suit were still quite alien to her, but it still was mechanics. Still physics. It still needed to send and receive signals, still have something to do the job of muscles. Surely the fact that it was transparent would make it all that much easier to see its inner workings? Ruknar had mentioned how it was literally easier to perform surgery on a QV due to their transparency, so it could be the same here.

“Have you ever given a test drive of a top-of-the-line QV-made suit, Light? How does it compare to one of them?” Jess asked.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the offers coming his way, and ironically, that may have been helpful for him to avoid signing up for more than he bargained for. He was worried about the time limit on the discount offer, and a sixty page contract was already more than enough to deal with without having to start thinking about signing up for other programs. It made him stop thinking about other additions and just focus on getting started with reading it. This assistance program might have been tempting on its face, especially if it could get help to keep his friends safe, but the thought of being called upon himself at a moment’s notice caused him to spiral with thoughts that proved to be just too much to deal with in the moment.

“Oh, no I...think I have enough reading to do as it is. Just, um, I just want to focus on this frame, and maybe the content creator program. I will read over the contract this evening, and come back tomorrow with my answer.” Senjen answered.

---

Overall, Jess had only some knowledge of Quelun-Vosh gel suits. In a way, they could still be considered a form of robotics, but it was “soft” robotics, and the technology involved was quite different to what she worked with day-to-day. She could see what was going on, and she could see that Symphony was certainly trying to make a sale that Light definitely could not afford. Jess would probably have to stop him from making a mistake...eventually. However, she was also curious to hear his perspective on what he was experiencing with this suit.

Light’s first comment was on the suit’s senses, and Jess supposed that should not have been too much of a surprise. The tech behind most of the sensors that Myrmidon used in robots and other devices would not require too much adjust to use in a gel suit. The QV’s sonar was unique compared to other intelligent species, but it was not like the idea of sonar or echolocation was anything new or revolutionary to Humans. Other Earth animals had it, and Humans had studied and used it long before they even encountered the QV. Still, she did notice how it seemed to be able to connect with QV physiology pretty readily, even without the “mind-meld” Symphony mentioned.

Symphony snapped Jess out of her thoughts and she, once again, tried an awkward mix of swimming and walking along the floor into the adjacent room. She was at least acclimated to the liquid breathing at this point, but she was like a toddler compared to them when it came to mobility. Honestly, given how fast Light had managed to accidentally shoot himself into the other room, she became mildly worried for her own safety. She certainly would not be dodging out of his way if need be, so she seemed to be keeping her distance a bit. “How does it compare to your suit? I mean, it’s coming from a Human company. Does anything feel weird about it?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen shrugged, giving a quick glance towards Ruk. “I suppose. I guess I just think a lot about keeping my friends safe, especially if I can’t always be there.”

In general, Senjen did care more about defense than offense. It did not terribly matter how much firepower he had if someone could end him before he even knew he was in a fight. Not to mention, his whole job was protecting others. If he was not the one standing strong, then a situation could turn sour very quickly. He had to admit, it was exciting to feel as strong as he had. Even just moving around felt so fluid, especially in a body as capable as that one. Not only was it better armored, it was faster and stronger. Partially because it was simply new and had not experienced the wear and tear of his current frame, but even if his body was factory new, it still would not compare. He had to keep reminding himself of what the had told himself going in. He was not buying today, just gathering information.

Jess’ warnings had been plenty for Senjen to expect a sales pitch, but what he received was more than he imagined. Upselling with discounted bundles, maybe, or mildly favorable interest rates on financing, but this was a discount on the base model. And a significant one, at that. All he had to do was make a few videos promoting a frame he already knew he liked? It seemed like a steal, but he did not know too much about contracts with big corporations. Could there be a trick here? What would they even do? He would feel less nervous if he was sure he understand the contract. Maybe he could let Jess look over it?

“I...okay, that’s really not a bad offer. Do you mind if I take a copy of the contract home? Read it over?” Senjen asked.

---

It felt tempting for Jess to want to take a deep breath first, but she was reminded that it was really best to breathe out before heading inside. A breathable liquid was...bizarre, more psychologically than physically. In truth, Jess did not know all too much about it. She vaguely remembered Ruknar talking about it at one point, and she knew there were some chemicals of some sort that inhibited the natural drowning response in all known intelligent species. It worked for some animals too, apparently, but was more hit-or-miss.

Jess move forward awkwardly, uncertain if it was better to try and walk or swim. It was not cold, at least, so she did not get too much of a full body shock, but she was still already wanting it to be over quickly. The saleswoman had a suit to show, of course. Why else would she be talking with them? Though, she admittedly had some curiosity here. Gel suits were a recent addition to Myrmidon’s repertoire, all things considered, and they were very different from the company’s usual product lines. As advanced as they were, she had to imagine it was one area where the QV were still ahead, but would it be apparent just from first impressions? How would it compare? She wanted to make sure Light did not do anything irresponsible, but...there were some things she wanted to know too.