EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

As far as interstellar travel was concerned, the trip was a short one, which felt merciful for Senjen. This part of their jobs was always his least favorite. Day in and day out, trapped in a ship with nothing changing. The destinations were usually much more interesting. He loaded up his storage drives with enough shows, books, and games to keep himself occupied, but he still preferred actually doing things. He had gone through this countless times with Light, but this time they at least also had Jess with them to mix up their dynamic. She had been in space before, as she was not from Korit, but she still did not leave the planet very often. Certainly not nearly as much as Senjen or Light. The feeling of weightlessness had not even grown mundane for her yet, which Senjen made sure to tease her about when he caught her jumping around the cargo bay.

It had been about a day and a half, Korit time, since they had departed the planet. Senjen pulled himself along the ceiling as he entered into the crew quarters to find Light and Jess, oriented upside-down relative to them. He did not catch whatever it was Light was doing when he entered, but Jess had secured herself against a wall and was using a long elastic band for resistance to help her exercise her legs. Her generally disheveled appearance made it look like she had just woken up, but the fact that she had looked the same all day made him think she was just not bothering with her appearance for now.

“How are you adjusting to space life, Jess? Everything you hoped for?” Senjen asked.

With a grunt, Jess paused and took a quick break to catch her breath. “I think...putting in all this effort into working out just to lose less muscle is bullshit. I’d at least like to get somethin’ out of it. Next time, I’m just buyin’ a few injections, whether I ‘need’ it or not.”

Senjen shrugged as he floated by. “It’s your money. Me, if I want more muscles, I could just install them. What’s it like anyway? I mean, your whole ‘exercise’ thing works because you end up tearing them so they grow back stronger, right? Isn’t that painful?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

There was a firm silence between the two for a short while longer. Jess stared back at Light, motionless, though it was hard to say if she was actually studying him, or just matching his intensity. Regardless, after a few moments, her attitude flipped and she gave a shrug. “Good enough for me. At least there will be more space this way...sort of. Get the ship prepped. I’ll load a box with my things and I’ll be ready.”

---

It did not take long for Jess to get her belongings aboard, and for Senjen to get her set up in the crew quarters. She was already quite familiar with their ship, though she had never made it a secret that she was not particularly fond of it, or most Tindrel designs. She knew how they worked, and how to work on them, but their cave-like interiors could make them feel smaller and more claustrophobic than they actually were. Humans, and especially Tekeri, could feel uncomfortable in them for long journeys. Jess might have preferred her own ship, though she was honest in trusting Light’s judgment.

Fortunately, this was not going to be an especially long trip, all things considered. It would be about two days and a few hours that they would spend in transit to their destination, and Jess was not planning on them spending more than a day searching for their salvage, one way or another, so they would probably be back in between five or six days. It was a short enough journey that she and Light would not need to worry too much about muscular atrophy, as long as they kept up with exercise, so they would not need to spend anything on treatments.

Among the belongings Jess had brought on board was an adapter to help her fit more snugly into the unused co-pilot seat in the cockpit, so she could actually strap herself in properly for takeoff. It was designed for a Tindrel, but as Senjen did not help with flying, and a QV did not even care if there was a seat, they had never bothered to modify it. Once secured, Jess connected to the ship’s computer and made a request to access the astrogation system. “Here, let me upload the coordinates. There shouldn’t be anything too special about the trip, but given the destination, you’re definitely going to need to take direct control once we get close.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Jess was generally happy to play along with most jokes and quips, which is why it stood out when she stared Light down sternly without a hint of a smile. “This is serious, Light. We’re going to be dealing with high-intensity cosmic rays, and potentially pirates or other scavengers. We need to be ready to either avoid them, or take them down. If you are choosing this ship because you think it is the best option, then fine, but make sure you think long and hard about about it. No games on this one.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“The park? What, are you offering to take me on a walk?” Senjen laughed. He was moving a bit around the room to get a feel for his movement. “Though...getting out into some natural light does sound nice, admittedly. How about we just head out and get a feel for it.”

---

Senjen and Light did not do too much of consequence throughout the day, but even the small things felt invigorating in a new body. They did end up passing through the park, which felt like its colors were a few shades brighter. Indeed...glancing through the specifications they did have higher photosensitivity. There were also color filtering options through a wide array of the EM spectrum, from infrared to ultraviolet. He did not actually get around to climbing anything, but he did get at least a bit of a sense of how well his new limbs could grip. Utaysi did not like to be restricted to the ground, so Myrmidon would have had to have been able to fulfill their expectations on climbing. Not that there were too many ways they could have screwed it up. The “natural” structure of the common Utaysi body lent itself well to climbing.

It was getting late when Jess finally messaged that she was coming over to the ship, though the pair was already waiting at home. Jess’ scrapyard was not far away, just a few minutes of a walk from the other side of the landing park. She gave a wave when Senjen spotted her from the top of the loading ramp, but did not say a word until she was inside.

“I see you got your new hardware. My feelings on Myrmidon aside, that is a fine machine. So when am I going to get a chance to give it a once over?” Jess asked.

Senjen shrugged. “Plenty of time for that en route. Speaking of, are we ready to get going?”

Jess nodded. “Yeah, just one thing to decide…” She looked more directly at Light. “What ship are we taking? I’ve got one back home that would also do the job. Smaller than this one, not as tough, not as much space, but more agile. It’s also armed. Lightly, but still armed. You’re the pilot, though, so I’m giving the call to you. We can go inspect it if you want.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

This time, Senjen showed no real reaction to the decent hit Light gave. It was just a wet slap against metal, while Senjen was allowing his body to boot up and go through the first time startup procedure. He had to set up all of his preferences...or at least most of them. He could deal with the important ones in a few minutes, then get to the rest over time.

Shifting his weight, Senjen sat up on the table, then tried out moving a few more joints in his arms. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a new frame to work with.” At first, his voice was entirely different, as it matched instead the default voice profile of a Myrmidon robot. He took a few seconds to go through the settings and customize the output to something more familiar. “Ah, there we go. It’s easy not to notice how things start slowing down over time until you replace everything at once.”

Senjen stood up to his feet. By this point, all of the automated startup processes were done with, so he would just need to tweak the rest as he went on. He hopped in place a few times, twisted and bent around his tail through its full range of motion, then gave a glance down at the symbols sketched on his arm. “Smooth as can be. Okay, I want to get moving, running, maybe a little climbing.”

Senjen gave a look over his old body. The first time he had ever gone through a permanent transference, it had been a bit surreal to see his mind’s long-time home inert and lifeless, but that had been a long time ago by this point. He did not grow so attached anymore. “I gave you the address to ship that to, right?” He commented to Ferrow. There had been little point in trading in the old frame. Between the wear and the used, aftermarket parts, it was not worth much. He would make more back by selling it to Jess for scrap.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Oh, don’t worry so much. Light is a plenty-skilled pilot; we’ll be fine. Jess wouldn’t be sending us if it was too risky. Besides, she’s coming too, so if it was, her ass would be on the line too.” Senjen shrugged. He finished up with her feathers as best as he could. He was no professional avian stylist, but he could get her to be neat and presentable, at least. “We will be gone a few days, I think, with the travel time and everything, but when we get back, the drinks are on me.”

---

Once they made it back to the Myrmidon office, it did not take long for Senjen and Light to receive the attention of some familiar faces. While Light was returning his borrowed suit, Senjen sat down with Ferrow once more to iron out the details of the contract. He knew from going over the contract with Jess what aspects of the offers he did and did not want to accept, so Ferrow would probably find him to be reasonably prepared, at least compared to the average customer off the street. What Senjen questioned him on in particular was the content creator program, as he wanted to know the specifics of what kind of briefs he would be receiving. He needed to know not only that he would be able to actually reasonably fulfill each brief that came, but that he would be able to fulfill those obligations while keeping his...business outside the FGC a secret. He, of course, did not ask directly, but by the end of it he had a better idea of what they would be expecting from him. The contract evidently guaranteed that the briefs needed to be “reasonable” to complete in his line of work, which was at least a bit reassuring. If there was one kind of law that Korit did enforce, it was contract law.

Ultimately, Senjen decided to accept the offer on the program, along with the other decisions he had made with Jess before. He signed the contract and made the deposit. He would receive his first brief in the next month, so for now all there was left was to receive the new frame.

Preparing a computer to receive a Utaysi personality matrix was a process that required some time and specialized knowledge, but Myrmidon was more than capable of it. With the frame prepared, the actual transfer itself was fairly simple and straightforward. Light went in with Senjen to watch the transfer. The new frame was laid out on a table, with a direct, physical connection to another table just beside. Senjen laid down and hooked in his own frame, and from there, Myrmidon’s job was done. The actual algorithms for matrix transfer were not something that were known, even to the Utaysi themselves, as they were contained within the personality matrix itself. The process was something close to an “instinct” for him. His personality matrix detected a valid matrix container in the same network, scanned it to test for compatibility, then offered him the choice to proceed with the transfer. To anyone observing, it took less than a minute. For Senjen, it was even faster. His senses shut down and he lost awareness for just a moment, then suddenly his vision was booting up again...sharper than before.

Senjen opened his eyes, blinking a few times. Eyelids may have served little function to them, but it was an instinct that felt natural. He lifted up a hand and looked down upon it, then started articulating each digit in turn.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Ah, he just doesn’t want you to worry, but it’s not that bad.” Senjen chimed in. In the corner of his vision, he brought up a picture of Ruk for reference so he could try to comb down her feathers just as she liked them.

“Jess just got a tip on some salvage. She could probably handle it herself, but it’s in a bit of a dangerous area of space, so she wants Light at the helm to be safe. Some hazardous astronomical phenomena, but it’s nothing Light hasn’t dealt with before. I’m not worried.” Senjen explained. It wasn’t a lie, really, it just was not the full story. With the kind of business she ran, there really was not much question as to why Jess would want some valuable salvage. “So what are you getting called in for? I didn’t think you were meant to be working today?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen nodded back at Light. “Yeah, I’m going to get that new body today. It’s expensive, but it’s just better. More capable. It’ll open up new opportunities. Have to spend money to make money.”

Ruk’s interruption, however, was quick to grab Senjen’s attention. “Oh, that’s not good. I’d hope you’d have more time. Okay, uh…” He pulled around his tail, grabbed the pitcher of water, and carefully handed it to her. “Here, drink this. I mixed in something that’s supposed to help with a hangover. Just, uh...give me a moment.”

Senjen quickly rushed back inside, and the pair could hear him rummaging around for a minute before he returned with a glass of water. He moved around behind Ruk’s chair and splashed just a small amount of water on her still-disheveled feathers. Neither he nor Light owned a comb, but he could extend his claws and lock his fingers in place to use his hand as a substitute to try and flatten down her feathers.

“Got to get you ready as quickly as we can. They keep your, what’s it called...scrubs at the hospital, right? Just need to get you presentable, then.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Nonsense. If you organics are going to insist on wasting your time ‘sleeping’, then I’m just going to have to be even more productive to make up for it.” Senjen responded back from within the ship. It was not long before he came walking down the ramp, two plates in hand and his tail wrapped around a full pitcher of water. “That thing they gave me last night was wild. I guess I don’t know exactly if it was like what you feel, but it was definitely...something. I felt like I could hardly walk at one point. Crawling was easier.”

After a moment, Senjen stepped around in front of the pair. “Of course, I could just turn it off when I was done. You...not so much.” He pushed Light’s plate into his suit, while for Ruk he held onto the plate and just plopped one of the soft boiled eggs straight into her beak. “I’ll do as much as I please for the two of you, and you can’t stop me. I’ve already cleaned the ship, your suit, and Ruk’s clothes, I’ve made breakfast, and I’ve got what I’m pretty sure is a hangover remedy.”

Senjen narrowed his eyes at Light, speaking in a tone as if he were threatening him. “But I’m warning you, if you keep complaining, I’ll just have to start giving massages too. Don’t think I won’t.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

In this case, Senjen felt like he was in agreement with Ferrow. The night was fun, but it was probably best that they not go around talking about it. He was still...unsure on how he felt about this whole idea of intoxication. The feeling made it easy for him to let loose, but part of him did worry about what he might end up doing if he tried it again.

Senjen’s head lowered slightly and the tip of his tail slapped the ground when Light wrapped himself around him: something approximately akin to a deep sigh. “I...yeah, sure. Let’s just…”

Light dropped to the ground before Senjen could finish speaking. “Okay...so how are you, Jess?”

The Human had been walking a short distance back from Light while his focus had been on Senjen, mostly so she did not attract it herself. She was in a much better state than the others, having gone light on the drinks. At most, she was buzzed. “Fine. Just watching...maybe taking a clip or two he can watch back later.” She chuckled.

“Well at least you’re still lucid. I think it’s about time to get back. Ruk can stay over at the ship, and I can watch over them both. I know you have a busy day tomorrow.” Senjen remarked.

Jess shrugged. “I can help you get ‘em situated, at least. It’s not like I live far.”

“Thanks.” He looked down on Light at his feet. “So, buddy, want to get up, walk out on your own with me?” He asked with obvious sarcasm. After collapsing, Light was not being terribly responsive, and while Ruk was technically standing, she was not doing much better. She was staggering around and did not seem terribly aware. With how crowded the club still was, he mostly just wanted to get them both out quickly.

Reaching down, Senjen got one arm under Light’s suit, then hoisted him up onto his shoulder in one quick motion. From there, he approached Ruk and did the same to lift her up onto the other shoulder. Senjen’s frame was shorter than Ruk, and smaller overall than Light with his suit, but he carried them both together, and seemingly without even much effort. “Alright, time to go you two. Why don’t you lead us in a song, Light?”

“Are you trying to torture me right now?” Jess glared at Senjen.

“Hey, it’ll keep them occupied. Not my fault you can’t mute your ears.”

---

The taxi ride back to the ship did not come with too much in the way of trouble. Senjen knew that Jess was going to have a busy day tomorrow, so after they got the other two out of the taxi and into the ship, he insisted that she go home and get some rest. He could take care of their friends for however long they needed it.

Being that Senjen did not sleep, it was not uncommon for him to be out on the town all night, but given the circumstances, he was going to be spending the majority of that time in and around the ship to keep an eye on the others. Although, he did not spend that time simply being idle. For his friends, he mostly just let them entertain themselves for as long as they were still conscious, while making sure they did not get it in their heads to wander too far from the ship. When he was not wrangling them, he was getting ready for the next day. He made sure Light’s suit was purged of all contaminants and ready to return to Myrmidon when they went back tomorrow, as well as getting Light’s own suit cleaned and pristine to inhabit once more. He made sure Ruk would have a clean outfit, and since he had plenty of time, tidied up the ship as well. The left the ship only for a short time after they were asleep, just to make sure he would have some hangover remedies on-hand for them the next morning.

When Light and Ruk finally did awaken, it would be to the scent of familiar cooking in the air. Senjen knew they would be in pain, so he had the lights dimmed. He knew both of their favorite foods, and so he was in the midst of preparing them. Senjen may not have been able to eat himself, but he was perfectly capable of following a set of instructions.

“Good morning.” Senjen said as softly as he could while still being audible once he started hearing movement. “You both just rest and relax. I’ll have everything ready in just a few minutes.”