EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“The money is good…” Senjen said, stopping to put some more thought into it. “It would be really nice to be able to pay off this frame quickly. And if I’m going to enter this line of work...I guess I’d rather it be working for a friend. Yeah, I think we can take more jobs like this. And I won’t speak a word about it. I don’t necessarily want to stop working for FGC completely though…”

Jess gave a nod. “You won’t have to. The jobs I’ll have for you won’t be quite so consistent. Just try to keep your schedule flexible with anything else you’re doing so you’ll be able to jump on the opportunities as they come.”

“Alright, it’s a deal.” Senjen said, going out of his way to give Jess a handshake. “Now, just to pass the time back to Korit. Anyone bring any good movies?”

---

Considering what they had just been doing, the return to Korit seemed positively mundane. They were not actually carrying anything illicit, so there was no trouble in customs. They were able to just head right down to the surface, back to Light’s usual landing pad. Jess went back to her shop, and for everything else, they could just...go back to normal for now. Jess would contact them whenever an opportunity for a new job came up.

Light and Senjen were sitting outside the ship, just taking a moment to relax. It was late, and the sun was just starting to set over the horizon. Light would probably be heading to sleep soon, so Senjen would need to go find something else to do soon enough. “So...all-in-all, that wasn’t too bad. I mean, you did more than me, if we’re being honest, but I think we might be moving up now.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Quite the opposite, actually.” Jess answered. Though, she waited and joined him in the crew area once they made the jump to FTL. “There’s a certain organization on Korit I’m trying to establish a working relationship with. My sister is going to pass on the cargo to them, under my name as my ‘employees’. Our plan, in general, is to try and use that connection with this organization to get access to some of the more prime pieces of tech they traffic in. Maybe we use them for information to find them on our own. Maybe we skim a few samples if the product’s quantity isn’t known. Maybe my sister just gets a good look at it first before we pass it on. Regardless, our company will always pay you the difference on the cargo if we take anything before the final sale, plus a premium for your discretion. Mention this to no one.”

“It sounds like a fair deal to me.” Senjen shrugged, looking down at Light. “Especially if it pays even better than smuggling contracts. I mean...it does sound risky, though. I don’t imagine this other ‘organization’ would be happy to hear of your plan.”

“Yeah, they’d be pissed, so don’t tell ‘em.” Jess replied, bluntly. “Smuggling in general is risky, but you already agreed to that. You'd be doing all the same things you signed up for. I just need some people I can trust on these jobs, then you can stand to make a lot more money just like today. Agreed?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen did not have to take any time to think on what his answer would be. “Oh, I’m going to be getting to work on paying off this body. No question on that. With that much debt, I was to be very responsible and everything about paying it off.”

“Well, maybe you can be smart sometimes?” Jess chuckled.

As much as Jess might have wanted to move on from the topic, Senjen was still feeling curious. Now that they knew about her sister, there were parts of this job that were not quite making sense. They had been told that Jess wanted to use the cargo to get an “in” with a smuggling outfit on Korit, but he doubted that anyone they had seen on that outpost was a part of that. Why did her sister need to take a look at them first.

“Anyways...we’ll obviously keep the secret about your sister,but...can we at least know why? I mean, it just seems weird to me why it was so important for them to look at the cargo. Is there some doubt that they are what we thought they were? And well...you got the full payment from your sister, not the buyer. What if that smuggling outfit doesn’t end up buying them?”

Jess sighed, leaning back in her seat while pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “Okay...fine. I can tell you’re not going to stop wondering, and you already know about her, so I might as well tell you. My sister and I, our parents own a...certain company. Not one you would have heard of; it’s more local to our homeworld, but it is a tech company. One that has been having problems our parents are too proud to solve. Major interstellar corporations out-compete us, not only in scale, but in the dirty tricks they use in business. They don’t hesitate to engage in a little corporate espionage to learn what their competitors are up to, and maybe reverse engineer their products. They do it to us, but we don’t do it in return. My sister and I don’t want to see the company just die out, so we want to even the playing field.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen did have a hard time understanding what had Jess so riled up, but whatever it might be, he did not want to risk stirring up problems after how well things had gone so far. They were so close to having this job go off without a hitch. He did not have much else to do, so after pacing around the halls for a short while, he just waited while watching the ship’s external cameras. From what he could see, some of the guards took away the crates while Jess lingered around talking with Becca for about ten minutes. Despite all of the shouting, and the rather fervent insistence on getting him and Light away from Becca, the two of them eventually parted with a hug.

When Jess returned to the ship, she shouted through the halls, mostly to get Light’s attention. “Alright, hangar’s opening up. Time to get us out of here!”

Jess did not have much else to say until they were away from the hidden outpost. She had strapped herself into a seat in the cockpit, while Senjen had secured himself elsewhere. Though, once they were out in space and moving at a steady velocity, he floated up to the cockpit as well, bracing himself on the door frame. “So...are we all done?”

“Yeah, mostly. Just one last thing.” Jess said as she pulled out a tablet and started tapping away. “Payment went through, so...there. Your shares, paid in full...plus a ten percent bonus from me, for a job well done. And for listening to my orders. I assume I can trust that you will not breathe a word about any of this to anyone, and especially not about my sister. As far as you are concerned, I don’t have a sister. Understood?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Becca looked mildly confused for a moment, but she kept a calm, composed attitude. “We are perfectly capable of handling the sale on our own. We know what the cargo is, and how to deal with it.”

Jess, meanwhile, was far more expressive with her annoyance towards Light. “Just leave it be, Light. The job’s done for you. Both of you. Get your pay, go home, stop worrying about it.”

“That’s fine.” Senjen chimed in, raising up his hands. “I’m sure I’ll get plenty of chances to use my new frame, and I’m sure you know what you’re doing here. So you’re Jess’ sister...that means you both had the same parents, right? It’s not often that Utaysi parents decide to have multiple children. Not at the same time, at least. What’s it like growing up with a sister? I’m wondering if…”

“NOPE!” Jess shouted, grabbing a hold of Senjen’s arm the moment she realized he was going to start asking her sister about her. Becca had a slightly mischievous smile already, but Jess was not about to let her indulge. Through, trying to pull on Senjen in zero-G mostly just ended up with her pulling herself towards Senjen. “We don’t need your help out here anymore. You can just...head back in the ship while I sort the payment. I’ll tell you what you need to know about me and Becca later.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen found himself just as lost looking at Jess’ doppelganger, though he did not end up assuming danger like Light. He noticed that Jess called her by name: Becca. So, they knew each other? It definitely felt like they were more than just business associates.

With a glance over at Light, Jess let out a heavy sigh as she shook her head and ran her hand down her face. “What’s happening, Light, is that Becca is my twin sister who definitely shouldn’t be here.” She turned back to Becca. “I hadn’t even told them about you, Becca.”

Becca adopted a slightly accusatory tone. “What, did you bring someone here who isn’t trustworthy?”

“It’s called ‘operational security’, Becca. It don’t matter who is and isn’t trustworthy; you share dangerous info to people only if they absolutely need to know.” Jess snapped back.

It felt like Becca was being a bit aloof and dismissive. “Is that what it’s called, or are you just wanting to sound smart? I say it doesn’t matter, since it’s already done. No going back now.”

Again, Jess sighed. “Guess that’s technically the smartest thing you’ve said today. Look, Light, Sen, nothing’s really changed. You’re still getting paid the same, and we’re still selling this in the end to that other group I mentioned. Becca is just going to be taking a look at the product first. They’ll handle the hand-off, so we don’t got to worry ‘bout that.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The woman took a moment to notice Light, before she realized he was speaking to her. She looked up at him, initially confused, before replying. She sounded different from Jess. “Hmm? Oh, apologies. There is just a misunderstanding…”

A shout in a much more familiar voice interrupted from nearby. “Becca!? What the hell are you doing here!?”

Jess kicked off of the nearest wall to float over to the group, catching herself on the crates, though her attention was quite firmly on the other Human. Despite Jess’ shouting, the other woman kept entirely composed. “Taking the cargo, like we planned…”

“No, what are you doing here, Becca? Others could have handled it. There is absolutely no reason for you to be out on this rock. Such a stupid...moronic, unnecessary risk!” Jess shouted.

The other woman crossed her arms, seeming to stand her ground. “As if you have any right to tell me that. Risk is not just for you, Jess, and I am not just going to stay cooped up in an office for this. Besides, the operation always moves much more efficiently with my personal touch.”

With them standing face-to-face, even an alien could see that those faces were near identical. Senjen stayed silent through the whole exchange and just looked over at Light with a confused shrug.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light could hear Jess let out a sigh. “Well...speak if spoken to, obviously. Don’t be rude or hostile to them. I just mean...try to let me take the lead, is all.”

With the almost negligible gravity of the asteroid beneath them, Light had to bring the ship down onto the pad and keep it in place with downthrust until the clamps could secure the ship. From there, they had to wait for a short time for the portion of the hangar they set down in to pressurize. It was separated from the loading area by an inner hangar door, which opened once the area was pressurized and the outer door sealed.

Despite the talk before of them being home free, Senjen still could not help but to feel a bit nervous. He had never sold illicit cargo before. Well...except for the one time on his first job with Light, and that had not exactly gone well. Technically, they had not violated any laws of Korit, nor done anything that would violate interstellar treaties on salvage rights, but that did not mean the company they had salvaged from would not be willing to take it back by force.

In any case, Senjen tried to at least act like he was keeping a cool head. He and Light headed to the cargo hold to wrangle the pair of crates they were selling. They were easy enough to move around in near zero-G, but it was easier to have Light’s help to get them both out at once without losing control of them.

Outside the ship, they could see what looked like three guards, all Human. They wore simple, black, full-body armor with closed helmets. All of them were the exact same model of armor, but with absolutely no markings. They were armed, but their weapons were holstered, and they were keeping their distance, with electromagnetic boots allowing them to stand comfortably on the hangar floor. There was another pair of Humans in suits that Jess went for immediately to speak to, leaving Light and Senjen to handle the cargo.

Next to the landing pad, there was a cargo platform on a rail for unloading ships, so the pair took a few minutes while Jess was handling the deal to get the crates on the platform, strapped down, and secured. It kept the pair distracted for a few minutes, so they did not see the person who approached them until she started inspecting one of the crates next to Light. It appeared to be...Jess. Her face certainly looked like Jess, she was wearing a formal business suit, which was most certainly not what she had been wearing just a few minutes ago.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Ah, well…” Senjen hesitated. It was a relief that they had gotten away without issue, and it was actually safe to relax. Jess had already stepped away to get out of her environment suit, so it seemed like they were actually in the clear. There was not yet any known damage to the ship, and even if there was, he probably would not be the one who ended up fixing it. For now, the only thing left was to wait. “...I guess it pushed crates well? I didn’t really get to put the new frame to use on this job. A good thing, I guess, since that would mean something was shooting at us. Still, it would be nice to put it through some real tests sometime. Just...hopefully not on this job. The only thing left is to hand off the cargo, and I’d really rather there not be any shooting there...unless one of them wanted to go target shooting for fun, maybe?” He took a few, quick moments in thought, then shook his head. “Ah, you know what I mean.”

---

The group needed only occupy themselves for roughly a day before they reached their destination. Unlike the pulsar they had just visited, this was a normal, main sequence star that was unremarkable in just about any way, so it was much easier to approach. It was safe to simply exit FTL near to the asteroid itself

Being near enough to the asteroid, detecting the outpost buried inside was easy enough. It was quite a large asteroid, though not enough to hold a spherical shape. Most of the structure was underground, with only a hangar door, currently closed, on the surface to allow ships to land. Fortunately, the hangar looked to be generously large, so their ship would not have trouble fitting inside.

Jess floated up behind Light, holding herself in place in the doorway to the cockpit. “Okay, I’ll send ahead a message to let ‘em know it’s us. Once they open up the hanger, just land and wait for it to re-pressurize, then get the crates out there. They’ll want to inspect them, which is fine. You don’t need to talk to them much, and in fact, I’d really prefer you not. I’ll do the talking, you can just bring them out there and...stand around.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen did not understand what Light was trying to do. He was clearly in a good mood, which was nice, but Senjen just ended up standing like a statue, staring back at Light’s tentacles. Did he want him to swing back? Was he supposed to dodge, or...something else? Ultimately, he settled on trying to give a light, friendly punch to Light’s side, which ended up even more slow and awkward due to the gel.

“Ah...yeah. I mean...yeah! We’re home free now, right? Not like there’s any way to track in FTL, so it’ll be clear to the drop-off.” Senjen finally responded.

Jess unstrapped herself from her seat, then was finally able to unseal and remove the helmet from her suit. “Could you be more overconfident? All it would take is a few decent-sized guns to leave this freighter dead in the water. Yeah it worked, but, ah...shit.” She let out a sigh and relaxed her shoulders. “No, I don’t think even I can be mad about this one right now. You really did good, Light, and that’s no lie. You tracked down that ship in a fraction of the time I thought it was going to take, and that might have honestly saved our asses. Those pirates got sloppy tracking us; probably because they were having to rush just to keep up.”