EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Altogether, Rodion’s business was a lot like Jess’, only on a significantly larger scale. They both scrapped and modified ships, and dealt in ship parts, but this Rodion had actual, living employees instead of just mindless machines. Not to mention it being a significantly larger property. Senjen had always thought Jess was talented enough to grow her business into something like this, but now, he wondered if that would even be her goal to begin with.

Senjen had not actually met Rodion before, but he was quick to adapt. He stood, relaxed, and met this Human with the same energy he greeted him with. He shook the Human’s hand and chuckled. “Heh, well, the ‘latest Myrmidon gear’ might make that a bit difficult. It’s got a lot of spring in its step.”

“Anyways…” Senjen’s gaze started to wander, looking around at the parts the workers were scavenging for anything interesting. “Space out there feels like it’s getting more dangerous by the day. We’re looking to arm Light’s ship. Something that will be useful despite it’s lack of mobility. I’m thinking maybe a turret with a good field of view?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen let out a laugh. “We’re not copies of specific Utaysi. Our minds just have the same structure.”

As clunky as the translation might have been, Senjen was caught off-guard by Light saying something that was very...right. Generally, the QV’s idea of socialization was very unique, to put it mildly. Both they and the Tindrel had natural psychology that were more different from the likes of the Utaysi, Tekeri, and Humans, so there was a fair bit of advice that would not translate particularly well between them. To Senjen, Light was making a rare bit of sense here. Someone who was immortal like him might have a different idea of patience than someone who was not, and that was something he should probably keep in mind. Still, that did not automatically mean it was a bad idea.

“I mean...yeah, we travel, but we’re not usually away for that long at a time. Besides, this situation of ours might not be a permanent one. Think about it, we make enough money, pay off debts, invest it wisely, and it might not be too long before we’re not the ones going out there and doing these runs ourselves. Money runs Korit, and if we get enough of it, then we’ll start moving up the ladder. We’ll be cautious and avoid getting caught stepping on the toes of any big corporations.” Senjen stood up, walking a few paces away from the ship. “Really, we don’t have to be stuck here forever. Skill I know we have, but we need ambition too. I know I have it; do you?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“You mean about her, or in general?” Senjen asked, though he supposed the answer did not really matter. Neither would be surprising. It did not seem that many other species expected machines to have any thoughts towards romance. Admittedly, he had thought that Light would know better, but he could not remember if he had ever told light about that aspect of his people. “Our minds came from organics, remember? We’re not just programs any more than you are.” He stopped and thought for a moment. “Or maybe we are, and you’re all just organic programs too? Either way, I’m perfectly capable of thinking Ruk is...the best. I figure I can at least ask, right?”

The thought of Light trying to date Jess actually made Senjen laugh for a moment. “But, uh, Jess...I doubt it. Always felt like the greatest love in her life was her business.” Senjen leaned back a bit and looked up towards the sky, trying to imagine which direction it was that last job had taken them. “Hmm, guess we know why now, though.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“I definitely think it’s worth the effort to add.” Senjen answered. “We might not be so lucky next time. We need to be able to protect ourselves. As for which one, well...I don’t think we need to skip out on this. If we end up needing it, then we need it to work well. I say you pick the one that gives us the better, more reliable weapon. I don’t care which one costs more. If we have to do favors for it, or just pay, either is fine, but I want the weapon to work well. When it comes down to it, we’re not going to be caring about much else when it actually matters.” He said, confident in his reasoning.

Senjen looked out over the city and mimicked as if he were stretching his muscles. “Anyway, I guess I’ll look into the job board too. If I can make decent money, then it will help me get this paid off quicker. I’ll have to be careful about the kind of jobs I take, but...progress is progress. I’ll also need to make sure to do that ad this month. Probably with my FGC work; that kind of thing is good PR for any company, so I’m sure they’ll love that.

With another look over to Light, Senjen changed the subject again. “Do you think I should ask Ruknar on a date?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Hmm, maybe be patient with it, I would say? I mean, you don’t have anything rushing you to spend it, so you can take some time to think about it. I know I had been planning this upgrade for a while.” Senjen said, tapping a hand against his chest. “But, that said, I do like upgrades. The better your suit, the tougher jobs you can do, and the safer you’ll be doing them. I feel like this frame is an investment that will make me more money in the long run.”

Senjen turned his head back, looking up at the ship behind them. His thoughts went back to the job, and especially what had happened near the end. “Although...if we’re going to keep using this ship, maybe it would be a good idea to arm it? I know you handled it this time, but this ship isn’t good at running away either, so if that had not worked...well, I don’t want to think about it. I was afraid, I’ll admit. We were in danger and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t fight back; just had to wait and hope. Hate that feeling.”

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.”