For as long as they were being led through the restaurant, Senjen was simply following close behind Light and letting him take the lead. That did give him a chance to look around, and despite the severity of their situation, he could not help but to indulge his curiosity. The architecture of the restaurant, and most of this area around it, was largely Human. Out of all the aliens he had seen, their buildings were most like what he was used to back home, but that familiarity made their differences stand out even more. Utaysi were climbers by instinct, and even in a gravity well, their cities were built with verticality in mind. Walls were built with holds they could use for easy ascending along lanes of foot traffic, and ramps were only ever used in certain places where heavy cargo was often moved. Coming to this station had been the first time Senjen had seen stairs in person, though he had to wonder why they were even needed in this place? They seemed redundant. The waiter escorting them seemed perfectly willing to float up to the top floor with them, though perhaps that was just because of the nature of their visit.

Senjen observed curiously the chandelier Light had pointed out. It was hard to miss, in any case, but he probably would not have paid much attention to its more odd features had Light not mentioned them. It was easy enough to dismiss it as an ugly light fixture, but now that he was paying attention, it did not particularly mesh with the rest of the restaurant’s style. It was too cold in an otherwise warm space. Out of curiosity, Senjen adjusted the filters on his visual sensors to see if it was emitting any higher-energy wavelengths in the EM spectrum. Shoving strange technology into what was probably a front company also seemed like a poor way to maintain anonymity, in his mind.

Senjen tried not to make eye contact with any of the other patrons on the way. It was strange enough for him to be here to begin with, but at least with Light at his side he had the excuse of just tagging along with a friend. He just wished he had more meaningful observations to contribute when Light questioned him. The only thing that stood out was what Light had already noticed. “No idea. This is literally the first time I’ve been in a restaurant. This tech they have, though, do you think they've had eyes on you since we've landed?” He messaged back.

In general, Senjen did not trust anyone around them at the moment, and the person the waiter had brought them to was no different. However, it took only a short exchange between Light and the Human to make it abundantly clear this was who they were meant to be meeting. Senjen prepared the file and looked to Light, needing only a nod for confirmation.

“I really hope not.” Light replied to Senjen’s message. Glancing anxiously about him.

Senjen’s scan did reveal that the chandelier had its own high-tech power source. One of the small appendages on it swung to him. The Utaysi received a Guangzhou club branded message with a 20% off one year membership discount code. The message then repeated on a few mirrored surfaces around the club, visible only to him.

-

Light held up one of his appendages to stop Senjen sending the file just yet.

“We agreed twenty five million galactic credits for safe delivery.”

The man dabbed around his mouth with a crisp white napkin from off the chef’s pass then chucked it away.

“Collect it from the casino vault on your way out. Come on, I don’t have all day.”

He held out a beringed hand palm down and grabbed the air with his fingers.

Light huffed. He would normally insist on cash up front. But since he was already up forty three million and was desperate just to be done with this job, he conceded.

“Ok…where is that?”

“Second floor in the back, come on!”

“Alright! Give it to him.”

The man took the file eagerly and his eyes rolled back as he inspected it. Then he cracked a broad grin and pulled a brightly coloured disc chip from his coat pocket. He flicked it through microgravity to Senjen, then yelled over his shoulder in a non-standard language that required both their translation packages to match and download from scratch.

A tiny old lady looked up from the kitchen and shouted back just as loud. Light had scarcely noticed she was there. They argued back and forth unintelligibly a few times before the translation kicked in.

“Ma stop! Put that down and just get the girl!” He gestured wildly.

The old woman shook her head and muttered something under her breath, slinging a kitchen towel down and doddering away.

The man looked back and grinned again, before pinning his eyes on Senjen.

“Who are you, a custom Myrmidon or something? I was only expecting seafood.”

Seafood was a disrespectful slur on QV, indicating the species could or wanted to eat them. Light was beginning to lose his patience with this man, and it showed across his suit.

As amusing as it was, Senjen did not think he would have a use for a discount to the restaurant. Or any restaurant, for that matter. Unless, he supposed, he wanted to take an organic out to eat at some point. From what he understood, there could be plenty of reasons for him to: business, celebrations, holidays, maybe a date, so it was not like he would never have a reason to set foot in one of these establishments again. Though, if he was going to choose one willingly, then it probably would not be a front company for a criminal organization.

Senjen caught the chip and inspected it. He lacked the context to understand any insult that might have been intended towards Light, though the man’s attitude alone was enough for him to understand the irritation. The man also did not seem to recognize him as a Utaysi, though frankly he was mildly surprised that had not been more common. If for no other reason than to avoid having to carry on a conversation with him, Senjen considered simply not dispelling the illusion. He did not need to lie, merely to be...terse.

“I am currently serving Into-The-Abyss-In-Search-Of-Light.” Senjen answered in a calm, even tone.

Senjen was finding himself curious on what this file was and what they intended to do with it. He was even more confused at the small bit of the conversation he had managed to translate. It was hard to tell what sort of relationship these people had to one another, or why they needed to go get a girl for something. It could have been unrelated to their business, but Senjen really had no idea.

After a moment, Senjen privately messaged Light. “Telling them everything now is still an option, if you think it best. Do you think it is possible the other group could be spying on us here, in the restaurant?”

The man sniffed at Senjen, wiped his nose with one hand then made a face and looked behind him. “Whatever, man.”

Light spun around inside his suit and looked out of the windows. The Grand Concourse was beginning to transition to night time. He couldn’t see anything or anybody out there watching them, but he knew that didn’t count for much.

”I don’t know. I suppose It's possible, though perhaps that's what the atrium tech is there to stop? I’d really like to avoid getting involved any more than we currently are. Lets just stay quiet and get out of here as quickly as possible. Keep that chip close, that unlocks our money I think.” He’d been in a ‘casino’ before but had never seen the appeal of giving away money with no sure chance of return. Some QV he’d known had discovered the appeal and gotten deep into debt.

“Umm. Are we done here?” Light ventured.

“Stay there. Just need to verif-Ahh, here is my little princess!” The man chuckled, holding out his arms and crouching down. The old woman tottered over in her food-stained apron with a big smile on her face, holding the hand of a girl. The child clutched a pink stuffed animal close to her chest and eyed Light and Senjen curiously. Even as she went into the man’s embrace she looked at them.

“Have you eaten?” The old woman asked them both gruffly.

“Err, yes. Thank you.” Light replied, his stomach grumbling violently.

“I’ll make you both some noodle soup.” She decided, turning and shuffling back towards the kitchen.

“Ma, leave them alone, they’re leaving after we check this little piece of info. Here you go princess.” The man shouted after his mother, before softening his voice for the girl. He gently stroked her forehead and her eyes rolled back.

The man stood up gradually, then looked back at Light and Senjen, beaming proudly.

“This is my daughter. Isn’t she the cutest?”

Then the girl collapsed on the floor, a background hum that Light hadn’t even noticed before stopped, and the lights went out.

The choices this Human made were bizarre enough to leave Senjen stunned for a moment. Not only did he bring out a small child, but he handed over an unknown file to her for reasons Senjen could not understand. He had been preparing for what to do in case the file seemed like an imminent danger, but he was caught off-guard enough by what the Human was doing that he did not realize until it was too late.

It was sudden when the lights shut off. His sensors could adjust just fine to the dark, and given that QV evolved in the near-lightless depths, he imagined Light was fine as well. Regardless of their ability to see, however, nothing in view could answer the question of what was happening. “What’s going on?” Senjen questioned aloud. His gaze went to his surroundings, to any entrances to try and identify threats. He did not arm himself just yet, but it went without saying that he was on-alert. It did not take much effort for him to appear surprised, because it was not really an act. He and Light may have had more information than the rest, but he still had little clue as to what was happening.

Light wobbled forward as the girl collapsed, concerned for her wellbeing. Then he realised what may have happened and wobbled back again, looking at Senjen. Then suddenly the strain lights put on his vision receded. Colours remained, and he could clearly see movement as a few people got up from their booths across the atrium. A spike of adrenaline flushed through his system and his suit’s skin automatically thickened. He looked for exits and spotted a staff door on the opposite side of the kitchen.

“Princess!” The man wailed, kneeling over his inert daughter and clumsily feeling her face.

“Talk to me baby, what's wrong?”

The old woman was barking orders in the kitchen. Two large bald men got up from a booth by the edge of the atrium, one of them went to the edge and looked down towards the entryway and the other jogged over to help the man they’d met. His eyes glowed blue; Light guessed he had some kind of eye implant.

“What did you do?!” The man turned and shouted in their direction.

“Nothing! Right?” Light protested, holding manipulators out to either side of his body in a gesture he was pretty sure looked innocent to Humans. He looked at Senjen for backup.

Then a loud crash and tinkle of glass sounded in the atrium. Then another. The man standing at the edge drifted backwards, feet disengaging from the mag-floor and arms limp. A spray of blood glinted in the half light. Screams and shouts wafted up from the lobby.

“What was in that file?!” Senjen questioned aloud. At this point, it was a genuine question, because he had no idea what they could have loaded into that file that would have caused so much damage, so quickly. Did they have any sort of cybersecurity in this place? They had not even verified it yet, so surely the client had not let it execute any code outside of a quarantined environment? If they had, then Senjen could not help but to feel that the client was at least partially responsible for this disaster.

Regardless of how it had come to pass, what was important now was getting out of this situation alive. Nothing else mattered but the crisis in front of him, and just like before, that was something he could focus on. What could he see? What could he hear? There was screaming from below, and the man who had gone over to the edge to investigate...he looked to be dead or wounded. Potentially, someone was attacking the restaurant from the lower levels.

Whatever it was precisely that was happening, the last thing they needed to do was to freeze up. The client and a few others were checking on the girl, understandably, but this was not a place to linger. “Is she alright? We need to get you all out of here. Exits; is there another way out of the building from this floor?”

“It's none of your business!” The man snapped back, slapping his daughter lightly on the cheek.

“Wake up sweetheart, it's time to go.” He said sweetly to the prone girl as plasma fire ricocheted somewhere out of sight. There was a constant tinkle of broken glass from below them. A dull sanguine light clicked on all across the restaurant. That must be the emergency power supply kicking in, Light thought. He could see multiple groups of diners rising from their booths with guns and suspected very few people in this restaurant were actually civilians.

“Get to the back stairs!” The old woman boomed, gesturing to a set of double doors at the back of floor furthest from the atrium. She then reached under the kitchen counter and hauled out a heavy plasma repeater that was almost as big as her. She plonked it on the counter and just in time, because a large black droid floated up to their level along one of the side dining areas. The old woman could barely see over the top of the gun but fired anyway, sending a stream of hot plasma down range. It narrowly missed a group of four women who also opened fire on the attacker. The droid took cover as another one floated up.

Light wanted to run for his life. He still hadn’t recovered from their ordeal in the suit shop, and now this was all proving too much.

“We have to go!” He quailed, pushing the white hatted man towards the exit as soon as he’d scooped up the little girl into his arms.

“You two aren’t going anywhere! Stand and fight like men!” He shouted back over the growing din of gunfire. The one remaining large bald man had pulled out a second pistol and offered it butt-first to Light.

The situation quickly devolved into nothing short of chaos. With the layout of this place and how everyone encircled the atrium, the old woman had nearly hit another group of “patrons” on the opposite side. Droids coming up through the center would not be able to take cover from all sides at once, but Senjen made a mental note to take care where he positioned himself, and to keep in mind the backdrop if he ended up shooting anywhere.

Senjen dropped down to all-fours to make himself a smaller, quicker target as he scurried along the floor. He moved to his right, around to the opposite side of light around one of the tables to take an angle on the droids that was closer to perpendicular to that of the old woman. He drew his pistol and took aim. If one of the droids floated up over the edge into view, he would have not hesitate, and he would have a flanking position to help her, but he wanted to prepare any way he could before trying anything aggressive. He guessed that these would be the same sort of droid that he had encountered back in the QV’s shop, so he took an image of that droid and tried to search for the model. Anything he could learn about it would be helpful.

Next, Senjen messaged Light. “Get down and get into cover. Can you sync up with me and give me access to your perspective? Visual, audio, anything you can share.” It had been helpful back in the shop to have access to the QV girl’s perspective, but the fact that she could not see too sharply had been limiting. That, of course, was why Senjen now had installed a software package to translate data from a QV’s echolocation sensors into a usable format.

It seemed the white-hatted man apparently had no designs on leaving their fortress. He moved his daughter behind the relative safety of the commercial kitchen units and laid her back on the floor. Grabbing a small holopad with physical connectors from inside his suit, he felt around the back of her head for the port then plugged a wire in.

“Get out of here!” His mother shouted over the deafening racket of her plasma repeater.

“Not until I bring her back!” The man shouted back.

Light protested as Senjen skittered off, but he wasn’t listening right at that second. So he grabbed the pistol from the bald-headed bodyguard and sucked it into his suit til only an inch of the barrel poked out. It was harder for anyone to grab it off him that way.

Then the QV compacted close to the floor, changing from a vertical to horizontal orientation. He warbled behind the Utaysi and hid in a nearby booth. He sent a pairing request so they could share sensory data, then stared at the plate glass windows adjoined to one end of it. He could see other buildings lit up through it and the street far below

“Maybe we can smash this glass and escape out of it?” He asked. He fired his plasma gun at the window; it made ugly black mark about a foot wide on it but otherwise had no discernible effect.

“Wow, strong stuff.”

The droids were the epitome of efficient warfighting. They didn’t even need to poke their heads or bodies out from behind cover to fire. They just ejected one flying disc that floated to the ceiling, then poked their guns out and fired with pinpoint accuracy. A few of the patrons scored some near misses on their guns but not before one person on each end was propelled backwards with a plasma bolt in their chests. Then one of them threw a flashbang around the corner of their booth towards the three remaining patrons closest to Senjen.

Patrons from around their level had mostly moved to the edge of the atrium space and were firing down to lower levels. Two women from the opposite side of the kitchen area were floating quickly towards the old woman, her son and the bodyguard.

It did not take all that much observation for Senjen to see which way the wind was blowing here. Buying time was the name of the game now, and he had one idea of how to do that. The disks the droids launched up towards the ceiling, he had seen them before, and he had a fairly good idea of their purpose. He had noticed the droid back in the shop had been able to track him through the ceiling, then the disk had revealed itself shortly afterwards. It did not take much to put two and two together. Any patrons that were still alive, Senjen contacted and marked the position of the disk he could see. “Those are sensors; take them out quick!”

At the same time, Senjen dashed across the floor quickly over to Light’s position. “Grab on tight!” He commanded, taking hold of the QV and helping him onto his back. From there, Senjen holstered and set out in a sprint on all fours that was rather startlingly quick. The pace he had floated them through along the passenger lines before was leisurely by comparison, and it would take all of Light’s effort, and probably some help from his suit, to hold on. Though, it was only a short distance he brought them for now, as he stopped them in the kitchen unit next to the man and his daughter.

Senjen could see what the man was occupied with, and could understand why, but it was not doing wonders for his judgment. “These things are serious military droids; this is not a fight we win. Escape, now!” He said as he started to speak more directly to the man’s mother. “I can get them out of here, lightning-fast. Which way do I take them?”

The patrons took a moment to understand who was painting targets for them, but regardless it was fairly obvious that this difficult-to-spot disc was something important. They aimed up and opened fire on it, scoring the ceiling with a dozen plasma burns. The disc exploded in a shower of sparks that rained down on the droids below.

This distraction meant the patrons didn’t have enough time to escape the flashbang, which exploded in the middle of them. Sensory implants were temporarily disabled, including regular sight and sound. They hunkered down and clutched at their heads in disarray.

The two droids were now without one monitor drone, but they did each have a shield drone. These popped out of their backs and activated a shimmering oval kinetic barrier which stopped plasma coming from one direction. The droids exited their cover-booths into the gangway as soon as the flashbang went off, one looking forward and another looking back. The shields covered back and front.

A patron shot at them from behind and was swiftly dispatched. Then the grandmother’s heavy repeater finally found a gap between the partially melted booths. A bolt hit the lead droid in the shoulder, narrowly missing the front shield. The droid crashed into a booth on the other side of the aisle, right arm and weapon floating free. The shield drones quickly moved to protect both droids from further laser repeater fire and the second droid took the lead. Reaching the end of the aisle, it quickly dispatched two of the patrons in their hiding places before the third leapt at it, pushing the gun away.

Light had meant to shoot at the droids as they ran away, but Senjen was so fast he couldn’t even bring his weapon to bear. Instead he set up behind the kitchen counter next to the bald bodyguard and waited for the droid to appear.

“We’re not going anywhere! Where the fuck are my soldiers?!” The man shouted. As if on cue, the back doors opened and six heavily armed waiters wearing powered exoskeletons emerged.

“Secure the boss, go!” One of them said as they moved in.

“Get down the stairs to the basement, take the armoured cash car out of here! I’m right behind you!” The woman yelled croakily.

“I’m not leaving, ma!”

“Uhh, what's that?” Light asked, pointing. A white spotlight had appeared outside the plate glass windows near where Senjen and he had just been standing. It was moving quickly, then slowed and hovered in mid-air.

Senjen was catching only glimpses now that he was in cover behind the counter, but it seemed the fighting was going about as well as he had expected. Even with the surprise now having worn off, the patrons were still outgunned. One of the droids took a hit, but they were still working their way through the patrons alarmingly quickly.

The man remained stubborn, even to the old woman’s commands. Perhaps he had a reason, with the arrival of his soldiers. They were well-armed and equipped with exoskeletons that might bridge the gap to the droids...or they might just end up slowing them down somewhat more effectively. Senjen really had no way of knowing who would come out on top between them, just that it was a fight he was not close to being equipped for. The best he could hope for was to leverage what he could do...especially if it ended up pulling him out of the fire in the process.

Senjen had rushed over to the man and his daughter, his gaze darting to the spotlight just outside the windows. Instinct was telling him that the situation was about to get even more chaotic. Either they came with him now, or they probably wouldn’t get the chance. “Look, there’s no reason to keep her in the line of fire. Let me carry you both out of here, and you can get her help.”

The first droid emerged from the row of booths and immediately took a stream of plasma to the shield, cracking it. They retreated back behind cover. The old lady laughed triumphantly. “I have them trapped!” Then an even larger energy bolt knocked her off her feet. The plate glass windows on the back left side of the building shattered as an ugly black aircraft fired through with two undercarriage cannons. The entire kitchen they were hiding in was drummed by energy fire, with crockery, utensils and shards of metal flying everywhere. Two of the soldiers coming up to the kitchen area were hit bad before the rest took cover.

Light squawked in surprise and squeezed himself into a tight cubby under one of the solid counters.

“MA!” The man shouted, scrabbling along the floor to grab his floating mother.

“What happened to ma-ma?” The little girl whimpered, sitting back up. The guy immediately forgot about his mother and scrambled back to her. He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her forehead.

“Oh sweetheart, you’re alive! Thank the Seven Signs of the Cosmos! Don’t worry about ma-ma, she’ll be fine. Just look at me, ok princess?”

The heavy weapons fire moved on, targeting another floor, and the man looked up at Senjen.

“Ok, lets get the fuck out of here. Grab the repeater and my mother and let's hustle!”

“Yes, that sounds like a good plan, no offense but I hate this place!” Light croaked, popping out from his cubby just as the droids re-emerged from the aisle. One of them was missing an arm, so had ditched their bulky assault weapon for a pistol. Both their fronts were covered by shield drones, and they put suppressive fire on the position the grandma had been firing from before. This was essentially right next to where they were right now. Several of the soldiers also popped out from behind cover and began firing back for some distance away.

For a brief few moments, it was hard to make sense of anything going on around Senjen. Shards of glass, metal, and other debris flew through the kitchen just over the counter above him while high energy blasts tore apart anything in their path. Senjen kept low to the floor behind the counters, out of sight of the droids or the gunships, but all it would take was a moment of bad luck to tear him apart too. Still, the shouting from the others around him gave him something to focus on.

The Human’s mother was hit, but the girl was awake and they were all ready to flee. Good, that was something he could do. The man gave orders this time that he had no hesitation in following. Senjen first grabbed Light next to him and maneuvered him around quickly so he could grab on to his back. If, at any point, Senjen needed to flee as fast as he could, he at least wanted to make sure Light was with him. From there, he grabbed the old woman and held her over his right shoulder while taking hold of the repeater in his opposite hand. There was a lot to weigh him down now, but it was much less of a burden for him than it would be for any of the others. He did not experience fatigue or muscle strain, and he was free to consistently operate at his limits. Carrying two people added mass and gave him more inertia, but the only thing that really slowed him was the fact that he could not run on all-fours. He could not be as quick on two legs, though he was still far from slow.

Senjen had a mind to launch them out the window and into the building across the street. He doubted their gunship would start shooting up buildings belonging to other, uninvolved organizations. However, the Human man looked like he was going for the back stairs, and Senjen did not want to separate from him. He moved along the floor of the kitchen, keeping below the counters to stay out of sight. For the moment, he carried the repeater in his mouth so he could at least have one free hand to help maneuver more quickly along the floor. He crawled out from the far exit of the kitchen, around the counter nearest to the back exit. Once the table was no longer blocking his path, he braced his feet against the counter behind him, disengaged his electromagnets, and kicked off of the counter to launch them at speed through the open door.

From the stairwell, he would turn back around to cover the Human man and his daughter while they caught up, though he would only shoot if the droids gave any attention to them. The soldiers were still fighting them at the moment, and he did not want to draw any attention to their escape.

In normal circumstances, Light wouldn’t be at all happy with being bundled around like a sack of algae. But looking back on the events of this night years later, he could humbly admit to being mentally unprepared for doing whatever it took to survive. He was just an old freighter pilot, after all. So he let Senjen grab him up and obediently adhered to his back. Part of him desperately needed to look around and try to locate the droids attacking them. The other part kept him staring at the Utaysi’s back.

The man bundled up his daughter in his right arm and used the other to pull himself weightlessly along the floor until he too could push off towards the back office doors. He wasn’t as strong as Senjen, but had clearly been in microgravity for a long time as he managed to flex around any obstacles and arrive unscathed. His body man followed closely behind with a hand grasping his suit jacket. He looked back occasionally and shot vaguely with a large ballistic revolver.

The soldiers who’d taken up defensive positions laid down blistering cover, but didn’t manage to decisively kill either of the advancing droids. Both had their shields cracked again, upon which time they made intelligent use of cover and advanced to the opposite end of the kitchen complex. One of them had opened up an angle to shoot at the man and his daughter during their escape, but had elected not to do so.

Off on the opposite side of the floor, another droid floated up and devastated the three patrons shooting from their elevated position.

“Ok, down to the garage! Wait! Do we bring those guys with us?” The boss asked, peeking back through the doors at the firefight once they were in the small lobby behind the restaurant. Some more doors in front of them opened out into the staff area, and the stairwell wound down anti-clockwise through some more doors to the left. peeking back through the doors at the firefight.

”Unbelievable.” Senjen thought. This Human was meant to be the boss, so why wasn’t he taking charge? Why would he look to Senjen for answers to anything? Whatever the reason, it was not like they could just stop to ponder. If the boss was not going to take the lead, then someone had to. They had a goal in mind, Senjen just had to keep a cool head and get them there. The Human asked about the soldiers, and he did not think it made sense to let them die for no reason.

“Yes, but we don’t linger.” Senjen answered. He quickly went back to the doorway, not quite revealing himself from cover, but shouting back to the soldiers. “Fall back!”

Immediately, Senjen pushed back towards the front to lead the way down the stairs. He was still responsible for carrying the old woman, so he had to take the repeater in one hand. It was a cumbersome weapon obviously designed to be held in two, but it was also designed for an organic. For limitations he did not have. He could point it forward and lock his arm at the elbow to manage the recoil. “They can catch up, watch our back. We move.”

With all the extra mass Senjen was carrying around with him, he decided to walk with magnetic locks rather than float for the moment, so it would be easier to shift his momentum quickly. For now, he started to push forward down the stairwell, towards the garage.

The soldiers currently holding down the kitchen were high quality; loyal to a fault, brave and well trained. If no order had come for them to fall back, they would have held their positions either until they’d emerged victorious or been wiped out.

When the order did come, they retreated in good order, covering each other as the droids crept forward. The leader reached the door last, covered from the doorway. One of the patrons tried to run for it too but was shot twice in the back.

The droid across the way floated back into atrium-space, heading over to the booths occupied by some of the last patrons on the top floor. With the deafening sounds of battle below them, they were blissfully aware of the heavily armed killer wafting towards them.

The staircase descended anti-clockwise around a solid central pillar like ancient fortifications, so Senjen’s right side was opened up. Unlike castles, it was wide enough for four humans to pass each other at the same time. The boss shouted “Follow us!” as they began descending. Perhaps he was sheepish for not taking the initiative before. Though it wasn’t like the soldiers could easily disengage; the droids were right behind them.

Light stuck close to Senjen, pistol at the ready as they hurried downwards. After six turns they could see an identical lobby to the one they’d just been in. Except this time there was blood smeared all over the floor and the left hand door into the offices was propped open by a dead woman.

Senjen was no longer rushing as quickly as possible, since the others behind him needed to keep pace with him. He was still responsible for carrying the old woman, despite not knowing what sort of a state she was in, nor did he have time to check. He did not actually use the stairs themselves, but rather moved up to walk high up on the outer wall of the staircase, with his weapon in his right hand and trained ahead as they moved down. With both together, his weapon would be ready and on-target at the earliest possible moment if they encountered any droids coming up from below. The more angles they took as they moved, the less of a chance they would get in each other’s way and block each other’s line of fire. In microgravity, any orientation was as easy as any other to reach, and Utaysi had no problem keeping their bearings regardless of how they were positioned.

There was a door ahead, along with a casualty, but he could not stop to think about that. In fact, it seemed like a poor idea for them to stop for any reason. It was less than ideal that he was trying to lead the way without knowing his way around this building, though at least their attackers would have the same disadvantage. “How many floors down to the garage?” Senjen asked the Human man.

“Four more floors!” The man hissed over the sound of gunfire above them.

Light hadn’t opted to scale the walls with Senjen, so he felt rather exposed near the front. The double doors in front of them were pinned open and there were two further sets of double doors in the lobby, left and right. It sounded like they were continuing down the staircase to the garage, so Light hugged the central stairwell column round to the left as he headed to the next flight of steps.

He crashed right into a stationary droid, who had been lying in wait on the top step. The robot raised their gun to shoot right through him but Light adhered to the weapon and used all his suit’s strength to push the barrel away from him. A laser blast chipped masonry from the wall to their right.

“Help!” He squawked.