Cath

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light hummed in general acquiescence at what Senjen said.

“Perhaps you’re right. We may have to plead ignorance and throw ourselves on their mercy.”

The QV did find he was warming to the Utaysi a little more after their shared experience. He had given away that they were carrying precious cargo, but had the nous to negotiate with the strangers and extricate themselves from the situation. Senjen seemed like a practical, useful sort of assistant to keep around right now.

“The VC is a bit of a mystery to me, quite frankly. I never deal with them directly, just through intermediaries like this restaurant we’re heading to. l I get the sense they have interests in a great many areas, as they’ve had me transport things from all over this sector. So perhaps the VC is a group of different businesses with a common goal?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Connie shook Senjen’s hand, then grasped it tightly when he made to move away and leaned in ever so slightly.

“Remember. Make sure you drop this off without raising suspicion.” Then she leaned out again and smiled.

“You’re free to go, gentlemen. Safe travels.” She released Senjen’s hand, and gave Light a casual salute.

Light shivered as he looked from the Human to down on the mezzanine floor. His suit could make out tiny holes all over the deck where tungsten bolts had pierced just minutes ago. He dragged his gaze out over the shop too. The only thing he could see was the droid by the door looking directly back at him.

“There’s just one thing I need to do, Senjen…Can I go see the owners of this shop?” He directed the last bit back to Connie. She pursed her lips then nodded.

“Make it quick.”

The QV floated down from the mezzanine and headed to outside the fitting rooms. The mother and daughter combination had been joined by a strapping young son huddled on the floor. He must have come out of the staff area when he heard the commotion. Two droids stood over them.

Light approached gingerly, aware all three of them were staring balefully at him for apparently causing so much trouble. He detached a small blob of gel from his suit about the mass of the access card they’d been given earlier. He then loaded two million credits onto it and flicked it over to them. The daughter hesitantly grabbed it up.

“For the damage. Sorry.” Light said bluntly, before scurrying away and out the front door as quickly as possible.

“Is it terrible that I feel relieved to be alive? That was strange, right? Those poor people…” He blabbed to Senjen as they fled down Tanguska Boulevard.

“I don’t know how we can lie to the VC. They find out everything eventually.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light undulated gladly upon learning Senjen was unhurt.

“I’m about ready to live as a desert hermit after this.” was the wry retort to the Utaysi’s comment about his suit. Light felt bad for mocking the elder QV’s choice of suit considering all the distress they’d caused. He was just desperate to relieve the nervous tension while Connie examined the file.

Connie gave Senjen a stiff smile when he commented on the outrageously unlikely odds of their meeting.

“Our job is to make the impossible a reality.”

Light slouched when it came for him to make the big decision.

“I have worked for the VC for a long time, and had no intention of betraying them. But I don’t see we have much of a choice, thanks to you.” He gave the Human a flash of anger, hurt. Connie didn’t react.

“Make the exchange, let's get this over with.” He said resignedly.

She immediately extended a hand for Senjen to touch. Contact between them would pass 50m GC and a small data packet in exchange for the correct file from Senjen’s memory.

“And your business card, so we can contact you.” Connie said once it was done.

“Now, conclude the drop as normal. We will monitor you until it is complete, for your safety.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The front door of the warehouse opened, and a chime sounded. Light turned and recoiled at the sight of another identical combat droid pointing a gun at him. RIDA Sr made to run away but he stopped her, then presented a pliant colour display. The robot stalked into the room, quickly surveying it while keeping their weapon trained on the pair of visible QV.

Behind the droid came a Human female in full combat gear. Light didn’t think it was the same one as they’d talked to in the hangar, but frankly they all looked alike to him so he couldn’t be sure.

“Hello gentlemen. Thanks for waiting - I’m Connie." So not the same Human after all.

“Lets have a little chat up there, shall we?” She pointed up to where Senjen was before gracefully lifting off and floated up towards the mezzanine.

“Put the shopkeepers together.” She ordered, and the droid closest to Light grabbed RIDA Sr.

“Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you.” Light tried to look reassuring, even though he was terrified himself. He then made to follow Connie up to the mezzanine. As he did so, he noticed the corrugated side access door rattled open and a third droid padded inside. They were now well and truly surrounded.

“Let's see what we have here, shall we?” The Human said curtly as soon as she landed next to Senjen. She flicked on a wrist readout and studied the copy of the file given to the monitor.

Light gave his assistant a worried look as he arrived too. “You ok? Unhurt?”

“Ok. We’ll take this file off your hands and give you fifty million credits.” Connie started after a pregnant pause.

“But none of us want the VC to know they’ve been cheated. Least of all you. So we’re going to give you a file to deposit with them that looks identical. You can collect your money from them too, and continue working with them. Everybody wins. Alright?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The droid paused, still holding RIDA Jr still with one hand. Their head swivelled slowly to look towards Light and RIDA Sr, who cowered behind a few layers of floating gel suits.

”The Vermillion Consortium will be furious if we give away their cargo. There goes my treatment plan.” Light sighed and studied Senjen as if he were a mirror. He felt resigned to the situation, despite the dire ramifications for him. He just didn’t have it in him to sacrifice these hapless QV.

”What is going on?” RIDA flashed at him.

”Don’t worry. You and your daughter will be free to go soon.

“What is your delivery fee?” The droid replied eventually.

“Fifty million Galactic credits!” Light called from across the shop, not daring to show his face. That was in fact double what he had agreed with the VC, but he was going to need a bit of ‘danger money’ if this was truly the route they were heading down.

“That is acceptable. We will have to check the file to verify its authenticity. My Monitor will approach you with a drop box. Remain calm and still.” The droid said immediately.

There was a bit of noise from out the front of the shop, like a few sets of feet activating the magnetic pavement nearby. The corrugated side access gate rattled lightly.

The black disc that had been hiding near Senjen emerged from behind a gel suit and floated closer to the Utaysi. It sent a request for him to execute the file in an isolated virtual environment.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The droid stopped for a moment at that, before kicking open the door of the last fitting room. As predicted, RIDA Jr was curled up in there with another control pad. She screamed when they reached in to grab her and hit a button.

Light found that the pressure on his body relaxed, and he could move his own suit! He pushed off towards the front door and then hid behind an aisle-end next to RIDA Sr. Poking out onto the adjacent aisle so the droid wouldn’t see, he signed up to Senjen.

“I’m free! Let's get out of here!”

“I’ll offer you a deal right now.” The droid called as he punched the writhing QV suit and pulled RIDA Jr out into the area bordering the garage. They struggled to hold both their hostage and their gun, but managed to get a secure platform then looked up at the ceiling above.

The black disc, which appeared to have successfully hidden near Senjen on the mezzanine, surveyed the area and relayed his position back to the droid. They aimed their gun up above them.

“I’ll swap you the girl for what's in your head. If I don't get it, or I don’t like what I see, she’s dead. Then the rest of my team and I will kill you all. Don't bother calling for help, comms are jammed.”

Light swore. RIDA Sr grabbed him and shook him.

“You have to rescue her, please! This is your fault!”

“Clock’s ticking. Do we have a deal?”

Light looked up at Senjen again, and didn't know what to say or do.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen’s first shot hit the target. The droid’s pistol was pulled from their hand and onto the floor in two pieces. They let go of Light and stepped back under cover of the mezzanine since they had only just emerged from under it.

Undeterred, the droid reached behind them and grabbed a much larger assault weapon which clicked out from inside its back.

“Senjen watch out!” Light warbled out loud, struggling to break his suit free of the control pad’s vice-like grip.

The droid aimed straight up and fired a spray of thirty thin, high velocity tungsten slivers into the mezzanine floor where they thought Senjen had been. It produced a sound like hail landing on a tin roof. Several suits on a chain at the front of the mezzanine pulled free and floated towards the roof. In the chaos, the black disc floated quickly up and went to hide with a translucent suit between it and the Utaysi.

Rida Sr scrambled for cover. RIDA Jr floated away from the droid to the furthest fitting room while they weren’t looking.

“You still alive, Senjen? I just need that file!” The droid called, looking around quickly only to discover RIDA Jr had disappeared. They stalked towards the back of the warehouse, eyes on a swivel.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Rewrite

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

RIDA Sr understood Senjen was playing for time and played along beautifully out loud.

“It sometimes takes ten to fifteen minutes to calibrate properly. Can I help you to some refreshments? H-herbal tea, perhaps?”

Meanwhile, her frontal light display said something very different.

”There is a big gun hidden in the white suit directly behind me. There are more weapons for sale on the mezzanine.”

The droid listened to this exchange and studied the partial view they had of Senjen through the aisles of suits. There wasn’t much time left before the rest of their fireteam arrived and they did this the hard way. They locked eyes with RIDA Jr and put a finger to their face in the way Humans did sometimes.

Shhh.

Then they turned back to Light and hauled him back up.
“Last chance, pal. Tell me what your friend is carrying or I kill the girl. Their blood will be on your hands, is that what you want?”

Light shook violently. “Don’t kill her, please! Kill me instead, just please don’t hurt an innocent, she has nothing to do with it please…”

It was at this moment that the droid realised this blubbering QV actually didn’t know what they were carrying. That did make sense; if they were simple couriers, there was no point in giving them potentially dangerous intelligence on their cargo.

The droid sighed, as much as was possible, then pulled Light to the fitting room doorway.

“We’re going to go out and convince your friend to stand down. If they don’t, the girl dies. If you say something stupid or try anything at all, the girl also dies. Got it?”

Light didn’t say anything, and the droid took that for compliance. They maneuvered the reddish QV suit so they were in front of them, stuck the gun into Light’s back and walked out of the room. They turned left and started down the aisle in front towards where Rida Sr was. The floating black disc took up the rear. Rida Jr watched them go.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The aisles of gel suits filling the entire front half of the warehouse were held together with chains bolted to the floor, ceiling and in some instances the walls too. They clinked gently in the microgravity any time someone touched a suit or a strong breeze came in. Each suit in the chain was spaced about a foot apart to minimise damage, so small gaps between the aisles existed at regular intervals all over the shop.
RIDA junior had been subtly looking through one of the gaps at Senjen when the combat droid wasn’t paying attention. One of the many great things about QV suits was that the occupant could float around to survey any direction without moving the outside gel one inch. You could also glaze the skin to make it very difficult to see what was happening within. When Senjen noticed her and began signing, she thought the robot must have good eyesight, as they were over thirty metres away.

She was scared, but determined not to let this thing kill the kind older QV in the dressing room. Careful symbols beamed through the foot wide gap. “We may see things very differently, but we can try! Please be quick, they are killing someone!” RIDA Jr sent Senjen a request to access her sensory implants; a very unusual request to send a total stranger, but these were not normal circumstances.

If Senjen accepted the request, they’d unlock a blurry fisheye view from RIDA’s perspective. Colours danced in all directions as they swirled to look towards the fitting room.

Inside, the droid looked back at RIDA Jr. Or more specifically, they listened for noise. The conversation between RIDA Sr and the Utaysi had gone quiet. The young QV had also gone suspiciously still. They dropped Light’s quivering blob of a suit to the floor where it convulsed violently. Magnetising the control pad to their left thigh, they gripped the pistol firmly in both hands close to their chest and moved quietly to the door. A black disc the size of the droid’s clenched fist detached from its back and hovered up to float just in front of their head. Together, they both poked out and they took a look out into the warehouse.