Cath

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Hmmm. Not really. I haven’t come this far off my ship on a job before, but most drops are somewhere with lots of people. Maybe the restaurant just isn’t…doing well?” The concept of having food prepared and delivered to your table didn’t appeal to Light much. Some QV still had a deep-seated desire to capture or cultivate their own food. Hence why he had his own little aquarium farm on the ship. That tube of paste earlier was obligatory nerve-sustenance, not a happy choice.

“I think if they were suspicious they probably would have dealt with us before we got here. Let's go to the front and use the handshake I was given. Remain vigilant of our surroundings and be ready to flee.”

It wasn’t until they got closer to the front of the building that you saw it was all shielded. They passed through an almost imperceptible barrier just before vaulting a short set of steps to the doors. They slid open for them, and a comfortable warm breeze rippled Light’s suit as they ventured inside.

They were in a well-appointed reception chamber. Seats for various species littered the walls, soft rugs covered the floor and sumptuous artworks in relief laden the ceiling. They mostly depicted Humans and other unrecognisable organics.

A Human man and a woman stood magnetised to the floor. They were dressed in what Light presumed were smart suits of this particular style. They both had their heads bowed when they entered, but the woman looked up and offered a friendly smile as they approached.

“Welcome to the Guangzhou club and restaurant. How may I help you?”

“Only if the cherry blossom is in full bloom?” Light replied, repeating the phrase he’d been told.

“Very well, sir. My colleague will show you to your table.” The woman replied, her smile not faltering. The man looked up and nodded to them both, gesturing for them to follow.

Light looked at Senjen and gave the QV-equivalent of a shrug, then followed.

The building was roughly rectangular, with an enormous atrium in the middle. Four more floors opened out above them, with guide ropes for diners to safely navigate between them. Attached to the ceiling of this atrium was an object that at first glance looked to be a giant chandelier. But it didn't look quite right somehow. It was gunmetal grey and too bulky to just be a set of lamps; some of the appendages weren’t even emitting anything perceivable. Light pointed it out to Senjen.

“That's how I know we’re in the right place.” He said, cryptically referring to the VC. There was always some strange, dangerous looking tech hanging around where they were involved.

The waiter took them up a guide rope to the top floor at the back. Dining areas ringed the atrium, all with large plate windows out over the city and numerous different seating configurations. Light did spot people of different species eating, but only enough to fill one in every twenty tables. All the wait staff were Humans dressed in smart red waistcoats over crisp white shirts and dress trousers.

On the back of each floor was an expansive open kitchen ringed by VIP seating and more large windows. The receptionist led them towards the chef’s pass, where another man in a dark suit, white bowtie and white straw hat ate hungrily from a bowl. He looked up as they touched down nearby.

“Notice anything untoward yet?” Light messaged Senjen privately.

“Help you?” The man asked, putting the lid on his bowl. He had slicked back hair and a small growth of hair around his mouthparts.

“Umm…Only if the cherry blossom is in full bloom?”

The man laughed.

“Hand it over.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“In a place with no law, anonymity is the next best thing. You can’t retaliate against something that doesn’t really have a presence. I thought I had that anonymity too, but it seems no longer…Serves me right for not bringing my BangStick with me.”

Light was quite pleased to be able to grasp onto Senjen’s tail again. His new suit made him feel a lot better, but that ordeal had still taken quite a lot out of him. He could still feel the pressure on his respiratory system where the droid had been choking him.

“Hmm, perhaps. I’m not sure I can really ‘relax’ until this thing inside me is gone. But I suppose a couple of days wouldn’t hurt. I hear there is a full QV hunting park somewhere. And a beach! I could test out my new suit…For now though, let's just focus on getting this job done. Then we can take stock.”

The rest of the journey to the Guangzhou restaurant took about half an hour. It was a tall, thin building at the end of a terraced street with more tall buildings either side. It had a large neon sign at the top, and five floors with plenty of windows. A magnetised walkway led down the street towards it with bollards either side to encourage walking over floating.

Light studied the building and shivered once they were within line of sight. Despite it being the middle of the day, he couldn’t see anyone outside on this street.

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”