EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“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?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

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.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen had no idea what a QV hunting park was, but he would be glad to try anything to explore a new planet. Alien cultures and experiences, that was why he had taken this job to begin with, and it would be much easier to enjoy it outside the stress of this job in particular. For most of their trip across the station, he was searching through the net for interesting attractions on Korit, and imagining what even more interesting options might only be familiar to locals.

Upon their arrival at the restaurant, Senjen was distracted enough that he might not have noticed anything was amiss had Light not spoken up. He closed out his searches and took a look around, quickly piecing together what Light was probably talking about. “I’ll be honest, clearing out a street seems like a pretty awful way to stay anonymous.”

Instead of heading inside right away, Senjen paused, trying his best to quickly consider the situation, but he really did not have much to compare this to. Was this normal or expected in some way? He had never dealt with a group like the VC, but his first instinct was that there was someone else involved here. Light had just made a point a few minutes ago about the fact that the VC preferred to operate without a traceable presence, so going out of their way to clear out a public street seemed to be just about as strongly opposed to that goal as could be. He sent a quick message to Light, rather than speaking aloud. “I need to trust your judgment on this; you’re way more experienced with them than I am. Is this something they would normally do?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Hmm, I’ve read that laws on Korit are pretty loose; I’m surprised the VC even bother hiding themselves like that. Though, I guess they still have competition and such.” Senjen shrugged. By this point, they had moved beyond the market and were ready to get back on-track to the restaurant. Business in the world outside was still marching on, unaware of anything that had just transpired. Even if they had been, would they even have cared? Korit was a world run by what most of the rest of the galaxy would consider criminal organizations, so how rare was that sort of danger and violence, really? Looking out over the bustling crowds of this massive city all around him, it still did not feel that way on the surface. He could not imagine that they could create a place as impressive as this while living in fear.

With the pedestrian lines above them, Senjen stopped and gestured for Light to hold on to him like before. They probably did not need to waste any more time getting to the drop-off. “You know, you’re going to be getting quite a bit more of a payday than you thought, and you’ve just been through a lot. Maybe after this, we should just head down to the surface? Relax a while. I think you deserve a break. Both of us, really, and I would love to see Korit.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Well, no one died, right? I think that’s something that makes sense to be relieved about.” Senjen answered. Thinking back on it, he honestly felt that he should have been even more terrified in the moment than he had been. The droid had shot at him, and without Light’s warning, he would have been hit. The true extent of the danger had not really occurred to him while his mind was caught in the moment. He supposed that was a good thing, else panic could have caused the situation to end up much worse. Although, now, the possibilities of what could have happened were weighing on his mind the more he imagined them. It would have been even worse if they had not been able to save the shopkeepers. He was glad Light had been the one to face them, because he was already guilty for how much trouble they had caused them.

After a few moments of silence, Senjen tried to focus back in on the here-and-now. “I mean, maybe they’re not infallible? This group seems pretty serious, so I imagine they’ve got the resources to make a good fake. Besides, even if they do learn it isn’t the right file, they might not know where along the way they got tricked. The file passed through more hands than ours before we got it, and it could always have been that the whole thing was a setup, from the VC’s perspective. They could have stolen a fake file from the beginning.”

Senjen shrugged. “I’ll admit, you know them better than I do. Who are the VC, anyway?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen held up one hand and retracted its claws, then gave the Human his handshake to trigger the trade. On his part, there were no tricks. It had probably been wise for him to keep leverage up to this point, but at some point, they had to carry out the deal. In this case, a mutual exchange of his file for the money and the fake was rather secure. He tucked away the new file in the same place as the old, then passed along a digital business card containing his public contact address, as requested. To be honest, he was not sure how he felt about this organization considering the way their droid was willing to act, but it could not be denied that they more than had the ability to pay. Besides, if this file was really as important as they were saying, maybe some of their more desperate actions were at least understandable.

“Alright, I have it.” Senjen confirmed. He gave a glance back down to the ground floor, towards the shop’s entrance. He wanted to get moving as soon as they could, if for no other reason than to finally let the shopkeepers have some peace and quiet. They really did not deserve the trouble that had been brought to their doorstep. Now that he had the payment, Senjen connected to Light’s implant to confirm a transfer to him for most of what he had been given. Despite them having been paid quite a bit more than their expected delivery fee, Senjen still only kept his originally agreed-upon payment. “Are we good to go? Do you have everything taken care of for your new suit, Light?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The arrival of backup for the droid was initially worrying, though thinking about it, Senjen supposed it did not really change much. The first droid already outgunned him, so the only way this would turn out well would be by making a deal. Having more of their guards around did probably cut off the option of being able to run, though if they had been that close before, then fleeing probably would have failed by the time Light was free. At least this way, they were dealing directly with someone who seemed to have some authority in their organization, instead of a foot soldier who may or may not have even been sapient. When it came to alien AI, he had a hard time telling which ones were even truly alive, and which ones just had convincing personality routines.

Senjen stayed calm and quiet at first while the Human examined the copy, at least outwardly. He did find that trying to think rationally about the situation had something of a calming effect, but he could not deny feeling much of the same fear that Light was showing outwardly. QV had a harder time hiding their emotions than even most organics, which Senjen supposed could let himself seem more cool-headed by comparison. True or not, it was useful.

“No damage here.” Senjen answered to Light while they waited, before giving his new suit a look over from top to bottom. “Hmm, so you went with red. Neat.”

In any case, Senjen’s gaze snapped back onto the Human once she spoke up again, and the offer she made did actually help to genuinely calm him, to an extent. The kind of offer she was making was the sort where they would actually want the two of them to walk away for practical reasons aside from cost-effectiveness. “So, the file was actually what you were looking for. Wild that we ended up in the same hangar.” He shrugged. “Well, personally, I think that is a deal I would agree to: the original file for the money and a fake.” He said, taking a moment to set up a trade for his file. “I’m ready to make the exchange, as long as you agree, Light.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The droid was willing to deal, which was more than a bit of a relief. Senjen did not see any other way to save the QV, with the situation as it was. If Light did not agree to take the deal, then he would try, but he would not expect to succeed. Of course, anyone would be a fool to hand over all leverage at once, so he would do his best to approach this with good business sense.

“Alright then, now let’s be honest with each other, the chances that we just happened to land in the same hanger as you with exactly what you’re looking for, out of all the thousands of other places we could have landed, are pretty slim. So, set your expectations. What I’ll do is make a copy of the file and send it for you to verify. If it is what you’re looking for, then we’ll exchange the money for the original. Either the file or the money are worth the same to me, so I don’t care which I walk away with. If it’s not what you’re looking for, then I’ll ask that you destroy the copy, and we forget this ever happened. I’ll even leave you with my business card, if your boss ever wants to work together.” Senjen said, then followed through to make a copy of the file and sent it to the droid’s monitor as requested.