Galactic High

The putrid stench of grease and fuel stung Jack's nose as they approached the seedy-looking truckstop, and the rest of the group fared little better. Chiyo quickly raised her cane and expended some of her power, and suddenly the air cleared and a cool breeze began to soothe Jack's nostrils.

Perhaps not the best reason to use that ability. Chiyo shrugged. But it's been a long night and a long walk along the highway. Like this place or not, we need to take a break.

It had indeed been quite the trek. Ever since they had shaken the Myrodin troops and began walking several miles along the highway, they had often needed to take cover as several squadrons of troop ships flew over them at low altitude. Sephy had been curious as to the state of the current conflict, however, she had not been able to access any local networks that could tell her anything.

"This place looks like a complete shit hole," Nika growled. "I don't like it."

"Neither do I," Alora agreed. "However Chiyo is right, we need to take a break."

"Sephy, how long will it take you to hook us up with a ride?" Jack asked. "If we need to take a break I think we should keep it short."

"Shouldn't be long." Sephy grinned. "Some of these trucks are ancient looking and should be easy to slice into, but I'll need to be in closer proximity to the drivers to check their routes. I can change them to suit our needs, but if I change it too much they'll know something's up."

"Not much we can do about it then." Jack nodded in acceptance. "But stay alert, this place definitely doesn't look safe."

"Woof!" Dante barked his agreement.

The group cautiously made their way across the dimly lit car park, their senses on high alert for any danger. The exterior of the truck stop looked poorly maintained, with old, crumbled brick walls that barely held up the patchwork, leaky tiled roof. Outside of the entrance was the sole working neon sign, which flicked sporadically, casting dull hues of red and green on the churned-up tarmac.

As they tentatively entered, Jack and Dante leading, they were immediately greeted by the loud rumbling of generators that sputtered and hummed, mixing with the sounds of distant battle coming from all over the city.

He was glad that Chiyo had cast the air bubble around them all, as the haze of cigar smoke all around them was heavy in the air. Combined with the nasty-looking stains littering the floor and walls, he knew that the Ilithii had made the right call.

He just hoped they wouldn't catch any nasty disease just by being nearby…

The low, partially collapsed ceiling gave the entry hall a claustrophobic feel, amplified by the hushed chatter of several patrons from the cheap-looking diner within, dimly lit by a few still flickering emitters surrounding a rusted ceiling fan that looked like it hadn't worked in decades.

"Let's get a table in the corner over there," Alora whispered.

"Out of the way and with a wall behind us, yep," Nika agreed.

"I'll start my thing in a minute once we sit down, just need to get ready," Sephy told them as they made their way over.

Let's make this a quick visit, Chiyo suggested, sounding worried as she noted the other Patrons casting leery gazes their way. Dante growled and snapped at a heavily tattooed man who tried to reach out a scarred hand towards Sephy, who pulled it back with a low, nasty chuckle as Nika thumbed the holster for her shotgun.

Shucking their bags off the group sat at their table, having a good view of the rest of the diner.

"I'm going to order us a round of drinks," Alora quietly told the rest of them as she got up. "We've got to at least try to blend in."

Alora, have you seen the prices? Chiyo asked. They're extortionate at best!

"Maybe," Alora agreed. "But I'd rather not risk causing a scene, and we need the energy boost."

"Jack, could you go with her?" Nika asked. "Just in case."

"Of course." Jack nodded as he got to his feet, following the Eladrie.

“Hey girlie!" a shady-looking avian called over to Alora as they passed by their table of card-playing thugs. "What brings you and your cute friends here tonight? My lads and I were thinking about gettin some company…"

"Fuck off," Jack growled. "Or maybe you want to try sucking your friends off with no teeth?"

"You hear that lads…." The avian turned to them with a cocky smile, before it was immediately wiped from his face as Jack's gun was quickly drawn and aimed right at his head.

"I think they heard," Jack bluntly told the group. "You gonna give me a problem?"

"No…" the avian hissed.

"Good." Jack nodded as he allowed Alora to lead him away.

"Thanks Jack, but let's try and avoid a fight for now," Alora whispered as they made it up to the bar, manned by a burly, grumpy-looking reptilian server with ugly tattoos that stared down at them with piggy black eyes.

"What?" they rudely snarled at Alora as they wiped a grimy rag across the counter.

"Five soikaffs please." Alora smiled diplomatically.

"Seven Silver CorvinCoin each," the server growled.

"Really?" Alora began. "The sign over there says four-"

"And I said seven," the server growled.

"Perhaps you didn't hear the lady…" Jack began, before Alora gently placed a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Very well, my mistake." Alora nodded, handing over a credit chip with the money. "Here".

The server snatched it from her without a further word, turning around to a stained jug on the counter behind him, and started to pour the mixture into five poorly cleaned mugs, before popping them onto a tray and roughly shoving it towards Jack.

"Pleasure doing business," Jack sarcastically responded as he took the tray back.

"Alright, I have some good possible hits," Sephy told them once they sat back down. "But the local network is as bad as you can imagine. I'll need to do a deep slice, but it might take me some time."

You want to use the facilities first? Chiyo asked, guessing what Sephy was hinting at. Makes sense to do so while we're here.

"Best to go now when you lack bodily functions in cyberspace," Sephy rationalised. "Someone mind coming with me?"

"Sure." Jack shrugged, having just sat down. "Though I won't follow you into the ladies…" he grinned.

"Heh, that's fine. As long as you're close enough." The Skritta chuckled as she took a quick swig of her soikaff. "Fuck!" She cringed in disgust.

Jack quickly downed the brown-black sludge and immediately recoiled. "Yeah, that tastes like shit," he grunted as he tried to ignore the metallic tar-like aftertaste at the back of his mouth. "Shall we go?"

At least it will give us the energy boost we need to keep going. Chiyo cringed as she took a sip. Though I think I prefer Nika’s drink powders.

“Yeah that would have been a smart idea to take a few.” Nika shrugged, embarrassed. “But I didn’t think it would get this bad and I’ve barely been able to get any more due to the sheer demand after the Klown attacks. I figured the energy drinks and cereal bars should have been enough, and we even packed extra!”

“It got us most of the way.” Alora sighed, patting Nika on the shoulder. “And this has been far from an ordinary job-night.”

“Shall we?” Jack asked Sephy.

“Yeah, let’s go!” The Skritta nodded as they both got up and headed towards the bathrooms.

Heading down the cracked tiles of the main corridor further into the building led Jack to believe that the truckstop had once been more like a roadside service station from home, with space for a few fast food restaurants, coffee stores and maybe a newsagent, but whatever had once inhabited the place during better times had long since fallen into decrepit ruin, with the spaces used to dump various rubbish from the only available establishment. One of the rooms had several generators operating, which was the source of the endless humming throughout the complex, which Jack guessed had something to do with the refuelling process for the vehicles.

Eventually they found the toilets, covered in peeling paint and graffiti, and Jack could only imagine the stench from years of neglect, silently thanking Chiyo’s air bubble that covered each member of the group.

“You actually want to use these?” Jack asked with raised eyebrows as he leaned on the wall outside. “Can’t you just go into a bush or something?”

“Wish I could.” Sephy sighed with a knowing raise of the eyebrows. “Unfortunately, no-can-do.”

“Ah.” Jack realised the problem. “I’ll wait here. Better make it quick.”

The door to the women’s restroom creaked open, revealing a cramped space that was barely illuminated by a single cracked light hanging from the ceiling. Sephy tried her best not to look at the puddles of mysterious liquids scattered in various corners as she tried to find a stall that was still usable, passing two that had long rotted and collapsed on themselves.

‘This was a bad idea…’ The Skritta thought to herself. ‘Says it all about tonight that this is the first place I feel even remotely safe enough to take a shit…’

The girls all packed tissues and a few small packets of septic gel at all times just in case, for which Sephy was thankful for as she opened the least rundown stall, and almost gagged at the horrible sight within. Sighing in resignation, she resolved herself to get her business over and done with as quickly as possible.

Silently she cursed herself. She was the reason they took this job and almost got them all killed at ScrapHaven, and they were still all in danger because of her! How could she have been so stupid? There must have been something she could have done to check the client for a double cross! The others have always been smarter than she was, so she knew they would have done something different that wouldn’t have gotten them baited into such a bad trap!

They all knew the risks with the lifestyle they had been forced into, but if the worst should happen and it was her fault…

Her feelings must have somehow shown, as Jack’s eyes went wide the moment he saw her.

“Hey, what happened?” he asked, placing a comforting hand on Sephy’s shoulder.

“Nothing.” She sniffed. “Just everything catching up to me I guess.”

“Not your fault.” Jack reassuringly pulled her into a side hug, looking around to confirm they were alone. “We got into this mess as a group, and as a group we’ll get out of it, but we’ve gotta be quick.”

“Yeah, still got school, we’ve gotta-”

“Not that.” Jack shook his head, hands shaking beside his weapons. “I have a really bad feeling about this place right now. Something’s up.”

“I feel the same,” Sephy agreed. “I’ll try and be as quick as I can getting us a ride, but this local network will slow me down.”

“Is simply walking the rest of the way not an option?” Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Comes with greater risk.” The Skritta sighed as they started heading back. “Any moment we could get caught up in the Corporate War, and you saw how trigger-happy some of them are. Getting out of the danger zone as quickly as possible is better, even if this place is seedy. At least these assholes haven’t attacked us yet.”

“Yet,” Jack emphasised with a quiet whisper as they made it back to the diner. “Stay frosty.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” Sephy snorted in amusement as they returned to the others.

“Ready?” Alora whispered to Sephy, who nodded. “Nothing special, just get us a ride.”

“On it, Can I lean on you, Jack?” the Skritta asked, unusually seriously for her. “My body is gonna go limp so you need to make it look natural.”

“Sure,” Jack whispered his agreement, as he took stock of several sets of eyes across the bar looking at them. “Is there any way I can wake you up or something in an emergency?”

“Yup!” The Skritta grinned as she leaned against him. “Just keep an open commlink call with me.”

Before Jack could ask any further questions, Sephy closed her eyes and her form went limp, forcing him to quickly put his arm around her to stop her falling over.

Her perception of time will make it sound all slow and muddled to her, but she has a speech-to-text program that’ll inform her of what is being said. Chiyo smiled as she explained it to Jack. Once she gets the message she will take several seconds to return to us.

“Unless she’s directly disconnected,” Nika whispered. “But I really wouldn’t recommend that unless there’s no other choice. Dumpshock is a bitch to deal with.”

“I remember the last time she had dumpshock.” Alora shivered. “A blackout took out the local matrix and she got badly hit by the effects…”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen here…” Jack quietly replied as he looked at the comatose Skritta.

*****

“So how long does she normally take?” Jack asked after about ten minutes. Though the diner had quietened down during the time they had waited as various patrons left and moved about, that did not make Jack feel any better as he could still see the malevolent stares sent their way.

“Shouldn’t take too much longer,” Nika whispered back unsurely. “And we’ve gotta be ready to move the moment she gets us something.”

Jack, how bad was the bathroom when you and Sephy went? Chiyo asked, a conflicted look on her face. I hate to say it, but we should probably use the facilities while we have the chance.

“I intend to go too,” Alora whispered. “We’ll need to fill up our water as well. I doubt the quality is good but I have purification tablets.

I can assist with my new abilities, Chiyo added.

“Alright, but everyone takes their stuff with them,” Nika replied in a way that would allow for no debate. “I’m coming with you. Dante can stay here.”

“Alright.” Jack nodded. “You’ll stay on comms?”

“Yep.” They all nodded as they quickly set off.

“Stay with me, Dante,” Jack muttered to the ‘dog’, continuing to discreetly observe the shady patrons of the diner as he kept his hand close to his gun. He hoped he was just being paranoid and that the others would return soon, but despite his efforts to try and calm himself down, the heavy sense of unease was still palpable.

He had learned to trust his instincts.

“Nika, talk to me,” Jack subtly muttered under his breath, which was still more than enough to be picked up on subvocal comms.

There was no reply, except for some static.

“Alora, Chiyo…” Jack called, again with no response. Sephy had said that the network wasn’t the best. Maybe their comms were simply muted?

Dante let out a low growl, clearly not liking this either. Jack knew that the ‘dog’ had good instincts for sensing imminent danger, though this wasn’t as pronounced as when the Klowns attacked Clan Bharzum’s party.

Again Jack fought with himself for what to do. He looked around at the room, and could see the furtive exchanges of whispered conversations as several of the other patrons snuck glances at them, others looked around nervously, from them, to the other groups, to them again. Finally, he could see one man in a booth covering his mouth, but not subtly enough that he could hide the commlink he was talking into, looking nervous as he subtly kept his eyes on them…

“Sephy,” Jack whispered into his commlink as he felt the adrenaline start to swell within him. “We need to go now.”

“Wha?” Sephy began a few seconds later as Jack slowly got to his feet, which began to be matched by a few of the other diners, before the sound of a gunshot rang out from outside.

Jack turned slightly to register the direction of the noise as Dante’s growl increased in volume. Sensing rapid movement out of the corner of his eye, Jack snapped back round in an instant, immediately raised his plasma rifle and opened fire on full-auto, melting a bunch of charred black and green holes into the torso of the diner that had tried to draw their own weapon first. His face gave an expression of shocked surprise, before Jack’s continuous fire dissolved their head. Jack kept firing a storm of plasma fire, maintaining his advantage, forcing the diners to duck into cover, before he booted their table over to provide some for them.

“Shit!” Sephy cursed as she ducked down, still disoriented from coming back into ‘meatspace’.

“We’ve got to get to the others!” Jack told them both, as Dante shot out a bolt of chain lightning that took out the group that had bothered him and Alora.

“Pin them down!” the Barman yelled as he laid suppressing fire with his shotgun. “How long?”

“Almost here!” another voice gleefully called out, before he was silenced as Jack, still squeezing the trigger of his plasma rifle, obliterated their moulded, wooden panel holding up their cheap seat and blew the cocky man to pieces.

“Dante! Go help the others!” Jack ordered, quickly ejecting the battery of his plasma rifle and smacking in a new one far quicker than their assailants thought possible, as two were caught out to try and shoot Jack before they were blasted to superheated pieces for their trouble.

Dante dashed out of the diner while Jack pushed forward, Sephy covering him from the overturned table, sending controlled bursts of plasma fire to avoid the non-combatants who were hunkering down in cover, low to the ground in panic.

*****

“Agh! Fucking Ilithii bitch!” the cruel-looking avian spat as Chiyo slammed him against the back of the bathroom stall wall, smashing the porcelain of the already run-down toilet and cracking the tiles of the wall behind. She had to dodge and focus her power on a barrier as the man quickly brought up a rapid-fire pistol and sprayed at her, forcing Chiyo to deflect the laser fire to the floor.

Another man, a Xarak, rushed out of a stall further down to grab at Alora, who desperately tried to fend the reptilian off with flaming hands, scratching at the man’s eyes as he roared in pain. The Eladrie desperately tried to break his grip and put some distance between them as the man’s claws dug into her side. He leered at her with a lecherous smile, before suddenly jerking back in shock as Alora’s knife slid in between his ribs. As he loosened his grip on reflex, Alora shuffled back and intensified the flames of her hands, before shooting it out in an explosion that knocked him back. Quickly, before he could recover, Alora pulled out a small seed she had picked up on her way to school, throwing it at the man as she activated a spell, causing the seed to quickly grow and morph into entangling vines.

Alora, you alright? Chiyo asked, as they heard Nika shooting from behind them.

“I’m good.” Alora shuddered after her assailant was well and truly secured by her entanglement spell, before the Eladrie then followed through by conjuring a spear of light and mercilessly stabbed him through the head. “Hiding in the damn toilets waiting for us…”

Apologies for not detecting their auras in time, I did not see that coming either, the Ilithii replied. Creeps, yes. But nobody brazen enough to attack us!

“You two, you good?” Nika called from the corridor, where she had already dispatched two others. Another was taking pot shots at her from behind a concrete pillar, so upon checking her shotgun’s energy levels, Nika quickly burst out of cover and purposefully moved in an arc around the pillar, refusing to let up with her suppressing fire until she got the hostile in the leg, causing him to stumble out and get blasted by further shots.

She checked her corners for any others but found none as her friends emerged from the bathroom. “We’ve got to get to the others!”

Suddenly, they heard several loud barks from further down the corridor where they had come from, as Dante bounded up to them, looking around for any trouble, and being confused on not finding any. Meeting him part way, they could see a smoking body lying on the ground, completely charred and unrecognisable.

“Woof!” The ‘dog’ barked, ready for orders.

I believe Jack sent him here to help us, Chiyo mused.

“We’re okay here, Dante.” Alora smiled. “Let’s go back and help Jack and Sephy!“

Dashing down the corridor with Nika and Dante leading, they saw several figures rush out of the diner, heading for the front entrance.

Non-combatants! Chiyo warned them as they heard the ignition for at least one of the trucks outside start up. We should leave them be.

“Agreed, I’m not shooting civvies even if they are ugly-looking,” Nika acknowledged with a shrug, pushing up to the entrance of the diner.

“If you don’t want to die, fuck off now with the others,” Sephy told the nearest group of patrons that was still hiding in cover as she pushed up, doing her best to cover Jack as he moved up and dissuade anyone else from joining the fight.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you little shits!” the barman roared in anger as he came at Jack with a cleaver. He was the only active combatant left at this point, the rest had been taken down with swift and brutal efficiency by the human’s liberal use of plasma fire, and anyone that was still alive had no intention of joining the fight and incurring the human’s wrath.

Shock and awe.

“Aegis” Jack spoke on reflex to summon his shield, but cursed as he remembered it was still with Clan Bharzum getting fixed up. Instead he grabbed a chair in his off-hand, unwilling to try and let a shot off when the barman was caught in between him and a rando that wasn’t involved in the fight. Instead, he calmly went for his axe as the barman charged with a battlecry.

Until a quick plasma burst cut the barman down, just as Jack thrust forward with the chair, keeping him well out of harm’s way. The barman looked surprised as he fell to the ground, gasping his final breath in confusion at what had happened.

“Nice shot!” Jack grinned, looking at Sephy, who had quickly moved around into prime position while he had the barman focused on him.

“It certainly was!” Alora smiled weakly, making their presence known as the rest of the diner cleared itself of patrons, quickly rushing to their vehicles. “Are you okay?”

“We’re fine.” Sephy sighed. “Wasn’t able to secure a ride before Jack pulled me out though.”

“And we’ve got something or someone incoming,” Jack warned.

“Change of plan then.” Nika shrugged, indicating the bodies. “Start looking for keys, and make it quick. We’ll have to drive ourselves.”

Sephy? Chiyo asked the Skritta curiously as she made her way to the bar. What are you doing?

“What else would I be doing in this scenario?” The Skritta snorted in amusement as she pulled out a pouch of some small tools. “This cash register isn’t going to rob itself!”

“Oh.” Alora shrugged, remembering the extortion from earlier. “Carry on then!”