Starfall
Posted: 2003-06-11 09:58pm
Disclaimer: This work is entirely original. If I accidentally used something that is legally someone else's, I apologize. I am making no profit off of this as of now. If any of you wish to reprint/repost this or create something based on it, contact me first. Thank you.
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A road to nowhere
A fall from joy
A tribute to our broken pasts and futures
To our dreams and destinies,
In the grasp of Fate,
Nevermore....
There was no wind. No sound. No heat—just slightly cool air that sat unmoving, like a dead thing. Elliot opened his eyes and could see grey. Grey buildings, grey horizons...a grey veil-like overcast sky that had pale white light filtering down through it, shining down on the grey landscape. Landscape of what looked like buildings—no windows, doors, or signs. Nothing but grey. Grey, grey, grey. Everywhere, as far as he could see.
All this grey made him feel very uneasy. He looked down and found himself standing on one of those grey buildings, and almost jumped in shock. How did he come here? When? Why was he here? Was this all a dream?
Suddenly, a sound like a great moan came from behind him...immense in volume and power, cascading across the landscape of grey, thundering over the buildings with its immensity. Elliot could not help but turn to look, and saw a giant mountain rising out of the ground far away, towering endlessly toward the sky. It looked almost like a...
Elliot snapped awake, rising to a sitting position, chest heaving. He ran a hand through his hair, matted with sweat. His sheets were in disarray, and his room was as dark as it had been when he had first laid down to go to sleep. He fell back against his bed, looking up at the dark ceiling.
"What the hell was that?" he wondered out loud.
———— Starfall ————
By, Shinova
Chapter 1: Elnashi
3.11.688240 PA - Republic Solar Date
Elliot rubbed his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror. Once the adrenaline rush had run out, it had left behind a man under the suffering of a sudden case of insomnia and an incident with some thugs a few days before. All of which left his muscles as sore as before, and his mind just as tired. A sudden dose of extra drowsiness caused Elliot to tip forward and almost hit his head on the mirror but he stopped himself just in time.
He thought about the prospect of having to do business in his current state. The very thought that by some act of fate, divinity, or perhaps just his own actions, had brought him here was the worst part. He was there. And he had to do it. It was unfair...atrocious. So with an overbearing sense of resignation, he set about to prepare himself for the day.
When he had finished—including putting his clothes on the right way for once—he lumbered over to his ship's cockpit, which was more like a mini-bridge, and dumped himself in the command chair. He reached over for an anti-somnolence pill to help combat the drowsiness and found out he had run out of those.
"One day, I'm going to get my life organized. Right, Abigail?" Elliot said to the goldfish swimming in a tank embedded in the left wall of the cockpit. The goldfish seemed to nod as it swum along, and Elliot was convinced, with some thanks to his current state of mind. He glanced at a holo-instrument panel, taking in the information displayed on it.
"Elnashi Station...fourteen minutes. What luck," he grumbled. He got up, went to the kitchen located one deck below and fixed himself a cup of caffeine, a mild stimulant designed to help combat drowsiness. Not as effective as a pill, but it would have to do for now.
Two cups of caffeine and fourteen minutes later, Elliot's ship, the Echomarine, dropped out of hyperspace and into normal space. It braked to cruising speed and let itself coast for the remainder of the trip to its destination. Elliot activated the comm system and waited for the inevitable transmission that was to come.
It came, in the form of an alien traffic controller. "Elnashi Station Control to incoming vessel, state your identification and business," the controller requested over the comm, voice-only.
"This is the Echomarine. Business is vacation," Elliot replied tiredly.
"Transmit your ship ID and sector clearance."
"Transmitting now."
After the data was sent, Elliot waited for the station to receive confirmation from its ship registry database, then relay that confirmation to him and grant him permission him to dock with the giant, cylindrical space station that was just coming into view, through the bridge window in front of Elliot. The wait was not long.
"Elnashi Station Control to Echomarine, you have clearance. Transfer control and standby for docking, Collar 56. Enjoy your stay," the controller said before cutting the channel.
"You too," Elliot muttered as he transferred control of his vessel to the station's computer. The Echomarine thus guided itself, floating gracefully toward the station, then circling it lazily until it found its docking collar, a tube-like connection that served to secure a docking ship to the station. The ship maneuvered itself until it was in position, then with a slight thud, secured itself to the docking collar.
"Alright, I'm going out for a while, so sit tight, 'kay?" Elliot said to Abigail. He checked his pockets, made sure everything was where they were supposed to be, then headed toward the bow airlock. He waited for the collar to be fully pressurized, then pressed a button on a panel nearby, the airlock sliding open with a mechanical swish. He stepped off his ship, the airlock door closing automatically behind him and locking itself. The collar itself had no gravity, so Elliot floated the rest of the way toward the station itself, then opened its airlock by inputting the station code he had been given. His feet touched the ground as he stepped into gravity once more. He grabbed a holo-pamphlet nearby, glancing at it for a moment before turning it off and stuffing it inside one of his pockets. He closed the airlock behind him and walked forward to the final door ahead. The door opened automatically for him, and with a deep breath he stepped through, into Elnashi Station.
Almost immediately he caught the stares of a few bystanders, but most soon turned their gazes away. Elliot looked around for a moment then began walking toward the nearest lift. His contact had informed him a day ago that the latter would be waiting for Elliot in a restaurant called the Ellyidria. Elliot had been to Elnashi before but had never heard of an Ellyidria before. Perhaps it had only been just recently founded or chartered.
"You like euroi buds? Or Terran carnations?" a tan-scaled florist nearby said, snapping Elliot out of his thoughts. The florist looked at Elliot more closely and remarked, "Oh, you wa already Human. Still want carnations?"
"Ah, no thanks," Elliot replied, waving the alien florist away.
"Ne, too bad. Very pritty carnations."
Elliot nodded and went about on his way. Elnashi Station had many such street people, most selling what meager wares they could get their hands on. What was sold and bought on Elnashi was not very regulated, hence why a vast variety of business flourished on the space station. One reason, perhaps, why the station owners would like to keep it as unregulated as it was.
Elliot managed to pack himself into a lift that was headed aftwards, which, in space station-lingo, meant toward the bottom of the station, in Elnashi Station's case. He glanced around at the fellow beings in the lift with him as the doors closed. He could count a few Shumri, the most common race in these parts. Near the back was a tall, chitinid Taklak. There was even a couple of Kominari, one of the more advanced races. In reality, there was such a vast variety of spacefaring beings in the known universe that it wasn't worth any effort for one person like Elliot to try to memorize the name and descriptions of each, or even just many of the races that passed through Elnashi.
Along the way to his level, the lift had to stop a few times, including the one time the giant Taklak had to get out, which involved everyone else in the lift getting out as well so that the giant chitinid could exit the lift without accidentally stepping on anyone or anyone's belongings. Everyone else would then shuffle back into the lift, secretly grateful for the sudden abundance of space, and the lift would go on further aftwards.
Elliot's own presence of course did not go unnoticed. This kind of thing was not new to him. The whispers of, "Look, one of them damned Humans," or "They're bigger than I'd thought," or "They're smaller than I'd thought." Or perhaps, "I wish they'd stop being such lamezors bakas." Often times a more paranoid one would frantically whisper, "Quiet! It might be one of them!" referring to the Republic interest group known as the Brotherhood of Terra. Elliot, of course, had no affiliation at all with such a group.
The lift had finally reached his level, and Elliot stepped out into the level, which had dimmer lighting than the previous levels, forcing his eyes to adjust. He glanced around and spotted a familiar terminal nearby. It was a Republic polling terminal, found in many places here and there. It allowed one to basically vote in favor or disfavor of Republic policies or interest groups and also give opinions as well. Elliot logged in with his usual ID, "1337exTerran" and passcode, then voted in favor of a bunch of groups, while voting disfavor for others. He had an appointment to meet so he couldn't go the full length and write up some opinions as well. Once he was finished, he logged off, checked his pockets to make sure nothing was stolen, then proceeded on toward the Ellyidria. It was not very hard to find, designated with a fairly large holo-sign. Elliot walked in.
The Ellyidria looked and sounded more like an oversized bar rather than a restaurant. There was a stage where scantily-clad Shumri and Jiikri danced. Off to the side was the actual bar. And in the main area were the tables with guests and waiters—all of which gave the establishment the loose official definition of "restaurant". The dancers, bar, and dim lighting spoke otherwise.
Elliot grabbed a nearby waiter and asked, "I'm looking for Table 8."
The waiter pointed toward a corner. Elliot nodded and made his way through the tables and the cheering or drunken guests. He arrived at Table 8 and found a lone occupant, a blue-skinned, bulky alien with beady eyes. The alien seemed to smile and motioned for Elliot to sit down across from him.
"What, no searches?" Elliot asked with a hint of humorous sarcasm.
"I like to say 'be honest in business,' and such. When they told me you were a Human, they weren't shitting," the alien said.
Elliot shrugged and replied, "My name's Elliot. And here's the—"
The alien raised a hand for Elliot to stop. Elliot withdrew his hand from his inner coat pocket.
"Let's not rush things, shall we? I am Tuurk."
"Nice to meet you."
"And to you as well. Waiter!" Tuurk called out. A Shumri waitress walked by. Tuurk turned to his Human guest. "What would you like, Mr. Elliot?"
"I'm in a serious need of caffeine right now," Elliot replied.
"Sleepy, ne? Caffeine for Mr. Elliot, and kooma for me."
"Right away," the waitress acknowledged, walking away.
Tuurk leaned back in his chair, then leaned forward, cradling his arms together on the table. He gazed at Elliot and said, "So, you must be one of them Foster Children."
"As in Humans who live outside the Republic?"
Tuurk nodded.
"Then, yes," Elliot replied. "I am one of the Foster Children."
"You speak it with a word of distaste."
"It gets to you sometimes. As a Human you are...special, here in the Rim areas. You're also special to the people of the Republic itself. Too bad there's no middle ground to stand on."
"Ah. Must be a pain to be you," Tuurk said, nodding with some understanding.
Elliot thought for a moment then added, "Okay, it's not really as bad as I put it. For one, thugs tend to stay away from you, in case you're a tourist or a researcher of some kind. Secondly, you have more of a...significant presence on, say, like the polling terminals—"
"You actually use those things?" Tuurk asked, gazing at Elliot.
"Ah...only sometimes."
"Hmm..." Tuurk grunted, his eyes gazing away in empty space, his hand stroking the bottom of his chin.
The waitress came back with the drinks. "Here they are, sirs. Two hundred credits," she said.
Tuurk raised his wrist for her. The waitress scanned the credit lace worn around the wrist with her portable scanner. Once the device flashed a soft blue, the waitress said thank you and walked away. Tuurk looked down at his drink, swirled it around a little, then took a gulp.
"To be honest," Tuurk said after putting down his glass, "sometimes I wonder why they give us those at all."
"The terminals? Why's that?"
"No, it's just that—how do I put it—just that it often seems like they give us a voice just to see how amusing it is to hear us speak. Something of that sort. That is how I feel when I look at these polling terminals, then watch how the Republic encroaches further and further into our lives."
An eerie silence befell the two. To Elliot it felt like how it had in his dream, when he had been standing there in that odd landscape of grey, hearing absolutely nothing...not even the sound of his own breathing or heartbeat. The other diners cheered, shouted, whispered, and the music still played in the background. Elliot could hear them but their sounds seemed to reach him through a veil-like filter...just like that overcast sky in his dreams. The Shumri and Jiikri dancers twirled through the air, waving the ends of their scanty clothing at the audience, tantalizing, teasing them with a show of skin here and there. Little bits of light through a filtered sky.
Tuurk seemed to remember suddenly why he had come to the Ellyidria in the first place. He took a quick gulp from his kooma then turned to Elliot.
"I verily apologize. We were here to conduct business, not sit on our fat cat-asses and bicker like the old."
"Oh right. The data disk's right here," Elliot replied, reaching into his inner coat pocket and pulling out a flat, translucent disk about a quarter the size of his palm.
As Elliot was doing this, four Shumri at a nearby table stood up, facing a Human-like person at their table, who remained sitting. One of the four said something, the sitting person's eyes narrowing in response. The other three were putting their right hands inside the folds of their robes. When Elliot's hand was midway through handing over the disk, the person who had been sitting suddenly leaped up, throwing the table at the four, who fell back out of the way. There was a bright, blue flash of light, then a swirl of energy circled the person's right arm and formed into a wrist-mounted weapon of some kind. A twisting, blue beam of energy lanced out, screaming through the air and incinerating everything it touched. This the person swept across the entire restaurant, blowing chunks out of the walls, blasting apart tables and chairs, and incinerating unfortunate guests.
Elliot and Tuurk had dived under their table, the beam barely missing their heads. Elliot sought a more secure position under the table, but then realized he had lost the data disk. He started to look around, patting the floor around him, then spotted the disk a short distance from his table. He reached out for it.
The person switched off the beam. Three of the Shumri were dead. The last one pulled out its pistol and fired at the person. The energy bolts splashed harmlessly against an energy shield that had formed around the person, who pointed a palm at the offending Shumri. Six golden globes of light shot forth from the palm and impacted the Shumri, causing it to combust violently then explode, sending balls of ash into the air. The person gazed around, looking for more threats, then spotted one of the guests nearby shuffling forward and reaching for something on the ground.
Elliot had just grabbed the disk and started to pull back when something threw his table aside and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up to his feet. He struggled until he felt something cool and metallic press against his temple.
"Don't even think of moving, Human, or I'll light yer head faster than you can blink," the person said menacingly.
Elliot twisted around and got a glance at his captor's face. Were it not for the long, tapered ears, anyone could've mistaken the being for a Human. An Eldrian—female to be exact, with long, blonde hair and sharp, green eyes that seemed to shine with an inner light. That was all Elliot could see of her at the moment, then his head was roughly forced to face forward.
"Alright, everyone! If anyone moves, tries to call security, or do anything else funny, this Human's getting his brains liquefied, got that?" the Eldrian shouted. She then levitated into the air and floated towards the restaurant's entrance, the guests fearfully scrambling out of her way. Elliot noticed this and realized the Eldrian was equipped with an Eldrian battle suit, in reality an Eldrian jewel that, through some strange process, could basically turn an Eldrian into a flying weapons platform. The four Shumri had been foolish to toy with the Eldrian. Hopefully Elliot would not share their fate.
The Eldrian half carried and half dragged Elliot out of the now-wrecked Ellyidria and out into the hallway. The people outside scattered upon sight of the apparent hostage situation. Just then a group of security officers arrived, running toward the Eldrian, weapons drawn.
"You! Drop him now!" the lead officer commanded.
The Eldrian threw Elliot aside, the latter losing the data disk again in the process. The security officers responded by opening fire with their pistols. The Eldrian quickly dove downwards, snatching the data disk, then strafed sideways, some of the incoming bolts missing her and others impacting against her forcefield. The Eldrian raised her arm, a weapon of some sort materializing in her hand. This she fired a couple of times. A pair of explosions blew aside the officers, showering everything around with debris. Elliot covered his head as some of the dust blew over him.
A pair of flying security bots flew into the area, blasting away at the Eldrian with rapid-fire energy cannons. The Eldrian took off, flying down the hallway, firing back at the bots. Both sides' shots obliterated chunks of nearby walls and occasionally incinerated the poor bystander. The bots pursued the Eldrian down the corridor and out of sight.
Elliot coughed, trying to wave away the dust that was just beginning to clear. Everything had been so confusing that it was only now that he noticed the warning klaxons sounding through the station.
"Attention all visitors, there is a criminal loose in level 33. We advise all visitors to take shelter until the current crisis has passed. All security personnel report to level 33. To any available bounty hunter personnel, assist at your discretion."
Elliot really did not want to stay around much longer. He broke off running toward the nearest lift as the people around him were just beginning to gather themselves. He entered the lift and rode it to the hangar level, where his ship waited. If Tuurk and his people wanted anything from Elliot, they would simply have to contact him through the comm. After all, the disk wasn't his problem anymore.
He exited the lift and ran toward the door that led to the docking collar attached to the Echomarine. He rushed through the door as it opened, then entered the code for the station airlock, but received an error message instead. He slapped his forehead in frustration, realizing that the station lockdown had already taken place. Suddenly the sound of gunfire reached his ears. He glanced out the door and saw the Eldrian and the security bots moving toward where he was. He watched as the Eldrian finally destroyed the bots with an energy weapon, then float down to the ground. Her battle suit deactivated with a shimmer of light. She began walking toward the docking door right next to Elliot's.
With slight shock, Elliot realized the Eldrian's ship was docked right next to his own. He frantically took out his remote, tapping furiously into it, sending a command to his vessel.
The Echomarine came to life, its power distribution system routing a significant amount of the ship's power to a particular mechanism located on the top of the forward section. A pair of doors opened and a cannon rose up out of inside the ship. It rotated on its base to aim at the ship next to the Echomarine—the Eldrian's vessel. A second later, it fired, unleashing a concentrated beam of energy that smashed into the target vessel, tearing into it, then detonating it in a brilliant fireball.
The station trembled as the shockwave washed over it. The Eldrian froze, then slowly turned her gaze to the docking corridor next to hers, where Elliot was staring sheepishly at her.
"Hey, rough day at work?" he called, waving and smiling innocently.
The Eldrian turned and began walking toward him, her clenched fists trembling with barely contained fury.
"Oh, crap!" Elliot cursed under his breath, frantically wondering what to do. Out of options, he reached into his coat and whipped out the only weapon he could bring with himself that could pass undetected through the station's scanners—which, ironically, also happened to be his strongest sidearm. This he aimed at the Eldrian, whose eyes widened. He pulled the trigger and a crackling bolt of energy leapt forth, creating an explosion that rocked the whole level with its force.
Elliot fell back, quickly got up to his feet, set the weapon to a much lower power, and aimed at the station airlock. He fired once, then three more times until the airlock finally blew out, clearing the way between him and his ship. He jumped through the docking collar, opened his airlock and locked it behind him. Elliot ran to his cockpit and jumped into the command chair. His fingers raced over the consoles, quickly bringing the whole ship online.
"Hang on!" he said to his goldfish as he detached his ship from the docking collar and floated away from the station. As he powered the main drives he heard a tapping noise in front of him. He looked forward at his bridge window and almost jumped in surprise.
The Eldrian was right outside his bridge window. She was wearing a space suit of some kind—probably a component of her battle suit. She aimed a large gun at the bridge window, her grin barely visible through her helmet's visor.
Elliot, his gaze fixed on the Eldrian, reached over with a hand and pressed a key on a nearby console. The ship began accelerating as it prepared to go into lightspeed. The Eldrian saw what was happening and flew away just as the Echomarine jumped into hyperspace with a flash of light.
Aboard the Echomarine, now safe in hyperspace, Elliot slumped in his chair. My luck must be fading away. I don't get paid, the disk is in the hands of some Eldrian psycho-chick who probably has a never-ending grudge on me now...and I forgot to feed Abigail. Again! he thought to himself, rubbing his forehead. He sighed for the millionth time that day, pushing himself out of his chair and walking over to the fish tank, grabbing a packet of fish food nearby.
Meanwhile, back at Elnashi Station, Tuurk was frantically calling his associates and arguing with them. The owner of the Ellyidria was considering suicide. And a certain Eldrian was yelling at the space where the Echomarine had disappeared to, spouting profanity that would've made a pirate go blue with discomfort.
And life went on like usual.
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A road to nowhere
A fall from joy
A tribute to our broken pasts and futures
To our dreams and destinies,
In the grasp of Fate,
Nevermore....
There was no wind. No sound. No heat—just slightly cool air that sat unmoving, like a dead thing. Elliot opened his eyes and could see grey. Grey buildings, grey horizons...a grey veil-like overcast sky that had pale white light filtering down through it, shining down on the grey landscape. Landscape of what looked like buildings—no windows, doors, or signs. Nothing but grey. Grey, grey, grey. Everywhere, as far as he could see.
All this grey made him feel very uneasy. He looked down and found himself standing on one of those grey buildings, and almost jumped in shock. How did he come here? When? Why was he here? Was this all a dream?
Suddenly, a sound like a great moan came from behind him...immense in volume and power, cascading across the landscape of grey, thundering over the buildings with its immensity. Elliot could not help but turn to look, and saw a giant mountain rising out of the ground far away, towering endlessly toward the sky. It looked almost like a...
Elliot snapped awake, rising to a sitting position, chest heaving. He ran a hand through his hair, matted with sweat. His sheets were in disarray, and his room was as dark as it had been when he had first laid down to go to sleep. He fell back against his bed, looking up at the dark ceiling.
"What the hell was that?" he wondered out loud.
———— Starfall ————
By, Shinova
Chapter 1: Elnashi
3.11.688240 PA - Republic Solar Date
Elliot rubbed his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror. Once the adrenaline rush had run out, it had left behind a man under the suffering of a sudden case of insomnia and an incident with some thugs a few days before. All of which left his muscles as sore as before, and his mind just as tired. A sudden dose of extra drowsiness caused Elliot to tip forward and almost hit his head on the mirror but he stopped himself just in time.
He thought about the prospect of having to do business in his current state. The very thought that by some act of fate, divinity, or perhaps just his own actions, had brought him here was the worst part. He was there. And he had to do it. It was unfair...atrocious. So with an overbearing sense of resignation, he set about to prepare himself for the day.
When he had finished—including putting his clothes on the right way for once—he lumbered over to his ship's cockpit, which was more like a mini-bridge, and dumped himself in the command chair. He reached over for an anti-somnolence pill to help combat the drowsiness and found out he had run out of those.
"One day, I'm going to get my life organized. Right, Abigail?" Elliot said to the goldfish swimming in a tank embedded in the left wall of the cockpit. The goldfish seemed to nod as it swum along, and Elliot was convinced, with some thanks to his current state of mind. He glanced at a holo-instrument panel, taking in the information displayed on it.
"Elnashi Station...fourteen minutes. What luck," he grumbled. He got up, went to the kitchen located one deck below and fixed himself a cup of caffeine, a mild stimulant designed to help combat drowsiness. Not as effective as a pill, but it would have to do for now.
Two cups of caffeine and fourteen minutes later, Elliot's ship, the Echomarine, dropped out of hyperspace and into normal space. It braked to cruising speed and let itself coast for the remainder of the trip to its destination. Elliot activated the comm system and waited for the inevitable transmission that was to come.
It came, in the form of an alien traffic controller. "Elnashi Station Control to incoming vessel, state your identification and business," the controller requested over the comm, voice-only.
"This is the Echomarine. Business is vacation," Elliot replied tiredly.
"Transmit your ship ID and sector clearance."
"Transmitting now."
After the data was sent, Elliot waited for the station to receive confirmation from its ship registry database, then relay that confirmation to him and grant him permission him to dock with the giant, cylindrical space station that was just coming into view, through the bridge window in front of Elliot. The wait was not long.
"Elnashi Station Control to Echomarine, you have clearance. Transfer control and standby for docking, Collar 56. Enjoy your stay," the controller said before cutting the channel.
"You too," Elliot muttered as he transferred control of his vessel to the station's computer. The Echomarine thus guided itself, floating gracefully toward the station, then circling it lazily until it found its docking collar, a tube-like connection that served to secure a docking ship to the station. The ship maneuvered itself until it was in position, then with a slight thud, secured itself to the docking collar.
"Alright, I'm going out for a while, so sit tight, 'kay?" Elliot said to Abigail. He checked his pockets, made sure everything was where they were supposed to be, then headed toward the bow airlock. He waited for the collar to be fully pressurized, then pressed a button on a panel nearby, the airlock sliding open with a mechanical swish. He stepped off his ship, the airlock door closing automatically behind him and locking itself. The collar itself had no gravity, so Elliot floated the rest of the way toward the station itself, then opened its airlock by inputting the station code he had been given. His feet touched the ground as he stepped into gravity once more. He grabbed a holo-pamphlet nearby, glancing at it for a moment before turning it off and stuffing it inside one of his pockets. He closed the airlock behind him and walked forward to the final door ahead. The door opened automatically for him, and with a deep breath he stepped through, into Elnashi Station.
Almost immediately he caught the stares of a few bystanders, but most soon turned their gazes away. Elliot looked around for a moment then began walking toward the nearest lift. His contact had informed him a day ago that the latter would be waiting for Elliot in a restaurant called the Ellyidria. Elliot had been to Elnashi before but had never heard of an Ellyidria before. Perhaps it had only been just recently founded or chartered.
"You like euroi buds? Or Terran carnations?" a tan-scaled florist nearby said, snapping Elliot out of his thoughts. The florist looked at Elliot more closely and remarked, "Oh, you wa already Human. Still want carnations?"
"Ah, no thanks," Elliot replied, waving the alien florist away.
"Ne, too bad. Very pritty carnations."
Elliot nodded and went about on his way. Elnashi Station had many such street people, most selling what meager wares they could get their hands on. What was sold and bought on Elnashi was not very regulated, hence why a vast variety of business flourished on the space station. One reason, perhaps, why the station owners would like to keep it as unregulated as it was.
Elliot managed to pack himself into a lift that was headed aftwards, which, in space station-lingo, meant toward the bottom of the station, in Elnashi Station's case. He glanced around at the fellow beings in the lift with him as the doors closed. He could count a few Shumri, the most common race in these parts. Near the back was a tall, chitinid Taklak. There was even a couple of Kominari, one of the more advanced races. In reality, there was such a vast variety of spacefaring beings in the known universe that it wasn't worth any effort for one person like Elliot to try to memorize the name and descriptions of each, or even just many of the races that passed through Elnashi.
Along the way to his level, the lift had to stop a few times, including the one time the giant Taklak had to get out, which involved everyone else in the lift getting out as well so that the giant chitinid could exit the lift without accidentally stepping on anyone or anyone's belongings. Everyone else would then shuffle back into the lift, secretly grateful for the sudden abundance of space, and the lift would go on further aftwards.
Elliot's own presence of course did not go unnoticed. This kind of thing was not new to him. The whispers of, "Look, one of them damned Humans," or "They're bigger than I'd thought," or "They're smaller than I'd thought." Or perhaps, "I wish they'd stop being such lamezors bakas." Often times a more paranoid one would frantically whisper, "Quiet! It might be one of them!" referring to the Republic interest group known as the Brotherhood of Terra. Elliot, of course, had no affiliation at all with such a group.
The lift had finally reached his level, and Elliot stepped out into the level, which had dimmer lighting than the previous levels, forcing his eyes to adjust. He glanced around and spotted a familiar terminal nearby. It was a Republic polling terminal, found in many places here and there. It allowed one to basically vote in favor or disfavor of Republic policies or interest groups and also give opinions as well. Elliot logged in with his usual ID, "1337exTerran" and passcode, then voted in favor of a bunch of groups, while voting disfavor for others. He had an appointment to meet so he couldn't go the full length and write up some opinions as well. Once he was finished, he logged off, checked his pockets to make sure nothing was stolen, then proceeded on toward the Ellyidria. It was not very hard to find, designated with a fairly large holo-sign. Elliot walked in.
The Ellyidria looked and sounded more like an oversized bar rather than a restaurant. There was a stage where scantily-clad Shumri and Jiikri danced. Off to the side was the actual bar. And in the main area were the tables with guests and waiters—all of which gave the establishment the loose official definition of "restaurant". The dancers, bar, and dim lighting spoke otherwise.
Elliot grabbed a nearby waiter and asked, "I'm looking for Table 8."
The waiter pointed toward a corner. Elliot nodded and made his way through the tables and the cheering or drunken guests. He arrived at Table 8 and found a lone occupant, a blue-skinned, bulky alien with beady eyes. The alien seemed to smile and motioned for Elliot to sit down across from him.
"What, no searches?" Elliot asked with a hint of humorous sarcasm.
"I like to say 'be honest in business,' and such. When they told me you were a Human, they weren't shitting," the alien said.
Elliot shrugged and replied, "My name's Elliot. And here's the—"
The alien raised a hand for Elliot to stop. Elliot withdrew his hand from his inner coat pocket.
"Let's not rush things, shall we? I am Tuurk."
"Nice to meet you."
"And to you as well. Waiter!" Tuurk called out. A Shumri waitress walked by. Tuurk turned to his Human guest. "What would you like, Mr. Elliot?"
"I'm in a serious need of caffeine right now," Elliot replied.
"Sleepy, ne? Caffeine for Mr. Elliot, and kooma for me."
"Right away," the waitress acknowledged, walking away.
Tuurk leaned back in his chair, then leaned forward, cradling his arms together on the table. He gazed at Elliot and said, "So, you must be one of them Foster Children."
"As in Humans who live outside the Republic?"
Tuurk nodded.
"Then, yes," Elliot replied. "I am one of the Foster Children."
"You speak it with a word of distaste."
"It gets to you sometimes. As a Human you are...special, here in the Rim areas. You're also special to the people of the Republic itself. Too bad there's no middle ground to stand on."
"Ah. Must be a pain to be you," Tuurk said, nodding with some understanding.
Elliot thought for a moment then added, "Okay, it's not really as bad as I put it. For one, thugs tend to stay away from you, in case you're a tourist or a researcher of some kind. Secondly, you have more of a...significant presence on, say, like the polling terminals—"
"You actually use those things?" Tuurk asked, gazing at Elliot.
"Ah...only sometimes."
"Hmm..." Tuurk grunted, his eyes gazing away in empty space, his hand stroking the bottom of his chin.
The waitress came back with the drinks. "Here they are, sirs. Two hundred credits," she said.
Tuurk raised his wrist for her. The waitress scanned the credit lace worn around the wrist with her portable scanner. Once the device flashed a soft blue, the waitress said thank you and walked away. Tuurk looked down at his drink, swirled it around a little, then took a gulp.
"To be honest," Tuurk said after putting down his glass, "sometimes I wonder why they give us those at all."
"The terminals? Why's that?"
"No, it's just that—how do I put it—just that it often seems like they give us a voice just to see how amusing it is to hear us speak. Something of that sort. That is how I feel when I look at these polling terminals, then watch how the Republic encroaches further and further into our lives."
An eerie silence befell the two. To Elliot it felt like how it had in his dream, when he had been standing there in that odd landscape of grey, hearing absolutely nothing...not even the sound of his own breathing or heartbeat. The other diners cheered, shouted, whispered, and the music still played in the background. Elliot could hear them but their sounds seemed to reach him through a veil-like filter...just like that overcast sky in his dreams. The Shumri and Jiikri dancers twirled through the air, waving the ends of their scanty clothing at the audience, tantalizing, teasing them with a show of skin here and there. Little bits of light through a filtered sky.
Tuurk seemed to remember suddenly why he had come to the Ellyidria in the first place. He took a quick gulp from his kooma then turned to Elliot.
"I verily apologize. We were here to conduct business, not sit on our fat cat-asses and bicker like the old."
"Oh right. The data disk's right here," Elliot replied, reaching into his inner coat pocket and pulling out a flat, translucent disk about a quarter the size of his palm.
As Elliot was doing this, four Shumri at a nearby table stood up, facing a Human-like person at their table, who remained sitting. One of the four said something, the sitting person's eyes narrowing in response. The other three were putting their right hands inside the folds of their robes. When Elliot's hand was midway through handing over the disk, the person who had been sitting suddenly leaped up, throwing the table at the four, who fell back out of the way. There was a bright, blue flash of light, then a swirl of energy circled the person's right arm and formed into a wrist-mounted weapon of some kind. A twisting, blue beam of energy lanced out, screaming through the air and incinerating everything it touched. This the person swept across the entire restaurant, blowing chunks out of the walls, blasting apart tables and chairs, and incinerating unfortunate guests.
Elliot and Tuurk had dived under their table, the beam barely missing their heads. Elliot sought a more secure position under the table, but then realized he had lost the data disk. He started to look around, patting the floor around him, then spotted the disk a short distance from his table. He reached out for it.
The person switched off the beam. Three of the Shumri were dead. The last one pulled out its pistol and fired at the person. The energy bolts splashed harmlessly against an energy shield that had formed around the person, who pointed a palm at the offending Shumri. Six golden globes of light shot forth from the palm and impacted the Shumri, causing it to combust violently then explode, sending balls of ash into the air. The person gazed around, looking for more threats, then spotted one of the guests nearby shuffling forward and reaching for something on the ground.
Elliot had just grabbed the disk and started to pull back when something threw his table aside and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up to his feet. He struggled until he felt something cool and metallic press against his temple.
"Don't even think of moving, Human, or I'll light yer head faster than you can blink," the person said menacingly.
Elliot twisted around and got a glance at his captor's face. Were it not for the long, tapered ears, anyone could've mistaken the being for a Human. An Eldrian—female to be exact, with long, blonde hair and sharp, green eyes that seemed to shine with an inner light. That was all Elliot could see of her at the moment, then his head was roughly forced to face forward.
"Alright, everyone! If anyone moves, tries to call security, or do anything else funny, this Human's getting his brains liquefied, got that?" the Eldrian shouted. She then levitated into the air and floated towards the restaurant's entrance, the guests fearfully scrambling out of her way. Elliot noticed this and realized the Eldrian was equipped with an Eldrian battle suit, in reality an Eldrian jewel that, through some strange process, could basically turn an Eldrian into a flying weapons platform. The four Shumri had been foolish to toy with the Eldrian. Hopefully Elliot would not share their fate.
The Eldrian half carried and half dragged Elliot out of the now-wrecked Ellyidria and out into the hallway. The people outside scattered upon sight of the apparent hostage situation. Just then a group of security officers arrived, running toward the Eldrian, weapons drawn.
"You! Drop him now!" the lead officer commanded.
The Eldrian threw Elliot aside, the latter losing the data disk again in the process. The security officers responded by opening fire with their pistols. The Eldrian quickly dove downwards, snatching the data disk, then strafed sideways, some of the incoming bolts missing her and others impacting against her forcefield. The Eldrian raised her arm, a weapon of some sort materializing in her hand. This she fired a couple of times. A pair of explosions blew aside the officers, showering everything around with debris. Elliot covered his head as some of the dust blew over him.
A pair of flying security bots flew into the area, blasting away at the Eldrian with rapid-fire energy cannons. The Eldrian took off, flying down the hallway, firing back at the bots. Both sides' shots obliterated chunks of nearby walls and occasionally incinerated the poor bystander. The bots pursued the Eldrian down the corridor and out of sight.
Elliot coughed, trying to wave away the dust that was just beginning to clear. Everything had been so confusing that it was only now that he noticed the warning klaxons sounding through the station.
"Attention all visitors, there is a criminal loose in level 33. We advise all visitors to take shelter until the current crisis has passed. All security personnel report to level 33. To any available bounty hunter personnel, assist at your discretion."
Elliot really did not want to stay around much longer. He broke off running toward the nearest lift as the people around him were just beginning to gather themselves. He entered the lift and rode it to the hangar level, where his ship waited. If Tuurk and his people wanted anything from Elliot, they would simply have to contact him through the comm. After all, the disk wasn't his problem anymore.
He exited the lift and ran toward the door that led to the docking collar attached to the Echomarine. He rushed through the door as it opened, then entered the code for the station airlock, but received an error message instead. He slapped his forehead in frustration, realizing that the station lockdown had already taken place. Suddenly the sound of gunfire reached his ears. He glanced out the door and saw the Eldrian and the security bots moving toward where he was. He watched as the Eldrian finally destroyed the bots with an energy weapon, then float down to the ground. Her battle suit deactivated with a shimmer of light. She began walking toward the docking door right next to Elliot's.
With slight shock, Elliot realized the Eldrian's ship was docked right next to his own. He frantically took out his remote, tapping furiously into it, sending a command to his vessel.
The Echomarine came to life, its power distribution system routing a significant amount of the ship's power to a particular mechanism located on the top of the forward section. A pair of doors opened and a cannon rose up out of inside the ship. It rotated on its base to aim at the ship next to the Echomarine—the Eldrian's vessel. A second later, it fired, unleashing a concentrated beam of energy that smashed into the target vessel, tearing into it, then detonating it in a brilliant fireball.
The station trembled as the shockwave washed over it. The Eldrian froze, then slowly turned her gaze to the docking corridor next to hers, where Elliot was staring sheepishly at her.
"Hey, rough day at work?" he called, waving and smiling innocently.
The Eldrian turned and began walking toward him, her clenched fists trembling with barely contained fury.
"Oh, crap!" Elliot cursed under his breath, frantically wondering what to do. Out of options, he reached into his coat and whipped out the only weapon he could bring with himself that could pass undetected through the station's scanners—which, ironically, also happened to be his strongest sidearm. This he aimed at the Eldrian, whose eyes widened. He pulled the trigger and a crackling bolt of energy leapt forth, creating an explosion that rocked the whole level with its force.
Elliot fell back, quickly got up to his feet, set the weapon to a much lower power, and aimed at the station airlock. He fired once, then three more times until the airlock finally blew out, clearing the way between him and his ship. He jumped through the docking collar, opened his airlock and locked it behind him. Elliot ran to his cockpit and jumped into the command chair. His fingers raced over the consoles, quickly bringing the whole ship online.
"Hang on!" he said to his goldfish as he detached his ship from the docking collar and floated away from the station. As he powered the main drives he heard a tapping noise in front of him. He looked forward at his bridge window and almost jumped in surprise.
The Eldrian was right outside his bridge window. She was wearing a space suit of some kind—probably a component of her battle suit. She aimed a large gun at the bridge window, her grin barely visible through her helmet's visor.
Elliot, his gaze fixed on the Eldrian, reached over with a hand and pressed a key on a nearby console. The ship began accelerating as it prepared to go into lightspeed. The Eldrian saw what was happening and flew away just as the Echomarine jumped into hyperspace with a flash of light.
Aboard the Echomarine, now safe in hyperspace, Elliot slumped in his chair. My luck must be fading away. I don't get paid, the disk is in the hands of some Eldrian psycho-chick who probably has a never-ending grudge on me now...and I forgot to feed Abigail. Again! he thought to himself, rubbing his forehead. He sighed for the millionth time that day, pushing himself out of his chair and walking over to the fish tank, grabbing a packet of fish food nearby.
Meanwhile, back at Elnashi Station, Tuurk was frantically calling his associates and arguing with them. The owner of the Ellyidria was considering suicide. And a certain Eldrian was yelling at the space where the Echomarine had disappeared to, spouting profanity that would've made a pirate go blue with discomfort.
And life went on like usual.
