Swill

Where are you Murray?

In truth, Shivani Singh knew the answer…sort of. In as much that she was able to trace Murray's fone through some nifty and not at all illegal hacking done by one of her friends back at the Academy. Looking at her datapad, she could tell that Murray was about fifty metres away from her position, or if not flying like a crow, walking to the junction of Willis and Stewart Streets, turning right, and then heading about ten metres. Since she wasn't a crow, she was obliged to keep walking down Willis. Through the Swill of Augustgrad, and past the throngs of humanity that existed in the underbelly of the Dominion.

Damn you Murray for making me come back here.

It occurred to her that technically speaking, she could just be following Murray's fone, and not Murray himself. If that was the case, she was willing to throw in the towel and let her fellow cadet wander off to whatever fate awaited him. Still, she was willing to bet that if she found the fone, she'd fine Murray. No matter where he actually was.

Some of her cadets had placed bets as to where he was before she'd taken the hovercar to find him. Reed had guessed it was a bar. Killawood had guessed it was a brothel. Steiner's money had been on drugs. It occurred to Shivani that you could easily combine those elements into a single establishment, but whatever – their credits, their winning or losing. She was just going to get Murray back so that he didn't ruin his life. Still, if she'd been on the bet, she'd have gone with sex or drugs. She'd grown up in the Swill. She'd crawled her way out of the Swill. She could see the kids on the sidewalk selling their wares out in the open. She could see scantily clad females outside brothels trying to tempt in clients. Sex, drugs, and beer were commodities that anyone could get in Augustgrad, but the first two tended to pile up in the city's lower levels. And they were commodities which the cadets of Styrling Memorial Officers Academy were expressly forbidden from obtaining.

Ten more metres.

Some of the kids tried to push their hab on her as she turned the corner. She even heard a prostitute call out from her establishment, claiming that they could "accommodate for any need." Shivani just kept her head down and kept walking. Had she been wearing her uniform, she knew the catcalling would be replaced with far more obscene words, but she'd had the foresight to come in civie clothes. Here, she was among the damned, unaware that a "pidge" had visited them from on high.

Five. Four. Three. Tw…oh, come on.

Murray was in a bar with the name "Fragged Out" shining in neon letters above its entry. Some wise guy had used black paint to draw a line across the "Fragged" part, and had written "Fekked" above, but for whatever reason, the owner hadn't got round to fixing it. One of life's little miseries that Shivani knew wouldn't keep her up at night.

Maybe they can't afford it.

She walked into the bar.

Or maybe they think it's a better title?

Nope. Definitely wasn't going to think about it. She was just going to find Murray, get him back to the Academy, and hope to God that by saving his career she hadn't ruined her own.

"Hey sweet cheeks."

"Cheeks aren't that sweet actually," she murmured, walking past the louts at the pool table. One of them let out a whistle but they returned to their game, aluminium sticks being used to put holographic balls. Above them was a spinning fan. Mounted on the far wall was a zergling skull, likely recovered from when the zerg rampaged through Augustgrad back in '05. A flatsceen was playing a newsfeed from UNN (no sound, but the subtitles were on) and Fringe Squib Boy was playing its chorus. In essence, not too different from any bar Shivani had been in, even though she'd stayed clear of them as much as possible. Her father had spent time in bars, and she'd spent time at home away from him. It was an arrangement that had worked out reasonably well, all things considered.

There you are.

Not her father, but Murray. Like her, he was dressed in civilian clothes. Unlike her, he had a pint in one hand, and was resting his face on the other.

How much did you drink?

There was only one pint in front of him, but she had no reason to suspect it wasn't his first, given his state. Whatever the case, she walked over and shook his shoulder.

"Murray."

No answer.

"Murray."

He murmured something, but she couldn't make it out.

"Murray, come on."

He murmured something else and turned his head over.

"Oh for the love of…Murray!"

This time she hit him over the head. This time he sprung up.

"What the hell?!"

Shivani didn't say anything. Looking at his eyes, she noticed that they weren't that red, but there as plenty of black around him. Maybe he wasn't drunk, but rather, just tired.

"Bout time," she said.

Drunk or not, she wasn't going to let him off easily.

"Shivani…" he said, rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"That was my question actually," she said.

He pointed a finger at her. Shivani raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless stood there as he poked her in the chest.

"Fekk," he said. "You're real."

"Didn't hitting you over the head tell you that?"

"Yeah, well, one can hope." He turned away and began resting his head on his hands again.

"Murray, come on. Neither of us are meant to be out here."

"Flick me."

"Sorry, you're not my type."

"I'm your type!" called out one of the bar's idiots.

"And I'm not going back without you," Shivani said, keeping her attention on her fellow cadet.

"Go away," he murmured.

"No."

"No?" he asked, opening an eye and looking at her. "That's it?"

"No. That's my answer. No. One word. Should be easy enough to understand."

Murray yawned, but nonetheless sat up straight. Shivani frowned – he was trying to act drunk, but he wasn't drunk. He was just tired. But something else as well.

"How'd you find me?" he asked.

"Your fone. It's easy enough to track if you've got the right friends."

Murray swore and picked his fone out. "Last time I take this then."

"This will be the last time you do this at all."

"Why?" he asked. "And what's it to you?"

"Why?" Shivani asked. She looked around, making sure no-one was eavesdropping on her before whispering to her fellow cadet. "Because we're both cadets of the Styrling Academy for the Dominion Marine Corps." She drew back, and Murray just stared at her.

"You…do realize that isn't an answer right?"

"The Academy has a code of honour that we enter. Cadets look out for each other."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to be a cadet for much longer am I?"

"Stay here for much longer, no, you won't. Come home now, you have a shot."

Murray snorted, taking a sip of his beer. "Ever occurred to you that I might not want to come back?"

Shivani said nothing. In truth, it hadn't. But hearing the words from the horse's mouth, she realized that not only were they true, but they were explaining what was really bothering Murray – depression.

Gingerly, she sat on the stool beside him – something wet was on it, and she couldn't tell if it was beer or piss. Nothing that the laundry at the Academy couldn't sort out. Hopefully.

"Come on Murray," she murmured. "What is it?"

He said nothing.

"If I'm going back without you, I'm at least owed an explanation."

He grunted, glaring at her. "I don't owe you a fekking thing."

"I-"

"Your friends? The ones who tracked me?" He took a sip of his beer. "They're your friends. Not mine."

"I climbed back down into the Swill to find you Murray."

"Yes, and I'm so glad for that. We're all so aware about how sweet little Shivani Singh pulled her way out of poverty to become poster girl of the Dominion Marine Corps. We're in such admiration of her. We adore her. We-"

"I never asked for special treatment you panbrain."

"Yeah, well, you got it didn't you?"

"No, I didn't."

Murray scoffed and returned to his beer. If he hadn't, he might have seen Cadet Shivani Signh's temple throbbing. Her hands shaking as she resisted the urge to beat him to a pulp.

"What about you?" she asked eventually. "You're the one in a pit of self-indulgence."

"Self-despair."

"What?"

"Pit of self-despair. Not self-indulgence." He looked at her, finished his beer, and set the pint down with a thud. "You think the Swill is anything? You didn't grow up in the Gutter."

"The what?"

"The Gutter. Southwest district of Tarsonis City. Or at least it used to be before the zerg came."

"Is that…is that where you came from?" Shivani asked.

Murray shrugged. "More or less. I was lucky enough to get a ride out by not being in the Gutter when the Confederacy met its end. I thought, 'well, this sucks, but hey, this Dominion seems like a nice idea.'"

"The Dominion is a good idea," Shivani murmured.

Murray looked like he was barely listening. "I mean, sure, I could stick it out. I could buy a place like the Swill existing on Korhal – maybe poverty and inequality are foundations of the terran existence. And hell, I could even keep fighting when dear old Emperor Mengsk was revealed to be a mass murderer – yeah, he was bad, but still, aliens are worse. Thought that I might even try for my officer's commission after the last war. And now…"

"And now?" Shivani asked.

Murray nodded towards the flatscreen. Shivani looked, seeing a trio of pundits in discussion. She couldn't hear it, but the subtitles were making it clear – cease-fire. Peace talks. DMZ. Zerg. Protoss. Peace.

"New emperor, new Dominion," Murray said. "And we're caught licking the boots of aliens."

Shivani began tapping her finger on the bench, unsure about what to say. There were plenty of people unhappy about the Dominion's cease-fire with the zerg and protoss. But when she considered the alternative, when she considered what the Academy had made clear, that peace was to be maintained at any cost…

"You hate the zerg, I get it," Shivani said eventually. "But Arcturus Mengsk-"

"Is responsible for Tarsonis, and he can rot in Hell for that. But the zerg did the killing. The zerg kept killing well after the Confederacy's end."

"And that's it?" Shivani said. "You're pissed because of peace?"

"I'm pissed because I'm serving boot-lickers. I'm pissed because places like the Swill still exist."

"I get that might bother you, but-"

"And I'm pissed that curves like you keep sucking the emperor's cock and-"

Shivani slapped him. This generated a few whoops from the guys at the pool table, but one glare from her, and they got the message.

"Ow," Murray murmured, rubbing his cheek.

"Don't say that again," Shivani said. "Ever."

"Which part?"

She didn't answer. Her hands were shaking, her mind was racing, and much to her embarrassment, she couldn't say which pissed her off more.

"Go home Singh," Murray said, turning away. "They want to expel me, demote me, execute me, they can do whatever. But I'm done. I've had it. Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven."

"The Swill isn't Hell Murray. And you're not ruling it."

"Not yet at least. But the Dominion isn't Heaven." He shrugged. "But hey, you're such a sweet angel, why don't you go back to the upper levels, walk through the pearly gates of Styrling Academy, and prostrate yourself before God?"

Shivani didn't say anything. But she got up regardless.

"No final comeback?" Murray asked. "Well, that's fair. They only want you to listen up there."

"And I've listened to you," Shivani said. "And I'm finished with it."

Murray looked at her.

"And that's all I've got to say to you."

And with that, she walked out.

A/N

So, wider thoughts on the Soldiers comic series aside, is it just me, or is the Swill to Augustgrad what the Gutter was to Tarsonis City? Not just in-universe, but from a narrative standpoint as well, where both Nova and Shivani reside in the Gutter/Swill, and both join the Dominion to escape their conditions?

Whatever the case, drabbled this up.