****************************Chapter 14*************************************
After twenty-five years of operation, DownBelow was dirtier than ever. It was coated in dirt and smelled worse than a sulfur mine. Twenty-five years of dirty bodies and dirty dealings had left a permanent odour in the place. Even the safest areas of DownBelow were dangerous to newcomers. Any one who came down here who showed the slightest hint of prosperity suffered an attack.
There were no innocents in DownBelow. Every single being living here was hiding from a past. Every one of them had broken dozens of laws and station regs. They were still here simply because, especially now, with a decrease in station use and the laying off of security and station personnel, the lurkers, as these dregs of beings were called, outnumbered the station security.
I pulled the hood of my cloak lower over my head. Undoubtably, there were a few of these lurkers who had been here when my parents had lived on station. Every one said I was almost a mirror image of my father. I didn't see it. My ears were too low and my nose not quite the right shape. I was also a little bit slighter than my father. My eyes were the same green flecked orbs as my mother. Either way, it was quite obvious for those who knew them to recognize me for who I was. And this was a trip where I intended to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
The four of us walked through the dingy corridors, occasionally having to step over a being lying on the cold metal floor. There were species here that I had never even heard of, and I had had a very well rounded education. My parents had insisted that I learn as much as I could about each race so that when the time came that I joined the Rangers, as it most likely would, than I would need to know how to treat the different representatives of the many races both in the Alliance and those who had not joined.
We walked in twos, trying to stay as far from the walls as we could. Several beings saw us coming and ran. Others didn't even look up as we walked past. It broke my heart when I noticed that many of the people living in the slime were children. I felt a pang of guilt at the relative ease of my life and a surge of anger at the injustice of life. What had these children ever done to deserve a life in this cesspit? What had any of these people done that was so horrible that THIS was an improvement?
I was careful to keep my hands hidden in my cloak. My left hand rested on my pike while my right held the edge of the cloak, ready to toss it open should something happen. To my right, Kahlen floated a few millimeters off the ground, moving her legs to give her the appearance of walking. Right behind me, Shannon had her hands laced together in front of her chest. To her right, Marcel walked along easily, showing no outward signs of any weariness.
We rounded the corner at a junction and ran into another group of people. They flattened themselves against the walls while we passed. As soon as we were past them, they stepped out of the shadowed areas they were hiding in and more figures stepped out from hiding in front of us.
"What do we have here?" asked one of them. He was a human, slightly taller than I was and was standing a little forward of his friends.
"It looks like a bunch of kids trying to act tough by going into a part of the station that they've probably been told to avoid." answered a large, dark haired human behind him. His eyes roamed eagerly over us, studying the material of our clothing. Judging how many credits we would have. "They're sure to have a nice little collection of creds on them, Stark."
The leader nodded thoughtfully. He was staring at Kahlen with a spark in his blue eyes. "Well, kiddies. Hand over you creds and you can leave in one piece."
Marcel snorted. "I don't think so little man."
I sighed. I had hoped to avoid a fight. I felt no fear. I knew that even though we were outnumbered by almost four to one, these lurkers would not be able to defeat us. Four trained Rangers against 15 thugs with little or no training and who were not used to fighting skilled opponents? No contest. Hell, Marcel could probably take them all himself. Or Kahlen with her telekinetic and telepathic advantages.
"You stupid, big man?" the one called Stark asked. "Can't you count? There's fifteen of us and only four of you. The way I see it, you're in deep shit. You don't hand over you creds, we'll have to do something you'll regret." His hand flashed behind his back and came back holding a long knife. Behind him, the others also pulled out weapons, ranging from knives to chains to homemade spiked clubs. The clubs looked remarkably like baseball bats with nails hammered through them.
I sighed again. This was a waste of time. "Look, if it's creds you want, here." I stuck out my hand, my credit slip held lightly between two fingers. "That card has at least nine hundred credits on it. Take it and go."
Stark stared at the card. Nine hundred credits was a large amount to a group who lived DownBelow. Hell, it was a large amount to anyone. They would be able to eat for weeks on that much money. A shrewd look came into his eyes. I began to feel nervous. Stark was not your average lurker.
"So. You think you can fool me, kid?" he asked with a laugh. "That was too easy. Ain't no one gonna hand over nine hundred creds that easily unless he either has a lot more and don't need it, or he's got something to hide." He studied me. My head and face were completely out of sight beneath the hood of my cloak. "And I think you've got both reasons." He reached out to toss my hood back, a huge hand shot forward and stopped him.
Marcel moved forward, lifting Stark's hand high. The other man was lifted off his feet and hung in the air, staring at Marcel. His face was pale beneath the dirt.
"Take the creds and go."
"You think I'm scared, big man?" asked Stark, his voice harsh. He slashed with his knife and Marcel's other hand shot out to catch it on the blade. Stark tried to pull it back, but Marcel's grip tightened. A small trickle of blood crawled down the blade. With a grunt and a twist of his wrist, Marcel yanked the knife from Stark's hand. Several of Stark's followers started to move, but a glance from Marcel froze them in place.
Another flip and Marcel was holding the knife's handle. It looked tiny in his hands. He place his thumb on the side of the blade and pushed. The blade snapped.
"Listen. I am big. I am not stupid. You and your friends picked the wrong group to bother. Now leave. Before I demand credits from you." With that, he gently dropped both the broken knife and the man.
Stark looked up at him with hate filled eyes. "Get them!" he roared. "Kill them! But keep the woman alive. We'll have some fun with her." With his words, the others surged forward.
I pulled my pike and tossed off my cloak, moving into a defensive position. Behind me I knew that Shannon was doing the same, turning so that we were back-to-back. Kahlen floated upward, her red hair fanning out around her head like a halo. Marcel turned his back to us, positioning himself so that he could see both groups of attackers. *We must look like some kind of weird triangle, standing like this, * I thought before turning my full attention to the attackers.
The thugs stopped and gawked, unsure. Kahlen floated above us out of reach. Though they were most likely less aware of galactic events than even Marcel, they had had dealings with Rangers before and knew what a fighting pike was. Maybe a few of them had even felt a few blows from a pike.
Stark stared at us, unnerved. He hesitated, probably wondering what he had gotten himself into. But it was too late for him to back out without losing all respect from his followers. So, pulling out another knife, he gestured towards us. "What are we waiting for? Let's get 'em." He screamed and ran for us. A second later so did the others.
The fighting was intense. Because of the narrow confines of the corridor, only three of them could attack us at a time. Kahlen simply floated in the air, watching. Which was fine with us. She was not much of a fighter and would only have gotten in the way on the ground.
I lashed out with my pike, knocking a bat out of the hands of the dark haired man who had spoken earlier. Before he had time to register that fact, I swung the other end around and slammed it into his ribs, doubling him over. A final uppercut and he when flying back off his feet to slam against a crate a few feet behind him. Behind me, I could sense Shannon's movements as she knocked her opponents back.
I glanced to the side and watched as Marcel blocked a blow from a Drazi on his right with his arm, while side kicking a Narn on his left. There was a crunching sound as his foot connected with the Narn's ribs. The Narn screamed in agony as he sailed back to slam into a friend knocking both to the floor. Marcel's left hand moved, punching the Drazi in the side.
The Drazi grunted as the force of the blow took him off his feet. He landed just as Marcel swung his left leg around low to the ground. The Drazi jumped over the sweep, his hands lashing forward in a blow to Marcel's face. Blood began to flow from his nose. Marcel planted his foot, and jumped. He spun in the air, his left leg lashing out level with the Drazi's head. It was a very impressive jump. The Drazi was over six feet tall and Marcel's foot was angled downwards when it connected with his head.
The Drazi flipped over, his head hanging at an odd angle. He slammed into the ground while two more attackers ran at Marcel, one from each side. My friend leapt back into the air in a back flip, his hands reaching out and grabbing the two attackers heads and guiding them together while he hung in the air. The skulls slammed together with an audible crack and the two humans slumped to the ground while Marcel landed once more. As soon as he had his balance, he launched himself to his right towards a group of four Drazi who paused.
Marcel looked at me and winked, wiping blood from his eyes. "You have to love a good high ceiling." he said before retaking a defensive stance.
While watching Marcel I had forgotten to watch for movement from the attackers. One of them, noticing that I was distracting, took a swing with his bat at my head. Luckily for me, Kahlen had been watching. She stopped the bat in mid swing, several nails only centimeters from impact with my head. Panicking, I lashed out wildly with my pike, hitting the man in the groin. He dropped the bat. One of the nails scrapped my arm, drawing a long shallow line of blood.
"Thank's Kahlen." I said as I calmed down and positioned myself once more. "But it's about time you helped out."
She grunted. "No problem, Dave. And for your information, I've been busy helping Shannon."
I wondered a moment at the name. No one had ever called me by that appellation before. Coming from Kahlen, I kind of liked the way it sounded. Her face screwed up and I looked over my shoulder to see another of the attackers frozen in place. Shannon's pike spun and the frozen figure slammed into the wall to fall in a heap.
"Exciting enough for you?" I asked Kahlen, as I blocked a blow and delivered a quick strike of my own that had the Narn attacking me jumping back and tripping over the body of his friend.
"This isn't exactly what I had in mind, but it will do." she answered.
The sounds of fighting diminished and were slowly replaced with groans of pain. I glanced around and was almost disappointed to find that all of the attackers were lying in heaps on the ground. "I guess it's over." I stated.
Marcel looked around, an eager look on his face. Seeing that all of the enemies had been dealt with, his face became a mask of disappointment. "That's all there was?" he asked. Despite his skills, he was bleeding from a few minor cuts and his nose would be slightly crooked from now on.
"Hey, Big Guy, be happy." stated Kahlen. "You took care of most of them. Including this creep here." Kahlen had lowered herself to only a foot off the ground. She was hovering over the one called Stark. He tried to get up, but Kahlen kicked him, sending him tumbling back to the ground. "This one, I'm almost tempting to burn."
Shannon shook her head. "The scum isn't worth the hassle, Kahlen. Can you imagine all the paperwork that Chief Allan would force on you? She was breathing heavily, and the bluish mark on her head was much more visible than usual. The sight stirred something deep down inside me and I looked away quickly. It didn't help. My gaze had wandered to Kahlen, who was sweating and breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Kahlen sighed. She licked her full lips and glance at me. "You're probably right, Shannon." She looked around and grimaced. "Speaking of Security, what do we tell them?"
"We tell them nothing." I said. "We leave now, go back to our rooms. We'll get in touch with security in the morning. Some of these people will most definitively need medical attention." I pulled out my link and made a short call to MedLab. "Let's move." I gathered my cloak and heading back the way we came.
We exited the lift and made our way quietly to our quarters. Shannon and Marcel disappeared quietly into their rooms. Kahlen seemed to hesitate, her pupils wide and her lips darker than usual. She stood at my door, looking at me.
"Well." she said. "That was interesting."
"We'll have to do it again sometime." I said, a little uncomfortable with the way she was staring at me. The adrenaline from the fight was still coursing through me and something seemed to hang in the air between us.
"Yes. We will." She looked like she wanted to say something, but she closed her mouth and turned to walk to her room.
My mouth was as dry as a desert. "Wait, Kahlen." She stopped and turned back to me. "Would you . . . like to come in? For a drink or something?" My heart was pounding in my chest.
She looked at me for a moment before breaking into a wide grin. She walked back towards me, her eyes filled with something I wasn't completely able to recognize but that I knew was reflected in my own. "I'd love to come in for a drink . . . or something."
Nervously I keyed open the door and we stepped inside. It hissed shut behind us, locking for the night.
After twenty-five years of operation, DownBelow was dirtier than ever. It was coated in dirt and smelled worse than a sulfur mine. Twenty-five years of dirty bodies and dirty dealings had left a permanent odour in the place. Even the safest areas of DownBelow were dangerous to newcomers. Any one who came down here who showed the slightest hint of prosperity suffered an attack.
There were no innocents in DownBelow. Every single being living here was hiding from a past. Every one of them had broken dozens of laws and station regs. They were still here simply because, especially now, with a decrease in station use and the laying off of security and station personnel, the lurkers, as these dregs of beings were called, outnumbered the station security.
I pulled the hood of my cloak lower over my head. Undoubtably, there were a few of these lurkers who had been here when my parents had lived on station. Every one said I was almost a mirror image of my father. I didn't see it. My ears were too low and my nose not quite the right shape. I was also a little bit slighter than my father. My eyes were the same green flecked orbs as my mother. Either way, it was quite obvious for those who knew them to recognize me for who I was. And this was a trip where I intended to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
The four of us walked through the dingy corridors, occasionally having to step over a being lying on the cold metal floor. There were species here that I had never even heard of, and I had had a very well rounded education. My parents had insisted that I learn as much as I could about each race so that when the time came that I joined the Rangers, as it most likely would, than I would need to know how to treat the different representatives of the many races both in the Alliance and those who had not joined.
We walked in twos, trying to stay as far from the walls as we could. Several beings saw us coming and ran. Others didn't even look up as we walked past. It broke my heart when I noticed that many of the people living in the slime were children. I felt a pang of guilt at the relative ease of my life and a surge of anger at the injustice of life. What had these children ever done to deserve a life in this cesspit? What had any of these people done that was so horrible that THIS was an improvement?
I was careful to keep my hands hidden in my cloak. My left hand rested on my pike while my right held the edge of the cloak, ready to toss it open should something happen. To my right, Kahlen floated a few millimeters off the ground, moving her legs to give her the appearance of walking. Right behind me, Shannon had her hands laced together in front of her chest. To her right, Marcel walked along easily, showing no outward signs of any weariness.
We rounded the corner at a junction and ran into another group of people. They flattened themselves against the walls while we passed. As soon as we were past them, they stepped out of the shadowed areas they were hiding in and more figures stepped out from hiding in front of us.
"What do we have here?" asked one of them. He was a human, slightly taller than I was and was standing a little forward of his friends.
"It looks like a bunch of kids trying to act tough by going into a part of the station that they've probably been told to avoid." answered a large, dark haired human behind him. His eyes roamed eagerly over us, studying the material of our clothing. Judging how many credits we would have. "They're sure to have a nice little collection of creds on them, Stark."
The leader nodded thoughtfully. He was staring at Kahlen with a spark in his blue eyes. "Well, kiddies. Hand over you creds and you can leave in one piece."
Marcel snorted. "I don't think so little man."
I sighed. I had hoped to avoid a fight. I felt no fear. I knew that even though we were outnumbered by almost four to one, these lurkers would not be able to defeat us. Four trained Rangers against 15 thugs with little or no training and who were not used to fighting skilled opponents? No contest. Hell, Marcel could probably take them all himself. Or Kahlen with her telekinetic and telepathic advantages.
"You stupid, big man?" the one called Stark asked. "Can't you count? There's fifteen of us and only four of you. The way I see it, you're in deep shit. You don't hand over you creds, we'll have to do something you'll regret." His hand flashed behind his back and came back holding a long knife. Behind him, the others also pulled out weapons, ranging from knives to chains to homemade spiked clubs. The clubs looked remarkably like baseball bats with nails hammered through them.
I sighed again. This was a waste of time. "Look, if it's creds you want, here." I stuck out my hand, my credit slip held lightly between two fingers. "That card has at least nine hundred credits on it. Take it and go."
Stark stared at the card. Nine hundred credits was a large amount to a group who lived DownBelow. Hell, it was a large amount to anyone. They would be able to eat for weeks on that much money. A shrewd look came into his eyes. I began to feel nervous. Stark was not your average lurker.
"So. You think you can fool me, kid?" he asked with a laugh. "That was too easy. Ain't no one gonna hand over nine hundred creds that easily unless he either has a lot more and don't need it, or he's got something to hide." He studied me. My head and face were completely out of sight beneath the hood of my cloak. "And I think you've got both reasons." He reached out to toss my hood back, a huge hand shot forward and stopped him.
Marcel moved forward, lifting Stark's hand high. The other man was lifted off his feet and hung in the air, staring at Marcel. His face was pale beneath the dirt.
"Take the creds and go."
"You think I'm scared, big man?" asked Stark, his voice harsh. He slashed with his knife and Marcel's other hand shot out to catch it on the blade. Stark tried to pull it back, but Marcel's grip tightened. A small trickle of blood crawled down the blade. With a grunt and a twist of his wrist, Marcel yanked the knife from Stark's hand. Several of Stark's followers started to move, but a glance from Marcel froze them in place.
Another flip and Marcel was holding the knife's handle. It looked tiny in his hands. He place his thumb on the side of the blade and pushed. The blade snapped.
"Listen. I am big. I am not stupid. You and your friends picked the wrong group to bother. Now leave. Before I demand credits from you." With that, he gently dropped both the broken knife and the man.
Stark looked up at him with hate filled eyes. "Get them!" he roared. "Kill them! But keep the woman alive. We'll have some fun with her." With his words, the others surged forward.
I pulled my pike and tossed off my cloak, moving into a defensive position. Behind me I knew that Shannon was doing the same, turning so that we were back-to-back. Kahlen floated upward, her red hair fanning out around her head like a halo. Marcel turned his back to us, positioning himself so that he could see both groups of attackers. *We must look like some kind of weird triangle, standing like this, * I thought before turning my full attention to the attackers.
The thugs stopped and gawked, unsure. Kahlen floated above us out of reach. Though they were most likely less aware of galactic events than even Marcel, they had had dealings with Rangers before and knew what a fighting pike was. Maybe a few of them had even felt a few blows from a pike.
Stark stared at us, unnerved. He hesitated, probably wondering what he had gotten himself into. But it was too late for him to back out without losing all respect from his followers. So, pulling out another knife, he gestured towards us. "What are we waiting for? Let's get 'em." He screamed and ran for us. A second later so did the others.
The fighting was intense. Because of the narrow confines of the corridor, only three of them could attack us at a time. Kahlen simply floated in the air, watching. Which was fine with us. She was not much of a fighter and would only have gotten in the way on the ground.
I lashed out with my pike, knocking a bat out of the hands of the dark haired man who had spoken earlier. Before he had time to register that fact, I swung the other end around and slammed it into his ribs, doubling him over. A final uppercut and he when flying back off his feet to slam against a crate a few feet behind him. Behind me, I could sense Shannon's movements as she knocked her opponents back.
I glanced to the side and watched as Marcel blocked a blow from a Drazi on his right with his arm, while side kicking a Narn on his left. There was a crunching sound as his foot connected with the Narn's ribs. The Narn screamed in agony as he sailed back to slam into a friend knocking both to the floor. Marcel's left hand moved, punching the Drazi in the side.
The Drazi grunted as the force of the blow took him off his feet. He landed just as Marcel swung his left leg around low to the ground. The Drazi jumped over the sweep, his hands lashing forward in a blow to Marcel's face. Blood began to flow from his nose. Marcel planted his foot, and jumped. He spun in the air, his left leg lashing out level with the Drazi's head. It was a very impressive jump. The Drazi was over six feet tall and Marcel's foot was angled downwards when it connected with his head.
The Drazi flipped over, his head hanging at an odd angle. He slammed into the ground while two more attackers ran at Marcel, one from each side. My friend leapt back into the air in a back flip, his hands reaching out and grabbing the two attackers heads and guiding them together while he hung in the air. The skulls slammed together with an audible crack and the two humans slumped to the ground while Marcel landed once more. As soon as he had his balance, he launched himself to his right towards a group of four Drazi who paused.
Marcel looked at me and winked, wiping blood from his eyes. "You have to love a good high ceiling." he said before retaking a defensive stance.
While watching Marcel I had forgotten to watch for movement from the attackers. One of them, noticing that I was distracting, took a swing with his bat at my head. Luckily for me, Kahlen had been watching. She stopped the bat in mid swing, several nails only centimeters from impact with my head. Panicking, I lashed out wildly with my pike, hitting the man in the groin. He dropped the bat. One of the nails scrapped my arm, drawing a long shallow line of blood.
"Thank's Kahlen." I said as I calmed down and positioned myself once more. "But it's about time you helped out."
She grunted. "No problem, Dave. And for your information, I've been busy helping Shannon."
I wondered a moment at the name. No one had ever called me by that appellation before. Coming from Kahlen, I kind of liked the way it sounded. Her face screwed up and I looked over my shoulder to see another of the attackers frozen in place. Shannon's pike spun and the frozen figure slammed into the wall to fall in a heap.
"Exciting enough for you?" I asked Kahlen, as I blocked a blow and delivered a quick strike of my own that had the Narn attacking me jumping back and tripping over the body of his friend.
"This isn't exactly what I had in mind, but it will do." she answered.
The sounds of fighting diminished and were slowly replaced with groans of pain. I glanced around and was almost disappointed to find that all of the attackers were lying in heaps on the ground. "I guess it's over." I stated.
Marcel looked around, an eager look on his face. Seeing that all of the enemies had been dealt with, his face became a mask of disappointment. "That's all there was?" he asked. Despite his skills, he was bleeding from a few minor cuts and his nose would be slightly crooked from now on.
"Hey, Big Guy, be happy." stated Kahlen. "You took care of most of them. Including this creep here." Kahlen had lowered herself to only a foot off the ground. She was hovering over the one called Stark. He tried to get up, but Kahlen kicked him, sending him tumbling back to the ground. "This one, I'm almost tempting to burn."
Shannon shook her head. "The scum isn't worth the hassle, Kahlen. Can you imagine all the paperwork that Chief Allan would force on you? She was breathing heavily, and the bluish mark on her head was much more visible than usual. The sight stirred something deep down inside me and I looked away quickly. It didn't help. My gaze had wandered to Kahlen, who was sweating and breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Kahlen sighed. She licked her full lips and glance at me. "You're probably right, Shannon." She looked around and grimaced. "Speaking of Security, what do we tell them?"
"We tell them nothing." I said. "We leave now, go back to our rooms. We'll get in touch with security in the morning. Some of these people will most definitively need medical attention." I pulled out my link and made a short call to MedLab. "Let's move." I gathered my cloak and heading back the way we came.
We exited the lift and made our way quietly to our quarters. Shannon and Marcel disappeared quietly into their rooms. Kahlen seemed to hesitate, her pupils wide and her lips darker than usual. She stood at my door, looking at me.
"Well." she said. "That was interesting."
"We'll have to do it again sometime." I said, a little uncomfortable with the way she was staring at me. The adrenaline from the fight was still coursing through me and something seemed to hang in the air between us.
"Yes. We will." She looked like she wanted to say something, but she closed her mouth and turned to walk to her room.
My mouth was as dry as a desert. "Wait, Kahlen." She stopped and turned back to me. "Would you . . . like to come in? For a drink or something?" My heart was pounding in my chest.
She looked at me for a moment before breaking into a wide grin. She walked back towards me, her eyes filled with something I wasn't completely able to recognize but that I knew was reflected in my own. "I'd love to come in for a drink . . . or something."
Nervously I keyed open the door and we stepped inside. It hissed shut behind us, locking for the night.
