Chapter 20 #2
Jin strode toward the customs agent. He flashed his scroll at the man, gesturing toward the rest of the Tuann as he talked quickly.
“In that case, Doc. U. Ments,” Kira’s agent enunciated carefully.
“Right.”
With a tight smile, Kira swiped the ID chip that contained her fake identity over the scanner.
For all her worries, the agent barely glanced at the screen carrying her information.
To her right, Jin was still explaining something and pointing to his scroll.
“Are you carrying hot weapons like rifles or nukes, anything that could be used as a bio weapon, or the flora of another planet?”
“I am not.”
“Welcome to Titan, Ms. Moth.”
The agent waved her through.
Kira shot one last worried glance at Jin and the rest before following Raider into the station.
Part of her expected to hear alarms sound at any moment. For there to be shouting and the hurried stomp of station security.
Nothing so interesting happened. All too soon, she left customs behind for the much more crowded commercial district.
Seeing Raider waiting for her across the corridor, Kira pushed her way through the press of bodies.
“Nice place. I really love the atmosphere,” Raider snarked as Kira joined him.
“I didn’t think you had standards to live up to.”
“Nixxy, I hate to break it to you, but this place doesn’t know what standards are. We’ve been in a lot of crappy dives, but this has to be one of the worst.”
“It’s not so bad.”
If you closed your eyes and ears and pretended that a slightly metallic, chemical scent didn’t permeate every inch of the station, it could even be considered kind of homey.
Raider gave her a look.
“What do you think the odds are of Jin successfully fooling their systems?” Kira asked, changing the subject.
Raider straightened as Finn and Maksym appeared. “Pretty good I’d say.”
The oshota made their way over to them.
Maksym drew looks from the humans around him as he studied his surroundings. His and Finn’s size were something that couldn’t be disguised. The bright color of their clothing did make them seem slightly less imposing however.
“Interesting place you’ve got here. I can see the draw,” Maksym commented as he and Finn reached them.
Customs spat out Bez and the rest moments later. Arly carried Pye on her back. Az held their things.
Jin and Dylan were last through the door.
Bez showed some aversion as he peered around the commercial district. “How do humans live like this?”
Kira tried to see Titan through his eyes.
Corridors that felt cramped and claustrophobic from the press of bodies.
Shops encroached on the walkways, spilling out of the bays set aside for their use.
Hawkers, mostly down on their luck station dwellers, held up items, calling out to anyone passing by.
It was chaos.
Desperation infected every transaction. The traces of poverty were inescapable and impossible to look past. Worn clothes and a battered look in the eyes of the people around them.
Walls that were damp from condensation caused by the station’s life support systems. She was betting it was also the source of the mold she was smelling and the reason a patina of rust had formed in several places.
“Very carefully,” Kira said at last.
And in many cases, they didn’t live long.
Children born in places like this were trapped from the moment they drew their first breath. They lived and died in the same narrow halls, mining pits, or spit of land where they spent the entirety of their days.
The lucky ones developed skills that the criminal underworld found useful. It was one of the few ways to get off station.
Another was to keep your nose and record clean and join the military when you came of age.
The unlucky ones, those without smarts or skills, lived hand-to-mouth. Begging, borrowing, and stealing so they could survive another day.
Orphans were common. Criminals even more so.
To live a decent life, you had to be ruthless.
Anyone who pretended otherwise usually had an agenda or was looking for an opportunity to stab you in the back.
Loyalty was the ultimate currency. Its presence so rare that some considered it a myth.
“Everyone knows where to go when they’re done?” Kira asked.
The rendezvous point was a station hostel Jin had chosen. They’d stayed there on rare occasions. Usually when they had business in the area and didn’t want to invite their contacts onto their ship.
“Reservations are already made. They’re under the alias I set up for you at customs,” Jin announced.
Arly handed off Pye to Bez who took him with a troubled expression. “I don’t like this. I should really be coming with you.”
“I know where you’re coming from, but that’s not happening,” Kira said firmly.
Already, things were too crowded on her side.
“Take care of your people,” Kira advised Bez. “I’m sure that’s what Caius would have wanted.”
She couldn’t imagine he’d be very happy if they saved him at the expense of Pye’s life. Caius obviously cared about his people. He wouldn’t want them sacrificing themselves unnecessarily.
Still, Bez’s reluctance wasn’t going anywhere.
Kira sighed. “This is just a fact finding mission. I promise we won’t go after him without you.”
Not unless they had to.
Her assurance did the trick. Bez jerked his chin at Az. Together, they disappeared into the crowd with Pye, Roderick following at a slower pace.
Maksym clapped a hand on Arly’s shoulder, tilting his head in the opposite direction. He waved and smiled at Kira as the two headed off. “Don’t get in too much trouble, youngest. Your seon’yer would never forgive me.”
Kira waited until everyone was on their way before turning back to Raider. “Where are we heading? I assume you know.”
“Cat Three. You heard of it?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it.”
There wasn’t anybody on Titan who hadn’t. It was the watering hole of choice for locals looking to let off a little steam
“We’ll need to head up to the entertainment level.” Kira waved for them to follow. “This way.”
For all its rampant poverty, Titan was actually the third largest station in Consortium territory. An unimaginable amount of wealth flowed through its port in the form of weekly cargo deliveries from the nearby mining colonies.
Kira was pretty sure she’d heard somewhere that its docks saw the most traffic of any station or planetary port.
It was also the main hub for salvaged Tsavitee tech due to the station’s proximity to the Falling’s debris field.
That tech was the primary reason for the military’s presence on Titan. It was also likely why the station hadn’t fully descended into lawlessness and anarchy long ago.
Leaving the crowded hallways behind, they headed for the station elevators. A trio of humans took one look at Finn and Dylan’s larger than average physiques, made even more hulking by their loose attire, and backed away, saying they’d take the next one.
There were four levels in total belonging to the entertainment district.
They were heading for the third of those levels.
The most dissolute and debauched among them.
A place often referred to by station inhabitants as the Pleasure District.
Where flesh was bought and sold. Whore houses were as common as gambling dens.
It was where miners came to let off steam and spend the money they’d accumulated over endless months of hard work.
It was also where Cat Three was located.
There was a trill as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. They stepped off, pausing to allow their eyes to adjust to the abrupt change of light.
In the Pleasure District, it was always night. Neon signs advertising the different businesses were the primary sources of light.
At one point, there’d been old fashioned lampposts to add to the ambiance, but they stopped working long ago. Most didn’t even have bulbs in them anymore. Or the glass casing.
Women and young, pretty men hung out along the walls and in the darkened recesses between hallways, their clothing revealing as they eyed Kira’s group with interest.
Seeing them, Kira grabbed Jin’s arm, tucking him between her and Dylan. “Stay close.”
It wasn’t unheard of for children to go missing in places like this. Sometimes they turned up a few days later with bruises and cuts from the black market death matches. Other times they disappeared into the human trafficking rings. Their fates unknown.
Jin looked well cared for. Maybe a little scrawny, but his clothes were of good quality. Normally, someone like him would be left alone unless they were unlucky enough to run into a kidnapper for ransom.
However, Jin had managed to inherit the best features of both parents. His bone structure would only get better with age.
Someone looking for a nice pay day would snatch him up in a heartbeat and worry about the trouble he’d bring later.
They walked into a cloud of smoke.
Jin coughed. “What is that?”
The bridge of Kira’s nose wrinkled at the familiar scent. “Pixie dust.”
According to the humans she knew, it was one of the popular vaping blends.
Known for its euphoric high, it lowered inhibitions and made people more malleable.
A few of the businesses around here paid people to smoke it in the halls to give their customers a contact high, making it easier to part them from their hard earned wages.
Supposedly, it smelled divine.
To her, its stench was rancid.
Dylan wrinkled his nose but otherwise didn’t react.
Jin wasn’t so reserved. He brought his arm up, burying his nose in the crook of his elbow. “Now I know why you always hated this place.”
“That’s not why,” Kira said, staring down the human, a thin, mousy looking man who’d just blown a smoke ring at Jin.
The human grinned, nudging his partner and gesturing at them.
Dylan stepped in front of her and Jin, parting his cloak to show the en-blade in his hand.
The humans backed off, disappearing into a nearby brothel.
“Breathe through your mouth and it won’t be so bad,” Kira told Jin.
Jin tried.
He really did.