Futuristic So We Meet Again

[tremblelance]

“Papa, what’s that?” Elex asked for the umpteenth time that morning, removing his thumb from his mouth to point up at the port on the hill, where a brightly colored ship was docking.

Ayaan smiled and chuckled to himself, rustling his son’s hair as he calmly told the toddler that it was just another ship. “I told you, kiddo, not all ships look like ours.”

“Why not?” Elex’s wide green eyes stared up at Ayaan from his seat beside his father.

“Because these ships are made to fly up away from Foiter, out into space. Ours isn’t meant to do that.”

“They go to space?” The toddler resumed his scrutiny of the ship, fascination evident. One would have thought it was his first trip to Kegam Port or his first time seeing a proper cargo cruiser.

“Yup. They go and visit other planets, too.”

“Can I go?”

Ayaan chuckled again, “Maybe when you’re older, pal. Besides, your mama and I need you here. Who else is going to keep me company on market day?” The explanation seemed to satisfy Elex, as he went back to sucking his thumb and looking around.

With a smile, Ayaan sat back in his chair and turned his gaze back to the market around them. It was mid-morning now, with the sun brightly shining above them in a cloudless sky and a gentle breeze blowing through to cool things off. People mulled about all around, browsing the multitude of shops that filled the marketplace. Most were selling produce of some sort, since that was what Foiter was known for, but a few offered more interesting things such as jewelry or pottery. Ayaan’s stall fell into the former category, displaying a colorful variety of Foitan crops, from the bright orange of the gehid nuts to the deep magenta of the jiroyte roots. He was fairly pleased with his yield this month - even with the temperature being higher than usual his crops didn’t seem to be bothered, which was more than some of the other farmers in the area could say.

However, even with such a good yield, his stall was quiet like always. See, the problem with being a newer farmer on Foiter was that most of the other families had a generations-long head start on getting all the good market spots. Even eight years after his arrival Ayaan had only managed to move a couple stalls closer to the market center, where most people went to shop. It didn’t help that Foitans lived plenty long, and some of these farmers had probably been sitting in their stalls since before he was even born. Hell, they’d probably still be sitting there after he died, too. Even little Elex, who was only half Foitan, would likely outlive him as well.

But it wasn’t really worth it to complain. He made plenty of money off of the produce he sold to off-world companies - the market was just for fun, really. Good chance to take Elex out and show him a little bit more of Foiter. Kegam Port was no epicenter of commerce, but a decent number of ships came by and a good amount of people lived in the area, meaning the market was never at a loss for customers and Elex was never at a loss for things to ask questions about.

As Ayaan was musing away, an older woman approached, eyes immediately going to the basket of strageo shoots at the front of the stall.

“Are these fresh?” She asked in a crackly voice.

“Not even three days old.” Ayaan replied proudly.

The woman nodded, seeming to contemplate the shoots very intently for a long moment. Eventually, she looked back to Ayaan and said, “I’ll take a dozen shoots, please.”

“Of course, ma’am. That’ll be ten credits.” He told her, reaching over to grab a handful. He counted out twelve of the blue-green sprigs and tied them loosely with a bit of string before handing them over to the woman. She pulled up a display on her bracelet and there was a chime as the payment was transferred over to him.

The woman thanked him and waved to Elex, who smiled his mother’s sweet smile, and went along her way. Ayaan sat back down and looked to his son.

“You doing alright, kiddo?” He asked. Elex didn’t respond, already distracted by some new ship arriving up at the port. Ayaan grinned, the kid had his attention span, that was for sure.

SergiX
(Sorry if this is on the longer side. Didn’t know I could write so extensively on space farming and dad stuff - seeing how I know close to nothing about either subject.)

 

[SergiX]

"Why couldn't he have ran off to a more temperate planet." Was the first thing that came to Sergi's mind as he disembarked his ship.

It wasn't everyday that the Airavata made a stop at agricultural planets, and he sure was not going to be making a habit out of it. The sun was practically cooking him underneath his layers of clothing, the cold blooded alien feeling more sympathetic of fried eggs the longer he stayed under the beating sun with no sweat to alleviate him from this torture. Even with the various layers of clothing that hid his shades of blue, the older Airavata still stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the other individuals that were browsing the various stalls, or just walking around until something caught their eye. It was easy to do that when half your face was covered by a, faintly glowing, air filtration mask.

Sergi weaved his way through the small crowd of people, hands deep in his pockets as he got further and further away from the docking station, the amount of people thinning as he went, his pace only slightly faster than what a normal walk would be. He glanced from side to side as he went along, scanning the booths for the only thing that brought him down to this oven of a planet in the first place. His pace slowed, if only by a minimal amount, as the person who he was looking for came into view, a smile forming underneath his mask as he came to a stop at a booth almost directly across from Ayaan's. He turned to look at said booth as an older woman seemed to take interest in some of his produce, stopping to ask Ayaan about some sort of shoots he was selling, if Sergi was hearing her correctly.

He feigned interest in some of the man's goods as he waited for the lady to leave, looking over some sort of fruit that was best described as a misshapen apple with dark purple, almost black, skin.

"How much for one of 'em?" He asked the man behind the stall, nodding his head towards the basket that held up to a dozen or more of them.

"Two credits for each spórous." The man replied back in gravelly voice as he eyed Sergi, who had pulled his hand out from his pocket to get his bracelet ready.

It took less than two minutes for the transaction to finish, Sergi picking up his purchased spórous a few moments after the lady began to walk off. He turned around to face Ayaan's stall, standing there as he momentarily watched the man look at the child next to him. He finally began walking over seconds later, stuffing the fruit into his pocket as he went over to the display of produce.

" 'Scuse me." Sergi said. "How much are those nuts you're sellin'?"

(That's fine, there's no need to apologize for writing a long post.)

 

[tremblelance]

Ayaan had been bent down adjusting his boot when he heard footsteps approaching his stall.

" 'Scuse me." The newcomer asked, voice muffled but also oddly familiar. "How much are those nuts you're sellin'?"

“About a credit each, but I can give you half a dozen for fi-” The sentence died off as Ayaan straightened back up and got a good look at the figure in front of his stall.

Oh hell no.

Covered as it was by a filtration mask, Ayaan knew the face of an Airavata when he saw one. More specifically, he knew the face of this particular Airavata. And while he might have once looked upon that face and smiled, Ayaan was definitely not smiling right now.

“Elex, kiddo, can you go check to see if Ms. Lorlea brought any of her special lemonade with her?” Ayaan asked without taking his eyes off of the Airavata.

The little boy chirped out a, “Yes, papa!” And darted off out of the stall and across the market to the Lorlea family’s stall further in. The question was a safeword of sorts Ayaan had set up with the Lorlea’s, as they knew of his history and knew that at some point it might find him even on Foiter.They were old friends of his, being the folks who had helped him get his start here, and he knew Elex would be in good hands until Ayaan could sort things out.

Perhaps it had been foolish to think so, but Ayaan had been starting to hope these past couple years that he’d finally shaken his past off. No bounty hunters had ever come after him, nor any Alliance troops, and aside from his wife and the Lorleas, no one else knew what he used to do. To the rest of his friends and neighbors on Foiter, he was just a man who had come here seeking a quiet life after living in the hustle of one of the Alliance’s huge city planets. But of course it had been too good to be true, because just when it seemed like his life was perfect, here came Sergi strutting back into it uninvited.

Once he was certain his son was out of earshot, Ayaan narrowed his eyes at the Airavata. “What the hell are you doing here, Sergi?” He demanded. There was no way this was a coincidence, not a single way, which meant his old partner was here for a reason. And whatever that reason was, Ayaan decided right away he would have no part in.

 

[SergiX]

Sergi watched as Elex left, the boy quickly becoming a memory as he made his way deeper into the market, escaping from his sight. He never thought of Ayaan as the type to have kids, at least not any legitimate ones, but he supposed a lot could change in eight years. The Airavata's eyes returned to the man in front of him as he began to talk, already knowing by Ayaan's narrowing eyes that this was going to be far from a warm welcome. Needless to say, he wasn't too surprised about that.

"What the hell are you doing here, Sergi?" Ayaan asked, his voice demanding an answer from the blue alien that stood in front of his stall.

"What, I can't come say hi to an old friend?" Sergi replied.

There was a few moments of silence as Sergi continued to look at his ex-partner, who was obviously not buying what he had to offer. He looked to his left and then his right before his eyes finally settled back on the human, leaning slightly so that he could talk at a volume in which the people at the nearby stalls couldn't hear him, or at least have trouble doing so.

"Look. I might of gotten myself into some trouble." The Airavata said quietly, his muffled voice making it a little more difficult to hear what he way saying. "And I need your help."

 

[tremblelance]

"What, I can't come say hi to an old friend?" Sergi replied, automatically earning himself a deadpanned stare from Ayaan. Eight years, and that’s his brilliant excuse?

A couple seconds ticked past as they stared at one another, before Sergi seemed to realize Ayaan wasn’t buying his bullshit. The blue alien’s eyes flicked to either side, as if checking to make sure the coast was clear, before leaning in closer. When he spoke, his voice was quieter than usual, and Ayaan had to strain to hear him.

"Look. I might of gotten myself into some trouble." He told Ayaan, "And I need your help."

Ayaan stared at him again, a vague look of shock on his features. Had he just heard what he thought he had? Sergi was asking him for help? Ayaan suddenly had the urge to pinch himself just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. In what world did former friends pop up out of nowhere in search of help from someone they haven’t spoken to in almost a decade? Or was this just another joke? But Sergi sounded earnest enough, and in their years working together they’d never made a habit out of lying to one another.

“So why the hell are you coming to me?” Ayaan eventually asked, crossing his arms and frowning. “What made you think that after all these years I’d be interested in helping you?” However earnest Sergi was, Ayaan wasn’t interested in jeopardizing his life and family on Foiter to help the airavata.

 

[SergiX]

"Because-" Sergi began. "Everyone else I know is either impossible to track down , or dead! And it wasn't from no natural causes either." He said, straining to keep his voice quiet enough to evade people from overhearing.

"Do you remember Le'mae? How 'bout Ferlorn? Klane?...Bahu?" He asked, naming off his father, as well as people who had helped Sergi, as well as Ayann, at least once during their years together. "All dead. Every last one of them, not even Le'mae's children were spared from a bullet to their undeveloped brains." Sergi said, not a single sign that he was joking in any way.

There was a silence that followed, that was only broken by Sergi seconds later. "Do you know what it's like to watch your loved ones die, unable to do anything to stop it?" He asked, staring straight into the human's eyes, his fingers digging into the palms of his hands. "Because if you don't help me get what these people want, it wont be long before you do."

"You'll just be lucky enough to join them."

 

[tremblelance]

Ayaan could swear he felt his heart skip a beat as Sergi spoke, and a sort of chill settled in his gut at the words spoken by his former partner. There was remorse in him at the deaths of former allies and friends, but as soon as Sergi began to insinuate harm coming to Ayaan’s own family, that remorse evaporated and turned into fury.

He could feel sorry for his former partner’s losses, but coming to Ayaan’s home and putting his family at risk? It was inexcusable. Hell, Sergi could have been followed here, and whoever was after him could already know who Ayaan was. Which meant they might know where he lived and who his family was. And if they connected him to Sergi, god knows what they might do to Elex or Emesyn. Ayaan wasn’t about to let that happen. He’d spent the last eight years building this life, and there was no way he was going to let Sergi ruin that.

Reaching across the stall, Ayaan grabbed hold of Sergi’s collar and jerked the airavata closer so their faces were inches apart. “What have you done and why have you pulled me into it?” He hissed, eyes burning holes into Sergi’s. Somewhere in his head his old smuggler instincts told him it would be better to get out of the open to discuss this, but rage was quick to stomp out such a reasonable thought. Right now he wanted answers, everything else be damned.

 

[SergiX]

Sergi braced himself against the stall as he was jerked forward, some of the produce falling onto the ground as he did this. He listened to the man as he spoke, staring into the eyes that gave him the strong urge to look away as they burned holes into him.

"Do you really think they wouldn't of showed up if I hadn't come down here?" Sergi asked, refusing to look away. "Klane only worked with us once, that was years before you left." He stated. "He was the first one killed. So, if you think that you, a man I worked with for years, was going to be left alive, you are sadly mistaken."

"It only took me a few months to find you, so imagine how fast multiple people dead set on killing you and your family are going to be able to locate your whereabouts. I half expected you and that family of yours to be six feet under by the time I got here."

"And as for what I did." Sergi began. "Do you remember the one thing I refused to smuggle, no matter how much credits were offered?"

 

[tremblelance]

As infuriating as it was, Sergi had a point. If he could find Ayaan on Foiter, then no doubt others could, too. It didn’t mean he had to be happy about it, though, because he sure as hell wasn’t. With a growl of frustration, Ayaan released the Airavata and stepped back, blood roaring in his ears. In the back of his head there was a small voice that snidely remarked, “There goes your blood pressure.”

But as much as he wanted to punch Sergi in the face for a bit of relief, Ayaan forced himself to shove down the boiling vat of anger in his chest. His family was at risk here, and his options for keeping them safe all seemed to run along the lines of helping Sergi out of whatever mess he’d gotten himself into.

At Sergi’s question, Ayaan had to think. There had been a few things over the years that both had agreed to never deal with, like certain dangerous wild animals or political items, but those were obvious things no smuggler would do. As for Sergi specifically, Ayaan came up more or less short. After spending eight years trying to purge the memory of his former partner from his mind, trying to intentionally pull up any information about the Airavata was proving a challenge.

After a few clicks more of fruitless thought, Ayaan frowned and shook his head, admittedly curious to hear what the answer was.

 

[SergiX]

Sergi took a step back as he readjusted his collar, a stinging sensation coming from some dry scales that were rubbed off the back of his neck when he forced forward. He wasn't complaining though, he was just glad the man hadn't done anything worse, not that he couldn't of handled it, but it would of brought more unnecessary attention towards them than they already had. This was more like the Ayaan he once knew, so he wasn't expecting anything less anyways, Sergi would even go far as to say he would of been slightly disappointed if the man was more cordial about it.

He watched as the man tried to come up with an answer, eventually admitting defeat by shaking his head. Sergi wasn't too shocked, to say the least, considering how much he'd forgotten about the human as well.

"Here's a hint." He began. "A higher than most risk, with a payout to match." Sergi said, taking a step back towards the stall, seeing that that didn't help Ayaan come up with an answer.

"Slaves. I don't deal with slaves."

 

[tremblelance]

It wasn’t the answer he’d expected, but at the same time it made sense. Slaves weren’t usually the sort of cargo a smuggler transported, but there were a few in the trade that dealt in people. Now that he had the answer, Ayaan could faintly recall Sergi saying something at one time or another about never transporting slaves. So what had changed?

His brows creased, and Ayaan glanced around the market. It was still early, so things weren’t too crowded yet, but that could change quickly. With his anger mostly fizzled out, common sense could return and tell him this wasn’t a conversation to have in the open. “Come with me.” He said, jerking his head towards the back of his stall.

Ayaan turned and pushed aside the tarp separating the stall’s front from the back storage space, gesturing for Sergi to follow him through. Back here was where he kept any excess produce that didn’t fit up front. It was dark and saturated with the sickly sweet scent of aglo flowers, which he had brought for Kjær to use in her tonics. Funny how earlier today his biggest worry had been making sure he got those flowers to the herbalist. Now he was discussing slaves with a man he hadn’t seen in eight years.

In the privacy of this back space, Ayaan looked to Sergi and asked, “What made you break your rule then?”