5 - RAYNEIR

5

RAYNEIR

         

          "This has to be the easiest four thousand dariks I've ever made," Rayneir moved casually through he exit of the quadrant's local federal building, sharply greeted by one of Masara's rare afternoon breezes.

          "If I didn't know better, I'd believe you made four thousand dariks often." 

          Their job was simple: since the clinic that treated the two of them couldn't spare the manpower, they were hired to make a delivery.  It was a thank you to some senator or whatnot, for making a sizeable donation to the clinic.  He had been expecting it, but to Rayneir it seemed the man was somewhat apprehensive about accepting it.  He assumed the politician had only made the donation to get votes, and didn't really care about the clinic, being rich enough to afford far better quality healthcare than the denizens of the undercity.

          But that was beyond Rayneir's capacity to care, as the bag of dariks swinging about on his hip under his heavy coat was his only real concern.  There wasn't much Rayneir wouldn't do for such a large about of money, and coupled with the payoff from the dingy casino, he sat on a decent fund cushion.

          "So what should we do now, friend?" He asked his Hadaran counterpart, whom sported a stylish new shirt since his old one was torn and stained with blood.

          "I'm not sure," Talios replied, the two walking nonchalantly through the upper district streets, "after all this time it felt like we'd never get this far.  Odds always seemed to be stacked against us."

         "You still doubt me?" Rayneir moved over to the edge of the walkway, looking down to the undercity below.  Hovercars zoomed past both below and above, and if he strained his eyes enough, he could see the industrial centers that made up the lowest level of the city sprawl.  

          "I'll admit I used to." Talios leaned against the railing with his back to the edge, watching the bustle of people as they came and went.

          "And now?" Rayneir asked.  Talios took a moment to ponder his answer, then looked his friend in the eye as he spoke.

          "Now, I'm certain that together we can achieve greatness." He smirked.  Rayneir didn't often see his friend smile, his tone was usually very serious or somber.  Rayneir turned from the edge and continued down the walkway at a casual pace, and Talios followed closely behind.

          "Then let's do just that." He smiled as well.  For a time they just walked in silence, no destination in mind, following the walkway as it twisted and turned through the inner district, buildings on the left and right tall enough to scrape the sky.  It still amazed him how quickly he recovered from his injury, he had only spent at most a couple of federation standard days, which was still less than a full Masaran day, at the clinic.  He took a quick second to think about how marvelous modern technology was.  At that moment Rayneir knew that things were going to turn out alright, the hardships that the two of them had endured since either of them could remember had come to an end.

          "So, what should we do now that we're rich?" Talios asked jokingly.

          "We're not rich yet." Rayneir chuckled, "far from it.  But we're not poor either."

          "I won't be satisfied until we're both filthy rich, with mansions on different worlds and servants in each and a fleet of ships to take us to them all."

          "You have no idea how good that sounds, brother." Rayneir said, stopping when he saw a sign hanging from a doorway that lay just beyond.  Upon it was an image that was universal in its meaning.  "But first," he said, turning around and resting an arm upon the shoulder of his comrade, "a drink!"

          Talios looked at him in confusion, then noticed the sign that had caught his eye and smiled again.

          "Just one?"

* * * * *

          Just under two hours later, the Masaran sun still making its slow crawl down towards the horizon, Rayneir and Talios emerged from the watering hole.  Rayneir was only slightly inebriated, having acquired much experience with alcohol over a long career, but Talios was quite drunk, with his smaller frame and lower tolerance, and had to put much more thought into each step.  As tempting as it was to go crazy with their newly acquired funds, they resisted the urge to drink the more expensive liquors and ales, as they knew that it could be all too easy to spend all they had and revert back to where they had started days ago.

          While they were inside they had a conversation on namely what to do now that they could afford to go offworld, and the chief concern was exactly where they should go.  They had no ship of their own, so they would have to purchase tickets on a commercial interstellar flight or hire a private crew to take them somewhere.  Talios had the brilliant idea that they could join up with a crew somewhere and not have to pay anyone.  Rayneir had never really considered himself the taking orders and committing to a career of spacefaring kind of person, but it was cheaper than spending much of their hard earned dariks.  One thing was for certain, staying on Masara was not an option.

          So Rayneir entertained the idea, and agreed that he would accompany Talios to the nearest port and check things out, see what kinds of ships had low key positions open, how long they'd have to remain with the ship, and how much they would be paid.  After all, he had no intention of working for anyone for free, even if a conscription was simply a means to an end.  If the two could make money in the pursuit of their goals, then the more the better, as far as Rayneir was concerned.  Still, he wished he had more now, so they could take passage on a nice luxury liner or something and be waited on hand and foot as they were taken to distant worlds.

          "Alright, brother, shall we be off?" Rayneir asked his counterpart as he scanned the streets, a noticeable lack of pedestrians making their way around.  The federation standard day was almost over, despite the sun still setting on Masara, and as usual the city's commotion had abated somewhat, but it would never entirely dissipate. 

          "Give me a minute," Talios took his time behind him, "my legs aren't working quite like they should."

          Indeed they weren't, as Rayneir turned to find out firsthand.  His Hadaran friend was having quite the difficulty functioning.  He had only seen him this drunk less than a handful of times, and surmised that drinking alcohol wasn't a very common practice in Hadaran communities.  Rayneir reached up and rubbed his own nose, and noticed a familiar numbness and tingling sensation upon the act.  He was pretty intoxicated as well, more so than he thought he should be.

          "Do you want to go sleep it off somewhere?" Rayneir asked his friend as he waited for him to catch up, then threw his arm around him to help him stand up straight.

          "I'm thinking that might not be such a bad idea, Ray," Talios replied, his huge black eyes blinking slowly and deliberately, a sure sign of his own failing attempts at concentration.  Rayneir was surprised at how coherent his friend's words were, based on how much trouble he was having with his own motor skills, he would think that his speech should be far more stuttered and slurred than it was.  In fact, his own words weren't coming out very clearly, despite still being quite understandable.  Rayneir mused to himself that Talios' tolerance was higher than he was letting on but for some reason was pretending that the alcohol was affecting him far more severely than it actually was.  It was possible that Talios was in no rush to start working for some random starship, but was too embarrassed to tell him.  Rayneir had heard before that the Hadaran people were very much honor centric, and signs of weakness to them were taken very seriously.  "But let's get to a quieter part of the city.  It's too loud here, even at night."

          Rayneir wasn't quite sure what his friend was talking about, but didn't bother to inquire further.  Perhaps Talios' ears were somewhat more sensitive than his own.  Regardless of the fact, he could sleep anywhere with usually no trouble at all.  But he didn't mind humoring his friend's request, since he was in no real hurry to sign up with some sort of merchant or transport ship himself.  Despite their goal still so very far out of reach, their recent gains allowed them to breathe somewhat easier, able to take their time in between jobs and scores, and live far more comfortably for a time now that they had the funding to do so.

          They only got a few feet down the walkway before the automated street lighting turned on, long tubes filled with excitable gases such as argon and xenon glowing brightly, piercing the twilight haze of the world city with brilliant hues of blues, greens, reds, and mixtures of the three.  Despite his strong dislike for Masara as a whole, when nighttime came he always found it much easier to find beauty here within the mass of steel and concrete.

          "This is nice."

          "Hmm?" Rayneir looked at his friend as they slowly made their way down the street.

          "This." Talios looked warmly at him for a moment, then looked away.  "I never really had friends back home.  Everyone was always so obsessed with their status, friendships came and went.  If it wasn't beneficial or convenient, it was simply tossed aside.  Even my parents only pretended to care about me when it benefited them."

          "Tal," Rayneir wasn't sure what to say at this.

          "They wanted to marry me off.  For money mostly, and status.  My family isn't as old or as important as most, so this would have been very beneficial for them.  I almost went along with it, because that's all I knew, really.  But when I met her," he looked down to his feet, "she was horrible.  Probably the most self-obsessed person I've ever met.  There was no love for me there, and I knew I couldn't live the rest of my life like that."

          Rayneir said nothing still, this was truly the first time Talios had opened up to him like this.  It was almost heartbreaking, but he didn't know what to do.

          "So I left, and eventually found myself here." Talios looked back into his friend's eyes, smiling.  "And then I met you, and found out what true friendship is.  The road ahead probably won't be an easy one, but as long as we have each other, I think we'll be okay."

          "Oh, Tal," Rayneir felt his eyes watering.  He had no idea he meant so much to Talios, and when he really thought about it, he felt the same way.  If it weren't for him, he'd still be barely scraping by in the undercity, where every day was a new challenge for survival.  The majority of his life he had nobody by way of friends or family, and after a while he'd grown to be quite bitter to others.  When he first met Talios nothing changed, he saw him as a means to an end.  But then the two started to become close, and Rayneir realized that a life without friendship wasn't living at all.  He swore to himself at that moment that he would never again put the two of them in danger, no matter the potential rewards.

          "Let's get out of here, alright brother?"

          "Okay."  Talios stared at the ground, watching his feet to make sure they didn't trip over each other.

          A loud roar resounded throughout the area, and the ground shook violently, causing Rayneir to lose his footing.  Talios didn't stand a chance, missing his step and falling to the ground.  Rayneir managed to hold on to him well enough to soften his fall, but not completely.

          "What was that?" Rayneir turned about and looked around, trying to get an idea of where the sound came from.  He helped Talios to his feet and listened, and screams began coming from the direction they'd came.

          "An explosion?"

          "Here?" Rayneir had never heard of such a thing happening on a core world, and he couldn't believe he was entertaining the idea.

          "Ray," Talios looked at him with one of utmost horror, "the delivery."

          "No." It couldn't be possible.  The clinic had given them the package, and the nurse who worked there was one of the nicest people he'd ever met.  There was no way they could have given them something so destructive.  People started running towards them frantically from the direction of the noise, covered in dirt and blood, and the looks on their faces confirmed his dark fear.

          "What should we do?"  Rayneir was thinking the same thing Talios was asking.  The first thought that came to his mind was to run, blend in with the panicked crowd and put as much distance behind them and the federal building as possible.  If the package they delivered did happen to be some sort of explosive, then they were now Masara's most wanted.

          Suddenly several more explosions could be heard, and they sounded like they were getting nearer.  Running seemed more and more appealing at this.  If the explosion was near enough to a major gas mane, then a chain reaction meant that their close proximity could result in their serious injury or death.

          "Let's go Tal!"  Rayneir grabbed his friend's clothing and pulled him in the opposite direction of the uproar and started working his legs as best he could.  The two tore down the walkway among the frenzied crowd, and for a time said nothing to each other.  They were focused on putting as much distance between them and the destruction, but Rayneir couldn't help but wonder what to do next.  He was wanted, or would be as soon as officials found out who delivered the package, which made his plans for leaving Masara virtually impossible.  Perhaps the two could go into hiding down in the undercity, safe from watchful eyes, and wait for things to die down before they emerged again.  Right now that seemed like their only option, as he was sure that within a very short period of time from now the entire planet would be locked down, and all non essential transports would be secured and searched thoroughly until they were found.

          Before long they made it into a neighboring district, the signs of disaster growing less and less as the crowd slowed and thinned.  People were still moving about frantically trying to locate loved ones from whom they'd become separated during the upheaval.  People native to the area were leaving various buildings and establishments to try and find out what was going on, as the sounds of the explosions could probably be heard for kilometers.

          Rayneir had a stitch in his side from running for so fast so long, and he doubted Talios felt better.  He slowed down to a brisk walk to catch his breath and turned to see if his friend was still behind him.  He wasn't, and upon a quick scan of the area he was nowhere to be found.

          "Talios!"  He was out of breath and his call wasn't the loudest, so he repeated a few times as he weeded his way through the crowd in search of his friend.  A few minutes later he found him.  He was hunched over a puddle of thick brown fluids and chunks of half digested foods.  It smelled terrible as Rayneir approached, but he only felt sorry for him, the strain of running coupled with the amount they ate and drank was never a good combination.  He felt somewhat queasy himself, but not to any great extent.  "You alright?"  Talios' response was another hurl as ale and stomach acid added its measure to the growing pool of vomit and saliva.  Rayneir moved to him and rested his hand on his friend's back soothingly, "Let it all out, man.  It's okay."

          "No it's not."  Talios looked at Rayneir, his eyes tearing and bloodshot.  "Who knows how many just died."

          Rayneir covered his friend's mouth quickly, not wanting any bystanders to hear.

          "You don't know it was the package."  His voice was barely a whisper, and dour in tone.  "And even if it was, we didn't know."

          "And if it was?"  Talios' expression was stern, a steel resolve dwelling among the jet black of his eyes.

          "What do you think we should do, then?  Turn ourselves in?  Run and hide?  Play dumb?  Neither option sounds very good, but none of them guarantees we'll turn out alright."

          Talios looked to the ground as he straightened himself, apparently the nausea subsiding.  "You know how us Hadarans are, and even though I'm no longer welcome among my people, I do still value my honor.  Running and hiding like cowards isn't something I plan to do.  You can go, though."

          Rayneir and Talios locked eyes for a moment as the former thought.  "Neither of us will last very long without each other, you know that.  But I don't enjoy the thought of being a prisoner."

          "Better a prisoner with honor intact than dead without."

          Rayneir looked at Talios, then about him.  The crowd was still frantic, and he doubted anyone overheard their conversation.  That was good, any interference would only complicate things.  Still, what Talios suggested went against his instincts and his judgement.  Rayneir urged his friend towards a nearby alleyway so they could continue their conversation without risking being overheard.

          "If we become prisoners we're dead anyway. If we run we at least stand a chance at staying alive and leaving Masara eventually."

          "Well the way I see it," Talios leaned his back against the wall, "we don't even know if we're responsible for this.  Until we know for sure we're wanted men, there's no reason we should slither into a hole."

          Rayneir pondered his friend's words.  He was right, hundreds of people were always coming and going through that building, and any one of them could be the culprits.  They were just two of possibly thousands of regular people carrying out their daily lives, and, whether or not their package was the cause of all this chaos, they were innocent.

          "Why hide when there's nothing to hide from?"  Talios's words moved Rayneir, as much as he would have hated to admit.

          "Alright, fine.  How are you feeling?"

          "I've felt better.  Sober, but a little hung over.  You?"

          "About the same.  Let's go."

          The two moved back onto the main street, where the frenzied crowd had calmed, and looked about.  Rayneir thought to himself that perhaps they should stick to their original destination, and head towards the ports and possibly find a crew to join up with.

          "Where should we-?"  Rayneir then saw his own face, enlarged hundreds of times, displayed on a massive holo screen mounted on one of the many tall buildings.  There were several of these screens, usually used for advertisements or public announcements and news, but now all of them were decorated with his and Talios' image.  Underneath every screen, in bright, bold red lettering, sprawled the words: WANTED FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE FEDERATION.  He heard screams through his shock coupled with angry shouts, but he was too dumbstruck to move or hide his face.

          "Don't throcking move!"  Rough, gloved hands forcefully grasped his shoulder and a sharp pain in his leg brought him to his knees.  Only then was he broken from his trance to realize that he was surrounded by Federation executors, a group of elite enforcers of law and order.  They dressed all in black, the only difference between them were various emblems upon their uniforms, of which Rayneir noticed they all had one in common.  A grey fist upon a red beveled shield, of which interjected a black saltire.  Both he and Talios were on their knees, and soon had restrictive clasps about their wrists, closed tightly and digging into their skin.

          This was it, everything they'd strove for so long to achieve was all for nothing.  They would spend the rest of their lives in a deep, dark pit, probably in a prison on a world so distant and hostile they would be forgotten as they were torn apart by maniacs and hardened criminals.

          "Everything's going to be alright, Ray."  The words shocked him almost as much as the situation they were in.  How Talios could be so positive still was beyond him.  Perhaps he truly believed what he said, that somehow they'd be cleared of this and the truth would emerge.  Rayneir highly doubted that, and feared for their lives.  Talios looked at Rayneir and smiled, "We have each other."

          A pair of boots moved toward the two, slowly and menacingly.  Their wearer was an older man, his hair starting to thin and grey, but his steel grey eyes showed no signs of age.  A faint scar from a years old conflict adorned his face, and a thick cotine roll hung from his lips, smoke billowing from it with every hit.  He was large, yet lean, as if five minutes prior he had been enduring intense physical training.  But the most unnerving thing about him was the chillingly calm, almost business-as-usual grin on his face.  This was obviously the man in charge of the men who apprehended him, of that Rayneir had no doubt.

          "We didn't do anything!"  Rayneir's voice cracked as his pleas escaped him nearly involuntarily and without thought.  "We didn't know!"  He looked to each of the executors with the eyes of a madman, desperately trying to ascertain some substance of pity from at least one of them.  But they all had their visors down, and none of their expressions or stances resembled anything near compassion.  They were all cold, hard, and resolute.

          "That won't help anything, Ray."

          "Looks like we got ourselves here a couple celebrities!"  Gravel filled the soldiers' leader's voice, mincing his words like sandpaper on concrete.  He was looking at the large screens that still prominently featured the faces of his two captives, then looked back at them, that eerie smile still splitting his face.  "What's a man to do?  Ask for an autograph?"  The troops surrounding Rayneir and Talios grunted and chuckled at their leader's dull joke.  "In any case, we shouldn't prolong this too much, I've got places to be."  At that, he unholstered his sidearm, a massive handgun that could have weighed over three kilograms, and stepped in front of the two of them.

          "What? No!"  Rayneir struggled to stand up and break free from his restraints, but an executor came up behind him and clubbed him in the shoulder while forcing him back to his knees.  He ignored the pain, he couldn't believe this was happening to them.  They weren't even getting a trial, or any form of justice whatsoever.  Something wasn't right, there were laws in place to prevent this kind of brutality.

          "As Judicator Vaelghemer of the Grey Fists, I find you guilty of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and the bombing of a place of public use, resulting in death."  Rayneir couldn't believe the words he was hearing, this couldn't possibly be real.  "By the powers bestowed unto me from the Federal Primarch and the Arch Council, I sentence you to death."

          "Ray."

          Rayneir looked at his friend, tears in his eyes, as he looked back at him.  Talios was smiling still, somehow.  Despite the tears rolling from his black own, a look of peace rested on his face.  Even at the very end, his inner serenity was uncompromised.  Rayneir knew nothing of Hadaran religion, if they even had any.  But something kept him from being afraid, or angry, or feeling helpless, a mixture of which filled Rayneir to the point of pouring from him like a glass overflowing.  A loud click emanated as the Judicator

          "Tal?"

          "I'll see you soon."

          A loud blast filled the street as Talios' head exploded with a brown mist, covering Rayneir's face with a spatter of his blood.  He wanted to scream, and for all he knew he may have been.  His heart sank, and his vision narrowed and blurred with an outburst of tears.  His entire body went numb, the only feeling was from within, rage and fear dominating him, filling his veins with a cold fire.

          "It's always strange seeing Hadaran blood.  Like something that would come out of my rear."

          Rayneir fixated his eyes, seething with hatred, upon the man that had killed his best friend before his eyes.  Judicator Vaelghemer.  There was no man he hated more, and were it not for the restraints around his wrists, he would choke the life out of him and every one of his comrades if he could.

          Another loud click resounded and a second later Rayneir was staring down the barrel of the large handgun.  A moment's pause ensued, yet he never took his eyes off of the man he swore the most severe of curses he could think of.  Then the barrel lowered, and Vaelghemer's face was inches from his own.

          "Looks like someone's got different plans in store for you, Rayneir."

          His vision went to black, and something heavy hit the back of his head, sending his consciousness into dreams of hatred and brown blood.