Xander's Ghosts - Part One

Brax shifted uncomfortably in his seat and checked his chronometer for the third time. Jerric was late again, he thought and grimaced at how easily it would be for him to get caught out here even at this late an hour. He had tried as best as he could to park most of his SkyStrider so that it would blend in less noticably with the pallets and storage containers that the tavern staff had stacked on the far corner of the congested back service platform, but it still didn't afford him any real comfort. All it took was one employee wandering out for a random item in the supply crates or a bored person with a pair of macroculars on one of the nearby residential spire balconies calling the police to ruin his day.

Old and bulky the dark grey Empyrean 338 however did do a pretty good job fitting in as it hovered beside the miscellaneous sized boxes and plastex storage pods, the real challenge was finding enough of a shadow to conceal himself as he sat on the bike watching the evening city skyline waiting on a signal from the man inside.

Despite the largest of Sentar Prime's moons having already set over an hour ago which normally would have provided enough darkness to ply his trade elsewhere in the city, the lights of Rija's entertainment district casted a ubiquitous glow that reached even as high up as his current perch on the 285th floor of the tower that loomed over the bustling pavilion below. He was thankful Jerric had thought to purposely stack the containers with just enough room to hide his bike, as there were few real shadows around, even all the way up here.

Reflexively wincing and shrinking back into the darkness a little deeper he was startled by the bright lights of an AeriCab as it darted past unexpectedly. Eyeing the semi enclosed transom of the worn looking skiff as it glided into the distance he determined none of the passengers who were obviously semi intoxicated patrons leaving a nearby bar, had looked in his direction or noticed a thing.

He waited until it traveled on a little further before relaxing again and went back to peering over the ledge at the traffic several levels below. A riot of colour and activity, the multiplex laid nestled in a canyon created by a pair of massive, brightly lit commercial towers that served as the center of commerce in this district of the city.

Impatiently, dozens of Aerolifters of various makes and models competed to use the many landing platforms that were scattered around the promenade and multi leveled entertainment complex. While most of the vehicles made do finding room on the large open aired cantillevered platforms that hung over the cityscape abyss, more than a few were happy to pay the extra landing fees to park on one of the more private terraced style pads often found directly in front of venues or atop adjacent rooftops.

Large knots of people, awash with a variety of hues embued by the large multicoloured electric signs and ads churned through the complexe's maze of avenues and alleys, seeking late night excitement. On any other given night it's what Brax would have been doing himself. He was a bit partial to the halo suites and Taki therapy spas in the non human districts. But instead, tonight he was stuck up here slinking around behind The Cerrics Loft, a fancy human exclusive bar named after the iconic birds that nested at this altitude in the city. The bar catered to the stuffier types of denizens in Rija's upper districts. Reeking of elitism, Brax never cared much for the districts impossibly tall spires that pierced through the low clouds that often blanketed the city.

Being the middle of Sentar"s rainy season, the clouds were especially thick on this warm and humid night. Brax's gaze followed the skyscraper across the way as it ascended up and through a particularly low hanging cloud. Emerging above the cloud the tower continued on seemingly into the heavens. He could make out the faint outline and glow of a starship, likely a interstellar freighter as it sat moored in the sky above the tower's pinnacle. Faint lights of cargo craft exited like worker bees from the vessel descending down to land on various terraces on the towers upper reaches. A typical sight on Rija, most ships prefered to unload their freight late at night when the skylanes werent as congested. It was all business as usual for the corporations that could afford to lease the expensive office suites up there.

The Rija city it's self spread out over the horizon in all directions except to the south where it came abutt to the edge of a cliff that dropped down into a large densely jungled canyon that stretched like a jagged scar halfway across the planets equator. The story was that the original colonizers of Sentar picked this location for the city because the canyon served as an easily identifiable landmark from orbit. Apparently it worked, because Rija quickly outgrew all the other colony cities on the planet and became the defacto capital of what was the largest commercial hub in the sector.

Being along one of the larger galactic trading lanes, and possesing a thick gas rich atmosphere with a verdant forested surface, the planet had appealed to races from all corners of the galaxy, including humans for several eons. The planet was so ancient in fact that there were even ruins tourists and archeologists could visit of long extinct species that had come and gone long before the ancestors of humans were even swinging through trees on their own homeworld.

A slight vibration from the device on his wrist signaled Jerric had made the drop. None too soon either. He could see the trash collection vehicle making it rounds only a few towers away. It wouldn't be long before it would come ambling up to this particular service pad on its route, and he didn't feel like explaining to a bunch of suspicious robots what he was doing there. It was likely the blasted things were familiar with who worked at the bar and thus who should and shouldn't be hanging out back on its private service pad. With his long hair and rough attire, it wouldn't take them long to realize that he certainly didnt belong there and possibly raise an alarm.

Leaving his SkyStrider behind and backed into the darkened alcove created by the supply pallets he gingerly made his way through the shadows that interloped the glare of the pads few floodlights and came alongside the back wall of the bar. A lone figure passed momentarily across the one window that faced the back of the establishment, and then a few feet up ahead the back door swung open.

Brax crouched behind what seemed to be a air processing pump or water purifier, he couldn't tell which in this light, but it had been making a racket all evening as it periodically cycled on and off. The employee exited the door, walked down a short set of stairs and paused in the center of the pad. Floodlights silouhetted the man making it hard to determine exactly which way he was facing or looking, but he hoped that he was concealed enough behind the pump to not be seen. Just in case he had come armed tonight, though he didn't want to take things that far if he didnt have to.

Luckily the man didn't mill about for long. Eager to end his shift, he quickly made his way to a sleek looking Swiftflight 2800 SkyStrider parked near the edge of the landing pad, strap on his helmet and hop onto the bike. Guess this place pays well, Brax thought to himself surprised to see the guy had such a nice bike. With a whir it sprung up off the deck and a few seconds later the man flew over the ledge and made a hard left descending down and out of sight.

Glancing back through the window he saw a short hallway with a few doors leading off each side that probably were the back office or bathrooms. Beyond he could see the softly lit bar. It was nearly empty save a few lingering patrons that were still stuffed inside one of the booths that matched the rest of the bars modern ergonomic decor. Off to the side behind the counter a pair of employees were cleaning up and counting out the till.

Satisfied that no one else would be making their way towards the back, Brax crossed across the pad in the open and finally reached the trash bins on the other side of the door. Taking out a small handheld box he ran it past the bins until one of them made a series of lights on the device flash quickly. Bingo he murmured dropping the sensor reader back into his satchel and quietly opening the lid of the bin. Laying on top, wrapped in a small dirty cloth was a tiny data card. Jerric had come through, or at least he hoped he had as he wouldn't get a chance to find out until he could scan the contents of the card later back where it was safe to do so.

Slipping it into an inside jacket pocket where it would be secure, he put the lid back just as he had found it and retraced his steps back to his stowed bike. He waited another minute in the darkness on top of his Empyrean until the same pump he had hid behind turned on masking the noise as he fired up his bike. Then he floated out and dropped off the ledge falling freely several hundred feet towards the busy lower city levels before powering up the SkyStriders propulsion system and dashing off across the sky lanes towards a dense cluster of spires in the distance.

Pretty slick he thought to himself, smiling at how smooth the operation had gone this evening. Stealthy in, sneaky out, with no witnesses or interactions. Like a ghost.