Dax was awoken by proximity alarms as his ship warned him they were in range of Ursai. He shook the pins and needles out of his legs, trying to stretch in the cramped space. He hadn't gotten much sleep, and suspected Ren hadn't either.
Ursai loomed ahead of them, a hulking ball of ugly metal. It reminded Dax of a beehive, clouds of ships entering and leaving from all sides. Dax turned his comms back on and requested a landing zone.
Ursai started as an early warp station of the Empire, but as more and better warp stations were captured and built, Ursai Station was left behind to the outcasts, criminals and mercenaries. It was one of the most run down and seedy shit-holes in the verse, but it was the only semblance of civilization they could reach this far out. Especially since their only fuel was what Dax had been able to make from organic material over the last few years. In such a hotspot of crime Dax was optimistic they would at least be able to buy some forged documents that would get them through the warp gates. Then they could hide out in the Jepulcron Alliance, or maybe all the way out in the Bahi cluster.
Dax pulled in through the docking gate and parked on a private pad behind an airlock. The door closed behind them and a gauge on the wall showed the air pressure rising towards safe levels.
Dax pulled a hooded jacket and a pair of sunglasses out of the duffel bag.
"Put these on," he said to Ren. "Please," he added hastily.
"Why?" Ren's tone was laden with annoyance.
"Your appearance-your eyes especially-stand out too much. We can't let anyone find out you're Navinian."
Ren pulled on the jacket and shades and Dax pulled on his own hood, attempting to hide his white hair. He didn't doubt there were plenty of people here holding grudges against Empire soldiers.
They left the hangar and emerged into an endless network of underground tunnels, wide enough to fit a troupe of elephants. The walls were made of oppressive sheet metal, fluorescent holographic ads covering every available surface and showcasing every product from burgers to the newest models of hololenses. A massive crowd packed like sardines shuffled in two directions down the thruway. The edges were a clutter of pop-up stalls and dilapidated shacks made from extra sheet metal.
Ren's stared. "That's... a lot of people."
Dax smirked. "Close your mouth, you look like a back-worlder. It's just a service station"
Despite saying this, even Dax was surprised at the multitude of people. He guessed what had started ages ago as a simple fuel stop and warp gate had evolved through never ending expansions and additions as outcasts of the Empire stuck between worlds claimed space for themselves. The clutter of people, lights and stalls all crammed into the thruway made Dax's head spin. He had expected it to be crowded, but not so populated. They pushed their way into the tide of people. Dax kept a hand over the credits-card in his pocket. There wasn't much value on it as it was and they couldn't afford to be pick pocketed.
"Stay close to me," he said to Ren, then pulled a one-eighty when he realized Ren was no longer beside him. Scanning the crowd, Dax quickly spotted him captivated by an old woman's jewelry stall. He pushed back through the crowd.
"There is something called a... mood... ring!" Ren sounded out the Estoric letters as Dax approached. "Can it really tell your emotions?" he gushed.
Dax huffed and dragged Ren away from the cheap shiny trinkets. "Don't wander off. It's dangerous here."
Ren yanked his arm free. "All this time I dreamed of exploring the outer worlds but now that we're actually here, my babysitter won't let me go six feet on my own," he grumbled, but kept his awed observation of the surroundings to within Dax's radius.
Soon the tunnel opened up into a plaza with a little more open space and actual stores. Set into the wall on the far side was an open bar. Stools and benches filled the space around the counter. The place was hopping, rowdy patrons constantly moving between tables. Smelling the fried food make Dax's stomach growl. They hadn't eaten anything since yesterday.
Dax steered them towards the counter. They could have something to eat, and maybe someone could point them in the next direction to getting through the warp gate.
They had no sooner sat down at the bar and the bartender approached then Ren eagerly took another chance to practice his Estoric.
"May we purchase your recommended refreshments?" he flaunted his formal Estoric with just a touch of an accent.
The bartender's eyebrows nearly left his forehead.
Dax seriously thought about slapping his hand over Ren's mouth.
"Ah- he's uh...not...from around here," he cleared his throat. "We'll have two double cheese burgers. And waters. Thanks."
"You got it." The bartender left with a quizzical smile.
"Burgers for breakfast?-" Ren started to complain.
"You will sit quietly and eat your burger," Dax snapped.
Ren made an indignant sound and busied himself with a minigame on one of the bar's holo projectors.
After the food arrived Dax glanced at the patrons around him. He noticed a man sitting alone at the bar one empty stool away from him. He was middle aged and unassuming, perhaps a cargo driver. Low danger. He also looked like a regular, which meant he knew the area. Dax decided to risk getting some information from him.
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He scooted one stool over.
"Scuse me."
The man looked up warily.
"You look like you know your way around here. See, my friend and I need to get through the warp gate, but we lost our ID cards."
The man rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.
Dax continued, "you wouldn't happen to know anywhere around here where we could get some knew ones, would you?"
"How much you got?" The man drawled.
Dax pulled out his card and selected a number on the holographic surface. The man looked unimpressed, but he held out his own card and Dax tapped it, completing the transfer.
The man pulled out an old ledger and pencil - analog, Dax noted appreciatively - and ripped a page out. He scribbled down some directions and slid them across the table.
"Good luck to you."
Dax nodded, pocketing the note.
Suddenly, the sound of laughter and applause made him turn, then curse when he noticed Ren's empty chair.
"Oh, you've gotta be-"
Ren was standing at the head of a table of a bunch of older men, doing something complicated with his hands. It was an old Navinian parlor trick, where the magician uses a napkin to disappear silverware, condiment bottles, and as the grand finale, a full glass of water. Ren was carefully placing the napkin over the glass with faux concentration. A few people from adjacent tables leaned in to watch.
Dax strode up and wrapped his hand around the opposite side of Ren's head, towing him from the bar. The patrons yelled complaints behind them.
"You are not making it easy to keep a low profile," Dax said through gritted teeth once they were back in the plaza.
"It was just a magic trick! Would you stop acting like everyone is going to kill us for five seconds?"
Dax looked around at all the unscrupulous characters. "Everyone could be trying to kill us!"
Ren rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not stupid. I know without you here I'd be screwed."
Oh. Dax paused, surprised.
"That doesn't mean I like having to rely on you after what you did yesterday. I haven't forgiven you yet. I just want some autonomy. Stop treating me like a child."
Dax considered. He suspected Ren still didn't know the half of the danger they were in, but maybe he had a point. He could try to give Ren more space.
"Okay, just...please don't do any more magic tricks."
Dax thought he saw a smile crack on Ren's face before he nodded and turned away.
The directions on Dax's paper slip led them to an area with what probably used to be official buildings but now looked like homes for squatters. They followed the directions to an incredibly skinny alleyway between an empty police station and old customs office. Dax took a few glances down the thoroughfare to make sure they weren't being followed before shuffling down the alley until reaching a rounded door. There was a green X on the door, just as the paper described. Dax knocked.
After a few moments the door was flung open by a women with dreadlocks and wearing an old tank top.
"Ya?" She asked around a lolly pop.
Dax kept it short. "We need some IDs made."
The woman wordlessly held the door open and motioned them inside. The room was dark, and refreshingly uncramped. A few boys sat at a table across the room, using tools and a vat of liquid to pull apart Empire ID cards and paste the microchips onto forgeries. The irony of a forgery operation being carried out in an old police office was not lost on Dax.
Lolly pop lady sat behind an old desk and took out a notepad and a pencil.
"What nationality you want 'em?" She spoke in accented Estoric.
"Jepulcron Alliance."
"Those're runnin' fah 500 Quo each," she marked something on the notepad.
Dax blanched. "Are you kidding me? I wouldn't pay half that cost!"
She shrugged. "Junipera passports goin' for a premium these days. No demand with the Empire musclin' in on the Reno system n' all that."
"The Empire... in the Reno system? But that's several systems within Junipera territory."
The lady narrowed her eyes at him. "What corner o' the verse have you been hiding in the last ten years?"
When Dax had left, the Jepulcron Alliance was the largest nation just behind the Empire. It was also far enough away that no one would have expected it to be high up on the Empire's growing list of worlds to be conquered. Dax made a mental note to look up the recent news next time he got a chance. If the Empire was already so far inside of Junipera's territory... he was worried the universe he had left was very different from the one they found themselves in.
Dax ignored the woman's gaze. "What about Bahi cluster?"
"That I can getcha for 300."
Dax tsked. That was still significantly more than he had saved. Next to him, Ren pulled something over his neck. He held out a necklace made of thin rope, the pendant holding a sparkling dark green stone. The stone was made of a petrified plant native only to the Navinian's home planet. There were only a few of them, belonging only to the royal family.
"This will do?" Ren asked in slightly mixed-up Estoric.
"Ren, you don't need to-" Dax started to say, but the lady snatched up the necklace and studied it closely.
"Hmm... Where'd you go an' find somethin' like this?" She held it up to the light, then looked back at Dax. "This'll buy you one ID."
Dax pushed "The necklace plus 150 Quo for both. Take it or leave it."
"Deal." The necklace promptly disappeared behind the desk.
She pointed at a chair sitting in front of a white sheet. "Sit. Needa take your pictcha."
Ren went first, sitting as the lady stood in front and waved her hand through the air, interacting with a virtual screen through her hololenses.
"Glasses off," she said to Ren, motioning with her hands. Ren looked nervously towards Dax.
"Can you just... PicChop them off?" Dax asked her.
She raised her eyebrows. "You wanna pay me for picture edits now too?" She turned back to Ren. "Come on then, I won't judge your freaky bod-mods."
Ren reached for his glasses. Dax felt the knife in his boot just in case. Then the door exploded.
Dax spun around as something large and metal slammed around his neck and push him all the way against the back wall. He hung suspended, gasping for air. A huge man had entered the room. He was bald with tattoos circling his scalp, and wearing all leather and denim like he had something to prove. The most intimidating thing about him though was his arms, which were made of telescoping cylinders of metal. One of them had extended all the way across the room and now held Dax in a chokehold. The other hung at his side. Out of the corner of his eye, Dax glimpsed the forger and her young accomplices scramble through a door hidden behind a curtain.
"Well, well." The man grinned at Ren. "All the mercenaries in Ursai looking for you and I got here first. Must be my lucky day."
Ren was holding the chair up between him and the mercenary. He looked terrified but ready to put up a fight. Dax focused on his heartbeat, trying to slow it down to avoid losing consciousness. Even with his enhanced strength, the man's metal fingers were too stiff to pry apart. He had to think of something, fast.
"Release my companion," Ren said shakily, his formal Estoric sounding less than princely.
The big man laughed. "You're little Empire bodyguard? Don't think so."
His hand grew tighter and Dax saw stars. "There was no bounty on this one, so I'll send his soul straight back to wherever the Empire pricks cloned it from."
Dax struggled to concentrate. He would have to use the cannon again. There hadn't been enough time to charge it since last time. No way around it. He hoped it wouldn't kill him. Dax raised his arm.