“The Pipeworks”probably wasn’t the worst bar in the Pleasure Domes, but it had to be close. It was built in the abandoned hollow of the main collecting area for an unused Pleasure Dome’s sewage system. They claimed that the pipes had been laid for a future expansion, but had never been completed. They swore sewage had never flown through the pipes. Lieutenant Tanaka “Two Guns”Wu highly doubted that, not that it bothered him much. The stench and filth reminded him of Anacroessis VI, the MegaHab he had the misfortune to spend his childhood on.

The crowd today was a little denser than normal, the patron’s eyes full of a kind of desperation you can only find in the truly lost. The music blared a little too loud, the lights were always a little too dim, and the drinks were always a little too strong. Tanaka loved it here. Scanning the crowd, he spotted his crew in their usual spot across the room, nestled into a darkened corner near several of the larger clusters of pipes that wound their way across the walls and ceiling of this room. He caught one of their glances and nodded slightly in their direction.

Pushing his way through the crowd took minimal effort. Even though Tanaka was not a big man by any stretch of the imagination, standing just a little over a meter and a half in height, he had a presence and grace of movement that said “cold blooded killer” and most people with any streetwise parted ways before he got too close. Tanaka made a straight course for the bar, intent on getting tanked as quickly as possible tonight. He had been too long cooped up in the cramped confines of the mercenary vessel, and had been looking forward to his squad’s rotation for R&R for weeks now.

Not more than a few meters from the bar, a large drunken man pivoted into Tanaka, completely spilling his drink over the two of them. The man’s eyes widened for a moment, realizing the drink was lost, then bellowed in rage and threw a punch at the man he thought responsible. Tanaka grabbed the incoming fist in his hand is it flew towards him, held it fast for a fraction of a second, then turned it sideways with a sickening crunch. The man’s eyes bulged as he cried it in pain. Tanaka took the opportunity to kick him swiftly in the inside of the ankle before turning back towards the bar. He was ordering his drinks by the time the individual had finished careening to the floor, anguish apparent on his face. Strange that the once crowded bar seemed to have plenty of room for the mercenary lieutenant when he arrived…

Sliding the heavy tray laden with drinks onto the table, Tanaka slid into an empty space on the bench next to his companions. The booth itself looked as if it had been salvaged out of a dumpster, thrown away by one of the larger Pleasure Dome establishments far above them, which in fact it had. The single light illuminating the table had long ago been smashed out, casting the area into pool of shadows. There were five others seated at the table, several of their other companions scattered throughout the bar.

“Yo Two Guns, good to see you!”came the drunken voice of Private O’Fallon as he reached for one of the new drinks his lieutenant had brought.

Tanaka snorted, “You just love me for my drinks”he said. Not wasting any time, he grabbed the one nearest to him and downed it in one long draught. Only them did he begin to feel a little more at ease, and notice some of the others sitting at the table.

“A little thirsty Lieutenant?”came the accented voice of Spyder who sat across from him. She had a single exotic looking drink sitting in front of her, hardly touched.

“Well as it just so happens, I am.” He eyed her dark silhouette across the table before reaching for his second drink. “Happens we got good reason to drink… he lifted his glass in a salute, “to the newly promoted Head of the Recon Teams, Kel'bazza Spyder, or whatever crazy title you Andaari call it”he said with a smile. It won him several laughs from the various people seated around the table as glasses were raised. He noticed Spyder had not reached for hers. “C'mon Spyder, you have to drink, otherwise its bad luck. Anyways, you don’t want to have the men saying you were out-drank by a tiny human do you?” Tanaka had an amazing alcohol tolerance for an individual his size, a fact he often used this to his advantage.

She stared icily across the table at him, but he refused to relent. He looked around the table, and then began to chant, “Spyder, Spyder, Spyder… He was quickly joined by the drunk voices of his companions.

After a few seconds of this, Spyder shook her head, “Oh, what the hell, I always did have a weak spot for making a fool of myself around you Two Guns. Oh, and by the way, it’s ‘Kel'Ta’not ‘Kel'bazza.”She grabbed the drink in front of her and met the toast to the cheer of the others, then threw back the concoction with reckless abandon. Nearly everyone else did the same. Laughing a little more easily, she looked up and said, “I thought they still had you chained to your jet bike after that last stunt you guys pulled last week. When they cut you loose?” Tanaka was in charge of the mercenary’s half dozen retro-fitted jet bikes, a merry band of misfits with little or no sense of self preservation.

“What, we deserved to see the Pleasure Domes just like anyone else, right?” Two Guns said with a wide grin.

“Yeah, it’s just that most people don’t see it from the back of a screaming jet bike is all”she shot back. She found herself grabbing a second drink from the tray in front of her.

“Well, we had to make sure the damn things worked after having been cooped up on board the ship like that for a coupla months. Wouldn’t want to get a contract and discover they had problems you know”Tanaka’s pair of six man squads had not been on the Callos IV contract.

“Youz shoulda have sheen the looksh on their faces!”Private O’Fallon blurted out drunkenly before he fell into unintelligible laughter.

Tanaka barely glanced his direction before turning his attention back towards Spyder, “Yeah, well I had to do something, my men are getting restless after all of this down time. We’re not from the same background as you, you know. We’re used to constant action, everyday a fight for survival. Ship life is driving them a little stir crazy…and me as well”He shrugged. Tanaka and his crew had been hired on three years ago when they had taken a contract on his home world. Spyder still had trouble not thinking of them as his “gang” which they had been in their previous incarnation.

“Yeah, ship life is a far cry different from riding through the streets of Anacroessis VI, dodging Dominion Enforcers, in search of a good time and a quick buck. Still, you’re lucky we found you when we did.”

“You don’t have to convince me there, Spyder, not one bit.” He shrugged, “It’s just the boys is all. They don’t have my patience.” He patted the slumped over form of Private O’Fallon, now collapsed on the table next to him. “Shit, all this talk of the good ‘ol days has made me thirsty again”he reached for another drink, just starting to feel beginnings of a buzz come over him. He looked up and seemed to notice the last pair of people sitting at the far end of the table with them. “Who’s the new guy Spyder?”he asked.

Spyder glanced over to the far end of the table. Smoke Dog sat with the newest member of her recon force, a young officer who had just received the rank of Kel'A, the equivalent of a Lieutenant in most militaries. Smoke Dog had arranged the empty synthahol cans on the table in front of the freshly minted officer in a mock recreation of the ambush on the supply train. He held a bottle in his hands, swooping it back and forth making Reaper Cannon noises as he knocked the others down. His companion barely had time to pick up his own drink before Smoke Dog’s latest strafing run almost knocked it over in his exuberance.

“Hey, Kais’Shi, say hello to the craziest human I know, Lieutenant Tanaka Wu. We usually just call him ‘Two Guns’ to his face anyways”Spyder called across the table.

The young officer scooted a little closer and extended his hand over the table, still holding his drink in the other. He seemed somewhat relieved to distance himself from Smoke Dog’s antics. “Lieutenant. I am Kel'A Tais’Shi. I am taking over Alpha Recon for Kel'Ta Via Tal’Shii.”His handshake was brief and stiff.

Two Guns snorted, “Frak, can the formalities why dontcha? It’s not like were on review or anything, we’re in the Pipeworks, not some parade ground.” He leaned back and finished off his drink, noting soberly there was only one left on the tray he had brought. “Where they pick you up from anyways?”he asked.

The young officer across from him stiffened at the question, leaning back into the light slightly. He looked like no other Andaari Two Guns had ever seen. His features were more pronounced, he had a full head of short cropped glossy black hair, and even a slight nose. His skin however was still a pale blue, tinted slightly purplish in places, and his large eyes and pupils were most distinctly Andaari. After an awkward moment of silence he replied, “I was born on our home world of Dal’Zoth three years before our exodus. I have been with the force all of my life.” His answer was curt, short.

“Well, you don’t look like any Andaari I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure”Two Guns missed Spyder’s slight shake of the head as he said the last sentence. He reached forward for the last drink lying before him.

Kais’Shi drew a sharp intake of breath and stood abruptly, knocking into the table as he did so, spilling the drink Two Guns was reaching for into his lap. The young half-Andaari said nothing as he stormed away from the corner booth and out of the bar.

Two Guns cursed as he tried to mop the spilled synthahol out of his lap, “Man, was it something I said? What’s his damage anyways?”

Spyder sighed deeply, “I tried to warn you, that’s a touchy subject for him…for most of us actually. He is a ‘mesme’ the child of a Andaari and a Human couple.” She paused to let the words sink in before continuing, “It was the reason we were forced to leave our home world, Dal’Zoth, in the first place.”

“Whoa, didn’t know that was possible… Spyder swears Two Guns gave her an entirely different kind of look before continuing, “but so what. So some Andaari and Humans get it on and had a kid. Good for them, what about it?” He kicked his legs up on the trashed table and leaned back.

“Look Two Guns, it is a big deal. You may not get it because you grew up in a MegaHab and hadn’t seen any aliens until we showed and bailed your ass out of trouble. What do you know about Andaari society anyways?”

“I know they have some hot looking chics who can mate with humans”he said snidely.

Spyder frowned as she batted his legs off the table and continued, “This is serious Tanaka, cut it out. We got chased out of our home world because, well because we had some ‘hot looking chics who could mate with humans’ as you put it. Most of us lost all the family we had when we left, leaving the only place we had to call home, betrayed by our own people…

“Damn…that’s heavy. Hey, wait a minute, how the hell you get Humans and Andaari living together on the same planet in the first place, if it was so taboo and shit?”

Spyder sighed deeply. She could tell this would have to take some explaining, but it was important that Two Guns understood. It was important that they all understood. “You ever hear about the Damnos Crusade?” Two Guns shook his head to indicate that he hadn’t. “Well, a couple hundred years ago the Dominion launched a huge armada with the sole intention of wiping out a pesky alien race that had grown up in the outer regions of space. My race to be exact.” Two Guns was now listening quite intently as Spyder continued, “Anyways, they hit us hard and drove deep into our territory, crossing the great empty region of space known as the Damnos Gulf.”

“That why they call it the Damnos Crusade?”Two Guns asked.

“Yes, that’s right. Anyways, they conquered a series of our outlying colonies in their initial attacks, including my home world Dal’Zoth, before they started hitting stiffer resistance near our home system of Andros. There our forces put a halt to their progress, for a while.”

“What happened then?”

“If you would just listen for a while, you’d find out. Anyways, they had to leave garrisons behind on all of the planets they had conquered as they made their way towards our capital system, and this helped to deplete their forces. Right as they were trying to figure out whether or not to put everything into one final massive attack to wipe my people out, they pulled out en masse all of a sudden. No explanation, no reason we could see, they just took off. They were in such a damned hurry they even left all of their garrisoned troops behind on the few planets they had conquered.”

“Poor schmucks. You guys whack em?”Two Guns asked, unable to stop himself from interrupting.

“No, Two Guns, we did not ‘whack’them”Sometimes Spyder was really reminded that Two Guns had grown up on the street with little to no education. “We Andaari are not like the Dominion. We offered them a place in our society, as citizens of the Andaari Collective. Some fought back at first, but soon most realized they had little better options left to them. In the end most came peaceably over. After a few generations passed, they were as valued as any Andaari worker or warrior.”

“So what went wrong? The sex thing?”

“Uh…yeah, I guess you could say that. Our home world of Dal’Zoth is closest to the edge of Dominion Space, and has always been a hub of trade and commerce. We paled in comparison to Dal’Yth, the capital of our sector, but we were certainly more cosmopolitan than most areas in Andaari space. We took a natural liking to the humans, and they integrated into our way of life faster than any of the other Collectives. Truth be told, we integrated into theirs as well.” Spyder’s mouth was dry from all of this talking. She desperately wanted another drink just about then, but continued, “Anyways, as our cultures grew closer, so did its people. This seemed natural to us, but apparently some of the other Andaari didn’t share our view on the subject… she let her voice trail off.

“Yeah, you said you got betrayed by your own kind! Frak, that would get you killed on the streets man… A brother never betrays another brother.”Two Guns shook his head. “You thirsty?”he asked, as if reading Spyder’s mind. She nodded. Two Guns turned to his left, “Yo, Smoke Dog… Why don’t you go make yourself useful and get us another round of drinks?” Smoke Dog, who started at the sudden sound of his name, nodded quickly and got up, heading towards the bar. He got uncomfortable when Spyder got so worked up like this anyways, and didn’t mind getting away from the booth for a bit. That left only Private O’Fallon, face down on the table, with the two officers engrossed in conversation.

Spyder smiled her thanks at Two Guns before continuing, “Yeah, betrayal sucks. And this was betrayal on a massive scale. Apparently there was an extremist right-wing contingent of the Andaari Psions…

“Who are they?”Two Guns butted in.

“Our rulers, politicians and wise people. More than that, but it would take too long to explain it to you”If you could get it Spyder thought. “So, there was an extremist group of them that believed the Andaari people should remain pure, the better to Walk the Shining Path of the Andaari people. They viewed our ways on Dal’Zoth as an abomination, an affront to everything decent and wholesome. Our Psion did not see eye to eye with them, and encouraged our people to continue integrating our societies.” Spyder sighed deeply. For once, Two Guns remained silent. “So, about twenty years ago, our Psion died suddenly one night. No one saw it happen, but the only other person he was with was a human…who couldn’t be found anywhere.” Spyder spread her hands upwards in a gesture of futility. “Events moved quickly after that. Somehow the extremist group learned about his death even before the people of my home planet had found out. A fleet was en route to our system before we had even learned the other Psions had convened to decide on the trial.”

“Damn, that’s some scandal man. How you guys get out alive?”

“Most of us didn’t. By the time we had caught on to what was going on, we had a Andaari armada blockading the system. We knew it was a setup, but we had grown too close to the humans to let them be wiped out by the vengeful fleet overhead. The majority of our military forces staged a delaying action, made to look like a last stand to draw the armada into an all out fight with them. That left a small window of opportunity for some of our people to get out.”

“They went willingly to their death, just so a few of you could survive? Man, I’d never do something like that… Two Guns shook his head.

Spyder shot him a dark look, but just then Smoke Dog returned with their drinks. Two Guns lifted his drink in salute as he said, “To all those who died so others may live, whatever the reason”and then he drained his glass. Spyder followed suit, despite herself. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve and reaching for another drink, Two Guns asked, “So you are the guys that made it out alive, eh?”

Spyder nodded, herself grabbing another drink, “Yeah, that’s us. Not many of us made it, only three larger ships and their escorts made it out intact. We didn’t have enough supplies to start a new colony of our own, only having what we could grab in the few desperate days before our departure. After a few bleak years we were running out of options, and needed money. Turning a trade as mercenaries seemed like the next logical thing to do.”

“And so twenty years later here you are eh? Crazy man, crazy… How old were you when all this went down anyways?”he eyed Spyder across the table from him.

“A woman never gives away her age, Two Guns. That’s something I learned from the humans I grew up with. Needless to say, I was just a little girl when we fled Dal’Zoth. I can hardly remember it…I’ve spent most of my life in space, running from one system to another wondering if this would be the place we could call home for a while…