Rachel sat minding her own business. Her new drink felt cool and refreshing, unlike the last one, and the strange deep base of the cafe's music made her feel more comfortable in her seat. She decided that she could spare a few more minutes before she had to set off home.
In the corner of her eye she saw a big man walking into the bar. His physique was more muscular than most. His neck looked like a mountain's slopes, and his shoulders were wide enough to build apartments on. Rachel tried not to stare. When he saw her looking at him, he smiled knowingly, much to her despair. Had she been that obvious? She took another sip from her drink and pretended to be preoccupied with something else. The big man sat down at a table on the other side of the cafe and pulled up a holocube. Rachel concentrated on her drink. She didn't know who he was and it wasn't her business. She just needed to finish her drink and go home.
A few minutes later, another man entered the cafe. He glanced around before approaching the big man and joining him at his table. The second man was short, and of average build. He was dwarfed by his companion. They looked like a monster and a child having dinner together. Rachel wondered if her eyes were telling her the truth. The men leant closer and began talking in hushed voices. The music was too loud for her to hear what they were saying from such a distance. The big man appeared relaxed and self assured, but his smaller companion was becoming increasingly agitated. He waved his hands about, and contorted his face as he tried to explain something. Rachel was intrigued. When the small man punched the other in the eye, she almost laughed. What was he doing? Why would he start a fight with someone who could carry him under one arm? She was further surprised when the big man didn't retaliate. He sat back in his chair looking stony faced. The small man continued explaining something, waving his hands with angry gestures. A minute later, he rose from his seat and walked towards the exit, gesturing for the big man to follow him. They left the cafe together. Rachel hoped that she hadn't walked into the wrong kind of bar. She was curious. It was clear that they were up to something. She reminded herself that she wasn't on duty. It was none of her business, but she couldn't help finishing her drink and following them outside.
Outside the cafe, she kept her distance as she watched the two men walk around to the back of the building. They disappeared among the shadows between adjacent box cabins. Rachel stayed back, watching them from across the road. The big man walked across to an outbuilding and fiddled with a lock before lifting a wide metal door over his head. Through the doorway, she could see a blanket covering something large in the middle of the floor. She wondered if it might be a shuttle that had been put into storage for repairs. The small man gestured towards the blanket and the big man dragged it off, discarding it on the floor. What he uncovered looked nothing like a shuttle. Was it some kind of droid? Rachel couldn't tell from where she was standing. She was too far away, and it was too dark to see clearly from so far away. She moved closer, trying to get a better view. She was right. It was a droid of some kind. It was an old model that she didn't recognise. It appeared to be manually operated. There was a bucket seat perched on top of it, and it had several handles sticking out from each side. Rachel didn't know what to think. It had to be at least fifty years old.
The small man was lecturing the big man again, and the big man stood nodding with his hands on his hips. Rachel could pick out a few words now that she had moved further away from the cafe's loud music.
'Just fucking do it, Paul' the small man said, shaking his fist.
'I need more time, Gino. I don't have anyone with me. Why didn't you tell me about this earlier so I could prepare? I can't do this on my own. It isn't safe.'
'If I'd known before, so would you,' Gino said. 'There isn't any other option. You have to do this now.' Gino shook his fist in Paul's direction and then turned and walked away.
Rachel still didn't understand the dynamic between them. It didn't make any sense to her, but it was clear that Gino was in charge.
Paul watched his companion leave, rubbing his wide chin with one hand. His face was full of concern. He glanced around and shook his head, muttering something under his breath. He didn't look happy at all. He turned towards the machine behind him and climbed on top of it with two long strides. The bucket seat looked too small for his large frame, but he managed to squeeze himself into it. He started flicking levers back and forth beside his seat, and the machine came to life, scurrying out into the road.
Rachel stepped back, disturbed by its appearance. She recognised it now. It was a Scorpion droid. It had thick front claws, and a barbed tail that loomed high behind the driver's seat. Rachel reached down for her impact pistol, and then realised that it wasn't there. She was a civilian. She had no weapons and she had no comms unit. A pang of regret flowed through her. She missed her uniform. She missed being part of the security forces, and right now, she missed her impact pistol most of all. She had to be part of Central Command again. She hoped that Harris could help get her back to where she belonged.
The droid scurried across the road on six thick armoured legs. It was old technology, but it was still a brutal killing machine. What was such an old droid doing in the middle of a civilian area like the Old Quarter? How had its presence gone unnoticed? The patrols should have noticed a droid of this size, even if it had been concealed. All droids should be detectable with standard scanning equipment. Rachel wondered what she should do. She had no way to call for backup. Harris had already gone back to Central Command. She would have to deal with the situation on her own. She stayed back in the shadows, watching and listening as she tried to work out what her next move might be.
Paul struggled with the levers on each side of his seat until he had the Scorpion droid completely under his control. It seemed to fight him, pulling in random directions until he yanked it back into position. Once it had settled, with its claws hanging close to the ground, he turned his attention towards the sky. Rachel watched, wondering what he was doing. He fiddled with more controls in front of him, and the scorpion's tail sprang upright, its tip aiming upwards. His lips moved, forming silent words as he continued twisting knobs and dials in front of him. The tip of the droid's tail split open, revealing an odd basket of long silver spikes. The tail swirled around as though searching for something, and when Rachel looked up into the sky, she saw a Wasp Drone flying high overhead. Behind the Wasp Drone, a dark fluttering shape appeared, barely visible in the sky. The scorpion's tail lit up with a bright blue light as crackling filled the air. Forks of lightning shot up into the sky, tangling together like a spinning vortex of electricity. The basket of silver spikes started spinning, and the crackling noise became louder and louder. Blue light slashed across the sky, leaving white scars across Rachel's vision. The Wasp Drone swooped down on an intercept course, but the white lightning slashed across its path, wrapping it in a tangled web of electricity. Red patches rolled across the drone's shields as it began spinning out of control.