Nala led Max and Nico out of Alix's restaurant and into the commercial district, where anyone could tell that there was something big about to happen. Everyone was tense, the number of people on the street had plummeted to only those who truly needed something right at this moment, and none of the shopkeepers were making their usual cries, attempting to peddle their wares.
"This is the single worst coup attempt I've ever seen. They're not being even a little bit sneaky, but they're not openly attacking, just giving each other time to prepare. What are they doing? Preparing for a Reality TV contract?" Nico muttered to Nala, which made their guide laugh.
"You shouldn't joke about that. A lot of people could get hurt today." The young woman whispered back.
Max laughed. "That's not the right way to convince Nico. She's censured entire planets, Orbital Lanced cities, and even bombarded a world until it cracked. A little turf war in the market is child's play."
Nala shook her head and Nico led them into a shop.
"I see a thing. I'm not sure what it is, and that intrigues me." She informed them as she led the group out of the streets.
For Nico to not recognize an item, even from this close, was a rarity. She would normally be able to interface with it from here, and that would tell her exactly what it was.
But the item in question was completely unpowered, there wasn't even a backup battery in it for her to work with, so she had picked it up off the shelf to examine it more closely, and feed it power through her outer shell.
"Oh, that is an interesting thing. It's a form of laser sword with a self stabilizing beam containment field that's like nothing I've seen before. We've got plenty of laser swords and laser torches, but this is pretty cool." She informed them, while the shopkeeper came over to talk to them.
This shop was one of many that had put trinkets out, hoping to attract attention from the special customers, and it looked like it was going to pay off. The sword wasn't an expensive thing, usually going for under a thousand credits in damaged shape like this one was, but it was enough for them to come inside and look at his wares.
"That is a curious item, though not one of the most rare that I have. They were made in the next star system a few thousand years ago, but were discontinued after a new form of deflector shield came into use. I have some other items from the same era if you are interested." He offered, with a gesture toward the back of the store.
"Certainly. We came out today to find interesting things, and I suspect that if we look around for long enough, we are almost guaranteed to see something interesting." Nico agreed.
The old shopkeeper snorted in amusement at her understatement. He might not be some bigwig, but he was a Black Market vendor, and he had eyes. There was definitely going to be something interesting happening today.
Max and Nico wandered around for a few minutes as Nala got visibly more nervous and the noise outside got a bit louder, down from the silence it had been a few minutes ago.
"Well, we should move on to the next shop. Perhaps we will see you again, it was a pleasure doing business with you." Max informed the shopkeeper while Nico paid for her purchase.
"Of course. Would you like a bag for that?" He replied.
"No need. I have a storage device, courtesy of the Hunters." Nico replied, reminding Max that most species didn't know that humans had their own.
Well, any of them that hadn't been on a human ship anyhow, since he had given them out as gifts to the VIP visitors.
They stepped outside, and the crowd was beginning to pick up again, but they were all headed in the same direction, and Nala was urging them to get a move on.
"Seriously, we should go check out the textiles district, it's only five minutes away, and it should be much less crowded than here." She was suggesting.
Nico patted her on the head. "There are still more good things in here. No need to hurry."
But Max knew Nico was wrong. The shops were all about to close up as the crowd began to surge toward the old boss's base of operations.
"I don't know how to say this nicely, but are you bulletproof? Because I'm not, and I don't want to be here for this." Nala retorted.
"Actually, I am. But alright, we can go to the textiles district next." Nico giggled.
Max listened to the thoughts in the area as the pedestrian traffic got closer to the restaurant district, and quickly led the other two inside a furniture shop that was about to close their shutter.
"Sorry about that. You can close up for your break if you like, we will just wait here for the next ten minutes." Max informed the panicked girl working the shop that day.
"Ten minutes?" She asked, confused.
"That should do."
The diversion that had taken the scouts and the majority of Alix's men away from the area had failed when the boss had sent out the message earlier than expected, and only seconds later another mob of people came running by.
It was the worst-case scenario for the coup. They were about to be boxed in by the boss's men, and they had delayed too long in getting things going.
Max settled into a chair to listen to the battle play out in the minds of the participants, while Nico dragged Nala around the store to take her mind off what was happening outside. She had a good relationship with Alix, the current boss, but that meant that she was unlikely to get the same treatment from whoever replaced him, and things hadn't been looking good when they left the restaurant.
She didn't have Nico's enhanced senses and combat experience, or Max's mind reading to tell her what was going on, so she had no idea what team the second group that had run past them were on, or even what was going on around them now that they were in the store with the metal shutters closed.
