It's just not fair...
I loved my old job. Fleet liason vessel to Otagian Vassal Planet seven six five one, known to the locals as Coriolis. A real tourist trap for my wards. Well, those who don't mind sand. And wind. Still, the wards were there, and the locals were quite friendly. Not Citizens, but I was getting quite attached to a few thousand of them. The companionship in orbit was great too. Not that crowded, but hey, it kept the noise down and the ones who were there were a riot.
This is where I'd sigh if I had lungs. I've had a very bad day.
Scanning crowd… Really, Id, are you sure he’s here?
Positive. I have a few sources that put him walking in here last night, and nobody’s seen him leave yet. Now, you will find me this undesirable and take him into custody in your hold, or I will rend you to your component quits. Do you understand me, you filthy little nanosent?
Perfectly, Id. I will continue my search.
Good. Don’t disappoint me, Peacekeeper. It would be a shame to delete you. Id out.
Really, it was rather rude of him to call me a nanosent. I’m certainly no gigalith- arch-sentients, the Novaneans like to call them- like the Big Three, but I’ve a full cruiser to myself, along with hundreds of thousands of Avatars on Coriolis, with thousands more scattered across planets I’ve visited or fellow ships I’ve befriended. I’m not tiny!
Anyway. There I am, standing in the door of- No, not me me. My grav drives would start a super-sandstorm that would blast hardened Adam plating to dust. A pair of Herakles Avatars. Now where was I… Ah, yes. There I am, standing in the door of this bar. A real low down dive, to be perfectly honest. A few Citizens- Chimera mercs, by the tattoos adorning their shaven heads- were strenuously arguing with each other in total silence, but pretty much everyone else seemed to be nursing a hangover from last night’s bender. Hell, even the Rhun in the back corner- everyone was giving him a wide berth, I’ll tell you! –was curled up like a puppy in front of a fire, psychic angst radiating off of him like a metronome.
I was scanning the room for some fugitive that Id wanted found. It seemed a silly matter. Everyone had passed my cursory scan, but no. The damned super sentient idiot wanted me to do a deep scan. Should have just ignored him. Sure, I might have gotten deleted, but hey, if I hadn’t I’d still be working that sweet ambassador gig.
The deep scan started it all. The guy lit up like a strobe light after my efforts revealed that he was wearing that damned black-body trench coat. With his back to me and him hunched over like that, he was freaking invisible. And of course, just had to go and pester him…
Striding over, both mes flanked his chair, one intoning the usual jabber- “Please come with us sir. This is for your own good sir. Don’t attempt to resist or we’ll atomize you sir.” You know the shtick- while reaching out and grabbing the guy's shoulder.
In retrospect, that was a mistake.