Food and War: Part II

     Dam-Torsad was a riot of color and sound; quite unlike any of the expectations he had, but it being the first city he had been to, those expectations were rather paltry compared to the reality, and enormity, of the Imperial capital.

     Still reeling from the orbital descent, he couldn't stop looking up.  As the last rays of the sun struck the golden-skinned towers and spires, the feeling of wonder and awe almost overwhelmed Akai.  The noise and stench of a billion people intermingled with the dusty smells of the desert, so new and so potent, nearly choked his nose and throat.  Used to stale air that had been recycled and reprocessed a few trillion times too many, his mind raced to catalog every new smell and taste, unable to keep pace with what lay in front of him.  His escort, a squad of Inquisition troopers armed and armored in gold and scarlet, had to keep prodding him forward about once a minute, as his body couldn't seem to process the new sights and sounds and smells while walking at the same time.  For his first planetfall, Akai expected little difference in walking through a metropolis compared to docking in high orbit.  Despite his capsuleer status, and his wealth, Akai's naivete was not very surprising to the guards politely shoving him forward. 


"Commander, please move along.  The Inquisition does not like to be kept waiting, and we'd all like to keep our jobs, and our fingers, intact," the squad leader, a woman named Shuqara, said.  She and her squad had been sent to the starport to ensure Akai's timely arrival, and they were already late.

"Yes, yes of course, Lieutenant.  I just never expected it would be so - " Akai began to say.

"Magnificent?" Shuqara said, her eyes glittering with pride.

"No, while it is magnificent, in it's own peculiar way, I was going to say reeking of corruption." Akai said, counting at least two hundred contraband items for sale around him as the squad hustled him through the famed Izoni Square.  Many were obvious knockoffs, and many more were simply the misguided productions of charlatans and mountebanks; but here and there, icons of the Sani-Sabik were peddled in shaded stalls, sold next to illegal and dangerous narcotics.

"Commander, with all due respect, please try not to blaspheme so loudly.  I would hate to have to arrest you so soon after planetfall," Shuqara replied through gritted teeth. 

"Oh, is the truth now blasphemy?  You would do well to remember I not only outrank you, but as an Inquisitor myself, I am allowed certain... liberties, Lieutenant.  I mean no offense to this glorious city, but my duty is not to pride, but to God and Empire." Akai said, staring almost straight up at a nearby spire, glittering in the dusky sun.

"Of course, Commander.  My apologies," Shuqara replied, pushing him forward with a bit more roughness than was necessary.  A crowd had begun to form behind them, mostly consisting of those destitute enough to dare beg from a capsuleer; the stench and foul appearance did more to move Akai forward, than the Lieutenant's rough treatment.