Alok Dang, the Arkanian owner of a small electronics supply store, was working late tonight. He had decided to stay late to catch up on some book keeping, and although the main store lights were off, the back work area was still lit.
From time to time, Alok had seen the flashing lights of the patrol speeders as they cruised quickly by his shop. He wondered briefly what the emergency was but, as it was no concern of his, he quickly forgot about it.
He lost himself, and track of time, in his task, until a rapping on the transparisteel storefront window drew him back to the real world. Alok looked up to see a human woman standing there, tapping on the window.
"We're closed!" he yelled.
The woman said nothing, but rapped on the window again. Alok stood up from his desk, grumbling something to himself about inferior lifeforms and walked up to the front door. "We're closed. Are you deaf as well as human?" he said through the glass.
"I'm working on a project, and I have to get it done before tomorrow, and I really need to pick up some power converters," she said pleadingly. "I'll do... whatever it takes... if you'll sell me a few right now!"
Alok eyed the young blond woman up and down. She was wearing a black cloak over some sort of black, form fitting jumpsuit. He had noticed she said "whatever it takes" instead of "whatever it costs." He wasn't normally attracted to humans, inferior as they were, but this one was fairly pretty for a human, and worst case scenario: He would make a late night sale.
"Fine," Alok said, "but make it quick. I have work to do." He pulled his security card and swiped it through the mechanism on the door. With a click, the light turned from red to green. He hit the button and the door swooshed open.
"This better be worth my while," he said, turning away from the woman entering his shop and walking over to the row of power converters. "Now, are you smart enough to know what kind of converters you need? There are all kinds, you know." Alok said stopping in front of a set of shelving filled with various makes and models.
When she didn't answer, he turned to look at the girl, angry that she was indeed wasting his time. "Look, I don't..."
He stopped mid-sentence, staring into the end of some sort of cylindrical tube only centimeters from his face. He saw her thumb flick an activator switch, and then a bright red light consumed his vision.
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