Bar Hopping - Unknown

He thrust the doors open in front of him, taking a second to survey the room from the doorway. After sizing up the place, he walked on in, Ramiel and I following him. He and Ramiel had come here to get a drink. I came here to watch over them.

I took a second to survey the place as well, having never come here before. The place was a little dim and crowded. A long bar ran the length of the right wall, a couple of cloaked figures sitting at its end, with the rest of it inhabited by miserable looking figures. A group of loud imperial marines sat at a table in the back, with the rest of the tables occupied by groups of friends.

“Raphael,” I said as we took our seats at an empty table, “Why’d we come all the way out here?”

Ramiel turned to me a grinned a bit deviously. “You’ll see. This is a fun bar.”

I looked over to Raphael, expecting an answer from the one I asked, but all he did was nod and smile at Ramiel. I shrugged slightly, giving up on it. I guess I’d just have to wait and see. We started to make idle conversation as our drinks came, talking about business, money, and women. Ramiel mentioned Michaela, nudging Raphael and giving a wink. Raphael said nothing and looked away, not comfortable discussing my sister in such a way right in front of me. I secretly thanked him for it.

After a while, once we all had a few drinks in us, Ramiel set his glass down and elbowed Raphael. Raphael nodded, and looked to me.

“Gabriel, why don’t you go get us some more drinks from the bar.”

I gave him a strange look, wondering what the two of them could be up to. I sat for a moment wondering if I wanted to play along with them, or if I should trust my gut and not move. After a few moments of hesitation with both of them gazing at me, I finally relented and stood up.

I made my way over to the bar, bypassing a lot of Amarrians. The further I walked, the more I noticed that everyone at this bar was of the ‘True Amarrian’ ethnicity, and lots of them were giving me rather angry looks. However, I continued to the bar, determined not to let them deter me. I grew up here in the Empire. It was my home.

When I got to the bar, I gestured to the bartender and asked for the drinks. He sauntered over to me, giving me the eye as he did.

“You a slave?” He asked, looking me up and down.

“No,” I replied. “Can I have those drinks, please?”

I felt a hand clamp down on my arm and looked to see who it belonged to. A patron sitting at the bar had clamped his hand down on my upper arm and was now giving me a rather hateful look.
“Slaves aren’t served in here.” He growled as he spoke.

I frowned as I explained again that I was not a slave. “I am not a slave, never was, nor was my father or his father. I am an Ammatar, a proud, God-worshipping people.”

He was quick in his response. “A matar is a matar.”

I pulled my arm away from him, causing him to knock over his drink as his own hand was pulled along as he refused to let go. Immediately he stood up, glaring at me.

“Look what you did now, you useless slave.” His fist came fast.

Halfway between him and my face is when his fist stopped, having landed straight into the outstretched arm of someone standing to the side. I looked over to see who had chosen to intervene, seeing Ramiel. He had a smug smile on his face. A sudden thud made me snap my attention back to my would-be assailant. His head was on the bar, Raphael holding him down.

“He’s no slave.”

His friends got up from the bar, and I could swear Raphael and Ramiel traded a smile. Raphael spun around to plant a punch into the jaw of the nearest man while Ramiel delivered a sharp blow to my assailant’s ribs, causing him to fall off of the barstool and onto the floor.

I stood in complete shock as Raphael and Ramiel started into the brawl, taking hits and giving them right back. I heard the scooting of chairs behind me and turned around to see another group of Amarrians getting ready to get involved. It seems we were deemed the breakers of the peace, and were cast as the villains. I took a couple steps back, having never been in a fight myself and not wanting to get into one now.

However, my evasion was not to be and I felt an arm grab my shoulder, wheeling me around. I clumsily cocked my fist, hoping to land a surprise blow but Ramiel was swift in ducking me under his arm as he pushed me behind him and dove into the crowd.

Tackling one to the ground he delivered a few hits before he was dragged up by the others in the group. I looked around for Raphael, finding him involved in his own fight with a gang of Amarrians. I turned to the bar, spotting two large whiskey bottles sitting on it. Picking them up, I turned back to assist Ramiel.

He was being held by both arms by two Amarrians flanking his sides while a third delivered blows to his chest. Gathering all by strength and holding a bottle in each hand, I cocked both behind my head before throwing them at the Amarrians holding Ramiel in place. Both shattered on the backs of their heads in unison, causing Ramiel to drop to his knees as a punch meant for his face sailed over his head. It was the last thing I saw, however, as I soon was tackled from the side and tumbled over the bar with my assailant.

I hit the floor hard but didn’t have time to dwell on the pain as my tackler was soon on top of me, punches sharply impacting my sides. I brought my knee up, hitting him in the ass and sending his face into the wall behind me. His body went a bit limp and I shoved him off of me, getting to my feet.

I surveyed the brawl from behind the bar, noticing Ramiel and Raphael brawling back to back, fending off attacks while making opportunistic ones of their own. Both made sure to either block or take punches that would hit the other if they were to dodge.

Suddenly there was a large crash as a table turned over. I looked over in the direction it came from, and saw the group of marines stand. It looks like they had drunk enough to want in the fight as well. I prayed they would join our outnumbered side but my hopes fell as one dove over the crowd, landing on top of Raphael.

I was no fighter, but I knew I needed to help out. I decided to give in to the adrenaline pumping through me and leaped over the bar, landing feet first into one of the crowd. I let my arms fly wild, not really caring if I hit anything, just trying to do anything I could to disperse the gathering. One of the crowd grabbed me and dragged me away, a small portion breaking away from Raphael and Ramiel to tend to me.

Ramiel was taking quite a beating but was able to hold his own, making each of his punches count. Raphael, however, had the majority of the marines laying into him, and I saw one deliver a blow to the back of his head, causing him to fall to his knees. The marine in front of him grabbed a fistful of his hair and cocked a punch back, ready to deliver it to his face.

I was suddenly grabbed by the neck and picked up off the ground. There was a large Amarrian with hate in his eyes, his grip tight around my neck. I struggled for breath as I looked down at him, my hands on his wrist, trying to support myself and relieve the pressure.

“I’ve got you now, you worthless Matari. All of you should be exterminated,” he bellowed.

A shot glass zipped through the air and shattered on his temple, causing him to stumble a bit, but he kept his grip on me firm. We both looked over to where it came from.

The cloaked figures at the end of the bar calmly stood, bringing their hands up to remove their hoods. They were Matari! They shed off their cloaks, the uniforms of the Kameiras underneath. By the look in their eyes, they did not take to his words kindly.

They swept across the room, one running across the bar, jumping off of it to deliver a kick to the head of the giant Amarrian. His grip loosened and I fell to the floor, gasping. I looked up at the Kameira as he continued deftly delivering blows to the rest of the group and then quickly averted my gaze to look for Raphael and Ramiel. The other Kameira had assisted Ramiel, and now outpaced him as he flowed from one assault to another.

The marines stood around Raphael, watching the Kameiras move. Instead of delivering a punch to his face, the marine simply kicked Raphael square in the chest, letting him fall to the floor before the group walked back to their table, turning it upright and taking the liquor off of nearby tables before resuming their loud revelry.

The Kameiras made short work of the drunken crowd, Ramiel and Raphael eventually getting to their feet to help out. Soon it was only the five of us standing, the rest having either gone back to their drinking or strewn about the floor. I walked over to one of the Kameiras, rubbing my neck.

“Thanks for the help,” I said, my voice a bit raspy.

“No problem. If only these fools knew that not all of the Matari are garbage. How many of their own kind have fallen from the light of God?” he replied, his voice cool.

I nodded. “Well said, brother.”

Ramiel and Raphael staggered over, holding each other up, their faces bruised and bleeding, but smiling nonetheless.

“These are friends of yours?” The Kameira asked, a curious look on his face.

I nodded again. “Good friends. Some of the best I’ve ever had.”

The Kameira gave them a nod before joining his companion back at the bar, both of them donning their cloaks again. Ramiel threw an arm around my shoulder as the three of us started to walk towards the exit.

He flashed me a toothy grin. “Might want to rethink that ‘best you’ve ever had’ deal.”

I didn’t understand, and gave him a look that told him so.

Raphael peaked around from the other side of Ramiel. “We used you as bait to get a fight going.”

Blood flowed down from a cut above his eye, but smiled at me a bit sheepishly. I shook my head and looked forward.

“Maybe I will.”

--

This was the first of a set of stories written to expand the background information on Saint, but told from the point of view of another. That's the reason they aren't part of the Miner Inconvienences blog, as those are all either narrated by Saint or from a third person point of view. This one was told from the perspective of Gabriel Zakros, a Sebiestor who grew up with Raphael and became is lieutenant after Raphael took over his father's company.

Original posted date unknown.