Private Corscanti Darkness

[Binary]

There was something about the rain that was freeing, lifting. The sound of raindrops on the concrete, the feeling of droplets of water running through your hair and down your face. A delicate hand lifted, palm held out as silvery eyes watched the drops splatter against her skin. Or at least against her skin equivalent. The feeling of the water, the sensations and smells were all just constructs, products of her memory, echoes of the past. It was a twisted prank played on her, memories so real that she could taste them, feel the touch on her skin. Except she couldn’t, skin that might pass for realistic under any other position, to the eye, to be touched, it was skin that couldn’t pass down the touch of the wind or the rain. It was like she was living in a cage, seeing the world outside but never able to feel it. An enduring torment left to her by a sick sick mind.

That was why she was out here, hunched over in the rain, perched on the edge of a building like a falcon. Lean features catching the light for a moment as a speeder blasted overhead, the fabric of the parka surrounding her fluttering and shifting in the wind. She couldn’t do much, couldn’t be caught, not with the remotes held over her head, the line of code that could take control of her body at any time…but she could chip away at the gangs that fed the Coruscanti underground, bit by bit, drop by drop she could bring an empire down.

What did time matter to her. She was a droid now.

Ryan Riverlight

 

[Ryan Riverlight]

It was raining, the soft pitter patter of it feel gently against Ryan's hood. It smelt of good times and the refreshing nature of worlds even here. It reminded him of times when he was still a young child, even when he was a youngling playing with others in the rain allowing himself to get absolutely soaked just for the fun of it. He held his hand out letting the rain fall gently into his palm, watching it carefully run down through his fingers down to the ground.

While eventually he would be soaked through Ryan knew he had to keep a low profile a force user anywhere on any world immediately raises eyebrows and then add to that idea that he had been refusing to join any major groups and you get a recipe for disaster. Thus he allowed himself to be soaked, as he looked down on his belt he was checking his still had all his gear. Which consisted of his own lightsabre, 2 DL-21 Blaster pistols and a few extra charges for them. Then also hidden up his sleeve he had a EC-17 Hold-out blaster just in case he had to take off his belt for whatever reason. But his plan mostly consisted of using the blasters first and calling upon his use of the force along with his lightsabre for later if needs be.

Looking around he spotted several speeders going past but none of them was the people he was looking for. So he stayed in place waiting and watching for these damned gang members to appear so that he could begin removing the problem from the ground up to whoever the head was. Besides he could wait all night if he had to, he'd run many missions like this before he had left the order and he didn't mind doing them again for himself.

Binary

 

[Binary]

There was something about the twilight hour in the under levels of Coruscant that just seemed to draw out, like something out of a story, of a myth. The fairytales she'd been told as a child had spoken of that moment when time seemed to draw out and lose itself in the magic of the moment. That was kind of how she felt now, trapped in the moment, in a fairytale, some kind of surreal experience like those she'd dreamed of as a child. What little girl didn't want to be a princess and slay monsters? Whether she was the princess now, or the monster, a changeling. That was something she'd let someone else decide.

She could hear the tramp of footsteps around her, passerby, innocent or otherwise hurrying to and from, shoulders hunched and heads bowed against the rain. It was the walk of the under-dweller, eyes furtively glancing around, always watchful for a gang member or criminal to come charging out of the shadows to assault them. It was the haunted look of citizens who lived under siege...or at least most of them did. Scattered in amongst the crowd were those who thrived in the dim twilight, those who stood upright. Those who found themselves at the top of the pile, for one reason or the other. The gang members and escorts, those who entire lifestyle was about drawing attention to themselves.

White teeth pressed down on the soft flesh of her lower lip as the woman raised a single digit, scratching it along her jaw as she tilted her head to the side in thought. She knew the gang members were inside, knew that the product they'd gathered for sale was in there too...only they didn't seem too keen to come out. Well, if they wouldn't come out...maybe she could get in. A roll of her shoulders slipped off her jacket leaving the HRD clad in just her jumpsuit. Her weapons joined the jacket, it wouldn't exactly do to be carrying them in with her...besides, she could handle a few gangsters if she needed to. Slipping down from her perch the echani-looking woman slipped into the crowd, making her way towards the building. It was easy for her to forget sometimes that the body she'd found herself in had been designed to appeal to the male ego. Slight footsteps carried her down the path and towards the building as she reached into her pocket, that unsure slightly out of depth look on her face as she approached the guard.

"Umm...Len sent me...he said I could get...umm..from you and...it'd be a good price..."

She let her eyes flick around and shoulders hunch, as if she were afraid that somewhere there was a police officer who would be waiting to leap out at her for even uttering those words.

 

[Ryan Riverlight]

Ryan continued watching as the rain fell down into the Coruscant underground. It was mildly concerning that it managed to fall that far without any issues and that he was drenched in the stuff. So far he had made sure he wasn't drinking any of the stuff especially since he could only guess at the levels of pollution in the air this low down and what that would do to the rain water. He was glad he didn't have to live down here but he did feel sad for those who did but he knew there wasn't much he could to assist them beyond the taking down of this gang.

He continued watching the warehouse when he spotted an echani woman heading towards it. He shook his head she looked like a drug user and was getting her fix from these people. If the government regulated these things better maybe people like her wouldn't have to come down to the lower levels for it but he also knew from history the government on Coruscant regardless never cared much for the lower levels. Shame really lots of good people lost to the lower levels thanks to drugs and gang violence.

Still this was a good opportunity to try something a bit different as he carefully walked to the building next to the warehouse and began scaling it. With the guard distracted by the woman he could finally use some of his climbing skills to slip his way inside. As he got close to the top of the building he looked across seeing that he was above the warehouse, he carefully made the leap as his hands hit the edge of the ledge on the warehouse and scrambled up. He saw a few skylights that he could see into so he careful got himself into position and began counting everyone inside.

As he looked around through the skylights he could make out at least 7 people inside, what seemed to be 2 non-combatants who looked like some sort of chemists or lab users or something and then 5 combatants. He couldn't make out much more than that they were armed from here and so he waited for a moment to finally strike.

Binary

 

[Binary]

It was a little terrifying how quickly it all came back, the programming her body had come with always sitting there at the edge of her consciousness. There were some days she woke up not entirely sure about who she was anymore, if she was Anya, the girl who had grown up in the mid-levels of the city, or if Anya was just an implanted set of memories she’d been programmed with to give her more personality. She wouldn’t put anything past Diego, his cruelty was…imaginative. Right now though, her identity crisis wasn’t something she could spend too much time worrying about, she had more pressing concerns. Like those 5 armed men patrolling around the edge of the warehouse.

It was so easy to fall into the role, eyes extra-wide, shoulders hunched as if that would make her slip past people’s attention. It didn’t though, the position, the nervous attitude just served to attract more attention to her. Which was the plan in the first place.

After all, all the guards would see was a lost young woman who was entirely lost and out of place, nervous and unsure of herself. White teeth bit into the soft flesh of her lower lip, simulating that insecurity that she was giving off, hurrying along as she hurried closer to the guard leading her into the warehouse.

“I’ve never done anything like this before. I mean I’ve brought things now and then but it was always just a little and I’ve never come here but he said if I did he’d give me a little discount and…I can’t say no to that can I?”

The words ran together, giving every impression of a woman out of her depth and scrambling for something to hold. The man would never know that she’d palmed his blaster as she clung onto him, glancing around at the guards converging on her.

This would be a challenge.

Ryan Riverlight

 

[Ryan Riverlight]

Ryan continued looking through the window, trying to figure out how best to strike after all it was 5 against one inside but he had neglected to check how many were outside beyond the one on the door who looked capable, so that was definitely six on one and that wasn't to say there wasn't more around the warehouse.

It didn't look great for himself, as he mused thinking on what to do next. He was rather deep in the idea when he heard a door somewhere on the roof and the sounds of people talking which didn't help. He shifted his way as quietly as he could across the roof and out of sight.

As he managed to see two of the combatants had come up to the roof for a break, they were a Twi'lek man and a Nautolan woman. At least they hadn't spotted me yet, Ryan thought to himself as he shifted his weight to move further around to them, but just as he did his shadow must of given him away as they begun shouting.

Kark, Ryan thought as he begun pulling his blasters from his belt. Making sure they were still set to stun as he peeked out of cover and shot at the Twi'lek man which connected with his chest and to Ryan's surprise did absolutely nothing. Because of course he was wearing armour Ryan thought to himself, this was a gang after all. This time he poked around the other side firing another shot this time at the mans arm, narrowly hitting it, ducking as the blaster shots in relation hit the wall beside him. So much for stealth.

 

[Binary]

There was a distinct sound to blaster shots, the whine of energy almost sounded like singing a sound that you would recognize no matter where you heard it. In the under levels of Coruscant, it was a song that was as familiar as breathing to the denizens of the Coruscanti Underworld, a sound that meant that the gangs were fighting, that death would be visiting someone soon. It was a sound that Binary was all too familiar with, the soundtrack of her life...but it was the sound that the part she was playing, wide-eyed innocent ingénue wouldn't be so accustomed too.

It was an opening she didn't plan on missing.

The petite woman seemed to jump out of her skin, clutching at the guard she'd been talking to, trying to hold onto his arm and slide behind his back as if he'd protect her. It was a calculated gesture, pressed up against his back, one that few people could avoid reacting to, a smile spreading over his face as he glanced around, trying to locate the source of the shots. He never expected the shot that burned through his chest from the back. The man's eyes widened for a moment before he dropped to the ground, the blasted disappearing behind the woman's back as she screamed and dived for cover.

"I don't want to die!"

It was a ruse that lasted a few seconds before the rest of the crew realised that there were no other combatants in the room, precious seconds that carried her to cover before the shots started whining over her head. This...was how she'd hoped the night would end.

Ryan Riverlight

 

[Ryan Riverlight]

Ryan continued hiding behind his little outcrop of what he could only describe as air conditioner parts as the other combatant continued firing at him. The sound of laser bolts would attract more of them from inside he knew which would make his life even harder. This was supposed to be easier than this, there wasn't supposed to be this many hostiles and they weren't supposed to have roof access.

Least not from what he had seen and the small amounts of plans on the building he had found deep within the recesses of the Coruscant planetary library. But it had been a long time since anyone from the upper city had been down to the lower regions of Coruscant. Also made it like Taris he mused as he was still being shot at. But he was broken out of that thought by the sound of a second singular shot ringing out.

He had help possibly or at least what sounded like some small amount of help. Well that would be interesting as he began looking around for a way out seeing a second blasters worth of fire. As he was looking around he spotted the chemicals through the glass he had been looking through. Maybe just maybe he could set them off.

As he blasted again at the two people on the room. He set his second blaster onto the normal setting firing several shots below into the chemicals which seemed to set something alight. He was really hoping this would work, and just as he was thinking that something exploded which caused more explosions as he saw the roof below going, he constructed a force sphere around himself that would protect him from the incoming damage.

Binary

 

[Binary]

The whine of blaster shots ricocheting around the room was like a symphony that seemed to surround her as the woman hunkered down behind the crates. She could smell that familiar burning of duracrete and crates as the energy splashed across her cover. She knew that it was only a matter of time before they blew through it, before someone got a lucky shot at her through the crates. As...unskilled as her opponents might be there was a quality to numbers that would more than overwhelm her.

Silver eyes glanced down at the blaster in her hands, deft fingers flying over the weapon as she racked the weapon the energy pack, hearing the weapon come to life in her hands, almost vibrating with eager energy. A head peered out over the edge for a moment before she ducked back under cover, the blaster bolts bouncing through the space she had occupied mere moments ago as the woman dived for cover, sprawling headlong onto the ground as she snapped hast shots off at the guards.

Not that it was any use. She could see one of them lining up a shot at her, her own shots burning into the all-around them as she felt time slow down, staring her impending doom in the eye. She barely had time to raise a hand before the world shook, the walls and ceiling bucking, caving in around her as she tried to spine and dodge, a cloud of dust rising around her as she dived forward, one hand reaching for the guard's throat as she exchanged blows with him.

"Just go down already!"

She felt the man's fist rattling her jaw around as she brought a knee up, watching him finally fall as she staggered over to a wall, casting around for her gun as a man seemed to float down from the ceiling.

"Are you a Jedi? Oh god I'm saved!"

 

[Ryan Riverlight]

As the roof continued collapsing Ryan kept the bubble around him and even extended his hand out to slow his fall. Big chunks of the roof bounced off the bubble and as it did so it weakened him significantly making his fall faster than he was hoping for hitting the ground with a crash. He managed to keep his force bubble up as he hit the ground keeping himself largely protected from the rest of the debris.

When he finally released the force bubble, everything had stopped falling but the noise of blasters hadn't. He looked around and noticed a woman who was staggering mentioning something about him being a jedi. He slowly got up feeling his sides burn from all the energy he had used keeping the force bubble up. "Not a jedi, anymore at least. As for being saved I wouldn't be so sure, after all they are still firing at as." He said as blaster bolts flew over his head.

He looked where they were coming from seeing a man firing. He lined up the shot, set his blaster back on stun and fired hitting the man dead centre in his chest as he was trying to change his battery pack. "And that is why you shouldn't reload in the open. I assume there are more around here and we also don't have long before the corusanti lower level police show up so lets get to stunning." He said pressing forward looking for anyone who hadn't been buried under the rubble.

Binary

 

[Binary]

"I...ah...ok stun them...sure."

The man might not be a Jedi, but he sure looked like one, he sure acted like one. Binary had never actually met a live Jedi before, but she could remember her mother laying in bed with her, telling her stories about the great and pure defenders of the galaxy. She'd made it sound like they appeared like avenging angels, to route out darkness and evil wherever it existed, to help the citizens of the galaxy. They'd been gods, heroes, wonderous being to the young girl and she'd been so sure that they'd come to rescue all the people who needed them guided by that magical force.

What a joke.

She'd grown up since then, seen the worst that organics could do to one another. Slavery, drugs and worse. She'd seen the gangs reduce entire population to fearful shells, she'd done it herself. She's seen the fear and terror one being could cause another, and yet, in the middle of all the darkness, where had the Jedi been? Those angels of light she'd always dreamed of had failed to show themselves. Every day countless acts of horror were perpetuated across the planet but no one ever stepped in to stop them.

No Jedi had come to save her from Diego's tender mercies.

She saw the man who had fallen through the ceiling stun one of the guards as she stared down at the gun in her hands before spinning it around and blasting a shot over his shoulder taking out another of the guards who had been aiming a shot.

"Watch out! Umm..how do I switch this to stun...get down."

Another flurry of shots in the direction of a guard, she'd do whatever it took to survive, to bring down the gangs. The Jedi might have been a lie but an avenging angel still existed...of a sort.

Ryan Riverlight

 

[Ryan Riverlight]

Ryan ducked under the shots from one of the remaining gangsters firing back at her and hitting her arm. Well this was going worse than expected, he was just trying to check it out and hopefully sabotage the operation not take down the entire thing in one sitting. But here he was with a woman he didn't know and the rubble of the roof everywhere. He sighed as he shot the guard in the leg dropping him as his leg went numb then firing again knocking him out.

So this was how things went down in the underworld, bantha poo hit the fan and everything went sideways. He looked at the woman before him thinking for a moment then speaking "It doesn't matter really if you don't know how to set to stun. I forget sometimes that not everyone out here would like to see people survive and would much rather take revenge and a life. If thats what you've been doing, can't say I blame you." He put the safeties on his blasters placing them back in their holders, as he did so the lightsabre on his belt becoming visible before disappearing again under the cloak.

It was still raining and without the roof for this place anymore there were puddles being created amongst the rubble and the bodies. Both those unconscious and dead he looked down at them all before taking a sit against one of the walls. "That seems to be all of them though it'll be interesting to see will the lower level security get here first or will more of their gang arrive. I guess only time will tell but at least there are less of these harmful deathsticks on the street. You know I found out about these things because of a hospital clinic down here. Normally deathstick users have some side effects but these versions were killing people. Some sort of addictive additive that make them want to take several at once killing them with an overdose from the additive."

Binary

 

[Binary]

Silvery eyes scanned across the scene, peering at the rubble like it was going to shift aside to reveal a new army of thugs to menace them. It was an almost natural reaction for the woman now, waiting for the other shoe to drop, even when she could see anything, anywhere that the horde would come from. It wasn’t just a case of being better safe than sorry, although that was still the case, life had prepared her to always expect the worst to happen. Instictively her eyes flicked up, glancing at the ceiling at the layers of buildings that stretched up as far as the eye could see. Someone up there would have seen them would have seen the gunfight, the denizens of the lower levels might not have stepped in to interfere but that didn’t mean that they didn’t take notice, that they wouldn’t go running to the gang to sell that information for a few credits, for a pinch of spice.

This hadn’t been her plan, she’d wanted to observe the operation, maybe make some contacts, insinuate herself into their expectations so she could pick them off in the darkness, in silence. Now, all she could do was hope that whoever was watching was far enough away that they couldn’t make out faces, would recognise her. The woman’s blaster went back into a holster, shoulders hunching slightly as she took a step towards Ryan, peering past him before she reached for his arm, tugging him away from the scene.

“Down here? Security might show up eventually, after the gang’s been and picked over the place, they wouldn’t dare to show up until their lords and masters give them the say so. Most of the officers here are well and truly brought and sold, it’s pretty much the only way to survive. So…we probably don’t want to be caught here when people start to investigate…unless you want that clinic you mentioned to be targeted in retaliation.”

It was sad, but that was the nature of business down here, you hurt them and then they’d retaliate by hitting your weak points too.

“It was…nice of you to try to stop the deathsticks…not many people would. Even though, you know, you blew up an entire factory while doing that. Not really the most stealthy jedi are you?”

Ryan Riverlight

 

[Ryan Riverlight]

Feeling the tug on his arm Ryan looked up. He looked into the silvery eyes of the woman he had assisted. He could see what she was saying was absolutely true, the gangs would arrive for retribution well before any sort of law enforcement showed up. Given what he'd been learning outside his order this seemed to start becoming more and more the sad truth of life. Everyone is likely to show up before law enforcement, if only so the officers are less likely to be killed.

"That's funny, you know once upon a time word was officers down here used to be completely unknown. Heavy full body garbs and voice modulators. Too keep them safe but I guess with all the turmoil down here eventually someone would have to been able to find and break one guard. Eventually they would give up everyone else. People will say anything to make pain stop or so I've been told." He said completely emotionless getting to his feet. He took a quick look around, puddles of blood and water were mixing into a very light red puddles. Chemicals were still split everywhere with glass inside their own puddles. A very broken scene with no way anyone will know who was actually here.

"Wasn't here to blow up the factory. Some of the guards came up top where I was hiding for a bloody smoke. I was caught out in the open, didn't have much choice end of the day. Still didn't kill though, no point in killing. Most of them died from the explosion which was partially my fault but I still didn't actively kill them. Also I am not a Jedi." Well not anymore he thought to himself. Not since I left the order. "Right so lets get out of here. Please lead the way."

Binary

 

[Binary]

"I believe it, down here, you can't have any weakness, can't have any crack in your armour for someone to exploit, because they will."

Silvery eyes glanced up at the dark roof that confined their world, not so much a sky as a prison that kept them in, kept them confined and small. Her feet began to move, almost as if on auto-pilot as she danced around a pile of debris, ducked under an iron girder before ducking into an alley. The streets down here were a maze, a warren of twists and turns that no outsider could hope to navigate, but there was something to be said for having a droid's brain.

She couldn't forget anything, even if she wanted to.

"When I first arrived down here, there was good, and there was bad. Those who would use you without a second thought would do anything they could to break you to get what they wanted, exploit any advantage. But, there were also those who went out of their way to help you, to give you hope. Sharing food, a roof, a blanket. They let you survive down here, they provided...hope. It just seems easier for people to walk the other path, to look out for themselves first...I know it's easier for me."

The woman might look up to, respect those who were that selfless but she couldn't do it. Couldn't afford to do it.

"Intentions are pretty dressings that we can hold onto but the fact is that they're all dead now one way or the other and we're no closer to figuring out the next step along the chain...unless your spooky totally not Jedi powers told you something."

Ryan Riverlight