Private Coruscant Twilight

[Binary]

​

There was something unchanging about the stars that twinkled in the sky like diamonds set in a dark velvet background. Something relaxed and peaceful, no matter who you were, where you were, the stars remained the same. Over the rich and poor, the happy and sad, the heavens remained, it was a great equaliser, a view that everyone could enjoy.

Or almost everyone.

Down in the depth of Coruscant, you rarely saw the night’s sky, rarely saw the sun. It was a perpetual twilight, the weak sunlight that managed to filter down through the sub-levels mixed with the lights of buildings and vehicles. It was a gloom that seemed to not just wrap around you but seep into your very bones. It could be seen in the attitude of the inhabitants of the levels, eyes down, shoulders hunched as they scurried from building to building. As they scurried like bugs running from the light.

It was no small wonder that the law here was…stretched. The Coruscanti Police Force rarely if ever showed their faces here. Instead, law, justice, was the provenance of the various gangs that called the underworld home. Justice here was a balancing act, power and influence, wars fought overhead and in the streets. It had been this way for millennia, an unsteady peace paid for in the blood of the innocent. Their lives, their dreams, ground up as chaff beneath the gangs need for notoriety and power.

A fist clenched, the actuators below her skin almost silent, if you didn’t know you were looking at a droid there was nothing to give her away. But she knew. Silver-blue eyes glanced up at the sky, at the speeders soaring overhead. She was starting to forget, forget what it felt like to feel the warmth of the sun kissing your skin. The feeling of wind pulling at your hair, or the warmth of someone else’s smile.

She was forgetting what it was like to be human.

She could still remember her father, remember the feeling of the hug when she’d shown him the report card with all As. The warmth of his smile when he took her to get ice-cream, the feeling of annoyance and happiness as he reached out to ruffle her hair.

It was a talisman, an anchor she could hold onto, but she was losing that too. She couldn’t remember what he smelt like, those little inflexions in his voice that said so much about a person. She could remember one thing though. He wanted his friends his community to be better, he’d wanted her to be better.

She’d let him down, had run right into the gang-life he’d tried to protect her from and how well had that ended up for her? But, maybe she could accomplish another wish, maybe that way she wouldn’t feel his ghost glaring at her.

Silver eyes dropped down to stare at the warehouse she’d been watching, the roaming patrols of guards and droids wandering around it. It was a small thing, a minor gang that held a thin slice of territory and owed their fealty to the larger gangs. It was only a chip off a stone block that seemed to be gigantic.

But it was a chip. Every journey began with a step.

Shoulders hunched, eyes down and collar hunched up. Just another worker scurrying along, doing her best to get by without being seen. Sticking to the shadows and wending her way closer. One step in front of another, a small step to start a journey, to bring down a gang. Unseen eyes blazed with fury. A first step to her revenge.

Amara Zarides

 

[Amara Zarides]

Binary

"This is the location." The clipped almost-monotone said. The redheaded female was staring down from a gantry on a nearby tower base. They were a couple of stories above the warehouse, maybe a hundred metres away from it.
"Excellent. Good work finding it!" The blonde was enthusiastic.
"I caution against any direct action. The odds of success are low and the chance of the prisoners being harmed is high."
Amara Zarides snorted slightly. She did appreciate her robotic chaperone and (not secret) spy her sister had sent her. However she was, what she considered, a 'wet blanket'.
"We just need to be smart with how we do it. Shosh has a plan I'm sure!"
"Shoshary," the Cathar behind them said sternly. "And I may have a plan which will allow us bypass security."
"See? She's got it all under control!" Amara turned away and looked at the rest of her 'posse'. "What did you find, Faelar?"
The Eldorai primly cleared her throat. "Single entry ground level. The other end has been completely blocked off. That lets them easier defend just one approach. Unlike some other similar structures there's no easy access from the top or sides. Seems like once it was a warehouse for armaments or similar because it was built very secure."
"Hmm, not great. Zar'kahn, tell me you have a solution."
"I have a solution," the Kar'zun said dryly.
"Well, share with the class!" Amara exclaimed impatiently.
"Patience," he replied sternly. "I conducted a thorough examination of the substructure and surrounds of the installation and found that there is an inlet for ventilation running from the Works. It is no longer functioning and it is just large enough for a small humanoid to access. It will take you inside towards the rear of the interior but the vent is high on the wall."

Amara looked around the four other faces. A good leader never asked anyone to do anything they were not willing to. Besides she was likely the only one who could do this particular task. Zhenya, her HRD bodyguard, would be both too heavy and would lack an easy means to hide herself, not to mention get down from the high point.
"Right, well I'll take the vent. The rest of you make your attack from the front. Distraction mainly, but then full fledged when the time comes. We'll use that speeder we commandeered to take them out of there. It's not going to be easy but we can do it."
"I strongly recommend against this," Zhenya said flatly.
"Your advice has been noted and has been considered. Help the others. We'll keep in touch."
"What if they have explosive collars or implants on their...captives?" Faelar asked slowly, not liking to say the real word.
"I've got a broad spectrum jammer and I'll take an ion grenade or two just in case. Hopefully it won't come to that."
There was a pause.
"Well, let's get to it. Remember, we won't solve any problems in a day but we can help. I've got trusted contacts which will take the rescued people away somewhere better when we get them out. Let's go. I'll buzz you when I'm in position.."

 

[Binary]

There was no rain, how could there be this far down into Coruscant’s sublevels, the most they’d ever experienced was the joy of a pipe bursting. The patter of little feet dashing through the water, kicking it up, the sound of silvery laughter filling the normally dreary corridors. There had been little enough to laugh about, to smile about in those days, that brief spray of water before the maintenance men came had been a pleasant break in the heavy clouds that encompassed their days. She’d heard of rain before, in the stories and the holonovels, but she’d never experienced it since. She could still remember it though, that brief moment where she’d been able to turn her face up and feel the cool water running down her cheeks. Silver eyes flickered up to stare at the dark ceiling above her head, a sad smile playing across her lips.

It should have been raining now.

It would have made her job that much easier.

Slim shoulders hunched, head bowed as the android stared at the floor, accentuating her think waif-like figure as she flitted from shadow to shadow. It was the walk of those who didn’t want to be accosted, the harried walk of the inhabitants of the sub levels as they tried to avoid the eyes of the gangs. The walk of someone who had places to be and didn’t want to be focused on. It ws funny, this time when she wanted to be able to sneak through the shadows, the inhabitants of the sublevels had given her just the disguise she needed to hide in plain sight.

Well, almost everything she needed.

The young woman could feel the guard’s eye following her, almost taste the hunger in their gaze as furtive eyes watched her for a moment. A tiny smile played across her lips, curling the edges up. Hidden right in plain sight, the guards would dismiss her, cast her from their mind. Even when questioned by their bosses later, who would remember, put any importance on the girl making her way home through the cold and the dark. A piece of eye-candy and nothing more. It was…it was what she was reduced to but she could still take advantage of it.

For one, the woman she’d become and the child she’d been were both in agreement. Do anything to save the captives in the building and get them out.

There was no other choice.

A week of staking out the rooftops had revealed a vent, it wasn’t big but the petite HRD could slip through. Who knew that Diego’s taste in women would actually come in useful. A subtle shudder ran down her spine as the woman rounded the corner, turning out of the sight of the guards. The change in her demeanour was almost instantaneous, her head rising and shoulders dropping, the timid girl who had hurried past the guards sloughing off her like a snakes skin, accompanied by the long coat she’d worn.

Another benefit of loosing your humanity, little concerns like the wind or weather really weren’t such a concern anymore. Silvery eyes glanced at the side of the wall before she took a step forward.

“Alley-oop.”

Amara Zarides

 

[Amara Zarides]

Binary

Amara could feel the hairs prickle on the back of her neck as she crept forward. She was dressed in the lightest possible armour which was still somewhat effective. It likely wouldn't help against a head-on blaster bolt, but it might deflect a glancing one, and would be useful against melee weapons....but it was still better not to get hit at all!

By her side she wore her lightsabre, a rather conventional single bladed affair with a natty purple blade. Prettiness was a consideration after all! she also carried a blaster pistol and the pair of ion grenades in case they were needed.

The young clone had also worn a coat over this, and now carefully tucked it away behind some crates. Clothes were expensive after all! Pausing, she centred herself for a moment, reaching out with the Force. She could sense indistinctly the shapes of those near and far, the presence of life everywhere on this planet. There was something which was slightly off though, but she couldn't place it. Not a threat, but an unknown.

She was by now approaching the outer end of the vent, accessed on the external wall by a sealed grate with several layers of durasteel mesh. It'd be a climb up, and then she'd need to cut through the mesh and dive in quickly, hopefully not getting burned or cut by the metal.
However, as she rounded the last little protrusion in the wall she almost ran smack into a pretty young woman with white hair.
Instantly Amara's hand called her lightsabre to her hand, but she did not ignite it. Something stayed her, a feeling.

"Who are you, what's your business here?" she asked as quietly as she could. The clock was ticking. She needed to get in position because if they didn't hear from her friends would start their efforts anyway.

 

[Binary]

“Ahh…oh..”

It seemed that the petite silvery-haired HRD wasn’t the only person who had considered using the vent as an entrance to the warehouse. She should have known that it was going too easy, that the night had started off too well, it was one of the basic laws of the universe. If things seemed to be going too well then it was almost assured that things would take a twist to make thigns worse, they always did. She’d just hoped, foolishly, that tonight might be a night where she could escape the universe’s perverse sense of humour. She really should have known better.

Silver eyes settled on the woman staring at her, hand resting on a holster at her side as slender arms raised in a surrendering motion. Binary’s neurons were firing at a pace, calling on all her powers of creativity to figure out a way out of this one.

“I’m…the…roof inspector. I’m just here making sure that the warehouse’s roof isn’t going to cave in and that all the struts and weight are properly distributed. We don’t want the whole thing coming down on someone’s precious cargo now do we. I mean…no need for any of that threatening behaviour ma’am, just a civil servant doing my job here is all…why…what are you doing here? Isn’t it kind of late to be wandering around?”

What? It worked in all the movies. Innocence was the look that the HRD tried to spread on her face as best she could as she mentally kicked herself. Kark – she really had been watching too many holodramas recently, but it wasn’t like sleep was an option and she had to have something to do when she was recharging at home…maybe she’d take up writing. With exemplary dialogue like that, who knew the heights of sappy spaceport romances she could write.

The sound of approaching footsteps brought the woman out of her reverie, her gaze hardening as those silver eye flicked in the direction of the guard patrolling around the edge of the building before she turned away, one hand reaching for the grate.

“I don’t think either of us want to run foul of the guards right now…so how about we get somewhere a little safer and less…visible before we continue this discussion…or at least so I can educate you on the wonders of joins and welding.”

Amara Zarides