Paramount Discretion

[Shay Cormac]

Groaning, the bed creaked under Shay's back as he rose from his bed, a line of drool coming from his face to the pillow he was laying on. Almost disappointed in himself for ruining yet another one of his pillows, he wiped his mouth, murmuring to himself, not having the energy to do much else. Well, it wasn't his pillow, at least. Shay had remembered he was still in this "Omniverse."

Sighing, Shay put his legs over the side of the bed, sitting down, realizing the T.V. remote still in his hand. He looked at it for a second, before putting it back, placed on the drawer beside him, his clothes and weapons still there, thankfully. Shaking his head, Shay got up, not caring to make up the bed, knowing it would be done anyways. He had ever so slightly hoped that whoever was going to be cleaning this room when Shay left didn't see the puddle of saliva on the pillow he was sleeping on just a few minutes ago.

Wincing a bit, Shay walked off to the small kitchen of the room, looking at a small refrigerator, the name of which he didn't know of course. Crouching down, he saw the handle that looked like that of a door's. He pulled on the handle slightly, opening it. He was slightly surprised to feel a small, cold breeze come out from the inside. Shay looked at the interior, seeing a few cylinder canisters to which he assumed was beverages inside. Taking the metallic and cold can from inside of the cold storage device, he closed it's door, thankfully magnetizing itself to the refrigerator.

Shay walked back to his bed, sitting down in the middle of it, trying to figure out how to open the drink itself. He continued to look down as he reached for the remote at his side again, turning the T.V. on once more to keep his ears occupied with noise. Shay jumped up a bit as the beverage opened up with a loud pop, a couple of wet fizzes coming out of the drink. Hesitantly taking a sip, Shay noticed how sweet it tasted, before deciding it was safe to consume. Shay looked up, watching the News channel again, only this time actually paying attention to what the screen was showing.

"...On any note, the Stormtrooper death rates increasingly get higher with each new Prime to enter the Nexus."

Shay listened in on the womanly reporter's voice booming through the speakers. Shay thought about the two Stormtroopers he had met upon first arriving at the Omniverse, scratching his chin. He didn't realize how violent Prime interactions with these soldiers had gotten, surprised at why anybody would attack such people. Before he could sympathize as much as he wanted to, Shay then remembered how generally bad the Redcoats were back where he lived, even if he worked for them at the time. The only one he could truly respect being Colonel Monro. Shay continued to listen in.

"Many citizens are in conflicted emotions about the incident which only happened nearly only a couple of weeks ago, where two Primes who now identify as 'Thor,' and 'Bluddflagg,' slaughtered a squadron of Stormtroopers almost immediately upon entering the Nexus. It comes to no surprise that such acts are causing controversy among the people of Coruscant, many critics tearing down the Empire's acts to try and work with Primes as a whole."

Shay winced again, only much harder this time. Shay supposed he was just subtle enough that he didn't already get people attacking him because of his status as a Prime, although he still didn't quite understand what that title truly meant. He did go back on how he didn't get too many friendly faces greeting him at the tavern. Shay had hoped there might have been more people like that bartender woman, although he really did doubt that was the case now.

"Fueling the fire, was the recently formed 'New Babylon' gang located in the Endless Dunes, though our sources cannot exactly identify where their base of operations are located just yet, this newly formed gang's motives are to take down the Empire's control."

Squinting, Shay leaned in upon hearing this. This sounded awfully suspicious on both sides. The more and more Shay made the comparison to the British as he did with the Empire, the more he doubted the practicality of stepping foot into a place where he clearly wasn't widely accepted. Shay still couldn't scratch out the word "gang" from his head, knowing all the trouble the Assassin gangs back in New York had caused. Even if this was some sort of propaganda stunt made by the Empire, ignoring this would be too risky for Shay. He couldn't abandon citizens and innocent lives, even if they weren't of his own city.

Finishing the strangely satisfying drink he had already scarfed up, Shay threw the can to the nearest trash bin, before hopping off the bed once again. Picking up his folded outfit, he began to put it on again, starting from the undershirt, all the way to the coat itself. As Shay buttoned up his clothing, he left the T.V. on to listen in on anything else.

"Although recent incidents, the Empire is once again proving that they are able to handle the problem in the case of dangerous Primes. The three now identified as 'Sivo,' 'Jon,' and 'Crona,' were taken into custody as a result of an attack held out by Sivo in the middle of the city, to which both Jon and Crona disrupted the peace by carrying out the fight. It is unknown what were Sivo's motives, but we do know that the Empire does have these dangerous individuals under control."

As Shay tightened his boots and wrapped his waist sash, he grumbled to himself. Was this really all the Empire had to talk about? Primes this, Primes that... All of it made Shay uncomfortable at the very least. Thinking about this last report, it awfully sounded like a mad, manipulative power grab. There had to have been more to the story than just that, because there's no way in high hell that a couple of Primes would have gotten arrested for defending themselves, to Shay's understanding. If that was the case however, then this entire idea of the Empire would get a little bit shady, to say the very least. Shay continued to mutter at himself.

"What a load of shite... Might be best if I just leave this place as soon as I can. This... "New Babylon" seems dangerous anyhow. I can't let the same thing that happened in New York happen here, no matter what it may be."

Placing his pouches on his belt and sheathing his weapons, Shay stretched a bit, before walking back to the door of his room. Hastily opening the door and closing it behind him, Shay rushed downstairs, throwing the key to his room on the counter, not looking back once. Shay jogged out of the inn, before realizing he had no clue where to go from here. A tavern was easy enough to find, an inn wasn't that much harder, but a gate to jump verses? Shay thought it a bit strange how he had so easily accepted that's how gates worked, seemingly by some sort of magic, but he's seen enough as an Assassin to know not to ask how things worked, as it was probably beyond his understanding.

Shay, sighing, looked up into the sky littered with flying cars. Gladly he did too, because he then got the idea of calling down a Taxi to help him out with this. Perhaps a driver would know where Shay needed to go. Thankfully, they flew pretty low as well. As Shay saw a Taxi approach his general vicinity, he began to jog in it's direction, waving at the driver, which Shay had hoped he saw. Shay smirked as the Taxi began to lower to the ground, before floating just a foot above the street.

The back door of the strange flying vehicle moved upwards with a mechanical whir. Shay looked inside of the floating car in front of him, noticing a wide seat, before taking a short hop and jumping in the car itself, causing it to sway slightly. Shay looked in the front of the flying Taxi, before yet another alien-like individual turned his head to face Shay, this time a lot more "alien" than Shay expected, a tubular appendage replacing his mouth, with bulgy black eyes. Shay, surprisingly to him, didn't flinch at this, thinking it would be rude to even raise an eyebrow. As expected of the alien's mouth, it spoke with a strange buzz in it's voice.

"You, ah... Speak English, there?"

Shay smiled, nodding his head, trying to put on a friendly face. He wasn't quite sure where this would head him, but he soon replied.

"Yes, I do indeed."

The alien looked back to the front of him, raising the Taxi as the door closed. Even now, Shay could admit he was getting a little dizzy, despite his experience with heights.

"A'ight, where ya headed?"

Shay's smile faded a bit as he heard this, not quite sure how the response Shay had in his head would suffice as a clear answer. Thankfully, Shay still had half his pouch full of gold, which should suffice in this case.

"Well, I was meaning to head to the gates... The Endless Dunes, preferably."

The alien looked back a bit, starting to fly off slowly. Shay gulped, realizing how hard this would be to get used to.

"The gates? Well, kid, I ain't know where exactly the Endless Dunes would be, but from what I hear, they're all about in the same area. I'll drop you off when you get there, but I gotta let you find the Dunes yourself. Good enough for ya?"

Shay leaned back in his seat, shrugging slightly. Can't have everything your way, he thought to himself.

"That'll do, thank you sir."

The alien pushed his feet to the pedal of the flying Taxi, steering himself upwards, nodding at Shay.

"Okay, that'll be-"

Shay, interrupting the alien, flicked up a gold coin from his pouch, catching it in his fingers as it glimmered in the sunlight.

"Will this do?"

The alien's eyes went wide looking at the coin, realizing his passenger must have been somebody from Camelot, that being his best guess.

"Gold coin? Er... With the distance, that'll be... about 5-"

Shay dropped ten coins in the currency collector on the door to his right, before looking back, bowing his head.

"Keep the change, you deserve it."

The alien looked back, shrugging his head as he flew off into the depths of Coruscant. The flying Taxi's speed got increasingly higher, much to Shay's displeasure. Shay looked out the window, the feeling of dizziness soon being replaced by awe and wonder as he looked at the abnormally tall buildings and sprawling city-life. No matter where Shay looked, all he could see was flying cars go pass, citizens walking around going about their daily lives, or lit up and active buildings.

Shay leaned back in his seat, inhaling deeply. This kind of life was Shay's favorite. Moving, urban environments that never run out of things to do and explore. Although Shay knew he couldn't understand much of this Omniverse or what it had to offer, it definitely was a nice "break" from his life back at home, if he could even call it a break at all. The thought of him staying here for so long didn't bother Shay as much as he thought it would. Before he knew it, the Taxi started to lower onto the ground. Upon the Taxi reaching ground level, the door opened for Shay once again, in the middle of a strange stone circle in the middle of what looked to be a park. The alien driving the Taxi looked back at Shay, before speaking.

"Alllright, kid... We're here, watch the step. If you ask, you're in the middle of the Coruscant's gate center. Basically, ah... think of that 'Nexus' place where them Primes drop off at. Thing is, the gates were always hidden to make it easy for them Primes to get there easier... It's a lot harder for Secondaries to get to any of the gates, seeing as they seem to move around somehow..."

As Shay hopped out, he leaned back into the Taxi, nodding his head again.

"I'll figure it out, thanks for bringing me this far, sir."

Shay waved at the driver, before the door closed again, and the Taxi raised itself back into the sky, before flying off into the horizon. Shay took in his surroundings again. Where he stood, a stone circle placed in the middle of a very tiny grass plain, although beyond that was nothing but dense, green forest area, filled with trees of various sizes and branching outwards in almost all directions. Remembering what he saw at the Nexus, it was obvious finding any one of eight gates would be relatively difficult in this situation. Looking at his gloved hands, Shay balled his hand into a fist, letting his Omnilium flow through his body.

Closing his eyes, Shay crouched down, holding his hand to his head, focusing as hard as he can. Shay could see in his eyes his destination, although they were not open. It was strange he could imagine to detect such an energy, but his instinct and the energy inside him told Shay to venture somewhat to his left. Vague, but it was a start, at least. Shaking his now somewhat hurting head, Shay slowly walked towards the direction his mind told him, before quickening his pace slightly.

Walking into the forest itself, Shay took this time to stretch his arms again, finally glad he's actually out walking again. Although the trip from the sky was nice, and definitely a new experience, Shay himself always loved a good walk, especially with this kind of weather. Even if Shay was more suited to the cold, the air around him was perfectly warm with a gentle and cool breeze coming by every so often to bristle the leaves up in the trees above him. It reminded Shay slightly of River Valley, only a bit more peaceful, although that might have been because he was in the middle of multiple wars going on simultaneously whilst venturing those lands.

Before long, Shay saw a slight opening in the dense forest, leading to a slight patch of grass flatland, similar to where he was dropped off beforehand, though this time, instead of a stone circle, there was a gate similar to the one Shay had used to enter Coruscant, although this one was... sandier. It seemed to fit the description of the Endless Dunes themselves, the gate being held up by a pile of sand, and the gate's exterior being made out of what Shay assumed was sandstone. Walking over to the gate, he looked inside, noticing the entrance of the gate being covered up by what he saw was glass. Sand, glass, sandstone... If all this didn't speak a barren desert, Shay wouldn't know what did.

Shay continued to look inside of the entrance, and as he expected, it really was nothing other than a couple of rocks and a lot of sand. A lot of sand. If Shay looked hard enough, he could notice the air getting hazy, even... Shay cringed at the sight of this, looking down at his heavy winter clothing. Shaking his head, Shay took a deep breath, putting his hand in the entrance, and although it had a glassy exterior, it didn't stop his hand from entering and causing the portal to ripple at his touch. Looking behind him for a final time, Shay jumped into the beginning of the Endless Dunes, a bright white light blinding him once again.