05-12-2016, 06:45 PM
There were way too many security cameras in Coruscant, Carmelita decided. There were cameras in the back alleys, cameras on the roofs, cameras in the shops and even cameras in the public restrooms. She’d been running on empty for the past five hours, including the two the other side of the portal, and the majority of that time had been spent in the slightly roasted scent of Bentley’s cloaking device. Even the impressive scale of the city and its shining bright aesthetic was dulled by her frustration, leaving her in no mood to appreciate the flying cars or the elegant public gardens.
She found herself approaching a large elevator that protruded from the surroundings, its utility barely hidden by its elegant facade. The size of the construction, coupled with the small posting of the Storm Troopers, made her hope it was a cargo lift, or maybe even a vehicle lift of some description. Maybe there would be less security underground, in whatever shifty operations this Empire might be conducting.
Strolling into the still nearly empty elevator was laughably easy compared to the close calls she’d had earlier in the day. Despite the security alarm, she hadn’t seen signs of an organised sweep of the city, and she hoped the whole thing had been swept aside as a security bug or a lost cause. Maybe they’d discount the dozen dog-droids and any unfounded correlation with the event with that Rebel smuggler…
She sighed and leant against the wall of the elevator tiredly. A couple of young adults drove their hover bikes into the lift and pressed the button for the next floor down, labelled Tier 2. Maybe this was for a parking garage, Carmelita mused. Hopefully there’d be a blind spot there, or she might have to resort to disabling cameras as a last resort.
The elevator hummed quietly as it descended at a sedate pace. With the lengthy time it took, Carmelita phased out the conversation of the two young adults, who were talking about music, and instead focused on the bikes. The sleek chrome and plastic vehicles were impressive, especially given that they appeared to float unsupported by some vastly different method to that she’d seen of the Cooper Gang’s van. A memory surfaced of Sly missing the tailgate as he fell-
She gripped the stock of her Shock Pistol, forcibly pushing the memory out of her mind. The red weapon might be the only thing she carried that could defend herself in this precarious situation, but it was also giving her the small amount of comfort she’d allow herself to need. As the elevator slowed to a halt, she daren’t loosen her grip. She stared straight ahead at the opening doors, bringing her focus back to the present to properly see a brand new city skyline.
Carmelita walked out of the elevator in a daze. Like the first tier of the city, this second tier was massive. Sure, she could see the structural supports hidden within skyscrapers, and the elevator she had used was one of many that dropped from what must be an artificial sky, but aside from that she would have sworn that the city was on the surface. In a way, this was more amazing than the more polished Tier 1. In her awe, Carmelita wandered over to a bus stop nearby and sat down. Her cloak still provided her with the scent of freshly singed air, but that wasn’t what she was focusing on right now. The sheer scale, the near indistinguishable similarities between this level and the level above… it was of a scale she’d never expected to see in her wildest dreams.
After a good five minutes spent contemplating the sheer size of the city, Carmelita got back to her feet. The differences she’d spotted so far were minor, but there were slightly fewer storm troopers around and there was a chance that the same might apply to the cameras. Finding a public restroom, she passed the spotless paw-washing area and slipped inside one of the stalls. As far as she could tell, there weren’t any cameras in here, and she took the opportunity to take a deep breath of fresh air.
With the cloak finally off, the fox pondered what her next move was. She needed to find a hideout, or at least somewhere safe to rest between finding intel on the Omniverse, and judging by how the security had become more lax on the lower tier, the best direction to go was down.
She took a moment to contemplate her attire. Still dressed in her maroon trenchcoat, it did nothing to help hide her face, and given that she’d already had one narrow brush with what passed as the law she didn’t fancy another. She focused on that strange feeling of Omnilium, forming a rainbow-bubble from which she summoned a canine motorcycle helmet. Three minutes of work, and she had something to cover her face. The rest of her identifying features were carefully tucked beneath the trench coat, and as she left the stall she allowed herself to look in the mirror at the mysterious figure she’d become. Her tail did make her look as though she was wearing a bustle, but fashion wasn’t at the top of her priority list.
“Well, Foxtrot,” she said, “Time to hit the road.”
---
Carmelita walked through the streets, looking for a way down. There were public terminals she could use, but she wanted to descend one more tier before using them, a conversation she’d overheard about the differences between the top three tiers forefront in her mind. If she wanted to use a public terminal and not be tagged as a potential suspect for the portal scare, she’d need to use one in the more crowded middle-class districts of Tier Three.
Some form of public transport, a bus or a tram Carmelita couldn’t tell, trundled past, it’s antenna bobbing with the vibrations of its hoverplates against the road. The destination displayed in yellow neon read ‘Bow Street, Tier Three’, and she followed it as quickly as she could, breaking into a jog to keep up with the slow moving vehicle. She garnered a few strange looks as she went, her attire not entirely in keeping with the main aesthetic of those on the street, but the skybox was darkening and she couldn’t wait to get to somewhere she’d feel safe to use the public services and obtain food, water and sleep.
The trambus took a circuitous route to another elevator, and she squeezed into a pedestrian spot just as the elevator doors were closing. A few passengers peered curiously out of the trambus at her helmet, but she ignored them in favour of fingering her Shock Pistol beneath her trenchcoat. It was an iconic weapon: not many gun manufacturers make bright red electricity stun-guns, at least as far as Carmelita knew, and if she was forced to use it during her stay in Coruscant, then it’d be that much easier for the Empire to pin down that she’d snuck past the portal security. It would be better, she decided, to flee than to stick around if she was attacked.
The elevator opened to reveal another tier. This time Carmelita wasn’t quite as impressed: the roof here was painted, not decorated with whatever technology had been utilised to design the artificial skybox of Tier Two, and instead of an artificial sun there were great globes of fluorescent lights that shone dazzling bright light down into the city streets. There were still troopers, but they were few and far between, and only the occasional camera poked its way out of a lamppost or the side of a busy thoroughfare. Carmelita wandered the streets, finding a cyber cafe nearby that had public terminals, and began what would turn into a five hour period trawling the Dataverse for the information she needed to know.
She found herself approaching a large elevator that protruded from the surroundings, its utility barely hidden by its elegant facade. The size of the construction, coupled with the small posting of the Storm Troopers, made her hope it was a cargo lift, or maybe even a vehicle lift of some description. Maybe there would be less security underground, in whatever shifty operations this Empire might be conducting.
Strolling into the still nearly empty elevator was laughably easy compared to the close calls she’d had earlier in the day. Despite the security alarm, she hadn’t seen signs of an organised sweep of the city, and she hoped the whole thing had been swept aside as a security bug or a lost cause. Maybe they’d discount the dozen dog-droids and any unfounded correlation with the event with that Rebel smuggler…
She sighed and leant against the wall of the elevator tiredly. A couple of young adults drove their hover bikes into the lift and pressed the button for the next floor down, labelled Tier 2. Maybe this was for a parking garage, Carmelita mused. Hopefully there’d be a blind spot there, or she might have to resort to disabling cameras as a last resort.
The elevator hummed quietly as it descended at a sedate pace. With the lengthy time it took, Carmelita phased out the conversation of the two young adults, who were talking about music, and instead focused on the bikes. The sleek chrome and plastic vehicles were impressive, especially given that they appeared to float unsupported by some vastly different method to that she’d seen of the Cooper Gang’s van. A memory surfaced of Sly missing the tailgate as he fell-
She gripped the stock of her Shock Pistol, forcibly pushing the memory out of her mind. The red weapon might be the only thing she carried that could defend herself in this precarious situation, but it was also giving her the small amount of comfort she’d allow herself to need. As the elevator slowed to a halt, she daren’t loosen her grip. She stared straight ahead at the opening doors, bringing her focus back to the present to properly see a brand new city skyline.
Carmelita walked out of the elevator in a daze. Like the first tier of the city, this second tier was massive. Sure, she could see the structural supports hidden within skyscrapers, and the elevator she had used was one of many that dropped from what must be an artificial sky, but aside from that she would have sworn that the city was on the surface. In a way, this was more amazing than the more polished Tier 1. In her awe, Carmelita wandered over to a bus stop nearby and sat down. Her cloak still provided her with the scent of freshly singed air, but that wasn’t what she was focusing on right now. The sheer scale, the near indistinguishable similarities between this level and the level above… it was of a scale she’d never expected to see in her wildest dreams.
After a good five minutes spent contemplating the sheer size of the city, Carmelita got back to her feet. The differences she’d spotted so far were minor, but there were slightly fewer storm troopers around and there was a chance that the same might apply to the cameras. Finding a public restroom, she passed the spotless paw-washing area and slipped inside one of the stalls. As far as she could tell, there weren’t any cameras in here, and she took the opportunity to take a deep breath of fresh air.
With the cloak finally off, the fox pondered what her next move was. She needed to find a hideout, or at least somewhere safe to rest between finding intel on the Omniverse, and judging by how the security had become more lax on the lower tier, the best direction to go was down.
She took a moment to contemplate her attire. Still dressed in her maroon trenchcoat, it did nothing to help hide her face, and given that she’d already had one narrow brush with what passed as the law she didn’t fancy another. She focused on that strange feeling of Omnilium, forming a rainbow-bubble from which she summoned a canine motorcycle helmet. Three minutes of work, and she had something to cover her face. The rest of her identifying features were carefully tucked beneath the trench coat, and as she left the stall she allowed herself to look in the mirror at the mysterious figure she’d become. Her tail did make her look as though she was wearing a bustle, but fashion wasn’t at the top of her priority list.
“Well, Foxtrot,” she said, “Time to hit the road.”
---
Carmelita walked through the streets, looking for a way down. There were public terminals she could use, but she wanted to descend one more tier before using them, a conversation she’d overheard about the differences between the top three tiers forefront in her mind. If she wanted to use a public terminal and not be tagged as a potential suspect for the portal scare, she’d need to use one in the more crowded middle-class districts of Tier Three.
Some form of public transport, a bus or a tram Carmelita couldn’t tell, trundled past, it’s antenna bobbing with the vibrations of its hoverplates against the road. The destination displayed in yellow neon read ‘Bow Street, Tier Three’, and she followed it as quickly as she could, breaking into a jog to keep up with the slow moving vehicle. She garnered a few strange looks as she went, her attire not entirely in keeping with the main aesthetic of those on the street, but the skybox was darkening and she couldn’t wait to get to somewhere she’d feel safe to use the public services and obtain food, water and sleep.
The trambus took a circuitous route to another elevator, and she squeezed into a pedestrian spot just as the elevator doors were closing. A few passengers peered curiously out of the trambus at her helmet, but she ignored them in favour of fingering her Shock Pistol beneath her trenchcoat. It was an iconic weapon: not many gun manufacturers make bright red electricity stun-guns, at least as far as Carmelita knew, and if she was forced to use it during her stay in Coruscant, then it’d be that much easier for the Empire to pin down that she’d snuck past the portal security. It would be better, she decided, to flee than to stick around if she was attacked.
The elevator opened to reveal another tier. This time Carmelita wasn’t quite as impressed: the roof here was painted, not decorated with whatever technology had been utilised to design the artificial skybox of Tier Two, and instead of an artificial sun there were great globes of fluorescent lights that shone dazzling bright light down into the city streets. There were still troopers, but they were few and far between, and only the occasional camera poked its way out of a lamppost or the side of a busy thoroughfare. Carmelita wandered the streets, finding a cyber cafe nearby that had public terminals, and began what would turn into a five hour period trawling the Dataverse for the information she needed to know.