| abstract
| - Star Anchorage 859.b6 -- Corusca City: Coruscant Bustling at all hours of day and night, this starport is one of many thousands like it on this world. A massive, multi-layered affair, the port itself is constructed of thousands of honeycombed-shaped durasteel pads arranged in an interlocking pattern. Huge elliptical durasteel beams arc up from out of the confusing strata of construction below to support each suspended platform. Certain sections of the starport are clearly designated for different uses, with commercial flights leaving one section, heavy cargo being moved from a different, and medium-sized capital ships perched on another. The planet's port authority keeps the steady flow of space traffic safely interwoven with grid-like streams of subspace traffic. There is activity everywhere. Star maps, chronometers, languages, governments and perhaps humankind all look toward this planet to set a standard of some sort. A sprawling cityscape spreads out in every direction -- including vertical directions -- for as far as the eye can see. This is Coruscant. Sandor At a height of around five feet and ten inches, and with a lean build to boot, it is readily apparent that this isn't the largest of men. What he lacks in size he more than makes up for in intensity, however, as brilliant blue eyes peer out to the world with intensity, ever searching for something that is not readily apparent. Portions of his hair are obscured, but what is visible is reasonably short, and a dark brown in coloration, much like his bushy eyebrows. His actual features are well defined, and more than a bit sharp, with the exception of a gentle sloping to the sides in the case of his eyes. The man is wearing green and olive, camouflage-patterned BDUs that are the standard uniform for New Republic Marines. It has two pockets on the front of the shirt and across the left pocket is a black name patch reading |Sandor Woden|. An olive beret neatly tops the head, no marks on it what so ever. On both shoulders are dull red epaulettes, marked with /. On the right sleeve, right at the shoulder, there is a black, round patch with the familiar red Phoenix crest of the New Republic inside of it. On the left shoulder is a Bantha-shaped patch surrounded by a circular targetting reticle with a cross overlapping atop the Bantha inside, in a similar coloration to the other patch. He wears a black utility belt with a sidearm holstered on the right side and a functional vibro-knife sheathed on the other. A pair of well-buffed jungle/combat boots round out the ensemble. Arise A glimmer of unyet-lived opportunities, this person's human frame is young and light. Her body stands less than 1.3 meters high at a slight 25 kilos. Her sun-living ancestors have given her a glowing bronze complection that, when she smiles, shadows to soft copper in her dimples. Beneath feathery eyebrows are expressive deep walnut eyes that add a few years to her maturing demeanor. A golden band, hovering just above the nape of her neck and spanning almost from ear to ear, holds the waves of her fine curly brown hair. The hair has gold highlights wherever it can catch the light. She wears a modest long flowing ensemble in sunny colors. An apricot long-sleeve tunic is on top, trimmed in gold around the cuffs and down flanking the front buttons. A matching apricot scarf with gold tassels is draped over her shoulders, tassles hanging in back. Straight yellow pants cascade loosely to the floor underneath the tunic, billowing slightly when she moves. Light {both in color and in weight} brown boots complete the outfit. She is rarely seen without a worn leather carryall dangling faithfully at her hip from a diagonal strap over her shoulder. It's hard to tell if there is more traffic going to and fro from the direction of space, or if it is the aerial skyways of Coruscant that are more congested. Nonetheless, sky shuttles pull up to this starport from all directions like clockwork. One particulatrshuttle is not particular at all. After it pulls up to the edge of the platform and hover-parks, it opens its doors to let flow its current gaggle of passengers. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, they go out through the doors. Including a small shuffler, whose hands nervously clench and unclench into fists. The girl, Arise, shuffles until she reaches the banks of the flowing people, and her pace picks up speed with some determination, though there is a tentative quality. Taking a brief reprieve from his time at the complex Ai'kani had led him to after their unfortunate meeting with Johanna, Sandor has made his way, almost aimlessly, to the familiar bustle of the spaceport. In a way, it reminds him of the endless traffic that moved through the HIMS Conqueror before it's demise, giving that element of ordered chaos that has been so lacking since his defection, as he's spent so little time at his actual duty station. Held as a potential spy, wounded only days after his release, and now on an all but mandatory leave after the bombardment of Cochran, the man has need of something that isn't so new and alien. As he walks, the man takes little heed to the multitudes moving around him, in spite of the fact that they are the very people that he's sworn his life to protect. This contradiction is something that he will doubtlessly have to face, but for now Sandor's cold eyes offer no reflection, and his mind strays as far from cohesive thought as possible. Moving, moving, that is all he wishes to do or see, until he finally does just a bit too much of it, nearly slamming into a girl that seems to be moving with some determination to her step. "In a hurry or something?", he all but snaps, irritated by his return to conscious thought. Being a little uncertain does help the girl be a little more aware of her surroundings. If nothing else, because she has to find the place she's looking for, and that involves looking for it, which has the side effect of helping her notice more. So she notices when one of the grown-ups comes pretty close to intercepting her path. She glances at the man quickly, and what she sees makes her eyes momentarily widen. "I hope so," Arise replies, after a blink of a pause to decide what to say. She keeps walking. Shaking his head, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he is largely at fault for the near-miss, Sandor continues his aimless walk as well. Or tries to, before realizing that there is a place he might be, and things that he so desperately needs to do. 'Only a couple of hours,' the man silently informs himself, appraising just how long it should take to assemble his contacts. Walking with a bit more purpose in his step now, he moves off towards the nearest holo-cafe, the best resource at his disposal so far away from his new home. Ah. There it is. A banking terminal across in the more tansaction-oriented hub of the starport. Arise picks up her pace again, stepping around the weaving streams of people to make as much of a beeline toward the terminal as possible. One of her hands reaches into her bag and comes out clutching something tightly. 'Why in the maw is a kid out at this time of night?', the soldier wonders, the concept of moral supremacy settling into his mind. Detouring, he begins to follow the girl, the thought that she might well consider him a stalker not even registering in his mind. After all, beyond a policeman, what better authority figure is there than that of a soldier? Without his comlink, however, he'll surely have a difficult time calling her parents, but dismisses this as he weaves his way through the hustle and bustle around him, trying his best to not lose sight of one of the only 'good deeds' he'll have done in his entire life. Arise has no idea she's being followed. She just continues her single-minded trek across the spaceport to the banking kiosk. Fortunately, the traffic of people is at an equilibrium point where, as soon as the approaches the kiosk, someone is just stepping away from one of the terminals. The thing she clutches tightly in her hand is revealed to be a credit chit. She sticks it in the slot and enters in a string of numbers. So far so good. But then she stares at the screen. "Blast!" she exclaims to herself, her voice as youthful as she looks. 'Took her daddy's card," Sandor reasons, drawing ever closer to the seemingly lost child, who somehow, in spite of this, has so much direction. Of course, the soldier understands that it might well be someone else's card, but isn't a gloomy enough person even in spite of what Johanna had presented to him to jump to such a conclusion. Coming to a stop several meters behind the girl, trusting to his agility the ability to catch up if she is in fact a pickpocket, the man speaks again, this time without the agitation that was present before. "Is everything alright?", he asks, a catch-all phrase that draws the temporary attention of several other people, who go back to their business when they realize the uniformed soldier is not addressing them directly. Upon hearing the attention-getting inquiry, Arise also glances toward the sound, like several other people. However, unlike everyone else, she figures out from the man's body attitude, the only thing she sees in her glance, that she is probably the target of his curiosity. Her shoulders slump, and with her back still toward him, her head is turned so that she's looking at nothing in particular. Her speech is simple and direct, but there is a pang in her voice. "I need to get to Cochran." "You're not going to Cochran," the soldier crisply informs her, looking as though he's suddenly been struck in the face. While he doesn't move from where he stands, to him, it seems that he's suddenly several feet more distant, with his mind entire light years away. "Haven't you heard?", he asks, the voice full of sheer amazement, and a bit of regret, as though he doesn't even believe what he's hearing. She may still be young enough to have naive moments, but Arise isn't stupid. Pivoting to half-face the man, she gives him a look with something in her eyes that says it hurts. "Yeah, I heard." But this is when she finally sees all of him, uniform and everything. Seeing the uniform softens her expression, and the words flow more freely, if not eloquently. "I mean, not Cochran. I know I can't get there. But where did they go? Did anyone make it off?" Sandor nods, a little surprised by how direct the girl is being on the topic. But then, he doesn't have much experience with the world outside of his military bubble, so perhaps it's perfectly normal. "A lot of people made it off. When my transport left, we headed to Calamari," he offers, carefully dancing around the point of just how many hadn't made it, and just how many had even been shot down in the withdrawal. Sensing that his words might be presenting the wrong idea, however, he adds; "You'd be able to check on it at one of the state buildings. Not sure which one has the information, but they set up a call center to handle sorting out the information for the refugees." Hearing the slim bit of good news helps Arise relax a tad, but there is still eagerness in her demeanor to soak up as much information as possible from the apparent uniformed expert. Her eyes perk up at the mention of Calamari, but at the mention of state buildings, the girl's nose gets a little wrinkle. But she has a new focus, at least for now. "So... they're on Calamari then?" "I don't know for sure," he admits, looking off towards the sky for a split second, before turning his vision back to the child that he's now reasonably certain is not a pickpocket. "The fleet went to Calamari, but I was in the infirmary at the time, so I didn't really keep track of the refugees. That's what they've got those government programs for, though," Sandor continues, his body fairly tense both from the renewed need to concern himself with the horrible atrocities commited on Cochran, as well as the fact that he now knows that it could have been averted. Had Johanna only done the right thing. Not the government again. Arise rolls her eyes. Turned as she is, half facing the man and half not, her eyeroll also brings the banking terminal screen back in to her view. Which she turns sharply away from. She crosses her small arms, and gets a little sour. A look which is not quite becoming for the young young lady. "I know all about the programs, but the're useless. They're so SLOW." Hoo, boy. People to sort through. People with families, people with friends, people with all kinds of situations... Arms still crossed, Arise takes a step back such that she's now completely facing the soldier. At least now, the banking kiosk protects her back, even as she slumps against it, half desperate and half defeated. "I don't care. Being there has got to be better than being stuck here." The soldier shakes his head, trying to pass himself off as an expert on the subject even though he's spent roughly an hour on Calamari. Just long enough for him to book a shuttle to Coruscant to visit Ai'kani, and to make use of his leave in a more human environment. "It's a different kind of place. Too much water, and I'm guessing you don't know anyone there. Just one stranger can be a bad thing, and there's a whole planet of them there." Really, Sandor should be getting tired of trying to dissuade people from making poor decisions, but none of this is apparent on his face. He only hopes that in the case of Alana and Kell, that he succeeded, sparing the two from almost certain death. After all, if they'd tried to murder Kreldin, it would have been in the news, right? The grown-up just had to play the stranger card, didn't he? The last helpful thing he said was to mention Calamari, and evertyhing since then has been downhill. And now this. Arise is getting disappointed, and being disappointed is making her mad, and being mad is making her a little careless. "But Calamari is much less populated than Coruscant, so really, mister, wouldn't there be fewer 'strangers' there than here?" Sandor's mouth shifts, the visible extention of the gears turning in his mind. The girl has a point, and as much as Sandor would like to do the right thing and get her to go to some government-run shelter, he's started to wonder if the right thing is just that. "You've got yourself a point there," the soldier admits, before trying to find some way to recover his position, even in spite of wondering if it's a position worth taking. "Where're you gonna stay there, though? Dry land's kind of a commodity on Calamari. Not the cheapest thing." The man is starting to say things that make sense again, and Arise gives a half-satisfied sigh of exasperation. "Wherever they're staying. The other people from Cochran. That's where I want to go. But it isn't fair." She wheels on her heel and reaches up to jab the 'Cancel' button on the bank terminal. The credit chit is released from its slot, and she grabs it in her tight little fist. Although Sandor's money has plenty of places to go, and will likely be tapped to the brink of exhaustion, the man can't help but sense an opportunity to redeem himself in a slight way for his failure to remove Danik from this existence when the opportunities first presented themselves. "You're gonna go no matter what I say, aren't you?", Sandor asks, reaching into a pocket to grab his own credit chit, making no effort to conceal it as he takes it out. Disbelief at the soldier's gesture shocks Arise out of some of her funk. The girl's head tilts a little to the side, following the motion of the man's hand as it dips into his pocket, and her eyes go a little wide when she catches the jist of what he's thinking. "Oh, no, sir." She remembers her manners. "I can't really take money." Surprised back into herself, she feels a little sick. "I'm sorry. I was hoping this would work." The fist holding her credit chit clenches. "It's MY account, but it still has the Parental Consent Override set." Somehow, the technical jargon doesn't sound misplaced as she speaks it. Just a part of her maturing brain that her neurons are starting to grow connections through. Slicing? Ugh. Not only is that bad, but Arise also gets a look as if that's vaguely over her head. Her shoulders slump as she moves to put her credit chit back into her bag. "Never mind. There's nothing I can do. If I tried asking the bank then they'd get suspicious and freeze the account." She shrugs, pushing off of the bank terminal as if to go somewhere else. "I guess I'm leaving then." Taria, lowering the ramp on the Bad Seed, Walks slowly down the ramp while holding her datapad. "The heck would someone send me a message so blatant?" She says softly as she puts away the datapad and looks around. "Whee." Taria This 6 foot tall Fiery Red head walks with a bit of confidence. Crystal Blue eyes and a bright smile with high cheekbones gives her tanned face a nice look, but her shoulder length hair is one of her best features. Her tan, curvy and well muscled body is partly hidden by her T-shirt and tight black pants. Black Knee-high leather boots cover her lower legs. The public shuttle of the New Republic lands softly onto Coruscant. As the ramp lowered, Someone was quick to exit before the rush of passengers. Dias Winter jumped from the side of the ramp and took a look around the starport. He looked down at his uniform, ripping off the NR's phoenix symbol and his Starfighter badges. He looked at them in the palm of his hand before throwing them to the ground. He looked down at them, placing the end of his boot ontop of the badges and twisted his foot as if to put out a ciggerette. He looked up at the starport again before walking down the line of ships that occupied the starport. Dias You are looking at a 5"11 man, With longish sandy/dirty blonde coloured hair that is a mess in itself. His eyes are a very light blue that change color in the light or mood, Yet have a dark shine to them. The scars on his face and hands are visible to anyone who looked his way.. Being from battle, or maybe just even a childhood accident.. Walking around the starport, Krieg is in his trenchcoat with a bag on his back, slung across his chest. The shades cover his eyes, something that isn't too uncommon around here. But other than that, he is searching for a friend. A few people are around, and there is one he thinks he recognizes as Sandor, but isn't too sure. What catches his attention next though, is some man getting off a shuttle in what seems to be a New Republic uniform and rips his patches off and throws them to the ground. That really is not normal, and is something he pauses to stand and stare at for a few moements. Of course the action doesn't bother thim, but is not something he expected to see here of all places. Krieg The slightly taller and more physical build of Krieg combined with his tan skin makes him stand out from pale humans. He has the standard human two arms and legs, five fingers and toes, and a single head. Everything about Ian exemplifies a physically fit and strong muscular build, including a strong jaw line. There's an almost barely visible scar from the top of his right cheek extending down to his jaw. His pure blonde hair is cut short on the sides, coming to a slight widows peak in the center, and the longer hair on top is casually wisped back. Between his crystal blue eyes lies an average nose. His eyebrows are moderately sized, and are the same color as his hair. His lips are a light pink and are moderately sized to fit his face. Completing his average young look is a clean shaven face. Currently he is wearing a long sleeve plain hunter green shirt and tan pants with a black brown belt on that is relatively fitted to his form. For practical purposes he wears black utility type boots, with his pants worn down over them to roughly the ankle. Strapped to his right thigh is a blaster holster, with the blaster worn in a way to keep out of the way while seated. Worn overtop all of his other clothing is a deep black trench coat, open through the middle. It extends down to his ankles and wrists, with the collar worn down. On each hand he is wearing black utility gloves, covering all exposed skin in that area. "Make sure to stop by one of the shelters, if you've no place to go," Sandor informs the seemingly departing little girl, feeling a little better about himself with this one simple instruction. It doesn't change the fact that he'd watched reality torn apart right before his very eyes, and been spoken to directly by an entity later described to him as 'the Emperor', but at the very least it shows that his moral sensibilities weren't robbed from the soldier at the same time. Turning, Sandor stares out into the crowd, spying a woman coming out of a shuttle, and a man in a trenchcoat, amongst perhaps fifty others. For some reason, they both strike a chord of familiarity, but he's not exactly sure how to place either of them, and for the moment stands speachless by the bank terminal, the darker thoughts of the meaning behind the confrontation between Ai'kani and Johanna returning. He'd been caught right in the middle, and for a man so used to action, it has truly hurt to be so powerless. With a demeanor worn a little raw by the evening's disappointment, Arise shuffles back the way she came, toward the planetary sky shuttle stops. When her path reaches a point even with the soldier, after a handful of steps, the girl pauses. Quietly, she mutters a few surrendering words in his direction. "I am precisely going back to that government refugee program you like so much. I guess I'm one of the ones who can't just be 'sorted through.'" She starts walking again.
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