A Coruscanti Low Life

[Hunter Wren]

Hunter "Wolf" Wren chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. He stood stock still before a wondow overlooking a small spaceport in Coruscant's underworld. A spaceport that offered some of the cheapest passage off planet, but Wolf had yet to get the credits. His switching sides to the highest bidder had been decreasing his demand. He would have to change his reputation, but how. He woud have to find someone willing to take him on. The other option was to rob one of the local banks, he could do it easily enough, though he'd prefer not to get into trouble with the authorities, but he could mask his identity too. This robbing idea was sounding better and better to a dangerous bounty job.
Subconciously his electronic eyes studied various points on his 360 degree HUD view. His eyes could focus on up to 8 points at once. Currently only 2 were on the spaceport.
The other question Wolf had was where would he go? Nar Shadaa maybe. But deep down he knew what his final answer would be. Mandalore. He had to prove himself in the eyes of his people. Maybe he would be allowed to join the forces of the Mand'alore. It would likely not be easy. Wolf had no friends, not even any connections, he was rather isolated in this populous planet.
He flexed his joints, defocusing from the transport ships. Well, time to find a place to rob that would be profitable, maybe he could make a small name for himself. Hit something big perhaps. Wolf began running searches on his HUD for the perfect target.

 

[Hunter Wren]

The Financial District was the natural target. A private banking firm fit the bill. Respectable, several wealthy investors, but not overly tough on security. A total push over as far as Wolf was concerned. He paused his long strides, and looked down at himself. This would never do. He was in full armor with many obvious as well as discreet weaponry. There was no way he could even get into the Financial District without attracting attention. He would need a change. He glanced around him. A man about his height and build was walking nearby with a briefcase, fully enveloped in his datapad. Wolf grinned beneath his mask. Sucker.
The man heard a noise in front of him and he hastily looked up, into a black helmet with glowing red t-visor. He gasped in surprise, but that was as far as he got. Wolf promptly grabbed around his neck and with lightning speed, twisted. He ignored the crunch of bone and ligaments, and dragged the limp body into an alleyway. A moment later, dressed in the man's clothes, weapons in the briefcase, body and the briefcase contents in a dumpster, and armor stashed away in a gutter that he welded shut he set off once more. He felt exposed without his helmet, but he would endure. The only problem was now he would be recognizable, the plus side was that no one would recognize his armor. Ah well, he would take care of the security cameras and the witnesses. He suddenly wondered if it was really necessary to kill that man back there. A pang of regret shot through his gut. Foresight never came easily to him. Despite the emotions suddenly raging through his battered brain, he kept his face calm and neutral, and entered the Financial District.

 

[Hunter Wren]

The bank wasn't too far in, it only took Wolf a few minutes to get there. He paused a moment and glanced around him. There was only the usualy hustle and bustle of wealthy business men, noisy vendors, and the general wealthy public, some perhaps had a bodyguard or two, just in case. But in Wolf's case, one or 2 bodyguards didn't make much difference. All of this took barely more than 2 seconds. Then he walked in. The place was seeped in lower end luxury. Wolf suspected some crime lords probably went here, as they could get some luxury, but not attract attention. That might complicate future matters, but he would worry about that when the time came. He grinned and nodded his way past smiling receptionists, (Wolf could tell from a glance they were faking), and made his way towards the main desk. A young woman stood behind. She looked up from her computer terminal, "How may I help you?", she asked in a friendly tone. "Well, let's see." Wolf put the briefcase up on the desk and opened it so that only he could see the contents. Two weapons cuffs, and two blaster pistols. He selected his favorite N-311 Heavy Shrieker, and ancient but still reliable weapon. He calmly edged the briefcase over revealing the heavy duty weapon pointed at the teller. her eyes widened and face paled. "Take mm to the vault", Wold told her calmly. She swallowed. Wolf sensed something behind him. He spun around to face 4 security droids. "You forgot about enterance scanners", one of them remarked. "Surrender your weapon", another one ordered. Wolf grinned.

 

[Hunter Wren]

He opened fire with his blaster, the laser bolt tearing through the center left droid's head. Before the droids could react, he rolled to the left, sweeping the final left hand droid's feet from under it. It hit the tiled floor hard. Wolf already was sending fire at the other two droids before he had finished his roll. The third dropped, it's in flames. The fourth brought up it's blaster, only to be railed by a succession of shots in the torso. It went down. By now people were screaming and making a rush for the door. Wolf blasted off the first three people in line to prove his point. They stopped. Wolf promptly walked over to the door and locked it, then shot the control panel. "Comlinks, datapads, and weapons, out on the floor, now", he snarled. Several complied. A few Wolf knew were going to fight. He allowed one to wind up behind him. He then whipped around and send a bolt between the man's eyes. Wolf had spun back around before the man dropped. The others surrendered. he collected the surrendered items, and shoved them in a bag, which he took with him towards the vault. It was still open. He grabbed a nearby case and began filling it with credits. Once it was full, he lit the bag containing the weapons, and flung it in the vault, and shut the door. He noticed someone trying to ease their way to a security panel. A single shot fried it, and scared the person half to death. An explosion sounded in the vualt as blaster power clips blew up. Wolf approached the computers. He wiped the drives, but I wiping could only iradicate so much. He fried the drives with his blaster. Let's see how well the cops found anything in that. Now, the witnesses. He pulled out his SE-14r blaster pistol.

 

[Hunter Wren]

He felt it coming before it happened, a rush of blood to his head. His body suddenly went rigid, his arms and head shuddered. His head began throbbing. He was having another seizure. While his mind was still straight, he grabbed the money and his weapons, and smashed through the door, not bothering to unlock it. He ignored everything around him, the people he had just left, and charged through the bustling streets. He was deathly cold, sweat ran down his face. He located the alleyway where he had hidden his things. He seized the grate and wrenched it out of the ground. Grabbing his armor, he broke into an abandoned building, and in a daze found a small room with a heavy door. Dropping his things on the floor and shutting the door, he went into misery in peace. Painful memories flashed before his eyes. His Brain throbbed as if it would burst his skull. Sweat fell profusely from his face. But he was so cold. His circuitry acted up, shooting jolts of pain through the flesh of his actual body. He screamed. It grew worse. He continued screaming until his powerful lungs were exhausted, and his throat was ravaged. He slammed a fist into the duracrete wall, cracking it. Then his body froze, shuddered, then collapsed. Wolf blacked out.

 

[Hunter Wren]

Wolf awoke with a jolt. He was covered in sweat. He groaned and got up from where he lay on the floor. A quick glance showed his equipment was still here, and untouched, as well as the credits. He checked his internal chrono. He'd been out for about 24 hours. He suddenly felt ravenously hungry. He took off his sweaty clothes, and washed himself with water from a small sink in the room, that amazingly, still worked. He quickly redressed in his armor, and packed the bad with credits into a hardpack that attatched to his back, over which his jetpack followed. He flexed his joints too make sure they operated smoothly. They did, though that wasn't much of a surprise. He exited the building, once again comfortably behind his helmet, sealed from the world. He walked a bit till he came across some food stands, where he paused to grab something to eat. The food was cheap, and plain, but filling. Wolf was once again ready for action.
He decided he may as well get down to business. He headed for the spaceport. He crossed through a rather old part of Coruscant. The streets were dark, empty, and crumbling. Wolf went on a ways, then hesitated, not exactly sure which way to go. The pavement beneath let out a loud crack. As fast as his reflexes were, they were not fast enough. The pavement caved in, and Wolf fell into an even darker abyss. He crashed through more weak levels of pavement for countless meters before he finally hit something solid with a thud. His rib cage was aching, but otherwise he was unharmed, as most of his was machine anyway. It was pitch black. Wolf waved his hand in front of his face, nothing. He switched on his nightvision. What he saw rather startled him. He was in an incredibly ancient part of Coruscant's underworld. No one had likely stepped foot here for centuries, Wolf mused. He looked up. Wouldn't figure the enterance route had been clogged by debris. He would have to find another way out.

 

[Hunter Wren]

Instead of finding a way out, Wolf found himself examining the crushes layers of old ruins. This was an incredibly old layer of Coruscant, possibly dating back to before the Battle of Yavin. Well before he thought as he glanced over columns of carved stone. It was quiet, very quiet. All Wolf could hear was his own footsteps and heart beating. He extended his hearing capabilities to their limits, and could just make out the vibration of low flying speeder craft. How far did he fall? It's a wonder he was still alive! He came across an old ramp that went up, possibly to the next layer. He followed it. It did indeed. He noted a ruined LAAT parked in a corner. So he was in the era of the Old Republic. Archaeologists would love this place. Then the layer he had just left was very old indeed. Well before the Clone Army likely. Wolf knew his history, at random moments at any rate. It was funny what would stick in his mind and what wouldn't. A warehouse with a twisted door sat on his left. Curious he took a look inside. Several ARC-170s sat in 2 rows. They were for the most part in poor shape, some having better fuselage then others, others had practically nothing left to them, just rusted shapes. Forgetting that he was trapped, and should be trying to get out before what little food he had ran out, he started scheming. He could perhaps hobble together something and get a ship out of here without spending his money, and without having to worry about getting past security. The tools were here, there should be enough parts as well. He could always patch up more later. He walked into an ajoining warehouse. Four AT-TEs sat rotting. Nothing could be scalvaged from them, except maybe some power cells, wires, some coolant maybe. The joints also looked ok. He would have to work with helmet on, it was too dark otherwise. He glanced at the lightswitch that permanently stuck "On". Maybe there was a generator somewhere around here...

 

[Hunter Wren]

A search revealed a very old and worn, but fuctional generator. At least it had enough power to run the lights. Wolf approached the first ARC. Its shell was corroded beyond use. But there were still some sealed areas. It wasn't difficult for Wolf to pull the metal sheathing off. Everything was mostly rusted through, the hyperdrive however was still in excellent state. It easily pulled out of the metal carcass. It was outdated, but operational, it even still had its power cells. The next ARC's exterior was the only thing intact. Someone had kept meticulous care of the ships armor and shielding. Wold gutted it. Not the easiest task to perform. Many of the parts were rusted together and to the hull. Further examinationg showed the main structure was unstable, it would have to be replaced. This was going to take sometime. He took a break to eat then went back to work. By the days end he had 2 hyperdrive units, 1 engine, a shell, and 5 blaster cannons, and another assortment of wires, power cells, moniters, and other odds and ends. Wolf calculated that it would take at least a week just to get out the parts he needed. Food and water was low, but Wolf needed little to eat and drink, so he would be fine, though perhaps strained by the time he got out of here.

 

[Hunter Wren]

Wolf slept little, day was no longer defined in the constant darkness, other than his body's habits and his chrono. He pressed on, dismantling more of the ruined ARCs. Another engine was salvaged, and a mostly intact sensor array, and a communications device. He managed to piece together the transparisteel cockpit moldings, and found a couple seats that rodents hadn't salvaged for their nests. The life support system he had to salvage from multiple ships, and take parts from the LAAT to complete connections. He also had to strip support struts and other fillings to solidify the shell, and strengthen the armor. With some repairs he got a functional pair of wings. He even found enough parts for 3 torpedo magazines, and torpedoes. Now he more or less had enough of the necessary parts, he would disassembled more if need be.