Private Coruscant streets

[Rika Hiro]

Rika Hiro|COMPNOR|Coruscant
Tags:// Hunter Stark

Vibes
Coruscant luminescent street lights and dark walkways had been her haunting these past few years; in between leave and other assignments off-world, Rika had largely fallen into her role as a double agent planted among the SIA. Living a double life balancing the world of Ms intelligence agency and the cut-throat politics of the ISB, Rika was, in every sense of the word, a born survivor and natural in the clandestine arts.

But this was different, a life spent purely focused on work and the job was a life not worth living, and Rika made liberal use of her off time to explore Coruscant's every nook and cranny. It was a planet of many wonders and secrets to be found in its dive bars, nightclubs and oft-forgotten streets and apartment complexes. She'd sent Hunter a message a few days prior, inviting him to join her on her exploration of the levels below Coruscant. She'd missed his dumb stoic face and insistence to pay for everything, it was admirable in a way, it seemed Galidraani's were big on tradition even outside the army machismo culture they permeated throughout the empire.​

 

[Cromwell]

After barely coming out of the Tion Cluster alive, given the fiasco of Chancellor Ducote's assassination, Special Agent Stark was deployed back to the Core. The hand the Allies had extended over the Tionese Republic meant more and more resources and assets would be spent on the Alliance going forward. Harrsk never forgets.

In the rare downtime the job allowed, Hunter received an invitation from fellow agent Rika Hiro. A casual walk through the levels of Coruscant to kill the time and the pressure. It was an offer near impossible to reject. The last time they killed time together, the room was collateral his card had paid for. Wrote it up as a brawl with a drunkard on his expense report. No questions asked.

Donning a more casual outfit compared to their previous disguise as high society, they looked nearly inconspicuous. Nearly, because both agents bore strikingly handsome features. Not really an advantage in this line of work.

"Odd seeing you without a thousand-cred dress on." he remarked with a smirk, then added. "So..." he gestured around. "Sightseeing Coruscant's wonders tonight, are we?"

Rika Hiro ​

 

[Rika Hiro]

Rika Hiro|COMPNOR|Coruscant
Tags:// Hunter Stark

"Would you want to dress like a pretty doll every night? Not my kinda vibe Hunter; I came from poverty first and foremost."

She smiled sheepishly as she lifted herself off the railings she'd been leaning against; below was the eerie drop leading further down into the Coruscant urban abyss. Her homeworld was an urban mess, but nothing like Coruscant was; Coruscant was the equivalent of her home city being stacked two hundred times on top of each other.

"This is my natural environment, the trash, the neon lights, the drunks.." Rika gave a side eye to the drunk further down the walkway, puking loudly and groaning before quickly pretending he wasn't there," even the pollution, just like my home city, charming, isn't it?"

Sarcasm was always her forte; even with other agents in the organisation, you had to have a sense of humour in this work; otherwise, you'd be deep in a mental asylum shacked up with the Sith POWs. She took his hand and lightly tugged him to follow her into the labyrinthic durasteel jungle of Coruscant.

"Come on, big guy, you can help me if we get mugged for some deathsticks."​

 

[Cromwell]

In this line of work, anticipation was everything; being one step ahead, always. It's what separates not only what makes a good and a bad agent, or spy for that matter, but it's also the divider between life and death. To be one step ahead of the curve, you had to know all the stakeholders in your mission, no, in your whole damn job intimately well. Better than your parents, better than your siblings, and better than your wives and husbands.

That's if you value your life.

But nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared him for Rika's response. The sudden openness to the details of her background took him back, eyes faintly widening. This girl was one of the finest spies in the Bureau, not many double-agents had the capacity to work in the Core, and she was not only in the Core among the Alliance. She was in their den of wolves -- the SIA. The high society persona, crossing her long legs that could entice any man and smoking from a thousand-cred cigarette holder in a bar that could cost a laborer's salary for a night out seemed to evaporate before his eyes.

She tugged him along the muck and grime that were the Coruscant's streets under the deceiving lights that so many sentients across the galaxy flocked to in search of a better future only to be atomized by the grim reality of the Jewel of the Core.

Foolishly, he felt somewhat betrayed. Perhaps the Coruscani lights' had deceived him too. Perhaps the blissful ignorance that their alter egos provided was too alluring to leave. Perhaps he desired more than anything else to never depart this faux world of their own creation.

"This..." he pulled his hand from her and stopped, a frown cast over his face. "... is this all an act, Rika?"

Trust.

Trust was no virtue in this industry.

It was a currency.

Rika Hiro ​

 

[Rika Hiro]

Rika Hiro|COMPNOR|Coruscant
Tags:// Hunter Stark

. "... is this all an act, Rika?" - Hunter Stark

She stopped in her tracks, turning to meet his stare with a soft smile on her face as she shook her head a little.

"Aren't we all actors and actresses? This life is our stage and the galaxy our audience, I think for some of us it is harder to get out of that mentality."

Rika knew what he meant; she felt he didn't fully trust her yet, part of which hurt to think about, but she knew his reasonings; the ISB and COMPNOR were a dog-eat-dog organisation at its very core. For all Hunter could know, Rika might've been just sent to take advantage of the Galidraani's desires so the committee above could pin charges on the man and have him executed for treason or some other kind of perceived slight against the hegemony of the committee.

"I'm not that interesting outside of all of this, so I suppose it is hard to reconcile the image of my origins with, well, all of this."

She nodded to herself, closing her eyes and exhaling softly as she pulled closer to Hunter, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have to be paranoid around me."​