Star Wars: Tails of the Old Republic
Chapter 011
Upper City Taris – Equipment Emporium
The Human and the Mobian left the cantina.
It was past eighteen-hundred hours, and the planet's sun was beginning to fall below the horizon. Crossing the bridge again, Tails slowly twirled his dual appendages in a double-helix behind him. He wanted desperately to fly again. Without any Chaos energy channeled through them, his twin tails would simply wrap together a few times and then quit. But as a Chaos user, Tails could actually spin them on a central axis like a helicopter, or even as a helical turbofan.
Unfortunately, the fox had not yet recovered enough of the precious energy to flatten his tails into blades, curve them into propellers, and spin them fast enough to actually lift himself off the ground. Now that Tails' tails were twice the length of his own body, he could nearly break the sound barrier during full-force flight. Sadly, Miles Prower had given up trying to catch his hero, Sonic, in contests of pure speed. The fox had remembered clocking the Blue Blur at Mach 5.5 over pavement. Even Shadow could skate around faster than Mach 2 over unbroken ground.
Tails couldn't break Mach 0.875, a fact that annoyed him greatly.
Carth Onasi noticed the slow rotation of the teenager's tails and did a double-take. Tails stopped spinning them, and pretended nothing odd had happened. If Carth could notice, so could others, and the last thing they wanted was a Sith patrol asking awkward questions.
On the main path back to their apartment complex, Carth and Tails passed by what had to be a huge warehouse store. The holographic sign read, "Equipment Emporium".
"Hey Carth," Tails began.
"Hmm? Yes, what's on your mind?" Carth asked, turning to his furry companion.
"Is there anything we could use at this shop here? I got a bunch of credits from those matches, not to mention that little 'eating contest' of mine." answered Tails.
"I suppose. How many credits did you earn?"
"Nearly a thousand. Nine hundred thirty-nine, to be exact. That brings our grand total to twelve hundred eighty-one credits."
Carth nearly fell over. "Ahem; well, I suppose we could get a few supplies."
The Republic soldier walked through the sliding door, and the Mobian Freedom Fighter did likewise. The warehouse was well lit, which was a welcome relief from the dreary cantina, and the fox noticed that it appeared somewhat empty. Various "protocol droids" roamed about, assisting the few other customers who happened to be shopping here.
Near the entrance was a long counter, and a lone female Human stood behind it. She looked bored, but upon seeing two new potential customers, her face brightened.
"Hello there!" she called enthusiastically. "I've never seen you two in my shop before! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kebla Yurt, and welcome to the Equipment Emporium."
"Greetings," Carth replied. "Mind if we take a look around?"
"Go right ahead! You looking to buy some supplies? My shop's the largest one in all of Upper Taris! Best selection on the planet; whatever you need, I've got it! Well, mostly."
"Mostly?" Tails cut in.
Kebla's expression soured a bit, and she added, "Well, the Sith confiscated all my heavy weapons... and they impounded all my ships and swoop bikes... but! I've still got a real nice selection, if you're interested."
"We'll look around," Carth finished.
"Uh, just so you know, all sales ARE final, and I don't sell on credit, either!" said Kebla.
Tails and Carth ventured deeper into the Equipment Emporium. They decided to part ways inside the warehouse store, and Tails was left to himself again. He considered Carth his friend, or at least a trustworthy acquaintance, but to the young Mobian, Carth felt like a ball and chain. It was nice to be un-tethered for at least a few minutes.
First and foremost, Miles Prower wanted to look at gadgets. Tails' mind was eager to tear into all the new technology he was being exposed to, and the fox figured picking up a few fancy gizmos would be a good place to start. Besides, he wanted to replace the headset that Sith robot destroyed.
He found the the section with various classes of head gear, and the selection amazed him. Tails found an electronic kiosk that helped explained what each model was and what it did. Unfortunately, the machine skimped on on the finer details of how they worked. Blast it, he wanted documentaion!
Tails chose a model similar to what he had earlier that day. It was very minimalistic; basically a black, flexible wire with a earpiece, mouthpiece, a multifunction stereoscopic camera, and a greenish holographic eyepiece. He tried it on, latching it around his left ear, and though it was made for a Human-shaped skull, its design was flexible enough to accommodate his own. He decided he would tweak it for comfort later.
The fox meandered over to a section displaying various computer parts and accessories. Tails was practically drooling over all the technological wonders he was seeing, and he wanted to run away with it all to study it. He quickly reminded himself of his current situation, and decided to be a little more pragmatic. Tails found several cybernetic components he thought he could use, and added them to his shopping cart (which conveniently levitated off the floor).
The armory was well stocked, and Tails wondered just what those "heavy weapons" were that the Sith had confiscated. Blasters, vibroblades, grenades, and even mines lined the aisles. The teenage Mobian selected a single-edged dagger with twelve-inch blade and held it in his hands. The weapon seemed perfectly balanced between the hilt and the blade, and even with its curious vibration feature deactivated, the edge was as sharp as a scalpel. Gripping the vibroblade in one hand now, he thumbed the activation switch.
The weapon hummed to life, and though he felt no vibration through his gloves, Tails' parabolic ears found the high-pitched whine grating on his eardrums. Of course, he doubted a Human could hear the noise at all. Turning off the vibration feature and re-sheathing the blade, Tails chucked it into his cart.
Tails found the explosive devices fascinating. The boy liked all things that went BOOM, and he felt like a kid at a candy store. Concussion grenades, flash grenades, cryogenic grenades, gas grenades, ion grenades, incendiary grenades, and plain old fragmentation grenades lined the shelves, as did mines of similar function.
Back on Mobius, Tails had to build all his explosives himself. But here these were, lined up like chili dogs on a convenience stand! Each device was a tiny sphere, not larger than the boy's palm. Tails selected six ion grenades, four frag grenades, four cryo grenades, two incendiary grenades, and six concussion grenades, as well as two fragmentation mines and something called a "permacrete detonator". He found a bandoleer he could store the explosives in, and placed it in the cart as well.
The Mobian looked over the various firearms. He already had the one Carth gave him, so he wasn't too interested in purchasing another, but he marveled at how they were all particle-energy weapons. Even Dr. Robotnik still heavily relied on old-fashioned lead ammunition, and Tails had been punctured enough times in his life to know that projectile cannons and firearms were still deadly.
Tails wondered why these people would abandon tech like that, but it didn't really matter to him that much. Dodging lasers was no different than dodging bullets: get the heck out of the way before your enemy pulls the trigger. Tails tossed two replacement energy cells for his blaster into the shopping cart.
Lastly, Tails skimmed over the types of armor the shop carried, and though he wasn't the least bit interested in wearing any, the fox wanted to check out what sort of hardware he may be facing in the future. It seemed the Sith had stripped away most of the heavier equipment. Still, Tails found many options a Human-sized person could select from. There were full suits made of flexible ceramic nano-fibers, including silicon carbide, boron nitride, and polycarbide.
Tails also observed simple torso armor with more robust ceramic or metallic plating, and an assortment of helmets, gloves, boots, and leggings. The armor he saw seemed fairly tough, at least against melee weapons and projectiles, but Tails was unsure about their protection against blaster fire. The armor he witnessed aboard the Endar Spire didn't seem to hold up very well. He wondered if they were the orange Republic jumpsuits were armored at all.
With his levitating shopping cart in tow, Tails proceeded towards the exit. Carth Onasi was waiting for him by the counter with Kebla Yurt. Tails did have the datapad with all their credits, after all. Carth appeared to be holding a new suit of polymer armor, a new blaster, and a few medical kits.
"Are you ready to check out now?" asked Kebla.
"It seems so," Carth responded.
Kebla Yurt scanned all their items and tallied the total charge. Digging the datapad out of his pants, Tails let her draw out the electronic funds. Tails wondered what would happen if the datapad accidentally broke. Would all their money be lost?
"Hey, I have a question..." Tails said.
"What can I help you with?" Kebla replied with a smile.
"Well... my friend here and have been stranded here the past week or so since the Sith quarantine, and I've been hearing talk about downed escape pods or something. Do you know what that's all about?"
"Hmm, the whole planet's been going crazy since that Republic ship got blown up in orbit, and pretty much everybody has been talking about it," the woman replied. "I have heard that a couple of Republic pods crashed down into the Undercity, though. I bet the crash site's been stripped clean by the Sith; that is, if the swoop gangs or Davik's men didn't get there first."
"Davik?" echoed Carth.
"Who's that?" asked Tails.
"Oh, Davik's a 'legitimate business man' if you get my drift, mm-hmm," Kebla answered. She lowered her voice a little, and continued, "Smuggling, slave trade, extortion. They say he's a member of the 'Exchange'. You know, that inter-galactic criminal organization. Hell, he practically owns this continent. Not that we common folk can do anything about it."
"Thanks for the tip," Carth said.
"Well, you two might as well make yourselves at home here; I don't think that Sith blockade is going anywhere anytime soon. Take care, now."
"Thank you for your service, Mrs. Yurt," Tails said as he turned to leave.
Before he crossed the main exit, Tails put on his new gear. He fitted his new headset around his left ear, clipped the vibroblade to his belt opposite his blaster, and buckled the bandoleer of boom-booms diagonally around his torso, underneath his windbreaker. That left his assortment of computer parts and accessories, which he just carried in a plastic shopping bag.
Somehow, without Tails noticing, Carth managed to put on his new suit of fiber-armor beneath his regular clothes. He looked a little bulkier now, but otherwise the man's appearance was unchanged. Tails figured he had practice doing that.
"Hmm, I've heard about the Exchange," said Carth. "A bad organization to cross. But if anyone had blockade-breaking ships, however, it's definitely them. I've heard quite a bit about Davik and his lot in the past several days, and none of it is good. If he has the ship we need, getting it is going to be... tricky."
"I guess everything we need is 'downstairs' then." said Tails.
The walk back to the apartment was fairly uneventful. The sun was now fully under the horizon, and the twilight was fading fast. Sith patrols seemed to be spawning out of nowhere, and Tails was glad when he and Carth made it back to their hideout.
Tails put all his hardware onto the workbench - his headset, vibroblade, blaster, bandoleer, and computer stuff - and left it there. The adolescent fox sat on the edge of his bunk and held his head. A strange pain was creeping into his skull, like he had stayed up too late at one of Sonic's rock jams.
"Are you all right?" asked Carth. He sat on a chair, reviewing various files on his datapad.
"Ugh, not really. I think... I may have over-exerted myself today." Tails responded. His whole body was hurting now, and he felt like a drained battery. He felt a little hungry, but at the same time, he had a sickly feeling in his gut that was killing his appetite. All the vigor and enthusiasm he felt just a couple hours before seemed to have evaporated, and his mind was feeling numb.
"You should sleep," Carth suggested. "I mean, you came out of a six-day coma just this morning. I'm surprised you were able to do half the things you accomplished today. You're probably just tired out. A good night's rest will likely do you some good."
"I guess you're right, Carth; I don't think I'm fully healed yet." said Tails.
As Carth went about his business, the boy undressed himself and curled into a tight little ball, wrapping his twin tails around him. Normally he would neatly folded and put away the fallen clothing, but Tails found himself too exhausted to care. It was strange, like both his mind and body both decided to say, "Screw you, I quit!" simultaneously. Before his brain could completely fog over, Tails delegated the control of his senses to his cybernetic systems. He wanted to stay on full alert in case someone came kicking down the front door, but he didn't want any random noises Carth might make waking him up every ten minutes. Confident that he could sleep deeply and stay protected from a surprise attack, Tails gave in to his exhaustion.