Chapter 2:
The surface was a strange place. Rapid currents of sentients and vehicles twisting around the maze of metal buildings. Garish neon lights bathed every corner in gaudy hues and millions of different voices made up a stream of endless babble. It was a world entirely different from her own.
They pulled into a dark corner near an abandoned shop. The stranger clapped Ves on the shoulder and took the bag. Before she had a chance to speak, she was already beckoned to the door. Not knowing what else to do, she followed. A small bell rang as they walked through the door and another stranger, a male Weequay, stepped out of a back room towards the counter.
"You got it, Good jo-" He looked at Ves and sighed: "Not again…" - "She'll be useful." Ves was not sure of what use she could be. "We've talked about this…" - "Give her a chance!" He rolled his eyes and walked into the back room, the two women followed. "We're playing with rats now?" spoke a huge Zygerrian male. In spite of his size and his arsenal of heavy weaponry, what stuck out most about him was the ridiculously high collar of his shirt, making him look like a parody of an aristocrat. Ves decided it would be best not to answer. "Only the useful kind." - "Oh, so she is a pro slicer? Do rats even know what a terminal is?" - "I sure do, slaver scum!" Ves was surprised by her own words. She had always hated the Zygerrian Empire for enslaving her people. Her parents escaped them and came to Coruscant. From one hell to another. "So it does talk and quite big at that! Fine, what is your handle?" Ves' outburst had gotten her into serious trouble. Any real slicer could name their handle in a second. She was a lurker, only occasionally dabbling. "No answer? Well that settles-" - I'm Shyrack!" she blurted out suddenly. The name of a legendary slicer that would occasionally grace the boards she frequented. She was gambling big. The Zygerian looked aghast: "THE Shyrack? A sewer rat? Yeah right!" - "Let her prove it!" The Weequay now took an interest, looking straight at Ves: "Prove it and you can join." - "Fine, how?" The hole she was digging for herself became deeper by the second. "I hear the Selkath write the most beautiful operas. The GCN really should broadcast it." Of all the requests he could have made, slicing the GCN was by far the worst for her. She had to stall: "With that hardware?" She pointed at the terminal in the corner "I'll need something far more serious than that." He nodded understandingly, it seemed she passed the first tests. He took the Zygerian and soon left.
Her sole defender tapped her around the shoulder: "Let's get some air."
They stepped outside. The rapids of people had started to slow and the sky was a quickly brightening deep blue. She reached into her coat and offered Ves a death stick. Ves didn't usually imbibe, but long term health effects weren't at the top of her list of priorities. She drank the liquid and to her surprise didn't feel any effect. They stood in silence for a short moment. "Why did you take me with you?" She didn't respond and instead looked off into the distance. Then suddenly: "Seen the sun rise before?"
Ves' eyes could only bear the sunlight for a few seconds, but what she saw in them was unlike anything else. At first it looked like nothing. A few purple clouds on a subtle blue sky. And then suddenly, a glint of golden light. Hanging there, unwavering. Until it rose high enough to bathe the whole alley in its aureate embrace! No image could ever have done it justice! This was a sight she'd never seen. Filled with such warmth, such indescribable beauty. "You can still run." Maybe it was the drugs, but Ves felt no inclination to run: "And go where?"
They stood in silence for a bit longer. "We should go back inside." She took Ves' hand and led her back inside. Now in the shade of the building, Ves opened her eyes again. The drug had fully kicked in and the colors in her sight were oversaturated to the point of bleeding into each other. A strange sense of euphoria came over her. She giggled: "You're so colorful!" Her companion smiled grimly at her all the way to the slaughter.