Chasing Dreams

Chase Pollitska sighed as he stepped out of his small conapt. He was in the depths of the Blackpit Slums, a vile district of Coruscant renowned throughout the planet-wide city for having the highest crime rate of any of the districts.

It was dirty and smelled of oil and smog. Yet it offered Chase the anonymity that he desired.

The anonymity that he needed after what BioTech Industries had done to him. The experiments that they had performed on him.

He hated himself due to them. He wasn't human, at least not anymore.

He scrubbed at his face as he walked through the hallway, heading towards the main entrance. He currently had a job washing dishes at a greasy diner a few blocks upwards. It was menial work, but it provided him enough credits for food and his small room. More than that, he didn't really need.

He frowned as he looked down the long hallway. The despair seemed to roll off of everything down here, and his eyes lighted on a woman and her young daughter. She wasn't much older than he himself was, but her child often had to cry itself to sleep in order to get away from the ever prevalent hunger.

He didn't know her story; didn't know why she was down here, hiding with the child. He didn't really care either. He knew she had her reasons, the same way he had his own.

But that didn't stop him from handing her the small bag he carried. It contained two sandwiches and a couple small pieces of fruit. The fruit had cost him a day's wages down here, but he didn't mind.

He ignored her sputtering protests as he continued walking down the hallway towards the stairs. As he reached them, he could hear her begin to cry and being to yell "thank you" after him.

He hung his head, not really wanting to hear it, but knowing that he would until he had gotten at least three flights down.

He pushed through the door, and rushed down the stairwell, his feet falling heavily, as the echoes reverberated through the narrow duracrete room.

Finally, he was at the level he needed, and darted through another door and stepped out into the dismal, depressing air of lower level Coruscant.

He glanced around, taking stock of his surroundings, the yammosk cells embedded in his brain giving him indications on which of the beings that walked around him were the most dangerous to him.

He sighed, not wanting yet another reminder of the fact that he was no longer human.

Shoving his hands into his jacket, he hunched his shoulders up and began walking towards the diner where he worked. Walking like this was not really comfortable, but he found that when he did, he was left alone.

Slowly, he passed one dark alley after another, the yammosk constantly updating the threat analysis. He had tuned out the world around him, ignoring the traffic noises, the hawking street vendors, and even the all-too-common beggars.

Then something stopped him. Some noise had cut through the filters he had built around his reactions.

Frowning, he took a step back, and looked down the darkened alley. Deep in its depths, he could make out two forms, standing over something. The yammosk in his brain raced, providing its thoughts on the danger those two posed to him.

He ignored the yammosk. They were doing something, and he couldn't help but intervene.

Slowly, he turned and began to make his way down the alley, his hands held loosely at his sides, as he stepped around the piles of trash.

As he drew closer, he could hear the chuckles the two were making. It was low and guttural, and rankled at the back of his brain. A flash of silver caught his eye, and the yammosk trilled a warning down his spine. He glanced down at what the two were standing over, and his teeth clenched in anger.

It was a girl, around his age, maybe a year or two older. Horror filled her brown eyes, as she tried to push herself into the wall. A large bruise was already forming her right temple, and he could make out a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

"What the kriff are you two schuttas doing," he snarled at them.

The larger of the two, turned to look at him. He was the most massive Bothan Chase had ever seen, and he wondered just how many steroids the fur-covered alien had to have consumed in order to generate that much muscle mass.

"Wazzit toja, pup," the Bothan slurred.

Chase's lips twitched slightly, and he focused on the other person in the alley. He was kneeling over the girl, his hands on her clothes, a knife halfway cutting through the fabric. He was human, and nowhere near the size of the Bothan, yet, for some reason the yammosk in his brain sent more shivers of alarm down his spine--and Chase knew which of the two was the most dangerous.

"She's under my protection."

The human laughed, and patted the Bothan on the shoulder. "Kartr, why don't you go deal with our young friend here, would you? The fem here will keep 'till your done."

The Bothan's snout twisted into a horrid version of a grin; something that would not be misplaced on a Vong. Then he began advancing, his arms held out wide as if he expected to run forward and crush Chase.

Chase though, had other plans. He hunkered low, and darted forward, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a stylus, then punched forward, slamming the slim cylinder into the Bothan just beneath the sternum.

Kartr doubled over, and dropped to his knees, howling in pain. Chase spun around, and kicked him in the side of the head, the durasteel tipped boots he wore rung hollowly as they connected. Chase watched as the Bothan's eyes rolled backwards, and then he dropped to the ground.

Grinning, Chase turned towards the human. "Leave, and I won't hurt you."

The knife was in the human's hand again, and with a flicker of a thumb, an electric blue glow flickered into life around the thin metal edge.

The defense patterns the yammosk had been showing suddenly shifted as it recognized the extra danger of the vibroknife.

He fell into one of the stances that had been hardwired into his muscle memory, and the human darted forward, his blade slashing through the air, leaving a blue after-imagebehind its movements.

Chase dodged, and then his fist snapped out. The man grunted in pain and shock as his knife clattered to the ground.

Chase grinned, and the man attacked with his other arm. Chase threw another punch, putting as much force into the attack as possible. His fist landed just beneath the nose, and Chase heard something crack.

The man howled in pain as he dropped to his knees. Chase pushed him over to his side, and then kicked him hard against the liver. He leaned over the man, his voice low and harsh. "If I ever see you in this district again, I will kill you."

His foot snapped out again, and slammed into the man's knee. Another snap echoed through the alley, and the man screamed in pain again.

Chase watched for a moment, and then hunkered down in front of the girl, making sure not to actually touch her. He'd made that mistake just a few days before... though he hadn't quite made it to that girl in time. She was hunched over her knees, her entire body shaking. This was the first time he had really gotten a look at her, and he realized that she was from one of the upper levels. Her body was too soft, it lacked the hunger which nearly everyone who lived at this level had. It must have been this softness which had drawn the predators to her.

"Are you all right," he asked softly.

She looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy as the tears cut down her face. She glanced around quickly, her eyes dropping to her two assailants for a moment before she focused on him. "P-p-please d-d-don't hur-hurt m-me..."

He shook his head slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you. Do you need me to take you to the closest medcenter?"

She chewed at her lower lips, her eyes flickering to the other two for a moment, before she quickly shook her head. "N-no... I... I just want to go home."

Chase nodded, and stood back up, and stepped away from the girl. She watched him for a moment, and then bounced to her feet and took off, heading towards the nearest populated street.

Quickly, he followed, staying a couple dozen meters away from her, but always within sight. He tailed her, until she safely got on a working lift, and then he shook his head, and once more resumed his walk towards the diner where he worked.

The yammosk in his brain, began its overlay of threat assessments, danger evasions and details on the best way to hurt every person he passed. Though he sometimes found the information useful, all it did, all it ever really did, was act as a continual reminder on just how inhuman he really was.