Learning to Live (COMPLETE)

8.4.2

Journey had to leave for some reason he didn't say, but Ahsoka decided to stay in the Chasm and explore a little bit. She found a few hidden gems while she was down there.

First, some of the ancient shops from the first days of Coruscant were still active. Well, somewhat. A few of the bars were still in full swing, but all of the customers looked like people Ahsoka didn't want to know about. Every single one seemed to be armed. Ahsoka also saw a lot of black market deals go down while she watched. She counted five drug deals, three weapon sales, and even an intelligence trade. Totally illegal, but it was interesting to watch. She remembered how Ventress had mentioned getting private repair deals and wondered if this place was what she was referring to.

Ahsoka began to wonder why these people were sneaking behind the Republic's back to make these deals, too. It wasn't illegal to sell drugs, or weapons, although maybe intel was a little different. If someone applied for a permit, they could sell the same things, just with a few rules attached. So why didn't they just make life easier for themselves?

Maybe it had something to do with the paperwork involved. I mean, Fuller had to submit papers to the government just to hire me, Ahsoka thought. Imagine what people must have to do in order to do things like this legally.

They probably needed the credits. For one reason or another, they were desperate enough to break the law in order to do this. Either they had very unusual priorities or it was the only way they could make money. Now that Ahsoka had been down here for a few days, she was willing to believe it. Why has the Republic been so focused on fighting a war across the galaxy when there are people who need help right here, on Coruscant?

Sideous, of course, was the easy answer, but this had to go deeper than just one power-hungry Sith Lord. Not even he could have been the root cause of ignoring this for so long. Ahsoka was really starting to hate politics. She was hundreds, thousands of meters below the surface, and she still couldn't get away from it.

Eventually, she started back towards Level 22. She wanted to see if she could buy a holster today, so she could stop hiding her blaster in hard-to-reach places. If it was on her hip, it would be a lot easier to fight with it.

She made it back out to the grate she had entered the Chasm from and jumped back up to the street level. Quietly, she replaced the grate and started towards the thick of the sector. By now, most of the civilians were out at work again, so there wasn't too much traffic to weave through.

The first place Ahsoka thought to check was the market she had visited a few days ago, but she instantly remembered that there hadn't been a single weapons shop in the whole building. It was probably a liability to sell weapons in a place that got so crowded, but it meant that Ahsoka didn't know where to buy a holster from. It was the best place to start, though, so she didn't have much of a choice.

She was about halfway to it when a run down vending station caught her eye. Unlike a lot of the stores in the market, this one had no neon, and very little advertising adorning the brick walls, but there were two things that Ahsoka cared about: a) it had weapons, which meant it probably had holsters, and b) it was government approved. Even with her doubts about the Republic, it was probably safer than one without permits. She went in.

It was fairly quiet, and there were only two other customers inside, neither of which seemed to care about her. There were three employees behind the counter: two men who were fooling around with cards and death sticks and one female who was actually trying to do her job. Music was playing inside, but it wasn't anything like the music Ahsoka had heard at parties or galas. It wasn't her favorite, but Ahsoka didn't plan on coming back here anytime soon after she got what she came for, so she just ignored it.