Coco District Customs (Open to all)

[Sanis Prent]

OOC: One of my favorite things to do these days is to sit on my duff and watch Orange County Choppers. I am an addict, and this is my glorious tribute.

IC:

So, what was I thinking? I bought up a warehouse and four adjacent storage lots in mid-level Coco District. It wasn't much to look at, and on top of that, it was expensive.

Oh yeah, did I mention it wasn't much to look at?

"Oh Krasst, what a dren-hole."

After wedging up the main bay doors and stepping inside, I got to see the interior. All around were rusted bolts, peeling paint, and oil stains on the floor. It had the right smell of coolant fluid and tibanna, but it was definitely ugly.

"We're gonna need to put some elbow grease on this one."

I kicked a broken sprocket chain across the duracrete floor.

"Hard to believe this is what we get for 60,000 credits. That's Coruscant real estate, I guess."

Of course, at that point, if you told me that we'd have this place cleaned up and ready for business in a week, I would've laughed. But the clock was ticking. We'd already made the equipment orders and requested inventory. Half the shop was already in transit. We had to gut this place and make it look presentable.

With a sigh, I picked up a sheet of thin-corrugated durasteel, and hoisted it to the open bay door, heaving it out onto the street side with a grunt.

Hi, my name is Sanis Prent, and this is Coco District Customs. The best in outer-rim custom jobs, open for business in the galactic core. I've put in my time working the outlaw streets of Nar Shadaa. Believe me, there's no better way to earn your stripes as a gear-head than building chop-horses in the Vertical City. Swoops, speeders, starships. I've taken them apart and put them back together better than ever.

I'm twenty-six years old. I modified my first swoop bike at nine. The machines running Nar Shadaa races weren't always the prettiest, but you could always listen to the credentials when somebody opened up the headers and let one go. Its a primordial sound, like a tiger's roar or something.

I love speed, and I love pushing the limits. If you don't feel a rumble in your gut when you punch the accelerator, then you're just going through the motions. On the Outer Rim, you could expect to see my rides being used by smugglers and outlaws, who relied on speed and power to survive. Its that same spirit that I bring to CDC, because going full throttle isn't just an outlaw thing. It's universal.

That being said, I knew I couldn't do this by myself. To really succeed at this job, I'd need a team of the best gearheads in the galaxy.

[Urky Wenson]

"You sure know how to pick 'em."

I stared hard at Sanis, someone who'd left me behind at Nar Shadda, even though he said he wouldn't. After almost a decade, he'd come through. I'm eighteen, and in some places, that makes me an adult. I'm not sure about that.

I'd been a lot more careful than Sanis. Sure, I had some stab wounds here and there, but I never kissed the underbelly like he had. I stayed slightly more legit, only boosting things for joyrides or need. Sanis was always trying to make it big. I just looked out for me, especially when Abby dissapeared. The swoop gangs wanted me because I could touch an engine and it would purr. I played neutral, and only got away with it because of my skill with a wrench. My sucker punch didn't hurt either.

I took another look around, and then back outside. It was almost like I'd never left.

"Next time you come through on your promises, make it sooner."

[Sanis Prent]

That's Urky. Me & him, we go all the way back to Nar Shadaa. When I was modding swoop bikes, he was the one passing me hydrospanners. When I left the Vertical City, he stuck to the street, learning how to strip down Sorosuub's and triple-saturate repulsordrives.

When I started up CDC, I needed somebody who knew how to make things work under the hood. I knew Urky's credentials more than anybody else. He's a natural prodigy. If he can keep his mind on his work, he can be the best. Trick is keeping his mind on his work.

I slid a box across the floor, and began tossing random bits of trash in it.

"It'll be better pay than the boneyard, so you'll make ends. No more living off powdered caf and cube-noodles."

Hefting a half-soldered drive computer off a work bench, I tossed it in the box.

"We're gonna have to bust our tails though. I wanna get all this mess out of the shop, so we can scrub it down. Metal press and laser mill should be coming in two days, and the tibanna welder after that. The painting kits are on backorder, so I've got to bust some heads to get them in by the weekend.

Go grab that push broom and push this crap outta here. Maybe we'll see the floor in an hour."

[Urky Wenson]

I dropped my bags and my jaw. Not even a hello. Not a hey, I'm sorry I didn't come through sooner.

"Aren't you going to buy me lunch? I settled my debts before I left and the cab ride took my last credit. They only served peanuts on the transport." Sanis seemed unfazed.

"Dude, I haven't had a meal for almost two days."

[Sanis Prent]

Now, I know that we hadn't had much time to catch up on things since I left Nar Shadaa, but I also knew that we were running on a short clock. As much as I wanted to do some much-needed bonding, we just didn't have much time for it. The clock was ticking on us.

Pausing from my work, I looked back at Urky.

"Alright Urk, I'll call in some Twi'Leki food, and we'll catch up on things here."

With that, I pulled out my comm, and put in an order.

He looked about like I did, the first time I came to Coruscant. Skin & bones, but always sizing everything up. That's the street for you. How he'd stayed straight & level, I have no idea.

Urk had always been kinda like my little brother, and I guess he was expecting more of a family reunion type thing. I wondered if he was upset that I hadn't come back to bail him off planet sooner. Then again, it would've been a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. I still think I did the right thing in waiting.

"You manage to bring your bike with you?" I asked, as I kicked a dilapidated vending machine outside the bay door, causing a half dozen drinks to drop to the slot. I tossed one in Urky's direction.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Well, damn. I suppose I couldn't ask for much more than the building I stood before. It looked like the place should have been razed ages ago, and it was a wonder it'd been allowed to stay standing all these years. Lord, Sanis sure knows how to pick them - the man does have a few crazy ideas banging around in his noggin.

At least he let me in on them sometimes.

And this one was worth it. Instead of going back to Thyferra to sit on my duff in my machine shop taking apart speeders, swoops, and any sort of vehicle I could get my hands on, I was going sit on my duff here, on Coruscant, and work in this run-down rathole of a warehouse.

Good times, good times.

I'm s'Il, by the way. Some of you may know me, some may not. Doesn't really matter. I'm a Lupine - pulled a few jobs here and there that aren't really worth mentioning; mostly cause it'd be better if I didn't mention them.Let's just say it's kinda funny that I'm seeing a cop these days. Sanis would probably laugh his butt off if he knew. Oh well. At least I don't have to leave Coruscant anytime soon.

The outside was certainly a sign of what the inside would be like, and as I stepped inside, I couldn't help cringing at what I saw. It was a mess - the whole place was deteriorated seemingly beyond repair. Prent had better make it worth my while; he hadn't even told me what he wanted me here for, only that he had something that was up my alley.

"Oh Sanis," I couldn't help but whisper, dropping my duffel on the trash-strewn concrete floor, "What the hell have you gotten me into?"

[Urky Wenson]

I chugged the drink. It felt good. Damn good. My stomach growled like a rancor pup for more.

"Yeah. I stripped it apart and shipped it. Should be here in a few days. Maybe a week." I grabbed a push broom. Dust, dirt and grime clung desperately to the floor. What I really needed was a pressure washer. All the broom was doing was grooming the grime into neat rows. The grease clung to its dirt and dust feircely.

There was a soft noise behind me, and I turned, looking at a blonde woman with silver eyes. She was probably a Liquid Silver junky, or a former user. I'd get spiced now and again, but it was always the light stuff, nothing like R'yll or Silver. I couldn't help but frown. Too many people had gotten killed for another fix. Reality had kept me clean, and a gradually dimming hope that Sanis would hold good on his promise.

"We've got a visitor." I said, and resumed my futile war with the caked grime.

[Sanis Prent]

My second choice for the job was somebody I'd met less than a year ago in the mid rim, but she'd already shown enough to impress me. Loklorien s'Ilancy had an eye for form the way most mechanics did for function. It's one thing to be able to solve the performance issue. With s'Ilancy, we could do that, and make our work look like a million credits all in one job.

I had a good feeling she'd take the job when I offered, because she always seemed to be looking for the next best thing. Like me, she never really stayed satisfied doing one thing at a time, and this was right up her alley. Not to mention, we have the potential to make boat-loads of money off this.

"I got it."

I toted an armload of scrap to the garage door, and greeted my second employee as I tossed the trash into a nearby bin.

"Glad you could make it, after all. C'mon in."

I could only imagine that the place was screaming against s'Il's sensibilities at the moment. It was a dump. Whatever bunch of hobos had used the property before, they must have been some serious shut-ins. Then again, I wasn't about to let that stop us. A few days of elbow grease, and we'd have this place looking respectable. We just had to get off our tails and do it.

I gestured to Urky.

"s'Il, this is an old friend of mine, Urky Wenson. We go all the way back to Nar Shadaa, me & him. He knows the guts of a speeder every bit as well as me."

I looked back to s'Il.

"Urk, this is Loklorien s'Ilancy. I'm bringing her on to give some help in the design department. She's got a good sense of style, so you two need to get your heads together and start throwing ideas off each other. Not only do we need to make some mean machines here, but we also need to make them look good."

I really hoped that Urk and s'Il would start off the bat with a good working relationship. I'd been in the scoundrel business for too long, and I'd seen what drama could do to a professional environment. These guys were both friends of mine, but friends don't make money. You gotta come together for that. I think the beginning is what makes me the most nervous about it all.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Giving Urky a once over, the Lupine nodded to him before picking her duffel up once more. No telling what sort of things inhabited the floor, and s'Il thought it best to not let anything but her bootsoles touch the concrete ground.

Urky Wenson struck her as being one of those kids that knew his stuff, and wasn't afraid to say his piece. There was something about him that gave off an aire of hard-headedness - not that she minded. Those had always been the people to get things done when it came to the line, and she could admire that quality in a person.

Her eyes went around the warehouse once more.

Talk about your fixer-uppers.

Oh well. Sanis had a thing about always turning rocks into gold, and for once, this idea wasn't altogether that bad. It had potential, and the thought behind it was a good one. She just hoped that only a few 'professional differences' would occur.

"Got another one of those?" she asked, nodding her head at Urky's drink.

[Urky Wenson]

"Yeah." I walked over to the drink machine and kicked it. A drink dropped out, and I tossed it to her. Lok caught it casually. At least she was dexterous.

Sanis picked her for the same reasons he had picked me, excepting the whole promise thing: she knew her dren inside and out. I ground my teeth a bit when I looked at those silver eyes.

"We need the compressor and washer if we want to get anything done. This broom is pointless."

[Sanis Prent]

Pulling another emptied bin into the garage, I went to work scooping up remaining scrap off the floor and shelves.

"Don't worry about it right now. Lets haul this crap out first. We'll hit the rental shop for a compressor after lunch. The big stuff's gotta go first."

Grunting, I dropped in a case of broken sprocket chains, which clattered loudly in the metal bin. After a few sheets of warped plate metal, I drug the full bin across the floor with a heave. The thing had to weigh at least 200 pounds when full.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

This has got to be the most run-down, dirty, roach infested disease ridden warehouse I've ever seen -

Thoughts trailing away, the Lupine nodded her thanks to Wenson for the drink as she wandered towards the back of the place. Sidestepping piles of trash and strewn about papers, she stopped before what she guessed was a workbench. With a mild grunt, s'Il set her duffel atop it, and sweeping an arm out, sent the scattered remnants of a busted repulsar turbine clattering to the floor. Kneeling down, drink still in hand, the Lupine began picking through the remnants, tossing the unusable into the nearest crate, and what she deemed useful back up onto the workbench.

"So who else did you pull into this," she half-called over her shoulder to Prent.