Chapter Text
Episode One
A New Eridu
Random Play isn’t too busy today.
A couple of the regulars came and went with their rentals. Belle is kind of surprised that the musical ones have been in high demand lately. Maybe a theater troupe got people in a singing mood. She’d love to scoop a few into her room for later.
The young manger hums a tune as she busies herself with reorganizing their stock. There's a few gaps in the action genre and even more in the romance section.
Belle taps on her tablet, reviewing what has been rented out this week.
“Hey, Eighteen, can you send me an update on our holovid archive?”
The droid beeps from the counter.
A new hologram pops out of her tablet. Her eyes scan the titles of their most popular holovids.
“I think we should set up a display feature for all things racing.” Belle taps at the hologram, highlighting a few titles. “Those Outer Rim podracing holos finally made it in our starstream. I’m willing to bet a lot of credits people will want more of those in a couple of rotations.”
At the counter, Wise is rewiring the computer terminal. He’s been trying to boost the signal to better receive intergalactic transmissions.
“Sounds good.” He then half-mumbles to himself, “Now if I can get this to work correctly…”
Belle wanders over, leaning her elbows on the counter, “Has Shepard sent anything over?”
“We’ve tested calls already. Signals are spotty but that’s to be expected of the Outer Rim.”
Wise plugs in a cable port into the terminal and suddenly the lights and idle holograms flicker. Unconcerned, Wise continues fiddling into the open hatch of the device.
“Bro,” Belle wants to reach over a flick her brother’s forehead. The best she can do is reach over and harshly poke his arm. “Don’t cause a power outage. The 141 droids are still mad from last time.”
“Hey, that little incident was a team effort. Don’t pin it all on me.”
“Yeah, I can. You’re the oldest.”
Wise sighs, not wanting or perhaps unable to argue any further.
“Anyway, while transmissions are fine, data transfers are not. We need a better signal for him to send any podrace footage.”
A dramatic groan leaves Belle, “Of all the podrace tournaments in the galaxy, Tatoonie had to be the most popular.”
“Well, there’s nothing else going on there,” Wise said. “No one wants to actually travel there when we have the holovids for rental.”
Belle says out of the side of her mouth, “If we ever get those holovids.”
This business venture is supposed to end with Random Play gaining more credits and funding. It’s been nice to have a peaceful little holovid shop in the small corner of the planet but there’s always an issue with bills.
If one looks deeper, the issue lies with the Empire and their growing laws and taxes upon the Middle and Outer Rims.
Neither Wise nor Belle wants to get in trouble financially, unlike a certain girl they know, so they have to get creative.
“I still think Shepard wanted an excuse to gamble on Tatooine,” Belle complains.
“As long as he gets us holovids, it’s fine.”
“True,” Belle taps her nails on the counter. “Would you ever want to go out there?”
“To Tatooine?” He grimaces, “Not really.”
“No, not that desert zone.” Belle sinks her head, lays on her arms, “I mean, traveling to another planet, just to see more.”
There’s no immediate response. Wise turns away from his work and faces his sister.
“What are you really asking me, Belle?”
Her eyebrows furrow, a small bite worrying her lip as she chews over her thoughts.
Tatoonie, New Eridu, it wouldn’t matter where they are. They barely managed on the last planet before Shepard helped them into the holovid business. Even after settling into this lifestyle, Belle will have the same complaints and Wise will have his same concerns.
Things have to be the same mundane, peaceful lifestyle. That’s all that matters, that’s all that must matter.
“…nevermind.”
“Belle-”
“It’s nothing,” Belle rushes as if she could easily run away from her brother’s worries. Maybe she should actually escape upstairs.
Thankfully the entrance door slides open.
Belle stands straight up and points, “Look Wise, a customer!”
A tall figure walks in.
The whiplash of Belle’s emotions, from bored to wanderlust to regret to joy of a distraction all plummets like a star cruiser in system failure.
A blue helmet shines at them. There’s no seeing through the black visor but body movement alone, this armored figure is well trained. A gloved hand rests over the blaster hilt at the waist.
It’s a New Eridu PubSec Officer.
Belle might’ve screamed if it was white armor, but this still isn’t good.
The officer marches to them.
Belle cannot move, her knees are buckling. Right as her mind is yelling at her to move, Wise has a gentle hand on her elbow, pulling her to behind the counter, closer to the staffroom’s door.
He stands in front of the officer, garnering all the attention.
Wise greets with a smile, “Hello there officer, what can I help you with today?”
When the officer lets go of the blaster hilt, Belle thought maybe she could breathe again. Instead her suffocation continued as the officer raised his gauntlet to display a small hologram of Wise’s face.
“You’re the manager, yes?” The officer’s voice is young, soft even, but that tone does not put Wise at ease.
Despite the customer service smile, Wise’s heart begins to race. If it comes to it, Wise needs to calm down. His eyes quickly examine the officer.
Tall but so far not imposing, hands away from the blaster and the battering rod at his gear belt. Good, let’s keep it that way.
“That’s me,” Wise confirms, still with an easy smile but a tight pressure in his chest. “Would you kindly tell me why you’re here?”
For a moment, the officer doesn’t respond, merely dismissing the hologram and lowering his arm.
Then surprisingly, the tense posture in those armored shoulders relaxes. An uncharacteristic tilt of the helmet has the officer looking away from Wise.
“Why I’m here? Well, I heard that there were some old holovids from the um… the before times?”
Wise blinks, the smile he trained finally worn down. He kind of wants to pinch himself if he heard right.
Belle breaks the awkward silence with a snort.
“Ha,” she laughs, “Nice way of saying before the Empire!”
“Shh!” The officer raises up a hand to physically defend himself, “Don’t say that so loud!”
Belle keeps giggling, appearing carefree as ever but Wise can tell that her nerves were working overtime. Laughing at an unexpectedly awkward PubSec officer is a strange way to cope with terror but Belle’s life is nowhere near normal.
Wise takes a deep breath to calm himself. He clears his throat before getting things back on track, “I’m sorry officer, I don’t believe we have what you’re looking for.”
The officer’s shoulders lower even more and Wise can hear the pout behind the helmet.
“But Jane’s been talking up this detective series. I really wanted to rent it before she could spoil it for me.”
A single name alone shouldn’t stand out in Wise’s knowledge of their many customers to know who this Jane is. But some quick math has Wise remembering that a single person has been renting out almost the entire mystery genre.
Wise glances at Belle, mouthing Jane Doe?
Belle nods.
It’s not unusual for a customer to babbler about Random Play’s secret holovids. He just detests the day that an officer comes down to investigate. Yet it appears that this isn’t an official investigation.
Their number two customer recommended it to this person.
Wise turns back to the officer, “Before we discuss any further, would you please take off the bucket?”
“Huh?” Another head tilt before the officer nearly jumps in place. “Oh! Sorry, of course!”
With a click and a hiss, the blue helmet is unlatched, held at his side.
White hair and feline ears are disheveled from its tight confines. There’s an innocence in those purplish eyes and the sheepish smile almost charms the siblings.
If only this guy wasn’t an officer.
Wise bites back a rueful sigh and activates his tablet’s holoscreen.
“It looks like Jane and a few others are still renting those holovids. I could recommend another series.”
The officer nods but the pout remains on, “You don’t have more copies?”
Belle shakes her head, explaining, “Duplicating old holovids corrupts the original code over time. Especially since it’s incompatible with the Empire’s software. We can only have a set number for precautions.”
Neither sibling expects the technobabble to register but the officer nods, convinced.
“Yeah, the Empire has censored a lot of holovids from the old era. I just don’t see how all these old stories are listed as contraband. These can define so much culture and media presence.”
Wise and Belle share an approving grin. They can see why Jane recommended their shop to this guy.
Belle walks over, no longer shaking in her boots. She thrusts a hologram to the officer’s face.
“New customers get a discount on their first holovid rental. I think you might need it to catch up with all of Jane’s shows. Otherwise, someone might tell you how Scooby Doo solves the case.”
The officer gasps in horror, quickly typing in his name to the membership application.
“Seth Lowell,” Wise reads off the name. “Thank you for signing up. We have a vast number of genres you may be interested in.”
Right before Seth takes another step, ready to browse through the collection, Wise places a hand on his shoulder.
Civilians rarely get close to an armored security officer. It’s mostly just criminals and bounty hunters that get in Seth’s face.
The manager before Seth has gentle features, a serene calm that eases away his earlier awkwardness. Yet the hand on his shoulder pad curls over the edge of the plating.
“Next time you visit, don’t ask for blacklisted holovids while in uniform.”
Wise shakes the shoulder pad for emphasis. It’s a small movement yet Seth had to steady his feet because he swears he almost fell over. Seth shakily nods his head before Belle takes over.
“Alright Seth,” Belle waves a hand to the walls stacked full of data files, “Welcome to Random Play, best holovid rentals in the Middle Rim!”