Zira Darkstar

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A/N: Sorry for the length of this chapter. I decided to try and push through some of the middle ground stuff and no other part seemed like a suitable place to call for a break. Also: for those who've already played the game it's going to be a little more boring than the previous chapters. There wasn't a lot in the way of improvisation, but I hope you enjoy at least the tid-bits of humor I could add to it.
A/N: One more thing, I might not be able to post for a few days. So, hopefully by the next time I have net access I have two or three chapters to post in succession.
~Beta'd by Envy~
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Chapter 13

Zira looked Carth over from inside the helmet. Carth was stripped of his blasters, with a freshly swollen black eye, and a pair of binders pinning his hands firmly behind his back. She shoved him violently forward and then stopped at the guard to the turbo lift. The shove had sent Carth into the lift’s door and he slid down it miserably.

The Sith turned to look at Zira, “Another patrol heading down to the lower city, eh? Good luck… I’ve heard it’s pretty rough down there.”

Zira tried to sound as cruel as she could, “I’m counting on it.”

The man seemed a bit surprised. “There’s a swoop gang war going on, you know?”

“Yeah. And this bastard is coming with me.” She motioned towards the mass on the permacrete that was Carth. “I feel that he should be introduced to those gang bangers.”

“You better watch yourself: those gangs will take a shot at anyone, even us!”

“Oh, I’m hoping they do something very similar.”

“It’s too bad we don’t have the manpower to just sweep those slums clean.”

Zira shook her head as the guard hit the engage button for the lift. “Meh, I say let them kill each other off. Less of us get shot that way.”

“True.”

They exchanged a laugh as the door opened. Zira kicked Carth in the ribs, causing him to roll on board.

“So can I ask?

“Ask what?”

“What’d he do?”

“I would tell you, but then I would have to bring you down with me.”

The lift closed between them and plunged them into the Lower City.

She knelt down and undid the binders and helped him up. “Was the kick really necessary?”

“I don’t know, but I would rather not risk it.” That’s what you get for being so stupid with that Twi’lek.

She pulled his blasters from her backpack and handed them to Carth. She finished off the ride by removing the encumbering straps of the armor. Good thing that Yun was such a big guy. I never would have been able to fit my other armor under this thing if he hadn’t been. She broke the armor down and dropped the components into her bag. She replaced the vibroblade on her back and the blaster at her hip.

The lift came to a stop and the two of them disembarked. They hadn’t made it but twenty meters into the street when suddenly the air was a filled with the sounds of people shouting. A moment later a fight broke out in front of them, and they could see three Niktos fighting a group of Rodians.

Must be the gangs we were warned of. The Rodians were severely out matched, and the three of them fell without so much as wounding any of the Niktos. Who, after finishing the group off, turned and spotted Zira and Carth.

The leader of them shouted something and the trio began to run towards Carth and Zira, their weapons still in hand. Zira wasted no time, she drew her blaster and instantly opened fire. Carth was a half second late, but he seemed to get the message as two of Zira’s blaster bolts burned into the Niktos’ scaly hides.

The Nikotos were a race of lizard-people from a world named Kintan. The environments there gave them a natural layer of armor and Zira found out first hand just how solid it was. Both the men she’d hit with her shots didn’t even slow down in their approach.

She barely had time to react as the men overwhelmed them. Zira shoved the blaster into its holster and drew her vibroblade. She brought the weapon up into a parry and it’s cortosis weave began to grind it’s way into the blade of the Niktos holding it. One of the other two rammed her in the side with his shoulder and pitched her to the ground. Mid-fall, she watched as the third man smacked Carth in the shoulder with a shock stick. The energy arched from the weapon and played across Carth, he too was thrown sprawling to the permacrete.

The Niktos with the vibroblade moved so he was standing over Zira and attempted to bring the blade down into her, but she managed to cross blades with him once again. This time, they reached a deadlock and the alien began to try and drive the blade through her own and into flesh. Zira lashed out with both feet, kicking the man’s knees out to the sides.

The motion caused his knees to buckle, despite having the armored skin. Zira’s mind was a torrent of thoughts as she rolled over the back of her neck and back to her feet. Carth!? Zira regained her feet and watched as an over charged blaster bolt burned through the face of one of their assailant. He didn’t survive that one.

She couldn’t see the third man and she began to circle, sweeping the area around them.

“That’s all of them. For now, anyway.” Carth said evenly.

“But there were three of them.”

Carth’s expression was a little surprised. “Yeah, you slashed him across the face after he knocked you down. He staggered to the side and fell over.”

Zira blinked. I did? I don’t remember having time to take a swipe at him… “Oh… right.”

“Come on. We should keep moving.”

“Carth?” Zira called after him as she sheathed her weapon.

“Yes? What’s on your mind?”

She moved over to fall in stride with him. “Is this a good time to ask you some more questions?”

A cocky, lopsided smile spread his features. “I’m all ears, beautiful.”

Zira felt a strange sensation in her stomach when he said that. She smiled at him gently, “I like the sound of that.”

The expression on his face squashed the feeling in her gut, “Which? The fact that I’m all ears or the beautiful part?”

This man is so damned confusing! Was he being serious or just messing with me!? “Carth, are you flirting with me?”

Carth’s expression turned somber and he looked straight ahead as they walked. “Not really. Just a habit. You have something you’d rather I call you by?”

“How about my name?” she asked hopefully.

“Don’t get yourself in a twist over it, gorgeous. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Zira shook her head and they proceeded for a moment in silence. He won that one. He managed to get out of answering any questions. Wait…. “Forget it.” She said aloud, more to her thoughts than to him. “Let’s get back to my questions.”

Carth glanced at her, then straight back ahead. “All business today, eh? Are those questions really necessary?” He sounded like a parent, coddling a child.

Zira felt a bit of resentment and anger burn up inside her. She glared at his profile, “I just would like to know you better.”

Carth seemed to respond to the anger with some of his own, “Oh. Well, if it’s an interrogation you wanted, why didn’t you say so?”

Zira’s glare transfixed upon his face, and she caught him by the elbow. “Excellent. Soon all your secrets will be mine!” She stated very dryly.

Carth stopped and looked down at her. She didn’t know if it was the site of her face scrunched up in anger, or if it was the way she’d spoken the during her pathetic attempt at a joke, but his face softened. He gently put his hands onto her shoulders and tried to offer a kind smile.

“All my secrets are purely of the mundane variety, unfortunately. Nothing worth extracting, though, you’re welcome to try.” He paused for a moment, but before Zira could organize her thoughts, a thought seemed to come to him suddenly. His expression began to scrutinize her; she could feel it. “Let me ask you something first, though. I’ve been going through the battle aboard the Endar Spire over and over in my head since we crashed. Some things just don’t add up for me. Maybe you could tell me what happened… from your perspective.”

Zira’s mind played back everything she could remember. She remembered Trask and being woken up as she was pitched from her cot. The look in Carth’s eyes didn’t look like it was going to accept: “I can’t remember anything before that.” Instead she looked up at him, and as sternly as she could say, “I wasn’t in a position to know what was going on, really.”

That didn’t seem to appease him any better. “Neither was I , to tell the truth. I was onboard as an advisor for the most part. The battle began so fast, it’s anyone’s guess as to what actually happened. We lost the ship and a lot of good people… and for what? On the hope that Jedi powers would save us, somehow? Not that Bastila had much of an opportunity to act. We didn’t choose that battle, anyway. It got forced on us. Hell, I’m just surprised that any of us are alive to talk about it.” He spoke with such conviction that Zira couldn’t say anything. She felt the pain of each of those losses as if they had been strangers. Did I know them? Were any of them friends? Did I take something from someone I held dear while I was looting random corpses? The thought and emotion of it sent a burning sensation into her eyes, and she could feel heavy tears welling up inside them.

“Come to think of it, it’s more than a little surprising that you happen to be here, isn’t it?” Carth continued, his face still skeptical. “Just what is your position with the Republic fleet, anyway?”

Zira was racked with emotion. She wanted to shout out at him, hit him, or tell him about Trask. She wanted to shove every bit of it back in his face, but one thing stood out. I have trusted him with my life this far. And he has done the same with me… Should he have? Was I actually a Sith operative who infiltrated? Is it my fault Trask is dead? “Why? Are you accusing me of something?” She finally managed to say over the sudden lump in her throat.

“Not at all. I just think it’s a bit odd that someone who got added to the crew roster at the last minute just happened to be one of the survivors.”

His words cut like a vibroblade. The tears that had been circling her vision now broke free and rolled down her cheeks. “You’d rather I wasn’t?”

Carth’s expression finally changed. He shook his head and his tone became comforting. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve more than proved yourself since the crash… we wouldn’t have made it this far without you. But still…” He cut himself off, seeing the expression on her face.

Zira felt that familiar anger burn inside her. There’s no way I had anything to do with the ambush! And how dare he point the finger at me! “Are you implying that I had something to do with the crash?”

“No. Well… maybe. Don’t get me wrong, it just seems odd that someone Bastila’s party specifically requested to transfer aboard happened to survive.”

She’d had enough. She slapped away his hands from her shoulders and began to move again. “It doesn’t make any difference. Go ahead and be paranoid.”

Carth called after her, imploringly, “I’m not trying to be paranoid. It’s just that I learned a long time ago that something which looks like a coincidence probably isn’t. Especially when the Jedi are involved. The Jedi requested numerous things when they came on board… Hell, they practically took over the ship, as far as I could tell. Considering your connection to Bastila and the Jedi… whether you know it or not… your presence here seems a little convenient. I’m probably wrong and this is probably nothing, I know. I learned a long time ago not to take things at face value, however. And I hate surprises.”

I must have gotten to him… He’s trying to rationalize why it is that he doesn’t trust me. Maybe he’s not beyond hope. She turned and looked at him, very hardheartedly. “I’m telling you, Carth, I had nothing to do with the crash.”

Carth stopped and offered a half-smile. “I expect you’re right. I’ve got no real reason to suspect you of anything. Still… it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?”

Zira nodded and resumed her pace. Maybe I’m just so angry because I wasn’t smart enough to suspect him first. Although…. He seems to have an extreme hatred for the Sith, whereas I wasn’t sure whether or not they were really that bad or not. “Are you always this suspicious?” She asked curiously.

“Look… it has nothing to do with you personally. I don’t trust anyone, and I have my reasons. And, no, I’m not going to discuss them. So can we just keep our mind on more important things?”

“I consider this important,” she retorted quickly.

Carth reached up and gripped the side of his head. “Alright, alright. You must be the most damned persistent woman I’ve ever met. We’ll talk about it… but later. Right now I just want to get going.”

The rest of their walk down the streets was done in silence. Both of them had a lot of thoughts on their minds and neither felt the need to express them to one another. They approached a large building and were attacked by two more Niktos wearing the same clothing that the ones before had used. They were clumsy shots with their blasters and fell without any real problem.

The way they had gone came to a dead end that had all sorts of markings from this group, Zira believed to be called the Blast Vulgars. “Maybe we should head back. I don’t fancy walking into a place that’s crawling with those guys.”

“Agreed.”

Zira made note of where the building was as they backtracked. Carth seemed to be following Zira’s lead, so she decided to walk back towards the turbolift they’d come down on. If we wander outward from there, at least we won’t get lost.

After passing the cross street that was near the lift, they ended up getting closer and closer to a large door that had a Rodian standing watch outside it with a blaster rifle . For a moment Zira expected the man to open fire on them, but a garish flashing sign over her head changed her mind. It read: Javyar’s. The Rodian simply said something about, “not starting trouble,” that Zira pretty much ignored.

The room beyond the door was cloudy and filled with smoke and the stale smell of ale. There were constant shouts and the sounds of things breaking from further in. At first, Zira thought perhaps they’d stumbled into a brawl, but the fact that she was in a room where a lot of people were still casually sitting didn’t seem to suggest that.

She felt Carth get closer to her as they moved through the long room. It had a pazaak table on it that looked as though every alien species in the known galaxy had taken a turn vomiting on it at one point or another.

Zira made a quick note that this cantina was set up identically to the one they’d went to in Upper Taris. In fact, I would say that this is what the Upper City cantina will look like in another ten to twenty years. Zira’s thoughts were interrupted by a group of people.

There were two Twi’lek males and a Rodian all circling a human man, dressed in a large blue jacket. The human was wearing a strange white turban and a pair of dark glasses. He had a broad, prominent chin that had a visible cleft in the center. The trio of aliens dwarfed the human, who was even shorter than Zira. The size didn’t affect his attitude however, “Go away,” was all he bothered to say as the three stopped in front of him.

The Rodian, who appeared to be the leader, spoke up first, “Hey, you not talk like that. We just want say hi to big, bad bounty hunter Calo Nord.”

The Twi’lek on the Rodian’s right spoke up in a jeering tone, “Nah, this can’t be Calo Nord. He’s supposed to be tough. This guy’s nothing but a runt!”

The man, referred to as Calo Nord, didn’t seem phased at all by their presence. “One.”

The Rodian had taken on the jeering tone of his companion, “One? What that mean? You be funny, tough guy?”

The third thug spoke up, practically laughing, “You know who we are, Calo? We’re members of the Black Vulkar gang! You don’t want to be getting funny with us, tough guy.”

Oh! It’s Vulkar! Okay, that makes more sense.

The short man didn’t seem at all impressed by their affiliation with the gang, “Two,” he stated in the same flat, emotionless tone.

The Rodian was the first to start laughing, “Me no understand. One? Two? Why he count? He trying to count how many against him?”

His laughing inspired the other two aliens to break into their own hysteric fits. The Twi’lek on the right spoke up again, “It’s three against one, Calo. What do you think of those odds? Well? You have something more to say?”

Calo’s tone changed to one of finality, “Three.”

Before any of the Vulkars had a chance to realize it, Calo had produced a flash grenade from his belt. He rolled the device between the three of them and it went off. The dark glasses Calo had been wearing must have been for more than appearance. Because while the grenade had created a brilliant flash, Zira heard three shots and three wet thuds.

As Zira’s vision cleared, she could see the three Vulkars sprawled across the floor. They hadn’t even been smart enough to try and draw their weapons.

The attack had stunned almost everyone, and Calo seemed to take the hint. Without a word he walked out and left the cantina to slowly resume what everyone had been doing.

Zira shook her head, she almost pitied the idiots for attacking him.

As they began to move through the bar, Zira’s attention was stolen by a bright blue skinned Twi’lek woman speaking Basic to two more Rodians. Wow… Lower Taris is a cesspit for these things. This “Black Vulkar” gang must recruit them by the ship load.

The girl was definitely young. She had smooth, blue skin and wore her lekku on her shoulders. She wore a tan vest that was open in front, and a pair of matching trousers. She had a pair of leather boots that came up to her mid-thigh over top of the pants. With a gloved hand she made a shooing motion to the Rodian while speaking. “I told you to leave me alone! So give me some space, bug-eye! Your breath smells like bantha poodoo.”

Zira shook her head. Girl’s got a death wish!

The Rodian spoke up, “Little girl should not be in bar. This no place for little girl. If little girl smart, she run away home now.”

The girls eyes flared with anger, “Who you calling a little girl, Chuba-face?”

The Rodian responded by putting a hand threateningly on the blaster at his side. “Little girl needs lesson in manners!”

The girl didn’t seem phased by the threat. She just smiled at them, “Just a sec, boys. Zaalbar… a little help here? I need you to rip the legs off some insects.” She added, calling over their shoulders.

To Zira’s amazement, it was a huge lump of fur that bellowed back. A Wookiee, who was well over two meters tall, called to her, “Mission… I’m busy. They just brought my food.”

The girl glared indignantly at the mound of fuzz. “Quit complaining… you can finish eating later. Besides, you need the exercise. So, get over here.”

The Rodians had both frozen, looking at the massive paws that were busy shoving large pieces of food into the Wookiee’s mouth. They seemed to be focusing on the massive fangs and claws. “We no want trouble with Wookiee. Our problem with you, little girl!” The second Rodian finally managed to say.

The massive creature stood to his full height and began to approach them. He looked positively furious about being interrupted. “You got a problem with me, then you got a problem with Big Z. So unless you want to take on my furry friend, I suggest you greenies hop on out of here.”

They practically fell backwards over themselves. The one in back finally turned and broke into a sprint for the door. The one who’d started it called out, “Little girl lucky she has big friend.” Then, he too bolted for the door.

The Twi’lek girl giggled at the sight, but as her eyes followed the panicking aliens, they fell upon Zira and Carth. She waved the two of them over and was instantly talking, “Say, I don’t recognize you, and I know pretty much everyone in the Lower City. You must be new down here. I guess that makes me and big Z your official welcoming committee.”

Yeah, if you don’t count the half dozen Vulkars who’ve already “welcomed” us. If she knows half of what she claims to, this might be a stroke of luck. “That’s weird, A Twi’lek who speaks galactic Basic!” She said, trying to pretend to be a dumb tourist.

“It’s not that strange. Most aliens can speak Basic, they just prefer to use their own language. But I grew up here on Taris so I just sort of got used to speaking the native tongue.”

Carth spoke up from behind Zira, “You showed a lot of guts dealing with those Vulkars, kid. You got a name?”

The girl grinned, apparently not used to very much praise. “My name’s Mission Vao and this big Wookiee is my best friend, Zaalbar. I’d offer to give you a tour, but the streets down here aren’t safe. But if there’s anything else you need…”

Zira’s mind flashed the image of Janice before her, and she realized maybe letting Carth do the talking was a bad idea. She quickly blurted out, “I want to ask you some questions.”

The childish grin stayed ever present on the blue skinned girl, “Well, you came to the right person! If you want info on Lower Taris I’m the one to talk to! Davik, the Lower City gangs… I’ve even got the scoop on that bounty hunger, Calo Nord!”

Zira decided to just ask about them in order, “Tell me about Davik.”

She didn’t waist any time in starting a long winded bout of gossip, “Davik’s part of the intergalactic crime syndicate, but I guess everyone knows that. But I hear he’s got a new ship for his smuggling operations, the Ebon Hawk. I don’t know much about space travel, but I hear that ship’s fast enough to break the Sith blockade. Of course, this is all just second hand rumor.”

Zira smiled. A ship fast enough to break the blockade… I might have to meet with this Davik Kang.

Carth seemed to be thinking the same thing. “Were would he keep it? Do you know?” He tried to sound nonchalant, but he wasn’t very good at it.

“If Davik does have a ship, he’s got it locked up at his estate. Nobody gets in there, except the people working for Davik and the Exchange.”

Zira nodded, thinking it over. Okay… well we have to find this Master Jedi before we worry about that step anyway. One cycle at a time I suppose. “Tell me about the Lower City gangs.” Zira said curiously.

The girl’s eyes lit up. “There’s only two gangs worth worrying about here in the Lower City: the Black Vulkars and the Hidden Beks. Sometimes Zaalbar and I hang out at the Bek base. The Beks are led by Gadon Thek; he’s a good guy. Lost his sight in a swoop bike accident a few years ago, but even blind, he’s a great leader. Not like that traitor Brejik! Before he took over the Vulkars, he was a Hidden Bek. Gadon considered that ungrateful space slug his adopted son.”

Zira listened to the entire speech quietly. Of course, everyone has to wage their private war. I think when we find this Jedi and get off this planet, I am going to start my own war against stupidity. Yeah right… talk about an uphill battle. Zira realized the girl had stopped talking and felt the need to say something. “Why did Brejik leave the Hidden Beks?”

“When Gadon went blind, everyone figured he’d step down and appoint Brejik in his place. But Gadon figured Brejik wasn’t ready yet. He wanted him to wait a few years. But Brejik was too impatient. He left to join the Black Vulkars, and ever since, he’s been waging a war to wipe Gadon and his Beks from the face of Taris! This gang war in the Lower City is totally the Vulkar’s fault. They’re the ones killing everything that moves out on the street. It’s like they’ve gone insane.”

Wow… Okay, bad idea asking about the gangs. She must think herself an honorary member or something. Okay, might as well see if she knows anything good about shorty. “Tell me about Calo Nord.”

“Calo Nord’s one of the most famous bounty hunters in the galaxy. He’s killed more people than the Iridian Plague! I’ve seen him kill people just for trying to talk to him! He hangs out around Zax’s bounty office, but I don’t think he’s looking for work there. All the postings are small time, way beneath a bounty hunter of his caliber.”

So basically knows about as much as I do. She thought for a moment about asking how the two of them, Zaalbar and Mission, had met but decided it might be rude. Or spark another lecture that would make a protocol droid beg to be slagged.

Zira stood from the spot she’d been sitting and smiled. “I’ll be going now.” She tried to sound polite.

The girl looked a little disappointed, “You going? Yeah, this dive is pretty boring. No action around here. Come on Big Z, let’s go.”

The great furred beast had returned to shoveling food into the waiting chasm that was his mouth, “But I haven’t finished eating!”

“Can’t you think about something besides your stomach for five minutes? Come on, we’ll go see if there’s anything good to eat at the Bek base.”

Zira watched them go and shook her head. “Cute kid.”

“She’s going to get herself hurt, being involved in these swoop gangs.”

“Oh well, it’s a lifestyle choice. And before you start preaching, consider what you do for a living. You were shot at repeatedly, then forced to crash a pod on a hostile world. Maybe the swoop gangs aren’t so bad.”

Carth nodded grimly.

The next twenty minutes were spent moving about the tavern, but they were all thugs or people who had no ties to anyone that might know about Bastila. Zira wandered into a section of the cantina labeled “Bounty Office.”

The room was pretty large, but it was mostly empty. There was a couple Twi’lek dancing off to the side, or rather, a woman dancing before a man. The rest of the room was littered with a few thugs here or there with fake badges that made them feel important. Bounty hunters… Wannabe… bounty hunters.

There was a Hutt in the back of the room lounging against the wall. He was smaller than Ajuur, from the dueling ring, in length alone. He was a healthy amount wider, however.

The fat slug’s eyes trained on the two as they closed. He boomed, “I’ve not seen you before, human. You are new to the bounty office, yes? My name is Zax, I’m the one in charge here. Are you looking for work? There are many bounties available here; legal and otherwise. But they all pay quite well. Or are you here for information? Everyone knows I’m one of Davik’s best agents… I’m the Hutt with all the answers.”

Zira felt her eyebrows arch upwards. This is a government office… Did he just say that he works for crime lord!? “You work for Davik?”

“Not officially, no. I work for the bounty office. But Davik pays me to keep my eyes open and report to him… and for me to post his bounties.”

A bitter taste spread through her mouth, “Davik posts bounties in a government office? Is that even legal?”

He opened his bulging eyeballs a bit wider, “I used to have to keep our relationship secret, but since the Sith arrived, nobody cares what happens in the Lower City. Davik can do whatever he wants. But enough talk, back to business. This is a bounty office, so we should talk about bounties. Or were you looking for information?”

Zira thought over her credits, or lack there of. “Tell me about the bounties.”

“There’s two government contracts. One’s an assassin named Selven, the other is Bendak Starkiller. He’s a famous death-match duelist. Between them they’ve killed hundreds of people.”

Carth spoke up behind her, “I can’t see anything wrong with getting rid of people like that. As long as we don’t end up on the list of their victims.”

Zax seemed to understand the foreboding tone in Carth’s voice, “But not all bounties are dangerous. Davik’s got some special contracts. One’s for a girl named Dia; she attacked Holdan, one of Daviks’ men. Another for a man named Largo who owes Davik money.”

Zira stiffened at the name. Right… while I’m here I need to get that bounty lifted.

Carth spoke up behind her, an unfamiliar edge to his tone, “Okay, I don’t know about Davik’s special contracts. Justice is one thing, but doing a crime lord’s dirty work is something else.”

Zax continued, “And then there’s Matrik. He used to work for Davik, then he betrayed the Exchange and Now Davik wants him dead. I’ll put all this information in your datapad.”

Zira plugged her datapad into his and waited for him to process the information across. She began to flip through it and recognized the file on Largo. “Tell me about this merchant, Largo.”

The Hutt brought the message up on the datapad and reviewed his file. “Actually, now that I think of it, that bounty is off the table. I guess the merchant came up with the credits. Don’t bother with that one anymore, human.”

Zira smiled Good… He did use the money to pay off his debts. Hopefully he is smart enough to avoid that situation again. “I’ll be going now.”

The slime covered mass of wrinkled flesh boomed back at her, “Goodbye, human. You come back if you want to earn credits. Bounties pay good money. And remember to come see me if you want information.”

Oh now that I think of it, how would I go about stealing your boss’ ship? She simply nodded and left.

Carth fell in step beside her, “We need to help Dia.”

“Oh? Do you know her?”

“Yeah. She came to the apartment last night when some bounty hunters showed up to attack her.”

“Well, aren’t you the big bad hero.”

“Will you stop it? This isn’t the time for jokes!”

“Fine… She told me that I might find this… ‘Holdan’ here in this cantina. Maybe we should split up while I look for him?”

“No way, last time we split up you nearly got yourself killed.”

“Which time?”

“The fact that you have to ask that, tells us everything we need to know. Come on, let’s go.”

It only took Zira a couple of questions to be pointed the stage room. After that, it was easy to pick out which one must be Holdan. The room was almost completely empty at the moment and only one human remained.

The stage had been set up in a similar manner to the one in Upper Taris. And, just like there, it had a trio of Bithes playing their long instruments. There were a pair of Twi’leks writing around each other. They were practically naked, and Zira became wholly aware of Carth’s rapt attention.

She used it to her advantage and approached the human. “Huh? What? Oh…. sorry. I didn’t see you there. My attention was kind of focused on the Twi’lek dancers. Look at them waggle those head-tails!” The man turned to look at her quickly, “Don’t worry, honey. Alien girls aren’t really my thing. I’m much more interested in an attractive female of my own species.”

Zira smiled gently and sat across from him, “Who are you?”

“My name’s Holdan, baby. Maybe you’ve heard of me… I work for Davik Kang, you know.” The man’s pale blue gaze eyed Zira top to bottom. He leaned forward, cupping his narrow chin in one hand and resting his elbow on the table between them. He had a full head of curly black hair that reminded Zira of the Wookiee from earlier.

Zira’s set her datapad down in front of her, the picture of Dia still on the front. “You’re the guy who put the bounty on Dia’s head, right?”

He smirked and sat back. “You’re here about that? I guess Zax must have mentioned me to you at the bounty office. Fair enough, I don’t care who takes her out. Just so long as the job gets done. I can’t let her get away with what she did, that wench tried to cut me with her vibroblade.”

He was no longer looking at her like a piece of meat. Which made Zira feel only slightly better. He probably would’ve been easier to convince if he was till all googly-eyed. Oh well, guess I messed this one up. Best play it out. “Why would she do that?”

“Because she’s crazy! She started screaming that I was making advaces, and the next thing I know she’s coming at me with a knife.”

“Yeah, right. Sounds to me like she was defending herself.” Carth’s voice echoed came from right behind her, making her jump. Woah, I didn’t even notice he’d come over! I figured I had another ten minutes of him staring at the Twi’leks….

Holdan crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the both of them, “I admit I was drunk. Maybe I got a little fresh. But it was no big deal. She didn’t have to cut me!”

Oh well, diplomacy is out of the question. “Sounds like maybe you got what you deserved.”

“Hey! You weren’t there. She totally over-reacted!” He shouted, leaning forward quickly. Carth already had a blaster drawn by the time the motion had finished. It seemed to slow the man down as he eyed the muzzle.

“I want the bounty on Dia’s head removed.” Zira stated dryly.

Holdan looked away from the blaster and at Zira again, “What? I can’t do that! Think how it would look. I work for Davik, I’ve got a certain reputation to uphold. I can’t let her get away with this. There has to be payback!” He paused for a moment, his eyes training again on the blaster in his face, “Although, I do feel a little guilty about this. Dia’s a good looking gal - it’d be a shame to kill her. Tell you what, I’ll take two hundred credits in exchange for lifting the bounty. “

Zira shook her head, “If you hire someone to kill Dia, it will look like you weren’t man enough to do it yourself.” She spoke in a way that even he could catch the hint.

“Well… I guess you might be right. Besides, I’ve noticed some of the girls around here are giving me the cold shoulder since this all started. Ok, you win; Dia can live.” He stood up and Carth tracked him with his blaster. “Don’t worry, I’ll stick to my end of the bargain. I’ll go tell Zax right now that the bounty is off the table.”

Carth finally seemed appeased at that comment and holstered the weapon.

True to his word, Holdan rushed off to the bounty office and Zira looked up at Carth. “Another job well done?”

“Hardly. I’m still debating about shooting him.”

Zira chuckled and stood up from the seat, realizing just how sticky the surface was. “Eww…”

“What?”

“Nothing… I think I need a shower, and a change of clothes.”

“Well… we have been at it for most of the day. Maybe we should call it quits for now. Think we can get a room down here in the Lower City?”

“No, I don’t think we’d make it through the credit check,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I was afraid of that.”

“Well, maybe you should find a place and I will go back to the Upper City.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, “Why?”

“Well it’s not like we can use the same trick to get you down here twice.”

“So maybe we should both go back up and this time I can kick you in the ribs.”

“Yeah… that doesn’t work for me. If we do that, we’ll have to think of another plan.”

“Or just shoot a Sith and get another set of armor.”

“Either way, should make for an interesting morning. Let’s go.”