Ulim flashed a Sangheili smile at Hergat before returning his graze over the partons. "I'm lost, Hergat, and trying to find a way." he said taking up the ale bottle Hergat had given to him since Sangheili couldn't drink out of cups.

The Rodian looked confused, but didn't push anything about it. Instead, he asked "What brings you to this old place? Hasn't changed much, only I've had to open it to a wider range of partons due to bad bussines lately."

"I'm looking for infromation on Imperial patrols. I'm part of a crew now that wants to get by unnoticed." Ulim said and then emptied the bottle in two gulps.

Hergat chuckled and said "I don't recommend doing that. Some people here take pride on how fast they can empty a bottle. Anyways, about this crew, are they a respectable bunch? Or are they barely tame like Ldha?"

Ulim winced and said "Please don't metion her again, please. They are respectable ones, although I imagine, how do humans say this, 'that they would have have a hard time putting on their own diapers'."

They both started laughing at this, although Hergat looked a little sad at what Ulim's request ment. Then Ulim started again saying "They are a good bunch, reguardless of what anyone says."

Hergat relaxed himself and said "Well, I'm sure they'll do fine if you're with them. As for Imperial patrols, I'll check my sources and see what's open. In the meantime, the drinks are on the house you old Split-Lipped geezar." They both started laughing at that.

"You're lucky you're one of my best friends." Ulim said laughing before downing another bottle.

"It is definetly made of metal." Zam said before the conversation went down a road that would have made him unconfitable. "but it's quite small... the Knife i mean."Raze let out a disappointed sigh. "Figures."

She watched as the man discretely passed a small package to a large tough-looking Corellian standing near the door, a bounty hunter by all accounts, then with the exchange done, he began to make his way towards their table.

"Well, that was interesting," Raze commented over her ale. "Either we were meant to see that, or Phee is getting sloppy. Ok, get ready. Here comes Phee's man."

"Ms. Tarn," the man said as he approached the table. "Mr. Phee is ready to see you and your..." He eyed over Zam and Rita, quickly, but with a detailed eye. "...guests. If you would follow me, please?"

Raze nodded politely, but as she rose she gave Rita a reproachful look, warning her with her eyes to keep quiet. She motioned for Zam to take point, she followed, and Rita took up the rear as the three of them followed him towards the side door by the stage.

Barrus Phee’s office was elegantly and richly decorated, but a bit ‘overcrowded’ for Raze’s tastes. The floor was covered in luxurious carpet, expensive artwork covered the walls, and unique artefacts were displayed under lighted glass.

“Reisa!” The balding and fat Barrus Phee, dressed in the very latest of Corellian designed formal wear and with a bejewelled eye patch over his left eye, rose from behind his desk and greeted her warmly. “It’s been a long time.”

“Indeed,” Raze agreed. Time for some pheremones, she thought… “A very long time, Barrus.”

“And I see you are looking as lovely as ever,” Phee said to her.

“Thank you.”

Barrus slowly eyed Raze over, then Rita, and lastly, and very quickly, Zam. “And, I see you brought company, too,” he said, his eyes lingering over Rita.

“I did,” Raze said. “This is Zam, and… Rita,” she said, looking at each of them respectively, her gaze lingering on Rita a bit longer. “They won’t be any bother.”

“Of course not,” Barrus replied, nodding. With hands adorned with jewelled rings of gold, he gestured for them to sit down in plush, overstuffed chairs set out in a semi-circle facing the front of his desk. “Please, sit down. Make yourselves comfortable.”

The three sat, and then Raze understood why the chairs were so plush. They were too soft for any quick or surprise movements.

“I understand that you are looking for work of a more… ‘delicate’ nature than what is usually offered on Nar Shaddaa,” Barrus started.

“Discrete and delicate,” said Raze.

Barrus grinned slyly. “Discretion is my speciality, my dear,” Barrus said smoothly. “Unfortunately, I only have three possible transportation contracts at the moment. Business being what it is with the Empire in control.”

“I have no real problems with the Empire.”

“Ah,” Barrus raised a perfectly manicured index finger. “But you do have a real problem with cash flow, am I right?”

“We could all use a little extra cash flow,” Raze answered coolly. “But I’m not short on …tangible assets. They’re firm enough where they are.”

Barrus coughed slightly. “Yes... of course they are.”

“But I am interested in keeping my crew occupied. ‘Idle hands make dull work,’ and all that.” She smiled. “Hands need to keep busy in order to maintain their skills.”

“Indeed.” Barrus shifted in his chair. “Erm... may I offer you and your companions a drink?”

“I’d rather you offered me something else,” Raze said seductively.

Barrus cleared his throat.

“Something firm,” Raze said.

Barrus pulled out a handkerchief and patted the sweat from his brow.

“Like a guaranteed transport contract,” Raze added.

“Erm…yes. A contract….” Barrus cleared his throat again before continuing. “I think I might have something that you might like.”

“I’m sure you do.”

Barrus began to blush. “I have a very wealthy, very anonymous client on one of the Core Worlds that is extremely interested in the work of Venthan Chassu.”

“One of my favourite Corellian artists,” Raze said. “His ‘Selonian nudes’ in the Coronet City Museum of Fine Art on Corellia were very well received by the critics.”

“Indeed?” Barrus clicked a switch on his desk, and a fan began to blow cool air into the room. He stared blankly at Raze for a moment, then blinked a few times. “Erm… where was I? Oh, yes. I have recently obtained a collection of some of Mr. Chassu’s earlier works. Works that would need to be delivered to my client discretely, of course.”

“Of course. And, how ‘discretely’ are we talking about?” Raze asked.

“Eight thousand.”

Raze frowned slightly. Eight thousand was just not enough. “I was thinking more along the discrete lines of twenty-five. Business being what it is with the Empire in control. And surely your very wealthy client knows that discretion and anonymity can be very expensive.”

"I wish to enquire as to your plans for your time on Nar Shaddaa," he said politely, unphased by his master's outburst. "Do you plan on remaining on board the ship?"

"Hopefully not." Travis answered, standing and going to retrieve the parts he had thrown. He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm looking to possibly get some parts -- if I've got the cash. Why?"

The second Rita opened her mouth, Raze knew there would be trouble...

"What is this?" she demanded, hands on her hips and glaring furiously. "Are we to be so lowered to skrang as to cart about some dust-happy fool's paint splashings?

She turned to Raze. "Raze, you know we deserve a better job than that."

"Not going to be any bother, are they, Reisa?" Phee demanded indignantly.

"Tell him we want a better job," Rita ordered Raze, ignoring Phee.

"I can hear you just fine!" Phee snapped. Rita turned and flashed him an innocent smile.

"Oh, could you?" she asked, mimicking her innocent smile in her voice.

"People on Corellia could hear you fine," Raze muttered. "Please, Rita. Let me handle this. I don't need any suggestions from the hired help."

"Ha!" Rita laughed. "You really believe that?" She turned to Zam. "She really believes that?"

Raze's coloring flickered blue and she retorted, "Things were going just fine until you opened your big Corellian pie-hole!"

Phee stood slowly, frowning at Rita. "You want a different job?"

"Yes!" Rita exclaimed, just as Raze shouted, "No!" flushing violet briefly.

"Very well," Phee answered, raising his eyebrows. "I've got just the job."

"Start counting your credits," Raze growled softly at Rita. "You'll soon owe them to me."

Raze’s skin tone had returned to its natural pale cream, but it took a lot of effort on her part to maintain it. Oh… no…. was all that she could think as Barrus crossed over to stand in front of her. He crossed his arms. Bad sign…loss of receptiveness, she thought. She would have liked to use more pheremones, but in her experience, that could lead to trouble. And she was in enough trouble as it was. Damn that loud-mouth, hot-headed, Corellian Di'kut!

“I’ve got a … special package I need moved,” Barrus started. “I was going to send it with…” He paused. “Someone less reliable,” he ended up saying. “But I could include it with the artwork cargo as an alternative solution to your ‘companion’s’ demand for higher compensation.”

“Someone less reliable?” Raze tried to read his expression, but it was ambiguous. “Anyone I know?”

Barrus shrugged. “Perhaps. He’s done work for me before. But on his last job, the cargo was delivered in a… less than satisfactory condition.”

Raze cocked an eyebrow. “Customer satisfaction is my primary concern,” she said, turning up the release of pheromones. “Always.” Barrus’ stance softened a bit, and Raze exhaled a tiny sigh of relief. “So, where is this cargo headed?”

“Same destination.”

“Same client?” Raze asked with a hint of suspicion.

“Perhaps,” Barrus replied.

“But different fee, right?” Rita blurted.

This time, Raze elbowed her quick and hard in the side to shut up.

A fleeting grin flickered across Phee’s lips. “Much different.” He bent closer to Raze, so close that she could smell on his breath exactly what he had had for his lunch that day. Ugh! How I hate the smell of ibbot… she thought.

“Fifty thousand,” Barrus said softly. “In addition to the eight I offered for the original cargo,” he added.

It was a considerable sum for a single job. What’s the catch? Raze wondered. There has to be a catch. “Fifty-eight thousand?” Raze asked. “That’s….”

“A small fortune,” Barrus completed her thought. “Indeed it is, my dear. Indeed it is.”

Raze hesitated. Something didn’t feel right to her. She gave a quick glance at Zam. He looked wary as well. She didn’t bother to look at Rita. She didn’t need to see the smug, victorious look Raze knew she had on her face.

“This ‘special’ package…,” Raze started.

“It’s fifty thousand for the package, no questions asked,” he said. “And that means, no questions answered, either.” He looked at Rita askance. “Deal?” He held out his pudgy, sweaty hand.

Raze took a moment to consider Barrus’ offer. It was very, very tempting, but a little voice in the back of her mind told her to turn it down. However, a larger, much louder voice (curiously, sounding much like Rita’s) told her to take it.

She grasped his hand. “Deal.”

A few minutes after their little talk, Hergat had left to get the info that Ulim wanted, and a gang of young male humans walked in liked they owned the place. Ulim ignored them at first, as they kept to themselves, but then they started to get aggressive. It was small things at first like rude remarks to the female Twi'lek waitress and other partons who happened to walk by. Then when they started to get their drinks things got bad. They made lewd remarks to the waitress and taunts to the other partons, so the partons started to leave. And then they said that they weren't paying due to 'unsatisfactory service.' When waitress began to tell them off and one of them grabbed her arm and brought her in close to him, Ulim had taken enough.

Ulim walked over to them and said "I'm going to have to ask you all to leave, humans. Either that or I'll have to remove you myself."

They looked at him and sneared, the one holding the Twi'lek's arm saying "Go to you master, you Split-Lipped slave." And then they began to laugh at him. Of course, they weren't laughing when Ulim grabbed the man by the neck and tossed him straight across the cantina and out the window.

"Hopefully not." Travis answered, standing and going to retrieve the parts he had thrown. He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm looking to possibly get some parts -- if I've got the cash. Why?"

Bif seemed to brighten at his response - as much as his emotionless mind could brighten, anyway. "I wish to request permission to accompany you." He said. "I wish to observe the humanoid social interaction during the consumption of hydroxyethane, the substance commonly referred to as 'alcohol'. There are many references to such interaction in my database, thought I have yet to witness such interaction first-hand. I believe it would greatly benefit my understanding of human emotion."

Zam Remained seated the whole time, but he was so shocked to see Raze accept the deal he jumped up and looked down at the shaking hands. "Whooo, Raze. You know i'm normally the last to question you but... a no questions asked deal, Really?"

"Well it's too late to go back on it now." Phee said still shaking Raze's hand. "We've shaken on it now."

"That we have," Raze said to Barrus Phee. But before she broke her handshake with him, she said, "But, we haven't agreed on terms yet, Barrus."

"The usual twenty-five percent up front," Phee said. "The rest on delivery. Same as last time."

"Barrus, the 'last time' was quite some time ago. You need to account for inflation." Raze grinned softly. "Thirty percent."

Phee hesitated, but after some internal debate, he gave in. "All right. Thirty. But only because it's you," he added.

"Always a pleasure doing business with you," Raze said, then released his hand. "I'll send you my account details before we leave."

Raze bowed her head politely, then nodded for Zam and Rita to follow her back out to the main part of the cantina.

"Zam," she said without looking at him. "What's thirty percent of fifty-eight thousand?"

"Seventeen thousand four hundred..." Zam paused for a second. "So do you want to celebrate with a bottle of Nudien champagne?"

"We could," Raze said. "And we could use the bottle to whack Rita on the head with afterwards."

"Hey!" Rita protested. "If I hadn't said anything, you'd have taken an 8000 cred job. You should be thanking me... not to mention paying me the 100 credits we agreed you now owe me."

"well alot of ggod that will do you, if it turns out we're transporting a Bomb that's set to explode when we're in hyperspace." Zam said reminding them that Rita also managed to acheive us transporting an unknown cargo. "Or if a nerve toxin is released into the Enviro systems."

"Rita, I could have talked him into at least fifteen if you hadn't opened your big mouth!" Raze retorted. "And we wouldn't have had any 'special', no-questions-asked, possibly dangerous, definitely suspicious, kriffin' package to transport to the Core!"

Bif seemed to brighten at his response - as much as his emotionless mind could brighten, anyway. "I wish to request permission to accompany you." He said. "I wish to observe the humanoid social interaction during the consumption of hydroxyethane, the substance commonly referred to as 'alcohol'. There are many references to such interaction in my database, thought I have yet to witness such interaction first-hand. I believe it would greatly benefit my understanding of human emotion."

Travis raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at the droid. He figured he would have gotten a pretty good idea from simply watching the crew. After a moment of scrutinty, the gunner shrugged.

"I don't see why not." he said, gathering a few items up and putting them in various pockets, "Just be sure to stick close to me, alright? And stick to your protocol programming -- last thing we need is to step on any toes."

"Oh, yeah?" Rita challenged. "And would that be before or after you offered me up as additional 'company' for that fat, bloated bantha-breathed bog-stomper? And don't tell me you didn't think of it... especially after how much he stared at me!"

"Phee has better taste than for the likes of..." Raze ran her eyes over Rita's rique attire. "...you."

"Don't be jealous..." Rita scoffed. "You know he was eyeing me. And you had to use pheromones to get on his good side."

"If I hadn't used them, he wouldn't have given you a second look," Raze snapped. "Let alone a first. And we wouldn't have had any job."

"Well we do have a job," Rita hissed. "And maybe going Coreward is a little unnerving, but we've done it before. And come back without a scratch."

"Well, let's just hope Ulim has gathered some info on where those Imp patrols will be," Raze muttered. "I don't want any Imperial 'entanglements'--especially with a mysterious cargo on board. Still, the next time you decide to open your mouth, at least warn me. Shutta."

"You had plenty of warning when I suggested my idea back on the ship, wagyx!" Rita shot back. "At any rate, count on the resident Old One to get the 'Imp avoidance info' we need. Don't know his sources, but what does it matter with info as good as he gets."

"Ladies Ladie, handbags," John said walking up to the two,noticing the arguement, and to be honost, who didn't. "So what's going on? Did we get the job?"

Ulim couldn't help but grin at the site of the waitress bossing around the gang of humans as they cleaned up the cantina, nursing their 'battle' wounds while they were at it. In reality, Ulim had just thrown them across the room a couple of times when they tried to gang up on him, and then tried to run. But his heavy repeating blaster had other ideas.

Then, since they had broken quite a bit of object with their impacts, Ulim decided to have the one they were harassing, the waitress, supervise them in the clean up. It was embarassing, but there was nothing they could do as long as Ulim was there. And he was going to make sure they didn't do anything after he left.

Hergat returned and saw the site. "Young ones making trouble, eh? Never knew that waitress could be so aggressive." He laughed to himself and said "I have your infromation on this data pad." He handed Ulim the data pad.

Ulim took a look at the data pad, the looked up and said "It appears the Imperials are getting very tight lately."

Hergat sighed and said "You're right. They've beefed up patrols and security. Almost lost a contact to them, but he got away. These are patrols for the next two months. That should last you enough."

Ulim nodded in approval and said "Thank you, old friend." Then he got up to leave.

Hergat suddenly remembered something and said "Oh, wait here for a moment." He went into a back room and came a moment later with two to packs of ales, one Corellian and the other Tarisian.

"Genuine?" Ulim asked raising an eyebrow.

"Imported directly from Corellia and Taris!" he said grinning.

Ulim knew he probably shouldn't, sinced it'd most likely be stolen by Rita if she ever found out about it. It was wrong though, in Sangheili culture to refuse a gift. Then he got an idea for how to use it as well.

He took it and said thank you, and began to leave when his attention returned to the gang. He stood up to his full height of 8ft, from his normal slouch foreward 7ft, and said "If I hear that you have done any wrong doing from anyone, I'll hunt you down and take your head as a trophy." Then he left. And he would never hear about them doing something wrong.

"yep, in fact we got two." Zam replied stepping towards his friend. "Come on lets leave the kids to their slanging match and i'll buy you a drink... trust me we can afford it now."

((Kira, you logging back onto MSN?))

Bif nodded. "Thank you," he said. "I assure you that I will remain a comfortable distance from the feet of our peers."

Travis rolled his eyes, tossing on his jacket before grabbing his blaster and vibroblade.

"That isn't what I meant..." he muttered, and headed towards the exit ramp. "You coming, Bif?"

Otaktay wondered into his favorite bar on Nar Shadaa, and that was saying alot considering he hated anything on Nar Shadaa, and severely disliked alcohol. But he had a friend at the bar, an old rodian who understood quite a bit of Otak's language, often allowing him to speak to someone in his own tongue instead of using an annoying voice mimicry system.

Otak saw the gang of humans cleaning the place, looking rather frightened of something and depressed at the work they had to do. Otak took a few long strides, and was at the bar, the old rodian, Hergat, looked up from cleaning a glass, his brow wrinkled into a smile, what little of lips he had did the same.

"Hello Sage, how are you today?" He said rather slowly, as if Otak were stupid, or didn't understand basic, which he did, his vocal organs just didn't have the capability to form the sounds and noises of the language known as basic. Otak was very patient though, and even prefered the way the rodian talked to him, it often calmed him down, though he never understood why.

"[Hello]" came the reply in Otak's native tongue.

"What'll it be today Sage?" Asked Hergat.

"[Info]" came the common single word reply.

Hergat digested this, probably trying to remember what the word Otak had said means. "What kind?" Finally came the response.

"[rides, ships, vessels]" came the simple response.

Hergat knew these words nearly instantly, Otak often asked for those things. "One moment my friend," he said kindly. Moments later he came back with nothing but a napkin with words written on it. "Okay, let me see here...hm...there's an old garbage barge..." Hergat paused, while Otak let out an annoyed low growl. "...We have a spice freighter, but that's scheduled for self destruct by a rival crime boss of the owner of that ship....hm....a ship one of my friends came in on recently, don't know much more on it....hm....and there's a small two person hyperspace capable family shuttle in own of the docks several stories up from here, in the upper middle class district," said Hergat, a little skeptical on the last one.

Otak just let out a half growl half sigh, causing Hergat to cringe a little. Otak looked at the napkin in Hergat's hand, an idea came to him, Otak giving a nod to himself, he patted Hergat's shoulder, giving him 50 credits for a 'goodbye' present, and turned away and left. Hergat just stood there, a little confused at what just happened, holding the 50 credit chip in his hand, looking at it like it was some sacred thing.

Otak left the cantina rather quickly, looking around warily at his surroundings, knowing he wasn't exactly liked on Nar Shadaa. He charged out of that small region heading for the nearby Corellian district. After enough trotting he came to the district, but didn't slow done very much to look at the scenery. But something happpened he never expected, he saw a Sangheili, but a very familiar one. Otak stopped dead, staring at this Sangheili walking off, not really pausing for anything. The Sangheili turned a bit, and this Sangheili looked very, VERY familiar, it was Ulim. Otak was more concerned than surprised, or happy, so he trotted up to the ever moving alien.

Otak tapped Ulim's shoulder with his clawed fingure, stepping back a bit, not knowing how Ulim would react.

Ulim felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Sage standing before him. He smiled, and asked "How are you faring, Sage?"

Otak seemed rather surprised now, he never would expect Ulim to act like this, though not uncommon either.

"[Not well]" came the response in his language, he knew Ulim would understand, but it would still be difficult to communicate like this entirely, so Otak opened the panel on his wrist, and got ready to start using his mimicry system. With a couple switches pressed, he had a monotonous, human voice coming through the system in his suit.

"It's been hard, long, and moneyless. I need a way off this slime, ball, please, can you...tell me, where the, docking, bay, is?" Came the chopped up, but full answer, plus question.

Ulim thought for a moment, and then said "There are many docking bays here on Nar Shadda, but I imagine there are more than one ship that might be availiable where I'm going. You could follow me there if you like." He talked a bit slower this time so Sage could understand.

Otak, took this in, Ulim talking slower only made him nervous, but he at least felt calmer now that he was around him. After some time pondering he nodded to himself and typed into the wrist comp, "please, lead the way, I'll follow," came a less chopped up response, probably due to the fact that the words had gone into a phrase before.

Ulim nodded at this and then began to lead the way to the hangers.

"yep, in fact we got two." Zam replied stepping towards his friend. "Come on lets leave the kids to their slanging match and i'll buy you a drink... trust me we can afford it now."
As Zam headed off to the bar with John, Raze blinked in disbelief. "Slanging match?" She looked at Rita. "Did he just say 'slanging match?'" Then she looked back at Zam, who was away at the bar now. "I am not having a slanging match," she called out to him. "We are not having a slanging match!"

She turned her attention to Rita. "I am not having a slanging match, with you." She took a deep cleansing breath. "Calm, calm, calm...." she repeated, then exhaled fully. "I'm going back to the ship. I've got to send my payment details along to Phee. And get ready to load this 'special cargo'."

Zam laughed, he knew how to push Razes buttons if he wanted to, 'she may be in her 80's but she still acts like a child a times'. Zam ordered an other Trandoshan whisky and got one for john aswell, he downed it in one then turned to John. "You may want to reienforce the cargo bay blastdoors for our next mission."

John shook it his head "Sorry, I was miles there. What'cha say" Zam repeated himself "Reienforce cargo bay blastdoors... again? Zam to be honest which ya, I feel that I've reienforced them so many times these past three or four years that we should rename them too..." John paused as he took a sip of his drink, trying to think of something to finish his joke with "too something. I really know care. I'll see what I can do."

"Well you should, as our good captain has taken it upon herself to transport an unknown cargo halfway across the galaxy." Zam said ordering another drink from the bar keep." And if it's a bomb i don't want my bits scattered across the stars... i like them exactly where they are and intact."

"Well if you don't want that to happen you'll want to be in a large footlocker, like the one I have in engineering. It should sirvive both the blast and the launch out into hyperspace. You wouldn't live and be likely to turned into mush. But it's more of a scare for the people who come across your wreckage." He replied

Otak was becoming impatient, how long did it take to get to the ship docks in the Corellian district? Ulim seemed to be taking his sweet time, but Otak wasn't in a position to do that, walking the streets for him was like a death warrant. Everyone high and mighty in the area wanted him dead, or worse yet, captured.

Turning to Ulim he asked in his own language, with a hint of urgency, "[We there yet?]"

But from what he could tell, they were coming near to some kind of area that had ships in it, he could see platforms where ships normally docked in the slight distance. Even futher out he could see a ship in the distance that was docked, the only one in the area, he instinctually knew this was the ship that Hergat had told him about.

Without waiting for an answer from Ulim, Otak patted his shoulder, his species way of saying good bye and good hunting, he started off at a trot, though to most people it seemed a whole lot faster than a trot. But as he moved farther ahead of Ulim, a growing sense of anxiousness, and foreboding grew within him, every instinct and sense in his body telling him something bad was going to happen, and soon!

He picked up his pace, going from a Yautja trot to a full jog. He needed to reach that ship, talk to it's captain, and get outta here before anything else happened. The ship loomed closer, until he finally reached it, the sense of foreboding, and urgency, a little less than what it was, but it was still there. Otak stopped, looking around, no one seemed to be home, Otak tapped the hull of the ship, then moved around to the loading ramp. He let out a non-threatening bark, so as to alert anyone in the ship that he was out here.

Otak looked back, Ulim seemed to be heading for the ship he was at, but was still mozying along. Otak made a fist, and banged on the ships hull again, only harder, trying to get someones attention. He stood back and waited, the urgency suddenly leaving, as if his assumed hunter had gone away for awhile.

Raze headed for the ship, Rita not far behind her.

"Just so you know, Rita, if there's anything in that cargo that damages either the crew or the ship, I'm taking it out of your cut," Raze told her as they swung around the corner towards the docking bays. "And I mean anything. But, if everything goes well, I'll give you an extra 10%. So, guess who I'm putting in charge of loading the...."

Raze stopped in her tracks, and grabbed hold of Rita's arm to stop her as well. She pointed up ahead to the Eclipse where a strange looking alien was banging its fist against the hull, as if demanding entry. "Is that a... a...? No. Maybe a ...?" Raze shook her head, raised an eyebrow, then frowned. "Rita... I've been around for a while. And I've seen a lot of strange sights. But... exactly what is that banging on our ship?" Then she caught sight of Ulim wandering in front of them. Raze exchanged a look with Rita. "Long lost relative of Ulim's?"

"well as this may be the last ime i'm on this world, or any for that matter. I'm going to enjoy it." Zam said to john as he turned his head and spotted the waitress from before.

"If you'll excuse me." Zam announced as he walked towards the waitress, He reached her and began to talk for a while with the human women, but then as if from no where the waitress slapped Zam around the face and stormed off. The zabrak then walked back to John as if nothing happened and sat back down with a drink in his hand. "Don't say it!"

John smiled darkly at Zam "Didn't go that well I see. Whatcha say?"

Raze headed for the ship, Rita not far behind her.

"Just so you know, Rita, if there's anything in that cargo that damages either the crew or the ship, I'm taking it out of your cut," Raze told her as they swung around the corner towards the docking bays. "And I mean anything.

Rita snorted. "Perhaps you'd rather threaten that it better happen to me," she quipped. Raze kept on as if Rita had not spoken.

"But, if everything goes well, I'll give you an extra 10%. So, guess who I'm putting in charge of loading the...."

Raze stopped in her tracks, and grabbed hold of Rita's arm to stop her as well. She pointed up ahead to the Eclipse where a strange looking alien was banging its fist against the hull, as if demanding entry. "Is that a... a...? No. Maybe a ...?" Raze shook her head, raised an eyebrow, then frowned. "Rita... I've been around for a while. And I've seen a lot of strange sights. But... exactly what is that banging on our ship?" Then she caught sight of Ulim wandering in front of them. Raze exchanged a look with Rita. "Long lost relative of Ulim's?"


"Doesn't look like Ulim," Rita answered, shaking her head. "Different species, I think..." She shot an odd glance toward Raze. "Been around for a while, have you?" she said. "That reminds me of a question that's been bumbling about in my head for a bit now... just exactly how does a four-year-old steal a ship?"

"How does a four-year old steal a ship?" Raze gave Rita a skeptical look. "That's not the start of one of those lame Corellian jokes of yours, is it? You know, like, how many Imps does it take to change a light-cartridge? Or, why did the Wookiee cross the road?"

"Hey!" Rita snapped defensively. "You never did manage to get the light-cartrige one right!" Shaking her head, she went on, "At any rate, it's no joke. The Clone Wars ended nearly twenty years ago. By your claims, you'd have been about four. So how's a four-year-old steal a ship?"

Raze gave Rita a deadpan look. "You can add?" she asked, obviously avoiding the question. "Well, I'm impressed." She nodded her head over towards the alien banging on their ship. "Doesn't help us with our little problem over there though, does it."

She started forward, then stopped as she noticed the amount of melee weapons the alien seemed to be carrying. She looked askance at Rita. "So, tell me, math whiz, what's the ratio of his weapons to our weapons? And what's the probablility that he's friendly?"

"That old, are you, that you won't talk about your age?" Rita muttered. "Highly likely he's friendly. You know how aggressive Ulim can get if there's a threat. I'd say he knows Ulim..." She frowned. "Seems odd, though. As for weapons..." She shook her head, and smiled cheerfully. "Oh, yeah, we're way outmatched!"

Pushing past Raze to head for the ship, Rita called out to the alien. "I'm not sure who's aboard right at the moment. Captain's this-away, though." Turning, she yelled to Ulim. "This big fella a friend of yours or should I be reaching for my weapons?"

Otak had just about enough with the pounding, and was about to try busting in when his audio-enhancement system picked up nearby conversation. He turned, noticing two women talking, he zoomed in one level, about 2 times magnification and listened to what they said.

"So, tell me, math whiz, what's the ratio of his weapons to our weapons? And what's the probablility that he's friendly?" Said one of them.

"That old, are you, that you won't talk about your age?" Said the other rather muffled, but he could still pick out what she said pretty well.

Otak's attention averted and he missed the next part, but he quickly put his attention back to the two at hand.

"Seems odd, though. As for weapons...Oh, yeah, we're way outmatched!" Said the other one, still talking, Otak didn't like where the conversation was heading, to him it looked like they were debating if they should attack him or not.

"I'm not sure who's aboard right at the moment. Captain's this-away, though." Said the same one, but to him. He didn't understand quite so well what she meant, and from his perspective, it looked like she was trying to lure him towards them, into a trap maybe?

Then things got real confusing, real fast, the woman turned towards Ulim, and yelled out to him and asked, "This big fella a friend of yours or should I be reaching for my weapons?" This was more than what he needed pressuring his brain, he had to make a decision, and fast, he didn't know what to think.

Otak was so flustered, so confused, anxious, annoyed, all these things worked together to send his into his base instinct, then what's worse the feeling of forboding and fear was slowly returning. He didn't know what to think, he was being hunted, and there were two women talking to Ulim like old chums, yet they were sizing his weapons up like he was prey. He felt cornered, and with his base instincts kicked in, feeliing cornered was not something that would help. So at this, like any cornered animal would do, it would fight back, try to survive, kill anything that got in it's way.

Otak reached for his smart disc, holding it in his right hand he ejected his wrist blades, while pulling out his telescoping glaive, holding the small handle in his left hand. He looked around, no ledges, only pipes, and wall mesh. He ejected the glaive, it sprang out of the middle handle, shaft, blades and all, the serrated pole-arm held tightly in his grasp. He was ready, he was still in decent control of himself, and knew that a full on charge would only frighten them into firing, so he approached at a walk, but he was constantly increasing his speed, halfway to them he was now trotting. He didn't want to kill them if he didn't have to, because he was still unsure of their motives, but he knew if he wasn't the first to strike, he could be the first attacked, giving him the disadvantage, and he didn't want the disadvantage.

So he went forward, uunsure of what to expect.

Ulim snapped out of his thoughts when Rita called to him.

"This big fella a friend of yours or should I be reaching for my weapons?"

Ulim immeadiatly snapped his head up as Sage began to get ready for a battle and shout "He is a recently made friend! Do not attack him!" He broke into a light jog towards their position, making sure not to rock his packs of Corellian and Tarisian ales to much.

Raze's eyes widened at the ever increasing pace of the heavily armed alien approaching her and Rita.

"Erm...Rita? Remember what I said earlier to you about those grenades of yours being a bit over the top?" she said as she slowly took a step backwards. It was hard to tell, but the alien's walk and stance didn't look at all friendly to her. Not. At. All. In fact, he looked more like he was...stalking them. In anticipaton of a first strike. "I take it back."

"He is a recently made friend! Do not attack him!" Ulim shouted, as he hurried towards them.

Raze stopped dead in her tracks. She wasn't sure if just being Ulim's friend was enough to prevent the approaching alien from attacking, but as Ulim was a creature of few words, and a member of her crew, she thought to re-evaluate the situation.

The alien heard us talking, she thought. Even from this far away. Maybe he thought we were planning to attack him?

"Stand your ground and don't move," she said firmly to Rita. "And whatever you do, don't reach for a weapon."

Rita nodded quickly. "I may be impulsive at times," she murmured to Raze. "But I ain't stupid!" Slowly, she lifted her hands out away from her body and called to the stranger, using slightly slower speech and absolutely no slang words, "You are a friend of Ulim. We are both gunners on that ship."

She turned a little, nodding to Raze. "This is the captain. We won't harm you."

Otak was distracted, as usual, and he didn't much pay attention to the conversations carried on by the two women. He felt the dark inescapable feeling grow more and more, he saw the woman that was up front raise her arms, and shout at him, his adrenaline clouding his thoughts.

All he heard was, "...we are both gunners..." This sent him into a sense he hardly knew, fear, a rare thing to feel for him and his species. He let out a short barking roar and went into a full burst of speed towards the two. He was close enough that he wouldn't need to use his smart disc, so he slipped it back to where it went on his thigh. He raised his now free right arm, his 12 inch long wrist blades gleaming.

He was closing the gap quick, and his first target was the woman that was up front. Two meters, one meter, but at one meter time seemed to slow done, he felt his heart throbbing, his senses tingled, then he felt the air depressurize in his ear. His right arm was upraised, his leftheld tight to his galive, which was being aimed for a gut strike. Then in that split second of the air depressurizing he felt something hot skim across his palm, and then a piercing pain went into his shoulder, pushing through armor, skin, muscle, and bone, and out the other side.

He let out an ear deafening roar of shock, more than pain. He had stopped, he looked at the woman in front of him, then at his shoulder, florescent green blood flowing from entry wound, and exit wound. He slumped to his knees, he let out a moan, then rested his chin on his chest, his right arm hung limply at his side, though he could move it if he wished, it would be extremely painful. He looked over to where the shot came from, he zoomed in, he could vaguely see a cloaked figure in a window, then he was gone.

Otak rested his chin on his chest again, he awaited the fate these two women would give him, whether death, or capture.

Raze stared down at the alien kneeling before her and Rita. She had known as soon as the word 'gunners' had escaped Rita's lips that there would be trouble. She had drawn her blaster, but things had happened so fast she hadn't been able to even fire a shot. She really wasn't sure what had happened, but someone had stopped the alien, and he was now wounded and bleeding in front of them.

"Ain't stupid, huh?" Raze whispered to Rita. "Could'nt you have said the 'we're not going to harm you' part before the 'gunners' bit?"

Not waiting for Rita to answer, Raze lowered down to a crouch behind some nearby cargo containers, motioning Ulim and Rita to do the same. She looked around warily, scanning the nearby buildings for any signs of movement. Rampaging alien threat aside, they still might be in danger. Someone had shot him with some sort of high-powered projectile, and Rita wanted to know, one--were they aiming at the alien; two--were they aiming at her, Rita, or Ulim and had missed; or three--were they going to shoot again.

She didn't see anyone, and assumed Rita probably didn't either, as she was a "shoot first, ask questions later" sort of gal and she hadn't shot at anything yet. Slowly she rose, and reholstered her blaster.

She looked down at the pool of bright green blood near the alien's feet. "Ulim? You'd better get your 'friend' some medical attention before he bleeds to death. Or before someone shoots him again."

"C'mon we should probably get back to the ship, I don' want to miss round three of todays Raze Vs Rita match." Zam joked as he finished his drink and continued rubbing his cheek.

"Avoiding the question completely, I see what your trying to do." John said while finishing his drink. "But that's a good idea. I surpose we should get back before the two rip eachovers heads off."

The two walked back to the Ecilpse. When they reached the Eclipse John noticed the croud outside, he learnt towards Zam and wispered to him "Is it just me or do we attract the strangest of people?"

"nope Ulim, bif and travis are all strange." Zam replied with a smile "but that guy wins the award for strangest looking guy i've seen." Zam said pointing at the bleeding alien.