Title: The Seventh Star
Author: KatanaGeldar
Genre: Hard-boiled detective fiction
Characters: OCs
Timeframe: c. 45 BBY
Summary: Just out of prison for crimes he did not commit, Jali Dawler, ex-Coruscant Security Officer, follows a series of events to uncover those who framed him.
Disclaimer: Star Wars is not mine; I just like to write with it. The original characters are my own creations.
Note: This fic is very different from anything else that I have attempted before, more of a genre experiment than anything else. If it goes well I'll continue it with another two fics with the same set of characters.
I owe a lot to the 'experts' of this genre, as well as my various EU sources to give me the gritty realism that this fic needs. And even though Jali smokes, I don't and am opposed to smoking except for dramatic purposes.
This fic is recommended to be read by mature audiences. It contains coarse language, sexual references and drug use.

The Seventh Star

Dedicated to Phillip Marlowe, Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes and Rick Deckard.

A guard walked through a door carrying a locked metal box, placing it on the counter in front of Jali. The guard pressed his thumb against the plate on the front of the box and the lid sprung open. He started to take the items out one by one, checking them against a datascreen as he did so.

"A wallet, synthetic leather," the guard said. "Four currency chips, two holographs and a key-access card for 17329 Permel Apartments." Jali grabbed the objects as the guard took them from the box. "One Coruscanti identification in the name of Jali Dawler, planet of origin Coruscant, born thirty-five standard years ago, occupation Coruscant Security Officer, rank Sergeant." The guard looked up. "You'll have to get a new one, soon."

Jali didn't smile as he tucked the ID into his wallet. What description did they give to those in his position? "Unemployed"? "Ex-criminal"? "Just got out of jail for something I didn't do"? It was something he had considered in his time inside, just one of the many things waiting him on the way out.

The guard removed his clothes and shoes from the box, the same ones he had worn to his trial seven years ago, a few more personal items and finally his blaster. Thankfully it was his own, they hadn't taken it from him when he had been dismissed from the Security Force. Jali still didn't like the idea of going outside without a weapon.

"That's everything," finished the guard. He gestured to the cubicle on the far side of the room. "There's a refresher in there where you can get changed and I'll sign you out."

---------------------------------

The final slamming of the door of Coco Town Penitentiary could not have been a sweeter sound for Jali. Seven years in there, he had missed seven years of life cut down from his initial sentence of fifteen. Misuse of an official position, accepting an illegal payment and tax evasion. The last was almost laughable, borne out of the desire to make an example of him. Jali knew he had been set up from the very beginning, but with all the evidence stacked against him it was a foregone conclusion. But it was over, and he could begin again, or try to.

For a moment he considered taking an airtaxi back to his apartment, but that could wait. Instead he went back to one of his old haunts. After all, he had to find out what he had missed.

---------------------------------

If Jali attracted a few stares when he entered Didi's Café, he chose not to acknowledge them as he approached the counter. He had come here quite a few times and not just for the food, the diner was one of the many sources of information on Coruscant, and one of the more pleasant places that offered it.

"What can I get ya?" trilled the droid waitress.

"A slider and an ardee," Jali said, he slid onto a stood and glanced. Someone who had glanced at him when he walked in was still looking at him, the Devaronian two stools down. Was it…? No, it couldn't be… But the recognition was unmistakeable as the Devaronian sidled over, a huge grin decorating his face. It was his old contact in the lower levels, Balor Giderra.

"Jalis, friends, Dawlers!" The Devaronian was pumping his arm in a rather embarrassing way. "Haven'ts seens yous ins ahs longs times, whys yous no tells me, yours friends, wheres yous beens?"

"I think you know where I've been for the last seven years, Balor," Jali said tightly. "For all I know, you had a hand in putting me in there."

"Oh, no, no, no!" Balor protested. "I've ah helpeds yous, haven'ts I's? Friends don'ts do thats tooes eachs others. That's ahs wass nots mes whos betrayeds yous."

Jali smiled dryly but gave no comment, Balor could have betrayed him—after all you never trusted a Devaronian—but he might not have. Still, Balor was a source of information, as long as you double-checked it.

Balor's order arrived at the same time as Jali's and for a moment the two were eating. After a moment, Jali opened a packet of Corellian cigarettes and lit one up. He took a deep inhale then asked Balor what had happened in his absence.

"Lots ofs peoples thats yous don'ts knows haves comes, news ones," said Bolar. "Nots soes bads fors mes, I's gets whats theys wants and theys pays mes." He gave Jali a surreptitious wink.

Jali chose not to respond to this. If strangers who didn't know any better chose to rely on Balor for information, that was their lookout. And it was almost a standing joke that Balor—who made his living as a paid informant—lisped badly.

"What about Meren?" Jali asked. Meren Lok, a Zabrak, had long been Balor's competitor as far as information went.

"I's nots knows wheres hes wents," Balor told him. "I's cans fainds outs ifs yous likes."

"No thanks," Jali said, that didn't interest him one bit, but Balor was always like this. "Cergan then, is he still around?" Jali had been on the point of arresting him for larceny when he had been arrested himself.

"No, no, no," Balor answered, waving his fork in the air and spraying Jali with sauce. "Hes goes a longs times agoes, Corellsia I thinks, ors Corsulags, I's nots sures."

Jali knew it was a safe bet that Balor was sure where Cergan had gone, he just refused to give any particulars without payment.

"What about Vantel?" Jali asked, mentioning his old boss on the security force. If anyone knew anything it was Balor, it was part of his stock in trade to keep an eye on both sides of the law. "He always talked about moving on to bigger and better things."

"Yes, yes, he's withs betters things," Balor replied. "He's a Captain now, pleaseds abouts thats hes is."

"I bet he is," Jali said, inhaling deep. "And Tollan?" Tollan Antilles had been his best friend as well as his partner. He had wanted to visit while Jali had been inside, but since he was married and had children he could risk his job that easily.

"Stills withs thems," Balor told him. "Hes ahs happys this is confusings, hes a wasteds in that's locks box." The lock box was another name for the headquarters. "I's tolds shims he's cans comes works fors mes ands gets mores moneys, buts he's nots interesteds." He looked at Jali as it this was some kind of insult, grinning in the way that only a Devaronian could grin.

"I don't really blame him," Jali said. He drained his drink and signalled the droid waitress.

"Yous goings nows?" Balor asked.

"Yes, you know how it is," Jali said. "I don't really have any pressing business, but I'd rather not stay."

"Maybes I 's cans helps yous," Balor suggested. "I's knows a fews peoples whos coulds use yous, I's tells thems abouts yous?"

Jali shook his head as he stubbed out the cigarette. "If you told them who I was, Balor, they wouldn't trust me," he said. "If I wasn't me, I wouldn't even trust myself with my kind of background." He quickly paid for his meal and then left.

---------------------------------

His apartment was as he left it, barring the dust, the musty smells of stale smoke and the blackened cleaning droid lying on its side in the middle of the kitchen.

Well, that explains the dust, thought Jali, leaving his carry-all in the middle of the room. For a moment he stood there, taking it all in. There were no cameras here, no sharp buzzing in the morning accompanied by the curt command to line up against the wall. The absence of it all was rather unnerving.

He started when the doorchime sounded and for a moment he continued to stand there. The chime sounded a second time and he went to the security panel in the hall.

A few buttons showed the image of Tira, she gave him a grin with her purple-tinted lips and held up several plast-sealed packages to the camera.

"Let me in," she said with a giggle, "I've brought ya somethin' to eat".

Grinning at the hologram, he unlocked the door.

The packages dropped forgotten to the floor as Tira hurled herself into Jali's waiting embrace. No inhibitions, no hesitations whatsoever, when they parted, Tira tried to remove some of the lipstick from Jali's face with a wet finger,

"It's like no time has passed," she whispered to him, but they both knew she was lying.

Jali smiled down at her. "No, I can't ignore seven years and neither can you," he said.

Tira agreed but chose to say nothing; the seven years had changed them both. Jali's dark features had hardened, his jaw was more defined, his eyes more suspicious, the skin on his fists had been cut and healed several times over.

As for Tira, she had long since left The Seventh Star, the seedy tapcaf on Vos Gesal Street she had worked in as a dancer. Now she worked as one of the many undersecretaries in the office of Senator Stoll of Vergoda, quite a step up. Still, she carried that wariness with her, something that couldn't be left behind.

"Do you want to eat now, or later?" Tira asked.

Jali considered. "Later," he said finally.

The packages were left on the floor.

---------------------------------

Having lived all his life on the capital world, Jali of course knew that conduit worms occasionally crawled up from the lower levels to play havoc with the power supply. There were also the amphibious snakes that lurked in the water pipes. Fortunately, none had come to his place in his absence. The hot water was good and strong, even if it took its time warming up. He spent a good fifteen minutes under the spray then entered the kitchen clad only in his towel. If this was to suggest some ulterior motive for later, it was entirely lost on Tira. She was utterly absorbed in removing their meals from the re-hydrator.

Before Jali had gone in, he had been seeing Tira on and off for about five years. But somehow, they had never 'made it official'. They had talked about it, but that wasn't the same thing as seriously considering it. Somehow, whenever he brought it up, Tira merely shrugged it off, saying that it wasn't a good time, or she wasn't ready yet. But for all that, she had waited for him while he was in prison.

So perhaps it's the time to bring it up again, Jali thought as they ate together. As long as he had known Tira, the one thing she craved was stability given her experiences growing up in the underlevels. Perhaps, he mused, she won't have any objections this time.

"Before you ask, it was Balor who told me," Tira said, smiling across the table at him.

"For an informant, he's sure got a big mouth," Jali observed.

Tira gave him an arch look. "Didn't you tell me once not to talk to just anyone?"

"Balor isn't just anyone," Jali said, finishing his food and pushing the plate away. "Besides, unless the information's public property, Balor never tells you anything unless you pay."

"Trust me," Tira assured him, "I paid." She smiled at him for a few minutes, narrowing her eyes suggestively at him. Then, suddenly, she jumped up, took the empty plates to the washer, and slipped on her shoes.

Jali stood up. "You're not staying?"

"No, I have to leave early tomorrow," she said, straightening her blonde curls in the hall mirror. She turned to look at him. "As much as I'd like to, I can't," she explained. "I'm accompanying Senator Stoll to Brentaal." She headed back into the bedroom for her coat, Jali followed.

He walked up behind her and gently touched her pale cheek with his dark hand. "Will you be gone long?"

She shook her head as she zipped up her coat. "Just a few days." She turned to grin at him. "Tollan knows you're back."

"He does?"

"I told him." Tira started to walk out.

"Why isn't he here then?" Jali asked, leaning on the open door.

She gave him a wicked smile. "I wanted you all to myself, of course." She closed the door, leaving Jali on the other side.