Title: The White Twi'lek, sequel to The Seventh Star

Author: KatanaGeldar

Genre: Hard-boiled detective fiction

Characters: OCs, Jali Dawler, Captain Vantel, Nuada Vekstar, Tira Sengel and some new ones.

Timeframe: c. 43 BBY (about six months after The Seventh Star finishes)

Summary: Jali's back, and now he's a Private Eye. He's set up his own private investigation business, but somehow trouble—and murder—always manage to find him.

Disclaimer: Star Wars is not mine; I just like to write with it. The original characters are my own creations.

Note: After all the fun I had with Jali in The Seventh Star I decided to continue with him into the realms of the private investigator. A lot of thanks must go to one of my friends who has a degree in chemistry and her dad was a P.I.. She gave me a great idea for one of the murders in this fic. Thanks must also go to my sister, currently doing Biomed Science, for her help with rigor mortis and its effects.

If you haven't met Jali yet, you should read The Seventh Star before delving into this. I hate sequels that are little more than a rehash of the previous story, so I don't go into too much detail in what happened before.

This story is a little longer than Star as well as having a much more extended ending. Following from this there will be a final Jali story, The Silver Ring. As with Star, there will be a point at where all the clues will be revealed and you can see how observant you were.

Dedicated to Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dashiell Hammett and Phillip K. Dick

The White Twi'lek

Jali Dawler opened the flat-file and removed several items. He placed them on his desk one by one. A few holopics, several hard copies of documents, and a datachip.

Cel'uura'na, a Nikto, studied the holopics, her finned face showing no emotion, her black eyes perfectly neutral.

Jali made no comment; he drew on his cigarette and tried not to watch her. She was only one of the many women who came into his office that asked if there husband was seeing someone else. And she was only one of the many women he had to break the bad news to.

When her gaze moved from the holopics to the documents, Jali felt that he should say something.

"The top two pages are summaries of the places he's been over the past week," he told her. "Then there's a few transcripts of…conversations." Cel'uura'na looked up at this and Jali averted her gaze, remembering with some amusement the length he had had to go to get the transcripts. If Cel'uura'na hadn't specifically requested them, he probably wouldn't have bothered.

"The datachip is the electronic copy of everything here, plus some more," Jali continued. He usually presented his clients with an abridged version in the folder with the bulk in electronic form. It saved printing costs, and he wasn't that keen to throw money away like that. "Is this going to be all that you'll need?"

He assumed that she would file for divorce, most of them did after they left his office. Sometimes, if they asked, he referred them to a lawyer he knew and would slip him a few creds for a referral, but from the look that Cel'uura'na was giving him, Jali had the impression she had other ideas.

She took up the datachip and examined it for a moment, she then looked up. "Yes." Cel'uura'na gave him a hard stare, her words came out in a low hiss. "You have performed well, detective," she said. "I will no longer need your services. As for my husband…" Her eyes flashed darkly as she said the words.

Jali wanted to question her intentions, but decided not to. He knew that infidelity was dealt with in many different ways, depending on species or culture. Besides, it wasn't really his business to interfere. After all, he was no longer a Security Officer.

"All right then." Jali grabbed a scrap of flimsy, he scribbled something on it then handed it to Cel'uura'na. "Give this to Miss Retov, she'll let you know how much and how to pay." As if on cue, the comm unit on his desk buzzed. Jali pressed the button.

"Mr Rinner is here," said Ayan Retov, Jali's secretary.

"Send him in," Jali told her, rising from his seat and seeing Cel'uura'na to the door.

Jali slid open the door to let the Nikto out just as a tall, red-haired male in his mid-twenties was placing down a magazine in the waiting room. He was tall and lanky, with the pasty skin that was characteristic of redheads, and dressed in a brown, synthleather sleeveless tunic over a cream shirt.

He looks like he just got out of amateur's school, Jali said to himself; but he was the best of the not very desirable applicants Jali had interviewed.

He started to walk towards Jali, his face posing a question.

Jali cocked his head to one side. "Xhen Rinner?" There was a nod in reply, Jali moved out of the doorway. "Step into my office," he said, closing the door behind them.

Jali slid into the chair behind his desk, stubbed out the spent cigarette he was holding and lit up another. He offered the packet to Xhen but he declined. Jali took a deep draw then rested the cigarette against the ashtray.

It had been about a year since he had got out of prison, nine months since his record had been cleared, and four months since Tira's trial. Tira Sengel, his former girlfriend, murderer of his best friend and victim of the criminal organisation the Silver Ring, was serving her two sentences in a maximum security prison on Coruscant. Jali tried not to think about her, and in the months since he had set up his private detective agency it wasn't that hard.

Was it only seven months since he had been granted his license? It seemed much longer, even given the few cases that he had taken. A month after that he had set up his office in a mid-level building in Eastport. The rent was high, but that was the way it was on Coruscant. A Sullustan would even call it cramped, and there was the faint smell of rancid cheese that he hadn't been able to banish.

There was the Zabrak secretary, Ayan Retov, who despite her accomplishments handling his appointments and records made stimcaf with a texture that was reminiscent of steamed hawk-bat leavings.

This was why Jali bought a large flask of it every morning. It was still over half-full and he offered some to Xhen who declined. Jali poured himself a generous mug then stubbed out his cigarette. He leaned back in his chair and studied Xhen for a few minutes.

"Well," Jali said at last, "before we start anything, I'll tell you what to expect. I'm going to let you run by my side for a bit before I let you loose on a case. It's nothing against you, it's just so I can see how you operate."

Xhen started to object. "But my old boss on Muscave—"

Jali waved this concern away. "I know what he said when I talked to him, but there are things that I just like to find out for myself."

"That's understandable," Xhen agreed.

"You'll find that most of the cases aren't very interesting," Jali continued. "Private investigation is a lot tamer than what's shown on the HoloNet. Most of the cases are divorces or divorce-related, checking up on husbands or wives to give them evidence to take to court. Then there's the missing persons cases, but I don't get very many of those." He took a sip of stimcaf then put down his mug. "Occasionally," he added, picking up the cigarette again, "a different case will come. Like last week when I was asked to triple-check a senator's security system."

"Don't they have their own security?" Xhen asked, intrigued.

Jali shrugged. "Yeah, they do, but I didn't ask." He took a draw from the cigarette. "There's some limited equipment for surveillance, you can probably guess why, and I'd prefer if you weren't so liberal in your printouts. Case files are stored on datacards, the client gets a chip of their file if they want more records and Ayan does all the accounting." He took another draw from the cigarette and tapped out the ash. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, a few," said Xhen. "Where will I be working?"

"There's a small office down the corridor next to the refresher," Jali told him, stubbing out the cigarette in the ashtray. "And before you ask, I can't do anything about the smell."

"I can live with that," Xhen said.

Before Xhen could say something else, the comm unit on Jali's desk buzzed. With a wry smile at Xhen, Jali activated it.

"Deri Lanco is here," Ayan said. "Will I send him in?"

"Sure," Jali said, "just a few minutes." Jali got up from his desk and Xhen followed him to the door. "How 'bout you get acquainted with your office, you can start tomorrow."

"Sounds fine, Mr Dawler," Xhen said.

"By the way," Jali said as he opened the door, "the name's Jali." He offered his hand to Xhen and they shook, then he opened the door and nodded to the male Falleen waiting outside.

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

Later, after Lanco had gone when Ayan had left for the night, Jali and Xhen wandered down to the Five Brothers, a club near enough Jali's office to be convenient and far enough to be in a different neighbourhood. Jali had been there several times, sometimes to establish contacts, once for surveillance, but mostly for the atmosphere.

This was his first chance to really get to know Xhen. To know if Xhen would be staying on more than a standard week.

It was still quite early in the evening, but the club had a good crowd when Jali and Xhen arrived. There were some in the central bar area, and others in the five adjoining rooms named after the planets in the Corellia system.

They took a table in the Talus Room—which of course connected with the Tralus Room next door. A band of Weequay performed a tinny percussion number near the door.

"Was it your intention to make me feel right at home?" Xhen asked, raising his voice so Jali could hear him.

Jali shrugged as he lit up, Xhen's application did say that he was Corellian even though he had spent most of his life on Muscave, but that fact had only crossed his mind as they had entered the club. A mere coincidence.

"No, I just come here sometimes," Jali admitted, wisps of smoke escaping from his mouth. "You know how there are places you go to and places you go to for a reason? This is place I just go to."

"I see," Xhen agreed, but clearly he didn't.

The moment of silence was broken by a waitress arriving at their table. She took their orders for drinks then left.

"So, Muscave," Jali mused, drawing from the cigarette. "I thought with you being Corellian you would be more for CorSec, why the Capital?"

"It's pretty much where I found something that suited me," Xhen replied with a shrug. "You know how it is, sometimes." He stared into space for a few moments as if he was deciding which version of the truth to relate. "I was attached to a bureaucrat's security detail as an enforcer, until someone higher-up recommended me for another position."

"The Techno-Union one?" Jali asked.

"Yeah," Xhen said. "So it was better, for a while anyway. I was one of the guys in charge, at least until I found out a few things I shouldn't have." He shrugged again. "That's when I figured I'd make myself scarce. I contacted my old boss and then came here, you know the rest."

Their drinks arrived. Jali's was a Janx Spirit, Xhen's a thick white liquid that Jali couldn't identify. Jali put a credit chip on the Zeltron's tray as payment.

"That's how it is, these days," Jali agreed, setting his drink down. "One of my friends found out something he shouldn't and got himself killed."

"Was he an enforcer too?" Xhen asked, wiping white liquid from his lips.

"No, Security Force," Jali told him.

"I think I heard about that, Antilles was his name, wasn't it?" Xhen asked.

Jali nodded. "Yeah, Tollan Antilles." He didn't really want to discuss Tollan, not with Xhen anyway. Criminal organisations could be talked about later, when he was sure he could trust his new assistant.

But Xhen seemed keen to press the subject. "There's been a few stories about his death, hasn't there?"

"Yeah, there would be, wouldn't there?" Jali replied, keen to change the subject.

Fortunately, the waitress reappeared. "Jali Dawler?"

Jali acknowledged her with a nod. "Who wants to know?"

"Could you come with me please, there's something wrong with this credit chip," she said.

"Something wrong?" Jali looked at her incredulously. "Have you tried scanning it again? There should be enough currency on there."

She gave him a look that froze off any further protests. "I think I know what I'm doing," she said in a low voice.

Xhen started to check his pockets. "I think I've got a few creds I can spare," he said.

Jali waved him off. "I said that I'm buying when we came in, remember?" He reminded Xhen, stubbing out his cigarette. "It's probably nothing." With a sigh, Jali got to his feet. "I'll be back in a minute." He followed her into the main bar.

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

It was actually the scanning machine that was at fault, so the transaction took not time at all once the machine was working again. Before returning to the table, he took a detour to the refresher.

Xhen wasn't actually a bad sort. A bit cagey about himself, but who wasn't these days?

If nothing else happens, Jali decided as he left the 'fresher, he can stay on, but I still have to see him in action.

Back in the Talus room, Jali could see Xhen talking to a Bith. The Bith carried some sort of wind instrument and was gesturing to Xhen with it; it looked like some sort of argument. But before Jali could get to the table, a waitress led a large group of people past and when the crowd had cleared the Bith was gone.

"So, who was your friend?" Jali asked casually, another cigarette lit and resting between his fingers.

Xhen looked at him. "Who?"

"The Bith with the blower," Jali reminded him. "Who was he?"

"Him? Oh…" Xhen made an impatient gesture. "He just wanted to know if this was the Selonia Room, I told him it wasn't."

Jali frowned, inhaling on the cigarette. "Couldn't he read the signs?" The rooms were labelled pretty clearly.

"Maybe he was just given wrong directions," Xhen suggested, eager to drop the subject.

They talked about other things now, podracing on Malastare, the best way to have giju stew, air traffic pile-ups on Coruscant compared to the ones on Muscave…

The club started to fill up with people, several females made their way to Jali and Xhen's table despite efforts to dissuade them. After a seemingly non-verbal agreement, Jali and Xhen decided to leave.

Jali reached for his drink, for some strange reason he hadn't touched it since he had got back from the refresher. But before he could get to it their table was bumped by the waitress as she passed it, knocking over the glass and spilling what was left of the green liquid.

She looked up apologetically at them. "Ooh, was that me?" she trilled. "I'm so sorry, I'll get you another one on the house."

"No need," Jali said as he stood up, extinguishing his final cigarette in the laden ashtray. "We were just leaving."