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Darmas' informants got them some leads surprisingly fast. Apparently, Skavak was involved with the Black Sun gang, which was notorious for keeping holorecordings of all their meetings -no doubt they would have preserved the highlights of Skavak's visit… a little far-fetched, but it was worth a shot. Of course, Black Sun also fragmented the recordings to prevent unauthorized access, meaning they would have to assemble the relevant footage by accessing each computer manually.

Challenge accepted, she thought to herself.

As it turned out, that little fraidee-frog wanted protection from an Outer Rim lawman. The coward couldn't even take care of his own fights! Pathetic. Still, this lawman might well be their best bet for finding Skavak, so they decided to hurry to the spaceport, to try and get to him before Black Sun did.

.

It seemed they got there just on time. She knew not to underestimate someone by their height, but the little guy was way outnumbered and she estimated his odds of getting out of there alive without help being slim to none.

"All of you against one guy? That's overkill, don't you think?"

The Cathar in charge started at their intrusion, but the Sullustan lawman quickly recognized their presence as his chance to turn the situation around and enlisted their help, deputizing them under some article of some Emergency Service Laws.

"Please, upstanding citizen, It is your duty to assist a designated peace officer requesting aid."

Upstanding citizen? Her? But how could she say no when he had asked so nicely? Luckily, Black Sun hadn't expected them to crash the party and they made easy work of the three thugs.

.

Just as they had guessed, Officer Miel Muwn of the Sullustan constable Brigade was on Coruscant pursuing Skavak. Something about some priceless relic...It wasn't the same as stealing her freighter, but hey, they could always use more people on their side on the hunt for Skavak. After agreeing to share resources, they left the lawman to deal with the local security forces and headed back to the Dealer's Den in hopes of new leads.

According to Darmas, Skavak recently used the services of a data slicer named Kixi in the Migrant Merchants' Guild headquarters. It went without saying that the guild was well armed and with a dislike for outsiders.

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"Awfully nice of the guild to leave a clearance pass with their security patrol, don't you think, Riggs?" The Captain sure was something. Corso shook his head with a chuckle, before following her into the computer lab.

They learned from Kixiaralu –Kixi- that Skavak had paid the guild to clean his identity record. The poor girl was actually held there against her will. She had been made to slice into the Republic's main database and delete all his arrest warrants. The Mirialan agreed to help them in exchange for getting her out, and in a matter of seconds, she managed to get Skavak's record dirtier than a sewer on Hutta; in other words, the same way she'd found it.

That Kixi sure was talented. Liling could see why the Migrant Merchant's Guild was so intent on keeping her holed up. Too bad she wasn't able to help them erase the price Rogun had so kindly put on her head, though.

Just as if someone was reading her mind, a group of bounty hunters was waiting for them as they made their way back to Darmas's private booth. Ugh, she really wasn't in the mood for this. They were clearly green as goblin moss, and all the more arrogant for it. She tried to settle the matter without a fight, but the stupid kids gave her no choice and Darmas a front row seat to the whole thing.

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"I can't help it if I'm popular with all the wrong people," she said, plopping down onto the couch. The plush sofa was so comfy after all that running around. Her feet were killing her.

"Don't sell yourself short, my dear. All the right people find you charming, too," their sweet-talking information broker told her smoothly.

She gave a sigh, ignoring his comment. This was starting to feel like a wild bantha chase. "No matter how close I get, I still can't catch Skavak. I need the best information you've got."

"You're receiving it. I assure you. These things take time," he replied patiently. "But while we wait for Skavak to make his next move, perhaps we could play a little sabacc?"

This caused her companion to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I saw that one coming…" he muttered to himself.

Liling, on the other hand, found her interest piqued.

"Corso, don't be such a spoilsport," Darmas said, waving his hand dismissively. "What do you say, Captain? First game's on me."

She pretended to ponder on it. "…I guess there's no harm in a friendly game of cards," she finally said. She caught the brief gleam of something almost predatory in the gambler's eyes.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Captain."

Perfectly executed, Riggs. She could've kissed him for helping her without even knowing it. She followed their host to the game table, the sweet smell of fresh credits calling her. This might be just what I need to cheer up.

A/N: If you're reading this, thank you for following the story this far! (: of course, if you would review as well, it'd be awesome!)