TAEG'S PAZAAK DEN, USCRU ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT

CORUSCANT, CORE WORLDS

After sending Lee off to the bar to order her a drink, Kae moved past a group of regulars at Taeg's—including the little Gran who had been sorely beaten by Lan Renner the Cordellian/Mandalorian last time she and Lee had visited the pazaak den. She waited patiently, hands in the pockets of her pants, until a few new customers went safely past S0 and Graalbacc's security checks. Once the two were free, she slipped up next to them and nudged the Wookiee's arm.

"Hey, Graalbacc," she greeted, smiling warmly. "Hey, S0. Can you guys do me a favour?"

The droid perked up and whirred as it turned to face her. "Oh, Kaekoletai! It has almost been a week since you and Lees'anah have joined us."

The Wookiee growled something and tugged Kae into a warm, furry hug. She squawked and clumsily hugged him back before her released her with a barking Wookiee laugh. "Thanks, buddy," she gasped, pulling fur from her mouth. "A friend of mine will be here soon. Can you send him over to me and Lee when he gets here? He's never been here before, and he'll probably get lost or get sucked into one of the bad tables."

Graalbacc woofed and nodded, baring his long canine teeth in a big smile, and S0's photoreceptors flickered as it said, "Yes, of course, Kaekoletai. Who is he?"

"His name is Tu'Kira Oudo. He's a Chiss."

"Certainly. Where will you and Lees'anah be?"

"At the bar. Don't let him get lost, boys," she said with a smile. "Thanks."

"You are welcome, Kaekoletai," the droid beeped, and Graalbacc whined happily. Giving them a little wave, she turned and wove back through the crowd to find Lee spinning idly on a stool at the bar, an empty glass held loosely in his fingers. He grinned, his white teeth shining behind red lips, as Kae approached the counter.

"So when's the work buddy coming down, babe?" he asked, plunking the glass on the countertop. "I can't wait to see if he's good enough for my Kae-Kae."

Kae laughed and got comfortable on the stool next to him. "Tarisian ale, Taeg," she said, grinning at the Rodian. The owner grunted and turned away to get her drink. "He's great, Lee, I promise. Another weirdly coloured dude in my life, just like you."

"Hey. I'm supposed to be the only weirdly colourful dude in your life. I don't like this guy," Lee decided, giving her a mockery of a scowl.

"It'll be great. Oh, did I tell you that I finally told my partner about you?"

"Scary Mandalorian War vet?"

"That's the one."

"What'd you say?"

"Well, he said I looked nice when we went to The Light Side," she explained, thanking Taeg with a nod as she plucked up the tall glass of Tarisian ale, "and I said it was all your doing, and he thought you were a woman, and when I corrected him, he then thought you were gay. I don't think he has a good impression of you so far."

Lee smirked and waggled his fingers to signal the bartender droid for a refill of whatever strange concoction he chose to drink that night. "Hm. I'm glad you didn't invite the scary Mandalorian War vet then. I can deal with a quirky Chiss geek, so long as he knows I'm straight, and that if he fucks you over at all, I'll be there with your brother to kick his sorry blue ass. Is that him?" he said suddenly, pointing to a very tall, lanky man standing uncomfortably near Graalbacc and S0-B3-GE3. Sure enough, with clear azure skin, florescent crimson eyes, and jet black hair, it was Tu'Kira waiting at the entrance. Kae grinned and waved just as the droid gestured to the direction of the bar.

As Tu'Kira trotted up to them, Lee made a soft noise in his throat; just when the Chiss came within earshot, Lee's lekku twitched and gyrated, and he quickly muttered something very offensive in Twi'leki that Kae just barely caught.

Feeling her face heat up and give her pale flesh some much needed colour, she stood from her barstool and tugged Tu'Kira to the stool next to her. "Hey. How was the rest of your night?" she asked, sitting back down and sipping at her ale. Lee was silent beside her, but she could see his lekku moving from the corner of her eye. She was certain that if she could understand silent lekku speak at all, she would be horrified know what horrible obscenities Lee was uttering.

"Boring. But we confirmed that the box was made on Telos before the bombardment. As if that gets us anywhere," he added with a cynical tone. He gave a slight smile and ran his hand over his black waves. "Is this your friend?"

"Oh!" Kae roughly elbowed Lee in the ribs, and his lekku froze up as he gasped. "Tu'Kira, this is my best friend and roommate, Lees'anah. Lee, this is my co-worker, Tu'Kira Oudo."

The two men reached in front of her to shake hands. "Nice to meet you," Tu'Kira said politely.

"Yeah, you too. Get a drink, man. You play pazaak much?"

"Clearly not as much as you and Kae do. I've never even heard of this place before." He ordered a juma juice from Taeg, then they all left the bar and shuffled through the pazaak den until they reached an empty table. Kae settled on a chair to the side, urging Tu'Kira and Lee to start the first round.

They played for several hours; the room grew smokier and darker as the night progressed, and they worked through several drinks each before Tu'Kira admitted defeat and handed Lee his credits.

"You win, Lee," he laughed, grinning as he reached for his drink. "You're a pretty tricky pazaak player."

"Thank you, thank you, kind sir." Lee took another puff on his pipe of gree and leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh. "Y'know, Chiss, you aren't a bad guy. I was expecting some pervert macking up on my baby Kae. Not that I've got a problem with that, but at least let him be some sexy, muscular Human guy, with a huge—"

"Lee!"

"—love for the law, not a skinny blue geek."

Kae gasped and felt her face heat up, but Tu'Kira merely laughed and sipped at his drink. "I'm her co-worker. I adore the law. And you're red."

"But I'm not a skinny geek."

"Touché."

Leaning across the table, Kae shot Lee a stern look and asked in halting Twi'leki, "Was that really necessary, Lee? You're being so rude." An impressive feat for a Near-Human to be speaking Twi'leki—one of the languages her parents insisted she and Tory learn—made less impressive for the fact that she was missing minor words, due to her lack of lekku.

Lee blinked owlishly. "He didn't mind, did he?" he replied blandly. "And not like he denied trying to get his mack on. Something to consider, eh, Kae-Kae?"

Tu'Kira cleared his throat; Kae and Lee glanced over at him. "I can understand Twi'leki, you know," he said—in Galactic Basic—with an embarrassed smirk pulling up into slightly flushed cheeks. "Or, at least, some of it."

"It's all in good fun," Lee said, and shoved back his chair with a metallic squeak. "I'm going to bathroom, then I'm getting my drink refilled. Don't have too much fun without me." He winked and sauntered away, whistling a jaunty tune under his breath as he went.

Kae watched until he vanished behind a loud group of aliens, then turned and grabbed Tu'Kira's hand. "I'm so sorry about him," she said, almost frantically. "He doesn't know boundaries, especially once he's been drinking or smoking."

"He's fun, don't worry about it. I should really get going though. I have an early morning." He smiled and climbed out of his chair; Kae followed suit.

"More research on our spice box?"

Tu'Kira held out an arm to give her room to walk beside her through the gathering crowd. "You bet. I hope we can track down what part of Telos it was made on prior to the bombardment, just to see if that can lead us anywhere before we stop those guys from leaving the Crimson Corridor."

Kae smiled at Graalbacc and S0 as they passed between the pair of bouncers, then a frown furrowed her brow. "But because of the bombardment, the location of where the box was made will be irrelevant unless you can track down the exact manufacturer, and even then they might not even be on Citadel Station anymore. Czerka might have kicked them off," she pointed out as they left the club and meandered at a relaxed pace toward the speeder docks. "Or paid them to leave quietly."

"See, I pointed that out to the other forensic specialist I'm working with, but he seemed certain that the manufacturer will still be on Citadel Station, and that they will be willing to give us sale records from before the bombardment, if they even still have them. Even so, it's our best lead behind the covert trip from Crimson Corridor," he said with a shrug, "so we have to look into it as much as we possibly can." He slowed his pace when they reached a new airspeeder polished to perfection. "Well, here I am."

Kae arched her brows at the speeder. "Nice ride. Aratech. Excellent choice."

"I got a cozy job—and really good contacts," he said with a smirk as he leaned on the door of the speeder. "This was fun. When we aren't busy chasing down smugglers, we'll have to do this again sometime. Get me better at pazaak so I don't continually lose to your roommate. Fun guy, by the way."

"Yeah? He didn't traumatize you too much?"

"I'll recover. Unimaginably crude. Considering you and I have worked together for… whenever it was you got promoted—"

"Three years ago."

"That's the one. I just never expected you to be close friends with a pervert. He's fun, but a bit of a creep," Tu'Kira said, arching thick dark eyebrows.

Kae laughed and stole another glance back at Taeg's. Lee would be wondering where she was, but she knew he wouldn't be too concerned. He would probably just assume she went home with Tu'Kira or got lost in a pazaak game with a stranger. "He is. Would it surprise you to learn that I used to be just as crude? Cruder, if at all possible, because girls are flirts and I have a twin brother who is just as close to him as I am," she added, looking back up at him.

His crimson eyes glittered in the fluorescent light, and Kae noticed that they were a slight shade or two darker than they had been inside the den, or at CSF. Clearer oxygen in the air, or something similar. She wasn't quite sure how Chiss worked. "I'll have to meet him one day too. Does he have a well-rounded girl in his life other than you?"

"His girlfriend is the secretary of a senator."

"Brilliant. Those boys should be kept in line. I had better go. Comm me anytime you're bored or have more Telosian boxes to inspect," he said, and clapped a hand on her shoulder before climbing into his speeder and shooting into the low surface traffic heading south.

Kae watched until the speeder vanished into the traffic and the darkness swallowed the light glinting off its polished sides.

"Spiffy speeder," a slurred voice said from behind her.

"Aratech," she replied, smiling as she turned and spotted Lee standing behind her, leaning lazily on a lamppost. His lekku dangled behind him, twitching somewhat in his intoxication. A slight smile adorned his lips, and his green eyes were hazy and out of focus as he gazed at her.

"Very nice. Good choice, babe. I approve. Take me home. I'm drunk."

Kae rolled her eyes and marched to his side, grabbed his arm, and steered him, wobbling all the while, back to their speeder.