"The last thing we need here is more of you damn Xeno-freaks!" the man continued to say, oblivious that Nelkf's eyes and tone were telling him to quiet or be killed.
"So why pick on me?" Nelkf snarled back. "Why not talk to some of them?" she waved at the other aliens sitting around the cantina. "Or are they too tough looking? To well armed? You can't tell if they're male or female, is that it, jerk off? I'm the only alien here who you can pick on and feel secure that you'll walk away unharmed, huh, wuss boy?" The Sklinth began to draw her vibroknife. "You thought wrong, flicko bait."
The goon now seemed to be sure that he was in no danger. Nelkf couldn't understand why until he drew his own knife. Waving a hand, he ordered the other goons to draw blades as well. The big Human glared at her, no longer wishing just to ruin her day. "See, Xeno, there are two ways to argue. You can talk, or fight," He began to signal something to his followers. "We prefer fighting."
Jax stepped forward, angering their attackers. "How about that, mynock licker? So do we. Care to debate the Xenological matter?"
It was now clear that that was what they would have to do. Nelkf muttered a thanks to Jax under her breath.
"Don't mention it." he replied. "I owe you one."
"If we live through this, consider it even."
The first goon to launch the attack flew at Nelkf, vibroblade flashing despite the dim light. Nelkf swung her tail and caught him in mid flight. The goon was set off balance by the blow, and went sprawling. Jax's knife stopped that flight, sending the man sailing into a sabacc table, a huge gash running the length of his face and into his one eye. Jax waved the blade from side to side, taunting the goons. "Next?"
The main attack came at them in a wave. Nelkf jumped away from the falling blades and slashed with her knife. Jax took the force used in the attack to throw the goons, using their size and strength against them. The enemy fell back and regrouped, preparing for another charge.
"More of them then there are of us," Nelkf observed. "Not so fair."
"If I were a Corellian, I wouldn't give a Ranat's rectum about it."
"A Jedi could take care of this in a second."
"Have you met any Jedi in the past minute I don't know about?"
"No, sorry."
"Me neither." Jax sighed. "How long do you think we'll last here?"
"Not very." Another goon came at Nelkf. This time when she swung her tail at him, he slashed at it with a vibroblade, cutting deeply. Nelkf let out a cry and fell back. She did so next to Jax, rather then behind him. To have him cover her back was not only dangerous to him, but also somewhat humiliating to her. She shook her head and said softly; "That's it. We're dead Jax."
"Glad to know," he muttered. "What I wouldn't give for an extra card in the game at this point."
The big goon sneered. "But'cha ain't got one, and I think the Xeno'll be the first of ya' ta go. Slow and painful."
The big Human lunged at Nelkf with his knife ready to cut open her throat. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have stood a chance.
But these were not normal circumstances. The fight had brought all her killer's instincts back online, and they were now working in defense mode full tilt. As the knife came at her, she held up her wrist to block. The knife cut across the back of her hand, leaving an evil gash. It cut into the major nerve systems there, and Nelkf felt the tingling sensation of blood leaving her finger tips and their slowly dying.
The big goon fell back again, furious at the failure of his attack. "The hell with slow and painful!" he snarled. "At this bloody point, I'll settle for a simple scream!"
As if in reply, there was the sound of a blaster shot, followed by a scream that could barely be classified as Human. Everyone's attention turned to the sound to see what it was. Nelkf's first fear was that the thugs on the street had tracked them down, but that was canceled over when a slim, lanky figure stepped into view.
"'Scuse me," the newcomer said, looking down a t the corpse. "You were in my way."
"Keep outta this, Kid!" snarled the goon. "This is between us and the Xeno."
The newcomer, who could barely be older then nineteen, had longish blonde hair that looked as if the wind held a grudge against it, and icy blue eyes. Oddly, there was a spot -perhaps a tattoo- on his left eye, much as a dog would have a patch-mark on its fur. The boy was about average height and fairly slim with an old, sand-worn jacket on. He shook his head. "Nothing's private business here, I think. 'Sides," he cocked his head towards Jax and Nelkf. "I know him, and I think that he wasn't planning on being here just so you could badger his friend there."
Nelkf looked at the newcomer, then at Jax, then back to the young Human who seemed to be spinning the goon's head with a lot of questions worth bantha dung, but confusing none the less. "Who's that lunatic?" she asked Jax. There was more then a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"That's Cail," he told her. "And if he doesn't watch his back, he'll be dewback kibble before you or I can blink."
Nelkf shook her head and growled angrily. "Looks like you got the extra card you were wishing for," she muttered. "To bad it made you lose the whole sabacc game."
Jax looked doubtful. "Nah, not with Cail. You never can tell with him. One minute he isn't much of a help except for buggin' the hell outta you, the next he's saving your little Sklinth tail."
Sklinthi, Nelkf thought to herself. She'd have to teach Jax the basis for her language when she had the chance. If she'd live to have the chance.
Cail was saying to the goon; "Now if you'll just stick your head up a rancor's hole, I'll be-"
That angered the goon. He reached out a huge fist to and grabbed the cocky boy's jacket collar. Cail was turned forcefully around to stare the goon in the face. "Uh," he said with a still cocky grin, "This is a bad thing, isn't it?"
The goon held his vibroblade under Cail's throat. "I warned ya' to keep yer damn nose outta my business. Now you're not even gonna have a nose."
Cail saw the blade rise above his head and ducked, pulling himself free of the goon's iron grip. Rolling away, he jumped up next to Nelkf and shook his head at Jax. "And you tell me to keep outta trouble." He glanced at Nelkf and waved, despite the fact that they were standing not even a meter apart. "Hi. I guess I'll get to know you later." he pulled a blaster from his coat and leveled it at the goon's throat.
Jax saw Cail's finger tighten on the trigger. Not now! They didn't need any more attention called to them! "Hey, no!" swinging up with his fist, he tried to knock the blaster from Cail's hand.
Then things began to happen very fast. Nelkf ducked, the blaster went off, Cail tripped over Nelkf's tail, and almost everyone gave out a yelp.
When everyone had time enough to look, things had changed quite a bit. The goons were gone, all except the lead one. He lay on his back, a smoldering hole in his forehead. Cail cringed. "That's gotta hurt," he muttered.
Jax glared at him angrily. "What's the big idea?" he growled. "We didn't need any attention called to ourselves! You could have stalled them until we thought of something!"
"At the rate you were going, you two were more likely to just stand there and watch until somebody's throat got slit," Cail muttered.
"Will you both shut up so we can get out of here?" Nelkf snapped. If those goons had any brains at all, they would report her, Jax and Cail. She would have to be as stupid as, well, a Human to stick around here! While Sklinths sometimes did not act so terribly intelligent, they weren't stupid.
Jax glanced over at her. "Nel, we can't leave just yet." Leaving now, right after a fight, would make them seem rather conspicuous.
"Why?" she growled. "I think we can leave. Why do you two want to hang around here? It's the first place they'll look for us!"
"Who's 'they'?" Jax asked her skeptically.
"Yeah," Cail looked confused, "who are 'they,' xeni-o?"
Nelkf looked as if she was going to say something, but then stopped. The fact of the matter was, she didn't know. She had originally thought it would be the authorities, but then she realized that they would most likely care less that a fight broke out. In which case, they really didn't need to get going.
Jax watched the Sklinth stare into space curiously. "Okay Nel? Are you okay with staying here a while longer?"
"I don't like it here," she muttered. "Really don't like it."
"We'll leave soon," Jax promised her.
"Oh, what's your rush?" Cail grinned and flopped into the chair nearest him. "Don't you feel good or something, um-" he sort of snickered. "'Nel'?"
The Sklinth glared at him. "My race does not drink, and normally we do not socialize with others outside our species. I'm not here by any choice of my own."
"Well, mine does," Cail told her. He smiled continuously at her, something that annoyed her immensely. "And I am. So just relax."
Nelkf growled. It did seem to startle the boy, but Jax put his hand on her shoulder and she stopped. "Nelkf, don't go bezerk over Cail. It won't do you any good, and it won't accomplish anything."
"Yeah, and I wouldn't be much fun to kill anyhow," Cail added with a grin.
Nelkf looked the boy up and down. "You're annoying," she told him.
He shrugged. "I try to be."
Nelkf laughed. Alright. So the Human Cail isn't such a bad guy. Annoying, obnoxious, cocky and pesky, but he isn't so bad. Maybe her race had been wrong about Humans the whole time. Maybe.
Cail turned his attention to Jax. "So what brings you back to this dustball anyway? I thought you were off zooming around the Galaxy." Nelkf thought she detected a slight hint of scorn in Cail's voice, but nothing else indicated he was angry with Jax.
"Not since I got captured by some long forgotten Imp. Nel and I were lucky to escape."
"Extremely lucky," muttered Nelkf. "If Necho had any more to throw at us, I'd be on the brink of insanity."
I'm not so sure you're not at times, Jax thought. "Anyway, I need my ship fixed up, and I may need a few extra hands to work on her."
"Sure, I'll help." Cail said with a grin. "Where do you two plan to go after that?"
Jax and Nelkf looked at each other in confusion. They hadn't given that any thought. Where would they go? What exactly would they do? Suddenly, Nelkf had an idea. "Head for the New Republic, maybe. I don't know about Jax, but I'm going to go back to my job."
"What is that?" Cail asked.
The word was half way out of her mouth before she stopped herself. "Y-wing pilot." she finished quickly. "What about you? What's your job?" For a moment, Cail looked puzzled. With a shrug, he finally said; "I may as well tell you. It's not like you won't guess it in a while."
"So," Nelkf growled. "What do you do?"
"Whatever a want," Cail replied cheerfully. "In whatever sense you'd care to take that. If Jax can spare anything from his cargo, I sell that. If not, well.."
"You steal things," Jax finished off.
"A glitbiter thief," Nelkf muttered. "Just who I don't need to be friends with."
Cail looked at her for a moment, and he seemed upset, maybe even angry. Nelkf bit her tongue. She hadn't wanted to hurt his feelings. She was just used to being nasty towards Humans. But his offense to the idea that he might be an addict suggested to her that that was what he was. Whoops. Slip of the forked tongue if I ever saw one.
Cail must have realized then that Nelkf meant no real offense towards him, she was just in a nasty mood. He smiled at her, and even laughed. "I think we could get to be friends, Nel."
Nelkf grinned and shook her head. "I don't know about that," Our morals don't run so much down the same path enough to be friends. "And my name is 'Nelkf' not 'Nel'."
Jax glared at her. "Give him a break, Nel. It's not like either of us speaks your language."
Nelkf growled at him, but finally gave in with a sigh. "Alright. Fine. But can we go now? If I stay here any longer I might kill someone." That was no joke. Sklinths were a bloodthirsty race with hatred for crowded, noisy places.
"Can I at least get a drink?" Cail asked.
Nelkf looked at Jax angrily. No way, She thought. I am not staying here any longer. I want to leave. Tell him no. Or better yet, tell him to catch up with us later. Okay?
Unfortunately, Nelkf did not have telepathic capabilities. Jax glared accusingly at Cail. "A drink," he said firmly. "Not three."
"If it's money you're worried about, I can pay for my own drinks-" Cail stopped in mid sentence. Jax was glaring at him with a look that could have frozen a bantha. "But I can see that it's not," he said quickly. "Okay, I'll take what I can get, I guess."
A few minutes later, Cail had finished his drink, and they were ready to leave. Nelkf was a bit puzzled at why Jax had reacted like that. It was clear that it was not because he wanted to leave -it was something else. Nelkf resolved to ask Jax about it when they were alone. She remembered Jax saying something else about Cail. Nelkf struggled to remember...
Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks. All other thoughts were gone, only one remained. Something was wrong.
