A/N: Sorry it's been so long between updates everyone. Real life, busy, blah blah blah. It took forever to figure out an interesting way to deal with the poorest writing in the game, aka Citadel Station, but I think I've found it. Let me know what you think. Reviews quite literally make me write more and faster. Thanks!
Chapter 17: Web of Lies
Marina led the understandably twitchy trio through the station at the agonizingly slow pace of the droid intelligence. It felt like every eye in the station was one them, and each moment they weren't attacked just ratcheted up the tension.
At long last the doors of the ithorian compound closed behind them and they could start to breathe again. The front desk waived them through and they went straight to Chodo Habat, who spread his arms wide in a gesture of gratitude. "Ah, I am gladdened by your safe return. My people sent word of what happened at the docks."
Marina opened her mouth, but the droid beat her to the punch.
"I am your to command, master."
"Good, good. Our computer system has been prepared for your arrival. You may begin transferring your data into it immediately."
"I shall do so now, Master Habat. Farewell." And, to Marina's considerable surprise, it slowly rotated its head towards her. "And farewell to you as well."
She blinked, trying to come up with a response, but the droid apparently didn't need one and slowly rolled on its way.
Chodo turned his attention back to her once more. "I am grateful for your help in this matter. Please, accept this as a gift from my people." He turned to Moza, who handed him a pair of gloves, and Chodo in turn presented them to her. She took them cautiously, glancing over them. They look . . . familiar. Wait, are these Jal Shey gloves?
Well, that was certainly something to think about. The Jal Shey were an ancient order more concerned with academics and philosophical meditation of the Force even than the Jedi, which was saying something. They weren't all that concerned with the distinction between light and dark, which had caused more than a little concern for the Jedi over the years, and they generally kept themselves out of politics and whatever newest crisis was on the horizon. Is there a message in there for me? The he at least pretends to respect my trying to stay out of this?
On the other hand, they were very nice gloves.
"Ah, thank you, thank you very much, Chodo. So . . . you have your droid back now and can get to work on the project once more. That's everything . . . right?" Here it comes.
Chodo coughed delicately, at least as delicately as the deep base of an ithorian voice could manage. "I'm afraid that this incident at the docks confirmed one of my fears. The gunmen were from the exchange—Czerka has in the past hired the criminal syndicate to work against us. Long have I suspected that Czerka and the Exchange work together, the former supplying the manufactured arms to be sold via the latter's black market channels. Now, with the TSF keeping a closer eye on Czerka activities, the Exchange has begun to operate on their own."
"What are you saying, Chodo?" she asked slowly.
Chodo took a deep breath, then waded in. "For the Restoration Project to continue in earnest, the Telosian government must be made to see the cancer that Czerka has become. Their security division is merely an army of badge-wearing thugs. They supply weapons to the local black market. They steal Restoration Zones and land illegal salvage teams on Telos. But Czerka has embedded itself within the government, using Telos' own laws to protect itself from censure or investigation. Legally, the Telosians can do nothing. If you can bring Czerka's corruption to light, perhaps the Republic could intervene and cast them out. This is what I would ask of you."
At least he had the decency to look mildly embarrassed about the whole thing.
Marina felt her temper rising quickly, and did her best to stamp on it. This didn't necessarily mean what she suspected it meant. Getting their primary supplier for the entire project kicked off the station seemed borderline suicide for the project, but precisely for that reason Chodo might, almost certainly did, have more information than he was telling her. Information she needed.
"Go on . . ."
"The Czerka offices in Residential 082 contain a secure mainframe. It is a closed system, inaccessible from the outside."
"You're saying it can't be sliced?"
"Correct. We have skilled technicians among us, but they cannot access the system. I am certain this mainframe contains files that would expose Czerka's corruption. It is only a matter of obtaining and then passing them on to the Telosian authorities."
Bullshit. Any kind of evidence would never be permissible in court. The only way it could possibly be used was if whatever was uncovered was such a huge threat that they had to act on it for security reasons, not legal ones. Which, yet again, suggests you know more than you're telling me, and you're sending me out in harms way again because of it.
Through great effort, she kept a vague smile on her face without actually grinding her teeth. "And how do you . . . propose that we get these documents?"
"There is an . . . employee of Czerka who may be willing to assist us in our cause. He spends his time in the cantina entertainment module. More than that I . . . do not know. We seek a solution that sees no one harmed, but have found none. I am confident a Jedi could find a way to make things right, but . . .?
Enough is enough! Marina growled as her temper, already frayed from the recent fighting for her life, broke loose. "What's your game, Chodo? Asking for help getting your droid is one thing, but you set us up! And now you want me to break into Czerka's corporate headquarters and steal their files? You know how many laws that breaks! How is that okay?"
Chodo paused, surprised and taken aback by her outburst. And as she fumed, Marina couldn't help but feel the implied rebuke, which made her even angrier. A 'real' Jedi would not have hesitated. Czerka was doing wrong, and Jedi righted wrongs, and hang the laws. They were immune anyways, right?
Well I'm not a Jedi, and I've seen what happens when you jump in head first without thinking.
The silence stretched and Marina grimaced. "Look, I think we're done here. Just pay us for the job and we'll be on our way." And don't think for a second that I'm giving those gloves back!
Chodo nodded slowly. "I . . . see. It saddens me, but I understand. Please know that we hold you no ill-will, and wish you success in your journey. If you wish to reconsider, you know where we can be found."
Atton snorted and Marina forced herself to accept the offered credits with something approaching calmness. Gratitude was beyond her reach. They left as quickly as they could, and now they had some credits to their names.
Marina slowed to a stop once they'd put some distance between them and the ithorians. "Okay, so . . . are we splitting this three ways, or what?"
Kreia frowned. "Our lives are entwined. Money you spend on yourself, you spend on me. Keep your credits."
Marina shrugged and turned to Atton. He considered her for a moment before speaking. "Give me fifty credits, and keep the rest. For now." She looked a question at him and he smiled his sleazy, empty grin. "For better or worse, the people after you are gunning for me, too, as long as you're on this station. So I figure I might as well stay close. You know, someone else to take watch at night, to keep my bunk warm . . ." he trailed off suggestively.
Marina just stared blankly at him, and Atton's grin slid off. She was used to his stupid innuendo now, and it wouldn't bother her again. Atton sighed. "Look, we'll be safer together than getting picked off one by one, alright?"
What was going on? Atton should have made a bolt for it the moment he had a chance? Whatever it was, she didn't like it or trust it. "Fine. Then since I'm so popular as of late, why don't you go find us a new apartment to stay in." She shoved half of the credits into his hands. "Now go on, make yourself useful."
Atton grabbed the money instinctively and turned, all but shoved away by the ex-Jedi. He gave her a strange look over his shoulder and walked away, blending easily into the crowd.
Well, that had been rather foolish. She'd all but ordered him to take the money and run, which was a waste of good credits since he was going to bail on them sooner or later anyways. Ah well. At least he was gone for good this time, one fewer complication to deal with. Still . . . he was a good pilot, and he's been undeniably useful. And he'd been someone to talk to, however unpleasant, that wasn't Kreia. She'd miss the extra blaster, but she'd make do one way or another.
Kreia had no such hangups. "Good. Now that we are free of the fool, we may carry on unhindered."
Marina sighed. Maybe she'd be missing the conversation sooner than she'd thought.
Jana Lorso paced her office, her expensive heals leaving divots in the soft carpet, long after she was accustomed to being asleep in her apartment. She couldn't go back there, that much was certain. Events were spiraling out of control quickly. Piece were moving, but why? Why now? This was beyond just angling to secure her position. If she didn't do something, and soon, the odds were good she wouldn't live through the end of the week.
What she needed was someone she was sure was an outside party, a neutral party. And at the moment, she knew of exactly one.
Marina and Kreia were in the middle of a decidedly quiet dinner in a run-down diner when her com lit up. And, for the second time in as many days, Atton's voice startled her. "I found us a new place."
"Atton? Where?" Marina raised a hand to call for the bill, missing Kreia's thoughtful frown, while Atton relayed the information. She had finished up and paid when yet another surprise dropped on them. Her only warning was Kreia's abrupt glance before Jana Lorso slipped into a chair across the table from her.
Marina drew her blaster under the table. She hadn't opened fire yet, trusting in Kreia's greater experience and ability in reading people, but that could change and she wanted to be ready. Czerka had attacked them once already, and she wasn't about to be caught unprepared again.
"Please, forgive my uninvited arrival, but we need to talk in private. By now the arrangements I made should have allowed your friend to secure a private location that will serve our purposes."
Marina kept a hand on the gun and tried to think. Things were moving fast—too fast. It felt like she was on a runaway speeder, no one at the controls, and just trying to hold on. Okay, focus. If Jana Lorso found out about our new place in five minutes flat, maybe even helped us find them in the first place, then going underground isn't going to happen. The station is too small and we're too well known. If we can't hide, then we need to fight, and if we need to fight, we need friends. And if Lorso can get Czerka off our backs, well, that's a big step in the right direction.
"Alright, let's talk. But you'll stay in front of me, and don't make any sudden moves."
Atton's eyes glanced from Marina to Jana and back to Marina, then he wordlessly went to cover the door. No objections, no questions. And yet, she was left with even more questions, but she pushed them aside to focus on the most immediate threat.
Marina settled on a cheap, hardback chair, her custom blaster still in her hand and waved Lorso to sit in another across from her, out of hands-reach. "Alright, you wanted to talk, talk."
Lorso took a steadying breath, the only crack in her demeanor thus far. "As you are no doubt aware, events are moving rapidly on this station. I believe we can help each other, but only if we move quickly. So I' going to put all my cards on the table." She glanced between the three of them. "Someone in Czerka at the regional, perhaps even the sector level is up to something, something big, and they're cutting me out, setting me up to be a patsy for them."
Marina frowned. "Why do you think that?"
"About three months ago, there was a large influx of Czerka Security Personnel, and I didn't ask for them. That was unusual enough in its own right, but it coincided with a large turnover in personnel and material between the station and the surface. A significant amount of resources and people were made to disappear from the inventory, and the sector reports were altered to hide the disappearances. I don't like being cut out by my own people. They're either trying to ruin me, or they're doing something else behind the scenes, and neither of those possibilities will go well for Czerka. We have hundreds of millions of credits committed to this project; we can't afford for it to fail."
"And what does this have to do with us?"
"Whatever they're doing, it appears to rely at least in part on controlling the Czerka security personnel. I brought in a number of mercenaries to ensure I remained in control of the situation. I also sought access to the droid intelligence they were bringing in for the project for a day or two to track down who or what is behind this. I asked my mercenaries to secure the droid, but they refused."
Marina blinked. That was . . . unusual. "What do you mean, they 'refused?'"
Lorso grimaced. "I mean they hemmed and hawed and talked about planning and operational difficulty, and a lot of nothing, but they didn't budge a millimeter. With everything going on, that was more than enough to make me suspicious, so I threatened to dismiss them, but they still didn't do anything. I dismissed them, of course, and withdrew all funding, but they wouldn't leave. All they said was that they finished every job they are hired to do, which is nonsense."
She hesitated, forcing out the words. "I . . . I didn't balance out the firepower inequality—I was a dupe. Someone else inserted them into my employ. And now between Czerka's forces and the mercenaries there is enough firepower to challenge for open control of this station, and I don't know who owns them. I needed that droid more than ever to sort out what was going on, so I reached out to you. When you turned me down, I took a gamble that whoever had taken over Czerka security had given instructions not to give away the game by openly defying me, so I asked them to take it for me. They made their attempt, and they were thwarted by the Exchange. Whatever is happening in Czerka, someone in the Exchange knows what it is and is quietly fighting them."
Marina took a moment to just take all that in. A power struggle within Czerka in which the Exchange was involved? That would be a big deal anywhere, but here and now, it could be a catastrophe. Okay. One step at a time. "That's all very interest, but get to the point. Why come to us again?"
Lorso frowned. "To business, then. I may be losing control of Czerka on the station, but I still have control of the credit accounts, and I may be able to arrange transportation off-station for you. I want to hire you to break into the Czerka mainframe and bring me a copy of the restricted archives. Somewhere in there should be a record of who in Czerka is running around behind my back and what they're up to. If we're lucky, maybe even their instructions to Czerka's security. It shouldn't be difficult; I can provide cloned access cards and a layout of internal security measures, though they may have been changed without my knowledge after the losses security took. I'll pay you one thousand credits each when I have the archives, and a flight off-station when I get to the bottom of this."
Three thousand credits. That was a lot of money, enough to work with. Marina glanced at Atton and Kreia, who simply watched impassively. Surprise surprise, they wanted her to take the lead. Again. "Alright, we'll do it."
Which wasn't to say she wasn't going to take some precautions first, of course.
"Alright Chodo, I've changed my mind. I'll break into the Czerka mainframe for you."
"Excellent! I am relieved to hear it, and reassure you that this will be for the good of the entire Restoration Project. If you find any evidence of Czerka's misdeeds we may be able to get them dismissed from the station and continue our work unhindered."
Marina was struck once more by the feeling that Chodo knew more than he was asking. The fact that he was asking her to look in the same place Lorso was was a big red warning light. He was asking her to do something very risky and highly illegal in the hopes that it would remove their biggest supplier and partner in the project. No matter how corrupt they were, Chodo had to have a very good reason to try that . . . but what was it she was supposed to find? What did he know?
And then there was the fact that they didn't seem to know or care that they were behind schedule and over-budget, but they were keenly aware of the danger Czerka represented to them. How could they be both at the same time?
It was time to do a little probing.
"So tell me Chodo, what am I looking for in the mainframe?"
Chodo help us his hands quickly. "I do not know. We simply believe that they are behind the effort to steal the droid, perhaps even to steal the first droid. We cannot risk not knowing if they are trying to sabotage the project."
Yeah, Chodo was definitely hiding something. This was way too risky for a general fishing expedition. Chodo was looking for something specific, something so dangerous he wouldn't drop even a hint. Well, time to try a different tact.
"Okay. Chodo, when we were securing your droid, we were ambushed by Czerka and the exchange, and they left behind this weapon." She pulled out the hold-out blaster and passed it carefully to Chodo, who examined it closely. "Can you tell me anything about it?"
"I am sorry, but there is little I can say. Our specialties lie in other areas. You should ask Lieutenant Grenn. And it may be a risk, but something may come of speaking with Czerka about this. They are the only major weapon suppliers for the station."
Another dead end. "Alright Chodo, we'll do it, but we expect to be well paid for this. How much are you offering?"
Marina sat back and crossed her arms as negotiations continued.
Nar Shadaa
Mira walked past what passed for Nar Shadaa's largest spaceport for what felt like the millionth time without going in and suppressed the urge to clench her teeth in frustration. No matter how you sliced it, it was time and past time she left this noisy, crowded, smelly, depressing sinkhole of a world. Yes, there was virtually unlimited work here for her, but she was successful enough to have made a bit of a name for herself, enough to get her going somewhere, anywhere else. Add to that a growing list of enemies, with one in particular at the top of her list making no end of trouble, and the answer was obvious.
And yet . . . Her reputation and success was due in no small part due to her excellent natural instincts that had been finely honed through training. When she was tracking a target she figured them out, got to know them, think like them, got in their heads. And when she got deep enough into their psyche, she sometimes surprised herself and her prey alike by anticipating their movse and being in the right place at the right time.
And right now, those instincts were telling her to stick around. Only, she wasn't hunting anyone, so why?
She didn't know, which worried her more than she cared to admit. But those instincts hadn't led her wrong yet, so she walked on confidently, eyes tracking the crowd, and she smiled and she worried. And just like that, she blended back into the morass of filth and indulgence that was evening on the Jewel of the Hutts.
Back at the new apartment Marina was surprised to learn that, for what may have been the first time ever, Atton and Kreia both agreed on something.
"Smooth work there, Marina. If something goes wrong, we can go to either side for protection, and we get paid twice over for it, to boot." Atton must have been truly impressed, because he gave her a brief smile that wasn't even part leer.
"Indeed, that was well played, my student. So long as each believes you may be of benefit to them, you can control events as you see fit, and may prevent attacks on us from both sides."
Marina was brought up short by such approval, looking uncomfortably back and forth between them. "Look, I'm just trying to get us out of here without getting killed. I'm not doing it for the money, or to 'control events,' or whatever. And don't celebrate too soon—we still have to pull off this break-in. Now let's get to work."
In the end, the break-in itself turned out to be surprisingly anti-climactic. With Lorso's security cards they shanghied a droid and Marina reprogrammed it to 'legitimately' copy the data for them. They made the pickup two hours later, and within four hours were meeting with Lorso once again.
Lorso sat on the same hardback chair as she had before, evidently as comfortable now as when she'd had Marina's blaster trained on her. She was a cool customer, that one. Lorso scanned through the datapad quickly. After a few minutes she frowned and looked up. "This is everything? You aren't holding anything back to try to extort more credits out of me?"
Marina shook her head. "No, that's everything. Why?"
Lorso set aside the datapad. "There is a single section that has been clumsily corrupted in an attempt to delete information. If you didn't do it, then someone else must have while it was stil in the mainframe. But who would have had access . . . ah." She looked back up at Marina. "A former employee of ours, one Batono, has been causing us endless headaches. He could not see the impracticality of his beliefs. If certain bribes must be paid to do business on a planet, then Czerka will gladly pay. He left us and stole many of our internal records, then began to stalk our movements on the station, filing frivolous lawsuits, and generally slandering the company. He must have taken the data before he left. Unfortunately, he has turned paranoid and gone into hiding, probably thinking that publicly murdering an outspoken critic in a highly visible operation would be something we'd be foolish enough to contemplate. Your next job for me will be to find Batono and find out what he knows. He was last seen in the Residential District, but he's been known to have ties to the ever-lovable ithorians. Now I need to leave, I have already been missed. Let me know when you find him."
"Wait, there's one more thing. When the Exchange ambushed your security people, someone left behind this blaster. Do you know anything about it?"
Lorso paused and took a quick look at it. "Holdout blaster, illegal on this station. It's been modified as well. It's nice work, but it's not ours. Clearly there's smuggling going on on the station. And before you ask, yes, we're involved in it, but we generally only bring in unmarked but otherwise legal goods. More deniabiltiy and lower fines. Clearly, someone else is involved as well, probably the Exchange. If you have time, look into it for me, and I'll throw in a bonus of twenty percent. We could use the leverage, and if we can't find out what's happening through Czerka, we may be able to go through the Exchange."
With that she strode quickly out of the apartment, taking the datapad with her. Marina wasn't worried—they had too more copies of it in the room, and a third hidden in a dead drop at the other end of the residential zone.
Atton locked and bolted the door behind her and flopped lazily on the lone, moth-eaten couch. "Great. I knew those ithorians were lying. You don't go from the helpless victims of the corporate boogeyman to paying off outsiders for corporate espionage overnight. Whatever this mess is, they're up their necks in it."
Marina nodded. "Agreed. I think it's time we had another little chat with Chodo."
Unexpectedly, Kreia chimed in as well. "Take it as a lesson, young one. The offer of a desperate desire is always a dangerous, slippery thing. It is rare such a thing is not offered after careful calculation to force your hand. Watch those that want more from you than they claim."
Atton rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and that includes those offering unsolicited advice. You two talk to Chodo and I'll figure out an angle with the Exchange."
Marina watched him skeptically. "And just how are you going to do that?"
Atton flashed her his best sloppy smile. "Trade secret, darling. Hand over the holdout blaster and I'll take care of the rest. Have fun with the ithorians!"
Admiral Carth Onasi sat down heavily in his cramped quarters aboard the Sojourn, took a deep breath, and read through the message again.
Stars, what a sucker punch, on top of everything else. Reports of more Sith activity along the frontier. Then the Ravager went missing, probably destroyed, which was a huge blow itself, but you had to add the destruction of the Peragus facility on top of it! That was millions of credits they couldn't afford, and worse, an incredible blow to the already crumbling infrastructure of the Republic. Fuel rationing would get ratcheted up yet again, patrols reduced still further in the region, and Telos . . . By the void, what was he going to do about Telos?
He ran his fingers through thinning hair, which surprising turn had not coincidentally begun right around the time he accepted his ridiculous promotion.
But then, just as the galaxy pulled the rug out from under him, it offered a faint glimmer of hope. The last Jedi, still alive on Citadel Station, and a sighting of the Ebon Hawk in the system as well. Okay. Well, there was nothing he could do from here.
He keyed his personal com and the captain answered immediately. "Yes, Admiral?"
"New word from Intelligence, captain. Change course immediately for Telos. The civil war on Onterra will have to wait. I'll hold a classified briefing in an hour. Use your discretion with who needs to know, but I want those in attendance kept to a minimum."
"Yes, sir."
The link cut and Carth sighed. Time to jump in to yet another disaster and try to hold the pieces together yet again.
The problem was the approach. Marina couldn't very well walk up to Chodo Habat and say 'hey, remember that corporate break-in you just had me do? Well, it turns out you already knew what was on it because you're hiding the guy that stole it, but so sorry, he jacked up the files before he left, so could you please tell me where you're hiding him so I can see the information you pretty clearly were trying to set me up to 'find'? Why? Oh, because their boss wanted to know what it was, and she's been straight up with me instead of trying to manipulate my every move like you have.'
That would go over well. Actually coming back with the rest of the information would buy her a lot of credibility, but she needed to lay a little more groundwork first. And so . . .
"I'd like to report a missing person."
Lieutenant Grenn looked at her blankly. "You want to what?"
"I'd like to report a missing person. You are the right people to contact, are you not?"
"Yes . . ." Grenn answered slowly as he leaned forward on his desk. "Just who is it that you want to report?"
"A man by the name of Batono."
Grenn's frown grew deeper. "The overseer of dock operations for Czerka? And just how do you know Batono? We don't give out any updates without a legitimate and verifiable familial, tribal, or culturally equivalent connection."
Marina smiled. "Oh, I don't have any connection to him, and I don't need any updates. I just wanted to let you know he's missing, and maybe get the case file number. I'm already looking for him, but I thought you might want me to let you know what I find."
Grenn looked back and forth between Marina's empty smile and Kreia's empty frown twice before signign and typing a new entry into his computer console. "Alright, the case file number is TSF-MP-436/a2/634. Now get going before I decide your apparent charity is a front for something I don't want you to be doing."
"Of course, officer. Have a nice day."
Atton had his target pegged within five minutes of slouching down into the cantina booth an empty, glazed-over look that told the world he'd had more to drink than he'd actually had.
It wasn't all that hard. The large cantinas closest to the docks were obvious meetings points. The last two he'd visited had turned up empty, but here he'd struck gold. There, at the bar. She was confident and comfortable, watching the crowd but not waiting for anyone. She was just there, lurking, like a spider in a web. And like any predator, those around her unconsciously shied away, leaving a little bubble of space.
Those had been the signs, but it was even easier in this case. She'd recognized him and watched him with open curiosity. A bounty hunter would be planning, calculating, tensed and ready to make a move. This one just sat there and watched.
He toyed with his drink, considering her. She was extremely attractive, not uncommon for the pink-skinned zeltrons, and her deliberately sexualized black leather accentuated her figure and drew attention from her coldly calculating electric blue eyes. Zeltrons were tricky—you had to size them up from a distance before their natural pheromones started to mess with your perception of them.
Huh. He wouldn't mind taking one for the team on this one, especially if he had to do a little extra-curricular convincing to get the answers he was looking for. Time to move.
He looked up abruptly, catching her gaze. She didn't look away, not threatened by his apparent innebriation, which confirmed his target as Exchange. He staggered to his feet and sauntered over to the bar stool next to hers, the smell of alcohol on his breath, strengthened by what he'd spilled on his shirt earlier, proceeding him.
"Hey pretty lady, shay, why don't I buy you a drink?" he slurred.
The zeltron just stared at him, not even reacting as he openly oggled her and leaned into her personal space. And then she smiled, and Atton felt his blood run cold.
"You're good. I might even have believed it if I hadn't seen you turn down one of my girls in the Liquid Gold cantina fifteen minutes ago."
Atton kept his cool, giving her a blank, vaguely confused look. "Wha . . . you mean . . . that other girl? She's got nothin' on you, beautiful."
Her smile grew, showing brilliantly white teeth. "Very good, not cracking when confronted. But if you're not looking for companionship, well, then you might be looking for something a little more interesting. So what do you say, handsome? Want to get away somewhere a little more private where we can get to know each other a little more . . . intimately? I promise I can appreciate your fascinating talents better than anyone else around." She stood.
It wasn't a request. And the fact that she didn't feel the need to have her goons loom behind him threateningly seemed like something of a professional courtesy. And yes, he was grasping at straws. But so long as he was playing the part . . .
Atton stood and wrapped an arm possessively, and heavily, over her shoulder and half-walked, half-staggered towards the exit of the cantina with the most beautiful woman on Citadel Station. But he couldn't let Marina think he'd just wandered off on her of his own free will, could he? No, he couldn't. He wasn't entirely certain as to why that might be as the zeltron's incredible bust filled his vision. He was definitely more drunk than he'd thought if he was thinking of anyone, or anything, else right now. Still . . . better safe than sorry. Word might get back to Marina.
So he grinned at her, breathing alcohol in her face, and grabbed her butt.
He never even saw her fist connect expertly with his jaw and send him to the floor like a sack of potatoes. The last thing he felt was someone dragging him by the arms before the darkness dragged him under.
"Yes, Chodo, we have returned with the data you requested from Czerka."
"Excellent! Ah, I see that your companion is missing. I hope that he has come to no harm?"
Marina shrugged easily. "He's fine, just nursing an injury," she lied.
Chodo blinked. "I see. Did you, by chance, discover anything . . . unusual . . . in the files?"
"Nope, didn't look through them. You didn't tell me what you were looking for, anyways."
Chodo and Moza glanced at each other briefly, then Chodo spoke up once more. "I see. Well, it will be some time before our technicians can review all of this information you have brought to us. You have our deepest gratitude."
Oh, did I upset your plans by not being your front woman for whatever information you want me to make public for you? Too bad. Now it's my turn.
"Say, Chodo, I'm looking for someone, a human male by the name of Batono. Have you seen him?"
Chodo hesitated a half-second too long, his deliberately casual voice a bit too forced. "Er, Batono? I am sorry to admit that name is unfamiliar to me. I must admit I have little interaction with the other residents of this area, however."
Right. "Are you sure? I've heard that he spent time here in the compound."
Chodo spoke more strongly, his voice indignant. "It would not be the first time others created rumors about us. I assure you I have never known of a man named Batono to spend time in our company."
That might even be technically true, but it's not that hard to lie with the truth, and you're not the only one that can do it. Marina sighed. "Ah well. Oh, I should mention, I'm looking for him for Lieutenant Grenn. He's been reported as a missing person in connection with Czerka. I thought it might help you to find out what Czerka's been up to. I have the case number, if you'd like to look it up," she offered helpfully.
Chodo looked at her closely, wavering, then caved. "Ah, yes. Ahem. It gladdens me to hear that it is Lieutenant Grenn who is searching for him. I am sorry that I spoke untruth to you before. Indeed, I do know of Batono, and I know where he can be found. But even so, you must promise me that you will tell no one about this. Not even Lieutenant Grenn, without Batono's permission.
Marina nodded virtuously. "I give you my word."
"Very good. You see, Batono came to us for protection, and we found him an apartment where he could hide. Our security technicians ensured that he would not be found by Czerka's security division."
Ohhh, you slimy, hutt-loving ithorian. What is it Batono stole for you that scared you badly enough to push me into bringing it to light for you so you wouldn't have to?
"I . . . see. And I can appreciate the value of discretion. Where can I find him?"
"You will find him in apartment C1 in the eastern portion of the Residential Module. I will give you the passkey to enter. Give him my apologies for revealing his hiding place, and my explanations. I hope he will not be too angry."
Don't worry, Chodo. Batono and I are going to have a nice, long conversation. After all, we have so many interesting things to discuss.