DJ wasn't entirely certain where he was when he first woke up. He opened his eyes to find himself in a woman's bedroom. Dresses were draped over the end of the bed and on a wooden wardrobe; make-up populated the surface of a small vanity; even the blanket he was under smelled distinctly feminine. But not just feminine—familiar. Indeed, he knew this scent very well. It was Lyra.

He tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest of movement. His head pounded, feeling like someone was crushing his skull between their hands. His stomach did a flip, and it took every ounce of DJ's willpower not to vomit. With a groan, let his body go limp, closing his eyes again.

Slowly the previous night came back to him: the party, the target, the treasure. DJ couldn't recall what had happened after he seized that ring, but he realized he must have that he had come to Lyra's apartment. Yes, he'd come to Lyra's apartment because it was the one place on Nar Shaddaa, and possibly in this entire region of the galaxy, where DJ could sleep off the consequences of his latest job in relative peace. It wasn't easy out-drinking a man who was known to have four stomachs, even if he was already drunk.

Little by little, DJ worked up the effort needed to pull himself up into a sitting position. His whole body felt on fire. And standing was a whole other process. Once DJ was even able to get his feet under him, it took him a good long while before he stood up…and he immediately sat back down, overcome with a bout of dizziness which only served to worsen his nausea.

Sitting there, he noticed his coat, hat, and boots were neatly set aside on the chair by the vanity. Their careful placement made DJ smile a bit. He reached over and pulled the chair closer to him, upsetting his boots and knocking his hat to the ground. Reaching into one of the pockets of his coat, DJ felt around until his fingers closed around a thick metal ring with a crystal set into it. Its buzzing energy felt almost comforting.

He slipped the ring into his trouser pocket. He had quite the plans for that little stone.

A few minutes later, DJ stood up and made himself stay up, despite every fiber in his body seeking to bring him down again. He took a few tentative steps toward the door, grasping onto the bed and then the dresser and finally the wall. He made his way down the hall like this until he came out into the living area, where he forced himself to stand up tall.

Lyra was awake, laying on her lounge chair and reading a book. She looked absolutely delightful in a deep blue fitted halter dress that complemented her lavender skin. Their gazes met, and Lyra attempted to look irritated with DJ, but he noticed the way her lekku twitched forward. She'd been concerned about him the whole time, and she couldn't hide it if she tried. The thought made DJ smirk.

"Mornin'," he said, his voice like sandpaper.

"It's past midday," Lyra said, putting her book down and getting to her feet. "I bet you're hungry."

DJ's stomach churned at the mention of food. It was a rare day indeed when DJ would turn down a free meal, but he was certain he had eaten enough at Gaius' party to keep him filled for the next month. Assuming he didn't puke it all up. "I need-d-d a ship," he said.

"You always need a ship," she said, her voice gaining an edge. "I'm not a used ship salesman, you know."

DJ walked over—well, stumbled over—to Lyra and put his hands on her shoulders. He mainly did it to steady himself, as the room was spinning, "I n-need t-t-to get-t-t away f-from this p-p-place f-for a g-g-good long while," he said. He was absolutely murdering his speech in his state, but Lyra seemed to understand him anyway.

She gazed right into his eyes, her own a whirlpool of emotions that DJ would rather go unacknowledged. She reached up and put a cool hand on his cheek. "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" she asked.

Almost on cue, there was a heavy pounding on her door which made them both jump. Lyra stared at the door but didn't move. DJ glanced out the window, trying to work out an escape plan. Lyra's apartment was twenty stories up; there wasn't much place to go besides through the front door.

There was blaster fire, and then the door popped open. Lyra scurried over to her coffee table where a blaster lay and grabbed it. DJ was motionless as he watched Joiner walk in the door, blaster pointed to the ceiling. He was whistling a tune DJ did not recognize.

"Who the hell-?!" Lyra said, aiming her blaster at him.

Joiner's gaze swept over Lyra almost lazily. "Quite a bonnie lass ya have here," he said. "Boss ain't too keen on tail-head girls, or I'd aim to bring her too."

Lyra cursed in Huttese of all languages and shot at Joiner. In the half-second it took the energy beam to travel from the blaster to its target, Joiner drew his lightsaber, lit its green blade, and deflected the beam, sending it into the metal wall behind him. The room shook with the blast.

"What did you bring here?" Lyra breathed. She somehow sounded annoyed and terrified at the same time.

Joiner turned off his lightsaber and slipped it back on his belt. Then he aimed his blaster at DJ. "Come along, laddie. You're in no shape to dance with me." He grinned, exposing crooked, yellowed teeth. "I made certain of that."

DJ was struck by that comment. That previous night, after they polished off the whiskey, the alcohol kept flowing. Tequila, vodka, rum, gin, from all over the galaxy, appeared on that table. It had nearly killed him, but DJ had managed to out-drink Gaius and the twi'lek man had passed out. Surely DJ had made sure Joiner was out too. How else would he have been able to slip the ring off Gaius and somehow make his way to Lyra's place?

In all honesty, DJ's memory was just a step from blank. Of course he missed that Joiner was watching him.

"Oh hell, this is takin' too long," Joiner grumbled, and he shot them both.