Gaius was sitting at the bar in the empty club when Joiner returned, DJ in tow. The thief looked a lot rougher than he had the previous night; Gaius put it down to how much DJ had put away. He was quite impressed a human could drink so much without perishing. He'd only ever seen Joiner drink that much before.

Joiner shoved DJ forward, and DJ stumbled and fell to his knees. Gaius stood up and gazed down at DJ, noticing how less remarkable he looked without that big coat on. There wasn't anything significant about this human. Much like most scum in the galaxy, he was only a disappointment.

DJ started to get up, so Gaius kicked him in the ribs. DJ went down, coughing and gasping at the wind being knocked out of him.

"You're no different from every other worm that crawls across these stars, are you?" Gaius said.

"N-never claimed t-t-to be," DJ muttered, his words broken up by his heavy breathing. He once again tried to rise, and Gaius kicked him back down on his back.

"Return to me what you stole," Gaius demanded.

DJ coughed. "What m-makes you think-k I st-t-till got it?"

"You had no plans to sell it," Gaius said, "even though it could net you quite a lot of money. Just this one time, your want for power usurped your love for money."

DJ laughed, and Gaius only felt his anger surge. Joiner stepped forward and stepped on DJ's chest, then bent down and rummaged through his pockets. Joiner recovered the ring, the crystal glowing green in his hand.

Gaius' relief was almost big enough to erase his anger. He reached out to take the ring from Joiner, but suddenly Joiner was shoved from behind and fell hard against Gaius, dropping the ring.

Gaius caught him, and he saw DJ scramble to grab the ring and back away. No doubt the thief had Force-pushed Joiner, but he shouldn't have the energy for such a thing. "The hell is wrong with you?" he demanded of Joiner.

"Sonofabitch," Joiner growled, pushing away from Gaius He turned to DJ, his face red. "Cheap trick."

Gaius looked back to DJ, who had gotten to his feet. He was holding the ring, the crystal was glowing in his hand. "Money, power," DJ said, slipping the ring on his left pinky to join his existing collection of rings on that hand. "Just-t-t a means to an end. I want what-t-t you want, Gaius."

Gaius glared. "And what is that, exactly?"

DJ grinned. "Freedom."

Centrephalia was technically open, but there weren't many people there during the daylight hours. What became hip and happening clubs at night became sensible conference rooms during the day. There were several business men filing into the building, but Lyra shoved past all of them and headed to the elevator pads.

After she had woken up from being stunned, Lyra immediately tore through DJ's coat to find any clue as to where she may find him. Amongst his various wares and a hefty amount of betting chips, she found a cork with the name Centrephalia - 20 embossed on it. She wasn't certain what she would find there, so she grabbed her blaster and her ship and set off.

The twentieth floor was inaccessible to the public. That wouldn't stop Lyra. Having anticipated this, as it was the daytime, she brought along a chipkey she borrowed from DJ's coat which she used to force the elevator pad to send her to the twentieth floor.

The foyer was empty save for two guards stationed at the door. They saw her, but Lyra had her blaster at the ready. She only had it on stun, but she shot both of the guards and they went down. She approached the automatic doors, expecting them to be locked, but they opened for her.

She saw DJ first, his back to her. She was simply relieved to see him on his feet. On the other side of the large, empty club were two men—the short stocky one who had blasted Lyra's front door, and a very broad, overweight twi'lek man with lavender skin.

Lyra ran to DJ's side, her blaster aimed at the men at the bar. DJ glanced to her, looking way too pleased with himself. "C-c-cavalry's here."

Lyra resisted the urge to smack him upside the head. "I am not your cavalry," she hissed. "But someone is paying for that damage to my wall." She glared at the short human man.

He rolled his eyes, then reached out with his arm and pulled it back. Suddenly Lyra's blaster was ripped from her hand, and it flew right into his as if he commanded it. He pointed the hot end at her and DJ with a smirk. "Aye, lassie, I'd'a thought ya'd try that. Let's just finish this now."

Lyra got ready to drop to the ground, but she heard DJ mutter, "Sorry," and her blaster exploded in the ginger man's hands. He cried out in pain, his shirt utterly destroyed and his arms and chest singed. The twi'lek man reached out to help him, but the human's pain quickly melted to rage, and he rushed at DJ and Lyra.

DJ side-stepped him, but Lyra didn't react fast enough. He crashed right into her, and they both went down. She tumbled on the floor with him for a few seconds and then felt his hands wrap around one of her lekku. White-hot pain shot from her head, the absolute worst pain she had ever experienced in her life. Her vision blacked out, her ears rang, and all thought ceased as her entire body was wracked with pain.

The next thing she recalled, she was being held against something very warm and soft. She couldn't see, couldn't really think, but she felt overwhelming comfort. There was a presence there. It was someone familiar, but not anyone she knew—not DJ or her boss, Szilb. No, this familiarity ran deeper, to a time long before she had taken the name Lyra.

Gradually her senses returned. She realized she was on the ground, and someone was with her. Large, strong hands were massaging the base of her lekku. As her vision cleared, she looked around. The man who had attacked her was lying unconscious on the ground. DJ was backing up toward the door. She was leaning against someone's soft, fleshy body.

She gazed up into blue eyes which matched her own, and not just in color. The twi'lek man was kneeling by her, steadying her against his wide frame with one arm while his other hand massaged her lekku. His face reminded her of something, somewhere in the very edges of her memory.

His massage stopped when he realized she was looking at him. "Ah. You're back."

"Who are you?" Lyra said. She tried to sound demanding, but her voice came out in a pathetic whisper.

He didn't immediately answer. "Doesn't matter," he said. "That's enough of this trouble." He moved away from her and stood up. Lyra felt a wave of disappointment as his warmth disappeared which was quickly followed by a massive headache.

"Where is DJ?" Lyra asked, rubbing at her eyes. She looked around the room, blinking back some blurriness from her vision.

The unmistakable sound of the elevator pad activating came from beyond the automatic door. Lyra stared at the closed door, then looked back to the twi'lek whose expression was twisting into that of anger. Slowly Lyra's confused brain put it together.

DJ was gone. Fucking thief.