Cloudy with a Chance of Death ((Mooney, Con))

[Karl the Unfettered]

((Nothing complicated, just some senseless violence and epic chase scenes. Maybe even trains.))

Coruscant, the capital of the universe. Shining jewel of the Republic, the heart of the civilized world. Target of terrorists and martyrs the whole galaxy over, and home of scumbags and Senators alike. No one in their right mind attacked the place, it being one of the most heavily defended worlds in the entire Republic; for those in their wrong mind, the capital ships overhead and the occasional Jedi served as challenges, obstacles to be overcome en route to glory.

Or, for the super assassin known as Romeo, annoyances to be ignored. At their peril, not his.

"Barkeep, gimme another," he called, sliding some credits down the bar. For once he wasn't guzzling down whatever local Gargle Blaster made the place famous; not even he was stupid enough to start something on Coruscant. Oh sure, lesser men started stuff all day, but when Romeo started stuff there tended to be major property damage and body counts that made headline news for weeks.

Which, around here, would get him killed. And he rather fancied his life.

In the meantime the barkeep slid him his drink, and he turned to regard the rest of the cantina as he leaned back against the bar and casually sipped from the glass. It was one of the quieter, more upscale places in the vicinity, meaning the band didn't play so loud you couldn't hear yourself think, and the clientele weren't all savages and nimrods looking to get killed; otherwise, typical cantina, billions just like it all over everywhere.

The assassin sighed and had another sip, letting the red liquid slide down his throat as he continued his silent vigil. He'd taken the trouble to clean himself up for the day, shaving his face and getting a hair cut, wearing his new black coat instead of the battered old blue one; people could actually see the aristocratic planes of his face, the icy hard chips that were his eyes, the sandy blond of his hair.

He was actually a rather handsome man when he wanted to be, and tonight he wanted to be; he couldn't remember when he'd last gotten laid, and he felt like getting laid tonight. Even now a couple ladies were eying him, and he smirked in their direction; they giggled and looked away, and he just smiled and had another sip.

Why he couldn't calm down and take it easy like this more often, wasn't a question that kept him awake at night.

[Moonfire]

Music played low and dull through the speakers of the cantina matching the atmosphere near perfectly. Lights dim and talk heavy one would never guess that high stakes gambling could be happening that evening among the lushes and easy going spacers.

"Come on, Girlie. Roll 'dem dice." growled a large Abyssian from the corner most back table, his hulking frame obscuring the petite woman he addressed from view. The cyclops seemed to grin as he looked over the young woman sitting cattywampus in her chair regarding the greenish dice.

Kailani Quix wasn't having the best night. So far she was only mildly buzzed, a crime within itself, and now she had lost a rather substantial amount of money. Small, pale fingers twisted the smooth dice between the digits, green eyes fixed on them intently.

"Don't rush me, Cassius." The woman hissed between even teeth, jerking around in her seat, one bare leg crossing over the other. Dice clenched hard in her fist Kailani raised her eyes up to meet the figures around her. Two human men, a twi'lek woman and the abyssian were the players tonight, a real crowd of winners.

Spacers, bouncers, bounty hunters, and there was Kailani herself, who considered herself these days more boxer than pirate.

The bets started throwing down earlier in the night, when boredom had washed over the girl like a thick blanket, smothering her in its grip. A few charming words, a couple drinks and next thing she knew she had joined what started as a small game of Paazk and removed the cards, pulling out her favorite pair of dice from the poofy sheer sleeves of the top she wore. Within moments the group was laughing softly and sharing the wealth into the large pot, a heaping pile of credits spilled across for the perfect roll of the dice.

"I'll roll when I'm gorram well ready."

"She's just stallin'." The green skinned Twi'lek snickered, the rest of the table joining in.

"Pro'lly gonna roll another snake eyes!" Their sides all but split as the group laughed hard, even attracting the attention of the more surly jokes in the bar as they enjoyed their little joke.

Though it was true what they said, over the course of the night she hadn't rolled anything higher than a four, mostly snake eyes and the like. A bad luck streak indeed.

The rounded edges of the dice bore into the flesh of Kai's palm, clutching the dice with such ferocity as she bite back a grin of her own over the little joke. A shake of her hand the dice whipped out of her hand, clattering across the tabletop with a bang briefly interrupting the merriment of her fellows.

"20k says I'll get a seven this round" Kailani said, eyes falling to her drink, not even watching the dice as the spun and twisted to their outcomes, far too preoccupied with the amber liquid in her glass. Eyes shut she listened for the laughter of her failing roll, and like clockwork the giggles erupted first from the Twi’lek , moving through the humans and the Abyssian. The group laughed mightily at the pair of twos, a lousy four again.

“Nice try, Kailani. Why don’tcha just give up already, you’re running outta drinkin’ money.” The Twi’lek shouted clapping her firmly on the back.

“Yeah, yeah thats what they keep tellin’ me.” Kailani said, solemn eyes still staring into her glass. With light hands the dice were grabbed up by the human and with them Kailani’s attention wandered back over the cantina.

The crowd was relatively sparse that night, no one was dancing, there were lushes, sleepers and a couple sour looking drunks content to keep to themselves, a spacer dotted here and there. A couple of the looser women across the bar giggled and waved to a coated gent near the bar. For a brief moment Kai admired his jacket as her group mates shouted and jeered at the latest victory, dice and credits changing hands again.

Rocking her chair back against the wall Kai propped her boot feet up onto the tabletop, resting her head against the back of the seat with only her wild tangle of blonde hair as a cushion. Eyes resting she waited for her turned, arms crossed over her chest.
Soon her turn came ‘round again and with Kailani suppressed a smile as she took the dice in hand again, ignoring the jeering laughter and catcalls of the group, twisting and turned the dice in hand for a long moment before stopping, looking up at the group.

“What’s wrong Kai? Ready to throw in the towel?” Laughter echoed between them, softer this time. A grin grew across the woman’s face, shaking her head.

“No, no… Actually, I’m ready to go all in.” She said pushing her remaining credits into the pot. “All in and the whole pot if I roll a perfect twelve, right? Double sixes. I’m going for it.”

“Yer crazy, Girlie.” Cassius said shaking his shaggy head. The other joined in, calling her nuts, it was obviously not her night.

“Let her do it, Cass. I could use a few more credits towards mah new ship anyway.” The Twi’lek laughed heartily, giving Kai the go ahead.

With a slightly dramatic twist of her wrist Kailani let the dice fly across the table, skittering and turning for only a minute before landing. The first stopped, landing on a six, that alone the highest number the Corellian had rolled all night, the other dice spun lazily before settling.

“WOOHOO!” Kailani’s screamed pierced the air as she proceeded to jump up and down, celebrating the victory vocally to the shock and awe of her team mates. “Take that! The pots mine!” She yelled, reaching across the table and pulling the massive amount of money towards her, attempting to dump it into the modest satchel at her side, as well as tuck them into every available crevice, including the space between her flouncy under shirt and the well strung red corset that laid over it.

“I win, I win LA LA LA LAAAA.” She sang as the men began to curse their luck, her hands moving with incredible swiftness, tucking the last of the credits away before reaching for her dice. Her arm stretched quickly trying to snatch up the dice when something… peculiar fell from the sleeve with a sharp clatter that caught the attention of everyone involved.

“What the-?” Cassius said, looking over the two sets of dice on the table, the pair that were tucked away in Kai’s sleeve had launched themselves out in hurry, colliding the previous pair.

“About that…” Kai began scrambling to snatch them up, but she was too late. The Twi’lek now rolling the dice over and over again, one pair came up random, but with every single roll the winning dice were sixes.

“Trick… dice… You thieving b*tch!” She screamed withdrawing an impressive vibroblade.

One look at the blade and Kailani did what came naturally. Taking a final swig of the amber ale she flung the glass into the bounty hunters face and ducked away from the blade with surprising quickness. The blade hummed as it barely missed her head, and the glass tinkled as it crashed into the other woman’s face.

“Sorry loves, you know what they say…” She trailed off, flinging a table over as she bolted across the bar, shoving patrons unceremoniously out of her way, an all out brawl begging to start. She seemed to have that effect on people.

“Gotta keep one jump ahead of the breadline, one swing ahead of the sword.” Kailani announced, ducking as one of the humans came at her with the Twi’lek’s vibrosword in hand, slashing it as her as she ducked and rolled beneath a table, popping up on the other side. “I only steal what I can’t afford!” She shouted this justification as she began to throw more glasses at the angry men.

“So what if that’s… everything?”

[The Conman]

Doneeda was, regretably, on Courscant.

It was a temporary thing, a stop over on her way to places unknown. The shapely Twi'lek had figured on staying, making a few credits, then leaving, but the more she stayed, the more she really disliked the place. Too many cops, high class establishments and everybody seemed to have an opnion on politics.

They also had a tendency to exaggerate their appreciation for her, upon hearing her accent, she'd had five separate people congratulate her on her citizenship that day alone. There was also the matter of the accent.

To the Twi'lek, who'd spent the better part of her life with either Corellians or other Huttese speakers, the Coruscanti dialect was, well, annoying. They all sounded like they were uptight, arrogant, and knew better then you.

All of that, however, paled in comparison to the way she stood out. Now, this wasn't something that was foriegn to the nearly six-foot tall, shapely, Twi'lek. However, even on Corellia, there were at least, some, other species around. Courscant, however, felt like "humanland" to Doneeda. She'd seen two non-humans that day, one was a wookie, the other was a cyborg. It was like they'd never seen a non-human before, let alone one like her. All in all, Courscant had so far summed up everything Doneeda didn't like about the republic.

The Twi'lek was currently occupying a seat at the end of the bar, watching a live Swoop race piped in over the Holo-Net from Mannan. It wasn't a major part of the series, but CEC had started their new model in the Factory Modified class, and she was interested to see what it'd do. They'd hailed it as " The Swoop with Botique features for a gas miner's price."

The race progressed, and Doneeda progressed through booze. She'd found herself a nice, cozy, spot where people wouldn't bother her. Yes, it was more upscale than she was used to. Yes, the prices were too high and the drinks were watered down. And, yes, the clientell wasn't as seedy as she'd like.

But, they had live swoop racing, so they redeemed themselves.

Until some chick started screaming in the background.

And a glass whizzed by her head and exploded on the bar behind her.

Now, for the average Courscanti, this would be cause to panic. Their carefully controlled, and safe, world would seem to be crashing down around them in a hail of glasses and shrill shouts.

You can take people out of the scum...

Donnie said to herself in Huttese, turning around to see the festivites, dodging yet another way-ward, airborne glass.

My Kinda place.

She continued, finishing her drink and leaning back on the bar in on her stool.

[Karl the Unfettered]

So far a mellow afternoon, indeed. Swoop racing on the 'Net, dicing in the corner, no loud creeps with itchy fingers... it made Romeo think he ought to come around to these higher-class dives more often. "Love the view," he muttered to himself, eying a solitary Twi'lek at the end of the bar, intent on the live racing show. It reminded him he still needed to get laid, and he looked away before she noticed his stare.

In the meantime the dice game was moving along pretty well, or it seemed to be anyway. The assassin noticed one of the players, a woman in a corset and shorts, seemed to be losing; he could only see her from behind, but she looked familiar nonetheless. "Hm," he muttered, leaning forward to see better. Intent as he was on trying to recognize the losing woman, he almost failed to notice when she slipped a second pair of dice from her sleeve, sliding the other pair away with furtive movements.

"Ah ha," he noted with a grin as she jumped up and down, yelling out her overwhelming victory. That provided a show in and of itself, naturally, and Romeo could well appreciate that show while it lasted. He smirked as she stuffed credits in every available spot, in her bag and down her pants and shirt (mm, down her shirt...), and debated whether to ask her for dinner once she was through celebrating; women were always more amenable to propositions when in a good mood, after all.

But then she slipped, and Romeo's dozy grin became a sharp frown; that was a rough crowd, they wouldn't take well to cheating, oh please don't get violent please don't no no no...

"Damn it," he hissed as the Twi'lek yanked a sword and lunged at the blond woman. She threw a glass in her face and leaped back, evading the rest and darting into the crowd. Romeo finally got a look at her face, and it all clicked in very neatly.

Balosar. The 'Whining Mynock'. Huge explosions and gas fires all over the damn place. Good times all around. He remembered she was a drinker, and a good one too, and decided that he couldn't let her get taken down, not today.

Accordingly he stood up, calmly walking up to them. "Hey you," he said, tapping the huge Abyssian on the shoulder and rearing back with his fist. The fellow turned around, a snarling reply forming, but he never got to utter it; Romeo's fist smashed into his face at high velocity, knocking the man back several feet before he crashed to the ground, totally out cold.

Simultaneously he whipped out one of his archaic shotguns, taking aim at the human with the Twi'lek's sword. "Hey you!" he yelled, getting the man's attention before firing a rubber slug at the man's back. The blow sent him reeling too, and Romeo hustled over and stomped his face in before he could get up.

"Anyone else wanna get decked, lay a finger on the lady!" the towering assassin yelled at the rest of the bar, both shotguns in his hands as he stood next to Kailani. He glanced at her out the corner of his eye, and smirked slightly. "Heya, Quix. Rememeber me? Balosar, explosions, all that? Good times."

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Zamria Bey had entered a cantina with one thing on her mind: relaxing. It was no crime to want a break, and particularly not when your job was stressful. Well, not stressful in a conventional sense. She didn't routinely deal with death, or with massive numbers. Her mind didn't make financial decisions for the elite or ensure the economic system moved smoothly. What she did was still stressful however.

She was the eyes and ears for the senator of Shili, the woman in the shadows at formal receptions, and the woman roaming across the galaxy to research any one of a dozen pressing issues the Senator needed a trusted opinion on. It was her job to know things about every issue in the present day, and if she didn't, to learn about them well enough to venture an opinion. Her advice was vital, and her judgment carried weight. It was quite the burden to bear for a woman not yet thirty, although that milestone was looming.

Sometimes she just needed a break. And it helped that she knew just about every haunt worthy of knowing in Galactic City, and a few that weren't. This one fell into that latter category, and very promptly she had come to realize just why she never went to this bar.

It all boiled down to standards. She had a good job and a nice face, and she could get into any club and quality establishment, provided she dressed properly for it. Today she'd paid for her attire of chocolate brown cargo pants, a wide leather belt, and a drab green tank top with the presence of undesirable people. And that, in turn, had lead to the little disturbance.

There were a few misconceptions about bar fights. The most notable one was that a single punch or smashed bottle could turn the whole joint into a fray of arms, with whirling bodies slapping and hitting each other like a forest buffeted by high winds. The actual truth was that most people would stay out of it, letting the events run their course.

Zamria was one of those, one of the women not likely to be involved. She had a record to keep clean, fighting with no purpose didn't appeal to her, and there was just no sense in it. From what she gathered, the blonde human woman had been cheating, then the Twi'lek had pulled a sword and been hit in the head by a glass, probably knocked out, and then the other man had punched out a third man, and proceeded to shoot another with what had looked very much like a slugthrower.

Lovely. Just lovely.

The willowy Togruta woman eyed her reflection in the mirror across the counter of the bar from her, letting her eyes look at her form and wondering how she compared to all the others in the room. Was she as impressive a fighter as the man with the slugthrower? Not likely. As good a swindle as the blonde? Probably not. Her own eyes told her nothing, merely staring back at her, an icy blue orb and another so dark it was almost black.

She looked back down to the beer she was drinking and took another sip, shaking her head at the whole confusing ordeal. The keys in her pocket reminded her that she had her ticket out at any time, and the feeling of her skin, of her head, told her that she hadn't drunk enough for piloting to be a problem. That avenue of escape was still open to her if she needed it.

A bare red foot tapped up against the cool metal of the railing under the bar, toes wrapping around it, curling in on it and releasing again. She wasn't bored now. And the stress was, if not gone, altered into a new form. That was a small blessing perhaps. She looked around the room behind her in the mirror, noticing a few others. A Twi'lek also at the bar, and now the man with the slugthrower and the cheating woman standing together. They seemed to know each other.

Zamria sighed and shook her head, half-chuckling at the oddness of the experience. It was like something out of fiction, like a story out of a tale of the Outer Rim. She hadn't been raised with holoprogramming at all, since it was one of the many amenities you didn't find in the scrub of Shili, and even after she had moved to Corvala there hadn't been a display monitor in the house. She'd only ever started using one in college to watch the swoop races with friends, and she had to admit she'd watched the race on the monitor at the bar quite closely.

She looked back to it. Jansen had pulled ahead in his heat by a whole five seconds over the others.

"Pity," She said aloud, rubbing one hand over her right headtail as she sat on the bar stool.

[Moonfire]

Kailani had fallen into the what was classically known as Escape Mode 1. When things turned sour, which granted wasn't tooo often an event there were two things a person could do; stand their ground, issue the challenge and overwhelm the opponent. The petite blonde woman, while rather skilled at drunken hand to hand combat, recognized this was not one of those moments. Too many people, too crowded an area and too many very aggressive opponents. The alternative was much simpler. Run, kick things over and create every possible obstacle to keep away from the other party.

And true to her nature, thats exactly what Kailani did. With a swift kick Kailani had knocked the table too its side, ducking behind it as she withdrew a single blaster from its holster. Peaking around the corner she noted how the bar seemed to be keeping to itself. No old rivalries bubbled to the surface, turf brawls, everything staying nice and calm. "What a classy joint." Kailani remarked outloud as the Twi'lek loomed over head again. Her voice was loud and angry as she shouted something unintelligible into her commlink. Calling in back up, smart.

A swift fire of the blaster and another duck and roll beneath a table saved her from the swing of the buzzing humming sword. One more close call like that she probably won't have another chance to gamble again. Standing up she tried to make a break for the door when a loud gunshot pierced the air.

This was the end, the game was up. Tonight the underground would mourn the death of the infamous Kailani Quix! Her death would probably be in vain, the Bohemian Crew would sweep the whole affair under the rug and the dives of Nar Shaddaa and Coruscant would take only the slightest moments of silence and whispered comments on how the wild blonde still owed them money. Eyes clamped shut Kailani waited for the pain to begin and the life to drift away.

That is... until the brief second she realized whoever had been shooting had missed. Life carried on! Woohoo! Turning about to see who carried such a primative weapon in a day of blasters and energy shots, she noted was still a ways from the door. Who's idea was it to hold a card-turned-dice game so far from the exit! A fire hazard, surely! Looking up the blond man she had vaguely noticed earlier she watched with wonder as he issued a challenge to the other patrons. A single blond eyebrow cocked, Kailani looked over the crowd. He had dispatched the thugs rather effectively, and not a moment too soon either.

"Uhh... Yeah, vaguely. That whole night was pretty wild. Whining Mynock or somethin'?" She said, moving slowly towards the door. The Twi'lek had called friends, Kai was sure of it. Plus, it was general good business sense never to stick around somewhere you've recently made enemies. Best shot would probably to get off world and come back in a few weeks time. Nar Shaddaa was lovely this time of year. A rather disinterested Togruta muttered something along the lines of pity, with a single look Kailani couldn't help but laugh. "How's Marcurio doin'? I've got like 500 on him." She asked politely on the Swoop bike race, puzzled by how quiet and nonchalant the patrons of this bar were. Wait. Romeo. Focus, Kai, focus. Time to jet, friends coming. Her eyes darted back over to the blonde gent before her again.

"Anyway... Thanks a bunch, I mean really. Saved my tail. Buuuuut, I gotta go, meeting up with friends later, you know how that is." So close to the door, just inches away from freedom.

"Thanks, really, I appreci--" The door swung open right before her and with that same breath Kailani cursed. "Sh*t, the fuzz!"

Coruscant's finest barreled into the cantina, ready to apprehend whoever had participated in the ruckus, and from the call they received, an illegal dice game. As the dive filled up with officers of the law, Kailani holstered her blaster took a deep breath and eyed the door, looking for some break between the five that she could get through.

"One jump, ahead of the lawmen." Jumping forward, Kai's hands were raised, the dainty woman rolling across the floor before coming to a clumsy stop at the police men's feet. With inhuman quickness she slipped between the gap, the door sliding open just as a few more officers tried to come through. "That's all, and that's no joke."She muttered.

Hopping to booted feet, Quix eyed the confused lawmen outside for a just a moment before breaking out into a run, one of the inner officers bursting out, shouting instructions to follow her.

"These guys don't appreciate I'm broke!" She shouted blissfully to the sky, wide open Coruscant streets and people, it was only a matter of time and energy before she'd get off world. For now it would just be a game of cat and mouse.

[Karl the Unfettered]

"Good times indeed," Romeo agreed, glancing around again. He'd stamped out the momentum for now, so he let himself relax a bit and ogle Kailani while she panicked to herself. Odd how the fight had been so localized; aside from Quix and the players of the dice game no one else seemed at all interested in a spot of violence, but this was probably good since it meant the assassin wouldn't have to knock too many more people around. He preferred killing, not playing nice.

A well-dressed Togruta sat at the bar, watching the swoop racing and looking bored; she mumbled to herself and Kailani said something to her. Romeo paid half an ear to them while he checked and reloaded his guns, making sure he had the rubber slugs for playing nice, which he did so that was all good. Now it was back to the bar, still with half an eye on Kailani, maybe say hi to that Togruta woman.

"Hi, I'm Romeo," he said in what he hoped was a friendly tone as he sat down by Zamria. "Nice clothes." He waved for another drink, but before it got to him there were sirens outside. Piss, he thought, resisting the urge to reach for his guns. Maybe they weren't coming here, maybe there was a fire in an apartment complex, maybe this or that or-

"Nobody move!" roared the first cop as the door banged open. "POLICE!"

"Son of a..." Romeo muttered, hoping Kailani would stick around. Ah ha, nope, not a chance; there she went, singing under her breath and dashing outside. The assassin couldn't just let her leave; they had to catch up, and he still had to get laid.

While the cops were still dispersing and setting up lines of cover, Romeo made his decision. "Sorry lady, but you gotta come with me," he told Zamria, but before he could grab her he was approached by two of the cops; before they could grab him he bashed their heads together, which of course brought all the police attention on him. "Come on!" and he grabbed at the Togruta again, hoping she wouldn't resist too hard and cause delays.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"Marcurio is tied for third," Zamria provided in a flawless Coruscanti accent to the blonde woman, who seemed to have found time to discuss the swoop race. That solidified her impression that this was an outer rim brawl from the holodramas resurrected in real form here on Coruscant. Witty banter.

Great.

The man with the slugthrowers sat down next to her, introducing himself as Romeo. An unusual name in her estimation. Under other circumstances maybe she would have been interested in him, seeing as he had a nice enough face, and presumably an equally nice body, but the whole shooting people in a bar incident had considerably soured her impressions of him. She wasn't particularly keen on being on a first name basis with the name, but forced politeness was a regular part of any political job, and she felt somewhat obligated to be polite to a man with a gun.

"Zamria," The Togruta introduced herself, pronouncing her name with the lilting and melodious intonation of the Togruti language rather than pronouncing it in a typical Basic accent. She did that from time to time, to complicate efforts for people to remember her name. It also helped when they didn't know how to spell it, even though her comm ID was unlisted.

Then he told her she had nice clothes, and that prompted a small laugh. Since when were cargo pants and a tank top nice? Maybe she'd been under the wrong impression, and she could wear her clothing of choice to parties. Ha ha. Very amusing.

Laughter over, Zamria turned back to her beer and sipped the amber liquid again, savoring the almost-sweet flavor to it. It was a Chandrilan beer, and a good one too, one of the great brands you could find in a place like this that wasn't particularly well-known. It was, in her estimation, far more likable than anyone else in the room.

At that moment the police arrived, a little too late as far as she was concerned, since no one was actively being shot or punched. And that was also when the man, Romeo, gave her a rather amusing order. She 'had' to come with him?

"No thanks," She said neutrally as she took another sip of her beer. However she stopped short when out of the blue he attacked two of the police officers.

That lowered her opinion of him even further. What the Force was this man's problem?

And then he grabbed her.

Immediately self-defense training sprang into action and she spun from his grasp. Even as she turned, she brought her knee up towards his crotch with stunning speed. No one was about to grab Zamria Bey. Not while she was conscious. The markings on her montrals and lekku darkened with her mood, becoming a deep navy color. That was the sign she had formally had enough.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Kneeing Romeo didn't get Zam very far; no decent fighter ever went with protection Down There, after all. "Don't make this hard," he hissed. Damnit, he didn't have time for this; Kailani was running, every second he spent in here was that much more distance between them, plus the cops were getting rowdy. "You're coming with me whether ya want to or not, girlie!" He seized her arm in an iron grip, whirling her around in front of him, twisting her arm cruelly behind her. The way he held her was such that she had no choice but to move as he did.

And she was right between the assassin and the cops.

"I don't want no trouble!" he yelled at them, backing up toward the door. "Just lemme go! I didn't have nothin' to do with nothin'!"

"Let her go!" one of the cops yelled, threatening them with his riot blaster.

"Not a chance! I don't want no trouble!" Romeo repeated, still forcing the diplomat along. "Really sorry about this, Miss Zamria," he muttered in the Togruta's ear. "I won't let ya die, just come along and keep quiet."

Finally they were outside, but Romeo didn't relax; there were police everywhere, with more arriving every minute. Glancing around he saw Kailani dashing away, no doubt planning her escape. "C'mon!" he yelled, untwisting Zam's arm but keeping a grip on it as he took off after Quix, not allowing the Togruta a moment to catch up or get her feet under her.