Slumdog Alpha [Yarbuck & s'Ilancy]

[Sanis Prent]

"Watch where the fuck you..."

I caught a bit of something familiar, and as he righted himself, I squinted my eyes.

"...Morgan?"

And suddenly the galaxy felt a considerable bit smaller. Somebody threw a half-full bottle that exploded on the wall behind me. I didn't even flinch. It was all Nar Shaddaan white noise.

I got a good look at him up and down, my face turning into a grimace.

"You look like a rancor shit you out on a bad morning."

[Morgan Evanar]

"Yeah, I gave him bad indigestion." Split and bloodied lip, Morgan smiled anyway. He gave Lok a glance like he was undressing her with his eyes. Had to play the dirtbag up. Consistency is key.

"If you let the locals kick your ass some you get the best info, but I don't recommend it for everyone. It looks a lot worse than it feels. Doesn't hurt much." He said, and flicked his swollen cheek without wincing. Sanis shook his head in disbelief.

"You guys wanna drink? I'll buy."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Blinking up at Morgan, s'Il wet her lips, unsure of how to answer.

The last time she had seen him was... she didn't even remember how long it'd been, and though the two weren't entirely well acquainted, she had never been able to forget the tall individual standing before her now. And he was right - the last time they'd seen one another she had been barefoot. By the Bloodline it'd been so long ago.

Her eye detached from him to wander the interior of the bar, and she made a reluctant face.

It was just so dirty here. Just standing at the door made her feel unclean, and her brow knit as she finally spoke up.

"Isn't there somewhere else... cleaner... that we might be able to find?"

She was beginning to doubt that any such place would even exist on this horrid planet.

[Sanis Prent]

I looked to s'Il and stifled a laugh. Oh the naivéte. This place was positively on the up and up as far as Nar Shadaan watering holes went.

"Order up some Jurnysgrog. It's cheap and it'll wreck your grey matter."

Our troubles forgotten for the moment with the missing slicer, I was now more interested in what the wayward Jedi was doing on this shithole of a planet in the first place. I guess a trash can makes a good hiding place though.

[Morgan Evanar]

"Sorry, you're SOL. They clean it daily here. Nar Shadda always manages to creep back in." Morgan said as he lead them to an empty table. Each table had a menu of the wares available. He put in 3 orders of Jurnysgrog. The citrusy drink was highly potent.

Loklorien looked uncomfortable. Sanis looked amused, but annoyed at something else. Nar Shadda did that to people.

"What brings you two to the refuse dump of the Mid-Rim?" Morgan asked.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Resigned to her fate, the Lupine steeled herself to make the best of her thoroughly filthy situation, and so sitting at the table she did her level best to appear... settled.

She would've let her arms rest on the table top, but an examination of its' surface yielded her with less than comforting thoughts. Her lips drew back over clenched teeth in a pained look, her gaze still going over the table in search of a safe spot, and her hands fidgeted in her lap.

"A fool's errand," she finally sighed in answer, giving up and mournfully resting her arms on the table top before looking up to Morgan.

"Or a punishment, if one wishes to see it in that light."

[Sanis Prent]

I nodded in agreement to Lok's assessment as a burned-out waitress brought a tray with three Jurnysgrogs on it. The Nar Shadaan ghetto hooch, famously made from citrus squeezies and dole grain, was or was not distilled in bathtubs, depending on who you asked and how honest they were. It was a cloudy drink, served up in jelly jars that had seen better days.

Offworlders said it would make you blind, but that was almost never true. Only if it was made wrong.

"Looking for a slicer around these parts who decided to play tourist for some reason. Real shit place to do it. I don't really have a lot of hope finding the kid."

I took one of the jelly jars and gave it a sniff. It smelled a bit like degreaser with a hint of lemon to offset the chemicals. At least it didn't smell like pine. That was a giveaway of skunked booze.

"Same could be said of you, Morg. I think I'd rather hide from the Empire on Dagobah."

[Morgan Evanar]

"Someone probably cracked his skull in the Duros Sector shops." Morgan agreed. Jumping a spindly unaware slicer attracted to shiny codebreakers was an old Nar Shadda past-time and any decent Holosite would tell you that. Morgan sympathized. It was hard to watch your back on Nar Shadda.

"I'm better with cities than swamps, so I'm here on a stop of my Mid-Rim special tour 'Where the Hell are My Friends'." Serena wasn't here, so she couldn't disapprove of his choice of words. Neither was Rhianna to be amused.

Morgan put the jar to his lips and chugged half of it. He'd had worse. There was hint of non-toxic industrial solvent used to clean the tubs that been used as distillery.

"Can you guys get me off-world? I made contact with a few Friends, but none had the proper connections. I'm not the best liked guy on Nar Shadda." He pointed at his face.

"This is from people that like me."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Watch your language," she murmured, bringing the jelly jar to her nose, sniffing, and closing her eyes in the knowledge that this 'drink' was very possibly going to be worse than the old gunnery shine that Dan and his commandos used to make in the early days.

The tiniest of sips, and her face caved in on itself for only an instant. In the next, the Lupine hurriedly set the jar down on the table, shaking her head as though it would relieve her tongue of the taste. She pushed the jar away, to the middle of the table.

"This drek is foul."

[Sanis Prent]

"Hey, I was raised on that!"

I tipped my Jurnysgrog back, careful to keep my grimacing to a minimum. Yeah, the shit was absolutely awful, but it was damn near flammable, and you didn't need much to get truly ripe. Like a kid reliving nostalgia, I took s'Il's drink and made it my own.

Setting the second drink down, I put both hands on the table, waiting for the fumes to stop rising from my nostrils in the afterglow.

"Ahhhhhh...."

In the wake of my hooch, I looked up to Morgan.

"That's not a problem. I figure we're just about done here, really. I'm not sticking around here long enough to search for somebody's lost puppy."

I looked to s'Il, wondering if she had any better ideas. If she had any clue as to where their wayward slicer might be, it would be the moment to speak now or forever hold your peace

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan took a glance at Lok, but elected to not ask. He wondered which language it was she wanted him to watch, but wasn't curious enough to ask. s'Il stayed silent and stood. She rumpled her nose at the though of staying on this crapbin of a world. The noise and smell had plainly gotten to her. Morgan slid his chit through and paid for the drinks. Swill on Nar Shadda was cheap.

They walked quickly through the grime coated streets of Nar Shadda to the planetary shuttle.

"Good riddance." Morgan muttered.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"I never want to come back here again."

Her bare amount of exposure to Sanis' homeworld was enough - she needed no other tour or sight-seeing trips. This was enough. Each being they passed on what passed for streets here was worse than the one previous, and she wanted no more part in this.

The slicer that they'd been sent to find was no doubt in the predicament that Morgan had spoke of earlier, and she had no desire to go looking for a dead body in a sea of dirt, filth, and possibly more bodies.

[Sanis Prent]

We made it back to the Cat, and I punched the comm as s'Il and Morg climbed in.

"Cirr, its Sanis. We're headed back."

"Alrready?" The felinoid sounded surprised, and I grimaced a little.

"Yeah, it's a dry well here. That safe house is gutted. If there's a slicer here, he ain't happy. Anyways, I'm not sticking around to find out. We did find an old friend on the way back in, so we'll have another passenger. Sanis out."

I closed the comm and began the warmups, lifting the ship into the air. It only took about five minutes to traverse back to the dilapidated hangar where Layla was waiting. The shuttle bay door opened, and we glided in, powered down, and debarked.

[Morgan Evanar]

The Layla wasn't a familiar sight to Morgan from the inside. He'd never set foot inside the ship before, but it looked like most Corellian freighters of it's stature and age. Solid, but some things were together with tape and hope. He noted some new blaster scaring on the outer hull that hadn't been present the last time he saw the ship.

"Nice." Morgan remarked sincerely. He appreciated the modularity and durability of Corellian vessels. "Has the Layla seen more action since I last saw it?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Though they weren't actually off Nar Shaddaa yet, s'Il felt more at ease in being within the confines of familiar territory. Her body relaxed slightly, and the air she put off now was one of relief as she went about her normal routines whenever aboard Sanis' ship. She stepped through the hatchway that led into the rest of the ship.

"Considerably more, I'd say," she chuckled lightly.

[Sanis Prent]

"You don't know the half if it."

I added wearily, leading the two passengers into the main hull. Cirrsseeto met us on deck two, climbing up the ladder from the cargo hold.

"Cirr, you remember Morgan Evanar?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Caught briefly with a freeze-dried kipper pouch between his lips, which he'd snagged from general supply while tuning the engine, Cirr pulled the packet away when he was back on two feet, giving Morgan a strange expression.

"What the hell happened to yourr face?"

[Morgan Evanar]

"I don't do the mind reading thing well, so social engineering. The swelling will be gone in a few hours and I'll be nearly normal looking tomorrow." He popped a half smile at the felinoid. Cirr shook his head.

"I appreciate the lift. I was going to get off Nar Shadda ASAP anyway, but the less time spent there the better. Can someone fill me in on the last three months? Has anyone seen Serena and her Padawan?" Morgan knew part of the answer to Serena and Rhianna was a no. There had been a transaction, where Serenity had been sold, and then renamed. He'd stopped tracking it after that. Morgan had carefully treaded water, and kept hidden in plain sight.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il, giving a shake of her head coupled with a perplexed expression, answered him.

"I've not seen Serena or her Padawan since we left after leaving James with you."

It wasn't any sort of consolation, she knew. Her hands clasped together before her, the Lupine closed her eyes momentarily while her head tilted downward.

[Sanis Prent]

I shook my head.

"Wish I could be of some help. I'm less than useless with that Jedi business."

I glanced back to s'Il thoughtfully.

"We've linked up with some folks who might have a better answer for you though. Actually, that's where we're headed from here, unless you've got a better stop in mind?"