Talk Fast, Talk Faster
Kam walked casually past drinkers, dancers, and other patrons of various species out to enjoy their evening. The lively music playing in the background provided a compelling soundtrack to his strut through the cantina. As one of the few human in the place, he stood out like a Jedi in a gang war. If it bothered him, he didn’t show it.
Confident smirks greeted anyone whose eye he caught. He was self sure almost to the point of arrogance. Nonetheless, Each reaction was tailored. He worked to conceal his true reason for being there. Face after face, he scanned for his target. In the corner… She was sitting at an out of the way counter away from others trying to go unnoticed.
Having finally found what he was looking for, he walked purposefully in her direction.
“Hands up or I’ll shoot,” he laughed and made finger blasters in her direction. Joking aside, he maintained a maneuverable distance should the gesture be taken poorly. The Arcona woman in front of him neither laughed nor turned to look at the man lurking just over her shoulder.
“You shouldn’t be here Starlighter.” The even lilt of her native language did nothing to hide that her response was terse, strained. Kam was caught a little off guard, but he hid it behind cheek.
“What? Surely it’s dim enough in here to sneak by. You seem to be trying it.” Kam adjusted his stance so that he could keep the other patrons of the cantina in his peripheral while directly watching the actress Tuja Kyrenic turned suspect.
The actress in hiding showed no appreciation for his cheek given the circumstances. Her response was disdainful.
“We consider you a subject expert on being dim. However, we disagree that it is dim enough to conceal an SIS snoop, especially one making stupid jokes.” She unlike some Arcona still spoke in the Arconan first person plural even after years of contact with Basic. Accustomed to the quirk, the brash, self-assured agent brushed it off. Instead, he feigned offence at the slight.
"Stupid? Me? Come on. I'm sure everyone has wanted to walk up to famed action actress Tuja Kyrenic and say that." He began to overdramatize his reaction, "I'm hurt... I'm wounded..." Then he broke character as quickly as he had entered it and dared to move closer. "I'm actually here to help."
Kam's tone went from loveable goof to down to business quicker than than most could say, trouble. He leaned in slightly to complete his now conspiratorial stance.
"Let's just leave it at I believe you. I don't have all the evidence, but I've got enough to know someone's not playing fair in the court of public opinion."
Tuja sat expressionless, her large green eyes now fixed themselves on Kam. He had her undivided attention.
"We cool a moment? Hear me out." he raised his open palms in a placating gesture. Movement caught his attention just on the almost ignorable edge of his vision. Since it wasn't nearby or heading in their direction, he ignored it and continued.
"There's only so many coincidences before it gets deliberate. I've been keeping count, and you've been set up too many times. I don't know who you crossed, but it's getting bad. Fast..."
Tuja's patience faltered. "We are aware of our situation. We don't need you to tell us that." The look she gave kam confirmed to him that he had precious little time to recover before she became the dangerous thing he had to worry about.
He put words between them as fast as his mouth would cooperate. "That's not what I'm talking about. There's stuff out there... in the dark dank, corners of the holonet that are much worse than the stuff making general news." Again something caught his attention in the peripheral, but it just seemed to be people moving out of the way, closer this time though not in their direction.
He continued trying to convince her to take him seriously, "This isn't that nut that stalked you for a week. This is serious Tuja. Someone's making it real easy for everyone to find you dead, missing, or worse and not ask too many question... That's beyond a bad situation." Kam stopped.
This time the movement in the corner of his eye was moving distinctly towards them. Since Tuja and he were in an out of the way area of the cantina, there was no way this just a random passerby. Kam turned to face whatever was heading in their direction.
Three figures made a straight line for the counter where Kam had found Tuja. In front was a scalely, orange Trandoshan. The reptilian species had contibuted more than its share of mercenaries and bounty hunters. This walking ammunition locker one was likely one of the two.
To the left of the Trandoshan was a scarred, teal Twi'lek man. This one was clearly no dancer and the jagged pits scarring his face and lekku meant he was clearly not one to be triffled with. He was armed with a heavy blaster as if he expected to see way worse than what a cantina had to offer. Even more, he carried various blaster recharge packs on his belt ready to reload should things drag out.
The last member of the trio towered over the other two. The tip of her top knot ponytail scarcely came low enough to graze the top of the others' heads. The Cathar's muscles looked as though she punched dursteel just to watch it squeal and her scowl surely would have done the trick had a punch failed. Of the three, she looked like the one that you would like to cross least.
They stood before Kam but focused on Tuja. They had come for her.
The trandoshan spoke for the group. He looked unwaveringly at Tuja but spoke to Kam. The hissing, emphasized "zzzz" of his native tongue cut through every other noise in the cantina.
"Leave. We have business with this one." He pointed a taloned finger at Tuja.
Switching into "worst case scenario mode", Kam thought fast and spoke faster.
"Hey, hey... I'm sure if you leave your comm frequencies, Ms Kyrenic can make sure you each get a signed poster for your bedrooms. No need to crowd." Kam attempted to put himself betweek Tuja and her assailants, but he was fresh out of ideas for dealing with heavily armed combatants in close quarters.
The Twi'lek gave Kam a disgusted look before he spat out his ultimatum. "Leave or be smeared on the walls. This has nothing to do with you Human. Go slum with aliens elsewhere."
Kam prepared to retort when Tuja cut him off. "Starlighter... Kam... no."
The cornered agent rolled his eyes at the ill timed capitulation and started up again. "Tuja, yes. While I'm sure your fan club would love to have a piece of you. Some of us trying to keep you in one piece."
The argument continued, "Kam, no... Stay out of this. This is bigger tha-"
Kam cut her off and ask impatiently, "I'm trying to save you here, do you mind?"
"Enough stalling!" the cathar in the back of the group snarled.
Tuja's final words cut through the din. They were eerily calm. "Fine... Remember, this is what you asked for.
Kam looked striken as concern rose and burned like fresh steam. Quickly, he spun around to face the Arcona. His shoulders dropped as did his expression. He watched helplessly as they all definitely sailed pased the point of no return.
"Tuja... No..."
