"Hey, dear, how about another glass of Corellian brandy for my friend here?" Fuza winked at the waitress and watched as she walked away.

Here was in a cantina in upper Coruscant, frequented by the official Coruscant security as well as private security organizations and members of the Republic Guard, called The Beat Stop. Fuze Macoy sat with an old friend, Sheldun Sabay, a lieutenant in the Republic Guard.

"So" Fuze started "How about another game, Shel?"

"Haha, not today, Fuze, you're just trying to get me to pay for my own drinks here." Sheldun said, laughing.

Fuza burst out, "Hahaha, I would never! Anyway, tell me more about these crooked Guards."

"Well, there's a few we know about and can't prove and there's a few who aren't smart enough to keep secrets." Sabay explained. "Like these guys who went into the Swollen Shaak, guns blazing. They had no acceptable reason to go in there in the first place."

"Well the fact that none of them walked out alive begs to differ." Fuza joked. "So you think someone hired your guys to go in there and just make some kind of a scene?"

"Don't know, never got a chance to ask them. But I found this notice that not every member of the Guard was given, expressing a special desire to find a Twi'lek Female, Ree'tak. Here," Sheldun said, giving Fuza a datacard "her picture and some other information are on there. No probable cause for her arrest or if she's somehow related the shootout in the Swollen Shaak, her presumable murder." Sabay continued, "I just want you to find out some information on her, see what's happening with the whole situation."

"And I'll try to help her if I can, of course, Shel." Fuze assured him.

"Good, all right, I should head home, it's late."

"Good idea, get some rest, good seeing you, as always, Shel. I'll do what I can."

"Well now hold on there a minute sweet-stuff." Creed gently removed the young womans arms from around his neck and placed them to her side.
"Now I don't mean to come across as rude, especially with your nice gesture n'all but I wasn't planning on being kill.." He paused for a second in thought. ".....hold on did you say twenty-thousand credits?" His eyes lit up as he unlocked his holster his under his coat.
"You better get onboard princess, I'll handle this misunderstanding".
Discreetly he pulled out his commlink and whispered to his companion aboard the Zenith "Nex, get your feathered butt down here now. We've got a little... problem".

Needing no more encouragement than that, Lilin smiled her thanks, collected her bag and swiftly trotted up the ramp and into the vessel.

((Sorry for such a short post. Couldn't have Lilin forgetting her lipstick!))

He had been to the Swollen Shaak before but it had been a good few months since Fuze was last there. Sheldun's datacard included the reports from the raid on the Swollen Shaak, as well as the reports for a few other conspicuous catastrophes in the Guard, so Fuza knew what the witnesses that were left saw. There was apparently a team of criminals who were responsible for majority of the Republic Guard that died. The group was located in the hidden conference room of the Shaak when the illegitimate members of the Guard arrived. The girl, Ree'tak, could have been a part of this group or could have been the ones who hired them, but Fuze was sure someone at the the Swollen Shaak--or what remained of it--would know more about the situation.

Fuze had almost reached his destination after his ride on the public transit to get to the right section of Lower Coruscant; he always hates the fact that he doesn't have the room to carry his speeder on the Ruby.

In the midday sun The Swollen Shaak didn't look much better than it had done two days ago. As Droids and hired hands scurried about removing the last few bits of masonry from the street the front of the Cantina looked in a sorry state. With a gaping hole where a door had once been large enough for a convoy of Hutt to waddle through, the light shone inside to where S00-Z could be seen wandering about the place picking up glasses and bits of broken booth or stool and arranging them neatly in a corner ready to be disposed of.
Despite he was nowhere to be seen, Daxx was likely to be on the premeses somewhere.

The Swollen Shaak was not open for business at least, not yet; and it looked like an empty shell waiting for life to be breathed into it once more.

Outside the delapidated building stood a Man, dressed in a tailored expensive suit and small brimmed hat, both black. Dark sunglasses protected his eyes from the noon sun, and his skin was pale and grey, not dissimilar to the colour of the blaster that hung from his belt.

He had been here before, two days ago before the explosion. The place had looked different then; just as ramshackle and downcast but more...sturdy. He had contacted the Twi'lek girl but she had not arrived at their agreed meeting. He suspected she wouldn't, but he had his orders. He did as his Master instructed.

Scanning the top and what remained of the front of the cantina, The Man looked for clues to point him in the direction of the Twi'lek...

When Fuza arrived at what used to be the Swollen Shaak, he could see S00-Z puttering around the interior sorting out the wreckage. The restoration was obviously only beginning but Daxx, the owner of the cantina, had to be around somewhere.

There was a man standing in front of the cantina, obviously looking for something, but since he was looking for something that meant he had an idea to investigate. He was also the only one who didn't look he was busy in with some other task.

The lethan Twi'lek approached the curious man, "Good afternoon, sir, could I ask you a few questions?"

Turning slowly from the cantina in a fashion almost akin to a manaquin, The Man pivoted on his heel until he was faceing Fuza. He gave off a steely air of indifference as he looked the inquisitive Twi'lek up and down in a very obvious show of sizing up his capabilities.

When he spoke something about his voice sounded simply.... wrong.

"Twi'lek, male. Approximate life span of 36 to 39 out of 94 years due to poor biological upkeep. Approximate height of 1.9378816 metres, build: slim."

The Man glanced over his shoulder again to make sure things had not changed at the cantina in his brief observational absence.

"Ask your questions, Twi'lek."

"Thanks for the read-up, Chief! I hadn't been measured in a while. You're off by a couple of years though. You seem the perceptive type, though. Can you tell me anything about what happened here? And have you seen this," Fuza shows the Man a holopic of Ree'tak, "young Twi'lek girl?"

Fuze knew he couldn't trust this freak, but he wasn't the type to derogate him just for lack of any social grace. Besides if he didn't know something, why else would he be so interested in this pile of wreckage?

The Man looked at the image Fuze presents to him, but does not take it. If any reaction was going on inside his head, it wasn't registering on his face.

Instead without warning or indication he draws his Blaster and points it squarely in Fuze's face, seemingly unphased as to whether anyone else sees the behaviour or not.

"You know this Twi'lek? Tell me everything you know... Now."

"Well, you don't think I'd let it go at a sight of a little blaster, do you? C'mon, we've talked about this, you're perceptive, figure it out." Fuza bellowed a laugh with a wink.

Fuze Macoy didn't have much to go by on this case, except now he knew who was after her. Maybe he wouldn't be able to find her and help her. Maybe the best thing he could do is lead her pursuers away from her.

He would normally be a frightened by his current predicament, but he had the upper hand, if he made it seem like he had invaluable information, this whack job had no choice but to let him live.

"But, maybe if you tell me a little something about why you're looking for her, take that blaster from my face and lighten up a little, I can help you find her. What'd'you say, Mack?" Fuze giggled.

It was obvious within seconds that Fuze's charm and wit were lost on this Man as the Blaster began to charge its energy cell.

"Inadequate..."

For the briefest of moments, Fuze was as good as dead with his face point-blank against the barrel of a Blaster a micro-seconds before firing.

Then in a most odd turn of events, The Man tilted his head as if listening to something and then suddenly dropped and de-charged the Blaster as he reholstered it at his hip.

"My apologies, that was inconcievably rude of me. I am under a tight time-schedule and most often the direct approach works best."

Outstretching is greyish-coloured hand - whether in greeting or to accept the holopic for a closer look is uncertain - The Man seemed to smile, though not in a paticularly friendly-looking manner.

"My....employer wishes to speak with this Twi'lek girl over a matter of debt repayment. I am...the first line of contact before things need get nasty between the two parties. I am looking for her to attempt a reconciliation of interests and mean her no harm. If your goal is similar I see no reason why we cannot attempt to find her together. Mr........?"

The change of tact was as unnatural seeming as his visage and was noticably forced as if a prisoner might do when made to deliver a ransom vid by his captors.....except lacking the important element of fear.

Taking the man's hand in an a respectful vice. "The name's Kelad'den, but you can just call me Kel." Fuza spoke without the slightest break in his voice.

Kelad'den was a persona Fuza created to intermingle with the nobles on Ryloth. He had the papers to confirm it and everything would play out perfectly if anyone looked into it.

'Mean her no harm' made him chuckle a little in his head. This guy's gut reaction was to pull a blaster to Fuze's head in exchange to small talk. Yeah, they'd attempt to find her together but there was no way they'd come anywhere close

Fuze Macoy let out a sigh, "She'll hate me for this, but she owes me a serious debt as well. Alright, let's find her. I have a good idea of where to start. Does your employer have a ship, Mr...." Fuza paused. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Giving no mention of his name in response to Fuze / Kel's question, he replied:

"No, I came here in a commercial transport. I was assuming you had your own ship. You look the space-faring sort."

Each of his sentances was short, abrasive and left no real room for imput or retort (not that such a thing would stop Fuze...). If anything, it was as if he was was reading from a script.

"Perhaps you could tell me where you think she might be? We could meet there."

"Yeah...okay...." 'Kel' stopped with a pensive pause, "Meet on Ryloth, I'll show you where she is from there. It's an hideout she's shown me before, it's exactly where she would go if someone's looking for her. Meet me at the Gate 5A-170 of the Kela'uun Starport, I'll take you to her from there. Or, at least, I hope it's where she is."

Fuze has friends in a lot of high places, some in the Ryloth Guard, specifically in Kela'uun. He would let them know who was going to Kela'uun and they would monitor him from there.

But this man was just a lackey. There was no way watching them would accomplish anything other than stopping that one operative from hurting anyone. But every little bit counts.

"It was good to meet you, I'll see you soon and we'll solve this matter."