Friends in High Places (open)

[Janus]

First things first: I got no problem with cops, okay?

Now, I don't like 'em or anything. That'd be pretty retarded, growing up in the Old District and all, 'cause you see a lot of them and they aren't exactly all that friendly when they come-a-slumming down here. But there're decent ones out there. The nicer guys even kind of try and steer the Old kids in some kind of positive direction, for all the good it does. I know a few okay dudes, kinda watched me grow up and went easy on me when I was younger, while they could. So I don't raise much of a fuss when they get me fair and square 'cause honestly, they usually don't either. A few nights up at the precinct and then I'm out on my feet again, usually with a couple creds to go get something to eat.

So I got no problem with cops. Usually.

Once in a while you get stuck with a rookie. Officers trying to prove a point, thinking they can intimidate you, nail a petty thief and the Chief's respect all in one pretty package. And let me tell you, it's the chicks that are the worst. It's like some paranoid need to prove they're better than the guys that makes 'em act like a frelling bounty hunter on a stim binge. When you get caught by a newb, it means you've got a long day ahead of you. Processing alone can take hours.

The day had started out great. I'm one of the luckier boys down in Olds. I've got a place to stay, and I usually manage to scrape up a meal or two every day. Anyways, it was a little after nine when I woke up and Ovid and Berken, the two guys who hole up in the room with me, were just back from their corner. They're a couple of glitbiters but they're an okay sort and we've palled around for a few years.

"I'm hungry." Ovid is just about the only fat streetkid I know. I mean, the guy can practically pass for a Hutt, which makes things difficult in our small quarters. He's always hungry and half of our jaunts are motivated by his need to refuel.

I rolled my eyes and sat up, kicking the grungy sheet off my legs and looking around for my shirt. I'd thrown it off sometime in the night and it was lost in the sea of dirty laundry and trash that covered the floor. "What else is new?" From the heap in the corner I found a pullover that was only mostly dirty, and slipped it on. "You got any creds?"

Ovid shook his head. Berken had already taken my place on the bed, had probably been up all night trying to make a profit with death sticks, and was sound asleep. "Naw, you?"

"No. Wanna go up to Sah'c? Maybe do a couple B and E's, catch a 'cab over to CoCo Town afterwards." Ovid shrugged, which I took to mean yes, and so we left, Berken's snores following us. After about five minutes of walking Ovid was huffing and wanted to stop. I shoved him. "Jeepers, Ovie, get it together." He closed his mouth then and wouldn't talk to me the rest of the way--not that he could've if he'd wanted to, he was sweatin' the hike so much. By the time we made it up to CoCo I felt bad for him. "Listen, why don't you just chill here and wait for me, alright?"

"Good idea, Jan. It'd be kind of suspicious if you an' me both went." He sat down on a bench, wiping his forhead with his sleeve. I shook my head and clapped his meaty shoulder. Ovie was alright.

I never actually got to the whole robbery end of the plan. In fact, I'd barely gone two blocks before this rookie cop stopped me, searched me--which, by the way, was totally unfair--and came up with my last two deathsticks. Now, as a rule, I don't use; I'm not stupid. There's just a lot of creds to be made with dealing and so once in a while I dabble in sales. You do what you gotta do to survive. I'm not a big player in the market and so I've never had any trouble from it. Until today.

Which is why now, six hours later, I'm sitting in this really frellin' uncomfortable chair, with this really frellin' uppity guy, getting really frellin' fuming.

"Listen guy, there're people here who know me. I help a lotta your people out with names and bust info and junk."

The cop ignores me completely. Which really ticks me off. So I speak a little louder. "Man, I'm telling you, I'm not someone you should be wasting your time on! I'm small fish!"

"Settle down, kid." He says, and he's got this smirkish look on his face that makes my fists ball up. I want to smack the lips right off the guy. I'm hungry, I'm stiff, and I'm getting sick of this louse's power trip. I stand up and he gets all tense.

"Don't call me kid. I'm not a kid. This is enough, dude, you've had your jollies and shown everyone that you're a real tough guy and all but I'm about ready to--"

"You need to sit down. Now."

I ignore him. "No. I've been sitting for hours. I'm numb. Just ask around for anyone who knows Janus. I'm going to get a caf from the machine and when I get back we'll sort this out because it's ridiculous." I know where the vending machines are, I've fed a lot of creds to them, and I turn to head down the corridor. Out of the corner of my eye I see the man go to grab my shoulder and on instinct I bat his hand away, annoyed. In a split second the moron tackles me, shoving my head against the wall so hard I think my nose is liable to break. He's yelling and twisting my arm back and I'm breathing in white-hot gasps and getting ready to just completely lose it. "Try attack me you scum punk brat, huh? Huh?"

"GET THE FRELL OFF ME YOU FRELLING--Mmph!" My mouth is mashed against the wall. I slam my head back as hard as I can and jerk around, shoving the guy in his chest as hard as I can. He only goes back a few inches but it's enough room for me to get ready to haul off and clock the guy. My fist goes back. "DON'T FRELLING TOUCH ME!" I'm about to punch him, which I know is just about the dumbest thing I can do, when a vice grip fits itself around my wrist and I'm literally hauled off my feet and yanked into an office.

A real recognizable one.

It's weird, feeling relief and dread at the exact same time. My shoulders relax a little, but I drop my gaze because there's no way I'm gonna make eye contact with this familiar figure. That'd be suicide. "Oh. Hey."

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"Hejy...?" Kajeela's eyes narrow in annoyance and Janus can tell without looking that her tail is twitching slightly. More than anything, the Cizerack hates (and she hates alot of things - cold coffee, woolley jumpers, ants and the like) but more than anything, Kajeela hates lazy non-words from street punks that pass off as a greeting or acknowledgement of some kind.

"Hejy..?"

Yep, the tail was definitely twitching, Janus could hear the faint swoosh it made as it brushed the dented metal filing cabinet behind her. The self-same filing cabinet that held a thousand and one details on a thousand and one lowlife individuals that crawled on their thin lowlife bellies through the precinct door every day. Kajeela probably hated all them, too.

The steel grip around Janus' wrist releases the moment his rump finds the dubious stability of a rackety wooden chair that has to be atleast 6 decades old by the groans it makes underneath his meagre weight.

The officer from whom Janus has just been delivered is lingering in the doorway - cheated from what (he is sure) would have been a very satisfying head-staving, he briefly entertains crossing inside. This would be a mistake. He knows it. They all know it.

"Don't be an jidjiot, Thamesss" she warns, clearly intimating that she already thought him just such an idiot.

Thames smiled at Janus, a smile of promise that there will be other days and would have said something, only the door shutting in his face forstalled him.

Kajeela, already turned away and locking those green-grey eyes back onto Janus, returns to her "hey-ing."

"Yjou arrre ljike that bad crrredit chjit...alwajysss turrrnjing up. jI made jit clearrr to jyou last time that jyou werrre not to be ssseeen jin herrre agajin, djidn't jI?"

[Janus]

The thing about the chair is, it's all part of the intimidation process. It makes you feel like you have no ground, like you have to keep shifting or else it--and then everything else--will fall apart. It leaves you tense and annoyed and gives whoever isn't sitting in it the advantage. This chair used to scare the crap out of me when I was, like, twelve. But that was before I found out that this chair can take an awful frelling lot.

I know this because, more than once, I've been hurled onto it with enough force to blindside a bantha.

I'm still squirming though, 'cos I've long since realized that it isn't what I get tossed onto in this office that I should worry about, but who does the tossing: Kajeela.

My eyes are glued to the tile because I've never bought that 'look your death in the face' bravery BS. With Kajeela it's best to be cowed.

Frell I wish her tail would stop twitching.

"Yjou arrre ljike that bad crrredit chjit...alwajysss turrrnjing up. jI made jit clearrr to jyou last time that jyou werrre not to be ssseeen jin herrre agajin, djidn't jI?"

Before I can stop myself I snort, which makes me wince because my nose bloody kills. "Yeah well Wondercop didn't get the memo. What kind of psychos are you grinding out nowadays?"<!-- / message -->

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

The kid had a point, of sorts. Seemed these days all the Distric was getting recruited were juiced-up-vigilante types who wanted a uniform to go along with the skullcracking baton's the Force were handing out. Or, the dumb-as-a-post types who failed the Military screening exam and were pidgeonholed into law enforcement as a close second. Thames oscilated between these two poles on any given day. It was, sadly, a new Coruscant City Roulette that Kajeela and her old-school departmental peers were increasingly having to accommodate.

But she wasn't about to tell the kid that.

"And jI sssuppossse jyou werrre jussst mjindjing jyourrr own busssjinesss, wjith no thoughtsss of crjimjinal actjivjitjisss jin jyourrr head? Asss jinnocent asss the dajy jis long."

There was an abrupt knock at the door, and Tarruurri opened it briskly, took the profferred manila folder with a "grummph" and shut it with a crisp, cold snap.

Sauntering behind the seated Janus, who's gaze was unnaturally fixated on the floor tiles, the felinoid detective leafed the few (two, in fact) pages of Thames paperwork so far on the arrest.

She tossed the file on the desk in front of Janus, the folder making a flat pwap sound as it did landed. She bent slightly and found his eyes - the tips of her pointy little canines making the briefest of appearances as she spoke.

"Deathstjicksss.....?"

[Janus]

"Two. My last two. Which, by the way, I wasn't even trying to sell when I got searched." I hold Kajeela's gaze for a second before flicking away to watch a spider crawl along the edge of the baseboard. I can't help but thank the gods that Ovie wasn't with me because Ovie would flat out fall apart at this point. He'd think Kajeela was about to rip out his throat or something.

My stomach is really started to rumble and I look around for a bowl of nuts or something. Come up empty. "C'mon Kajeela, you know I ain't dealing. All the good neighborhoods are taken already anyways." I shift, causing a chorus of squelching noises from the chair to erupt, and sigh. I reach forward and pull the file off her desk, flipping it open and scanning it with mild interest.

... Young male looked extremely suspicious...

... Alarmingly violent...

... then attacked me with no provocation...

"Buddy can really write. You better lock me up, I'm a frelling mass murder waiting to happen." The file is tossed back onto her desk, papers sticking out in an unruly fashion. "Look, I was just goin' to try and rip some credits so I could catch a meal. That's it."

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Janus felt the throes of vertigo rise violent and sudden, the flipping sensation in the base of his belly made his hands and feet tingle as they flailed instinctively to rebalance his suddenly upturned center of gravity. Tarrurri had yanked the back of Janus' chair, tilting it so that it, and he, teetered precariously on the creaking ancient legs. Her one hand closed, in what the detective would term as "sssnug" about his throat, pinning him in place. The grey streaked surface of the precinct's ceiling swung into his line of vision, and then, in closer dimensional proximity to his own face, drifted Kajeela's triangular features.

"Who arrre jyou trrryjing to kjid?"

Bright little eyes narrowed to slits.

She could do the kid a favor, she guessed. Throw him into the system into some sort of remand center. At least he would get three squares a day and have a place to sleep at night. But it would only be a bandaid to the crap-shoot his life really was. Just a delaying of the inevitable. Inside, Janus would be fast tracked on the criminal expressway, and Kajeela knew it. He could make all sorts of contacts with those who, on the outside, probably wouldn't give him the time of day -- punk that he was. He would have to work so much harder to get them to even acknowledge him.

Lock up was not the answer.

Neither was having his sorry butt landing in her decrepit wooden chair every other week, costing the ICPD time, money and frelling paper work. Tarrurri growled with the frustration of it all.

She threw her arm and the chair re-righted with an alarming shudder.

"Sssso.....what do jyou sssuggessst we do wjith jyou?"

[Janus]

"Hghu--what?--hghuc," I'm hacking away because my trachea has just been flattened like a piece of rubber tubing and she askes me a loaded question like that? There's no right answer to something like that. I don't even know if she really wants me to answer or if she's just pausing for dramatic effect.

I massage my throat, which is throbbing in a cute little tandem with my schnoz, and try again. "What? What're you asking me for?"

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Why was she asking him for? What did she care?

Kajeela was no bleeding heart, anyone could tell you that. But she did feel a responsability to her city. Imperial City. And to its citizens. She'd sworn an oath to protect and uphold justice. She was willing to lay down her life to fulfil her duty, such was her dedication.

It just seemed wrong to stamp some file, sign some release and wish the kid a 'cheerio' as she tossed him back out on the streets.


Did he have no hopes of a future? To have a life lived with meaning and purpose? What was it with these huumans and their lack of drive? If the male was in her society, at least he would be able to live the honorable life of a housemale of some kind. Maybe a chauffer or garment maker.

Tarruurri strolled over to the coffee pot sitting on its hotpad and poured herself a good strong cup. She came back, steaming mug in hand, and perched herself on the corner of her desk.

Her ears twizzled in opposing semi-circles which gave her a decidedly odd look. It was a moment or two before she spoke.

"What jif jI could fjind sssomethjing forrr jyou to do -- would jyou do the rrrjight thjing? Trjy to ljive wjithjin the law?"

[Janus]

I blink. This has come so far out of left field that it's impossible to formulate any other response. What is she talking about? And who is this?

I"m sure that I ought to give this some thought but frak, I'm real distracted by her coffee. It's hot and smells great and I'm hungry. I try to keep my eyes from the mug and I can feel the scrunching in my forehead as my eyebrows draw together. This is the typical expression found on a many a lower-level dweller when they come into contact with anyone on the surface. It says, "How are you going to try and frame me this time?". It says, "Do you think I'm a mynock-brained moron?". It also says, "I have no frelling idea what the frell is going on."

"Whadda you mean, like, 'do you want fries with that?' kinda deal?" I make sure to twist my lips so Kajeela can see how much I'd like that. The truth is it's not like I try to get hauled in all the time. And I coulda got a two-bit nine-to-five job eons before this if I'd wanted to. I mean, how many ghetto corner marts are there on this planet, right? But I can get by day to day doing what I do now, and I don't have to put up with any stuck-up airhead customers. When you're born and raised down below, it's easier to stay there.

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"jI mean" she said, pursing her lips in momentary hesitation as if weighing the wisdom of her proposal. She decided to dispense with such considering - what will be, will be. "jI mean..jICPD jisss takjing jin new rrrecrrrujitsss. jYourrr rrrap sssheet could be mjisssfjiled.."
A crooked eyebrow invited such a possibility.

[Janus]

I'm, like, speechless or something.

Beyond the fact that this is probably the most absurd convo I've ever had with Kajeelah--keeping mind that 'conversation' usually means I'm keepin' my trap shut while she rips me a new one--this is by far the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Me, a cop. Me. Me who's spent the last twenty-two or so years on the other side of the card.

"Are you frellin' kiddin' me?" I ask, hands hanging motionless at my sides. There are so many lines here, it's hard to pull them all together into some sort of sense. First off, I know a heck of a lot of buddies in the neighborhoods doin' stuff that'd get 'em a lifetime in the old Coruscant Pen that I ain't ever gonna rat on. Me, in a position of authority? Frell, those boys'd have a field day with my support. And another thing, how in the hell is Kajeelah ever gonna convince people that I'd be legit?

... Of course, there is a sort of, y'know, appeal to it. I look at her, waiting. "You're pullin' my leg, right? Like, c'mon."

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"..No.."

She gave Janus a querrilous look - she only had the mug in her hands, his leg was nowhere near her.

Sometimes the huumans made absolutely no sense in the things they said.

"A ssssmarrrt man would sssee the opporrrtunjity beforrre hjim and take jit wjith grrreedjy handsss" she stated bluntly. "Do jI look ljike a kjidderrr to jyou?" Tarruurri held him fast with her shrewd eyes, her thoughts hidden from him. He could turn out to be one of the good ones, if he'd only have a bit of vision. He had a sense of the streets. An in-built survivors aptitude that would serve him well in life as a cop. He was trrrasjinnik..her mind searched for the word in basic ...savy, that was it.

She broke off her look and moved off the edge of her desk to take her seat behind it. Spinning his file right-way-round with one extended finger. "Not mjuch of a ljife ssstorrrjy ssso farrr, jis jit. Want me to tell jyou how jit endsss?"

[Janus]

"Sure." It's hard to keep the sarcasm from my voice and I don't succeed at my next attempt. "Is this gonna be the part where you scare me?"

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

She shouldn't even have bothered, she knew. You cant change a city by good deeds - how many times had her partner, Remkah, told her that. And how many times had she agreed with him. Yet, this punk had moved her to offer him another road. Why? Who knew. Maybe he'd just hit her on a good day, stars knew those were few and far between. Or maybe this job was finally getting to her.

"Ssshorrrt verrrsjion: jyou get harrrd tjime, orrr you'rrre dead jin sssjix monthsss. Long verrrsjion: jin a yearrr"

Kajeela took a gulp of her coffee. Who cares about this kid, not her. Not him. She pushed the buzzer on her desk, which would call an officer in to take Janus to booking.

"Good luck, then" she said, even meaning it.

What a waste.

[Janus]

"Hold on, I didn't mean like, no." I sit up straighter, attentive. She hasn't scared me but that doesn't mean what she's saying isn't true; it is. In fact I'm pretty amazed with myself that I've managed to live this long.

The fact that this offer was even put on the table is pretty fantastic. Or fantastical. Whichever the frell one means unreal. And I know I'm being an idiot but, y'know, you never know when someone's playin' ya. "So what," I shrug and look to the side, real casual. "I gotta like, train and frak? Wear a uniform?"

[Jonas T. Remkah]

"Who's wearin' a uniform?" Remkah asked, stepping into the office and adding a knock as he passed through. This was his custom, every day at this time he'd poke his head in on his partner, see if she needed anything from the diner downstairs - donut, pretzel, hotdog - each day was a different offer, and each day, Tarrurri asked for one thing and one thing only. Fried balony sandwich. But Remkah never tired of tempting her to change.

But today, as he stepped in and caught the tail end of Janus' query, the question of the day was forstalled.

Crossing the room in his casual manner, Detective Jonas T. Remkah grabbed the tuft of Janus collar, tilted him back for a look-see at his face and with an unimpressed "huh," released him again.

"What we got here, Jeels?" only Remkah got away with such informality - a long time partner who always had her back, could. "He the new Janitor?"

His fished in his pocket for his cigarettes while studying Tarrurri's guest with cool scrutiny.

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"Dont ljite that -- Ijm sjinusssjy today" she brusquely tossed to to her partner. Remkah slipped his half-drawn lighter back into the depths of his pocket and plucked the cigarette from his lips to hold it between his fingers and thumb like some holovid prop.

Kajeela continued, addressing Janus who's attention had been distracted with her partner's arrival. The boy cautiously swivelled his eyes back toward her.

"Ssssome trajinjing, yesss. Sssome wrjitten examsss to prrrove jyou arrre not a complete jidjiot and that jyou can atleassst add." She leaned back in her chair, pushing against it so the spine bent making it squeak loudly. She appeared not to notice. "But...." and her eyes narrowed at Janus in emphasis, "jI would be perrrsonalljy jinvolved, fassst trrrackjing jyourrr prrrogrrresss as jI deem necessssssarrrjy. We could bjypassssss alot of the ussssual rrrjigmarrrollle (a huuman word Kajeela was fond of. It basically meant 'crap'). Yjou wjill learrrn morrre from ussss, anjywajy."

She had no idea what Remkah would make of her proposal, but as in most things, that was neither here or there. Kajeela rarely did not get her own way, once her mind was set to a thing. Life was just so much better for it, and for everyone, if she did.

"Yjou sssstjill thjinnnk jI am trrrjickjing jyou?"

[Janus]

"Nah." I reply to Kajeelah, all the while eyein' the jerk-off who just sauntered in and yanked me back, like I'm some frakkin' piece of art here for the frellin' ambiance. Stuff like that can really wind me up, bein' handled just for the sake of bein' handled. Y'know, sure, do what you gotta do if you're tryin' to haul me in for something legit, that I understand. But just 'cause you think I ain't worth the spit of a handshake? Just 'cause you think you got some kind of right? That dren can really wind me up. It's making my hands twitch, just thinking about it, so I shove 'em into my pockets.

I ain't stupid enough to think this is a standin' offer. This is gold. I mean, this kind of arrangement could set me up for the rest of my days if I play it right.

"Yeah. A'right." My head nods even as my eyes narrow at the 'ussss' part. "Whadda you mean, 'us'?"

I jerk my head at the guy with the smokes. "You mean this guy? Who're you, anyway, pal? I ain't never seen you around."

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Tarruurri cartwheeled the pen between her nimble fingers, a cat smile on her pert little lips. Janus was going to accept her offer. She felt all fuzzy inside. There was hope for the kid, yet. Which translated to Tarruurri as hope for Imperial City in general, if only one was willing to put in the effort.

"Thjiss jis Jonasss" she said warmly, nodding to her partner. "He jis jyourrr new bessst frrrjiend"

[Jonas T. Remkah]

Remkah fixed Janus with a broad grin, which only served to make him look even more the rogue than before.

"Hows it goin?" he said to Janus, not giving a flying mynock how things were going with him.

What the frell was Tarruurri up to now? She cant just offer scumbags a place on the force because of puppy dog eyes and orphan-boy charm. Or, maybe she could -- no one had ever done that before. By why them? Why him? Somebody should knock some sense into that thick Cizerack head of hers. Lord knows, he'd tried. Not literally. Tarruurri could easily overpower him with that freakish felinoid strength of hers. But he'd argued with her on many points, but this - this recruitment, if he was reading this right - took the trophy.

Remkah tilted his head to Kajeela, his smile fixed in place so that his lips barely moved when he spoke.

"Erm....can we talk for a minit..?"

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"Laterrr" she waved him off with her hand.

Remkah would need some convincing, obviously, but right now she could only deal with one apprehensive male at a time.

[Janus]

This guy... Jonas, looks about as excited to be my 'best friend' as I am to be his.

"Listen, you guys wanna chat, I ain't got any problem with takin' off and comin' back later." The chair creaks as I stand up, hands coming out of my pockets to rub my back; my rear end is tingling from sitting so long. I'm ignoring this Jonas guy, partly because I ain't impressed and partly because it's Kajeela callin' the shots anyhow.

"So, what, report in the morning? Laserbrain out there ain't gonna try break my nose again if he sees me headin' out is he?" My eyes narrow. "'Cause I'll frelling lose it."

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Kajeela made no move to stop Janus from leaving.

Her grey/green eyes narrowing only slightly at his remarks. The kid's just skylarking, she thought. She doubted he had taken this whole offer seriously and that he would step through that door and return back immediately into his breifly interupted life of petty crime. Tarrurri felt a sad sensation of wastefulness tingle over her. He wont be back in the morning.

She bowed her head to write some innocuous thing on Janus's file, fascilitating his release.

[Jonas T. Remkah]

Remkah, for his part, had been watching Tarruurri and not the kid. He'd seen punks like Janus before. Guys who thought they knew it all and that they were the only ones who really got the galaxy's inside joke.

"You could be wrong" he said to Kajeela, picking up on the unspoken thoughts of his partner and speaking as if Janus had already left the room.
Tarruurri kept writing, the barest pause indicating acknowledgement of his comment.

Yeah, he doubted it too.

[Janus]

Nine AM.

I haven't been up this early since I was, like, nine and squatting in the mens room of the old spacers bar on Alderaan Ave-- you had to be out 'cause the all-nighters started wakin' up and stumblin' in to use the can and those old pilots'd lick you hard if they caught you in there.

But anyway.

I'm still eating my jelly doughnut when I strut into HQ. And who do you think is right there? Eager Beaver, himself. He's drinkin' a cup of coffee and when he sees me he kind of chokes. My lips turn up into a grin and a throw him a wave, currant jelly stuck on my fingers. As I walk by him I stick my elbow out and shove him hard, which makes his coffee, steamin' and everything, spill all over his freshly-frellin'-pressed shirt.

"Hey, was that me?" My hands go out and I slap them onto his chest, hard, start brushin' like I'm gonna take the skin off the guy. "Lemme help you here, pally, real clumsy of me. I'm like, crazy clumsy in the morning." Give him a grin that says, push me, try it.. Which, him bein' the glithead moron that he is, he does.

"Hands off, creep." He shoves me back a few steps. My face is hurting from grinning so much. I consider knocking the ever-living daylights outta him but I figure that would effectively put an end to my career, so I just shrug and give him a surrender hands-up.

"Whatever dude. I'll just get to work then." The look on his face is priceless as I stride down the corridor. I don't actually know where I'm going, but, you know, you fake it.

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Halfway down the corridor, a hand of iron snapped from out of seemingly nowhere and wrapped around Janus' throat, yanking him out of the hallway and into the semi-hidden copy machine alcove. Fingers like five bands of steel pinned him up against the wall by his throat, so that he was bent back awkwardly over the device as it buzzed and whirred beneath him. A flush of pink tipped Kajeela's ears as her disapproval was apparent.

"That wjill be the lassst tjime you do that to one of mjy offjicerrrs, Janussss"

Paper shot horizontally into a plastic tray between his knees with a methodic click-click-click - the only sound breaking the tense pause other than a low growl from Tarruurri.

"A warrrnjing to jyou mjy new comrrrrade - dont make me make jyou rrregrrret jyourrr chojice of comjing herrre todajy."

It was clear to Kajeela that Janus was gonna need much of the attitude beaten out of him for this new arrangement to work.

[Janus]

If you never been dragged somewhere by your neck, let me tell you, it ain't funny like in the holovids. It frelling hurts, especially when an upset Cizerack is doin' the draggin'.

To make matters worse, I haven't swallowed that last bite of pastry and it's sittin' just so in my windpipe, makin' it so that I can't even manage a gasp for air. Last week if I'd done what I did, I maybe would've gotten off with a glare or somethin'. Definetly not asphyxiation. Of course, last week I wasn't workin' here and I think that maybe might have somethin' to do with it.

My hands reach up and claw at Kajeela's bloody damned tight grip, nodding as best I can considerin' my head is against this copy machine and my neck is being held ramrod straight. She lets go, and I lurch forward, knockin' copies all over the place, hacking and red-faced. As the air feels my lungs again I feel a prickly flush across my cheeks and I sort of stagger, almost like I'm gonna faint; too much air, too fast. I think this is what it feels like, probably, comin' down off a high.

"Kraast!" I growl, because I can't (and don't dare) yell. I do shoot a dirty look at Kajeela while I massage my throat. "Guy woulda done the same thing to me if he'd had half a chance! Frell!"

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"He" she emphasised with a swoosh of her tail, "..jis not the one jI asssked to join up wjith me"

Kajeela released her hold and, contrary to her anger of a moment ago, flashed Janus a dazzling smile. She was moving on.

She smoothed down his now rumpled shirt with her hands and straightened his collar.

"Come wjith me. Rrremkahsss wajitjing downssstajirrrsss"

Leading the way back down the corridor, Tarruurri stopped momentarily at the desk of the officer of the earlier altercation. Janus couldn't catch exactly what the Cizerack Detective intoned to him as she leaned to speak softly in his ear. The man's face purpled and he balled his fists on his desk, but nodded obediently, if not grudgingly, and only barely slid a sidewards glance in Janus' general direction. A parting pat on the man's back from Kajeela and then they moved on to the stairwell.

Something told Janus as he felt the chastened officer's eyes boring into their retreating backs that he'd just made the first real enemy of his new carreer.

[Jonas T. Remkah]

"So the skinny kid wants to play good guys, bad guys"

Remkah's greeting reached them over the hood of the speeder to which the tall detective was lounging against. He flicked his glowing cigarette butt into the air so that it whistled past Janus ear, just missing.

"..Well, aint that the Hutt's left foot" He sounded much more unimpressed than he actually was. In truth, Remkah was floored that the punk had the kona's to come back.

He opened the door and folded his wiry frame into the driver seat of the unmarked speeder. Kajeela climbed in beside him, Janus squeezed into the back.

Twisting around, one elbow crooked over the seat Remkah grinned to the young passenger behind him.

"So..what do we call you. You got a name?"

[Janus]

I don't grin back. Instead I level my features into a stare and reach over my shoulder for the safety belt. "Janus." I click the belt across my lap. If Kajeela wasn't in the passenger seat, and hadn't just strangled me, I'd say a thing or two more to this joker--who, even I gotta admit, has fair aim with a stim.

Instead I hold his gaze, keeping my face stony. "So where's the fieldtrip to?"

[Jonas T. Remkah]

Remkah's grin broadens as he swivels around to Kajeela.

"Fieldtrip" he repeats to her, and chuckles lowly. Tarruurri's gotta be out of her fuzzy felinoid mind with this caper. But he knows better than to say so.

"Just try not to do anything stupid so that we get killed, junior, ok"

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"Take the Nova turrrnpjike, Rrremkah" Tarruurri directed.

"We'll get caught in the tail-end of the morning rush if we take the pike" Jonas argued. "Its quicker to go round Johnson and over aquaduct alley"

"Qujickerrr, but then we'll be comjing up frrrom the wrrrong sssjide. Thjisss jis a sssurrrprrrjise vjisjit, rrrememberrr"

Remkah was not sold.

"We could take Nar Shadda thoroughfare and go round by Bysantium Lake"

Kajeele considered that a moment, and Jonas continued.

"Then we just hop, skip, jump the energy commission lands and we'll be in Spider Town a good thirty minutes sooner than taking the turnpike"

A ten-second more of considering and Tarruurri aquescienced to her partners logic.

"O-kay, take the thorrroughfarrre" she agreed "and we can ssstop at Hutt-houssse Burrrgerrrsss to get sssome cheessse frrrjiesss. We wont get anotherr chance to eat tjil afterrr we sssee ourrr gujy"

As if remembering Janus was with them, she tossed a look over to the back of the speeder. "Boodo makesss grrreat burrrgerrrs jif jyourrr'e hungrrjy"

[Janus]

While they bicker about the route I'm gettin' my hackles in a rise over the 'junior' comment. 'Cause I sure as all hells ain't no junior who doesn't know top from bottom. Where I live you earn each day and I didn't get this far without takin' a few knocks (more'n a few, if honesty's at play) and scars. My teeth are grinding against one another, almost squeaking, and I want to take that smug smile of Remkah's right off his stupid mug.

So it's a good thing Kajeela breaks in when she does. "Huh?" I nod, comin' outta it. "Oh. Yeah, yeah great." There wasn't time to eat this morning and so I'm pretty ready to grind.

It's still another fifteen minutes away though, and I ain't gonna just sit like some frakking garden statue, or whatever, in the backseat. Like some little kid with the adults up front. "So what th'frell are we doin'?"

[Jonas T. Remkah]

"We're gonna pay a visit to an old friend"

Clearly, by the way Remkah spoke, it was no friend they were going to see.

"Alot of stim-dicts been turnin' up dead" he said, with the occassional flicker of his eyes to Janus visible in the rear-view mirror. "Not simple users so much as the mules that cart the stuff between suppliers and buyers within the city."

"Jits an epjidemjic" chimed in Kajeela. "Left - Huttsss jis on the next rrrjight" she added with a slight licking of her lips with her little pink tongue.

"Yeah, epidemic, and all a-sudden like" Remkah continued.

And stating, as if Janus couldn't work this part out for himself, "We think our friend can tell us somethin' about it"

[Imri Manouchehr]

Imri chewed on his cigar as his man showed off his latest creation. It was, at one point in it's life, a Sorosuub XT4, but after five thousand credits worth of work put into it, it was another animal.

"What's zero to three hundred?"

Imri glanced at the trophy to his right, wearing a marginally decent glitter top and sarong.

"Two point eight, Jofa." The mechanic called Imri by his preferred title.

In the meantime, the gangster slapped the hood up.

"Does it tip, man?"

Imri didn't wait for an answer, popping the vehicle's gull wing doors and nodding to his girl.

"Sit in it, peaches. Be a star."

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

The last of the burger had long disappeared down Tarruurri's gullet and the annoyingly loud sound of milkshake dreggs being hunted for, and sucked up, through a thick straw proved that was the last of the drink, as well.

Kajeela drew a paper napkin across her maw in a neat number 8 motion, in order to snag any wayward tidbits she had perchance missed. She needn't have bothered - there was none.

Remkah slowed the speeder and each of the three occupants leaned a little forward in their seat - Kajeela and Jonas locking looks with Imri, Janus' gaze, understandably, drawn to the flashy vehicle and the even flashier doll sitting inside it.

[Jonas T. Remkah]

Remkah veered over to park against the curb, slowing and then tapping the brake abruptly so that the vehicle lurched to its stop, jerking Janus forward against his seatbelt.

Remkah smirked at him via the rearview mirror, then let himself out of the craft.

Lighting a cigarette, he squinted his eyes against the flare-back of sulpha and smoke, careful to watch the small knot of gangsters beside the transformed Sorosub.

"Nice ride" he remarked to no one in particular and flicked his flaming match to cartwheel into the air.

[Janus]

"Yeah." I agree from the backseat, although I ain't lookin' at the vehicle when I say it.

Jonas is already hittin' the pavement and I figure I could wait on Kajeelah, see what she does, but I get out instead 'cause, like, I ain't gonna let Remkah think I'm scared or somethin'. I saunter up beside him and scan the faces of the company, recognize a few and real quickly ignore 'em, hopin' they'll do the same. They ain't too friendly with the guys from my part of town.

I'm thinkin' back and I seem to remember Ovie tellin' me that Nabo Vviirim'd been axed a few months ago. At the time it hadn't seemed a big deal or anything. Nabo was just some guy, you know, some guy I used to get stim off of when I was really into dealing a few years back. He wasn't a somebody or anything, I never even heard of the guy he worked for and Nabo didn't have much pull. But it was outta the blue. I'm curious, now, and not just about the hot chick in the speeder.

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Tarruurri walked forward to join the little group, grey-green eyes lifting onto each of Imri's groupies, registering their faces into her memory.

Kajeela stood across from the splendid vehicle, failing to be impressed.

"Imrrrji, letsss talk"

[Imri Manouchehr]

The cigar in Imri's mouth tipped down minutely, and his entourage got noticably quieter.

"Ain't got nothin to say. Legally parked and registered."

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

The smile she gave him was thin and unconvincing.

"Then jI'll jussst go jinsssjide and fjind sssomethjing forrr usss to djiscusssss"

[Imri Manouchehr]

"Don't see no warrant in them claws."

Imri glanced to one of his men, and jerked his head toward Kajeela.

"Do you?"

Returning his attention to the detective, the gangster shrugged disarmingly.

"Not that you'd find nothin noway. I'm runnin a business. Less you'se a customer, we don't got much to say."

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"Now, thatsss not yourrr usssual charrrmjing ssself, jImrrrji" Tarruurri replied, strolling forward to the club's entry. "And herrre'sss usss, jussst trrryjing to be sssocjial.."

She disappeared inside.

[Jonas T. Remkah]

Remkah squinted a smile to Manouchehr.

"After you"

[Janus]

It's the weirdest thing ever, being on the the other side of the confrontation. I almost have to cross my arms to keep from squirming because I know exactly what these guys are thinkin' and exactly what they'd like to do right now.

This is wicked cool.

I have to admit that seeing Kajeela and Jonas at play is like watchin' a really good slamball game, when all the players are at their best. They work off each other, and it's practically seamless. It's the kind of partnership that makes guys like me--or y'know, made guys like me, I guess--sick. Because they ain't got any reason to doubt themselves and it just comes off as smug.

For my part, I'm trying to seem pretty un-smug. And un-there. Because at the end of the day, I have to go home to these guys neighborhoods.

[Imri Manouchehr]

"Social whateva. You wanna talk, youse buy somethin."

Imri crowded on Kajeela but was mindful not to touch her. He knew where his limits lay, and assaulting an officer was far beyond that. So far, the Cizerack's entourage was just an annoyance, and as long as they stayed that way, nothing had to get terribly uncivil.

While he fronted, he did a mental checklist to make sure there was nothing in 'plain sight' that would forfeit his protection against illegal search. To his knowledge, nothing of the sort was out in the garage.

[Patience Darklighter]

A chipper brunette strolled into the garage.

"Imri, I was just in the neighborhood and was..."

She froze, looking at the trio in the garage, and changed demeanor.

"...hey, nevermind, see you next week maybe!"

She backpedaled to leave.

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

The detective seemed in no rush, circling away from Imri without the least hint of being intimidated by his crowding her personal space. Hjuuman males often made that mistake with her, thinking her slight frame made her feel inferior to their usually larger forms. It was not the case. Cizerack females, by their very cultural upbringings assumed a superior attitude to males - cizerack or otherwise. Her natural inclination, together with her position of power within the law only reinforced this respons. Such 'crowding' by them only served to give a better whiff of their scent, which, in the present case was not an unpleasant one.

Tarruurri smiled.

"jYou have a vjisssjitorrr, jImrrrji" she stated as Patience entered, then quickly retreated from their company. "Anjyone jI ssshould meet?"

Imri noticed her tail sliding back and forth in languid curiosity.

[Jonas T. Remkah]

Remkah was hanging back, like he usually did, preferring to keep his eyes on the bad guys and watch 'em react to his partner's poking - see what might pop and ooze from 'em.
He kicked Janus foot as the kid skulked behind him, warning him to pay good attention.

The dame was new. And new almost always meant trouble.

[Janus]

I really don't like Jonas. I mean, like, before I just figured he had one of those complexes or whatever, where he figures he hasta like go all tough guy to straighten the new kid out. But he just kicked my new shoes. Not scavenged new, new frelling shoes.

Guy's lucky this hot chick just walked in or else, y'know, I'd do something about it.

My eyes narrow slightly, trying to place her. I've seen her before somewhere. Maybe somewhere in deep Olds? A bar someplace?

At any rate I keep my mouth shut 'cause this is Kajeela's show and she's got all the strings numbered. Kick Jonas back though, just for good measure.

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

"Cat got yourrr tongue?"

Tarruurri was watching him carefully - she was a great one for 'reading' into things and Imri was well aware of it.

[Jonas T. Remkah]

Jonas gave Janus a lazy look. The kid had spunk, at least. He'd haf'ta beat that outta him at some point, though.

For now, however, the swarthy detective rested his long fingers on his blaster hilt. Instincts from ten years on the job told him any minute now, the niceties would end and the real show would begin.

Especially if Imri had something new goin' on. The last thing he'd want was cops snooping around. And Kajeela had that look in her eye.

Jonas had the double duty of backin up his partner, and makin' sure new-boy didn't get himself killed. What a pain in the butt.

Sometimes, a cop just didn't get paid enough.

[Janus]

We oughta go. I mean, really, we oughta leave well enough alone and just scram before things go crazy. You can tell things are about to, too. There's this electricity in the air or somethin', a tension that always comes before all hell breaks loose. It almost has a taste, oily and metallic and not somethin' to ever hanker after.

The frelling lousy bit is, I don't even have a frackin' weapon.

I kind of glance askance at Jonas and give him a look that clearly means, "What the frell are we doing?"

Yesterday about this time, me'n Ovie'd been liftin' creds off businessmen. Far less chance of being shot at doin' that. That's an art, an' I know how to handle m'self. But here? I ain't used to lookin' for trouble as much as I am avoidin' it, and I'm outta familiar waters here.

Frell. Why couldn't it just have ended with the hot chick?

[Imri Manouchehr]

"Nah, just a window shopper y'knows."

Imri gave her distance, scratching the back of his head nonchalantly. He was aware of the tension and it wasn't any good for his position. Not that he needed to explain Patience. She was harmless, mostly.

"So, you gonna play customer & buy somethin? Or just waste my time?"

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

The detective arched an eyebrow and let the identity of the female bide. Instead, she got to why she'd really come.

"jI want to know about these murrrderrrsss jin the ssshopperrrsss corrridorrr" She was referring to the recent increase of mules and couriers turning up dead in the well known stim purchasing district.

"jIs therrre a new gamerrr jin town?" Kajeela meant 'player' - but Basic terms were often lost on the Cizerack. It made no difference, Imri understood well enough.

[Imri Manouchehr]

"Assumin' I did knows somethin', this is you know, not in my interest. Turn snitch to those yayos, what you think happen to Imri?"

To emphasize the point, Imri held up a fist, then suddenly opened his hand wide.

"Poof."

[Jonas T. Remkah]

"Since when does a guy like you worry about those other yayos?"

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Kajeela tag-teamed him, "Maybe jyou wont sssajy caussse maybe jitsss jyou calljing the ssshotsss now...?"

Tarrurri got a cold look in her eye.

"Whjy dont we go forrr a ljittle rrrjide"