CHAPTER TWO
Sare Valrisa had been to plenty of shadowports in her life, but none of them quite compared to Terminus. Located at the very edge of the Outer Rim Territories, Terminus was the last stopping point on the Hydian Way before one got into Wild Space and the Unknown Regions that lay beyond the charted galaxy. As such, it was home to all sorts of beings, some belonging to species that she had never seen before. This diversity extended to the vessels that they arrived in, which filled the hazy skies above. While this made it an easy world to get lost in if you were on the run, it also made it a very dangerous world. Under the thumb of the Hutts, there were very few laws on Terminus. While there were enough peace marshals on the planet to dissuade any from kicking up too much of a ruckus, they were more than willing to turn a blind eye to any crimes that could very easily be swept under the rug. Because of this, one always had to watch their back because no one else was going to watch it for them.
As she made her way through the bustling streets of Terminus’s crowded spaceport, her face concealed by a cloth mask and opaque goggles, Valrisa looked over her shoulder to make sure her companions were still with her. Typha Lorr was close to her as always, a large scarf wrapped around her neck and covering her mouth. Also accompanying them were the two Mandalorians Kadar and his daughter Vessin, fully clad in their armor. The fifth and last member of their group was the droid known as MR-V, waddling after them as he tried to keep up. The droid had been in the servitude of Valrisa’s mother Sareth Valrisa; upon the Dowager’s untimely death, MR-V had been recovered by the Resistance and had become their key in uncovering the secrets of the Malvis Cabal. Unfortunately, most of his memory banks were heavily encrypted and even the Resistance’s most skilled slicers couldn’t get their way into his database without corrupting or erasing it.
It was because of this that they had come all the way out here to the edge of the Outer Rim. Typha happened to know of a slicer that could help them and they had agreed to meet with her and the others on Terminus. Valrisa wasn’t sure how her partner knew of this slicer, and when she tried to ask her, Typha only gave her vague answers in response. She could only hope that Typha wasn’t trying to hide anything from her and that she had a good reason for keeping this knowledge to herself.
Valrisa cursed herself for even having such thoughts. After she had gotten rid of that Sith artifact—the Eye of Kaas—she had stopped hearing its voice in her head. However, the doubts it had sowed in her mind were still there, tingling at the back of her mind. They weren’t as loud, of course, but she could still hear them. Every once in a while she would start to question whether Typha’s felt as strongly as she did for her, or wonder if the Pantoran would ditch her as soon as someone better came along. She knew she was stupid for even thinking those thoughts, and Typha had not done anything to even warrant them. In the three years they had been together, Typha had not shown any sign of infidelity or done anything to give Valrisa a good enough reason to believe that she was even harboring such thoughts.
Of course, it wasn’t like she watched her partner’s every movement or tried to read her mind. Maybe she was thinking those things and Valrisa was just too naive to—
She shook her head to jolt herself out of this train of thought, nearly bumping into a large Gigoran as it lumbered past her. No, she couldn’t think those things. She shouldn’t. There was no good reason for her to even—
“Val?” Typha’s voice graced her ears. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Valrisa said, a bit too hastily. “I’m just… trying to find my way around here. Where did you say this slicer was meeting us?”
“The Black Star Cantina. It’s just up ahead.” Typha cocked her head, gold eyes narrowed. “Are you sure you’re all right? You’re acting kind of strange.”
“I said I’m fine. Just get a little jumpy when it comes to places like these. Never know who you’re gonna run into.”
She didn’t bother to look at Typha to see if the Pantoran bought her alibi. The five of them continued to make their way through the spaceport before finally reaching the Black Star Cantina. The two Mandalorians and MR-V stayed outside while Valrisa and Typha headed in. Inside, the establishment was deserted, which was surprising given the planet it was located on. Valrisa had expected it to be packed but not a single soul occupied the seats at the bar, which was being wiped down by a solitary Gran. Upon noticing them, the barkeep flicked her three eyes to the newcomers and her snout split open into some sort of sneer.
“We’re closed,” she said, her voice harsh and raspy. “Come back some other time.”
“Closed?” Typha asked. “But it’s still daylight. Most cantinas are open well into the night.”
“This isn’t most cantinas, hon. Besides, I don’t have much choice. Queen Jool wants to use this space for a private meeting and you don’t say no to someone like Queen Jool.”
Valrisa raised an eyebrow, though the Gran wouldn’t have been able to see it due to her goggles. “Who’s Queen Jool?”
The Gran snorted. “You must be new around these parts. Jool is the new head of the Gorensla clan, after Drabbus bit it. She rules Terminus now, along with the rest of Drabbus’s ventures.”
“Well, that’s great for her,” Valrisa muttered. “Anyway, we were supposed to meet up with someone here. Has anyone else been by recently?”
The Gran narrowed her trio of eyes, staring at Valrisa warily. “Wait a minute. Your voice… it sounds familiar. Have we met before?”
Valrisa tensed, staring back at the Gran through her goggles. “I doubt it,” she said. “I’ve never been here before.” This was a partial lie, as while she had briefly visited Terminus once before back when she was with Perrili’s crew, she had never been to this particular cantina before. She certainly didn’t remember a Gran bar keep who sounded like she puffed cigarra sticks every waking day of her life; something like that would have stuck in her memory.
The Gran continued to eye her with scrutiny before finally saying, “It’s Dani, isn’t it? Dani Kieran?”
Her heart skipped a beat at this. She wasn’t sure if being mistaken for someone she had just met and had turned her entire world flipped upside down by killing her mother was any better than actually being recognized. “Pardon?”
“You probably don’t remember me,” the Gran went on. “It’s been, what, ten or twenty years? Always lose track. My name’s Drea, if that rings a bell. Drea Rees.”
“I’m sorry, but I think you’ve got me confused for someone else.” After a moment’s consideration, she slowly removed her goggles to reveal her dark eyes but kept the rest of her mask up. “You can call me Sare.”
Drea Rees snorted dismissively as she returned to cleaning the bar. “I don’t need to call you anything, ‘cos you all need to leave. Queen Jool will be here any minute now.”
Without warning, Typha brushed past Valrisa and stormed up to the bar, planting her hands on the counter. Drea barely looked up at her, though her three eyestalks visibly twitched.
“Listen here, lady,” Typha said harshly. “We didn’t come all this way to meet up with my guy just for you to shoo us away. There was supposed to be a slicer here by the name of Tivec Nuin. Short guy with long pointy ears. Seen anyone like him lately?”
“Did he look something like this, darling?”
The low, husky voice had come from the entrance to the cantina and Valrisa turned to see a large green shape taking up a majority of the doorway. It took her a moment to discern what it was she was looking at and she immediately felt a twinge of disgust in her stomach when she finally did. The newcomer was a large Hutt with leathery green skin as was common with member of the species; what wasn’t common was the small red and black corset that tightly hugged the Hutt’s chest, as well as the bright red lipstick across her mouth and the purple eyeshadow applied to her right eyelid. Her left eye had been replaced by a cybernetic, a scarlet jewel glowing in the center of a metallic ring.
Distracted as she was by the Hutt’s appearance, Valrisa barely noticed the short and sharply dressed Lannik standing next to the slug, tugging at the edges of a mustache that covered his entire upper lip. The two of them entered the cantina, followed shortly by an entourage of servants that made up the Hutt’s retinue; some of them were heavily armored and heavily armed while others wore clothes that left little to the imagination, all ranging in species and gender.
Slithering up to Valrisa, the Hutt spread her pudgy arms in greeting. “To whom do I owe the pleasure of meeting?”
Valrisa cleared her throat before speaking. “My name is Sare. This is my partner, Typha.”
“Sare, you say!” the Hutt purred, a strange sound coming from a member of her race. “As in Sare Valrisa?”
Valrisa stiffened but said, “Yes. That would be me.”
“Oh, where are my manners?” The Hutt extended a hand to her, which Valrisa reluctantly took in a handshake. “They call me Queen Jool around these parts, but there’s no need for you to abide by such honorifics. Just Jool will be fine.”
“Um, pleasure to meet you, Jool.” Valrisa then drew her hand away and glanced at the Lannik standing next to the Hutt. “And you must be Tivec Nuin.”
The small, long-eared man raised his nose at her. “As if you could mistake me for anyone else.”
“Tiv, what’s going on?” Typha came up to stand beside Valrisa, removing her scarf to reveal the rest of her blue face. “You didn’t tell me that this was going on. What are you even doing with Slug Lady here?”
“How charming,” Queen Jool said dryly. “Tivec here is my majordomo and one of my most trusted advisors. Without his help, I wouldn’t have been able to arrange this gathering.”
“What gathering?” Typha asked, still looking at Tivec. “You didn’t say anything about a gathering when you told us to meet you here.”
Tivec smirked at her. “I didn’t think it was relevant. Once the gathering is finished, I will be available to assist you in whatever it is you need done. It is up to you whether or not you want to stay around long enough for the gathering to finish.”
“How long is this gathering supposed to take?” Valrisa asked.
“About a week. Maybe two, depending on how things go.”
“Two weeks?!” Typha exclaimed. “Forget it. We don’t have that kind of time. I’m sure we can find some other slicer here on Terminus.”
Tivec shrugged. “No loss of mine. I hope you find what your looking for.”
With that, he strode past Typha and Valrisa, snapping his fingers at the rest of Queen Jool’s entourage. While the servants followed the Lannik, Valrisa returned her attention to the Hutt herself.
“What is this gathering even about, anyway?”
“Do you plan on attending?” Jool asked.
“It depends on what your answer to my question is,” Valrisa replied, which earned her an incredulous glare from Typha.
Jool’s thick red lips curved into a smile. “Well, it’s more of a party than anything, really. A celebration of my ascension to the Hutt Council.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you. Of course, I couldn’t have done it without Tivec. He was the one who poisoned old Drabbus and got him out of the picture for me.”
Valrisa couldn’t help but show her surprise at this. “Wow. And here I thought he was just a slicer.”
“Oh, he is so much more than that.” Jool looked longingly towards Tivec. The Lannik was now shouting out orders to Drea Rees, directing the Gran on how to prepare the cantina. “So, so much more.”
“Aaaand we’re out of this conversation.” Typha tugged on Valrisa’s arm. “Come on. There’s bound to be another slicer who can—”
“But wait!” Jool interjected. “I haven’t told you who’s going to be there yet!”
“I doubt it’ll be anyone we know.”
“Regardless, there’ll be all sorts of highly influential beings from all across the galaxy! You will doubtlessly find plenty of opportunities to choose from.”
“We don’t need them,” Typha said before Valrisa had a chance to speak. “Thank you for the offer, but we really should get going.”
Jool sighed, a bit theatrically. “That’s a shame. I won’t keep you any longer then.” She flicked her gaze to Valrisa. “It’s been nice meeting you, Miss Valrisa. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Valrisa frowned at her. “My loss?”
“Your mother, of course. I heard she had died in a terrible accident on Ord Mantell.”
“Oh.” Valrisa’s tone turned cold and suddenly Typha’s idea of leaving didn’t seem so bad anymore. “Right.”
“Such a terrible loss. She may have not been much of a people person, but by stars did that woman know how to run her businesses. She knew how to get things done, you know.”
“Uh-huh.” Valrisa was already walking for the exit, Typha close beside her. “I appreciate your condolences. I guess we’ll see you around.”
“Oh, I have no doubt of that.” Jool’s voice followed the pair as they exited the Black Star Cantina and stepped back out into the bustling streets of Terminus. Kadar and Vessin were outside waiting for them, along with MR-V.
“That was quick,” remarked Vessin. “Did you find your slicer?”
“We did but he’s not going to be any help.” Typha huffed as she crossed her arms. “So now we’re back at square one.”
“I saw a Hutt and a bunch of servants go in after you. What was that all about?”
“Ah, it was just some slug lady throwing a party for getting on the Hutt Council or whatever it’s called.”
Kadar cocked his head at this. “Hutt Council, you say. Wouldn’t expect one of their members hosting any kind of event on a planet so far out from Hutt Space.”
Typha shrugged. “Sounds like there’s gonna be a lot of non-Hutts there, so maybe they just chose Terminus as some sort of neutral ground.”
“I guess that’s what that is all about.” Vessin pointed to a cluster of people in business suits gathered nearby, conversing in low, hushed tones. “They showed up around the same time as the Hutt; they pretty much gawked at her like she was some sort of celebrity.”
“I believe those are representatives of the Tagge Company,” said MR-V, speaking up for the first time since they had arrived on Terminus. “They have had a close relationship with Mistress Sareth ever since her short-lived marriage to Andreo Tagge. I believe her son was just named Baron Tagge recently.”
A shadow fell over Valrisa’s face as Typha and the two Mandalorians all looked to her. Her dark eyes scanned the cluster of businesspeople and was able to single out a young man with silver hair who seemed to be the center of their attention, dressed in an elaborate white and red suit. His eyes briefly met hers for all but a second before moving on to something more interesting, but it was all she needed to solidify her decision.
“On second thought,” she murmured, “I think we’ll be attending that gathering after all.”
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