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[i][b]Nar Shaddaa[/b][/i]




Joren Kel sat in a darkened corner at the very back of Jaspeel's Cantina. At one time, Jaspeel's place had set the standard for class on Nar Shaddaa. The Hutt took great pride in the cantina, sparing no expense to ensure that it was the go-to place for entertainment of any kind on the Smuggler's Moon. But times had changed, and the cantina had fallen into disrepair after the fall of the Empire. Though, it wasn't the rise of the New Republic that set his priorities elsewhere. That even took place shortly before the death of the Empire's High Leadership. Instead, it was the death of the Hutt crime lord, Jabba, and the subsequent war among the remain Hutts that divided his attention. 

Jaspeel's sudden thirst for greater power within the Hutt hierarchy had left his cantina a shell of its former self. It had become a run down dive, the kind of place that attracted a lower class of criminal. In fact, the cantina was now home to street gangs, wannabe smugglers and cold blooded killers. In essence, it had become a microcosm of Nar Shaddaa herself.

On this day, Joren didn't come to the cantina for the overpriced bar food or the watered down drinks. He was there to meet his friend, Dono Killar, who was out searching for information on the whereabouts of their friend, Kelsa Sila. Earlier in the day, Joren had been involved with a slight “misunderstanding” with a few members of the Kath Hounds, a local street gang which had recently gained a lot of power by working with the Imperials who had taken control of the system. The Kaths mostly acted as informants for the Imperials, but they had also been known to act as unofficial enforcers for the Imperial warlord, Moff Cruvee. It also happened, that the Kath Hounds leader was a man named Amaral Kenso, who was a long time rival of Joren's. Joren had gotten involved in a game of Chance Cube. The thing about the Kath Hounds, is that they don't handle losing very well, and it didn't take long for them to accuse Joren of cheating.

Which of course he was. However, not in the way that they had assumed. The Kaths had assumed that he'd used a loaded cube. The fact that he had used the Force to manipulate the cube to come up in his favor never occurred to them. 

Joren knew that he would have to face the consequences for crossing the Kaths Hounds, however, he never thought that it would be that day, nor in the manner that was facing him now. Shortly after his run in with the gang, Joren was supposed to meet with his friend Kelsa for a bite to eat. However, when she didn't show up, he feared that something had gone wrong. Hoping that she had just been running late, he tried to reach her on her personal comlink, however, there had been no answer. He even reached out to her home, and was informed by her father's protocol droid, K-M, that Kelsa had left the house over an hour ago. The confirmation from the droid that Kelsa had left quite some time ago filled him with dread, and the mysterious call to his comlink confirmed his fears. Though he couldn't make out what was being said, he could hear the laughter of several people, and he could hear Kelsa in the background screaming, begging to be let go. 

So he reached out to Dono to help him find out where it was that the Kaths were holding Kelsa, and then work out a plan to get her back. 

Voices began to rise as a pair of Duros began squabbling with a Sullustan over a game of sabacc that had apparently gone awry. Before anyone knew it, the table was flipped over and punches were being thrown, causing the patrons seated in the immediate vicinity to scatter. Fortunately, the bouncers arrived on the scene to violently throw the offending parties out of the cantina before blasters had been drawn. Joren watched the events as they unfolded, and under normal circumstances he would have chuckled over the incident, or at the very least cracked a smile. However, this was far from normal circumstances, so Joren just took a sip of Jawa Juice and cringed, then he spit it back into the cup. 

[i]More like Bantha Piss.[/i] Joren thought to himself as he pushed the cup away.

“Well, that's not good.” Joren thought to himself as the cantina suddenly went quiet as all of the chatter, and even the music from the band, stopped for a moment. He had expected to see the Kaths, or even some of the Imperial stormtroopers that had made the area their home waltz into the cantina, but was relieved when he saw a single Mandalorian adorned in blue armor with blood red lining around the visor. Mando bypassed the bar and made his way directly to Joren's booth. Pulling out the chair next to him, the Mando sat down and looked directly to Joren.

“Dono.” Joren greeted his friend. 

“Vod'ika.” Dono replied with a nod. “I have good news and bad news. The good news is...I found Kelsa.” 

“And the bad news?” Joren asked, already knowing the answer.

“The Kaths have her at their bunker.” Dono confirmed Joren's fears.

“Well...” Joren said, pausing momentarily. “What are we waiting for?” He finished as he got to his feet.

“You do realize that if we do this, we won't be able to stay. We'll have targets painted on our backs, not just from Kenso's crew, but from the Empire as well.” Dono told him bluntly.

“Dono, it's Kelsa.” Joren said as he began to walk away from the booth.

“Good, I was just making sure. Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur.” Dono said as he followed Joren out of the front door. 

After years of friendship with the Mandalorian, Joren had picked up a little Mando'a, and as he and Dono walked away from Jasteel's Cantina, probably for the last time, he knew that Dono had been right about one thing:

It was a good day for somebody else to die.