Tallie lurked in an alley between a swoop mechanic and restaurant. Most humans wouldn't fit, but Tallie was thin, especially for a sixteen-year-old. She waited. The dinner rush was over. The old Twi'lek stepped out of his restaurant and began to smoke his pipe. Before the door shut behind him, Tallie was inside. She had five minutes. The kitchen she entered had two sinks full of dirty dishes and pre-prepared food on every stove. She grabbed the cleanest looking plate she could find and got to work. She couldn't take too much or he might notice when he came back. She grabbed a funge-bread roll, some fried mynock, and collypod noodles. The old Twi'lek always had fried mynock he threw out at the end of the day and the noodles sat in the big pot, so he wouldn't notice one serving missing. She was taking a risk with the funge-bread but she was too hungry to care.

Tallie started shoving food in as quickly as it would go. But memories of her mother caused her to arch her back, slow down, and use proper utensils, even if they were noisier. "Are you a rancor cub, young lady?" her mother would say, "If not, I suggest you sit up straight and chew like a proper sentient!"

The ding of the door opening again made Tallie jump. The old Twi'lek usually has longer smoke breaks than that. She listened for another second and realized it had started raining. She cursed the Force for her bad luck. Tallie peaked out and saw the old Twi'lek walking back toward his kitchen. She took her plate and hid in the cabinet under the sink.

The old man wandered around the kitchen. Tallie couldn't help to munch on a fried mynock while she hid. She hadn't eaten a meal like this in almost a week. She heard the ding of the register opening. Damnit. If he was counting the register, she could be here for another hour.

Then Tallie noticed a sound. Or a lack of sound. The rain had stopped. The old Twi'lek wandered back outside to finish his pipe.

Tallie couldn't believe her luck. She crept out of the cabinet and toward the register. A couple hundred Republic credits laid in the register in front of her. She needed enough for a nice apartment for the night. Something less drafty than the slum crates of the refugee sector. If she took much more, he might report it to Hutt security and they might find a hair of hers under the sink. The Twi'lek wouldn't report fifty credits missing, right?

The fifty credits she took might get noticed but they wouldn't give her any trouble if she could leave. She placed her empty plate into the sink and tip-toed out of the kitchen and under a table. The old Twi'lek opened the door and she bolted behind him, out the door before it could shut. She ran for it just in case he saw her on the way out. She didn't hear any Huttese cursing so she thought she made a clean get-away.

That was when Tallitha made a mistake that no one living on the street as long as she has should make. Tallie looked back. Not only that, but she looked back while rounding a corner.

She collided with Hutt security.

There were two of them: one human, the other rodian. The human had an ear missing and the rodian had an eyepatch. The rodian was on the ground but the human was still up. She started to bolt. Then there was a gentle clang of her fifty credits hitting the ground. She hesitated and that was enough for the human to grab her by the back of the neck.

"'Ello, little one, where are you off to in such a hurry?" the human spoke.

Tallie felt every muscle tighten from unwanted contact. She needed out. Now. The rodian stood up with her fifty credits in hand.

"Now where did you get these credits?" the human continued, "Not in the red sector I hope."

Tallie murmured, "Pazaak."

The rodian spoke in Huttese, "It lies," and pocketed the credits.

"Say, J'rak," the human said to the rodian, "You don't think she stole this do you?"

The rodian—J'rak—said, "It is refugee filth. Most likely yes."

The human patted J'rak on the back, "Well that's fifty more credits for your droid eye! You'll be able to hit something with that blaster of yours in no time!"

"Yes, Zaf," J'rak said, "Only 10 thousand more refugee scum carrying fifty credits and I can afford my eye."

"Don't be like that! There are way more than 10 thousand refugees on Nar Shaddaa! And if you do your work, the Hutts are sure to give you a bonus," the human named Zaf reassured J'rak.

J'rak shrugged, "What should we do with it?" he gestured at Tallie, "Beat it and throw her back in the refugee sector?"

"J'rak, my good rodian!" Zaf spoke, "We arrest her and charge her with trying to pick-pocket us!"

Panic ran through Tallie's body. She was in the middle of pick-pocketing the rodian for her fifty credits. She glared up to see if either had noticed or if that was some type of coincidence.

Zaf continued without looking down at her, "You get to make an arrest, boost your numbers for the cycle. I'll even let you do the paperwork. You'll get a bonus, you'll get your eye, your shooting improves, the Hutts make you their bodyguard again…"

As Zaf talked, fifty credits had been lifted from J'rak's pocket along with his blaster pistol. Tallie waited until they walked past the landing pad across from the old mechanic's.

BLAM!

"Ahh! My foot! J'rak, she shot my foot!" Zaf fell and Tallie dropped the gun and bolted.

J'rak ran after his escaping prisoner but Zaf stopped him, "Not her! Help me!"

J'rak walked back to Zaf and knelt beside him.

"Take off the boot and tell me how it looks, J'rak. The pain is too much! Will I keep the foot?"

J'rak removed the boot to reveal Zaf's completely unharmed foot.

Zaf looked stunned, "It must 'ave hit right between my toes. What are the odds of that?"

The two looked at each other for a moment before sprinting after Tallie, Zaf's boot still cradled by J'rak. They followed her into the mechanic shop.

They rounded a corner to find a yelling Sullustan and an open window.

The sullustan yelled, "Little girl went out the window! Out the window!"

Zaf and J'rak peered out the window.

"I don't like heights," J'rak said, quickly backing away.

"Yeah," Zaf said somberly, "Well, let's get to the bottom level and see if we can find the splat. Paperwork on that will still get you some points with the boss."

"I am going to be sick," J'rak held his stomach.

Zaf patted him on the back and led him out, "You'll be fine once we got this all filed."

The Hutt security left and Tallie walked out of the closet with TT-41.

"Thanks, Tien," Tallie said to the sullustan in huttese, "You're a lifesaver."

Tien responded, "Young Tallitha should be more careful. Hutt security are stupid, but will not fall for you jumping out a window a third time."

"Tien, Hutt security doesn't have a bantha's ass worth of brain between them all."

"Language, child!" Tien said, "I can set up a cot for you in the swoop garage if you need."

"No thanks, Tien," Tallie held up her fifty credits, "Tonight, I'm living like a Coruscanti heiress."

Tien clicked his tongue, "You ought to save that. Get off Nar Shaddaa. I hear Dantooine needs farmers."

"And Tatooine needs water," Tallie said, "Doesn't bring the rain."

"You need a livelihood, child. You cannot be a beggar forever. You will not live long that way."

"What I need is a quiet apartment with complimentary holovids, a comfy bed, and a fresher," Tallie replied. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"So save up! Get one of your own in the future!"

"Oh, yeah, I'll just pray to the Force the credits aren't stolen and I'm not beaten by some gang or Hutt security," Tallie rolled her eyes.

Tien sighed, "If I had money to give you food and maybe a job, I would."

"Well, you don't," Tallie said as she started to leave. She stopped at the doorway. "Tien, I really am grateful…"

Tien was focused on his work and seemed not to hear.

…

Tallie entered the Hyperspace Haven Inn. She mentally prepared to plop the fifty on the front desk and lounge in luxury for the rest of the night. No Refugee Sector cots, no Refugee Sector gruel in the morning, no Refugee Sector smell for a whole day if she stayed out long enough. There were two modestly dressed men waiting for someone to show up at the empty front desk.

The first man spoke, "There are much nicer places we can afford, I assure you,"

"Yeah? Well, we'd be wasting credits doing that. And considering the Pazaak I'm ready to play here, we're already over budget," the second man replied.

A gamorrean finally wondered behind the front desk and snorted, "Ya want the Onderon style bed or the two Twi'lek style beds?"

The first man coughed, "The Twi'lek beds please."

The second man quipped to the gamorrean, "I think if my breath were better he'd try and go for the Onderon style if you know what I mean."

The first man furrowed his brow at the second. "Do you not recall the last time we were here? Because it seems as if you have regressed to back then."

"There is nothing in your old code against gambling and sharing a bed with your very dear friend," the second man said.

Tallie wondered if this place had room service and decided to take the opportunity to pickpocket the weirdos in front of her. They weren't dressed fancy but they just mentioned having a lot of credits. She waited for them to pay for the room and then grabbed some credits from the pockets she saw them use. She swore the blonde man glared at her but since he didn't confront her, she figured she'd be safe once she got in her room.

Tallie laid down on the bed, put on a hollovid of some old Jedi soap opera, and decided to count up her pickpocket earnings. She got something from each of those guys. She took out the first handful of credits she had grabbed and started counting. 500...800...1000. One. Thousand credits. Tallie's brain fried a circuit. She had never held that much money. forget dessert. She could probably give this money to Tien and get him to teach her some mechanic skills. Or she could buy a ticket off this rock. Dantooine was supposed to be peaceful.

She hadn't even counted what she had gotten from the second guy. She had just grabbed a wallet off him. Tallie peeked inside and found...nothing. Just a piece of paper with the word 'Decoy!' written on it. Damn, she thought, guess it wasn't his first trip to Nar Shaddaa.

Tallie looked up and watched the Jedi drama holovid. Some Jedi Justee'Is Max was monologuing, "With my magic powers of flight and lightning, I will destroy the Sith and save the republic!"

The woman beside him in the common brown Jedi garb said, "But Justee'Is, how can you destroy...the very thing you love!" She pulled off her robe to reveal an all-black garb and heavy eyeliner.

Justee'Is gasped, "Mena Eese! You were the secret assassin sith all along! My heart! It breaks!"

The two began a very poorly choreographed lightsaber duel.

But something about the lightsabers activated a memory that Tallie had long forgotten, a memory of her mother and a far-off system, of men and women storming her house, of lightsabers igniting and flashing, of running and flying and finding herself alone.

She puts it out of her mind and turns off the show.

As Tallie got out of the fresher, she heard a knock. She quickly put on her clothes and cracked the door open. It was the two men.

"Excuse me, miss," said the first one, "I'm so sorry, but you looked familiar to me. I was wondering if I could know your name."

"Talitha," she says, "Talitha Shen."

"Well, Mical," Atton says, "I'm never betting against you again."