The White Twi'lek/Chapter 8

When Jali entered Eastport with Nobu close beside him, he noticed a parked airspeeder stationed right outside the entrance to the Docking Facility. Jali had never written a parking ticket in his life, but he knew it was illegal to leave your vehicle there. The door slid open and a blonde-haired woman wearing a tailored black coat emerged.

Typical, Jali though, looking over his shoulder as she passed them, Judicials, they think they own everything. Antiene Laras did not look back.

It was early evening, and while it was not crowded as it usually was during the day, there were still quite a number of people around. Nobu seemed to know where he was going, he went straight to a turbolift and pressed the button for the freighter level. He looked at Jali.

“You’ll have to make yourself scarce,” the Bith said. “If I’m seen with you, it’ll come off worse for both of us.”

“I understand,” Jali said. “But this better not be a wild bantha chase.”

“It’s not,” Nobu reassured as the doors opened.

The bay they were after was about half-way along the level, Nobu walked on ahead with Jali trailing behind. He let a few people walk in front of him so it didn’t look like Jali was following him. Jali could see the door to the docking bay just ahead; no one was standing outside it.

Which was why it was suck a complete and utter shock when Nobu was shot.

Jali never saw the blaster bolt, it must have hit Nobu directly in the chest for the next moment he was collapsed on the ground. The only warning was the sound of the explosion and the smell of ozone.

There were several screams, but Jali’s reflexes, long-honed in his days as a Security Officer, went into overdrive. He slid down to one knee and rolled over until he was behind a pile of empty crates, removing his blaster from the holster as he rolled.

“Everybody down!” he shouted, yet hardly anyone listened. There were screams, people running and cowering behind whatever they could use as a barricade. Jali looked around frantically, whoever had fired that shot, had to have been at very close range to have got a hit so accurately because, as far as Jali could see, there were no places near by for a sharpshooter to lie in wait for them.

“Who fired that shot?” Jali shouted. “Has anyone seen them?” Without waiting for an answer, Jali vaulted the crates and ran in the direction the shot had come.

“There he is!” A woman pointed to a departing figure with a trembling finger. Jali thanked her with a wave and ran after them. Whoever they were, they sure could run! Jali had to struggle to keep whoever it was in sight, picking out the black coat of his quarry when he though he had lost them. He followed the figure through a service entrance, down a flight of stairs and through three sets of doors to a room with a parts and machinery scattered around, Jali could hear the distant rumble of an engine fading away. The figure stood in shadow, watching something through the large open door to outside.

Jali didn’t stop find out who this was, he merely fired. The shots were designed to disable rather than kill but the figure whirled around to face him, taking a metal cylinder from inside the black coat that extended a shimmering blue blade from the end. The blade parried his shots so they landed harmlessly either side. The figure waved a hand and Jali’s blaster fell out of his hand.

Jali stared. A Jedi? But he still couldn’t see who it was. Finally, the figure stepped into the light.

It was Antiene Laras, the woman he had met last night at Security Force Headquarters and had told him to abandon the case. And she was annoyed.

“Thanks a lot, Dawler,” she spat. “You blew my cover.”

She stalked away, leaving him rooted to the spot.



Even with Nobu gone, the case still wasn't over. Jali planned to talk to W’kar Fenn as soon as he could and get the whole story, maybe even enough to interest Pallavi. The next morning he was finishing a few routine matters in his office when Ayan’s worried face peered around the door.

“Mr Dawler,” she murmured, “I have Ms. Vertey on the line, and she sounds rather distressed.”

Jali frowned at her. “Why didn’t you just put her on?” he asked.

She scowled back. “I was,” she countered, “but you said you were soon on your way out.”

Jali held back the desire to roll his eyes; sometimes the female Zabrak could be a little too diligent.

“All right, all right,” he said, “put her on, I’ll try and sort out whatever her new worry is.”

Ayan left the room as Jali picked up the handset, within a few seconds there was a crackle and the sound of a ‘distressed’ female voice.

Jali used his most gentle tones. “Ms. Vertey I…” But he was immediately cut off by Elya’s exasperated gasps.

“Please, don’t…I won’t…help.” There was a muffled gurgling sound. Jali took the handset away from his ear for a moment and stared at it.

“I’ll try and help you,” he said slowly and patiently, “but you’ll have to…”

“Don’t…I won’t,” she rasped. “Please…help.”

Jali tried to talk to her, but she just kept repeating her fragmented plea. Xhen walked into the room with some files that Jali had lent him and made as if to leave but Jali held up a hand.

The plea continued using the same words, and despite her obvious panic, Jali thought there was something decidedly odd about what she said. Finally, there was a loud gasp, another crackle and the ‘link fell silent. Jali shivered, the silence disturbed him more than Elya’s partial message. “Stay where you are,” he told her, hoping to hell that she heard him. He dropped the comlink and rushed out the door.

“What’s going on?” Xhen asked, dropping the files on Ayan’s desk as he followed Jali.

“I thought this would happen, but not so soon,” he said, frantically pressing the turbolift button in a vain effort to make it come faster. “I've been a real idiot, not telling her…not warning her of the danger…”

Xhen looked confused. “Who? What are you talking about?”

The turbolift arrived and Jali got in. “Elya Vertey,” Jali answered. “The call was from her, she’s in some sort of trouble.”

Xhen thought quickly. “We can take my speeder,” he suggested, then stepped in next to Jali.



Jali leant on the chime and pounded on the door, but there was no answer.

“This isn’t good,” he said to Xhen, “we just have to get in.”

Xhen considered. “There was some sort of caretaker on the fortieth floor,” he said.

“Go there.” Xhen ran off and Jali took several items from his jacket pocket. He opened the locking panel to reveal the circuitry and after a moment’s inspection severed two of them with a tool. Jali then connected a wire he had taken from his pocket to the frayed ends then gave the lock a small burst of power from a small powercell.

Nothing happened, but that simply meant there was a fail-safe mechanism built into it to guard against intruders. Jali removed his wire and re-connected the lock.

He was just closing the panel when he heard the sound of footsteps, Jali turned, but it was only Xhen and the caretaker.

“The lady called you, did she?” He was a squat Sullustan that spoke a whistling form of Basic.

“Yeah,” Jali said, “and we need to hurry, she might be…”

“No problem, just needed to check.” He keyed in an access override code and the door slid open.

The three of them entered the room, it was empty and a breeze was blowing in from a wide-open window on the far wall. Jali did a quick scan of the room, everything appeared strangely normal.

“I don’t like this,” said Jali in a low voice. “Check the bedroom, everywhere Xhen.”

Xhen made for the bedroom, but for some reason stopped by the open window. He looked down then looked back up at Jali, his face was white.

“Jali.” Xhen’s voice was rather weak. “I think you better come look at this.”

Jali and the caretaker walked over to the window and looked down. It was Elya, she was lying several floors below on a narrow ledge clad only in her nightgown.



“This is starting to look like a familiar situation, Dawler,” Vantel said. “You just happen to find victims for us, don’t you?”

Vantel and quite a few others had arrived in response to Jali’s call. Some of them were dealing with Elya’s body and processing the crime scene. Pallavi Dashiell and some other officers were talking to the caretaker and the neighbours. Vantel, however, had reserved Jali and Xhen for himself.

Jali smiled. “Oh, I don’t know,” he returned, matching barb for barb with Vantel. “They seem to just happen to find me, don’t they?”

Vantel ignored this. “So, I've been told you were witnesses,” he said, adopting his official tone of voice and addressing both of them. “What kind of story can you tell me about this?”

Jali explained Elya’s call to his office.

“And what time was this?” he asked.

“About eleven, I think,” Jali answered.

“Eleven twelve,” Xhen added. “I looked at my chrono as I heard the comlink sound in Ayan’s office; I was expecting a call at that time.”

Vantel noted this. “And your first reaction was to come here?”

Jali nodded. “I wasn’t sure what was happening, and it seemed the best thing to do.”

“You were afraid that she might do something to herself?” Vantel pressed. “Harm herself in a way?”

Jali shook his head, to treat Elya’s death as a suicide seemed an insult to her memory, yet Vantel would be the one to do that. “No,” he answered. “I was afraid someone was doing something to her. In my experience, people about to jump out windows don’t make calls, they leave notes.”

Vantel ignored Jali’s sarcasm. “And what time did you arrive?”

Jali shrugged. “I don’t know,” Jali answered. “It takes about ten minutes to get to this part of Eastport from my office, though.”

“And then what happened?” Vantel asked.

“There wasn’t any answer at the door, and I was worried,” Jali told him. “So I told Xhen to get someone and I tried to break in.” He paused then added as Vantel opened his mouth. “It didn’t work, the caretaker let us in.”

“And that’s just about it,” Xhen said, obviously wanting the conversation to end.

Vantel pocketed his datapad. “I assume you’ll want to come down to headquarters, Dawler?”

“I thought that I was officially told to get off this case,” Jali reminded him.

“Bah, you never let that stop you,” Vantel spat. “We’ll take your statement, but that’s it.”



The formal interviews were over quicker than even Jali had anticipated. Before long Vantel was escorting them towards the door with a self-satisfied expression.

“If I were you, Dawler, I would stop finding excuses to come down here,” Vantel suggested.

“Well that’s if you call homicide victims excuses,” Jali said lightly.

“This isn’t a homicide,” Vantel insisted. “Get that through that durasteel head of yours.”

“You can’t be sure yet,” Jali reminded him. “Fortunately for you,” he continued, “this last death’s done me out of a client. I doubt it’ll matter much to anyone anymore what I turn up.”

Vantel stopped and stared at him. “So you’re just going to walk away like that?”

Jali nodded. “Just like that.”

Vantel scowled. “And I thought I knew you.”

“So you did,” Jali retorted, he pushed the doors open and they walked outside.

“What the hell was that about?” Xhen demanded

“That,” Jali told him with a sly smile, “is how you get guys like Vantel off your back.”

“So you’re still sticking with the case after all?” Xhen looked surprised. “She killed herself, that much is obvious.”

“I never trust the obvious,” Jali told him. “And I’m not going to give this up.” He turned to Xhen who was still astonished. “You still look like a randu caught in some headlights,” he joked. “I’ll call Pallavi later,” he told Xhen, “she’ll get an update on what the medicos turn up.” He lit a cigarette as they walked. “It saves me going back there and getting Vantel mad all over again.”

“And now?” Xhen prompted, still looking doubtful.

“And now,” Jali repeated, smoke escaping from his mouth as he spoke “we go and talk to W’kar Fenn, which I was going to do anyway.”