A Friend in Need

[John Glayde]

Captain John Glayde pushed his way through the crowd that had clustered across most of the cantina, and weaved his way towards the bar. An Officer in the Rebel Alliance SpecForce, he usually avoided the grease-monkey hangouts like this, preferring to spend his time with his troops in the equally loud but significantly less crowded surroundings of the Sergeants' Mess. Unfortunately, the man he was looking for didn't share that particular opinion of drinking establishments.

Finally making it to within a few feet of his quarry, he managed to squeeze himself into a space at the bar, and pressed his fingertips against the top of the barstool, preparing to sit down. Surprisingly, the stool moved a few feet backwards of its own accord, and issued a string of whistles and bleats that managed to cut through the ambient sound.

"Sorry, Trip," John appologised, stepping across to retrieve an alternate seat. "I didn't see you down there."

The droid issued a mournful tone, moving to try and find a new safe space to occupy. A surge in the crowd of repair techs and ground crew bumped into him. Swivelling his head to identify the offender, he produced one of the numerous devices from within the shell of his body, and sent a brief electric bolt towards their leg. Before the technician could spot what had touched his leg, Trip trundled forward into the relative safety beside John's stool.

Looking across at the dreadlocked and bearded form of one of his Sergeants, John cast a critical glance over the plate of strange, orange sponge that Amos was eating. It looked distinctly unappetising, but Amos didn't seem to have any problem with that. Leaning closer, John reached out and tapped the Nabooian on his shoulder. "I need your help," he said loudly, trying to cut over the noise.

"Yeah?" Amos called back, glancing to identify the person speaking to him before returning to his meal.

Briefly, John scanned their surroundings, wondering if there was anywhere more private they could go to avoid being overheard. Given the ambient noise however, there didn't seem to be much danger of that. "I recieved a message," Glayde explained. "From a woman I used to know."

Amos glanced across again, and quirked an eyebrow. "Congratulations," he replied, not entirely sure why this piece of information was being directed at him.

John sighed, and shook his head. "She's managed to get herself into trouble, and needs my help." He hesitated, wincing at what he was about to request. "I need your ship."

The other eyebrow rose to join the first. "You need my ship?"

"I can't help her unless I can get to where she is, and Fleet Command already declined my request to borrow one of the shuttles from the Valiant." His brow twitched, expression almost pleading. "I need to help her. She's one of the few people from my old life that I have left."

Amos unleashed a heavy sigh. "It isn't my ship," he started.

"Jaden is off on a mission," Glayde interrupted. "They're under Comms blackout, so I can't get in touch to ask him personally. But you -" His voice trailed off. "He trusts you. If you came with me -"

Another sigh came from Amos. "Who is she running from?"

John slumped back on his stool. "The message didn't say."

The eyebrows crashed down into a frown. "What did she do?"

"I don't know."

Grabbing at his temples with a free hand, Amos began to massage slowly, a headache already beginning to form. "You want me to steal my friend's ship, and then help you rescue someone I don't know from someone we don't know, who are chasing her for reasons we don't know?"

Glayde looked Amos calmly in the eyes. "That pretty much sums it up."

Amos turned back to his food, popping another spongey cube into his mouth. He sat for a while, staring at nothing in particular, mind ticking over his options. "Do you at least know where we're going?"

A smile broke on John's face. "Raxus Prime," he revealed.

Amos frowned, again. "Raxus Prime? Never heard of it."

John winced. "That's probably a good thing."