For all the stories he had heard about his place, he was actually surprised by how tame it seemed. He'd heard all about how this was a cantina more lawless than most parts of Tatooine, which was saying something. There had been stories of frequent bar brawls that tended to involve blasters, a disturbingly high body count, any kind of scum you could think of—even the kind other scum didn't want to deal with. He'd figured if he was going to find someone connected to Jabba the Hutt, this was the place to be.
Yet now that he was here, he didn't find the thriving cesspool he'd heard tales of. Apparently, ownership of this cantina had passed hands to someone else, and after closing the cantina for a short period of time, it opened up with some remodeling and a new set of rules that were enforced with enough assertion the place straightened out impressively, without scaring away all of the business. He was still hearing the kinds of rumors and job deals that he'd expected to hear, but there wasn't blaster fire raining down on patrons at random or brawls to the death leaving bodies on the floor for people to step around. There was a corner for the bounty hunters and mercenaries to find job postings, and plenty of quiet corners for shadier, illegal jobs to be discussed without threat of being overheard. He'd already worked out that the Trianii woman who'd positioned herself so she could see the whole cantina worked for the cantina, and it would have put him on edge a bit more if he wasn't accompanied by a giant Wookiee. Especially since the rumor was that while the cantina had been straightened out considerably by the new owner, the place had fallen into her hands by means that sounded like there had been some shady things happening behind closed doors.
He was a little disappointed it hadn't turned out to be like all the rumors off-world said, which was part of the reason he'd come since it had spiked his curiosity, but considering it was probably better for business if the customers weren't constantly at risk of getting killed by crossfire, he wasn't about to complain. Besides, it still seemed to be thriving with opportunity without the high risk of death.
"So you're the fools who're looking to meet Jabba."
Han Solo looked up at the feminine voice that addressed him and Chewbacca, surprised to see that the blond woman he'd noticed serving drinks throughout the cantina earlier was actually addressing him. Not only that, but she was setting a glass of whiskey in front of him, and filling it with what looked to be Corellian Whiskey.
"Well, it doesn't take long for word to travel around here, does it?" Han asked, eying the drink she was pouring him. He hadn't bought a drink—not yet, anyway—and was trying to figure out what her angle was.
"No, it really doesn't—first thing you need to learn about Tatooine," she said, setting down the bottle and remaining standing by their table. Chewbacca seemed to be studying her rather intently, but since the Wookiee wasn't saying anything about why, Han was leaving it alone for the time being.
"And the second thing?" Han asked.
"Be very careful getting tangled up with Jabba. Most people would avoid dealing with him directly. It can be profitable, yes, but Jabba isn't exactly known for being an honorable and trustworthy business man. In fact, he's pretty well known for screwing over his business partners."
If he didn't know any better, he'd say it sounded like she was speaking from personal experience. However, there was something else he wanted to comment on before he drudged up a minor point like that.
"And why exactly would you be giving me this generous advice about Jabba? I don't even know you."
"Mm...perhaps because I have a job proposal for you. Some work that's a bit more honest and easy that might help pay for any debt Jabba might try to tie you up in."
This was starting to look far too good of a deal to be true. "Why us?"
"Because while you've been asking around about Jabba, I've been asking around about you." At the look Han gave her at that announcement, the woman simply shrugged. "I keep tabs on who comes into my cantina so I know which troublemakers I need to pay extra attention to."
"You're Zel Ahn?" Han asked in disbelief.
"That's me. Now considering that's not that hard to believe, let's point this conversation back in the right direction. Are you interested in having the guaranteed job when you need it or no?"
Han looked across the table where Chewbacca was sitting, wanting to know if the Wookiee wanted to hear what she had to say as well, or if he thought they should just stick with getting the job from Jabba. Chewbacca chuffed under his breath and nodded, which Han took as his cue.
"Depends on what the job is."
Zel's lips quirked towards a smirk. "How are you with bootlegging?"
Honestly, he'd been expecting something a little more illegal considering he was on Tatooine. "You want us to bring you alcohol shipments? Don't you already have someone to do that for you?"
Zel shrugged. "There's some brands that are harder to get your hands on and some that aren't exactly considered legal by the Empire I might need smuggled here. And the last guy I hired met an...unfortunate end. Not on my part, one of his other jobs got him," she added as an almost side note.
"Yet us working for Jabba isn't going to be a problem?"
"I'm not going to hold it against you for having business with Jabba—we all do what we have to in order to survive, right? So long as you don't get tangled in shipping people, I couldn't care less. In fact, if you come to me saying you need some extra work to help pay off Jabba, I'll see what I can scrounge up."
She was basically offering them a safety net for the high risk jobs they were looking to get involved in. Once more, the thought occurred to him that this might be too good to be true.
"Okay...what are you thinking for pay?"
"That will depend on how much you bring, whether its high end or not...but bring me the shipments and I'll pay you well for it. I'll throw in a discount when you buy stuff here, too. You might even get some drinks on the house."
That actually sounded like a good deal. And considering how much business the cantina pulled in, she could probably afford to pay them pretty well for simple alcohol shipments. Han turned to look at Chewbacca,
"What do you think, Chewie? Sound like something you'd be willing to do on the side?"
Chewbacca gave a mild roar in agreement, and Han looked back at the blond cantina owner. "Sounds like you have yourself a deal."
Zel smiled, pushing the drink she'd poured his way. "Great. Consider that a round on the house to celebrate a new partnership."
Now Han accepted the drink, giving Zel his signature smirk. "Much appreciated."
She started to leave, then seemed to think better of it, turning around to address Han and Chewie one more time.
"Also...I'll give you a list of things that, if you happen to come across in your travels, I'll pay you some lovely extra credits for."
"Extra incentive. I'm still waiting to hear the catch, honestly, cause this is a pretty good deal," Han remarked.
"The catch is you're planning on working for Jabba, too. Consider your partnership with me the good part—and good luck."
Before Han could reply, Zel had already turned away and was making her way back towards the main bar, taking a few orders on her way back. Moments later, Chewbacca rose from his seat and started shuffling his way out to the rest of the Cantina.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?"
Chewbacca growled something along the lines of 'none of your business' and kept walking, leaving Han to sulk in the corner before he delved back into the throngs of patrons to try and get an audience with or at least a job for Jabba.
***************************************
"So you did recognize me."
Zelina turned to look at the Wookiee that towered over her.
Chewbacca chuffed at her, and in that moment, she wished she understood Shyriiwook. Maybe it was something she'd have to pick up so her and Chewbacca could have these private conversations.
"I don't know Shyriiwook, but I can sort of guess the kinds of questions you'd have," Zelina said with a sad smile. Chewbacca waited patiently for her to continue, remaining silent now that she'd established she didn't understand him. "I made it out, obviously, so did some others, though for their sake I won't say who. Anakin didn't make it...and I don't know about Ahsoka. I assume she didn't...I don't want to get my hopes up if she didn't."
Chewbacca gave a sort of whine, clearly a sad and mournful sound.
"I'm just biding my time for now. Waiting for the right time to get back into the fray. It won't be any time soon, though-I'm going to wait at least several years."
Chewbacca tilted his head and gave a higher pitched growl.
"I have my reasons to stay—you'll see soon enough." Zelina reached out and gently patted Chewbacca's arm. "It's good to see a familiar face. Take care, Chewbacca. We'll be seeing a lot more of each other, it seems."
He gave a soft roar that still managed to rise above the noise of the cantina immediately around them. Zelina gave him a small smile and a nod, then slid away to get back to doing her job.
She had hired help also working the cantina, of course. She had enough that if she wanted or needed to take a day off for Luke's sake, she could. When she worked, though, there was Ameenah keeping an eye on the cantina and looking out for any trouble, Zelina working the floor, Benon was the bartender, and Eny worked the floor just like Zelina. For some reason the owners usually were behind the counter, but Zelina preferred to be able to move about and see what was going on. She didn't like the thought of being trapped behind the counter.
While she was also proud that the cantina was a lot calmer than it had been when Reggin was in charge of the place, that didn't mean the cantina was devoid of issues. It was a cantina. On Tatooine. She was bound to have issues no matter what she did. What mattered was how well she handled the outbursts of violence when they came.
Which tended to be promptly and with an iron fist.
Zelina continued to weave between tables and the bar, collecting drinks and dishing them out to customers as she went. She didn't have issues with groping anymore, unless there was a new patron that didn't know the rules of the cantina. At this rate, she should probably put up a sign, but there was something about the rules being unspoken and for the most part understood that she sort of liked.
Across the room, Ameenah caught Zelina's attention, the woman's tail flicking subtly in the direction she wanted Zelina to look. Casting her gaze where Ameenah was directing her, Zelina looked just in time to see a man carefully scrutinizing a miserable looking twi'lek woman everywhere he could—even checking teeth and other physical appearances. Ameenah caught Zelina's gaze again and inclined her head to ask if Zelina wanted Ameenah to handle it, but Zelina shook her head, expression darkening as she tucked the drink platter she'd been carrying around under her arm as she approached the offending table.
There was three men and the woman. One was clearly the buyer, the other two possibly the sellers considering the twi'lek was wedged between them. They were all armed, and there were drinks in front of them—Zelina hadn't served them, she would have instantly picked up on what was happening, and this was Eny's side of the cantina. So they were possibly drunken, armed slavers.
This was definitely going to escalate into a fight.
"Gentlemen, I'm aware that Tatooine still has slavery, but I do not allow the buying, selling or even appraisal of people in my cantina," Zelina said once she'd arrived, folding her arms over her chest as she stood in front of their table. The woman was now cowering, ducking her head low and trying to disappear beneath the table as the three men turned their challenging gazes onto Zelina, the the buyer—who she was currently looking at—giving her a superior smirk.
"There's nothing like that going on here, ma'am. Just some friends sitting down for drinks and a man admiring a woman's beauty."
Zelina felt her nose wrinkle in distaste, her expression remaining hard as she stared them down. "I'm going to have to ask you all to leave, now. And to pay for your drinks, if you haven't already."
One of the sellers rose from his seat with a sneer. "You don't have the right—"
"This is my establishment, and I have the right to refuse service to whomever I please, and considering I have strong reasons to believe you're trying to make a slavery deal under my roof, I'm kicking you out. I'll show you the door myself if I have to," Zelina snapped at him, her tone holding the last hints of a warning.
"I'd do what the lady says," came the voice of Han Solo behind her. Zelina spared him a fleeting glance over her shoulder before fixing her full attention back on the slavers in front of her.
"You don't need to get involved, Solo. What kind of owner would I be if I couldn't take out the trash now and then?" she said coolly.
The buyer stood slowly, as did the other seller. "We'll take our business to a better suited establishment. This place has really gone downhill since the ownership changed hands."
Zelina didn't rise to the bait. Instead, she watched the man with a sharp eye as he gathered his things, mockingly tossed the credits on the floor in front of her, and turned to leave. As the two sellers tried to usher the twi'lek along with her, Zelina suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm, able to pull her out of their grip because of the unexpected move.
"Ah, she stays."
"What the hell do you think you're—" one of the sellers started to say angrily, already moving towards her. Zelina held out the drink tray and stopped him with the edge, gaze hard.
"See, this rule of mine, about no slavery—If I catch anyone trying to conduct that kind of business in here, I take the, ah, contraband. In other words, you lose your slave, she's mine now, and...well, I'm pretty sure you know what comes next."
Solo shifted off to her side, clearly sensing the oncoming fight Zelina had already been aware was coming. Ameenah was moving out of her corner as well, and while there was still some conversation buzzing, it was a low hum, which meant the entire cantina was paying attention.
"Some kriffing schutta like you isn't gonna take our property from us. She belongs to us. Hand her over. Now," the other owner said. Zelina didn't even blink.
"You know your way out. I suggest you leave while you still have your lives," Zelina said coldly. Now the cantina was completely silent, everyone holding their breath to see what the slavers were going to do. Zelina already knew. In fact, she was already reaching for her vibroblade when the three suddenly burst into a flurry of motion.
A blaster shot exploded into the scene, taking down one of the slavers the same time Zelina pulled her blade on the slaver she'd been holding at the end of her tray. Behind her, the twi'lek screamed as Zelina embedded the vibroblade up into the man's head from under the chin, using him as a shield when the last remaining slaver took a shot at her. She purposely got in Solo's way so he couldn't kill another, determined to settle this on her own since it was her cantina and she was perfectly capable of doing so. She pulled the blaster off of the dead slaver she was using as a shield and fired, sensing the last slaver's life force flicker away in the Force as she shoved her temporary shield to the ground, keeping the vibroblade in hand.
Zelina turned to Solo, wiping the vibrobade clean of blood on the tunic of one of the dead slavers unceremoniously. "I appreciate the hand...but I did have that handled. You didn't need to step in."
"I can see that," Solo said, shoving his blaster back into the holster at his thigh.
"Really, don't get involved next time—you might be shooting at Jabba's men next time if you aren't careful," she told him pointedly. She didn't give Solo a chance to speak yet again, turning instead to Ameenah.
"You know what to do with these, I'll take care of our new friend. Take them out back, and have Eny clean this up real quick—Luke's going to be coming in from school soon, he doesn't need to see this."
"Of course," Ameenah said with a grunt, already leaning down to pick up the bodies. Zelina was already turning towards the shaken up twi'lek, already mentally preparing her 'you're free now, here's some money, go start a new life' speech.
She was worried they wouldn't be able to clean up the mess before Luke arrived, until she glanced back to see Chewbacca helping Ameenah carry the bodies out the back while Eny swooped in to clean up any blood or scorching so suddenly she startled Solo.
Another day without Luke being exposed to her workplace violence, then. Good. He was nearing his teens and already chomping at the bit with the need for adventure, but she didn't want him seeing this kind of violence until he was older.