Taproom Tumble

Posted on Sun Jul 19th, 2026 @ 6:02pm by Reave & Kalen "Rex" Vickers & Mentis

1,508 words; about a 8 minute read

Chapter: Chapter IX: The First Verse
Location: Xagobah Taproom, Dunari's Delight, Mayagil Sector
Timeline: After "Taproom Talk"

One instant, Jiljoo's toast hung proudly in the air. The next, the little glass simply ceased to exist, bursting into glittering fragments that showered the table as the clear spirit splashed across the Twi'lek's hand and sleeve.

The taproom fell silent - and Rex was already moving.

Years on Nar Shaddaa had taught him the sound of a precision shot long before they had taught him anything else. His chair scraped backwards as he instinctively ducked below the tabletop, one hand dragging Reave down with him by the brim of the Jawa's oversized hat before the little scavenger could pop up in outrage.

"Stay down," Rex muttered.

Reave gave an indignant muffled retort. Only then did Rex cautiously lift his head above the edge of the table and his expression froze.

"...Well," he sighed.

Standing in the entrance to the taproom was a Sullustan scarcely taller than Reave, wrapped in worn armour and surrounded by a loose semicircle of hardened professionals of half a dozen different species. The diminutive bounty hunter rested a smoking blaster pistol casually against one shoulder as though firing impossible shots across crowded cantinas was simply good manners.

His large black eye settled upon Rex. A slow grin of sorts spread across his face as he spluttered something sinister in his own tongue, although the word 'Vickers' was clearly heard.

Rex pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Miun." The Human let out a slow breath before looking apologetically towards Jiljoo. "I shoulda known this day was going a bit too well." His gaze returned to the Sullustan. "I sold you three crate-loads of blasters two years ago... You still owe me for one of 'em!"

Miun's grin broadened.

"Ho, ho, Vickers."

Without breaking eye contact, he reached into a pouch on his belt and produced a small holo-puck. With a flick of his thumb, it sprang to life and five rotating holographic portraits appeared above it.

Rex Vickers. Zaracoda Wolph. Reave. Bomoor Thort. Thane of Caanus.

Each face revolved slowly beneath bold Aurebesh lettering displaying the same impossible figure.

40,000,000 CREDITS

DEAD OR ALIVE

Miun slowly swept the puck around the room, allowing everyone present to appreciate it. Then, he looked back to Rex and the grin disappeared. He stated something sinister and threatening - and around him, blaster safeties clicked off almost as one.

The taproom became deathly quiet.

Jiljoo’s breath trembled for just a moment with the shock, but she forced her shoulders back and slowly raised both hands into the air: one still slick with the splashed liquor catching the light as it lifted. Her voice, when it came, was steady and determined, even if a little wavery.

"Zis’ is a peaceful station," she declared, projecting her words across the taproom, "Nobody here will be taken. Not today."

A few of the companions who had followed her earlier peeked out from behind overturned chairs, emboldened by her tone even as fear trembled through them.

"I know little of ze’ Bounty Hunter Guild," she continued, "But I know bullies when I see zem' and we do not tolerate bullies on Dunari’s Delight."

Mentis had shrunk instinctively lower in his booth seat when the shot rang out. He kept his shoulders tight and eyes narrowed, listening to every word Jiljoo spoke. He grimaced with doubt as she tried to talk sense into the semicircle of armed hunters.

He angled himself subtly, trying to catch sight of the entrance but, from his position, all he could see was Miun’s silhouette and the nearest pair of blasters.

He leaned toward Rex, voice barely a whisper.

"Who is this guy?" Mentis murmured, eyes flicking toward the smoking pistol, "And how many men does he have? I can’t see from here."

Rex's eyes grew almost comically wide as he looked from the smoking remains of Jiljoo's toast to the young Twi'lek herself.

"...Jiljoo..."

It came out as little more than a whisper. His expression seemed to ask every question at once.

Are you completely insane?

Do you know who you've just stood up to?

Please stop talking before he kills all of us.

He swallowed, forced himself to look away from her and ducked a little lower beside Mentis.

"Miun 'the Mighty'," he muttered quietly. "Biggest little merc this side o' the Hollastin. Big name in Hutt space until some madness at an Exile prison asteroid a while back." He risked another glance over the edge of the table. "Exactly as unpleasant as he looks."

Rex slowly raised one hand above the tabletop.

"Now hold on there, Miun. Forty million's a real temptin' offer, I'll grant ya..." He gave an awkward little shrug. "Only problem is, I don't actually see Thane of Caanus... Bomoor Thort... or..." He squinted at the rotating projection. "...Zarasomethin'... Wulph?"

Miun's lone eye narrowed. The corner of his mouth twitched. Then, without the slightest warning, his blaster snapped level. The bolt crossed the taproom in a crimson blur.

Doctor Buhggs' indignant shriek echoed around the cantina as the shot punched clean through his shoulder, spinning the H'nemthe sideways. Bottles, glasses and the remainder of the untouched shots flew in every direction as he crashed behind an overturned table.

"You inbred pup of a nexu!" he screeched from cover. "Do you have any conception how difficult those tissues are to regenerate?"

The answer came as a volley of blaster fire. Miun's crew opened up almost as one. Bolts tore across the taproom whilst several disc-shaped blue stun rings joined them, splashing against walls, tables and panicked patrons alike.

The peaceful lunch crowd erupted into chaos. Tables overturned, cards flew everywhere and glasses shattered. Someone screamed as others drew blasters and returned fire.

Rex disappeared beneath the booth so quickly it was almost impressive.

"I was really hopin' he wouldn't do that..."

Beside him, Reave let out an excited, almost delighted stream of rapid-fire Jawaese.

"No, absolutely n-"

Rex reached instinctively for the brim of the oversized hat - too late.

With surprising strength, Reave tore himself free, reached somewhere unseen and, seemingly from another dimension entirely, produced an enormous repeating blaster that had absolutely no business being smuggled into the taproom, and it roared to life within mere seconds, peppering bolts back at the hunters' side of the cantina.

Jiljoo shrieked as the repeating blaster roared to life, the sound far too loud for the cramped taproom. She plunged down behind the booth, lekku snapping along just a moment behind her head. She frantically beckoned her companions to follow. Several of them dropped beside her in a tangle of limbs and panicked breaths.

She shuffled across the floor toward Doctor Buhggs, who was half‑propped against an overturned table, clutching his wounded shoulder. Jiljoo pressed her hands against the injury, trying to stem the bleeding with trembling fingers.

"Doctor, I am sorry," she cried over the blaster fire, voice cracking, "I did not mean for zis’ to happen."

Doctor Buhggs batted Jiljoo's hands away with surprising force.

"Oh, stop fussing," He hissed through his teeth as he experimentally rolled the injured shoulder, blood already soaking into his coat. "It missed everything important."

Another blaster bolt smashed into the table above them, showering the group with splinters.

Ignoring both the pain and the alarm around him, he calmly reached across the abandoned tabletop, snatched one of the surviving shot glasses and knocked it back in a single swallow.

"There." He exhaled sharply. "Medicinal."

Jiljoo went to say something but she only mustered a stifled breath as she watched the H'nemthe down the shot and smack it face down on the ground with a clink that almost overtook the blaster fire surrounding them.

"Will zat' help?" she queried, frowning yet still earnest.

"No," Buhggs agreed. "But I wanted it."

Already his free hand had disappeared inside his long jacket. Out came a small cylindrical device, then another, and then three squat metal discs no larger than drink coasters, each bearing a tiny cluster of exposed emitters.

"More of ze' EM devices, like we used on ze' cyborg?" she asked, although fairly certain of what she was seeing as memories of the terrifying yet incredible moment when Llim had saved her from Tolmin Voq by planting an emitter directly onto his mechanical body only to be captured himself, "Zey' seem a little smaller."

Not as powerful as the crude battlefield devices they had scattered during the mission to Moz Muüt months before, but unmistakably built on the same principle.

Buhggs flicked open a tiny access panel with one claw and began adjusting microscopic components as though he were sitting safely in his laboratory rather than beneath incoming blaster fire.

"Keep them off me," he muttered. Another bolt scorched over the tabletop. "I require about..." He glanced at one device, "...twenty-three seconds." He looked up at Jiljoo with complete seriousness. "So stop letting them shoot at me."

Jiljoo's face dropped to a deadly serious expression and she nodded firmly, "You've got it, doctor!"

TBC

RSS Feed