overhead—sunlight filtered in through skylights in the sloped roof, falling in dusty splendor onto the age-rich wood of the bars. Broad galleries marked the third and second floors. Tyno Fabris was far more likely to be up there in one of the more private areas than down here in the noisy main room.
Jax settled on an approach and strode up to the beverage bar. “Spiced caf,” he told the bartender when he’d finally gotten his attention. “Hot. A tankard.”
“You’re new here,” said a female voice practically in his ear. It somehow managed to be sharp enough to cut through the ambient noise in the room and yet give the impression of velvet.
He turned. The source of the sultry voice was a Balosar woman who was nearly as tall as he was. That, in itself, was remarkable—natives of the planet Balosar were often small and frail. This woman was sapling-slender but hardly frail. Her long hair was artistically braided and fell in a twilight cascade over one pale shoulder. She wore a hair ornament that almost, but not quite, disguised her antennaepalps—both of which were homed in on Jax.
A frisson of wariness tingled at the back of his neck. Those antennaepalps, he knew, gave the Balosar a form of empathy that would make her a most observant spy for some corporate, underworld, or Imperial entity.
“New to Mandalore, no,” he said. “To Keldabe, yes. I usually make planetfall on Concordia. But things are a bit … unsettled there of late.”
She smiled. There was a gem embedded in one of her upper front teeth—a pale lavender crystal that echoed the color of her hair and eyes. “What brings you into the Oyu? Not that I’m complaining.”
“Business.”
“Of course. Look, why don’t you go find yourself a seat and I’ll bring you your caf.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“That’s my job.” She picked up a tray from the bar. “The bar guys get snippy when patrons clog up the serving area.”
Jax acquiesced with a curt nod and moved to a table from which he could see the entire room, except for a small section behind the food bar. He watched the female server collect his spiced caf, pop it onto a tray, and begin her walk toward his table. She was flirting with him during the entire passage, exaggerating the sway in her steps and clearly desiring his attention and admiration.
He wondered why she found him of particular interest. Though he suspected that she flirted with all her customers in the hope of a large gratuity, he sensed something beyond that in the way she looked at him. He muzzled his wariness, channeled it into impatience.
She set the tankard of caf down on the table and he snatched it up.
She tilted her head to one side, eyebrow raised, and rested the tray on the curve of one hip. “Can I get you anything else?” she asked. “Food … some other stimulant, perhaps?”
No subtext there. “I’m not hungry. And I don’t care to be stimulated. I need to keep a clear head for business.”
She made a face. “Business. Good-looking man like you is going to waste your time on business?”
“Better than wasting my time flirting with you. There’s no profit in that.”
Ignoring the spark of anger that leapt to her eye, Jax reached into an inner pocket and pulled out a couple of small cabochons of aurodium. He held them out on his palm where the ambient light caught them, sparking a rainbow shimmer of color.
“Unless you can help me do business.”
She eyed the gleaming nuggets, then glanced back at the bar. “What do you need?”
“I’m looking for a man named Tyno Fabris. An Arkanian.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You know him? Or you’d only like to know him?”
“I’d like to do business with him. I hear he’s … a force in this sector.”
She smiled wryly. “He is that. Why Tyno?”
“Why not Tyno?”
She regarded him a moment longer, her antennaepalps at attention—assessing him. She frowned and shook her head. “No reason. In fact, I suspect maybe instead of warning you about him, I should warn him about you.”
“Why don’t you?” He set the aurodium on the table in front of her and met her gaze. “Tell him we have a mutual acquaintance who recommended him to me.”
She nodded, scooped up the aurodium, and pocketed it before returning to the bar. When Jax looked up a moment later, she’d disappeared. He took a deep breath and a long sip of the hot spiced liquid.