Cyn lay on Drak's bed in his small one room apartment. The slit window blinds were closed shut, but a bit of the blues and greens poured through regardless. His blue nightlamp glowed next to the bed. "I've got enough food in the fridge for at least two weeks, which should hopefully be plenty of time. If not, I'm leaving you some credits." He placed a small credit chip onto the table. He looked at her, worried.<br/><br/>She looked at him, trying to force a smile. "I'll be fine. I'm a big girl."<br/><br/>"It's not you I'm worried about," he told her, pointing to her belly.<br/><br/>"I'm not due for at least two more months, I can get around just fine. You're brother didn't marry a weak woman." She took her blaster out of her holster, placing it on the nightstand.<br/><br/>He smiled, looking at her, "No he didn't."<br/><br/>"So what's the next step?" She asked him, propping herself up a bit.<br/><br/>"I know of a few names, criminals, who have connections with Collarroka. I'll get it out of them."<br/><br/>"How are you going to get there? You have a ship?"<br/><br/>"I was kind of hoping you did."<br/><br/>She laughed, "the Alliance doesn't exactly hand ships out to just anybody."<br/><br/>He sighed, realizing it was going to be a bit more difficult than he first hoped. He didn't have a lot of options but he did have quite a few credits, 12,390 to be exact, which he was saving up for a speeder and a vacation. That would have to wait. He could buy a shuttle ride to wherever Collarroka was suspected to be, but if Collarroka moved, Drak would just be playing catch-up. Collaroka avoided cops like a plague. If Drak got near, he'd be as good as toast, so he had to forget the badge and live like a low-life. He could pretend to be a smuggler. He didn't have a ship though, and 12,390 credits wasn't enough to buy a ship good for smuggling.<br/><br/>He sat for a moment, trying to think it through, "what I need is to hire somebody," he bounced his thoughts off of Cyn. "I need a criminal- scum. I need a smuggler who has a lot of ins and knows how to find Collarroka. Although it can't be a crew, I can't pay them all off. I need someone who works solo, and has a ship of his own."<br/><br/>He was really narrowing his options. Not to mention he would prefer to arrest these smugglers instead of asking them to help him. He wasn't sure how they'd react either. They have every reason to want to blast a hole in his chest. His name was a bit infamous amongst the underworld. He was known for putting plenty of them away, so it wouldn't be easy.<br/><br/>"I'll be back," he told Cyn, who was already asleep, but he never noticed. He grabbed his bantha-hide jacket on the way out.<br/><br/>He walked for a bit and reached the nearby custom's office. It was a shot in the dark, but he had to act fast. He wasn't sure how long his brother had, or what danger he was in. Drak got a chance to speak to each custom officer one by one when they became available. His badge was useful here, but he knew it'd be useless off planet. Officer after officer, none of them had anything worth his time.<br/><br/>Finally he reached the last officer, and he asked with no energy left, "Did you come across anyone suspicious recently? Did you catch any illegal contraband, or arrest anyone? Or maybe did you note of anything strange?" His questions were vague because he still wasn't sure who or what he was looking for.<br/><br/>"Yeah actually," the man said. His answer caught Drak off guard. "Pretty girl, but kind of scum looking. I looked over her file she did some prison time. What was her name?" He opened up his datapad, checking all previous files for the day, then handed it to Drak. Drak instantly recognized the face. He laughed for a moment, "Meena Hayes."<br/><br/>"Yeah, you know her?" The officer asked amused.<br/><br/>"Yeah, I'm the one that put her in Kessel," Drak told the officer, who seemed intrigued. "How the Kriff did she get out?" He put her away for what he thought was a good long time. It hadn't been more than a couple of years. He also remembered she had a connection with Collarroka, but couldn't remember how. "So she has a ship? What about a crew?"<br/><br/>"She has a ship, a Corellian XS Stock Light Freighter. No crew signed in, I think she works solo."<br/><br/>It was as if the pieces fit in perfectly. If he believed in the Force, one would say this was in direct correlation. Although he was pretty sure out of all the criminals on Coruscant, she had more reason than ever to blast his head off his shoulders. He took a moment to think about it. He really was out of options, and short of going to the lower levels of Coruscant and painting a target on his back, he didn't know what else to do on such short notice. He sighed in frustration.<span style="font-style: italic">I'm going to regret this,</span>he thought to himself. "Is she coming back tonight?" he asked the officer.<br/><br/>"She's supposed, according to her statement."<br/><br/>"Where's her ship?"<br/><br/>"Port 23, down the hall and to the left."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">This is a stupid idea,</span>he repeated in his head over and over again, clenching his fist as he made his way there. He entered the port, a small landing pad with a fighter fit for a crew of one or two. It seemed to hold enough room for cargo, and he guessed she was probably still smuggling. He sat down on the pad, leaning his back on one of the landing legs. It started raining, and he was glad for the protection of the ship above him.<br/><br/>"This is a stupid idea," he finally said out loud to himself, as if it would make him come to his senses. It didn't. He only thought of his brother, and right now Meena was his best bet. He decided to grab Tala, his blaster, and hold it in his lap while he waited for the night... just in case.