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“What’s the matter, sweetheart? Tooka got your tongue?” The slimy voice was enough to make Wrecker’s skin crawl. He had heard that tone so many times in places like this. It was usually a last resort used when all other tactics to get a woman’s attention had failed. He smiled to himself as he waited for the one of the sounds that always came next—a letdown if the guy was lucky, a slap or drink to the face if he wasn’t. Oddly, Wrecker heard nothing.
He turned around to see why nothing had happened yet and saw the young woman in question holding up her index finger to the man with one hand while her other hand rapidly typed on the oversized data pad in front of her. The man quickly became impatient.
“What the hell are you even doing on that thing?” he spat, yanking the pad out of her hand. She frantically tried to reach for it, but he was holding it high over his head, much to the delight of the two other men he was with. Tears of panic were starting to form in the woman’s eyes.
Wrecker had seen enough.
The man suddenly found himself dangling half a meter from the ground, held aloft by his wrist as Wrecker plucked the data pad from his hand. “This doesn’t belong to you,” he indicated severely as he handed the pad back to its surprised owner.
“Let me down,” the man insisted. “What are you, her bodyguard or something?”
Wrecker looked down at the woman as she tried to compose herself. “She doesn’t look like she needs a bodyguard. I’m sure she can take care of herself, but she shouldn’t have to defend herself against someone using his height as a weapon. Now you know what it feels like.” Wrecker carefully put the man back on his feet. He glared up at Wrecker with a look of utter contempt then turned to the woman and said something Wrecker could not hear over the din of the cantina. If he had, he would have likely pummeled the man on the spot. She apparently knew what he had said to her though, as her expression changed in an instant and her fist connected with his face with a glorious crack.
A moment later the man was sprawled out on the floor with blood streaming from his nose. The woman looked down at him like she would like nothing better than for him to get up and come at her for another round. When he didn’t get up, she directed that same murderous glare to the two men he was with, silently inviting them to try their luck if they dared. Both of them put up their hands immediately before scooping up their friend and exiting the bar. A chorus of cheers and whistles erupted in response. The woman placed her hand on Wrecker’s arm to get his attention, then smiled and made a sweeping motion with her open hand before walking away with her drink. Wrecker stared after her, unsure what to make of what had just happened.
Crosshair walked up a moment later and followed Wrecker’s curious gaze before grabbing the squad’s drinks from the bar. “Clearly you're having too much fun over here to bother with the drinks you were supposed to be getting.” He jutted his head in the direction the woman went and smirked as he walked away with four of the glasses.
Wrecker grabbed his own drink and walked over to the small table where the woman was sitting. Her eyebrows lifted as he approached. “I’m not gonna keep ya. I just wanted to say that I thought that was one heck of a right hook.”
The woman smiled and motioned for him to sit across from her. Then she hit a button on her large data pad and held it up for him to see. “Thank you.” She held up her finger to ask him to wait and made sure to make eye contact so that there was no misunderstanding. Wrecker was puzzled, but nodded. A few moments later she showed him the pad again. “Thanks for getting my pad back from that wastoid. I didn’t think things would get out of hand that quickly.”
“No problem. So, what happened? You get sick and lose your voice or something?”
The young woman looked like she had never been so amused. She looked up into Wrecker’s face for a moment and then went back to typing, her shoulders shaking slightly with silent laughter. “I didn’t lose my voice. I never had one. I was born like this. I never had the necessary equipment to speak or hear.” She gestured pointedly at her throat and ears.
Wrecker was stunned. He was used to being around people who had extra abilities like the brothers in his squad. Knowing that she did not have the use of two things he relied on so much had him feeling sad and very confused. “Yeah, but I’m talking to you. How do you know what I’m saying?”
“I can tell what you’re saying by watching the way your lips and tongue move when you’re talking. I can also tell you have a really deep voice. I can feel it through the table.”
Wrecker’s attitude changed quickly from sad to impressed. “Whoa! So, I don’t have to even talk?” He silently mouthed the rest of his question. “I can just do this and you can understand me?”
She smiled and nodded. “Yep. I kind of miss out on the vibrations through the table when you do that though.”
“That’s really neat! Having to type out everything has gotta be a drag though.”
She shook her head and then moved her hands and arms in front of her in what looked like a strange sort of dance. Wrecker’s eyes grew wide. He had no idea what was going on. She smiled at his look of bewilderment and again began typing feverishly. “I can use hand signs in Galactic Basic to communicate much faster, but the other person has to know what I’m doing. That’s why I have to use this pad around most people. What I just said to you was, ‘Your drink is empty. Can I get you another one?’”
His tone turned serious. “What’s the hand sign for ‘yes’?” She showed him, and he grinned as he signed it back to her.
“That was perfect! What are you drinking?” Wrecker told her, and she left for the bar with her pad to fetch a couple more drinks. When she returned, Wrecker made the same gesture she had made to him earlier after he retrieved her data pad for her. Her eyebrows shot to the ceiling.
“You just gave me the sign for ‘thank you’! How did you know that’s what I said earlier?”
Wrecker shrugged. “Oh, I just figured that’s what you were telling me before. It made sense.”
There was an excitement about her when she returned to her typing. “You catch on quick!”
Wrecker barked out a laugh. “I’ve had a lot of stuff said to me. That has never been one of ‘em.”
She looked back at him wistfully. “I know how it feels to be underestimated. Not being able to hear or speak usually makes people think that I’m stupid.” She suddenly rolled her eyes and slapped her palm into her forehead before resuming her lightning-fast typing. “Although at the moment I think maybe they’re right. I’ve been yakking away at you for a while now and I haven’t asked you what you do or even found out your name! Rude, huh?”
“I’m Wrecker," he announced happily. "I’m part of a special forces squad in the GAR. Mostly I just dismantle Separatist droids and blow things up.”
The woman raised her hands with a smile. She mouthed “Wrecker” and showed him how to form the letters of his name. He watched in full concentration and slowly mirrored the letters back.
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Meanwhile, the rest of the squad was busy downing their drinks and watching the comings and goings of the noisy cantina. Hunter shifted his attention from his drink to his brothers as he noticed the time. “Does anyone have eyes on Wrecker? He’s been gone for a while.”
Crosshair rose from his seat halfway and looked over to the other side of the cantina where he had seen the woman walk earlier. “I see him. He’s still with the woman he helped out before.”
Echo craned his neck to see what Crosshair was seeing, his voice taking on a tone of wonder as he spotted what Wrecker was doing. “Is he communicating with hand signals? He hates using hand signals!”
Tech stood as well and grinned proudly at what he saw. “He is indeed," he mused softly. "Well done, Wrecker."
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Wrecker practiced his name a few more times until he had it down perfectly. “How was that last one?”
“Flawless. You’re a natural at this!” She leaned over the table to slap him a well-earned five.
“You gonna tell me your name? I need something else to practice now.”
“It’s a short one. You won’t get much practice. My name is Ziri Kos.” She showed him the letters and he repeated them back with his large hands.
“Ziri,” Wrecker repeated. “I like it. So, what do you do when you’re not breaking noses?”
“I’m a freighter captain. My crew and I run supplies between Coruscant and a few planets in the mid-rim.” Her eyes narrowed for a moment at the chrono in the corner of her pad and then shot wide. She mouthed something Wrecker was fairly certain was an expletive and then began typing as quickly as she could. “I’m sorry. I need to go find my crew. We’re scheduled to depart in less than an hour!” She pulled a small disk from her pocket and put it in the side of her data pad, hitting a few keys before popping the disk back out to hand to Wrecker. “This was fun. I’d like to talk to you some more. Work on those hand signals and give me a comm sometime, okay?”
Wrecker nodded. Ziri stood quickly and walked around to his side of the table, giving him a hurried side hug followed by a quick wave and a smile. Wrecker rose from his seat and waved back as she disappeared into the crowd, then picked up his drink and slowly made his way back over to his brothers. They all looked up as he approached.
He shrugged. “She had to go. Seemed nice enough.” He held up the disk. “She gave me her comm channel. Hey, Tech—”
“Yes, Wrecker,” Tech interrupted with a grin. “I will be happy to help you work on your hand signals.”
Wrecker beamed. “Thanks, buddy.”