The Bar Fight (Short Story)

The following story is inspired by This Prompt, released in The World Building Community.

Source

       Dux on Jex was quiet, or at least as quiet as it usually was on a mid-week night.
       There was music in the main bar, some off-world group playing the sort of tunes that was considered the new big thing; or at least some semblance of what the new big thing on their home-world was. They could have been banging rocks together and beating the hell out of scrap for all Tal knew.
       Music was never his thing and at that, it was never the driving force to get him to go to a bar. No, tonight the main reason for coming to this dump was to celebrate a new contract; a contract that was bound to bring in plenty of FSTs.
       Shipping goods from one side of Free Space to the other wasn't all it was cracked up to be, in a way Tal felt like little more than a delivery man. For the right price though, it was worth the trouble - and the idea of meeting new people and spending some time on other worlds was a bonus.
       The new contact was someone called Ember, she was a Jex native, large of frame, with a purple tint to her skin and she was loud; being heavy on her feet made her approach known, and she had a tendency to bellow, especially when she laughed. Upon hearing her first booming fit, Tal made a careful note not to tell any jokes or crack any wise in her company.

       Tal leaned on the bar, with more weight than he would have typically used. The drinks had taken their toll on him, and the way things were going tonight, he wasn't about to let that slow him down. He launched himself back, meaning to raise a hand to attract a bartender when he felt himself collide with something - or someone.
       He turned lazily, about to apologize when he saw a Trisken trip backward, stumbling and staggering as they tried to catch themselves in mid-flight. In the process of tripping up, the Trisken didn't notice a waitress carrying a tray of drinks, and she didn't notice him until it was too late. The tray went flying, drinks crashed to the ground, and the liquid sprayed on everyone in the vicinity. The Doshan and the Trisken landed in a heap on the floor. Tal stared at the mess on the ground, unable to do anything about it, but unable to look away. The Trisken stared at him from his resting position among the clutter, knowing the truth, and no doubt the alien was about to start pointing fingers or throwing fists.

       Erratic jumping caught Tal's attention, and he turned his gaze beyond the spill on the floor to a Zun Kullen holding his face and going nuts. The guy was surrounded by a few friends, who tried to calm him down, but he wouldn't drop his hand - after a few moments, he finally did, revealing blood; glass splinters. It was right then that Tal knew it was time to leave.
       The Trisken jumped up, and started directly for Tal, most likely, he was ready for a scrap. Luckily, the Zun Kullens friends grabbed the Trisken first. They exchanged some heated words, and the Trisken seemed to point a finger, then, without warning, one of the Zun Kullens threw a punch, one that nearly knocked the alien off his feet.

       While the commotion was taking place, a small group was walking past, oblivious to what had just happened, and each of them slipped in the liquid, one after the other.
       Once they settled on the floor, they started helping each other up, but one of the group wasn't moving, until they saw why. It was a human, who seemed to have hit its head pretty hard; hard enough to draw blood. Picking their friend up, one of the men left the scene to come to the bar beside Tal.
       The man banged so hard on it that Tal thought the vibrations would have knocked him off balance.
       "What do you call this? My friend is badly hurt, and look at this!" The man shouted while grabbing his shirt. "This is new! I just bought it today, look at these stains!" He continued to complain.

       Tal stared over his shoulder, at Dux himself watching what was happening, almost ignoring the complaining human standing in front of him.
       Wondering what Dux was looking at, Tal turned, to see that the small fight had turned into a brawl as more people seemed to get involved. He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he had seen a chair flying through the air in the background.
       Turning back to the one-sided argument taking place beside him, he saw that Dux wasn't happy, and had no time for the human. After a moment, the human must have realised he was being ignored and tried to grab Dux's shirt. Bad move. Tal didn't know Dux that well, he was always quiet, but never seemed shy.
       Dux stared at the human's hand, and within an instant grabbed, twisted, and had the human pinned and yelping in pain. He could have left it there, and the human may have submitted and left the bar, but going one stage further Dux snapped the arm - the human's face distorted and he landed on the ground below the bar writhing in pain.

       Tal watched the man for a moment and then raised his eyes back to Dux who stared at him. Tal, not wanting any trouble raised a hand to him, as if to say, "It's not my business." That seemed to satisfy Dux enough to turn back to the trouble in the bar.
       Without any warning, the owner unholstered a pistol and let off three shots in the air, and as everything went silent, he let off another to be sure he had everyone's attention.
       All eyes were on him, and he slowly put his weapon on the counter.
       "If you want to fight, go out on the street. Don't do it here." He said quietly.
       After the owner finished speaking, Tal looked out at the bar, and everyone was frozen in time - bar the few drunken wobbles. Soon, they all dispersed and went back to normal.