Title: Last Call
Fandom: Star Wars
Pairing: None
Rating: PG... possibly PG-13
Summary: Ben and his dad decide to spend some recoup time on the Errant Venture. Once there, they run into some old friends.
A/N: I know that Ben is only 17, but I'm imagining that the drinking age in the Star Wars Galaxy is pretty much 'Can you reach the counter.' Also, Ben is no ordinary kid.
My friend and I have placed the gambling age aboard the EV as 16.
Jade Shadow
Near Mygeeto
13:24 GST
"Hey, Dad!" Ben's voice called out from the cockpit of the Jade Shadow. "Can you come here a minute?"
Luke was leaning against the bulkhead of the kitchenette, eating suri fruit from a bowl. He took the bowl with him and went to see what Ben wanted.
"What's up, Ben?"
"Bad news first." He frowned slightly. "We're low on fuel, low on supplies, and you need to sleep for about four days, which is difficult when we have to take shifts like this."
"I'm imagining that you wouldn't be bringing all of this up unless you have a possible solution." Luke nodded, eating another handful of the tiny, red-orange fruits before offering the bowl to his son. Ben took a few for himself.
"Obviously. I'm a master strategist, after all." Ben shook his head, speaking with his mouth full.
"So what's the plan?"
"The Errant Venture." Ben grinned."I scanned neighboring systems, and it turns out that it's in orbit over Mygeeto, which happens to be about three hours away, if we jump to light-speed."
"How convenient." Luke raised an eyebrow. "So you're suggesting that we take some time off on Booster's luxury destroyer?"
"Hey, he said that we could crash sometime soon, and there's no way to say that it's any kind of Jedi facility. Plus, it would give you a chance to rest in a real bed. You need some sleep after what we've been doing lately. You can't just keep trancing yourself, Dad"
"Ben, I can keep this up for quite some time and you know it."
"Doesn't mean you should." Ben shrugged. "I think that you need to sleep for real. Plus, you have to admit that a few days on a luxury resort sound pretty good. We can refuel, restock, get some real food." He was wheedling now, but he didn't care. Real food sounded fantastic, and his father needed to rest.
Luke ate the last of the suri fruit, placing the bowl on a bulkhead while seemingly considering Ben's suggestion. The idea of a real bed and some good food did sound appealing.
Ben snorted. "Your emotions betray you, Dad."
"Well, I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to stop for a day or two."
Ben grinned widely.
"Excellent. I'll put in a call to Booster."
The Conquisto Suite
Errant Venture, Blue Diamond Level
17:00 GST
A few hours, and one enthusiastic greeting from Booster later, they were set up in a two-bedroom, luxury suite on the coveted Blue Diamond Level of the Errant Venture.
"Now, this is what I call living!" Ben leapt onto the plush sofa in the middle of the room. He stretched, exaggeratedly and gazed around the living area, tucking his hands behind his head.
"Don't get used to it." Luke shook his head, smiling. "We're only here for 36 hours, at the most. That gives me two days to rest and one for you and I to do all of the necessary repairs to the Shadow before we restock and move out."
"Three days, huh? That's fine with me." Ben nodded. "That's more than enough time to hit a few tapcafs, get a few real meals, and even test out some of those sabacc skills that Uncle Han and Lando are always teaching me."
"Yeah, well don't bet anything you can't afford to lose." Luke dropped into one of the overstuffed chairs opposite the sofa, resting his feet on an ottoman.
"Obviously. That's rule number one."
"Ah. Of course." Luke rested his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. He'd go to sleep now, but they would be ordering food soon. He'd have plenty of time for his coma afterwards. He was looking forward to some un-replicated food just as much as his son was, even if he hadn't given voice to the desire.
Just then, a chime sounded at the door. Ben jumped up. "What could Booster possibly be sending that we don't already have?" Luke spoke without opening his eyes.
"A girl." Ben's voice came from the door's direction. Luke snorted.
"In your dreams, Ben." He shook his head. "I'm quite certain that he didn't." He was, in actuality, less certain than he sounded.
"No, seriously, Dad. There's a girl out there." Ben typed the security code into the door-pad, and it slid open.
Luke opened his eyes and turned around, and was pleasantly surprised when Myri Antilles stepped through it.
"Myri!" Ben stepped forward, hugging the girl that was, for all intents and purposes, like a cousin to him.
"Benji!" She returned the hug enthusiastically before stepping forward to wave at Luke. "Hello, Luke."
"Myri." Luke stood, smiling.
"Don't think you get away without a hug, either." She crossed the room and wrapped Luke in a friendly embrace, as well. "I haven't seen either one of you in entirely too long." She broke from the hug to look Ben over. "You're almost a real person these days."
"I'm equal parts flattered and insulted." Ben sighed over dramatically, crossing his arms over his chest. Myri ruffled his hair.
"Please, have a seat, Myri." Luke gestured to the sofa where Ben had previously been reclining. She took him up on the offer and sat down, crossing long legs and tucking blonde-hair behind her ear. "What can we do for you?"
Ben dropped, ungracefully, onto the sofa next to Myri.
"When I heard that you and Ben were on board, I had to come and say hello. My Dad would never forgive me if he found out that I let you guys escape with anything less."
Luke smiled.
"No, I don't suppose that he would. You still dealing sabacc, then?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "I'm in between semesters at the Intel Academy, and Booster lets me come up here to deal whenever classes aren't in session."
"What's your dad think of that?" Luke couldn't imagine his old friend taking kindly to his daughter dealing cards in a casino. Especially not considering the uniforms that Booster generally insisted on for his sabacc dealers.
"Heh. He's coping with it." She shrugged. "I'm twenty-five now, Luke. It's not as if he's really got an option anymore."
"Twenty-five." Luke shook his head. "Force, I'm getting so very old."
"Heh. That's what Dad says." She snorted. "Anyway, I'm here to see if maybe Ben or yourself would be interested in hitting the tables. I'm under orders from Booster himself to spot you a couple of credits to get you into a game. I think he likes the idea of being able to tell people that famous fugitive Luke Skywalker and his son gambled on his ship."
Luke smiled.
"Not me, I'm afraid. I'm going to order room service, have a sanisteam about the length of the Old Republic, and then a nap that lasts twice that long." Luke stood. "Feel free to take Ben, though."
"Can't wait to get rid of me, huh?" Ben shook his head.
"Hey, you were the one itching to show off your sabacc moves, and we've just established that I'm not going to be any company."
"As though that's new." Ben snorted.
"Such disrespect." Luke shook his head. "But, I think you should go. You're long overdue for some young people kinds of fun." He directed his gaze toward Myri again. "I'm sure you have some suitably horrifying place on this ship that you can take my son to expose him to loud music and questionable activities."
"I think I can pull that off." Myri laughed. "I usually hit a club on Green level with a few friends from the tables. You up for it, Ben?"
"Well, I should stay here with Dad." He protested automatically. Luke held up a hand in protest.
"Nope. You're going out and having fun whether you like it or not."
"Man, you're tough." Ben sighed. "Fine. Lemme change first, though. And a sanisteam certainly wouldn't kill me."
"Fair enough." Myri stood smiling broadly at both occupants of the room. "I'll tell you what. You guys hang here, get some dinner, and change, freshen up, whatever. I start my shift at 1700 down in the Hot Streak casino on red level. It's down next to the Tough Break Lounge. Just ask someone if you get lost. I'm on duty from 1700 to about 23:00. Whenever my table gets light." She shrugged. "Just come down whenever. I'll save you a seat at my table."
"Sounds good." Ben nodded.
"Thanks, Myri. I'll sleep better knowing that my son isn't wandering around a luxury resort alone with Force knows what kind of scum."
"Exactly. Better the scum you know, right?" Myri headed to the door. She let herself out, calling behind her as the door closed. "See you later, Benji!"
"It's good to see Myri." Ben smiled, putting his feet up on the sofa again. "I haven't seen her and Syal in way too long."
"Yes, it's nice to be reminded how old I am by someone else's kid for once." Luke sighed. "So, what do you say we peruse the room service menu. I could eat about a whole gundark myself."
"Heh. Wimp. I'm going for bantha."
"Good plan."
Hot Streak Casino
Errant Venture, Red Level
20:00
20:00 found Ben fed, clean, and in clothing a little more informal than what his Jedi training usually demanded. A light green tunic over tan trousers.
At much convincing from his father, he'd left his lightsaber in the room. Luke seemed to think that a low profile was a good idea, but Ben had a hold-out blaster tucked into one boot and his mother's vibroblade in the other.
He found the Hot Streak Casino without much trouble. He entered, scanned for skifters and other cheating aides by a scanner droid at the door. He stifled a laugh at the idea that, if he really desired to cheat, a skifter would be the best he could manage.
Myri's table wasn't hard to find. It had the largest crowd gathered around it. Ben noted that the crowd seemed to be composed of nearly all men, although he suspected that the few women gathered there had the same intent, and it wasn't necessarily just to play cards.
Her face lit up when Ben sat down at the only empty seat at her table.
"Heya, Benji! I knew you'd find your way down here eventually, but I have to admit, I was beginning to think you weren't coming."
A Devaronian standing with the crowd of people gathered around Myri's table spoke up.
"You were holding a seat for this runt?" He snorted derisively. "What in the worlds for? Isn't it past his bedtime?"
A few of his compatriots laughed, and Ben felt his ears turn red, instantly hating himself for it. He took a few deep breaths, using the Force to return them to their normal color.
"I'm holding the space at Booster Terrik's personal request, sir." Myri spoke calmly and steadily. "If you have a problem with that, you're more than welcome to attempt to take it up with him. Although, I should warn you, he doesn't take kindly to questions about his personal friends."
This answer seemed to pacify the horned alien, and he moved off to another table to ogle another dealer.
Ben fished into his pocket, taking out the handful of credits he'd decided he could spare for this game. He called over a cashier droid, and fed it the credits. A few moments later, the droid spit out his modest amount of chips.
"What's the ante?" Ben asked, separating his chips, by colour, into neat stacks. Myri pushed another stack of black chips, nearly 200 credits worth, in his direction before she answered.
"These are from Booster. He said to make sure you got them." She grinned. "And the ante is 75."
"All right." Ben placed a blue chip on the table. "I'm in."
The game continued for several hours, and Ben discovered that he really had been paying pretty decent attention to Uncle Han. While he'd lost a few hands here and there, he was amassing a pretty nice little pile of chips.
A chime rang through the casino.
"All right, everyone." Myri spoke up cheerfully. "You know what that means. This is the last hand before the table changes dealers." She dealt the cards.
Ben lost that hand, too. In his defense, he had no idea that the Twi'lek next to him had Pure Sabacc, or he'd have taken his Idiot's Array and gone home.
After the droid had changed Ben's chips back into money, Myri appeared at his side, smiling.
"So, how'd you make out, Ben? Didn't seem too painful."
"I did pretty well, actually." Ben tucked the credits back into his pocket. "Came out about 275 ahead."
"Well done!" Myri threw her arms around his shoulders. "That calls for a drink!"
The Last Call Cantina
Errant Venture, Green Level
23:45
They ended up in some cantina, on another level, called the Last Call. Myri had taken him through a complicated series of turbolifts and corridors, and he could have found his way back if he'd had to, but he really wasn't sure which level of the massive Star Destroyer they were on.
"This is a staff cantina." Myri explained, waving to a human girl and two twi'leks that were sitting at a booth along the far wall. They headed in their direction. "You can relax, here. Booster doesn't like his staff carousing in front of the paying customers. I'll introduce you to my friends."
Ben nodded. As she moved towards the table, a human male, with blonde hair, standing at the bar, saw Myri and smiled. He nudged another guy standing beside him, and they both moved towards the table, too.
"Hey, Antilles!" The blonde called out.
"Hey, Markum!" She answered, grinning.
When they arrived at the booth, she slid into a chair in front of the table, gesturing to Ben to take a seat as well. He sat down.
"Who's the kid?"
"I know who he is." One of the twi'lek girls spoke up. Ben looked in her direction and then spent the next few moments trying to figure out where exactly to look. Lando's advice of 'If it's on display, then it's probably safe to look' rung in his mind. "He's from the holonews." She smiled at him, and he felt himself somehow remember to smile back. "You're Ben Skywalker."
So much for any sort of low profile.
"Nice to meet you all." Ben nodded.
"I'm Air'el." She gestured to the other twi'lek girl. "That's Kra'yle, and the brunette over there is Madra."
"Hi." The brunette girl gave him a small wave, while the other twi'lek girl merely nodded in his direction. Her focus seemed to be on the blonde man that had greeted Myri.
"I'm Markum." He extended a hand to Ben, which he took. He pointed to the dark-haired man he'd brought with him to the table. "This is Drex."
"Hey." Drex jerked his chin in greeting and Ben nodded back.
"Hi."
"So what're we drinking?" Air'el stood, extricating herself from the booth and giving everyone on Ben's side of the table quite the eyeful in what he wasn't sure was an unintentional maneuver.. Myri, apparently noticing Ben's line of vision, snorted and leaned down to mutter in his ear.
"Air'el's not exactly what we call shy." She turned and spoke to her friend. "I think that Ben here will have..." She thought about it for a minute. "Ben, you ever have lomin ale?"
"Nope." He shook his head.
"Get him one of those. I'll have my usual."
"One lomin ale and one Adumarian Twister coming right up." Air'el smiled and turned to the rest of the table. "You guys?"
She got the orders from the rest of the group and moved to the bar to get the drinks.
"Shouldn't I give her money or something?" Ben asked, going to reach into his pocket. Myri shook her head.
"Nope. Employees drink for free. Terrik rules."
"Wow. That's nice of him."
"He figures that employees who get a chance to wet their whistle on a regular basis are less likely to siphon credits from the card tables."
"That makes sense."
"Yeah. I figure that giving some kind of logical explanation makes his employees not realize that Booster is a giant softie." She smiled. "He doesn't know that I'm on to him."
At that point, Air'el returned to the table with the drinks balanced neatly on a tray.
"There she is!" Drex wrapped an arm around her waist as she put them tray down on the table. She jerked away from him quickly, but the smile on her face softened any malice in the gesture.
"Watch the hands, Drex. Antilles will get jealous."
Ben turned his head to Myri and noticed a faint blush tinge her cheeks. He spoke to her in a low tone.
"Are you guys--" He gestured vaguely. She shook her head.
"Nothing serious. On again, off again, like." She shrugged.
"Got it." Ben nodded.
The Last Call Cantina
Errant Venture, Green Level
02:37 GST
Ben dropped back into his seat at the booth. Myri grinned at him from where she sat on the other side, with Drex's arm draped across her shoulders. Ben guessed they were on-again. Ben felt as though his head was disproportionate in weight to the rest of his body, and he was having a harder and harder time remembering how to put one foot in front of the other. He couldn't place the feeling, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he was probably drunk.
It was fun.
"Hey, Skywalker. You and Are'il were really cutting a rug out there." Myri passed him a his current, half-full bottle of lomin ale, and he took a healthy swig.
"I like her." He nodded, probably too enthusiastically. "She's nice." He was vaguely aware of his words slurring a bit.
"Maybe you should take it easy, there." Myri gestured towards his bottle. "How many of those have you had?"
"Counting this one?"
"Yeah."
"One and..." Ben turned his head to look at the bottle. "About a half."
"Wow." Myri dissolved into snickers. "Skywalker, you are the king of the cheap dates."
"Shuttup." Ben scowled. "My mom gave me bunches of good genes. It's not her fault that this one came from Dad."
"Heh. Yeah it did." Myri nodded. "My Dad has told me stories."
"Don't tell me." Ben shook his head violently, and then steadied his arm across the back of the booth as the motion made him dizzy. "I can't afford to lose any more respect for him."
Myri giggled.
At that point, Are'il appeared behind Ben, draping exceptionally rare, turquoise-tinted arms around his shoulders.
"Hey. You said you'd be right back. If I'm dancing for free, I'm definitely not doing it alone, Jedi."
"Okay." Ben nodded, standing and following Are'il obediently, albeit slightly unsteadily, to the dance floor.
Myri snickered again, settling down against Drex's side and downing the rest of her Twister.
The Conquisto Suite
Errant Venture, Blue Diamond Level
08:15 GST
Luke Skywalker awoke feeling incredibly refreshed. He hadn't slept in earnest in quite some time, and the feeling of a real bed had been nothing but helpful to the cause. In fact, he hadn't even heard Ben come in last night, although a brief probe with the Force indicated that his son was, in fact back in the suite.
The Jedi Master stretched, standing and moving into the living room of the suite. Some caf was precisely he needed, and he figured that, whatever state his son had returned to the room in, he would probably need some, too.
His journey to the kitchenette complete, Luke turned, preparing to go back into his room until the caf was ready, but the sight before him stopped him in his tracks.
His son was lying in the living room. His body was half-on, half-off the sofa, his head and shoulders sprawled on the floor. Luke didn't see how it could conceivably be comfortable, and chuckled quietly to himself.
The caf machine beeped softly and Luke moved back to the kitchenette, pouring two mugs of the dark liquid. Doctoring his appropriately, he moved back towards Ben, and once he was standing in front of his son's prostrate form again, a slight nudge with the Force sent the teen's legs sliding off of the couch and onto the floor.
Blue eyes blinked blearily open. Ben groaned.
"I hate you."
"Hate leads to suffering." Luke reminded, handing his son his caf. "Besides, you shouldn't talk that way to someone who made you caf."
"Okay," Ben sat up, wincing at the motion. "I guess you're not the worst father ever."
"No. I can definitely think of worse." Luke grinned wryly.
"Well, maybe you're not the best test audience for that one."
"I'd say not, no." Luke sipped his caf. "You all right?"
"Barely." Ben sat back against the sofa, not bothering to raise himself up to sit on it quite yet. Luke took a seat on one of the armchairs.
"You have fun?"
"Too much, I think." Ben rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. "I don't really remember."
"Well, as far as I can remember, that means that Han is about to lie to you about what actually went on." Luke shrugged.
"Or, in my case, Myri Antilles."
"Yeah, she'd definitely lie to you." Luke nodded, and then suddenly grinned. "Although, looking at you, I don't think there'd be much of a need to lie."
"What're you talking about?" Ben looked down. His tunic was slightly unbuttoned, and untucked from his trousers, but otherwise, he looked all right. A bit wrinkled, but otherwise fine.
"I'm guessing that you weren't attacked by some sort of vampire on your way back here." Luke smirked into his caf and Ben scrambled up, heading for his room with sudden enthusiasm.
"Aw, man." Ben came back into the living area shortly, carrying a pocket mirror, and holding it to observe the rather obvious evidence to which his father referred. He looked to his father sheepishly "Can you get rid of those?"
"At the risk of horrifying you with my possession of this knowledge, yes." Luke shrugged. "It's a bruise like any other, really. You can trance it away fairly easily."
Ben grimaced.
"Yeah. You're right. I'm horrified." He put down the mirror and picked up his caf again. "I could have lived the rest of my life without knowing that my father has tranced away hickeys."
"You know, Ben, the Jedi have a saying." Luke took another sip of caf. "Don't ask questions to which you don't really want to know the answer."
"Uncle Han has a saying like that." Ben sat down heavily, resting head against the back of the sofa and closing his eyes.
"Oh?"
"Be careful how deep you fly. Sometimes, it's no cave."
Luke let out a bark of laughter followed up with an apologetic smile when Ben cringed at the volume.
"That sounds like Han."
Ben levered himself off of the sofa.
"Well, I'm going to go take a sanisteam. Then, maybe, some breakfast. Then, I'll be ready to do some of the work on the Shadow that we need to do."
"Sounds fine." Luke nodded.
"Hey, Dad. I--" Luke cut Ben off with a wave of his hand. He could feel his son's guilt through the Force.
"Ben, don't worry about it. I sent you off to have a good time, and a good time you had. At least, I assume."
Ben flushed slightly.
"Yeah. I think I did."
"Well, good. I fully expect you to have other good times while we're out here. We need to relax once in a while. You were right. This was a good idea."
"Good." Ben smiled, and Luke returned it.
Ben headed into the 'fresher, and Luke remained in the living room wondering when his son grew up without his permission.