Chapter 4: Five of Coins

"The Five of Coins reflects negatively on your finances, relationships, employment, or any or all of these. You may be headed for a financial loss, or faced with a duplicitous or unfaithful person. Worry, scarcity, and inadequacy are all indicated here. You need to prioritize ruthlessly, which may mean letting go of something that is important to you in order to achieve your greater goals."
—Lunira, The Sacred Jhabacc: Foretelling the Future


It was cold, and dark, and wet.

That couldn't be right. This was Tatooine, all hot suns and dry deserts. How could it be so cold in here? And where was all this water coming from?

It puddled on the floor and seeped from the walls, soaking into his clothes. Kolyat shivered uncontrollably, long past the point of tears, hungry and thirsty and numb and cold. Where was Father?

He'd been here, hadn't he? There'd been some kind of commotion, he wasn't sure how long ago, and all but one of the guards had gone running. Kolyat had had a moment of wild hope that Father had come to rescue him. But then everything had gone quiet, and soon he'd heard a voice over the guard's commlink. The voice had spoken Huttese, which Kolyat didn't understand, but in the next moment, the door to his cell had crashed open. The last guard, a Gamorrean with his tusks bared in a terrifying grin, had advanced on him slowly, swinging his vibro-axe.

Though he'd tried to be brave until then, he had sobbed like a baby at that point, certain that he was going to die, just like Mother. But at the last instant, the voice had burst from the commlink again, and the guard had stopped short and shuffled reluctantly out of the cell, slamming the door behind him.

Kolyat had remained huddled in the corner ever since, too terrified to move, as the memories played over and over in his mind.

The look on Mother's face makes me cold. It's hard not to cry, but she puts her hand over my mouth as she pushes me into the closet. "Stay in here," she says, and I can hear it in her voice—she's scared. It makes me scared, too. "Don't come out, no matter… no matter what you hear." She's crying. Oh, Gods, she's crying! "Don't move. Don't make a sound. No matter what. Promise me, Kolyat. Say it!"

I nod. I have to be strong. "I—I promise. No matter what." I don't sound strong. I can't breathe.

She kisses my forehead, and I cling to her. "Whatever happens," she whispers, "remember that I love you!"

"No!" Kolyat shrieked, shoving away from the wall as he tore himself out of the memory. Terror gripped him anew, ripping through his mind like an endless scream. He paced back and forth across the tiny cell, hands fisted on either side of his head. He stomped through the puddles, hearing the splash, smelling the putrid reek, letting it soak his shoes and turn his stomach. He stared hard at the ripples he made, watching the patterns that were barely visible in the dim light. He clenched his teeth until he thought they might break.

Anything to keep himself grounded in the here and now. Anything to keep that memory away.

It was only when the guard outside started banging on the door that he realized the siren-like wail wasn't just in his head, but coming from his own mouth.


The skies of Terminus were filled with ships of every description. At the intersection of the Corellian Trade Spine and the Hydian Way, the planet was the largest shipping center in the Outer Rim, drawing trade from Hutt space, the Empire, even the Unknown Regions and Wild Space. It was said that no two vessels were ever the same, though Thane had long since learned that was an exaggeration. He'd taken more than one contract here over the years, and could recognize some of the strange ships and stranger people that frequented this place.

And like any other major hub, it wasn't without its seedy underbelly. It seemed Captain Solo's contact had set himself up in what had to be the most disreputable establishment within ten kilometers of the spaceport: a noisy, gaudily appointed casino called Flin's.

Just inside the doors, Solo spoke briefly with one of the bouncers, who gestured toward the back of the room with a jerk of his chin. Thane suppressed a cough as they wended their way through the crowd, the smoke of various substances irritating and making him slightly dizzy. Raucous music blared over the combined din of the games, conversations, and arguments that threatened to devolve into all-out fights. Every one of the patrons was armed, few bothering to conceal their weapons. This place was a step up from Mos Eisley—barely—and Thane stayed on high alert. Solo, too, kept his hand near his blaster, and Chewbacca growled at anyone who looked their way.

In contrast to the brightly lit gaming tables at the front of the house, the bar toward the back was cloaked in shadows. Here was where the intrigue happened, and here was where the danger lay. It was the same the galaxy over. Thane could feel the eyes on him here, evaluating him, trying to decide if he was predator or prey.

It never took them long to decide. Of course, in this case, being in the company of a surly Wookiee couldn't hurt matters, either.

Captain Solo, for his part, was doing a credible job of looking casual as he scanned the room for his contact. But it was Charade who found him first.

"Over here, Solo." The voice came from a booth set back into the shadows, and belonged to a man wearing a hood pulled up to conceal his face and shuffling a deck of cards. He spoke softly, barely audible over the din of the bar, so while his voice sounded familiar, Thane couldn't place it immediately. "Here for a game? What're we playing for tonight?"

Solo slid into the seat across from him. Thane hung back with Chewbacca, more than content to stand guard, but Solo gestured for him to sit, as well. "Charade, I want you to meet a… business partner of mine," he said, glancing at Thane before returning his gaze to the hooded figure. "This here is—"

Charade interrupted him before he could finish. "Thane Krios!" he exclaimed, altogether too loudly, and Thane winced in dismay. He had planned to use an alias in his dealings with this man; to be recognized by a stranger was… disconcerting, to say the least. But then Charade threw back his hood, and Thane found himself faced not with a stranger after all.

It had been several years since they'd last met, and in that time, the man now calling himself "Charade" had acquired a new scar on his cheek and a dramatic streak of white in his now shoulder-length black hair. He had shaved his beard, and was dressed far less flamboyantly than he had in the past, though his attire was by no means shabby. His brown eyes were bloodshot, and though he appeared coherent, he positively reeked of alcohol.

"Zandr." Thane spoke quietly, pointedly offering the courtesy Charade had not. "It has been some time."

Charade fumbled the deck, spraying cards all over the table as he waved his hands frantically. "Don't say that name!" he hissed, glancing uneasily around the crowded room. "You tryin' to get me killed? I hadda burn that handle years ago."

"Of course," Thane replied evenly. "My apologies."

Solo leaned forward, looking from Thane to Charade and back with a raised eyebrow. "You two know each other?" he demanded.

"Indeed." Thane kept his gaze fixed on Charade, who fidgeted uncomfortably. "Captain Solo, might I have a word?"

"Uh… sure." Solo caught Chewbacca's eyes and nodded once. The Wookiee folded his hairy arms and took a step closer to the table, effectively blocking Charade in as Thane and Solo drew back out of earshot. "What's the problem, Krios?"

Thane glanced back at Charade, to see him grinning uneasily up at Chewbacca as he gathered up the scattered cards. "He cannot be trusted."

"No kidding," Solo snorted, shaking his head. "Tell me something I don't know. But unless you got any better ideas…?"

"I still have contacts within the Illuminated Primacy," Thane suggested. "Spies and saboteurs working for the Compact, all accomplished slicers. They would be more than capable of seeing to our needs, with no connection whatsoever to the Hutt cartels."

"Kahje's on the other side of the galaxy. You think Jabba's gonna wait while we fly all the way to Hanar space and back?" Solo demanded. "You're kidding yourself, buddy. There ain't time for that." He sighed. "Look, I don't like it, either, but this is the best chance we've got."

Thane gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Arashu, preserve us. "Very well. I hope you know what you're doing, Captain."

"Hey, it's me." Solo flashed him a toothy grin. "I got this." Returning to their table, he said, "Ease up, Chewie, he's not goin' anywhere. Right, Charade?"

Charade gave a nervous chuckle as Chewbacca reluctantly stepped back with a growl. "Yeah, no, I got nowhere else to be. We good?"

"'Course we are," Solo reassured him, all fake friendliness. "Right, Krios?"

Thane nodded curtly. "We will play your game, Charade. Time is too short, and my mission too urgent, to allow our… history to become a problem."

Eyes wide, Charade shook his head. "No, not a problem."

"Great," said Solo. Thane hoped that would be the end of it, but Han was too curious. "So, how'd you guys meet, anyway?"

"I hired Thane to do a job for me a ways back," Charade began before Thane could deflect the question. "It was, what, two years ago? Three?"

"Six," said Thane dryly. Perhaps the man was more intoxicated than he'd initially appeared.

"That long, huh? Shit." Charade shook his head, grinning sheepishly. "It kinda runs together some. Anyway, there was this guy, Elvidar Thisprie, real high roller, big-time sabacc player. Only guy in the sector who could beat me. 'Cept he couldn't, really—he was a cheat. Swindled me outta more money than I wanna think about before I caught on. But when I called him on it, he tried to threaten me. Threatened my mother." He bared his teeth in a grimace. "Who does that? Go after a guy's mother? So I swore I'd get rid of him before he could touch her. Couldn't do it m'self, of course, so I hired the best."

"However, he failed to inform me at the time that Commander Thisprie was an officer of the Imperial Navy," Thane interrupted. "An omission that altered the parameters of the assignment rather dramatically." He fixed Charade with a stare that had the satisfying effect of making him swallow hard and shrink back in his seat a little. Good. Solo didn't need to know all the sordid details of that particular story. "I trust that, should we win tonight's wager, the information you provide will be more complete?"

Charade blinked in surprise at being so abruptly cut off, but Thane soon had the uneasy impression he knew exactly why he'd done so. Regaining some of his bravado, he answered with a toothy grin as he straightened and dealt them each two cards. "Depends on the game, don't it?"


Author's Note: The "history" between Thane and Charade will be explored in all its sordid details in the prequel to this fic, "Chance and Hazard"!