Disclaimer: I don't own the Star Wars 'verse or Knights of the Old Republic, I'm just borrowing for a little bit.

ENDAR SPIRE 1.1 - Play'n with the big boys

A haze of cigar smoke drifted above the Pazaak table and the smell of strong liquor permeated the air around them. Music played in the background to add to the ambient noise of laughter and camaraderie.

She had come here to forget about the hard day, and drown her anger and frustration with laughter, liquor and a lot of credits.

"Oh Frack me…Bust!" moaned Wolfstar, as he folded his cards and conceded defeat.

Asha grinned from beneath her fan of Pazaak cards, and ruffled Wolfstar's hair, "You're play'n with the big boys now Wolfy and you gotta learn. If you mess with the best… Striker." Asha pointed a cigar toting finger at one of the pilots to finish the line.

"You burn like the rest." Striker finished.

"Hoooyah!" Asha concurred as she raised her shot glass and clinked it with her shipmates, then downed the vile liquid.

"Ahk" she slammed the shot glass on the counter and winced as her eyes watered and she fought the instinct to reject the fluid. "Stuff has bite!" she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue as if to vent out fumes then placed a cigar in her mouth as she raked in her winnings. "Maybe you should go back to playing with the green horns." Asha teased.

A chorus of 'Oooohs' ensued, followed by jovial laughter.

"So who's next." She challenged.

"You're all talk Angel." Came a gruff voice in challenge. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Taaz!" Asha beamed, "Like my jacket?"

"Looks like Striker's." Taaz commented as he sat down at the Pazaak table.

"Was." Asha corrected as she grinned and cast a sideways glance at Striker who had lost his jacket in an earlier game.

"Looks good on you." Taaz smiled as he looked at Striker.

"Yes victory suits me doesn't it?"

"The glum dress of defeat suits you better." Taaz grinned devilishly.

"Put your money where your mouth is flyboy and we'll see." Asah flashed a wily smile and threw in her ante. "Hey Dizz, how much we got so far from these green boys." Asha asked her Rodian pilot who was seated at her side counting her winnings.

Dizzy answered something back in Rodesian and Asha laughed, "I think a Hutt would need more than that to retire, but it's a start."

"Quit gab'n already and start play'n." Taaz taunted.

"Your funeral." Asha smiled then started off the game with a 6.

"So you gonna cough it up or what?" Taaz finally broke the intense silence of the card game.

"Cough up what my winnings?" Asha smirked over her fan of cards. "Earn it flyboy, there's no free ride with me." She flipped a 4.

"I'm talking about the CAG." Taaz elaborated. "I heard after your little lover's tiff on the hanger deck that you got called in."

Asha snorted at Taaz's description of the incident earlier that day. "That man's got a serious hate on for me."

"Gee I wonder why?" Taaz asked sarcastically as he flipped a 3. "Could be that you 'stole' the Pathfinder, took it out on a 'joyride', then got yourself in a school yard fight with the Sith. I don't know any CAG in the Republic that would hate you for that."

"That was an over exaggeration." Asha said defensively.

The men around the table chuckled recounting the day's events that Asha had wanted to put behind her.

"Look I didn't 'steal' the Pathfinder. I volunteered to take the ship out on a dry run to test out its control systems. I figured what better way than to take it out to slip stream and scout out some hyper space routes. That is what the Pathfinder was created for."

"Except that wasn't part of the test run and you didn't bother to inform the CAG and he kinda hates being left in the dark." Taaz said.

"Yeah, that and disobeying a direct order." Striker chuckled in the sidelines.

"Are you saying I should have left you behind to die?" Asha glared. "Ingrate!"

"Hey, hey, hey I'm grateful Angel don't get me wrong." Striker waved his hands up in submission. "I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you and Dizzy here. I'm just saying that the CAG hates when his orders are ignored."

"Fine, next time he calls I'll leave you to take the missile up the ass." Asha flashed a beguiling smile at Striker and winked to show that she was teasing.

"You're a brutal mistress Angel." Striker teased back.

"Bust!" Taaz called out when Asha flipped a card to turn her 17 to a 23.

"Damn it Striker!" Asha cursed. "You're bad luck. Don't talk to me."

"I didn't lose it for you Angel, you did."

Asha rolled her eyes and shuffled her deck to prep for the next game. She flipped a 2 this time to start the game off.

"Seriously Angel, what'd the CAG say." Taaz flipped a 9.

Asha sighed, he wasn't going to let it slide. "He said pretty much the same thing he said to me in the hanger bay only with a lot less yelling." She flipped over a 10 and winced.

"And-" Taaz continued then flipped a 2.

"And we discussed my Intel on the Sith tracking us and debated over my new hyperspace route."

"Debated?" Taaz asked skeptically.

"Ugh, alright! The Hutt'un wouldn't even consider the new hyperspace route." She grumbled as she turned over a 3 to make her count a 15.

"I wouldn't be calling the CAG a Hutt'un." Taaz grinned even larger. "Some of us actually do understand Mando'a and a Hutt'un the CAG is not."

"He refused to even look at my trajectories and calculations when it could be the difference between having the Sith find us or losing them in the Gauntlet." Asha pouted, slightly miffed.

"The Gauntlet?!" Taaz's eyes widened. "Angel are you nuts? That place is brimming with black holes and crazy gravitational fields."

"A fact that would make it near impossible for the Sith to follow us."

"Yeah because it's a death trap, hence the term running the Gauntlet. We'd be pulverized." Taaz countered.

"I found a route that would take us through it with relative safety."

"Relative safety? I don't think so. No one's been known to make it past the Gauntlet safely."

"Well I just did and so can the Endar Spire." Asha insisted.

"What you're gonna have Dizzy here take the Spire's helm to guide us through the Guantlet?" Taaz asked. "Forget it Angel, you're a good scout, but I'm with the CAG. It's too dangerous…and you just lost." He said as he revealed a -2 card to get him to 20 beating her 19.

Asha's lips tightened; she hated being told she was wrong and most of all she hated losing. "Hutt'un." She sulked.

Taaz laughed along with the rest of them and raked in his winnings. "Last run Angel. I'm gonna clean you out." He taunted as he shuffled his deck.

"Don't count on it."

Carth Onasi CAG of the Endar Spire stepped into the Common Room for a little RnR; today was a particularly trying day, for him. The new recruit was quickly becoming the bane of his existance and their last encounter went about as frustratingly well as the Hanger deck incident. He had just entered the room when he noticed the commotion at a near by table. The room brimmed with spectators as Taaz and and the new recriut dueled it out at the Pazaak table.

A young cadet filled him in on the action when he approached. Apparently both players had taken two games each from one another before he entered the scene and now they were at the final run, it was all or nothing. The recruit had lost the last two hands straight, so she decided to bet it all to the crowd's chagrin.

Carth moved in closer to get a better view of the game.

Taaz drew up a 4 which put him at 19; ahead of Asha's 17, Taaz called out "Stand."

Asha drummed her fingers on the table and gazed at the deck of cards, then at the pile of credits. She had one card left in her hand; she was gonna ride on dumb luck.

"Just quit already…you've lost." Taaz said.

"No guts, no glory." Asha chimed, though her stomach was in a twist at the possibility of losing; but her instincts told her that she should draw from the main deck and if it was one thing life had taught her it was to always listen to her instincts.

"Hit me." Asha said decisively.

"9!" Taaz called out, clapped this hands together and pointed at Asha, "That makes your total a lousy 26…Sorry Angel. You caught a bad run."

Asha's face was stoic and she stared at the cards before her silently as the crowd around the table laughed and mulled over the game; it was all a din of noise to her droning in the background.

From the sidelines Carth Onasi watched, amused at how the scout's smug smile suddenly vanished with a sudden sense of bewilderment and surprise; as if she could not believe what just happened.

"Come to Daddy little ones." Taaz said as he reached for the winnings grinning from ear to ear.

His movement was halted by a slender hand that braced his forearm. Asha slowly revealed the last remaining card in her hand, a +/-6 that she had flipped to use the -6 and made her card count a 20 beating Taaz's 19.

Amber eyes met the blue green of Taaz, as a sly smile crept her lips, "Who's the daddy now?"

The crowd erupted into laughter as Asha sat back cigar in mouth, teeth bared in a grin.

Taaz released his hold on the pot and swore profusely at his ill luck as Asha beamed and the others laughed around them.

"Dizz, wanna get us another one o these..." Asha shook an empty shot glass and made a gesture with her finger around the table. "for everyone here…I think I can afford it." She smiled at Taaz triumphantly.

"A little late to be drinking isn't it Recruit."

Asha looked up and nearly fell off her chair as the CAG stood before her at the table.

"It's allowed." Asha answered calmly. "We're off duty."

"So am I." Carth smiled in an attempt to be cordial.

"Off duty?" Asha commented flippantly. "Is there even such a thing with you…'Sir'?"

Carth smirked at the scout's jest as she emphasized the word 'Sir' a reminder of his earlier chastisement of her that day. "Glad to see your manners have improved some since last we 'talked'."

"Yes 'Sir'." She replied as she shuffled her deck and followed through with a mumbled sentence in Rhodesian that caused Dizzy her pilot to kick her beneath the table and cast a side-long chastising glance.

Carth's smiled content to get under the new recruit's skin. "Is this a private table or can anyone join in the game." He asked.

"It's open as long as you got a deck." Asah replied coolly as she collected her winnings not making eye contact with the man.

"Well I uh-"

"Use mine Sir." Striker offered and slapped down his Pazaak deck before the CAG.

"Thanks." Carth replied and sat himself down in front of Asha.

Asha arched a brow as she eyed Striker, then turned to the CAG sitting before her, "You're using Striker's deck?" she shrugged as she shuffled the cards, "Your funeral."

"Ever play before?"

"Once or twice." Carth confessed as he shuffled his loaned deck, "What's the minimum-"

"A hundred fifty creds." Asha shot out quickly, "This isn't a training table." To hers and everyone else's surprise, Carth placed down the bet without even flinching.

"Damn." Asha puffed at her cigar in awe, "Check out all the feathers…CAG salary must be good." She nodded to Dizzy who put out 150 from her winnings.

"It's respectable." Carth replied and opened the game with a 9.

"Yeah, sure it is." Asha smirked, "Any other 'perks' of the job...other than blowing your lid at new recruits that is." She opened with a 7.

"Why that's the high light of my day." Carth commented sarcastically as he drew an 8. "The rest is long hours training recruits, scheduling refueling lines, strike rosters, patrol rosters, managing supply runs, meetings with the hanger crew, the Brass…"

"Well that explains it." She drew a 10.

"Explains what?" He drew a card; a 7, then placed down a -4 to bring him to 20.

"Why you're single." She placed down a +3 from her hand to make it 20 to tie.

"Lady you don't know anything about me." Carth replied defensively as he shuffled the deck and started the next game.

"I got you pretty much pegged." Asha smirked confidently and drew a 3.

"Enlighten me." Carth challenged. He drew a 5.

"You're a Soldier through and through." She flipped up a 10.

"And that's a bad thing why?" He pulled a 6 from the deck.

"Because that's all you are." Asha explained. "Take the military away from the equation and you've got nothing. I've seen your office and there's nothing but awards for valor and pictures of star ships and military men you served with; no pictures of vacations, no pictures of family, not even a twi'lik joy girl pin-up…nothing but remnants of the wars you've been in and the people you fought with."

"You're a career soldier with nothing else but shiny medals, war honors and a command to his name. I doubt you know what to do with a woman, if she fell on you. When was the last time you went on a date?" Asha persisted, "I bet it's been years hasn't it?"

The lines on the CAG's face hardened slightly and Asha knew she'd touched a sensitive nerve.

"You don't know a thing about me sister." Carth replied.

"I've seen enough of you to know." Asha replied smugly.

"You're like a mother hen clucking about until the chicks come back to roost. You have nothing better to do than to worry about your pilots and the fleet. If you 'had' a woman you wouldn't have this much cash to blow on a game of Pazaak, you wouldn't be with us grunts right now. You'd be writing stupid fluffy love notes on datapads and sending out wave coms saying how much you miss her and want her here. Your office would be plastered with pictures of her instead of star ships and service men."

"You spend all your time and energy on the fleet because you have nothing else in your life to fill it. You've got the look of a lonely career soldier, so don't even bother trying to convince me otherwise, you've been read."

Carth went deathly silent as did the people around the table, no one so much as whispered a word and the rest of the game went on in awkward silence. At the end of it Carth threw down his cards in defeat not even opting to play any from his hand.

"Bust." He said calmly when he drew a 5 that pushed him to 21.

He rose from the table quietly as the awkwardness still lingered in the air. "You win." He said without even looking at her, "Thanks for the game."

He then turned to Striker handing him back the borrowed deck, "It is a weak deck." Carth tried to joke with the man.

"I'm sorry Sir." Striker muttered and Carth knew it wasn't the deck he was talking about.

"Don't worry about it Soldier." Carth clasped Striker's shoulder and tried to offer the young man a reassuring smile that he knew was not very convincing.

Carth nodded to the remaining pilots circled around the table, "Gentlemen, good night."

Asha watched wordlessly as the CAG left the room, somehow her win was neither satisfying nor fulfilling.

She then felt the sharp sting of a slap to the back of her head. "Ouch!" she winced at the hit.

"Idiot!" Taaz's voice was low and condemning.

"What?" Asha looked up in askance as she rubbed at the back of her head.

"Hey ease up Taaz, she didn't know." Striker piped up in Asha's defense. "She's only been with us two standard weeks."

"Didn't know what?" Asha asked.

"The CAG lost his wife and kid on Telos during the Sith bombardment." Taaz offered, his voice still reproachful.

Asha's amber eyes drew wide at the realization of her offense. She felt as though Taaz had just punched her hard in the stomach, "I-I didn't know- I was just – I never meant to." She stammered still thrown by the revelation.

"We know Angel." Wolfstar consoled.

"I should go after him and apologize-"

"I think you should just stay clear of the CAG for the next few days." Taaz suggested.

Asha's face dropped and her lips firmed into a tight line as she nodded in ascent to Taaz's advice, "Alright." She stood up and left the table somberly.

"Hey, Angel! Your winnings!" Striker called out to her.

"Keep it." She waved a hand dismissively at the table without even looking back.

Dizzy slapped the pilot's hand and glared at Striker accusingly as he scooped up Asha's winnings form the table and followed after the scout.

"Not this time Diz," Asha muttered in Basic. "I'm calling it a night."

Later that night in the darkness and privacy of her room Bastila entertained the company of a Rhodian pilot.

"She did not wish to go with you?" Bastila asked the Rhodian who shook his head, "I see. How was her demeanor?"

"Remorseful." Dizzy reported in a rough spun rendition of Galactic Basic, "She truly felt bad for what she did and even lost interest in her winnings. The game no longer had its appeal and normally for her winning is paramount."

"Truly?" Bastila replied with peaked brow.

"Yes, she even left her credits on the table untouched…left it for the other pilots, until I came in and recovered it." Dizzy added.

"Then I asked her to go to the observation deck and talk a bit, but she would have none of it. Instead she retired to her room." Dizzy reported, "I believe her to be truly regretful of the whole incident."

"Is she there now?" Bastila inquired.

"Yes, I went in to check on her but she was already asleep."

"You did well Dizzy." Bastila commended, "Stay with her as much as you can and report all activities. The Council needs to know."

"Yes Bastila." Dizzy bowed, "May the Force be with you."

"May the Force be with you." Bastila replied then walked Dizzy out of her quarters and once the Rhodian had left moved to the Com Link and on a secure channel, made her report.