SANRAJ III – CAPITAL CITY – VAPORIZER CLUB.
Crewman Shiri Tayen had not been this nervous in a very long time but she did not let any of her fears show. It could men disaster at this point. On the board in front of her laid markers in different shapes and in certain formations, each one with its own meaning and value in the game they were playing. It was similar to a game she was really good at back home but it soon showed to be very a different kind of game and she was far from as skilful as she first had thought. Actually she was in real trouble and only a few rounds from total collapse and bankruptcy.
Shiri and her friends on shore leave from the Nemesis had spent a whole day in the Capital City and when the time came to choose a nightclub they were to exhausted for any of the MegaClubs so they settled for one of the smaller instead. It was not a luxurious establishment. More of a waterhole well past its hey days but that was something they didn´t care about right then and there. As long as there was a place to sit, a bar and some music it was just fine so they had walked in.
The place even had a small stage were a band was playing. A real band and not just droids or Holos playing. 'Satin Blaster' was the bands name and it had an uncomplicated old-school style that suited Shiri prefect. Their songs weren´t simple in any way but didn´t have any of the messy and overworked themes that were too common on the music arena these days. She would check them out on the HoloNet when she got around.
This was just the kind of place she would go to back home so in a way, she felt like home. The regulars were sitting at a table of their own and held a surprisingly low profile. The leader of the gang was a very large guy with some sort of metallic stuff in his face for decorations (or something). He had some tattoos on his arms that looked like, well, some tattoos, and his hair was long and messy.
When the band took a break, Shiri had gotten up and walked towards the gambling tables. She used to be quite good at this and she wanted to try it out, for old times' sake. Big mistake.
Now it was only herself and a short man with a beard still in the game and she found herself trapped in a corner due to lousy strategy, a series of bad moves and too much bluffing. In the best of worlds she could be leaving this table with a huge debt to this man and in the worst of worlds, this world, well she didn´t want to think too much about that. Her naval career was for sure over in a very short time but that was the least of her problems.
Unpaid gambling debts had been a first class ticket to slavery for thousands of years so she wouldn´t be the first to walk down that dark alley and simply disappear. The outcome of this game, or to be more precise, the depth of her complete failure, depended on the following two or three cycles. With a stupendous amount of luck she could prevent a total collapse and she would still have a theoretical chance to pay back, but if it went the other way it was all over.
On top of that small mental pressure, her ComLink had been beeping like crazy for a while but she had tried to ignore it as much as she could or it would mess with her concentration. It was probably her friends anyway, asking if she would follow them to the next club. The question at hand was instead which marker she would go for. The Generation 3 marker of any Level was the safe choice, but she could not afford to play it safe but should take a chance with the Generation 1 - Level Green marker instead.
The ComLink beeped again and she lost her concentration. Swearing she took up the little gadget and activated it. "Crewman Tayen here, now what´s so frellish important so you have to..." She was interrupted by a synthetic voice delivering a message. "This is a message to all personnel of the Imperial Star Destroyer Nemesis. Emergency protocol Yellow has been proclaimed and all personnel are ordered to return to duty. Please read the coordinates to your designated transport back to the ship following this message." Shiri sat quiet for a moment and just stared at the ComLink in her hand. Then she lifted her eyes to the man across the table. "Eh, I got to go."
The bearded man looked at her for a moment and said "Not a chance in Kessel girl. We haven´t finished our little game yet."
Shiri looked down at the ComLink again as to confirm this really happened. She could see the coordinates blinking in the small display. Then she looked at the man sitting opposite her again. "You don't understand. An order like this cannot be ignored. I must return. You can keep what´s on the table, it´s yours."
She stood up and turned to leave but then the bearded man sprang to life. He darted across the table and caught her in an iron grip by the arm.
"What the Frizz do you think you are doing? Do you think i was born yesterday and was just going to let you walk away with that fake call?"
Shiri got scared and thought she wouldn´t make it back in time so she got angry and snapped back. "Fake? Are you completely Farkled? This is an emergency order from the Imperial Navy and it outranks our little game by light-years, got it?" The bearded man got all black in his eyes and hissed only centimetres from her face
"I don't give a damn if every Stormtrooper laserbrain in the galaxy ordered something. We are going to finish this game even if it´s the last thing we´ll ever do. Got it?"
"Is there a problem citizen?" a synthetic voice suddenly said. The bearded man turned quickly and stared at the unlikely figure in front of him. Shiri didn´t need to look but immediately recognized the voice and snapped up in attention.
Behind them stood namely a living Stormtrooper, looking at them through his black eye lenses. The bearded man still stared at the trooper with his mouth open but Shiris training had already kicked in and was now on full auto.
"Sir, Crewman Tayen from the ISD Nemesis here sir! I have received orders to immediately return to active duty but, this man here is preventing me to return to the Nemesis, sir." The Stormtrooper didn´t move and it was difficult to say which of them he was looking at, or if he was even looking at all.
But then the bearded man suddenly woke up from his paralysis and started talking.
"Listen Whitehat. I´m only two cycles from totally destroying this little shutta and then she will be my slave, got it?"
He made a sweeping gesture over the gambling table and continued. "I mean, just look at this table right here. Can you see how the markers are laid up? All i need are two more cycles and she is finished. She will have no other choice but to become my property."
Then he turned to Shiri and grinned. "Oh, the fun we will have you and i. You will scream, you will fight and and you will bleed, but in the end i will brake you and you will become an obedient piece of property."
Shiri got really scared now and the Stormtrooper didn´t seem too eager to help her either. She was after all only a Crewman and the bearded man had a point. Their game was carefully monitored by the club and completely legitimate so everything was in order.
"So how about it Whitehat? If you just take another stroll around the place and come back later this table will be cleared, we will be gone and we can all just go on with our lives."
The Stormtrooper turned his head slightly and asked "Do you mean this table citizen?" The bearded man nodded and opened his mouth to even more describe how close he was to winning. The Stormtrooper didn´t wait for the words to come but instead raised his TK-13287 blaster rifle and shot the table to pieces with a single blast. "I believe your game has been disrupted. Come Crewman, we must leave." And then he turned around and walked away with Shiri close at his tail.
The bearded man stared at the table as if he could not believe what his eyes saw. He opened his mouth and closed it. Opened it again and closed it when reality finally sank in. The game could be how legitimate as ever, no club owner in the galaxy would go up against a Stormtrooper over a thing like this. Why hadn´t he followed his own first rule of survival? Don´t play games with the imps.
"Sir," Shiri started when they had walked for half a minute. "Thank you. You really saved my life back there. I´m with Medical and Science Assistance on the Nemesis and if you ever need anything fixed, repaired or modified just ask for me, Shiri Tayen. Ok?"
The Stormtrooper answered without turning his head. "I will remember. And Crewman?"
"Yes sir?" she answered, looking up at the tall trooper and hurrying to keep up with his pace.
"You would do best in turn to remember that you are a part of the Emperors Navy and you should act with the responsibility of that uniform you are wearing."
"Yes sir, i will remember." she answered and lowered her eyes feeling rather ashamed of herself.
When they were about to exit through the nightclub doors the Stormtrooper continued "Crewman, you should also remember that as a part of the Emperors Navy" then he suddenly stopped and turned towards her and she could barely see the mirrored distorted image of her face in the black eye lenses as he continued "you are never alone."
It was impossible to see but Shiri was shure the face inside that helmet smiled at her. "Come on Gambling Girl, our transport is over here." he ended and they walked towards an open space where some four or five shuttles was waiting, taking on passengers.
I´ll see you around." the trooper finally said and walked over to some other Stormtroopers nearby.
"Thanks again!" she called out but he only shrugged casually without turning around. Only a few minutes later shiri was strapped in a seat and the shuttle slowly took off from the ground with its repulsorlifts roaring. She looked down through one of the viewports and looked thoughtfully down at the city below from which she almost had not returned.
Suddenly the shuttle made a sharp turn and accelerated. "Sorry about this" a female voice said over the intercom which Shiri thought it must be the pilot. "But we have another pickup to make."
The shuttle manoeuvred between the buildings, never letting its speed drop even an instance until it suddenly came to a halt and hovered in mid-air, lowering its entry ramp . The other passengers looked down through the ramp and could see a speeder somehow stuck to the wall in front of them. It was like it was 'glued' to the side of the tall building who-knows-how-many levels above the ground and its two passengers just jumped over to the ramp.
The two newly arrived laughed and walked straight up to the shuttle pilot, whom they obviously knew, and greeted her with more laughs so they must be pilots themselves. Only seconds after, Shiri could see the blinking blue-and-red lights of several police speeders arrive at the speeder on the wall. The two newly arrived waved at the police as the speeder picked up speed and Shiri guessed they just escaped the long arms of the local law enforcement. Pilot egos, she thought to herself and shook her head as the shuttle accelerated up into the atmosphere, leaving the capital behind.
SANRAJ III – CAPITAL CITY AT NIGHT – A SPEEDER
He had to admit the raw power of this speeder was something else. He could keep the chasing speeder behind them without any trouble at all. If he added a trick or two he had in mind he had practically already won this race through the city.
Arien Madaan chuckled, grinned at the passenger in the seat beside him and asked "How are they doing?" and turned his eyes forward again. He had to make a quick manoeuvre to avoid colliding with...something that whooshed past them.
The other person in the speeder watched the datapad in his lap and laughed "Just as bad as we told them they would, sir." Then he shook his head. "Bozos. I even told them we were fighter pilots. Did they think we made that up?"
Madaan shrugged. "Why not? You know Roy, they probably have hoards of imperials on leave stampeding through here all the time, bragging around how bad they are. Every now and then there just might be one or two not so bad, making things up and..." he had to dive under a speeder showing up in front of them from nowhere. "..Well, i guess the locals just wanna show who´s boss in their own backyard. Know what i mean?"
Roy nodded and was going to say something in return when his ComLinc woke up with an annoyingly loud sound.
"Now what?" he asked to nobody, got his ComLinc out and suddenly shouted "What the Frell?".
Madaan looked at him. "What?" he asked and threw the speeder in an impossible turn. "This was our turn right?" he asked and Roy took his eyes from the ComLink and threw a glance forward. "Yes, this is the right way." but then he looked back at the device in his hand again and said "But, what the Frell?"
Madaan quickly looked at him. "What? You look as if you have seen a ghost or something." Roy did not answer but pressed a button on the ComLinc and a synthetic voice was heard.
"This is a message to all personnel of the Imperial Star Destroyer Nemesis. Emergency protocol Yellow has been proclaimed and all personnel are ordered to return to duty. Please read the coordinates to your designated transport back to the ship following this message."
They both sat quiet for a minute or so when Roy sighed. "Well, i guess that's the end of this race." He put the ComLinc away and swore again. "Frell. I was really looking forward pushing that overdone clown back under the rock he came from and steal those two girls from him."
Madaan nodded but then got a more serious look on his face. "All right then. Let's finish this game, dump the speeder and find our transport home." He looked at Roy and continued. "Call the clowns back there and give them the happy news."
A few minutes later, Roy was still talking to their opponents in the speeder behind them.
"No, comethead, it does not mean you have won. It means we haven´t lost." Roy shook his head and tried to explain once more. "Right, that sounds just great, but the situation is like this. We have been ordered to immediately...
Roy was interrupted by a sudden siren and flashing lights behind their speeder. The police had finally heard about their little private race through the central city. "Listen moonbrain, we just got the local peacekeepers on our tail and it won't take them long to figure out what we are doing so i suggest you guys slowly change your course and slip away. Nice to know you but the game is over."
He ended the conversation and looked over to Madaan.
"I see, i see. This isn´t good." Madaan said and then he thought for a moment, totally ignoring the police sirens and the speaker ordering them to pull over.
"Ok, this is what we´ll do." he said after a minute or two. "You take a look if this thing has got horizontal parking capabilities. It´s a T-25 so it should have. Then you find us some shuttle transport alternatives in the area. Try to find a pilot we know that owes us."
Roy looked at him and said "Say what?". Madaan just smiled back. "I have an idea."
Roy shook his head and strapped himself to the seat tightly. "Hm, this will be interesting." he said and started working on the datapad in his lap to find imperial shuttles in the area.
"Ready?" Madaan asked and Roy held on to his datapad and nodded. "Ok, time to leave this orbit." he said and pushed the control stick hard forward-left while he at the same time pushed the throttle to max. The speeder threw itself in a steep dive and picked up speed very fast. He followed up the dive with some very sharp (and very close) turns and pushed the speeder to the limit of its capabilities without breaking up.
Roy continued tapping the datapad and then said "Ok, this thing sure has got the magnetiparc function all right." Madaan nodded.
"Then we are in luck as well. Or, you are in luck, i´m just following along as a passenger here. Remember that for later." The speeder made an almost vertical climb and Roy held on hard to the datapad.
"Remember that girl Tabbie who piloted a transport you and i flew escort to, some, i don´t know, two-three months ago?"
"Tabbie?" Madaan said and looked quickly at the now smiling Roy. "Are you kidding?" Roy could no longer control himself and laughed out loud. "No sir, i´m afraid not. She who you were supposed to fly escort to but your laser cannons, well, didn´t work. Sir." Madaan allowed himself to smile at the memory. "Well, maybe not one of my most glorious moments i admit." Roy calmed himself a bit and continued. "Well, this is our opportunity. She pilots a shuttle back to the Nemesis not so very far from here, but we need to hurry. She is due for departure in only five minutes." Madaan nodded. "Ok, that´s our way out. Frell, she is never going to let me forget this. Call her."
A few minutes later, Roy was still giggling and Madaan said to himself again "She is never going to let me forget this." Roy only shook his head i a theatrical way but didn´t say anything. "Stop that and get ready with the MagnetiParc already." Madaan said in attempt to sound angry but it didn´t work at all. The two friends just laughed at the whole situation. "Good to go boss, good to go." Roy said. "Now shake those losers off our tail." Madaan nodded and gently stroke the dashboard. "Hold together girl, this could hurt. A lot."
Suddenly, Madaan changed the way of flying and emerged in a series of that-should-be-impossible manoeuvres, leaving the police speeders, who until now had stayed close to them, hopelessly behind and avoiding to crash themselves. Madaan just continued his insane flying until Roy shouted "Ok, this is it!" and then looked back behind them. "All clear on your six." Madaan turned sharply into a narrow alley between the buildings, which in this speed made the walls stand very close. But this was a dead end and the wall ahead came rushing towards them. At the very end, he pulled the control stick towards him hand the speeder shot upwards. But it would never pull up in time and was not designed for this kind of manoeuvring at all but would in matter of second's crash into the vertical wall of the building. But just moments before it was too late, he slammed the engines to full reverse and pulled hard on the breaks. This resulted in the speeder almost coming to a dead stop and Madaan shouted "Hit it!"
Parked speeders had become somewhat of a problem in many of the galaxy's cities so some manufacturers added a magnetic parking function to their models that made it possible to park speeders on the durasteel walls of buildings. With some fiddling you could even park upside down. This way you could park even more speeders in an existing area without adding or modifying the buildings.
Roy now activated their speeders MagnetiParc and it started to vibrate violently when the powerful magnets reached out its invisible claws. The speeder got a hold and slammed into the wall with a terrible crash. It got hit pretty bad but seemed like it would hold together. It slipped down a few meters and pulled parts of the facing along with it that fell down to the ground, before it finally stopped and was attached to the wall. Madaan then quickly cut the engines and put the speeder into parking mode.
He smiled at Roy and said "Nothing to it." "One of these days, sir, one of these days." Roy replied and started to disembark from the speeder who now stood parked in a 90 degree angle on the wall of a building, many levels up. But they barely made it out until a shuttle came out of nowhere and hovered just beside them with the entry ramp lowered. With a small jump they entered the shuttle which was full of different types of navy personnel, all heading back to the Nemesis.
They walked straight to the cockpit and Madaan clapped the pilot on the shoulder. "Well hi there Tabbie, that´s what i call timing." The pilot shook her head and smiled. "That´s the second time i rescue your sorry behind Madaan. We really need to stop seeing each other like this."
Then, as the shuttle turned upwards and picked up some speed, three police speeders halted at their abandoned vehicle on the wall and both Madaan and Roy waved cheerfully through the viewport.