Ord Mantell

[Samantha Kerrigan]

The tang of blood ran fresh in Kerrigan's mouth, a gift from the Devaronian thug the pit boss had sicced on her. It wasn't the first time she'd taken a punch, but it was never something she cared to ever repeat, either. Kerrigan winced as the Devaronian hauled back for another punch, but the Quarren pit boss put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. Nobody could hear her in one of the myriad backrooms of the casino, especially over the loud dance music that was being pumped through the place. Calmly, Kerrigan spit some of the blood onto the floor, meeting the gaze of the Quarren, who started to speak once more in a smug, condescending tone.

 

<"You thought you could cheat us? That we wouldn't know? We have been watching you since you stepped off your transport.">

So she was a little more popular than she thought. That wasn't good. With a half grin, she replied back.

 

"Look, nothing happened, you didn't pay out, and my collateral was never called anyways because I won. What's the real harm done here? Why not let this small fish go?"

 

The Quarren nodded at the Devaronian, prompting another punch. <"This tournament was held by powerful and influential people. People with reputations. If word got out we didn't clean house when we had a mess, it would severely harm those reputations.">

 

Kerrigan's blood ran cold. She knew she should have avoided Ord Mantell due to the crime syndicates, but the prize money offered could have had her set for months. And now she'd just pissed off the wrong people at the wrong time. Right now, she had nothing to her name, no assets to call on. She had gone all in for the tournament as she'd needed everything she'd owned just for the ante, not to mention her securing collateral that was a hacked fake ship registry she'd traded half a months' rations for. After a moment, though, the Quarren backed away, leaving the room.

 

<"Guard the door. I need to contact the Vigo. They will know how to dispose of our friend.">

 

There were a million things that could mean, off the top of her head she could list several different things that could happen to her that were worse than death. Being sold into slavery was even one of the nicer options. 

[Samantha Kerrigan]

The Quarren began sputtering a quick reply as the irritation of his Vigo became apparent. People had died in their line of business for less offenses. Or at least, that's the impression this particular Quarren was under, and it often benefited Black Sun to keep order in their ranks through the cheapest means available.

 

<"Well, you see...she managed to hack our security system with this-"> The Quarren handed over a dated datapad model, though the software on its display screen was clearly aftermarket. <"-and we...we think it allowed her to somehow see her opponent's hands during the tournament. Clan Brassk and some of the other sponsors have already voiced their objections to me about a newcomer taking the grand prize in our annual tournament, and it is too late to walk back her win without exposing that we had our security breached. We can't afford to look weak to our sponsors or there will be no tournament next year, and it drives nearly half of this quarters' profits.">

 

What he didn't mention was that their systems were still last-generation security systems that were vulnerable to an old hack, but that wasn't his job to upgrade them anyways. He simply didn't want to piss her off any more than he already risked.

<"I think she needs to disappear, personally. We didn't want to make that call without your go-ahead.">

[Samantha Kerrigan]

"Fetch them for me and have the girl in my speeder in five minutes."

 

This was an order from the Vigo. Whatever was going to happen to the woman, it was out of the Quarren's hands now. There wasn't even room for objection, everyone knew what happened when you displeased the wrong person in Black Sun, much less a Vigo. He nodded to his Devaronian muscleman to get the woman as ordered before heading off to take care of the funds. Kerrigan struggled a bit as the Devaronian easily hefted her up onto his shoulder in an improvised carry, not bothering to undo her restraints. Most of her wanted to protest, screamed inside her mind to fight this unknown fate. The rest of her, however, had coolly noted that she was still keeping a tidy sum of the profits. Maybe not anything fancy, but it was something. That meant she wasn't slated for termination by these goons, at least not yet, and if Kerrigan played her cards right she knew she could get out of whatever situation she now found herself in.

 

...She just now simply needed to ingratiate herself to the most notorious criminal organization in the galaxy. Somehow.

 

Four minutes and thirty seconds later, the Devaronian plopped her down in the rear seat of Fluanern's luxury speeder. Kerrigan recognized the model from holonet ads, it was newer, and even appeared to have several custom options on the interior that most speeders didn't bother with. She waited until they embarked before popping a question, hoping that it wouldn't irritate her host.

 

"So I suppose you're not one to piss off, and I apologize if I'm speaking out of turn, but...I don't suppose you'd tell me why I'm not taking a long walk off a short balcony right about now?"

[Samantha Kerrigan]

"And I suppose I can't exactly say n-...yeah forget I said anything."

The flash in her host's eyes from the merest insinuation was enough to convince Kerrigan to cease that particular line of questioning of her own volition. Sam really had never seen herself as a criminal, but then again she'd also never had the opportunity to work with the largest criminal underworld in existence. Obviously there were perks, the sweet speeder was just the icing on a very rich cake this Vigo was clearly privy to. Kerrigan might have just won bigger in opportunity than she ever could have dreamed at that tournament, but selling her soul to the devil wasn't something she was keen to do.

 

"I mean, I'm pretty good with numbers and my hands, but I'm no killer. I don't know what you're going to have me doing for you, but, you know, you have muscle for that kind of stuff, right? I mean, I can handle things if I have to, I'm just not really, um...built for it."

 

She shaped her question carefully, fully understanding saying no to whatever was about to be required of her wasn't exactly an option. On the bright side, this was a huge opportunity, and Kerrigan tried to look on that bright side, instead of the fact that she essentially just got kidnapped and pressed into a crime family.

 

"I guess what I'd like to say is: what exactly can someone like me do for Black Sun? I don't imagine I'd turn much of a profit for you as a pickpocket."

[Samantha Kerrigan]

A distraction, Kerrigan thought to herself. Whatever the kriff that meant. "Well, I'm sure I'll fit right into whatever plans you have for me. Your, uh...Vigo-ness." Kerrigan took a step away from the speeder as she felt her wrists, revealing the picked restraint devices on the seat behind her. The Devaronian hadn't had the courtesy to unlock them for her, so she swiped the key from him as he placed her in the speeder. Relatively clean lift considering the circumstances, but the low-level thug wasn't exactly a professional either. Casually she held out the key to Fluanern, hiding a sheepish grin as best she could.

 

She began unzipping her spacer's outfit a bit, snugging up rigging in the right spots to accentuate a curve here and there. She wasn't a huge fan of using her body as a distraction, but she also wasn't a huge fan of disappointing the one person that more or less represented her future. So it was this or nothing.

 

"Right. Paying back the debt ASAP, better sooner than later I suppose. So, uh, what'd you have in mind?"

 

To be honest, Kerrigan was terrified, but she was also riding the adrenaline high. The sabacc tables had nothing like this, the flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants feeling that rushed through her veins like thunder.

[Samantha Kerrigan]

Embarrassment flushed over Kerrigan's face as she realized she wasn't about to be thrust into action. It was also a huge relief, and she relaxed quite a bit once they stepped out of the turbolift.

 

"Well, hey, I suppose everyone starts somewhere. Truth be told, I thought you were about to use me for skag bait... This is probably a little better for my health insurance bill." Nonchalantly she began fixing her clothing back to the way it was before, baggy and comfortable. She'd not looked half bad on the way in (if she had anything to say about it, anyway) but now there was no mark, nobody else to try to impress.

"So Fluanern, if you don't mind me asking about your name, what is that, Hapan? It sounds floral."

 

Kerrigan studied the simulation room Fluanern had walked her to. It didn't look flashy or new, but it did look durable. Like it was stolen from a military starship durable. Kerrigan looked around, trying to find the holoprojectors before they activated. It was almost like a mental game for her, as such knowledge would be useless once the simulation started.

[Samantha Kerrigan]

Kerrigan nodded at Fluanern's response to her question as if she'd heard of them before. But she was alone now, there was no need to try to impress someone, so she quickly shook her head with a chuckle. A Lorrdian from Lorrd. She'd have to look them up later on the holonet. For now, she simply used the keycard on the door sensor, revealing her new quarters for the next two days. 

 

She had to hand it to Black Sun, they lived up to their well-funded reputation. While compact and a bit sparse, the room was nonetheless furnished with several luxury accommodations, including the compact adjoining bathroom. The bedsheets were made of fine silk, the closet was stocked with business casual of varying sizes, and if she saw correctly, the curtains had gold thread inlay. Sam let out a soft gasp, these digs were nice. Immediately she went over to the curtains and opened them...to reveal a holowindow. Capable of reproducing several settings, but decidedly a feature of a room not on an outer wall. Ah well, couldn't ask for everything, maybe there was good reason for it.

Kerrigan spent the next two hours getting settled and clean before putting her holowindow on a nice tropical night scene and snuggling into the bed. This is the life, she thought to herself, just before drifting off to sleep. The next morning was a bit chaotic, as she had forgotten to find the dining hall beforehand and barely made it before they stopped serving food. One stack of Corellian hotcakes was all it took to make everything right again, though. Drizzling wroshyr syrup all over the hotcakes, she dug in without a care in the world.

 

Soon, she knew, it would be time for the first few tests. She would be ready.

[Samantha Kerrigan]

Sam got up when approached, not sure who the person really was, and wanted to show her full respect. While a tad saddened to leave the remainder of her hotcakes on the table, she began walking with her new escort when prompted. Taking the datapad, she quickly began reviewing it.

Seriously? Denebian holo-chess? That game was more pure strategy than luck, but she'd give it a try anyways. The Jubilee wheel took more of a persistent betting strategy, which likely meant Hintaro was where she could shine her skills and bluff. As long as she could fool her opponent into thinking she wasn't as skilled as she was, she knew she could make a good surprise surge at some point, which might give her the edge to win no matter what the game. Unfortunately the simulators meant she had to fool algorithms, so she intentionally had to start by playing worse than she knew to, in a calculated approach.

 

As she predicted, after several hours of all three games the Denebian holo-chess had given her the most difficulty as she was the least familiar with it and it required the most strategy. She couldn't get past the computer's long term strategies, and her short term gambits were only working around half the time, an unfortunate result of not knowing the game well enough. Still, her bets were solid for the moves she made, Kerrigan still managed to make a slight net profit with the imaginary credits they'd given her despite losing more than half the time. Her analytical mind could only carry her so far, after all.

 

The Jubilee wheel was the most predictable of the three, and a simple betting strategy had her looking at statistically accurate losses. There really wasn't much to the game other than randomness, and so simple betting tricks often worked just as well as random strategy. Still, by spreading bets to cover common probability ranges, she managed to luck out and break even.

 

And that simply left the Hintaro.