Cloudy with a Chance of Espionage

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She hadn't been to Bespin in quite a while, and it was refreshing to find that Cumulus was running like clockwork despite the increased Imperial presense. The greatly increased Imperial presence. The orbital station was certainly new, at least to the gas giant, and was already putting a kink in Black Sun's operations in the sector.

More than a kink. The spice that was normally flowing through this area was choked off to a trickle. The casino still served to create cleaned credits for several different accounts, but Sasseeri had been hoping to create a new market for the drug that Tear had passed on to her. Rrrapturrre. Her body suffered an involuntary shiver at the memory of the designer drug, and she narrowed her eyes and suppressed the feeling with a flood of anger. Tear had violated her, and he would pay for that, no matter how attractive he was.

Until she could figure out how he would pay, of course, she would continue with their... partnership. His backing had already helped her bring the rogue Nebula Vigos back into the Black Sun family. In fact -

"Make me an appojintment wjith Rrreznerrr forrr some tjime tomorrrrow, Olorrrjin." She looked at him, and caught the roll of his eyes. Oh, damn. Sometimes she forgot he was a Vigo in his own right now, not just a sun-lieutenant. Sasseeri narrowed her eyes slightly. "And get me some jinterrrvjiews wjith potentjial assjisstants. jI need a new one, sjince the last one rrran off."

It was a shame, too, she'd really enjoyed Michael Cline.

[Kal Olorin]

She'd been heels on the ground for five minutes, and Sassy was already throwing her weight around. Of course, she wasn't building up or tearing down businesses, she was ordering me to take care of her schedule. Just like old times.

"Right. A new assistant." I poked at the datapad in my hand as if I was taking notes. "I'll round up some likely candidates." I tossed the pad on my desk, and then sat down in my chair. Oh yes, this is my office, Sassy. I put my feet up on the desk just because I could.

"Ah, something came down the wire this morning. Thought you might want to see it." I brought up the notice on my console and swiveled the holoscreen around so she could get an eyeful.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

He certainly was making himself comfortable in her former office. But then he was the big man on Cloud City. Him and Arriana Rezner, who ran a lower class establishment that Sasseeri needed to visit and soon. "jI don't have tjime forrr thjis," she said before she looked at the screen, "We need to make a plan forrr gettjing ourrr shjips jin and out of the Cjity wjith the jImperr-"

Her ears pricked up and her eyebrows raised. "James Prrrent? Prrrent?" Sasseeri frowned. "That jisn't an aljias of Sanjis Prrent, jis jit?"

Olorin shrugged, "Who knows? But its not a common name. I thought you'd want to -"

She waved him into silence. "jIts not jimporrrtant now. Ourrr spjice rrruns arrre. Do you even have a plan forrr gettjing shjipments back on schedule?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

It was a beautiful morning, everything tinted the same orange-pink as the clouds that towered above the buildings. At Kale's studio apartment everything was quiet and dark.

Until a distraught felinoid leaned on the doorbell. And pressed it again. And again.

[Kale]

"Frelling freller sonova frell..."

Kale staggered into a pair of ratty jeans and pulled on a white T-shirt as he made his way past the kitchenette and toward the door. The apartment was spartan and mostly bare - he'd learned it was worth it in his business to be able to obliterate the traces of your presence with fifteen minutes notice, but there was still a half-eaten pot of flavored noodles on the hotplate from the previous night and a few scattered cardboard boxes of "stuff" that he was in the process of fencing. An untrained observer would think that the apartment was being used as overflow storage for a pawn shop if not for the rumpled sheets on the bed and the basket of dirty laundry hiding in the closet.

But darned if Kale didn't find a way to trip over the largest, noisiest box of stolen goods in the five-meter journey from his bed to his apartment door. This had been his appointed morning to sleep in, and his limbs were still operating under protest. He bit down on another string of curses as he hopped on one foot and braced himself on the doorjamb to look through the peephole.

Holy--

He came awake quickly and dashed into the bathroom, grabbing a comb to drag hastily through his hair. He ran for the door again, stopped, spun around, and found some cologne to drip on his wrist, and he smeared it around his neck to take the edge off the inescapable bachelor funk.

And then, finally, he opened the door, squinting into the Bespin morning light.

"Rai'raa! Well, this is a surprise."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"She left me!" Rai'raa Anjumi tearfully held up a crumpled bit of card that was scrawled with ink. She threw her arms around Kale, sobbing into his chest.

"Afterrr all I did forrr herrr... all the things we sharrred... she just tossed me aside like... like an old shirrrt!" She clutched at his t-shirt, her fingernails digging in a bit as she leaned into him.

[Kale]

Kale only got a glimpse of the paper before the green Cizerack halfbreed was hanging on him and weeping piteously. Almost unthinking, he lifted his arms to hold her, not realizing she was probably hitting him with some kind of weird sympathy pheremones until he was jarred by the needlepoint claws digging through his shirt.

"Uh... I'm sorry," he said hesitantly, scanning the alley behind her anyone threatening to club him and rob him of his meager possessions the moment his guard was down. "Who did?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

She sniffed loudly, trying to calm herself down. "S-saarrrrrreeaa," Rai'raa said, the r's rolling beautifully despite her anxiety. "Sh-she left. I..."

She pressed the note into Kale's hand and walked into his apartment looking for a tissue or a glass of water. Kale unfolded the card, taking a moment to decipher Saa's scrawl.

Rai'raa, its been fun but Im going to move on. I have a lead on Prent and I don't want to drag you along in this anymore. Ill be in touch but this is something i have to do alone if you know what i mean and I know how you feel about Imperials so Im gonna do my thing. see you around!

XO - SAARRREEAA

[Kale]

Kale looked up from the note to follow Rai'raa's progress into his apartment. It wasn't like she could go far.

"Uh... make yourself at home," he said belatedly. "Is there anything I can do for you? Get you something to drink?"

Frell, he still had half that bottle of breath of heaven he'd shared with Saarrreeaa the other night. But the full-blooded Cizerack hadn't shown any special attachment to him after their romp in the club, and he couldn't figure what had driven Rai'raa to come see him in her distress. Or, for that matter...

"How did you even find me?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

She couldn't find anything that looked remotely clean enough to wipe her face with, and so pulled up the bottom of her shirt to dab her eyes, revealing a peek at a lacy white bra. "A drrrjink would be good." Rai'raa looked in the fridge, and then found a bottle of liquor on the counter.

Even better. She didn't help herself, though, passing the bottle to Kale as he followed her inside. "jI asked arrround the place wherrre we fenced the stuff frrrom the club. They werrren't too happy to see me this earrrly in the morrrning."

Rai'raa sniffed again, lower lip trembling. "I just don't understand whyyyy she- she left! And last night when we... it was so hot... and she must have known she was leaving alrrready..." She crumpled against the fridge, ears drooping.

[Kale]

Last night when they... Grk! Kale had to reboot his mind before it overheated.

He busied himself with a couple shallow glasses and poured them both a little measure of heaven. If anything would make her feel better, that would. He turned to say something and found her teetering against the side of the fridge, looking ready to fall to pieces.

"Hey, hey, there..." Kale came behind her and steadied her, then carefully walked her over toward the couch by the coffee table - the furniture was bland, but it wasn't uncomfortable. "I'm going to get you a little drink, and you'll feel better, I promise."

He snagged the glasses and the bottle from the counter and sat down beside her. He'd be lying to say she wasn't alluring as hell, even in her current state, but he couldn't help but be wary. Ever since the Jedi's messy egress from Cloud City, he'd been very cautious about getting too close to anyone. And he still didn't know what she wanted.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

She sat down, curling her feet up underneath her. When Kale joined her she was almost composed again, her white tee's wide neck slipped off one shoulder and her blond hair curling down into her cleavage. Rai'raa accepted the drink, recognizing it immediately. One of the more expensive liquors in the galaxy, breath of heaven was as delicious as it was beautiful.

She stared at it in the glass for a moment before sipping it. "I'm sorrrry to have drrropped in on you like this. You must think I'm awful. But... I don't have anywherrre else to go. Ourrr hotel rrroom was only paid up thrrrough today and... and I came herrre on herrr ship."

[Kale]

"No, it's fine, really."

Kale took a sip from his own glass, which did a lot to ease his nerves. Paranoia aside, he was pretty good at reading people's unintentional cues, and she really did look that distraught.

"I didn't really have anything planned for another couple hours." Which was when his alarm was set to go off. "You, uh... you have anybody you need to call? Family?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa looked at him a little blankly, and then smiled. "Family? Ah, no. No family." She dipped a hand in her pocket and retrieved a keycard. "I do have this, howeverrr."

She drained her glass, and added, "I nicked it off a drrrunk guy the otherrr night. I just don't know what hotel its to - no name on the carrrd."

[Kale]

Kale probably should have felt a twinge of sympathy, but the fact was, he didn't have any family to call on, either. When you lived with a void like that your whole life, you stopped noticing it was even there.

He took the card in his hand and looked it over. No obvious cues to be read there - no subtle cues, either, at least, as far as he could tell. Aside from the black magnetic strip along one edge, it was a blank, glossy white.

"Well... let's see what I can do with this."

Downing the rest of his breath of heaven, he got up, lumbered to his bed, and pulled a box out from under it with his bare foot. He stooped and came up with something a little thicker than a standard datapad and switched it on. He pressed the card up against the back of the pad, and a thin band of green light swept across it.

"As long as the card isn't guarded against tampering, I should be able to decode it here... Got it."

Kale sat back down next to Rai'raa and tipped the datapad screen toward her, displaying a few lines of readable text in a wash of Aurabesh code:

JUNO SARKOZY

CUMULUS CASINO

RESH-LEVEL EMPLOYEE CLEARANCE

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

She leaned forward to see more clearly, her shirt gaping and affording Kale a little more than an eyeful. "Cumulus? I wonderrr how high Rrresh level clearance is."

Rai'raa looked a little sad again, "Saa would have gone with me to find out, if she hadn't been too busy with herrr stupid crrrusade." She reached out and put her hand on Kale's arm. "Do you want to come with me?"

[Kale]

"Uh..."

This was going to be a quiet day - Kale was going to take the week's bounty to his fence and get some spending money, go work out, maybe grab a banthaburger at that place down the street, take in a smashball game... All things considered, he wouldn't mind having Rai'raa around and even upgrading to a dinner in Cloud Nine, but he wasn't even sure what she had in mind.

"Have you ever dealt with casino security before?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"No," she said slowly. "But I've dealt with men beforrre." Her lips curled up a bit, "Women too."

Rai'raa cocked her head to the side, "Have you? I've seen the holos though; casinos arrre unpenetrrratable forrrtrrressess, rrright?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Thjis planet jis not an unpenetrrratable forrrtrrress!" shouted Sasseeri, slamming her fist on Olorin's desk. "Therrre arrre morrre jImperrrjials herrre now, yes, but therrre arrre always crrracks!"

She threw up her hands as Olorin bore the brunt of her storm stoically. "Fjind me the crrracks and get that spjice flowjing!"

[Kal Olorin]

Sassy had kicked into overdrive - as in drive over everything in her way. Maybe I should have taken early retirement like I always promised myself I would, but the thought of some other poor schmuck having to deal with Sasseeri's temper tantrums... well I stayed, whatever the reason was.

Anyway, she was cute when she yelled.

I kept my feet up, just to prove I wasn't intimidated (well, I was, a little bit, but I'd never admit it). "I'm in the process of looking for the right palms to grease. The Imperials did a clean sweep - all the old crew are gone, and most of the guys moving in are -" I was losing her interest as she quickly determined I was throwing excuses at her.

"-Suffice it to say, there are a lot of moving parts right now. Yes, we're losing a little momentum, but once things settle down in a week or -"

"A week!" Sassy spluttered, ears practically steaming.

"In a week or so, then my guys will find the greedy ones and make the proper arrangements." I rubbed my forehead a bit, a headache beginning to come on.

[Kale]

"Oh, a place like Cumulus is as tight as an Imperial prison," Kale said, "but if I had to choose where I'd rather be caught, I'd pick the prison. Thieves like us have a way of disappearing into little windowless rooms and leaving with the evening garbage."

He poured them each another tumbler of heaven. "So, you still got something nice to wear?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa linked her arm through Kale's as they walked through the transparisteel doors of Cumulus, doors that were big enough to admit a rancor, had one been wandering about Cloud City and decided to try its luck at the slot machines. She was wearing soft suede boots over designer jeans, and a filmy white shirt that revealed her bra underneath. Processed corusca gems glittered in her ears, but even the man made gems were worth as much as a speeder bike.

They'd been a present from the madame she'd worked for on Zeltron - a going away gift. The halfbreed looked at her companion and smiled, her slightly purple lips curving pleasantly. "I hearrr that they have an excellent lunch buffet herrre."

[Kale]

Kale's best shirt hadn't survived his illicit romp with Saarrreeaa, but he'd found something that wouldn't look out of place against the glitz of the most opulent casino on Bespin. While Rai'raa was dressed to call attention to herself, Kale was dressed to blend - to be just another face in the crowd, or, if necessary, another shape in the shadows. Consequently, he was decked mostly in shades of charcoal, very obviously the accessory to Rai'raa's fashion.

"That's fine with me, I'm starving."

A receptionist showed them to an intimate table with a view of a lush indoor garden full of tropical flowers and palms. The gaming floor was just as handy as the nearby trestle tables steaming with local and exotic delicacies; clearly the management was happy to see its guests play their way through a lengthy and lavish meal.

Kale loaded up his plate with a little of everything - the reshee salad, roast nerf, Ithorian curry, slices of flatbread with namana jam, though he drew the line at the fried sajoi. Just a few years ago this sort of bounty would have been unthinkable to him, and he still had to suppress the irrational fear that someone bigger than him was going to muscle in and try to take his food away before he could finish it.

"So," he said, easing into his seat across from his exotic companion, "tell me about yourself, Rai'raa. Someone like you has to have a few stories to tell."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

She delicately maneuvered a knife and fork over her rare steak, her legs crossed demurely under the table. "Oh, I don't know, grrrowing up on Zeltrrros was rrratherrr borrring." Rai'raa winked, chewing a bite of meat and savoring the juices. "I used to worrrk as a dancerrr in a nightclub, and my last job was in a brrrothel. I dealt with... clients who had verrry specific tastes."

She smiled, "I think the crrraziest thing I everrr saw was a Hutt literrrally bathing in alcohol and being attended to by seven differrrent girrrls." Another bite of steak, a little too done, but still tasty. "No, that wasn't the crrraziest thing I've everrr seen, but its prrretty high on the list."

[Kale]

Kale put that image out of his head as fast as possible. Few things could ruin a fantasy of scantily-if-at-all-clad girls as thoroughly as a Hutt. He washed those thoughts down with a swig of Fizzyglug.

"I'd have thought a girl like you wouldn't have to specialize," he said. "I mean... I haven't met many Cizerack, or Falleen, for that matter, but if you ask me, you got the best of both worlds."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"You'rrre sweet," Rai'raa said, and shook her head. "My specialty was morrre along the lines of -" A scream from the main floor caught her attention, but it was just someone hitting the jackpot on one of the slots. A small crowd gathered around the lucky life form.

She returned her gaze to Kale, and gave him a little shrug. "Maybe I'll show you sometime." She grinned a little darkly, and ate another bite of steak.

[Kale]

Kale slowly lifted one eyebrow. He recalled a little pearl of Coruscant street wisdom: Beware the green ones. Until now, he'd thought it meant Twi'leks.

"Maybe." He turned slowly to take in the perimeter of the place. At the far end of the gaming floor was a door meant to blend into the wood-paneled wall. There was a key card slot on one side and a uniformed guard on the other, a Togruta who seemed to be checking his watch every five minutes.

Kale gestured with his fork. "Do you think you could get him to let you into the back?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"Of courrrse," she said, without even looking. When she turned her head to see what it was she was supposed to be taking into the back room, she smiled. "Now?"

He shrugged, stuffing another bite of food into his mouth, and she squared her shoulders, putting down her fork. "Watch and learrrn," Rai'raa joked, thankful to be working. It helped keep her mind off of Saa's betrayal.

Except for when she thought about how well it was keeping her mind off of it, of course.

Rai'raa got to her feet and sauntered through the dining space into the main gambling floor, meandering towards her target. She stopped and put a few credits into a slot machine, and lost them all. Her ears twitched unhappily at her luck, but she gamely continued on. Approaching the Togruta, she looked up at him with the sultriest look that she could muster.

"I love a man in uniforrrrm," she purred, exuding enough sex appeal and pheromones to make a Calanic monk break his vows and jump on her. Kale saw her speak a few more moments to the guard, and then she was being ushered into the back room.

[Kale]

Rai'raa and the Togruta strolled down the antiseptic white hallway, a jarring contrast from the lush decor of the casino's great hall. "I know a place where we can be alone for a while," the guard was saying in a hushed tone. "No cameras... a nice, flat table... where we usually go to work over naughty guests."

"Probably got insulated walls and some heavy restraints?" Kale added, having materialized behind both of them, seemingly from nowhere.

The Togruta jerked out of his pheromone-induced reverie. "What? Who the frell are you?"

Kale smiled and waved a hand in an almost careless gesture. "Just a friend. We're all friends here."

"Yeah, we're all friends here," the Togruta said, reacquiring a look of dreamlike euphoria. "Hey, baby, he can join in if you like."

Kale coughed and tried to ignore the burning in his ears.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"Mmm, that would be nice, wouldn't it," she agreed, noticing the reddish tint that was appearing on Kale's ears. Rai'raa stroked one of the guard's sensitive lekku as he led them into the room. She hopped up on the table, tail twitching seductively, and gestured the Togruta to one of the utilitarian chairs.

The lighting was horrible, probably making her look sickly. Since there was no way to make sure her pheromones only affected one person, she was sure Kale was probably going to be feeling the effects as well. As the guard sat, she slid off the table into his lap, straddling him and licking his face while she put her hands on his arms and fastened the restraints securely.

With a shove Rai'raa pushed herself back onto the table, and swiveled to look at Kale. "Want to try out a chairrr, yourrrself?" She winked.

[Kale]

Kale was standing a good way off - at least, as far as he could in the tight confines of the interrogation room, clamping a hand over his nose and mouth in a half-hearted effort to ward off the pheromones and keep his sanity. Part of him wanted to say "yes," and it was a dedicated effort to keep that part of him from taking control.

"Maybe some other time," he said, wishing he had a bucket of cold water handy. "I think he's comfortable enough."

Without waiting for a response, Kale hurried back out into the hallway and took several deep, Rai'raa-free breaths. This was going to take some getting used to.

"Okay, so... now that we're in the clear, we'd probably better figure out what it is we're trying to do." Kale caught her eyes as she slunk out after her. "Uh... why are you looking at me like that?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa pursed her lips at him, and raised a blonde eyebrow. "How did you get in the doorrr behind me? I could have sworrrn we werrre alone." She quietly closed the door behind her, and brandished another blank white keycard between two fingers, already deciding that he wouldn't tell her.

"Lets go have some fun."

[Kale]

"Trade secret," Kale replied, happy in the knowledge that he still held a few of the aces himself. "Now, hold that thought."

He looked up and down the corridor - not for guards, whom he could sense before he saw them anyway, but for cameras. A little surreptitious application of the Force had taken out the camera watching the door to the interrogation rooms, but someone was bound to notice if half the security grid went blank.

"Unless those wonderful pheromones work over a vidlink, there's no way we're staying off the grid. Hang on a moment."

He opened the door they'd just exited and disappeared inside. Moments later, he emerged again wrestling with an overlarge uniform jacket.

"Well, it's the thought that counts, anyway," he said. "I'm going to let you in on one of my secrets, Rai'raa. Present the mind with what it expects to see, and it's amazing what it'll fill in. Breaking in and stealing someone's valuables? That's risky. Getting them to show you in themselves? That's an art."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"And you'rrre an arrrtist?" She kissed him on the cheek, helping him into the jacket. "I neverrr have a prrroblem with people not seeing prrrecisely what I want them to see."

Rai'raa ran her hands over her shirt, smoothing it over her curves for emphasis. "Lead the way, I am a bit overrr my head herrre."

[Kal Olorin]

I'd escaped just in time, leaving my office to Sasseeri on the pretense that I needed to oversee the latest load of dirty credits that was coming in. Actually it had already been brought in, and was in process of being 'spent' in the casino by some other Black Sun employees. Of course, not all the money was laundered directly like that, but to be honest I didn't really want to think about business right then.

I stomped past a security guard and a green, long eared maid..? Maybe she was off duty. Walking through a set of security doors with a swipe of my keycard, and then through another door that was also locked and set with a blue female Twi'lek guard. She was curvy, and also no-nonsense, checking my ID badge while I swiped my card.

"Have a good day, Mr. Olorin," she said, returning to her assigned spot beside the door as I entered the counting room. Not the 'real' counting room, the illegitimate one that was full of dirty money.

Half full, anyway.

"Everything okay, Olorin?" A slim, electric blue-haired pink-skinned Zeltron looked up from where he was sitting, a smoking stim dangling from between two fingers. Ash dripped onto a stack of credits.

"Holy Jedi, Legs, you trying to burn up the merchandise?! Put that stim out!"

His eyebrows shot up, and he slowly stubbed out the stim on an ashtray. "Holy...Jedi?"

I shrugged. "Trying out some new phrases. What do you think?" I walked over and checked the numbers Legs had been running on a datapad. It was a game of virtual sabacc, instead. He chuckled at the look on my face and minimized the game, revealing the days tallies.

"I don't know, it sounds forced. Like 'Emperor's black bones!'" he orated, thrusting a fist to the air for emphasis. "So melodramatic."

"Eh, I kinda like it," I retorted. "I think I'll use it again."

"You would," Legs laughed. "Holy Jedi? Why not... Sweet Baby Sith!"

"Why not 'your momma?'" I groused, handing him back his data and taking a seat. Yeah, this was much better than hanging out with Sasseeri. Too bad I needed to go back up and watch the floor with her from the big shiny eye in the sky room before too long.

Better enjoy the quiet while it lasted. "Here, let me see that sabacc game."

Legs chuckled and handed over the pad again, and lit up a new stim. "Credits don't burn, boss. You know that, right?"

"Holy Jedi, are you going to try to tell me how to run my business again, Legs?"

[Kale]

Kale thought it best not to mention how far he was in over his head himself. He was running on instinct and testosterone at the moment, and he wasn't sure how much of his boldness was thanks to Falleen pheromones. Frell, she wouldn't even have needed the pheromones. All she needed was to stand there and look gorgeous, and people would walk off bridges for her.

The Coruscanti thief tried not to think too hard about what it was he was doing for her at the moment.

"If we run into anyone, I should be able to talk past them," he said. "If things are starting to turn sour... and you'll know if they're turning sour... Maybe just a little hit of the love perfume to make 'em all smiles again. You keep them off-balance, you keep them from questioning what's wrong with the situation. That lets you fill in the gaps."

As he spoke, he fished the ident card of Mr. Tosska Rotan out of its plastic sleeve and took a tiny sheet of flimsi from his pocket. The flimsi went onto the card, neatly covering the mugshot of the Togruta guard with Kale's own unassuming face. Then the card went back into its sleeve.

"The human who passed us a minute ago was someone important," Kale said. "I'd give good money to know what he's doing - ah! Jackpot."

The hallway hit a T-intersection with another hallway, and at the apex was a broad, wood-paneled door whose ostentation said "bigwig" and whose name placard said "Kal Olorin - Operations Manager."

Kale slipped Mr. Rotan's security card into the slot by the door, and the latch opened with a satisfying click, admitting the two interlopers inside.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri spoke as the door opened, looking down at the vidscreens that allowed Olorin to keep an eye on the action on the gambling floor. "Back alrrready? jI thought you'd mjiss me -"

She looked up and made eye contact with a human male security guard and a green skinned felinoid. She frowned. "jIf yourrr lookjing forrr Mjisterrr Olorrrjin, he just stepped out."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa followed Kale into the office, and stood a little straighter as it turned out to be occupied by another being. What appeared to be another halfbreed Cizerack was sitting behind the desk, her long platinum blond hair slightly tousled as she looked up at them.

No alarms yet though, as Kale's uniform was coming in handy. Rai'raa tried to look inconsequential as the female's bright blue eyes looked them over. A secretary? The Cizerack stood up, the jacket of her white business suit nearly hiding a tiny camisole and exposing a great deal of well tanned cleavage.

[Kale]

Kale had no idea who the stripeless Cizerack was (or why the Bespin sky was suddenly raining long ears and tails - not that he minded), but the low-cut power suit together with how comfortable she looked sitting behind Mr. Olorin's desk told him she was someone of no small significance. He tipped his head respectfully toward her.

"Sorry to bother you, ma'am," he said. "Seems this little lady's lost some jewelry. A corusca bracelet, matches her pendant. She says she trusted it to one of our employees for safekeeping. I was just going to request authorization to check the customer safe."

Not bad for a hasty piece of fiction, Kale thought. It didn't matter too much to him that he was showing his face so brazenly. He had the sort of face people forgot about as soon as they looked away.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"You brrrought herrr back herrre?" Sasseeri raised an eyebrow, and gave the female another long glance. "That's agajinst rrregulatjions."

She was already tired of this drama, however, and waved her hand, "Check the safes jif you must. She can stay herrre though, whjile you do." She smiled at what had to be another halfbreed Cizerack, though what blend she couldn't tell. "No need to make you trrrajipse all overrr the cajisno, dearrr."

She impatiently held out her hand for the guard's keycard. "jI'll authorrrjize you, shouldn't take but a mjinute." jIf jI rrrememberrr how to do thjis...

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Kale gamely handed over his keycard, and Rai'raa had a moment to breathlessly hope that he'd given her the guard's and not the Operations Manager's, both identical rectangles of white plastic. Forcing herself to relax, she helped herself to a seat as a tired patron might, and tucked one foot up underneath her. "I do hope you find it, Misterrr Rrrotan," she'd managed to read the name off his new ident badge. "It was a gift frrrom my motherrr."

The other female's eyes zeroed in on her as she handed back the keycard to Kale, and Rai'raa knew she'd said something wrong. But what? Dammit, she's a halfbrrreed too. Shouldn't have used the motherrr line. She remained calm, her body relaxed, and looked up at Kale. Might as well keep playing the hand I've got. "Please hurrrry, my frrriends will be waiting forrr me."

She smiled as beautifully as she could, a smile that she turned on when she wanted men to do things for her. But she could still feel the other female's eye boring into her.

[Kale]

As regarded anything passing between the two females, Kale remained Captain Oblivious. Few things said "business as usual" like the existential resignation of a bored security guard. His disinterest was the perfect counterbalance for Rai'raa's nerves. He had only to hope that Rai'raa could keep up her end of the charade while he rooted through whatever valuables the casino's customers had trusted to the public safe.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, accepting the card back. "Sorry for the inconvenience."

Kale turned and walked straight back out the door with that lazy, swinging gait peculiar to coppers and security guards across the galaxy when they weren't in any hurry. Of course, he had no idea where the safe was, but he let his instincts lead him into areas of higher security.

He passed few people in the hallway - a pair of young men in suits arguing in hushed tones, a human woman with a briefcase walking so fast the clicking of her heels was like machine gun fire. And then he spotted a female Twi'lek guard whose blue skin blended uncannily with her uniform. She was as gorgeous as her species' reputation would have it to be, but Kale didn't doubt she could fold him like origami given half an opportunity.

He made sure to read her badge from a distance before speaking. "Hey, Amanita - I'm such an idiot, second week here and I still get lost. I can't find the guest safe. I thought it was around here somewhere?"

It was a risk speaking to a guard - corporate fat cats tended to never look past the uniform, but he was screwed if Amanita and Tosska were drinking buddies. He was trusting to those nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine in a million looks of his that always seemed to put him on the edge of familiarity.

[Kal Olorin]

I said my farewells to Legs and the doors swished open to release me back into the corridors of Cumulus. The Twi'lek guard was irritatedly pointing someone down the hall. "Its that way, you must have gotten turned around. Behind the front desk."

I eyed the other security guard, an average guy a few inches shorter than me. He seemed young. I don't remember being that young, though I suppose I was, once. Probably idealistic too.

If I ran into that me I'd probably punch me in the face and tell me to go back home.

I refrained from punching the kid in the face though. "Hey, I'm heading that way, I'll walk with you." I tried to get to know all the employees, but it was impossible. Still, I tried.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri sat back in the chair, eying the female across from her. "You arrre frrrom the Clusterrr?" When the girl looked at her, she shrugged. "You arrre parrrt Cjizerrrack, arrre you not?"

The green skinned felinoid nodded, hesitantly. "Yes. On my...fatherrrs side." Her eyes looked away a bit, and Sasseeri's narrowed. A lie?

But no Cizeri female would give their half-breed daughter a gift. She opened her mouth to say something else, to dig at this unusual female, who was so very attractive. Her shirt was merely window dressing, the brassiere underneath only accentuating the swell of her breasts as she breathed deeply.

Sasseeri's lips curled up in a smile, and she met the other's eyes, bright blue eyes much like her own. "jI am Sasseeri. Perhaps once yourrr thjings arrre found we mjight have djinnerrr togetherrr?" She shifted a bit, her tail twitching. "jI own the casjino, we could eat anywherrre you ljike." She very much wanted the green enigma to accept, and wanted nothing more than to spend as much time with her as possible.

...Getting to know her. Sasseeri smiled again.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa smiled prettily, leaning forward as the other female fell under the influence of her pheromones. "You own the casino? That's amazing. Its a beautiful place... just like you."

"Oh," Sasseeri said, her cheeks flushing a little at the compliment. "jIts nothjing. jI have one on Corrruscant that puts thjis one to shame." She pushed up from behind the desk, walking around towards Rai'raa, and the girl considered that maybe she'd overdone it with the pheromones. Cizerack tended to react to them much more than other humanoids, if Saa was any proof.

The casino owner put a warm hand on her shoulder, and Rai'raa smiled up at her, putting her hand on top of Sasseeri's. "I'd verrry much like to see the rrrest of this one. I'm surrre you know all the secrrrets behind the scenes." She scooted her chair backwards a bit as Sasseeri leaned against the edge of the desk in front of her, her chest at eye level.

"Oh, therrre arrre lots of grrreat places herrre." The older female put her hand on the desk, fingers tapping lightly. "jIn the casjino."

[Kale]

Kale's eyes drifted in the directly of the open door. Outwardly, he was as bored as ever, but he'd have to be dead not to feel his blood race at the sight of counting table stacked high with credit chits.

"Oh, thanks, Mr. Olorin, that'd be great," he said. Other thieves would have cursed the encumbrance and the added risk of discovery that came with it, but Kale looked at this sort of thing more philosophically. Everything, even capture, was an opportunity if you knew what to look for.

He fell into a lazy walk alongside someone who was obviously deep in the casino's pocketbooks and began observing. The man was all business, but there was a little tightness around the corners of his eyes that spoke of strain, and maybe a dull headache. Not that Kale could blame him - there was a reason he'd never gone into business himself. Olorin didn't strike him as someone who was loose-lipped, but Kale decided to take a stab in the dark nonetheless.

"Crazy day, huh?"

[Kal Olorin]

Lost in my thoughts, it took a moment for his words to register. "Oh - yeah. Like usual," I sighed. "You weren't involved in that Diva Trelawny mess this morning were you? I thought that Pa'lowick would never stop yelling at the maids."

I rolled my eyes, "Sapient amphibious species, my ass."

We came to a locked security door, and I reached in my pocket for my keycard. Flicking it in front of the scanner the door unlocked and I let the guard follow me through. "So, Rotan, is it?" The name seemed familiar, but I couldn't place his face. I must have been getting old. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa licked her lips a little, and then decided this female was burning hot enough to melt durasteel. She was ripe for the picking, and if there was something Rai'raa knew about it was taking advantage of this particular situation.

She put out a hand, resting it on the desk just beside Sasseeri's. After a moment she pushed herself up to her feet. "Maybe I can get my brrracelet laterrr." She was taller than the other female, and Sasseeri looked up at her, her eyes bright. "A tourrr would be interrresting." Rai'raa walked her fingers across the wood of the desk and lightly touched Sasseeri's hand.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri nearly grabbed the girl right there and threw her on the desk, but she managed to contain herself. After all, she could be misreading... no, no, there was no way she was misreading that look.

Olorin would complain, however, if she messed up his office. She gave her a predatory smile, and said, "jI would be morrre than pleased to show you arrround. And yourrr name jis...?"

"Rai'raa," the exotic female replied, and she didn't move away as Sasseeri ran a finger up her green arm. Excellent.

"A beautjiful name," she replied, and then she raised an eyebrow, "jIt does mean... crrrazy jin Cizeri."

"Yes," Rai'raa said, smiling suggestively. "It does." She winked, and Sasseeri raised her other eyebrow, her own smile growing.

"Herrre, jI'll show you arrround. jI don't norrrmally... but jI can see you'rrre a specjial guest. And then some djinnerrr... and desserrrt."

Rai'raa followed her towards the door, and Sasseeri started when she felt her tail get tweaked a little. She turned her her head to look at the green female, who had an innocent look on her face. "I always liked having my desserrrt... firrrst."

Oh my. This was going to be fun.

[Kale]

"We've passed in the hallway once or twice, sir," Kale replied. "I've only been here a week. Got some beautiful slice of Cizerack halfbreed says she's missing some valuables, thinks they might be in the customer safe. Cizerack and Falleen, can you believe that? I didn't even know they were compatible."

As they walked, he was mapping the place in his mind. He knew they'd gone past the door he and Rai'raa had used to enter the back corridors, and now they were approaching the rear of the customer service desk. If he did pay a visit to the counting room, he'd need to find another way out. Even if the front door wasn't watched like a dying shaak under a nest of hawkbats, it was much too far a distance to carry that much cash without an ironclad cover.

They passed into a back room with lockers and mail slots, and in one wall was a closet-sized safe door with a hand scanner and an alphanumeric keypad. A few employees sorted mail while a female security guard sat leaned back in her chair and reading a Zeltron romance novel.

"Hey, just need to get into the safe," Kale said.

"Sure, knock yourself out," she replied without even looking up.

Kale hesitated for a moment before confronting the safe. There was no keycard slot, which meant he was expected to know the combination, and there was the hand scanner for redundancy. A false read probably wouldn't set off any alarms, but he sure as frell didn't want to leave a biometric calling card for Cumulus to track down later.

He approached the safe closely so as to hide both the scanner and the keypad from view of Olorin and the cameras. Then he pressed the back of his hand against the scanning plate and tapped in a random combination of numbers.

He was rewarded with an electronic squelch and a "1 of 3 attempts" warning. "Damn it - I'm still not in the system, can you believe that? Hey, could you give me a hand here?"

Kale turned to find the guard still absolutely unresponsive, so he caught Olorin's eyes.

[Kal Olorin]

"Hmm?" I saw Rotan looking at me, and my brain processed what he'd said. "Notoriously slow. I'll have a talk with HR about making sure you're set up."

I walked over and pressed my hand to the scanner and keyed in the code. The safe popped without a sound, and Rotan pulled it open. I looked in over his shoulder, and then a group of off duty showgirls entered the locker room looking for their purses. I straightened up and walked to the doorway, looking in.

"Good show tonight, ladies." I winked, and they grinned and chattered noisily. Ah... yes the job had its perks.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Rai'raa was flirtatious and beautiful, and Sasseeri's mind was racing. Djinnerrr? Desserrrt fjirrrst... yes, yes...

"Therrre jis an excellent vjiew frrrom the penthouse sujite," she said to her nubile companion. "We can check jit out whjile you'rrre wajitjing to hearrr about your corrrusca brrracelet."

The other half-breed looked at her, brow slightly furrowed, and then nodded, "Yes, my brrracelet. That sounds lovely." She smiled, her lips a rich plum, moist and perfectly shaped.

"jIts wherrre jI stay when jI'm jin the arrrea," Sasseeri added. She ushered the girl out of the back corridors and through the main casino floor, putting a solicitous hand on Rai'raa's lower back. A green tail looped lazily over her tanned arm as they entered a turbolift, and Sasseeri took a few deep breaths to calm her racing libido. The doors closed and she managed to swipe her keycard to send the 'lift straight up to the penthouse.

Then she turned and grabbed Rai'raa's shoulders, pressing her against the side of the 'lift and kissing her. "You'rrre jincrrredjible," she gasped between kisses, her heels not quite making up the height difference between them as she ran her hands up Rai'raa's supple green neck and twined her fingers in her fine blonde hair.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa was caught a bit by surprise as Sasseeri pressed herself against her, but stayed in character, letting the older female pull her head down to meet her urgent kisses. And she was a good kisser, too. Not too wet, not too dry... just enough tongue.

She was doing some calculations in her head, however, as the makeout session continued. They were headed towards the penthouse where Sasseeri stayed when she was in the region. Sasseeri owned the casino, and at least one more in the Core on Coruscant. That meant she was one of the most wealthy beings Rai'raa had ever met.

It was also more than likely that Sasseeri - Rai'raa gasped involuntarily as the female expertly ran her hands over her ears, sending a delicious tingle down her spine - that Sasseeri did not keep her personal valuables in the customer safe. They were most likely kept in her room safe. And she was taking Rai'raa to her room.

She ran her hands up Sasseeri's arms, taking a firm hold of her hands and lacing her fingers through hers. "Wait, slow down a bit." Rai'raa smiled, kissing her fingertips as she held her at bay for the moment. "Can you call to the guarrrd that brrrought me to you? Let him know wherrre I'm at? So he'll know wherrre to brrring my brrracelet?"

"Mmm," the other female agreed, sighing a bit as Rai'raa released her hands to let her reach for her commlink. "Maybe jI'll gjive hjim a rrrajise too." Sasseeri touched Rai'raa's face almost reverently before placing the call.

"Trrrajina'a? jIs therrre a securrrjity guarrrd stjill therrre, checkjing the safe forrr - Olorrrjin? Put hjim on." Sasseeri's tail twitched and pressed against Rai'raa's leg, gently easing upwards and underneath her short skirt. The Falleen-Cizerack half-breed breathed out quiet moan, teeth biting at her lip as the tan female continued her conversation. "jI'm gojing to my rrroom wjith a new aquajintance. jI don't want to be djisturrrbed... unless the guarrrd... jI suppose so, jI don't rrrecall hjis name Kal," she sounded irritated even while her tail continued its exploration.

She winked at Rai'raa, who was feeling a little breathless as the 'lift came to a stop and the doors opened to reveal a gorgeously decorated suite with stunning vistas of Cloud City. "Just have hjim brrrjing herrr brrracelet up herrre when he fjinds jit." She clicked off from the call and grabbed Rai'raa by the front of her see-through shirt and dragged her into the penthouse.

For the moment she was more than willing to go with the casino owner, her pheromones releasing unconsciously as her arousal level reached new heights.

[Kal Olorin]

I stared at the dead comm for a moment, and then gave the handset back to Traina'a who hung up and went back to reading her novel.

"Hey, Rotan," I called. "Boss lady wants you to bring that bracelet to the penthouse when you find it." He was half hidden behind the huge door of the safe, but waved a hand to show he'd heard me. "I'd wait about an hour before you do, however. They're a little busy."

If the noises I'd heard through the comm was any indication, Sasseeri was very busy indeed. Her voice had that husky quality to it that I'd heard many times before... it stirred faint feelings of guilt deep within me. And on a purely physical level it stirred some other feelings in me that made me want to take a cold shower.

That, or run up to the penthouse and find out what was going on. I grinned a little bit to myself, and then sighed, leaning against the wall and staring at the cover of Traina'a's novel as she read.

[Kale]

"'Busy'?" Kale repeated. "Damn. What I wouldn't give to have a spy camera in that room."

On the one hand, he was impressed, and on the other, he was a little concerned. There were stories about the casino owner - stories that went above and beyond the usual Cizerack licentiousness. He just hoped Rai'raa could handle herself.

He walked out of the room richer to the tune of a gold wrist chrono, a roll of credits, and a pair of large cubic zirconium earrings that had obviously been good enough to fool one buyer into thinking they were diamonds, and might be good enough to fool another. He hadn't found the corusca bracelet, of course - it would have to be checked out, and of course it had never been checked in. Kale just gave Traina'a a shrug and walked back out the way he'd come in.

It wasn't hard to kill an hour. He walked back onto the casino floor and managed to swindle a pair of high-rolling Wroonian women out of three hundred credits in chips while showing them a new twist on Pazaak and introducing them to a new cocktail. After he'd pocketed their money, they thanked him for a wonderful time, and one of them passed him a comm number written on a napkin.

As he headed back behind the "employees only" doors, his mind drifted again toward that counting room and the piles of loose credits sitting on the table - more than he'd made the entire time he'd been on Bespin, and all in unencrypted, medium-denomination chits. Those were designed to pass hand-to-hand rather than electronically, ideal for illicit payments. Rob from the casino vault proper, and they'd simply cancel the credit and descend on you like an Ithorian shadow hunter the moment you tried to cash it in. But this was money the casino didn't want tracked. They probably intended to pass it out to their employees to spend in the casino, start a new legacy for the credit from scratch to legitimize their ill-gotten gains. Usually stolen credit was only good on the black market, but if Kale got his hands on pre-laundered currency, he could do anything he wanted with it - heck, even open a bank account big enough to draw income for life. Him! Imagine that!

Well, that was a nice pipe dream. But something like that would involve more planning and risk than he could possibly afford. Right now, his objective was to find Rai'raa and get the frell out before their cover was blown.

Kale found his way to the executive penthouse, and the moment he stepped off the mag lift he could smell the opulence of the place. He tried the buzzer at the front door and waited.

Come to think of it, he thought he could smell something else, too...

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

A stiff butler droid answered the door, accepting Kale's keycard as clearance to enter, and stepping crab-like out of the way. "Mizz waz called away on buzinezz... She said you were to be admitted... pleeze to come thiz way..."

The droid walked to the sitting room where a large screen was playing a popular holomovie, on mute. "Drinkz, zir?" It turned creakily towards its guest, only to find him walking the other direction towards the huge master bedroom where some faint noises were coming from. "Zir?"

[Kale]

Kale's nose could have led him to the door, even if his ears hadn't picked what he could have sworn was Rai'raa's voice. Fearing the worst, he crossed quickly over expensive rugs and threw the door open.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw on the other side.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa stared up at the ceiling, head lolling to the side with exhaustion. The afterglow had faded and all she felt was sore and tired. She'd tried for several minutes to get free from the Ithorian silk scarves that tied her hands and feet to the posts of the immense four poster bed she was spreadeagled upon, but Sasseeri was good with knots and the effort had just made her more tired.

The door opened, and she sighed, expecting that Ms. Reouurraa had finally returned, hopefully with some food. She flexed her muscles a bit, pheromones filling the air a bit, but only a small amount. She'd overdone it earlier, clearly.

Lifting her head she started to smile, and then she saw Kale. "Oh my gods, Kale, please, get me out of here!" Rai'raa yanked at her bonds, lifting her naked body up off the damp sheets with the effort.

[Kal Olorin]

Whistling, I made my way down the blank grey corridors in the back of Cumulus, hands in my pockets. Sasseeri was out of my hair, and I'd just found a receptive ear in the new Imperial Garrison.

"Hey boss, the guy on the south door hasn't checked in and he's not at his post. Rotan? Big Togruta? Anyway, we're looking for him, thought you should know."

"Okay," I replied. Rotan was a non-human? I frowned, opening a door to a random interrogation room and somehow not being surprised by what I saw. A Togruta tied to a chair. I walked over and pulled the tape off his mouth. "Is your name Rotan?"

He nodded. "There were two of them, sir..." The room smelled a little like piss, and I grimaced and stepped away from the guard, lifting my commlink. "Uh, I think I found him. We might have a situation on our hands."

[Kale]

Over the minutes that followed, Kale was presented with a very strange revelation: if in the course of your chosen profession you find yourself untying a spreadeagled and very naked Cizerack halfbreed female from the bedposts in the private chambers of an obscenely wealthy casino magnate, you are either doing things very right or very wrong. Banking on the former, he didn't mind enjoying the view as he fought against some rather frighteningly well-crafted knots.

"Listen, I don't want to tell you your business, but here I thought the whole idea was to seduce and tie up the other person."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"No drrren, genius," she retorted, holding one hand close to her as he finally released it. "Just... just find something and cut me frrree. She might be back at any moment." Rai'raa shuddered delicately at the thought, dragging one of the discarded coverlets to partially cover herself as Kale continued to work on the knots. An ankle was freed, and she had to resist yanking at the other scarves, knowing that all she'd been doing was tightening the knots.

"I know wherrre the safe is - its in the wall behind that painting. I got herrr to show it to me beforrre..." The half-Falleen female put her hand over her eyes. "If we hurrrrry..." Her voice had a slight edge to it, as she began to feel slightly hysterical.

"Excuze me, gentles, but pleeze to stop." Both occupants of the room looked up to see the butler droid in the doorway, a blaster in its hand. "Your clearance haz been revoked, zir."

[Kale]

Kale had freed Rai'raa's other ankle, but she was still bound by the wrist to the headboard post when the droid appeared.

Damn. Kale hated droids, especially the stupid servant models. The farther they were from sentient, the harder they were to bluff.

Kale raised his hands and stood clear of Rai'raa. "Hey, easy there," he said. "You don't want to use that on me. You must not injure a sentient, or through inaction, allow a sentient to come to harm. Isn't that right?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

The droid stared at them both, opticals unblinking and keeping the blaster trained on Kale. Rai'raa was frantically picking at the silken knot with her free hand while at the same time trying not to move too much.

"Uh... doez not compute. Uh, you are toazt if you move drenlicker." This droid had been watching too many action flicks. Rai'raa flexed her hands and unsheathed her claws, tearing into the strong silk and throwing her body off the side of the bed.

The droid jerked and tracked her movement with the blaster, but it didn't fire the weapon in her direction.

[Kale]

For a moment, the droid's attention was off Kale, and that was all he needed to reach out with the Force. His telekinesis had never been very strong, but it was precise. He was extremely gifted in moving small things, far more so than most Jedi or Sith who by comparison used the Force as a bludgeon. That in itself wasn't too impressive until you considered how important small things - like the safety switch on the side of a blaster - could be.

And with that precaution in place, Kale charged toward the droid and planted a kick straight into the center of its chest carapace.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"Stop, stop, you iz not authorized..." The ungainly droid flailed as Kale's kick knocked it off balance, and the blaster clicked a few times in its hand as it fell over backwards. "Pleeze to help me up, and turn yourzelves in."

Rai'raa darted forward, finally free of the last scarf, and kicked the blaster out of the droid's grip with her bare foot. "Ow!" She slapped a small metal nub onto the droid's shell, and activated the restraining bolt with a twist. Chest heaving, she tossed her disheveled hair over her shoulder, and looked at Kale with a shrug. "It was in the nightstand." She had a pretty good idea why, too, having seen a lot of erotic droid use while living on Zeltros, but thankfully Sasseeri hadn't gone quite that far during their little... romp.

Still naked, she stumbled to the closet, tripping over a variety of sex toys on the floor and then throwing open the door to an immense wardrobe of stylish clothing. "Safe's behind the picturrre. I'm not leaving herrre without cleaning out that bitch."

Rai'raa pawed through the clothes, trying to find something that would fit her slightly larger frame. She found a blue vee necked cotton shirt and pulled it on over her head, tugging it down over her breasts as she tried to find a pair of pants that wouldn't look too short. Pulling on a pair of black yoga capris, the half-breed reached back to thread her tail through the sewn in hole, turning around to check on Kale's progress with the safe.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri was in the 'lift making her way back up to the penthouse after dealing with a comm call she simply hadn't been able to put off. Couldn't take it in her rooms, of course, she didn't want to mix business with pleasurrre. Well, not in this instance, anyway.

She was flush with passion still, and ready to continue enjoying the skills of the young female in her suite. And she was verrry, verrry skilled. Sasseeri sighed at the memory, leaning against the coolness of the wall of the 'lift as it pulled her upwards and back to Rai'raa.

[Kale]

Kale stooped to relieve the droid of the blaster and - making sure the safety was still on - shoved the barrel down the front of his jeans, for lack of a better way to carry it. He didn't much like blasters, because by the time you got to using them, you'd already blown it. Thieves got stupid when they carried blasters, thought they could take on the whole galaxy - and then you remembered the galaxy had a lot more blasters than you did.

Then he stepped over to the painting Rai'raa had indicated and swung it aside, revealing a black durasteel safe that could probably withstand a nuclear strike. And then he turned to look at Rai'raa, who by chance was turning to look his way.

"And now what?" he said. "I'm a pick-pocket, not a safe cracker. I don't suppose she shouted out the combination in her throes of ecstasy?"

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

"Well, I am a safe crrrackerrr," Rai'raa retorted, jumping onto the mussed bed and crawling across it to meet him by the wall. She pressed her head against the cool metal of the safe, one long ear laid delicately against the door as she gave the dial a spin. Then she caught sight of the chrono and stood up straight. "Oh drrren, she's coming back. Quick, get in the closet. And take these!" She yanked off the clothes she'd just put on and shoved them into Kale's arms.

He stumbled out of sight and Rai'raa jumped back on the bed, pulling a sheet up and clutching it in front of her as she worked up some tears. The door opened and she began to cry hysterically.

[Kale]

Kale stared at her mutely for a moment - it was hard to think constructively when a beautiful girl was stripping herself naked and shoving her clothes in your arms - and then he knew exactly what she had in mind.

"Got your back," he said, and he raised the blaster for emphasis. "Good luck."

He could already sense another sentient moving through the apartment. He backed into the closet and disappeared before the waterworks started.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri frowned at her commlink, "Well, fjind hjim, obvjiously. jIf you deactjivated the keycarrrd he's usjing he'll turrrn up qujickly enough." The 'lift doors opened and she heard Rai'raa crying. "jI'll call you back, Kal."

What could be wrong with the girl? Sasseeri ran into the bedroom to find her sweet Rai'raa sobbing on the bed. "What happened? How djid you get loose?" She sat on the bed beside the beautiful half-breed and hugged her, running her hands along those beautiful scales down her spine. "jI wasn't gone that long, shhh now, jI'm back."

Rai'raa leaned against her, her face wet with tears. "I was so afrrraid! A thief came in, took out the drrroid, and rrrobbed yourrr safe! I thought he was going to...to rrrrape me!" She shuddered, clutching at Sasseeri, who felt a surge of protective instincts at the same time as an upswell in libido.

Wajit a mjinute. "He rrrobbed me!?" Sasseeri kissed Rai'raa's cheeks and pushed herself up off the huge bed. "Stay rrrjight therrre, jI'll call securrrjity jin a moment..." She stalked to the safe, the picture still hanging open leaving it exposed, and dialed it open. She had to see what had been taken.

[Kale]

Kale watched from his hiding place - not in the closet, but in the folds of the Force itself. It wasn't invisibility; it was more like a universal mind trick, which in a lot of ways was even better. When you were invisible, there was always a chance of someone noticing the void where you ought to be. But when someone looked at Kale, they saw him on the level they saw the bumps on the woodwork, the dust in the air. On the edge of perception, and just south of recognition. He was background, nothing more.

When the safe opened, Kale knew what Rai'raa expected. He could put the muzzle of the blaster to Sasseeri's head, and they could overpower her together, tie her up, and then clean out as much of the safe's contents as they could carry. But that would mean revealing himself, and he wasn't ready to do that quite yet. Besides, a good burglary was never about quantity. It was about precision.

As he loomed imperceptibly over the two women's shoulders and scanned the safe's contents, he knew exactly what he wanted.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa gathered up the sheet and slid off the bed to stand near Sasseeri, under the guise that she didn't want to be alone any more than necessary. Wherrre is Kale? The tanned Cizerack half-breed was rifling through the safe's contents - a lot of datacards and some flimsi, plus a few old fashioned looking datapads.

"jI don't see anythjing mjissjing," muttered the casino owner, and then she turned everything upside down again just to be sure.

Rai'raa sniffed, "He... he had a blasterrrr. I've neverrr been so afrrraid!" She sagged down to the ground, and Sasseeri knelt beside her, a hand on her slim shoulder.

"Don't be scarrred, jI'm gettjing securrrjity jin herrre." She pulled out her commlink and began to make the call.

[Kale]

Still hidden, Kale whispered, in a voice soft enough for Sasseeri to think it was her own:

"You should get her a drink from the kitchen."

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri rocked back on her heels. "jI'll get you a drrrjink frrrom the kjitchen."

She got up, and walked out of the room after closing the safe, and yelled into the commlink, "No jI'm not gettjing you a drrjink you frackwjit, get Securrrjity up herrre rrrjight away, therrre's been a majorrr brrreach jin my rrrooms, and you'rrre all fjirrred jif you don't fjind the man rrresponsjible!"

Sasseeri grabbed a glass from the cupboard and turned on the tap, filling the cup. "That Rrrrotan jimposterrr was herrre and he trrrjied to rrrob my safe! jIncompetence doesn't even begjin to coverrr jit!" Furious, she threw the commlink across the room and then walked back to the bedroom with the glass of water for beautiful Rai'raa.

[Kale]

Kale considered bolting on his own and leaving Rai'raa in Sasseeri's capable hands. She'd obviously won the casino boss's favor, and even if the real Rotan positively identified her, she could probably trump his testimony and keep on playing the innocent victim as long as it suited her.

Or she'd crack, be subjected to horrible torture, and sell him out faster than he'd sold her. No, they'd walked into this together, and that was the only way they were walking out.

So while Sasseeri busied herself in the kitchen, Kale stepped directly behind the Falleen halfbreed and whispered, "Rai'raa? Stay quiet."

Just in case, he closed one hand over her mouth while he laid the other one on her shoulder.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa started, looking up and suddenly seeing Kale standing just behind her. She nodded slowly, and he took his hand off her mouth and handed her the clothes she'd just taken off a few minutes before.

She slipped back into them as he looked towards the open door. Sasseeri's voice was getting louder, and she put her hand on Kale's arm. "She's coming back," she whispered.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Herrre's yourrr waterrr," Sasseeri said, looking over to the open safe and then stopping in her tracks. "Rai'raa?"

She walked forward a few more paces, then looked over the room. "Wherrre djid you go?"

Sasseeri saw the door to the on suite refresher was open, and made her way over there, but it was empty as well. "Securrrjity wjill be herrre at any moment, we'll get thjis fjigurrred out." Her eyes narrowed although her tone remained light, and she poked her head into the huge walk in closet just to verify that it was also empty. A sound behind her made her ears twitch, but she turned around as if she suspected nothing, and indeed, she saw nothing.

Where had the girl gone? And naked, too. Her shredded blouse was still on the ground by the bed, lying on top of her skirt and undergarments.

[Kale]

Kale and Rai'raa stood in what should have been plain sight by the bed, but every time Sasseeri's gaze landed on the two thieves, it just slid off them and wandered somewhere else.

Fortunately, Rai'raa had wised up and was keeping quiet, not to mention absolutely frozen-molasses-in-Hoth-midwinter still - even her tail was frozen and, Kale noticed with a smirk, curled around his leg. He stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. The contact was critical, otherwise Kale's concentration would break and they'd both be visible.

Very gently, he pushed her forward toward the still-open door and out into the penthouse parlor. Then - and this was the tricky part, since there was no disguising the noise - he opened the door to the foyer and quickly ushered Rai'raa outside.

Moments later they were hurrying down the stairwell that ran alongside the elevator shaft, more slowly than Kale would have liked in order to accommodate Rai'raa's rather makeshift mode of dress and her bare feet.

"Look, I can't give away all my secrets," Kale said, in a hushed voice in case there was anyone else on the stairs below. "But, yeah, as long as we're touching, I can make us both... well, more or less invisible. Just so long as we don't make any noise or touch anybody else."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

She stared at him with wide eyes, and held onto his hand a bit more firmly as they kept walking down the stairs. Her feet were cold, but on the up side she wasn't making nearly as much noise as Kale was in his shoes.

They walked down a few more flights of stairs, and she whispered, "I thought you would have used that blasterrr to get access to the safe so we could actually, I dunno, get something useful out of this situation?" She tugged at the yoga pants she was wearing and considered that she looked like she was going to go work out. "I mean, I got the combination to the safe and everrrything. And I'm not going back in therrre."

[Kale]

"Using blasters means you've already lost," Kale replied. "There's a lot of things you can con your way out of, holding a blaster on someone ain't one of them."

They descended past the ground floor level and kept going. Kale pushed open a door that led out into a parking garage and, beyond, a row of landing pads.

"Besides," he said, "who said we came up empty?"

After scanning the garage to make sure the coast was clear, he pulled something small out of his jacket pocket. It was a keyring bearing the Sorosuub seal, and dangling from it was a datakey that clearly went to something fast and expensive.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

She squealed a bit at the sight of the datakey. "What! How...?!" Rai'raa hugged him tightly, and then released him. "Which one is it?" Her blue eyes were dancing with anticipation of what sort of ship would have its key locked in Sasseeri's safe.

[Kale]

"Well, that's what we gotta find out," Kale said. They were surrounded by airspeeders, many of them expensive, but only good for hopping from one sky platform to another, or taking joyrides through the local cloud formations. The key in his hand was oversized, which meant it went to something bigger than a sedan or sports skimmer.

Kale offered an arm to Rai'raa. There would still be cameras in a parking garage, and they couldn't afford to draw attention to themselves. "Come on," he said, "there are docking platforms outside the garage."

There was an open-air promenade deck that wrapped around the casino complex, and it was studded every thirty meters or so with a raised landing platform, all of them with prime access to the Cloud City skylanes. Kale mostly saw personal cruisers - Sorosuubs, Corellians, the odd Incom model - along with one or two military transports that were probably on retainer for some Imperial with tassels on his shoulders. He eyeballed each of them as they strolled by, but none of them felt right - until they stopped by a Luxury 3000 (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Luxury_3000) yacht on a corner landing pad with Corellian tags and an ivory finish.

Kale looked up and down the gleaming beauty of a ship and fingered the datakey in his hand. "I got a good feeling about this."

He raised the key and thumbed the door locks button. And then he jumped when he heard a piercing electronic chirp - not from the Luxury 3000, but from behind them.

There it was, looming on an elevated platform marked for staff parking - sleek and powerful, it was the A-Wing to the Luxury 3000's X-Wing, and even sitting on a landing pad it looked like it was going lightspeed. Kale felt his jaw drop.

"Do you know what that is?" he said, keeping his voice low as if it might spook and fly away. "That's a Horizon-class Star Yacht (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Horizon-class_Star_Yacht)... fastest model Sorosuub makes. It gives the Corellians a run for their money."

The main body of the ship looked like a stripped-down, streamlined version of the Luxury's cigar-shaped fuselage, but the similarities ended there. Instead of the blocky back observation deck with floor-to-ceiling windows, the Horizon sported a graceful pair of forward-swept wings capped by massive engine pods. It made Cloud City more aerodynamic just sitting there; you couldn't look at the thing without a sense of vertigo.

And as they watched, the boarding hatch in the side of the yacht slid open as if to welcome its new proprietors.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa realized she was squeezing Kale's arm too tightly, and released it, only for him to grab her hand and tug her toward the extending ramp. She followed him, excited but also nervous.

"Therrre's no securrrity?" Kale reassured her that the key they were using would deactivate any latent systems designed to keep out unwanted intruders. "The key to the kingdom," he declared, walking briskly up the ramp.

Rai'raa followed, tugged along by her hand. "Its beautiful."