Taking a Break (Open)

[imported_Darriann Sollak]

It had been a while since Darriann had a vacation. He was glad he could get away from smuggling and crime. Vhiran and him had just finished a run a few days ago and the Renegade Angel was in need of repairs. Darriann would have helped out with them but Vhiran wanted to add some things and didn't want Sollak getting in the way. So he told him he should take a vacation. Darriann did just that.

Darriann walked out of one Coruscants many star ports. The sun was setting so he decided he'd better find a room. There was a hotel close to the port. He walked in and looked around. It was of real good quality, polished floors, nice furniture and the like. He walked up to the desk and booked a room on the thirty first floor. He took the lift up along with a few other guests mostly business people. A few glanced at him. He assumed they thought he was a some type of thief. He didn't blame them after all he was dressed in scruffy clothes and did steal occasionally. But that was his job being a smuggler and all. He left the lift and walked to his room, 3116. He entered the room was well kept. It overlooked the star port which Sollak liked. It had a large holovision, food dispenser, and a computer terminal. He dropped his case on the bed and hung his clothes in the closet. After he was finished he decided he'd go out for a drink.

[The Ace of Clubs]

Coruscant was home to many, many bars. They were stock-standard in appearance for the most part, all looking as though they had been made from the same mould. What defined them from one another was the clientele. Coruscanti came in many classes, and most of them involved the words ‘lower’ or ‘working’. You could find a working mans club on most every street corner, but these weren’t the lowest of the low. Logic would have dictated that the deeper you went into the levels of the city, the dirtier it would get. Sometimes, just sometimes, logic was wrong.

The ‘Sternmans Wheel’ was one of the prime dives for the most dangerous barflies that city had to offer, and it just happened to be the place Sollak had wandered into. A seedy jazz tune was barely audible over the sound of slurred and grunted conversation. A cracked holoscreen was showing a blue movie of some kind, though most of the patrons were more interested in their glasses and card games than the melodramatic moaning coming from the screen.

“You frellnik!”

A fist hit a table.

“Cheating drannit scum!” the voice barked.

“Cheat? Me?”

Around one particular table there were six people sat. Five of them were grimy heavily tattooed men. One was a petite oriental girl in a school uniform. Each of the five was glaring at her, as she swept a small pile of credit chits, wallets and watches towards her lap.

“No, no, girl. You don’t get none of that.”

She narrowed her eyes, feigning a pout, “No? But I won. I have the highest hand.”

“You don’t get nuffink, awright?” another growled.

If he had any idea who this girl was, he probably would have said something different. Usually under the code name, The Ace of Clubs, Keke was a professional assassin of the highest quality. She could have killed every single one of the men in the blink of an eye – but, had not been paid to do so, therefore would do no so such thing. Always leave business in the office, she had been taught.

“… Fair enough,” she sighed, pulling her satchel off of the back of the chair and swirling herself up to her feet, heading for the bar to order herself a squash. The card-players retrieved their cash, silently thankful.

[imported_Darriann Sollak]

Darriann took a seat at the bar. It wasn't clean but he knew he could get any drink he wanted here. He looked around and watched a group of card players. The bartender came up to him and asked what his selection would be.

"Corellian brandy." Darriann said.

The bartender left to get the drink. Darriann looked back to the card players. Something caught his eye. There was a girl in a school uniform. She seemed out of place in the bar. He looked at her cards before she set them on the table. It appeared she had cleaned out a bunch of card players, but had to return the winnings.

He spoke to her as she walked up to the bar, "Why'd you give them their money back? You had them beat. No one could have topped that hand."

The bartender came back with the drink and placed it on the bar top. Sollak grabbed it and took a gulp.

[The Ace of Clubs]

Looking up at the man speaking at her, Keke couldn’t help when she saw his outfit. Armor of some kind. Perhaps it was a wise choice of clothing in a place like this, even if Keke had learned long ago that for the most part the thugs barks were far worse than their bites.

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said with a small shrug, before positioning the straw in her glass against her lips and taking a sip, “Plus, it’s not the winning that’s important – it’s the taking part.”

[imported_Darriann Sollak]

"I guess your right. Taking on a bunch of drunk and angered card players may not be wise." He said, "But hey you won and had you lost, one of them would have taken your bet anyway."

He looked over toward the group. They were waiting for another player. Darriann grabbed his drink and finished it off. He reached in his left pocket for a cred stick. He pulled one up which had a large sum of credits on it. The credits were false but could fool a simple scan. He twirled it in his fingers.

"I'm Darriann Sollak by the way. So do you want your winnings back? I'm kind of bored and need something to do on my vacation."

[The Ace of Clubs]

She was a little suprised, but it didn't show - after all, she had been trained to hide such things.

"Why not? I'm sure I won't feel so intimidated with you helping me out, Mr Sollak," Keke said, smiling a most innocent smile. The two made their way towards the Sabaac table, greeted by a chorus of grunts. The players looked up, some sneering laughs.

"Back for more?" one snarled.

With a flick of her wrist, Keke twisted a chair out and around, sliding into a stradle over it, "You bet."

[imported_Darriann Sollak]

"Just deal." He said giving the man a smirk.

Darriann took a seat at the table and sat his drink down. He threw in the cred stick. Some of the men looked at the amount on it and smiled. Darriann picked up his hand. Took a sip of his drink and waited for the dealer to start.

[The Ace of Clubs]

The cards were shuffled and dealt out to the various players. There were six in the game, counting Darriann, and numerous others watching. Keke stood behind her newest aqquaintance, watching over his shoulder as he was given his hand. It wasn't a bad deal, but it wasn't astounding either. From the looks on some of the faces of the other players, they had gotten something better - or were very good at bluffing.

"Don't you ever get tired of swindling people?" she asked, as one man tossed in one card and picked up another.

[imported_Darriann Sollak]

The people around the table looked up from their hands and at Darriann. He kept his eyes on his cards and said with a steady voice. "Me swindle people? Never."

The group turned back to their cards and back to ploting how to win. Darriann picked up a card and placed it in his hand his total was now 8, 3-1-4. The final draw phase was coming up. All he needed to draw was a clone card or another 3.

"This is gonna be close." He said as he looked around the table.