Gambling Between the Stars

Her feet were doing the walking, but it felt like the rest of her had been left behind in that room. Or maybe even much further away, back on Bestine, back before any of this had happened. Back home.

You no longer have a home.

She shivered underneath the dress and jacket, but not from any external discomfort; it was sort of an internal coldness she felt, a realisation that she was floating in absolutely nothing, with just a few thin sheets of durasteel between her and black coldness of space - a space so vast that it made her home planet seem utterly insignificant, nothing but a dull twinkle surrounded by billions of others. And the little piece of home she'd called her own... it was a dustmite, an atom, in comparison. She was nothing. If those walls of steel were to suddenly vanish, her life would be extinguished like a candle blown out, her body floating and vanishing into that vast blackness.

That feeling of utter nothingness sharply brought with it opposition. It made her remember a life that had been happy, untouched, uncomplicated... and at home. She'd never wanted to leave, she had loved that life, she would have been---

---you would have been dead. You blinded yourself to what was happening around you, but it caught up with you. They would have sent you to Kessel, at best, or killed you point blank, which is much more likely.

She fought with herself for control. One moment the numbness was back, the next moment a blaze of fear, anger, shock, and all manner of other emotions was succumbing her, only to be replaced once more by that deadening numbness. It was like hot and cold at the same time; like up and down, left and right, and still always remaining in the dead center.

As they were walking, the feeling of being a droid returned. Someone without any kind of feeling, just responses programmed into her, internal motors carrying her forward, a mind computing one's reactions. When she looked down at herself, she saw herself there, but yet not herself. This wasn't her. This was some other woman walking along in a skimpy dress and a white jacket, leaning onto the arm of an attractive young man. Not her.

"My name... it's Tria, " she whispered suddenly. "Tri'ahna Zylary."

She wasn't sure what made her say it. Maybe because she feared if anything happened to her, truly she would be lost in that blackness, an anonymous nothing drifting into nothing. But if it was a mistake to tell the truth, it was too late now. It was said and done. The thing that was her turned its head and looked at its companion, to see his reaction.

Once they were back at the turbolifts, Jekaan stepped aside and motioned the security officer forward. "Now, Chief - show me the quickest way to the medbay."

Chief Pallar obediently nodded his head, and slapped the lift button with his hand. The cables beyond the shaft doors started whirring, indicating that the lift was on its way. Still extremely uncomfortable to be in the presence of an Intel agent, Pallar gathered his hands at the small of his back and nervously began to balance back and forth on his feet, the leather of his shoes squeaking noisily in the silence between them. An impatient look from Jekaan sufficed to make him stop in mid motion.

Jekaan fixed his partner with a dead-pan stare that she met with one of her own. He knew she was surprised at this new development, but whatever had prompted Esalis to take responsibility for only one agent on board left him with a choice - and he'd decided to use the possible advantage that might have given them, for whatever it was worth. Besides, it was probably a good thing no one associated her real name with Intel, no matter how funny he had thought it would be when he'd sliced it into the central computer.

The hand that was resting on his belt shifted further back and out of the direct view of the officer. Twice he spread his index finger apart from the other fingers until she caught the motion, then he cleared his throat. She continued to look at him for one more moment, then he saw the corner of her mouth twitch for the fraction of a section.

At that moment, the turbolift doors behind him opened. Jekaan stepped in without another look at either Qourr or Pallar. But no sooner had the doors closed again behind them when Qourr stepped up to him and, much to the Chief's horror, stabbed his chest with her index finger.

"You're a lying conniving backstabbing piece of Hutt-drool! What do you mean you're Intel??? You're no Intel, you haven't got the guts nor the brains to be some kind of kriffing agent! So shove your delusions of grandeur up your scrag-end, and tell me what the blinkin' mradhe muck is going on here!!!"

Excellent!

Jekaan simply grabbed her wrist and pulled hard at it so she got thrown against him; his other arm snaked around her neck as the tug on her wrist suddenly changed direction and instead pulled her sideways so that she found herself locked against him with her head up high as his arm was pushing against her throat. Her hand was twisted behind her back but the other one came to lie on his - she made a feigned attempt at bucking within his embrace and not being able to free herself before going almost limp in his arms.

A look over her shoulder at the Secruity chief showed that they were giving him a good show - the poor man was standing there with the eyes in his deathly-pale face almost popping out of their sockets, his fists clenching and unclenching.

Jekaan hissed into Qourr's ear: "There are a few of my colleagues who specialise in your kind of fun, only they are much much better at it than you are. Try that again, and I'll turn you over to them."

She bucked again, and he increased the pressure on her arm and throat.

"Your life is in my hands. You'd better accept that now or I'll see to it that you'll suffer the consequences."

"Yessssssss....," came her reply through clenched teeth, and he pushed her away from himself. She slammed into the side of the lift-cabin just as it was coming to a stop. When the doors opened, she had righted herself and was ready to move, head held high yet still somehow demure. She was a marvellous creature....

Before she or Pallar could step out, however, Jekaan stepped ahead of them and held out his arm. He adressed her once again.

"My mission here is to interrogate the man we were hired by. You have certain skills that are useful in this matter. I will need you to continue this charade, to gain his trust or find a trigger to his actions. You are comfortable doing this?"

She looked at him, and nodded. Jekaan turned to the security chief.

"You'll notify your people that we are coming and they are to vacate the bay. In case of any medical emergency during our interrogation, your men will simply have to find some other way to treat their patients."

The man was about to protest at that, but Jekaan gave him a look so malevolent that Pallar stepped back in sudden fright.

"You will leave us now. Return to your usual station, and inform the ship's captain to set a course for the nearest Imperial outpost."

Pallar stumbled away without another word, eager to get as far away as possible. Jekaan gave a low chuckle, but held up his hand to silence Qourr who had been about to make a comment.

"Come now, we need to get started."

There was a dull ache in her shoulder from hitting that cabin-wall, but it wasn't anything serious - nothing that would give her more than a bit of a bruise for a couple of days. She winced, anyway, then set her features into a disgruntled frown that fitted her assumed identity as she fell into a trot behind her partner.

Qourr didn't mind putting on all these theatrics; as Jekaan had taught her early on - putting on a show was a necessary part of any mission, the more convincing the better. And it wasn't that she minded being roughed up a bit - she never minded the physical action - nor that it was her partner who was doing it. But lately, increasingly, something about that just felt odd - there was something to her partner's actions that went beyond that standard. It was something she couldn't quite define in words. It was as if some part of him wasn't there, as if he was slipping into a personality beyond the one he was supposed to be, a personality that seemed to grow increasingly more brutal and jaded with every action it saw. She wasn't sure if she cared about that other Jekaan, nor if she could trust him entirely.

That trust needed to be there. Trust and understanding, he had always told her, had to be absolute in this line of work. Trust that her partner was working with her and thereby working with the same goal in mind, and understanding that his actions and words were a means to that goal.

She had nothing palpable to this feeling; she couldn't even give a specific example - something was just off. During a mission and all the situations they had faced, she'd not had the time to sit back and take notes - you go with the situation and use any means possible to get to your goal. You don't question your partner's actions. And afterwards, after celebrating your success, it feels like a silly thing, not worth mentioning because all again is as it should be. Which, in fact, it had not been.

Qourr didn't know why she thought about it now. The walk to the medbay was long, and her shoulder was still reminding her of his last actions. There had been something in his voice when he'd threatened her.....

Her skin began to crawl. But she fought the sudden terror off; this was not the time to feel fear, least of all of her partner.

But two minutes later she was still thankful when he indicated they'd arrived. Behind him, she entered the medbay and followed him over to what had to be an isolation wing. A force field was the only thing keeping them from their target now, and the man was awake.

Interesting. She was opening up to me.

Either she was trying to play another angle, or she was what she appeared to be: a lost lamb. Sassy loves lost lambs. Personally, I don't like playing the wolf anymore, but it pays the bills.

"Tri'ahna," I said, looking down at her as the 'lift shot us up towards Starlight. "Much prettier than Dilek." A calculated pause. I hate myself. "It suits you."

The turbolift slowed, stopped, and the doors opened. I ushered her out of the small space, and into the foyer of the restaurant. The owners of Starlight had spared no expense when it came to decor - rich wood from Kashyyyk had been used on the floor, exotic plants were tastefully placed for maximum effect. The walls were covered with some sort of tribal design which off set the very modern furniture, and the lighting was magnificent.

And we weren't even in the dining areas yet.

"Mr. Olorin," the woman at the counter smiled and came around to greet us. "Your table is waiting for you and your guest."

I'd had a different girl to the Starlight every night that week. I nodded pleasantly and Tria and I followed our guide into the dining rooms. They were large and spacious, continuing the tribal-meets-Coruscant theme from the foyer. I hardly paid attention to the opulance anymore, but I sensed my companion was stifling the urge to stare wide-eyed around her as we reached the observation deck.

The ceiling there was entirely transparisteel, giving us an unparallelled view of the nebula the Morning Star was flying by. I pulled Tri'ahna's chair for her, made sure she was settled, and took my own. "A bottle of my regular wine," I said to the woman who'd seated us, and she nodded and disappeared.

I looked at the girl across from me, and picked up my menu. I had it memorized. "Hungry?"

His reaction - it didn't quite sound right. Like someone trying to feign surprise but showing too little of it. Was it at all a surprise? Was it possible he had known all along? Or were people like him already so jaded by their experiences that nothing could surprise them anymore? Was that what these ... starfarers eventually became?

She chanced another look at him; a quick and appraising look to see if his face would betray any further emotion, but if there was he was hiding it well.

It wasn't the reaction she'd feared most - the one where he'd have pulled his weapon on her and have her thrown back into a prison cell. The fact that he had not ... well.... could only mean he hadn't known.

Of course there could be other reasons he has not. But what good is trying to worry about it? I do not know this man. He might be human like me, but there is an entire galaxy of difference between him and me.

They had got out of the liftcar and stepped into their new surroundings before Tria's focus snapped back. The new alien creature that was her retreated again as she found herself steeped in a beauteous luxury she'd never seen before, and with childlike awe she let herself be led past table after table. The swirls and whorls on the walls, the sound of heavy wood meeting her feet, the muted light, the greenery - nothing could have prepared her for that. It was truly magnificent.

But when she finally saw what he was leading her to, she almost balked. It looked like a part of that nightmare she had just been thinking about - as if he was leading her into that nothingness of space. It held no beauty, just fear of that vast expanse. A crack, a tiny crack would be enough to end her life, and in her mind she already saw herself floating out there.

Taking a deep breath - and hoping her companion had not noticed her sudden hesitation - she willed herself forward and sat down on the chair he held for her. Her face was paler, though, than ever before since her crash, and her heart didn't seem to want to stop racing.

She heard him ask if she was hungry and his voice sounded as if he was speaking through a fog, through a nebula, from an opposite part of the galaxy.

She didn't feel hungry - no. Never had she felt as little hungry as now. The thought of eating in this dreadful place...

But inspite of herself, she managed a wan smile, and a nod. She could not let him know how scared she really felt. So she picked up the menu and looked at it, dazedly, without really knowing what to do next, what to pick, what to say. Nothing on it sounded familiar, and food had never been further from her thoughts than now. Suddenly she found the words spinning, spinning; looking up, everything else was spinning, too, and it was all she could do to grip the table - not even noticing that she was also gripping his hand - to stop herself from falling. What was happening?

Tria smiled and nodded, but something was off. Not that anything wasn't off about this girl. After a few moments of pretending to look at the menu, I set mine down and reached for my water glass.

My pretty captive was looking up at the stunning vista above and around us, eyes wide. I grinned and was about to say something charming (if I couldn't find something witty to say in any circumstance I'm sure Sasseeri would have tired of me long ago), but she practically dropped her menu and grabbed my hand before I could snag my water. Tria's other hand went to the edge of the table, and she looked away from the view with unfocused, nearly vacant eyes.

Uh oh, I knew that expression. So, my little horrible pilot was terribly unused to space. And, at that moment the server showed up with the wine.

I cut off the lithe Twi'leki server before she could get a word in. "Pour, leave the bottle, and we'll have two of my usual for the main course." I eased out of my chair, hand still gripped by Tri'ahna, "I think we'll just take a little walk while we wait."

There were refreshers a short walk away, and I steered my vertigo suffering companion towards them - hopefully before she could sick up on either of us, or any of the other patrons of the restaurant. "Take it easy sister," I leaned her against a solid wall outside the refreshers (with a solid ceiling as well), still propping her upright. "First time in the black, I guess..?"

She could barely walk as the world seemed to tilt and spin around her. It was too much... just too much to take in. Frantic now, she let herself be led away from the table even though her mind was screaming not to leave the chair, to keep sitting,

--sit down, can't walk, must not walk, by the goddess, must never walk now, too much, too dark, so much, too much, sit down, sit down, must lie, sit, lie, dark, can't walk--

-- but he was like a rock at her side, remaining with her, forcing her away from that table, away from that expanse of stars. Through the terror and the chaos, she felt terrible shame, and fought for control over the world inside her but it was to no avail. Space was crashing in on her, the darkness she had feared almost drowning her now, and she had no control.

Suddenly there was the feeling of something pressing against her back, cool and firm. For a moment she imagined sinking in through it but then it stayed, and almost as quickly as it had come upon her, the spinning abated. It left her with a trembling in her knees that forced her down upon the ground, and it was all she could do to pull her knees up towards her, gripping them tight against her body with her arms, her head still back against the wall that had appeared so suddenly. Her eyes were still open - she was afraid to close them and let the dark in again - and only then did she realise that her breathing was a ragged thin thing, and she was drenched in cold sweat.

She looked up at her companion. And abruptly shame flooded her, made her look away, made her bury her head between her arms.

Darth Binky flexed his pathetic excuses for biceps in an attempt to free himself, but alas, it was to no avail. There was the faint whoosh noise of those fancy motion activated sliding doors and he could he muffled foot steps faintly on the medbay's thick industrial type carpeting. He tried peering through the doorway, as would be visible between the V shape his feet were making. Alas, that too was to no avail as his massive erection formed a barrier not even his prying eyes could penetrate.

“Ah, I’m sorry Mr. Sei’Trem, we weren’t expecting you this soon. Your table will be ready in just a moment.”

Jakys smiled at the hostess to reassure her that there was no insult taken. “No’ a problem at all.” The devaronian had been dining in at the Starlight every meal of the voyage it seemed, and the man’s countenance and generosity at the Casino followed him as well.

The woman at the counter glanced behind Jakys expecting an entourage of retainers and was surprised to find that he had no company. “Are you expecting anyone tonight, sir?”

“Aye, foun’ an ol’ friend on th’ ship. Been meaning t’catch up with ‘im. ‘E may be a bit late, man be th’ name ‘o Jekaan Oludh.” After returning to the Casino, he’d pled the case of having an evening to get reacquainted with an old friend. Of course no one refused the man, though Arali and Kina shown a great deal of regret. But the devaronian promised them exclusive treatment for the next evening that had brought infectious smiles to each of the beautiful girls.

He wove through the elegant establishment intent on taking a detour to the bar as his table was prepared. But a pair caught his eye, and the devaronian altered his course. Jakys had shared a few words with Mr. Olorin as a notable guest and had formed the opinion that the man was very well versed within his business and ran a tight ship. How security had quickly handled that fracas in the housing decks spoke well for him. The woman was unknown to him, but then again so where most of the women that Mr. Olorin had entertained. However this one seemed more dressed for display than for company…and the poor thing seemed to be having trouble adjusting to the vertigo of the dining area.

“Ah, Mister O’orin excellent service as a’ways.” The devaronian turned his smile towards the Mr. Olorin’s company for the evening. “Everything ‘aight I hope.”

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The to the medbay slid open and gave way to Chief Pallar’s junior stepped out, her skin now a calm shade of blue and completely lacked the anxiousness previously held around the Imperial agent.

She walked with purpose towards the isolation wing with a datapad in hand. She walked in behind the agent and his prisoner and caught a glimpse of the one that ship security drug in. Her skin tone rippled slightly at the thought of the disgusting creature, but he was not her concern, not yet.

“Rnk hp’krms nxish’ptr xnkr.” The strange language drew the attention of the two outside of the force field. But before the agent could send her from the chamber the odd alien offered the data pad. “I think it is in your best interest to take this seriously.”

Without another word, basic or otherwise, she turned and left a baffled Imperial and prisoner behind.

Veritas Vincit, Fides Contego



You intrigue me, Agent Oludh. I expected much more....subtlety from the Department of Intelligence. Perhaps the good Director is slipping?
It matters not, however. I think that perhaps we have much in common otherwise. There is a matter I wish to discuss with you.
I will be waiting at the Starlight, they will know where to take you.
I highly suggest you accept this offer
The reprecussions if you refuse may be....disadvantagous.

Imperator Lux Lucis Rector Vos

I looked down at Tria as she buried her head in her arms, sitting on the floor outside the 'freshers in the fanciest restaurant in the most upscale casino pleasure liner this side of the Unknown Regions, and I felt like a rankweed sucker. The girl was obviously unsuited to what I'd roped her into, and for the moment I felt like turning her loose.

On the other hand, I also felt like slapping her and giving her a good shake. I settled for standing in place looking like a frelling idiot while she hid her face from prying eyes.

Oh great - company.

A devorian I'd seen around the ship throughout the trip sidled up, and decided it was a good time for conversation. "Ah, Mister O’orin excellent service as a’ways. ...Everything ‘aight I hope."

"Yeah, everything is fine." I looked at him, then down at Tria, and back again. "She hates the music they're playing." We'd attracted the attention of our server, and the petite woman was hurrying over. I knelt down and helped Tri'ahna to her feet, keeping her face pointed towards the 'freshers and away from the dining area. "Perhaps you'd better freshen up," I murmured to her ear, and gave her a little push in the right direction.

The friendly devorian... Mr. Sei’Trem? was still there, and I turned my attention to him as Tria found her way into the female's refresher. "I hope you're finding the gaming tables favorable this trip?" If I remembered correctly, the alien was up on the house by a few thousand credits.

For a moment he'd just stood there, looking down at the man tightly secured on the medical stretcher on the other side of the force field. Disgust welled up in him at the sight, but was slowly replaced by annoyance; sheer and utter annoyance. This was what they had come for, what they'd so elaborately risked their lives for? It was a drug-ridden fool lying there in front of him, no more - hardly one with the necessary control to call upon the Force. The Anzati had been wrong.

Jekaan's face mirrored his thoughts for a second: the brief moment made him relax his guard, drop his mask of hard veneer and turn into something else entirely, but even as he noticed this the mask slammed back in place.

The moment he turned back to his partner was the moment he noticed the junior security tech standing there right next to him, and the moment she chose to speak. Frowning at first at the fact that Pallar would go against his orders and send someone after him, after a moment he noticed that something was off - his seasoned eye took in her new posture and the confidence that hadn't been there before. And then she opened her mouth to deliver her words in unaccented Basic, and silent alarm bells went off deep inside him. His internal warning system had been triggered.

But nothing - absolutely nothing - could have given him warning enough, he reflected, his mind racing with a multitude of possibilities as he looked up from the datapad after having read the message left for him there.

An Inquisitor? Out here???!?!

The datapad's impact with the durasteel flooring made a hollow clanging noise. He hadn't noticed it slip out of his fingers. Shock mixed with dread mixed with anger. And for a moment he was at a loss how to react to this.

She'd been rather fascinated by the spectacle their prisoner provided - too fascinated to notice the arrival of the odd alien female. And even though she knew that the presence of the female was highly unusual seeing that the ship's staff was under strict orders to stay away from them, and by rights she should probably have reacted to this, Qourr still felt rather uninterested in all of that.

Lazily her thoughts were drifting towards the rather impressive erect specimen of human manhood. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the woman moving away again, and she was wondering whether Jekaan would let her have some fun with their prisoner.

The loud clatter of metal on metal brought her back to the present. She noticed her partner's facial expression, and then the datapad that now lay on the floor a few feet away from them. This was a severe reaction from him.

"What?"

Are they here for us? Or for me? How?!? What gave us away? What did we do? Is this Esalis' way of dealing with me? Or the Inquisitoriate's way? ... how?!?

It took him a full minute to stifle the panic and dread he felt. When he'd recovered his wits, he noticed Qourr who was staring at him with eyebrows raised. He was about to explain the situation to her when he remembered the role he had put her in.

She'll be safe... Momentarily, something like relief washed over him. Whatever they want, whatever they know, Esalis saved us all with her blunder. They don't know about her, and won't think her important enough. She's the weakest link, but whatever they want they won't bother asking her because they'll think her an innocent pawn in this.

He released the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Dealing with the Inquisitoriate was never a good thing, and he'd long been afraid of finally crossing their paths. If they had indeed come for him.... he feared he might finally find out how much they knew. But oddly enough right now all he could think of was making sure to keep his partner away from them, away from suspicion. It would mean facing them on his own while he would leave her here to perform the role he had cast her in.

Brushing down his tunic in an attempt at hiding the uncharacteristic trembling of his fingers, he cleared his throat and shot her a warning look, rolling his eyes in the direction of the security cams that he was sure had to have someone watching right then.

"Something important has come up. I will leave this prisoner in your capable hands. We might not be working for the same employer anymore, but I am sure you are smart enough not to do anything to endanger your own well-being in this, Miss Mhawat? See to it that you get him ready for interrogation; I trust you can figure out yourself how he can be interrogated."

She looked at him with an odd smirk on her face, and a little bit of confusion that gave way to the grim stare of someone who is forced to face the sort of decision an innocent bystander doesn't care to come to: that she had to do Intel's dirtywork in order to survive this day.

"I shall be back."

And with that, he strode out of the medbay and towards this Starlight restaurant. And, possibly, his doom.

Had just happened what she thought happened? Had he really just turned over the interrogation to her while he went off on some other business???

There had been something really odd in his face - odder than anything she'd seen there before. Not of the variety that made her skin crawl like before, though, but something that worried her nonetheless. She was almost sure it had been fear. On a person who was not given to feeling afraid of anything, that blazing-cold flicker of fear was totally out of place, and instantly made her afraid, too.

But She had to be confident that he knew what he was doing and would get himself out of whatever trouble he was afraid of; she had to trust his innate survivor's skills. Equally, he trusted her to do what they had come for - and however much scared she might be for him, it wasn't going to keep her from doing her job. Especially not from this one.

Keeping her assumed identity's job skills in mind, she went over to the pad that had the controls for the force field. It seemed to be one of those fancy voice-activated ones - meaning that once she was on the other side of the containment area, she could not be heard by the outside area. Wouldn't do to give a prisoner a way out by letting him talk to the control pad, now, would it? Which was going to be extremely useful. She told it to deactivate so she could enter, and reactivate it once she was inside. The computer did as it was told.

Standing on the other side of the force field now, she was staring down at her captive, again with that fascinated look in her eyes. She was amused by his antics now that he had been rendered detoxed and helpless, but another part of herself was feeling oddly rebellious and turned on by his helpless (and erect) state.

"Soooo... here we are again. Remember me?"

Her left hand wandered casually into the bag slung around her, and felt for that tiny device that would give her a chance to knock out the security cams inside the containment field, so observation would no longer be possible, either.

The poignant display of manhood immediately went to halfmast as the sound of that woman's voice, making a very sad looking capital L in his trousers. "Unfortunately yes, you're the tramp whose responsible for getting me locked up in here, isn't it? Where's my robot, where's my clothes, and where importantly, is my drugs?"

Binky felt a burning anger for this woman, as all of the above had probably been flushed out the airlock by now. And, on his pickpockets salary, was a serious blow to his drug buying abilities. "So, thinking about unlocking me and ravishing me?"

Oh, the Sith Knight intended to ravish this one in ways she never dreamed possible. Namely a splintery broom handle, coathanger, a large battery, some gator clamps, and a conviently placed flight of stairs leading into an airdock.

She took one step towards the stretcher he was strapped onto, and did a visual check on those binders. If her suspicions about him were true, then making sure that he couldn't get free was going to be top priority. But the ones he was tied down with seemed to be a more efficient model than the standard binder - they were fixed to the structure he lay on, and seemed to be doing a good job of coming dangerously close to cutting off the blood flow to his fingers. There were LEDs on its side indicating their status, but she couldn't see any buttons or switches to turn it off.

Interesting.... not standard issue for pleasure liners. Must be a Black Sun add-on. Have to remember to look them up when we're back at base.

Coolly, she looked down at him. The sudden dip in his pants she found rather amusing, along with his words. It seemed she'd made an impression on him even through the haze of his drugged state.

Her fingers inside the bag had found the device they were looking for, but she only grabbed it and didn't depress her thumb on the activator button. There was no need for it - yet.

"Your drugs? They got bored with your constant abuse of them, and left you. I'm sure they're far away by now."

She found she was in a rather good mood. It wasn't often she got a prisoner all by herself, and now that he was detoxed and strapped down, she was going to enjoy this opportunity.

"Now... why would I want to unlock you, even if I wanted to be stupid enough to take advantage of your... rather sad state?"

"Its quite simple really my dear, because if you don't unlock me you'll always wonder what it would be like if you had actually did. That, and if you don't within the next few minutes, you'll be very much dead, lying on the bottom of a very deep and very messy trash compactor. Now I'm sure one with a face as pretty as yours doesn't want it cut in half now would it? So c'mon, flick the switch, hit the button, lets get this show on the road. I haven't got all day."

Mentally, Binky flipped through his daily planner and woefully realized he had all day. Such a disappointment, but he was getting frusterated enough to consider making a day of this one.

This sparked a laugh. He seemed to harbor some delusions that weren't the drug's doing.

It was time to press the switch. Her thumb did so, and a faint Bzzzt!-noise came from the walls. She extricated her hand with the device from the bag and looked at the display - it reported all communications devices fried. A quick look at the binder LEDs showed that they hadn't been affected by the emitter, which was excellent. Someone was smart.

Still smirking, she rummaged through her bag for yet another device, and finally pulled out a black collar. Now that no one was watching or listening in anymore, she was safe to use it.

"I think I can survive not finding out what riding a scumwad like you would be like. But since you mentioned compactors.... let me introduce you to my little black friend here."

She shoved the collar in front of his face, then put it around his neck and snapped it shut before he could even register what it was.

"It's going to be your best friend, too, from now on. Just as long as you don't do anything stupid."

She grinned at him again, pulled out the stun baton and switched it on.

"Like... move your head too much. Or get otherwise excited. That would be extremely stupid."

Baton in one hand, she pointed at her other hand with it and indicated the collar's counterpart that she was now holding. And to demonstrate what stupidity would get him, she pressed the actuator. A bolt of electricity arced through the man on the stretcher, strong enough to render him completely defenseless.

Disliked the music? The poor lady seemed positively green, poor thing looked more disoriented than anything. But the Devaronian refrained from speaking his thoughts, it wasn’t his place to ask into their personal business. Though it did strike him a bit odd at the speed that Mr. Olorin dismissed his chosen lady.

“As a‘way. Though b’tween last voyage an’ this, th’ house m’ght still be up n’me.”

Mr. Olorin rather annoyed expression made it clear that Jakys’s interruption was fairly unwelcome. The Devaronian had made the impression to other patrons that he did not wish to intrude in personal affairs, but this was just too intriguing to pass up.

Jaky’s nodded his horns in the direction of the ‘freshers. “Pretty lady, I hope I d’nt int’rupt anything?”

Darth Binky's erection sagged just a mite bit lower, though the prospect of electricity was a curious sort of turn on. After he got shocked, he pissed himself a little.

"Erm... I have two suggestions" he croaked. "Go eat a razor blade and blow me. In whichever order as well, I'm just that generous."

Binky started thrashing in his restraints, causing the collar to start going off which in turn caused him to start going into spasms. The forceful spray of urine in his pants caused a thick stinking mist to hang in the air that undoubtably caused the Imperial to get a little wet...

EDIT: The four letter word for urine is banned???