Nar Shaddaa

Shaisha returned to the Jekk'Jekk Tarr for one more game as she had time to kill. There was more scrutiny given to her after she was caught cheating yesterday, but it didn't stop the Sith's heightened senses from successfully manipulating the table of Sabacc in her favor.

While the benefit of the extra credits was certainly welcome, she played mostly for the feeling of meditation that the game offered her.


---

D10 ME Gambling Tier 2 500 creds. Deception for cheating: 1eP+3eA+1eC+2eD 5 successes, 1 threat, 1 Triumph

Vec strolled right in the Jekk'Jekk Tarr with his hands in his coat pockets. After a rough night at Yellow Viper Cantina and partially responsible for the shortage of alcohol in that firefight, he decided to change his cantina of choice for the remainder of his stay. He did spot the red-skinned Sith at the Sabacc tables. If he wasn't so broke, he'd join her but five hundred credits was a premium entry. Instead, he walked over and stood at the sidelines.

"What, they kicked you out of the Yellow Viper for bankrupting them?" He brought up dryly.

"If only, sergeant," the female pureblood chuckled confidently as she counted up her winnings. She looked different from last time... in a way. Almost like a mythical bird risen from the ashes of her defeat on Makeb, she seemed stronger, more vibrant.

"Drinks on me, since I just looted this place?"

He did notice her different appearance and it was perhaps what stopped him from asking how she was doing since Makeb. She looked well and even if she was hiding it, there was a pretty good reason for it. "Hah, well. That place was getting boring anyways. Good to see you there. Always thought these places had too many credits for their own good."

Vec pulled his hand out of his coat pocket to stroke his chin in consideration, by this cycle more than a shadow was showing on his face. "Before this looks like a trend, I'm not just hanging around you for free drinks but I'll take what you're offering."

"Eh, seeing as how that Makeb job was a complete failure, least I can get you is a drink." The pureblood shrugged and waved down a server.

"Though I suppose you could say my master's habits rub off on me. Free drinks are pretty easy to score around him."

"Considering I left there with only my feeling hurt, I don't think you really owe me anything, Lady Shaisha," he gave a few nodding nods as he looked around the area, trying to find a familiar face among the other non-humans here. "Do you always gamble alone? Kind of surprised I don't see any of your friends around here."

"I thought Sith masters were supposed to be menacing and all threatening, if the last few lords I've tailed along are of any indication? He's a fun guy to get along with? Or only fun after the drinks?"

"They do, occassionally, but they know where their credits will end up if I'm at the table," she admitted with a small wink. One of the non-human servers came up to them, and she put in her own order for a beer. No need to pre-game hard if there was going to be bloodwine later.

"Most Sith masters are, and I don't really recommend getting on Darth Vowrawn's bad side," Shaisha chuckled, "you don't become a Dark Council member by being nice. But he's one of the few ones to acknowledge that there's more to life than just being menacing and threatening. So yeah, I'd say he's pretty fun to work with. He has a way of inspiring loyalty."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, you'll be following Darth Xevious back to Imperial space after these negotations are over?"

Vec opted for a single whisky on the rocks himself, as he was still on the fence about attending any social events later on. "Ah, guess they learned that lesson long ago. Part of the reason I probably didn't bother trying for a game. Figured, I may as well give you the credits directly if I wanted to lose them so the hutts won't get their cut, yeah?"

"Fun? I'll take your word for him," he gave a few small nods, figured that the Darth's relationship was likely better around his students rather than others who weren't talented in the same manner.

"Me? Don't know, nobody bothered to say especially with the ruckus that got everyone frazzled today. Last thing on their mind." He patted the pockets of his coat and found his metal container that he kept his cigarettes, opening it to offer to Shaisha. "My squads lost a few people between that firefight, the ambush and the explosion...most likely going to be relieved to elsewhere to replace our numbers."

"Clever man," the Sith took an offered cigarette and waited for a light.

"Given any more thought to maybe a change of direction after all this, then? Serve a Sith in a more direct capacity than merely being bussed around the galaxy at random."

"I'm cheap, but not forgetful," Vec took a cigarette for himself before he closed the box and stashed it away. It wasn't his cheap basecamp smokes, seeing as he ran out of those a long time ago. He got these batch from a Mandalorian bounty hunter, so they had to be good stuff if she kept them for social occasions. Pulling out his lighter, he lit for both Shaisha and them himself, in that order.

"That sounds pretty appealing, I'd admit," he murmured before exhaling after his first drag. "Can't say I was looking all that forward being dropping in the middle of nowhere and sitting in a bunker for a few months."

Shaisha took a slow drag of the cigarette. "Life's too short to be sitting around in a bunker and waiting for something to happen," she agreed as she exhaled the smoke.

"Not that the life of a Sith doesn't include going to nowhere places," a small shake of her head, "can't believe I'm headed to Hoth after this, but that's the way it goes sometimes. At least the comfort is in knowing I won't be stuck there."

"Thing is, when you make things happen for yourself, they have a way of taking a life of its own and don't stop happening for a long time. Or until you drop dead, one of those," he gave a shrug. "Done that before, a lifetime ago. After a more than a decade in the Empire, can't say I don't miss it. That's for damn sure."

He looked over to her. "What's big on Hoth anyways? Can't imagine that anyone could make a resort out of that place."

"If only there was a resort out there," she laughed, "maybe a skiing resort or something... nah, some business for my master. And he's being tight-lipped about the details so far."

She took another drag of the cigarette as their drinks arrived, and credits were passed to the server.

"Sounds like you speak from experience, sarge. Which is good. Soldiers with the experience and spine to speak them are worth more than pompous Moffs brought to power by the nepotism in the system. So what happened in this previous lifetime for you?"

"That's a place for privacy. I've been in some pretty bad places, but not anywhere bad enough where you can freeze in minutes. Best of luck to you," he said as he reached for his glass and gave her lift of his glass.

"Yeah," was all he said on the matter at first, taking a long drag of his cigarette thoughtful. He let out a long breath of smoke before picking up from his thoughts. "I'm afraid I can't share all that much about it, in case the wrong people start remembering. I mean, I can say some things. I'm not a runaway noble or an ex-slave, that's for sure. Actually, I was born pretty free, did whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted. Made things happen, so to speak, all the time. You could say I was something of a punk in my previous life."

"I never would've thought you were a runaway noble, Vec," she teased with a brief chortle and took a long sip of her beer.

"But a punk, that seems more like it. So... you got on the bad side of the authorities, or it was either be cannon-fodder or the spice-mines?" Didn't hurt to take a guess without starting to poke into his head.

"Nah?" He scratched his chin in thought with a throaty chuckle. "Thought I could have fooled someone around here. Damn, I have a hard time being trendy around here."

"Don't know if you count anything as being part of the authorities when they're hardly any order around. The authority was whoever had the biggest gun around the block. We took turns, not voluntarily, of course. Could have spent a whole lifetime doing that," he shrugged. "Fighting to become king of the mongrels, or something."

"Hey, I spent most of my life growing up in the household of Minister Torsin... I can spot a noble a parsec away," she grinned.

"Sounds like a jungle-life; survival of the fittest and rule of the strongest. Could think of worse ways to live, to be honest..."

"Aw, well, guess I should have taken tips from that Captain from Alderaan, then," he smirked as he tapped a few ashes into a tray nearby.

"A rocky jungle, where I came from. Not saying it was the worst way to live, ain't trying to complain. As I said, I was pretty free at least but not the good sort of free where I could recline at a spa at anytime, the sort of free that often lands you in trouble without the three square meals a day to back you up. The Empire was pretty good for giving me some purpose."

He gave his glass a whirl to shake the ice before taking a sip. "But you Sith had worse, yeah?"

"Depends on the Sith," she said with a shrug. "Some of them are pampered noble children who didn't suffer a single hardship until they arrived on Korriban, and with the focus on grooming as many Sith as possible rather than the traditional infighting between acolytes, many of them coast by on being well-connected so the instructors won't be too harsh on them."

Sure, there was a tiny little bit of hypocrisy in there too, but Shaisha felt she had paid her dues outside of the Academy-life.

"With my blood-family, I was trained to become Sith before I can remember... a lot of what I grew up with I considered normal, though I've realised later that was not the case. Doing poorly at the Academy was just not an option when you have one of the most feared Sith lords as your father..."

"Heh, yeah. I figured there was also an easy street with everything in life," he smirked with a small chuckle before taking a drag from his cigarette. It was really Kristal that came to mind, considering she was a late Moff's daughter, he thought of her as one of those pampered noble children. Perhaps it didn't help that he wasn't on her good side, vice versa, but he wasn't to mention that around another Sith.

"Oh, tough order," he nodded deeply at that. "I could imagine that your old man must have been breathing down your neck every so often, yeah?"

"From a distance, most of the time, but yes... more or less the case," she nodded and had another mouthful of beer.

Exceed your expectations, right. Easier said than done if I knew where the bar was set, Shaisha thought bitterly back to the last real face-to-face encounter she had had with the old man.

"Don't mean to sound like I'm whining. The old man is a big source of frustration for me, but that is family I guess..." The girl shrugged. It was already getting a little awkward, she felt. "This your first tour working so directly with the Sith? I imagine most soldiers go through the majority of their career in the field without encountering one, no?"

"Nah, don't think too much about it. We're just shooting the breeze here, yeah?" He waved it off casually, "Kind of interesting to hear about people's folks, to a degree. Only because I don't have any to speak of and don't have any that I know of."

He rested an elbow on the counter. "You're right about that. I mean, I've seen a few, never really got to be up close to one like you and I. Talking to one, or many. Not surprising, sometimes we don't even see some Imperial officers as they're all the way in the back or high up on some walker or ship. Guess there were a few things I got out from being stationed on this blasted moon, this whole happy friendship summit."

"Happy friendship summit." She got a good laugh from that one. "Guess that's one thing to call it. Thankfully, it will be over tomorrow. Just the last bit of business left to settle and in about 24 galactic standard hours, we'll be leaving the armpit of the galaxy behind."

"Seems my impression on most officers were right then," Shaisha nodded, "that they're not in the field. Not surprising, considering how many of them would probably faint at the sight of blood and violence... one thing that always surprised me with so many of the nobles, even those aspiring for military command, was how weak they were to the truth of war. Though they like to think their hands are too pretty for the violence needed to win."

There was a contemplative silence as she took a long drag of the cigarette. "Nepotism and idiocy is rampant everywhere. Guess there will be a lot of cleaning up to do in the future."

"Not that there wasn't good company to be found here. Can't say I was ever faking it," he shrugged, not having taken part in diplomatic talks. He imagined that was something more rampant with the officers and diplomats. "As I said in the beginning, rather this was between just the Empire and Republic than some 'neutral' ground. Hutts probably made a killing in all of this, despite what happened, feh."

"A good portion of the officers start in that rank, then the ground up. Think I heard the same thing in the Republic and other militaries. Guess someone down the line thought that better decisions were made when you know less of your fellow soldiers," That was always the tradition and he already found it futile to complain about it. "It's got us this far, right? But, it sounds like to me that you're looking to change things. That's almost as far as rewriting the playbook."

"Of course I want to change things," she smirked. "I'm tired of seeing good soldiers being passed on promotions for not having the right connections, or that snivelling brats are given them simply for having the right connections. Or that the military efforts of the Empire are halted because of some of my contemporaries think it's more important that their delicate feelings are satisified."

"As a Sith, I don't intend on just letting things just keep on going the way they are - I know it will take time, but I fully intend to change this Empire, and this galaxy. Even if I must break it all down first before I rebuild it again."