Ask Blue Peggats

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

Dismas had understimated how fast he'd be out of peggats when you actually use it as chips. One peggats was roughly the equivalent of forty credits and he only had the twenty from the updated the ship's starmaps. He was already out five peggats, too, so a lot was beginning to depend on the next couple of hands.

They were shuffled again and Dismas noticed he was getting a bit nervous, not wanting to look at his cards yet not wanting to look like his confidence was waning to the pirates either. Out of a sense of misplaced bravado, he called the blinds. "Heh, I'll tell you what," Dismas still hadn't seen his cards, "if I lose this round I'll join your crew tonight." It wouldn't be terrible and he'd have the freedom to leave whenever he wanted while still keeping his commission with the Blackout Fleet. The only risk he was taking was the one about going to a cot hungry at the end of his shift.

"But if I win," a sly smile appeared on his lips, "you let me download your logs." A spaceship usually kept a Captain's Logbook where it noted the time it passed certain checkpoints, sectoral borders in space and hyperlanes. It used to be mandatory in Republic and alliance space because it was a sure way to recognize pirates from the honest transporters. Ofcourse, on pirates ships, the logs meant something else altogether. It served as a way to calculate a share's worth. Total worth of treasure from a ship captured on coordinates this and then divided into the shares for Captain, Navigator and crew. In other words: it showed the measure of a pirate vessel and the sectors of space they frequented as their hunting ground.

"That said, I raise with two peggats," he was bluffing, but if Gentis didn't call his bluff then did the imperial really run him scared in front of his crew?

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

Just like that, mistress fate pulled the carpet from under his feet. His hand was terrible, and he knew it. Gentis wasted no time looking at his cards as Dismas changed the bind. He was already up a few peggats, and quite wanted to keep hold of them.

Dismas' offer was something he could turn to his advantage.

He could gain a savvy crew member, or he could share the logs with him, show him the sort of coin he could be pulling in if he joined anyway. Gentis hoped the young Imperial was as greedy as he hoped.

Sure, he didn't record everything in the logs. Missed the odd port here and there to avoid the authorities, but one thing he did keep was an unnervingly accurate record of booty.

”We have a deal.” he was confident he'd lose the hand. He placed his database in the table, the crew mates playing looked at it covetously.

The Captains Log.

He slammed two peggats down on the ‘table’, and snarled at the crew - his right hand dropping to one of his blasters - a gentle reminder who was Captain.

He stared at Dismas, and called his bluff.

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

Luck seemed to be on Dismas' side because when he finally turned his cards to reveal them he was looking at one of the best possible hands in Sabacc. A sigh of relief escaped him before he had composed himself enough to play the debonnaire gambler, but the grin followed suit. "It'll be one of my dearest secrets," he said, revealing that he didn't intent to share it with the Imperial Security Bureau. He pulled out his personav and linked it with the databank. The Personav had less functions as a proper datapad, but what it did have due to the sheer quantity of storeable maps was storage space in abundance. Dismas downloaded the Captain's Log on the device and knew he couldn't really look at it until he transferred it to his own datapad later on. No worries.. he wasn't joining this crew tonight anyway. He now had the time to see if the crew was worth his talents.

Suddenly he was up in peggats, too. More importantly everyone else was down. If he kept up this winning streak he might really end up with the pot in time for the starmap upload to finish.

"Let me shuffle, maybe that increases your chances," a ballsy suggestion uttered by an outsider to the crew, but nevertheless Dismass gathered the cards, shuffled them and began dividing them among the players. As he tossed the cards to Gentis' current navigator, a Klatoonian called Galar, he noticed the man only had three peggats left to bet.

Thus, again without looking, Dismas dared to start the round by placing three peggats in the middle. "Let's up the stakes a little."

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

He accepted the raise.

There was no way he was about to let his current useless navigator clear someone out. Galar was useless, the conversation today had made that much clear.

Gentis shower his cards and smiled.

”Pay up boys.” he sneered at the other players.

Galar shook his head. ”Ain't no way I'm paying up to a card che -”

He fell short of saying the full word. Cheat. Gentis stared at the man, silence falling across the bridge as the crew realised that Galar had massively overstepped.

Cheating was theft.

Theft from the crew was against the code.

A false accusation of the same was punishable by death.

Gentis was quite happy to meet the punishment himself.

His pistol was pulled midway from its holster on his brace. ”Spit it out you halfwit.” he challenged Galar, standing as he did so to his full commanding height. He kicked the makeshift table over, his choler rising as Galar reached for a shiv secreted in his belt.

”Treacherous cur!” he bellowed, surging forward as Galar lunged at him. The blade missed, and Gentis slammed his head into the Navigators, his thick skull crashing into Galar as he withdrew his blaster and fired a shot into the man's gut.

It didn't kill him.

”Take him below. When we make for the lanes, throw him from the airlock.” he spat on the downed Galar, and returned his blaster, as the crew scurried to get the job done.

Captain Freem looked over to his guest, and kicked Dismas' remaining credits over to him. ”Seems I have an opening in my crew, lad.”

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

The moment Gentis revealed his cards, Dismas knew he had made a mistake suggesting the game of Sabacc. Pirate crews were like this sometimes. A strong captain who goes unopposed for too long and the weak and resentful who bottle up all their issues until finally..

The Blackout Fleet Lieutenant was up on his feet before the makeshift table could hit him and only barely managed to keep his focus up -in case he needed to draw a knife himself- while the peggats scattered across the bridge. The fight was over quicker than Dismas had realized it and the game was paused indefinitely.

"I'll chart a course, Captain Freem-" the young man nodded, knowing he couldn't simply join without briefing his superiors back at the Imperial Security Bureau. "-but I can't join your crew just yet. At least not physically," Dismas turned to watch the upload progression of the starmaps, which was only halfway through now, and then began picking up the few peggats that he had left. Six of them, out of the twenty he started with.

"The Empire will want a briefing and that's an appointment I cannot miss," he knew the captain could guess as to why, "for both our safety." If the Empire suspected that the crew of the Mogul's Fortune and the old Gentis Freem asset had murdered an ISB agent then they would hunt the crew down to the last dog. No, Dismas needed to go back and establish him joining the pirates in order to report their anti-cartel activities.

"How does Boz Pity sound?" close enough to Hutt space from where they could start terrorizing spice shipments coming from Kessel.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

Slowly, the Captain resumed his seat. A stillness fell back across the bridge as the limp frame of his former navigator was removed. Justice was swift and brutal on a pirate ship, always had been - and whilst he was Captain, it always would be.

"Welcome aboard." he smiled at the man, the newest addition to the crew of the finest ship in the galaxy (debatably). Gathering up his winnings, he barked orders at the crew to get them moving and the Camtono the Imperial had brought with him stashed in the safe room - for counting and division once they made port.

Boz Pity was a fine choice. Well positioned with good pickings from the several minor lanes in its vicinity, it was also suitably close to Imperial, and Hutt, space - enabling them to keep one foot in either camp as circumstances required. "Bring us to Boz Pity, we have business in the region anyway." he chuckled, picking now as the time to reveal that Gentis had another scheme up his sleeve.

Some Imperial Commander, well connected in Imperial society had reached out through an intermediary, looking for a 'worthy crew' to help harass Hutt supply lines. Gentis had agreed to meet the man, and given the offer Dismas had come with, it looked like there was a real chance they could get paid twice to do the same piece of work.

Who didn't like that? "I've business with an Imperial in that Sector. So let's get underway." he ordered, sending the bridge crew to their stations, as the Moguls Fortune kicked into life.
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[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

Two hours later the starmap update finally finished and the ship went to hyperspeed in a direct line to Bozy Pity. Dismas wasn't sure how he was roped into this, for had he not won their hand on which they had bet him joining the crew? Still he could hardly 'demand to be returned to the station once Gentis had given the order to detach from the it. If he was in a bad mood, which could be so considering he had just murdered a member of his own crew, he could decide to throw Dismas out of the airlock.

A few days onboard couldn't hurt, could it? Yeah, Dismas would send his report from Boz Pity via an encrypted channel and then stick around if needed. Just for a little bit...

/end thread

@Nor'baal