[HUTT] Hyper Intelligence

[Tiberius Semper]

Arok lounged on his repulsersled watching the giant bank of screens in front of him, and making sure the security staff was doing its job. Taking control of one video feed he started scrutinizing a few sabbac hands, then swept over medium-stakes dejarik and watched a busy pazaak table. Nothing looked unusual until he stopped at a sabbac game in the high-limit room, where betting minimums start at 10,000 credits per hand. He focused on a young Twilek male in a white suit who kept his hands curiously positioned. Sometimes they cover the cards in front of him; at other times they rest on the side of the table.

Suddenly, the Twilek swept one hand up along a lapel of his jacket and then placed his hands back on his cards, Arok stared at the player pensively and pulled up the mans information. Like many gamblers in the Paradise Casino & Resort, the man presented a players card, the equivalent of a customer-loyalty card, to the dealer before buying into the game. Through these cards, the casino monitors the play of guests and dispenses complimentary goodies accordingly (risk enough money, and you may wind up in a villa with a butler). The card enabled Arok to retrieve a profile of the player: his name, date of birth, address, amounts won and lost on previous visits and other data.

Arok checked the player’s long-term success rate at sabbac: He’s a stone-cold loser. Common sense suggests that his poor record should exonerate him. Playing a hunch, Arok used an internal search engine to correlate every player and dealer that the suspect has gambled with at the Paradise Casino & Resort. One name repeated itself—a big winner, also Twilek. On this trip alone, he’s ahead tens of millions of credits, and he happens to be playing right now, at the same table as Mr. White Suit. Less than an hour later, Arok made the call. Convinced that the fellow in the white suit is not rubbing his lapel but dipping his finger inside his jacket and swapping cards in and out of the game - a tactic known as hand mucking. Capitalizing on sabbacs simple rules, which allow gamblers to take the side of player or banker, Mr. White Suit loses minimal wagers while his confederate wins large ones from the casino.

Arok sent a few guards to hustle the mucker from the table, quietly, and see what they can find before they arrest the other Twilek. The cheater tried to break free, then when he realized he could not escape dropped to his knees and ate the card that he had slipped inside his jacket. He may have swallowed the evidence, but the casino’s digital ceiling cameras have captured all of his illicit actions.

 

[The Kyzer]

Many would think Mjolla Varneslan, Enforcer for the Cartel and Director of Acquisitions for Maelibus Mining Inc., to be above such petty things as overseeing casino security, but that was exactly what she was doing right now. A call had come down from on high that had asked for her specifically to look over the casino's new security teams and systems, with an extra bit of focus on the former. And so here she was examining and re-examining their security teams, taking notes here and there that would no doubt have some form of impact somewhere within the casino's security force. Well, at least she was doing that until a call came in regarding a possible cheating duo on one of the sabacc tables. So when one of the multiple security teams went to investigate and apprehend the pair, Mjolla tagged along wearing a small black dress that befitted a casino's atmosphere.

The killer nearly laughed when she watched one of the two now-confirmed cheats literally eat his card, no doubt a skifter. Foolish of him. Like the Cartel really needed any more evidence than the already-documented holovideo feeds from the security cameras. Very foolish.

So here she was, in an interrogation room, watching one of the security guards attempting to bludgeon the truth out of one of the cheaters. Horribly inefficient in her opinion, but she wasn't in charge of interrogation. She listened as he eventually started spilling out the proverbial beans and smiled. He hadn't told them everything, but they would soon find that out for themselves. The real trouble was that he didn't actually identify whether or not he had more contacts than just the other Twi'lek. So it was time for Mjolla to intervene, whether or not the security chief next to her liked it or not.

Moving slowly towards the rather well-dressed Twi'lek.

"You will identify and name all of your contacts inside and outside of this establishment right now."

"I...don't know what you're talking about," the idiot stammered, trying to preserve what little criminal honor he still had left. Too bad he had no idea who he was dealing with. Mjolla circled her prey like a hungry shark, smiling softly as she pulled out a small vibroshiv. Thumbing the emitter switch, the tall woman allowed the blade to harmlessly though threateningly close to the captive's right ear before pulling in close to speak with him.

"I know you know what is in my hand," she said softly like a purring jungle cat savoring the final moments of the hunt before the death blow, "and I'm going to let you in on a secret regarding what I'm going to do with it if you do not comply fully and immediately with my request."

The security team in the room couldn't hear her words over the sound of the air-conditioning unit and the vibroshiv, but they all felt a bit of a chill in their manhoods after watching her indicate at the Twi'lek's groin a few times with the weapon. The Twi'lek's face told the rest of the story and he began blurting out names and locations inside and outside of the casino. He even detailed their clothing and offered to point them out on the security feeds.

 

[Tiberius Semper]

As Arok watched the security team efficiently take down the first mark from the command center, he wondered about the other Twilek - the big winner. If they just arrested him and beat him as a lesson, it would not serve as a good lesson to any other sentients who thought they could beat the casino’s security. They needed a way to not only neutralize the threat, but also make sure that it never happened again. Musing to himself on a few ideas, he then watched with interest as his immediate supervisor - Mjolla, an incredibly capable woman (for a non-Hutt) with whom he had the pleasure of working with previously on Onderon - took charge of the stoopa thief and took him into security custody.

Looking intently through the cameras at the other Twilek, who seems to play it off cool and collected. Arok narrowed his eyes when after a few more rounds (where the bastard lost more then he won, suddenly) scooped up his impressive pile of chips and turned to leave. Cursing under his breath, he notified the guards at the exit to detain him if he attempts to leave and then thinking rapidly shot off a short text to Mjolla's commlink.

The other Twilek is attempting to cash in and leave,, I have an idea of how to get rid of him and recover all the credits that he cheated us at. Meet me at presidential suite 30B29 and prepare to play the role of a high Roller with plenty of money, I'll make sure you don't lose.

Paging room service he ordered the suite to be readied at its most opulent and in the drawing room, to arrange a special pazzak table for 4. Satisfied that he had everything in hand, he then looked at the security agents in the control room, satisfied that they did not need him in the room he then went to a private booth and opened up his special communicator. Pressing the button activated the by now familiar blue holographic rendition of the Cartel and with it the metallic and androgynous voice "<There is a cheater here in the Casino. He has made off with over a hundred million credits, and we are in the middle of an operation to return the Cartel assets and apprehend the thief. I'd like to request that all his family members as well as all his property be immediately seized and held in a secure location pending punishment. Sending you his information now>"

Arok then punched a few buttons and sent the relevant information to whomever was on the other side of the connection. After a lengthy pause the voice answered once more "<Your request has been noted and reviewed. We will have the targets ready for you as soon as possible. Do not fail us, or you will join them in their torment>" Arok glared at the machine and was about to retort angrily, but then visibly shook himself and controlled himself "<It will be as you wish. I will not fail>"and then shut down the communicator.

Leaving the control room, Arok then headed out to meet the Twilek and implement the start of their plan. Catching him just as he was about to arrive at the cashier, Arok swooped in on his repulsersled and hovered in front of the man, effectively blocking him from reaching the cashier and disappearing with all the credits. Reigning in his anger and fury at the little man who had dared steal from the Cartel, Arok planted a fake smile all over his face "<The management of the Casino wishes to congratulate you on your phenomenal luck and skill in your gambling here. We wish to gift you with a free weekend in one of our presidential suites as well as a special V.I.P invitation to join our unique pazzak table, we would be honored if you were to accept>" the last word was said with such force that it left little to the imagination as to whether it was an invitation or an order. The poor Twilek had nothing to do but accept his sudden bout of "luck" and go meekly to the room

 

[The Kyzer]

Mjolla caught Arok's message through her comlink/earpiece and quickly made her way back to the casino floor. From there she caught a turbolift to the proper floor and entered the proper suite. As she entered the suite, Mjolla noticed that it had been renovated somewhat in a hurry. The drawing room had been converted into a rather extravagant pazaak table, which was empty currently. The Hutt and his "guest" hadn't arrived yet.

The killer sat down and ordered a drink. It was good to maintain appearances at least, even though her metabolic rate would breakdown the alcohol faster than she could drink it. It was useful in times like these, but once in a while Mjolla wished she could at least use it to relax. The ordered martini was placed next to her. The Enforcer then ordered a couple other things before waiting patiently for the guests.

When Arok and the Twi'ek finally arrived, Mjolla was waiting for them wearing a large fur boa wrapped around her neck and shoulders and several large pieces of gaudy yet exceedingly expensive jewels.

"Oh hello there!" Mjolla said with a bright cheery disposition and a slight drunken slur, "I was wondering when y'all would be back! I'm here to win money!"

 

[Tiberius Semper]

Arok grinned at the poor Twi'lek and motioned for him to move forward and called a bunch of Casino Security guards to accompany them to the suite that he had organized. Gliding sedately through the opulent Casino he enjoyed the view of so many poor, destitute fools who thought they could change destiny and make their fortune.

As the small party made their way up through the repulserlifts Arok checked the specifications for the new security measures that he had ordered to be installed in the Casino, and had asked for one to be brought to the suite where they were playing. This amazing piece of technology, coupled with the Casino's already high tech TableEye21 system would enable him to effectively counter any trick that the wily Twi'lek could come up with as well as help Arok tilt the odds in Mjolla's favour.

Opening up his datapd he read the information and chuckled to himself - TableEye21 uses overhead video cameras and video analysis software, and can track information from casino chips embedded with radio frequency (RFID) transmitters. The system quickly identifies “advantage” players who can cost casinos profits. These gamblers use legal strategies such as card counting and shuffle tracking, in which the player watches for clumps of favorable cards

And MindPlay - the new machine Arok had ordered - utilizes a specially-designed blackjack tabletop that incorporates many features to monitor players' actions: Specially encoded playing cards, using invisible ink and barcodes. 14 tiny cameras built into the dealer's chip tray (which is slightly elevated to account for the cameras). These cameras read every card in play by reading the invisible ink printed on them. Special nanochips, so that sensors embedded in the table can automatically calculate each player's bet more accurately than a dealer or pitboss could visually, are also incorporated into every card - making this system one of the most effective in the galaxy.

As MindPlay monitors every card that has been played along with players' betting habits, it is also counting cards just as a card counter would do while sitting at the table. If MindPlay notices that bets are changing dramatically at the same time that a card counter would typically make those bets, MindPlay will notify casino officials that they may want to investigate further.

As they finally entered the room, Arok glanced about and spotted Mjolla reclining at the table with a glass already in her hand, wearing gaudy jewelry that just oozed credits and showed her to be someone with deep pockets, to the trained eye. The Twil'lek seemed to recover his nerve as he looked across the room and breathed a sigh of relief when there wan't a firing squad waiting for him but as promised, another table.

Arok swept his arm towards the woman seated and with a grin introduced her to the Twi'lek. "<This is the Duchess of Dargul, and she asked us to find her a suitable partner for her monthly game at our establishment. We hope you enjoy your stay here>" before he moved to the dealers position in the table.

The Twilek grinned greedily to himself and imagined all the cash he could cheat off of this woman. He was going to be a rich man! Seating himself at the table, he smiled and set down his massive collection of chips. "Let's get this party rolling sweetheart"

 

[The Kyzer]

"Gladly," Mjolla replied with a rather obscene growl and smile at the young Twi'lek. It wasn't all that difficult for her to get most male humanoids worked up sexually, and she could see that her rather low-cut dress was working its magic. She almost debated trying to win his credits through her own means before remembering that she well and truly hated gambling.

The game began quickly and Mjolla could see her opponent smiling broadly while looking through his cards. He clearly wasn't actually very good at the game, which disappointed her slightly though she figured that it shouldn't have. After all, if you have to cheat at a game, you clearly aren't skilled enough to win on your own.

Time to bait the hook, she thought behind guarded eyes before laying out a decent-sized bet. The Twi'lek hastily called and began the round. He won the first draw, so he went first. He drew a ten-card from the deck and smiled broadly before ending his turn. Mjolla drew a four and smirked. The Twi'lek then drew a five before playing a five-card from his hand. Twenty. The killer sighed in apparent defeat while inwardly laughing at how easy it was. She quickly went bust after that. The next hand went nearly the same way, though Mjolla added a slight frantic tone to her actions and sighs. The third round sealed the deal, and the Twi'lek gathered his winnings.

After three more matches with the same outcome, the "Dutchess" looked downright depressed and exceedingly drunk. She began to get up to leave the table.

"I just can't win," she whimpered softly with a heavy slur.

The Twi'lek stood up gallantly and offered her a semi-informal hug. He even went so far as to wipe the tears which had begun to roll from the tall woman's eyes.

"Yes you can," her quarry sympathized, "You've just had some bad luck. I'm sure you'll turn it around!"

"You think s..s...so?" the crying woman asked in a plaintive tone.

"Of course I do!" the Twi'lek exclaimed, "Now just sit back down, order another drink, and play the game! It's meant to be for fun, remember!"

Mjolla allowed herself to be guided back into her seat and coerced into ordering another alcoholic beverage before her opponent sat back down behind his small mountain of credit-chips.

Three minutes later, the Dutchess let out a small whoop as she narrowly beat the cheater, 3 to 2.

"I think you were right!" she called out with a smile.

The Twi'lek merely nodded his head while inwardly groaning. That would be the last time he was nice to an opponent, even one with such an appetizing body! Mjolla turned and looked into one of the cameras, softly wiping her right eye as she did.

An hour later and after five games, Mjolla had nearly reclaimed her original chips while the Twi'lek began to get visibly flustered.

"It's only a game, right?" she asked with no small amount of levity.

"Right!" the Twi'lek spat, "So let's make it a bit more interesting! One more match!"

Suddenly the male shoved what was left of his credits into the betting pool. The woman, outwardly surprised but inwardly pleased, called his bet with a slight amount of worry.

 

[Tiberius Semper]

Arok watched with amusement as Mjolla played with this poor male, it always puzzled him this attraction that these inferior species attached so much importance to, and let cloud their judgement - it was just poor business, and that was the worst sin that anyone could commit. It just smacked of a weak will, and a poor mind, something that Arok was always happy to exploit. This specimen in front of him, wasn't even that talented or even good at what he did, evidenced by his swagger and numerous glances at Mjolla's mammalian glands, Arok shrugged at that as one more foible of the poor humanoids and dealt another card to Mjolla. He had to forcibly resist himself from helping her and reshuffling the cards to give her a better hand, as he realized that this devilish woman intended to play with her food.

Arok laughed out loud at that, and covered his lapse by exclaiming with delight when Mjolla won the hand. As the games wore on, and Mjolla played the poor and untalented Pazaak player, the Twi'leks pile of chips grew larger and larger until in a poor and unconvincing she got up and with a whimper exclaimed in tears that she couldn't win. The Twi'lek ate it up and rushed to console her as he gently pulled her back towards her seat. This time, Arok did utilize the MindPlay machine to guide him into making sure that this time she did win, albeit by a small margin and as he dealt the cards after a few theatrical shuffles, to his delight Mjolla beat the Twi'lek narrowly. Then she turned to one of the cameras and wiped her right eye, and Arok nodded to himself - she was ready now for the endgame.

"I think you were right!" she called out impishly, her smile not reaching her eyes, although the poor male wan't in any condition to notice. Confident now in the machines effectiveness, Arok harnessed it as well as the cameras above to feed the information to Mjolla through her hidden earpiece, and sure enough in no time at all she was back to her original pile of credits, and was grinning broadly as she looked at the poor and now befuddled looking Twi'lek. As if sensing the Twi'leks slowly degrading mood, and his growing anger Mjolla taunted him brightly "It's only a game, right?" she said, as she looked at her large pile of credits. The Twi'lek groaned and then with a snarl answered with a bold move - he shoved all his chips in.

Mjolla called his bet, her face betraying nothing and her posture giving no clue away while the Twi'lek was all restless energy and pent up irritation. It seemed that without his partner around to boost his game, he wasn't so good after all and quickly lost his cool. A sore loser Arok thought to himself This is gonna hurt. Surreptitiously checking the machine, he reshuffled the deck and dealt Mjolla a ten and a nine, while the machine spat out a five for the Twi'lek. With great ceremony and a lot of pomp and theatrics for the benefit of the Twi'lek Arok slowly palmed the fifteen that had flown out of the card pusher, and re-dealt the by now annoyed and impatient Twi'lek a minus 5. Arok grinned when he saw the card and pushed it towards the Twi'lek with a nod, as Mjolla pulled her cards face down and locked in her score, the Twi'lek looked at his cards and with a roar of disgust threw them at the Hutt and got up angrily.

Arok just looked at him with a raised eyebrow and as the man raged at his loss, picked his datapad off his armrest and pressed a few buttons. To his delight Shijo and a Gammorean grunt soon trudged in the room, leading three Twi'lek captives with their heads covered in burlap sacks, leaving no identification possible. They appeared to weave drunkenly and gave off no resistance, thanks to the glitterryl that pas pumping through their systems. Shijo then slammed them behind the knees with a well aimed boot, and they crashed down to the floor in a kneeling position. With a puzzled frown the Twi'lek looked around at this bizarre procession and then turned around to flee when he saw Aroks eyes narrowed at him with anger.

Shijo wasted no time in pulling his blaster and shooting the poor Twi'lek in the face. Thankfully the bolt that barreled into the Twi'lek was a stun bolt, and the poor man buckled and then collapsed face first into the floor. Thirty seconds later he was treated to a bucket of ice cold water and woke up tied and shackled to a chair facing the line of prisoners. Arok grinned unpleasantly at him murderously and then with a sweet falsetto that sounded extremely sinister as it sounded outlandish spoke up. "<Are you alright? Is there anything we can do for you?>".
The Twi'lek mumbled something incoherent, still a little groggy from his recent face to face with a laser bolt and groaned slightly at the Hutt's disgusting breath. "<Here you go>" Arok grinned nastily at him "<How about something to help with that small headache of yours?>".

Nodding to Shijo the Weequay spun around and smashed his foot into the Twi'leks face one again, the powerful roundhouse knocking the Twi'lek unconscious once more. When the Twi'lek woke up again, Arok was standing with a blaster pistol in hand, and though his fingers shook slightly from the strain - he had never held a pistol before, and judging by the experience never wanted to again - he unerringly pointed the blaster into the head of one of the kneeling prisoners. With a smile he pumped the trigger, and from point blank range blew the offending Twi'leks head to pieces. The head exploded into a pulpy mush that was soon ionized into little particles, but there was still enough left to blow into the cuffed Twi'leks face as well as to coat Arok's body in blood and gore, and Arok laughed with a dark delight at the Twi'lek's face.

"<I take it, you understand why you are here>" he growled at him "<No one steals from the Cartel and lives to tell about it, and you my double tentacled friend are no execption>". The Twi'lek looked with dawning horror as Arok pointed the blaster at him, and in a whiny and high pitched voice begged for his life "Please don't kill me, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I promise I won't do it again - just let me live, and I swear to you that I will never gamble again!!!" and with that burst into tears. Arok grinned at him and then looked at Mjolla who had just stood there unfazed at the whole little drama playing out "<What do you think my dear, should we let him live? I think before we do that we should give him a small test of his loyalty>".

 

[The Kyzer]

Too quick. He's moving too quickly.

"A test could be interesting," the killer declared with a smirk, revealing that she wasn't as intoxicated as the Twi'lek had thought, "One moment."

Mjolla pressed a little button on her TranspariWatch and waited. A minute later, two armed guards entered the room carrying a large duffle bag between them. They laid it on the floor before flanking the deadly woman. She opened the bag and pulled out a large FoeHammer revolver. Moving quickly, she loaded the weapon before pulling out her already-loaded revolver from the hidden holster on the inside of her thigh.

"You have two options, thief," the Cartel Enforcer declared with a hint of cold finality, "You can either be killed right here, right now, or you can kill your friends here. Choose."

The tall woman offered the revolver from the duffle bag to the Twi'lek and waited. He took the offered weapon and swallowed heavily as Mjolla leveled her own revolver at the doomed male's head. He raised the weapon and took aim at one of the remaining captives.

"Wait," Mjolla ordered before pointing at one of her guards. The big male human nodded and removed the captive's burlap sack.

"Mmmma...mmmma....Momma?" the thief stammered, causing a cold feeling to grow within Mjolla's gut. Arok had changed his mind it seemed. She'd advised him to go and capture the fool's comrades and friends for this little gesture. Instead, the slug had brought in the man's family. Her minute sense of honor reared its ugly head at the notion. It was one thing if you killed the guilty. It was quite another to condemn the innocent.

"What's going on, boy?" the aged female Twi'lek asked shakily.

"Your son has made a few bad decisions and is being punished for it," the Enforcer answered crisply, "Now. Time's up. Choose."

Now, Mjolla had always prided herself as a skilled reader of people. She could almost anticipate their actions by studying their body language and biological responses, and in that moment, she was both dismayed and pleased by the skill. With it, Mjolla understood the meanings behind the Twi'lek's pupil dilation, locked-jaw, and tensed shoulders. The revolver in his hands shook slightly just before he raised it up again toward his own mother. Those actions were more than enough to convince Mjolla of the righteousness of her next action.

The loud roar of the FoeHammer revolver echoed through the hotel suite as the Twi'lek thief's head exploded violently while the massive slug passed through it. Mjolla could hear the screams of the thief's captive family as they realized what had happened. The mother was oddly quiet while she simply hung her head in sadness. What little empathy Mjolla possessed cried out for her, but it didn't show on the deadly woman's face or body.

"Now, I feel I should let you all know that your family member here had originally condemned you all to death," Mjolla declared, "but I find that particularly wasteful. Instead, you're going to all be slaves. My slaves."

The Cartel killer turned to her guards and ordered them to take the Twi'lek family to her ship before looking back at Arok.

"I think we're done here."