(TOR) Tanar Re- the Early days

[tanare]

   There was nothing like a good game of Galaxy to settle the nerves after a successful run and a nice payday, I had thought to myself at the time. I was at the  Lucky Starcasino, one of the many new places out on the rim where a smuggler could kick back and relax. This enterprise was built on the surface of a small asteroid in the middle of nowhere unless you knew where to look for it. A new place to be sure but that means a better class of riff raff to fleece a few shinies off of. And after that cheap run of meds to Tatoonie- Pops didn't trust me with anything risky back then since I had only started flying solo a few months earlier- I decided to take a detour on the way back.

   Course a place like this way out here has to protect itself. Hutts, your friendly neighborhood Sith or even the Old Lady republic might want a cut of the action. Not to mention your local pirates. So it was with a healthy respect for those laser turrets around the landing bay that I took the Nova Runner in for a proper landing-right where they told me. Nope mamma Mina didn't raise no fool.
   
   Once I filled out the paperwork and took out a two day berth I had made my way to the lobby and  stopped to think about where I was going to first. Like any casino, these places had their gambling machines- which anyone worth their credits knows are fixed but any shark worth their salt knew that it was the head to head battle at the card tables where the real credits were at. Especially when the wealthy caps who thought they were better than they really were got in on the action.

   So I asked one of the fems who worked there- another good thing about casinos, lovely fems of every race though I preferred my fellow humans myself. Sure a twi-lek fem may have their well deserved rep on their side but I'd rather run my fingers through a fem's hair than her brain parts.  So after thanking the twi, I made my way to the Galaxy tables. A game pops Donral taught me and my brothers as soon as we could hold the chips in our hands. Not too many folk played it these days though. Their loss.

   Simple game Galaxy was. On a hexagonal holo-chip you'd have an image of heavenly bodies from the smallest- the meteor, all the way up through the galactic cluster for twelve cards and four colors- red, blue, yellow and black. You got two chips down, two more would be placed up and then everyone would get one chip down to finish the hand. Betting could get fast and furious and with the Black Holes in play both sides could have winning hands at the same time. After all, everyone knows that like the real deal, black holes turn everything upside down.  So if one turned up then the lowly meteor would be the top pod in the race and the galactic cluster goes down to the bottom. Of course if another one turned up then everything would be turned back to normal. Simple really- odd number of black holes and the low chips won, even number and the highs did. And then they also had the added property of being a wild card if it was in your hand so you could make it any other chip you wished it to be. Basically a Black hole chip was a big time game changer.

   So I made my way over to a table with an empty chair and sat myself down and checked out the competition. On my right I found myself looking at a red skinned horned tattooed zabrak who introduced himself as "Mernaz" and thanked me for my credits that would soon be his.  On my left, just reseating himself after stretching his over six foot frame, and I'm pretty tall at 5'10" myself, was an orange skinned Trandoshan calling himself "Serrassz" who promptly vowed to eat the flesh off my bones if I tried cheating him. Yet it was the short, fat beared man across from me that seemed the greater threat. Oh no he wasn't that imposing himself. However the visibly armed bodyguard clearly indicated that he was some kind of spanner in the works.

   "Greetings my new friend, my name is Allastar Merudi- transporter of various things of important. Don't mind our fellow players here. They are just a bit unhappy that the chips have been falling my way for the moment." The balding fat man said with a chuckle at the other two scowling males.

   "Well let's just see if I can interrupt the credit flow some." I replied, pausing to introducing myself as the chips were dealt. "Name's Re, Tanar Re, and I've transported a few things myself." Waving a waitress over I ordered a drink. For appearances more than anything. Pops always told me never to play Galaxy drunk but having a fixer at your side while you play would throw off the marks. I took advantage of my youthful good lucks to sucker in a few wins but playing it casual- never running bluffs and for all the world looking to be a nervous kid trying to play within himself. I noticed Allastar continued to win the bulk of the hands despite being wildly emotional with every card, which should have meant that he would be picked clean but he wasn't.

   "Well how about that friends?" Allastar said in apparent surprise as he bested Mernaz's pairs of moons and stars with three solar system. "I must be very lucky tonight." As he went to scoop up the pile of credits on the table a clawed hand closed on top of his.

   "No piece of meat can be that lucky." Serrassz hissed hatefully glaring at Allastar "You're cheating ain't ya?"

   "Hands off Mr. Merudi." The tall bodyguard said calmly drawing his blaster- a nice piece at that, and pointing it at Serrassz's head.

   "Listen meat. We both know he's cheating and I'm not.." Settassz began before getting cut off by the whine of a blaster bolt going through his head. At the sound of the blast, naturally I rolled backwards out of my seat and drew the twins, just in case. And I wasn't alone either as I saw Mernaz dive behind the table nearest us  scattering the players there and causing an even large commotion as people began scurrying for cover.

   "What is the purpose of this display?" asked the arriving hovering security drone- XP342 class if I wasn;t mistaken. "Unauthorized use of firearms in the gambling area is prohibited. Violators will be required to surrender all weapons to this unit or be vaporized." It continued  as four tentacled laser arms extended from the unit.

   "Simply as misunderstanding my good droid." Allastar  assured the droid. "Brill, please hand the good security robot your firearm. Your response there  was just a bit overdramatic I think."

"Sorry Mr.Merudi." Brill apologized, reluctantly handing the droid his firearm who took it with a clawed arm and placed it within its torso.

"Unauthorized weapon has been confiscated. Security parameters reestablished. Have a pleasant time at the Lucky Star . Maintenance droids to table 16." the droid concluded and flew off.

"You humans are crazy." Mernaz declared as everyone filtered back to what they had been doing and the droids arrived to take care of Settassz's body . "Go find someone else to take your credits from. I'm done here." And true to his word the Zabrak grabbed the disappointing for him small pile of credits remaining on the table.

"Quite good reflexes you have there Mr. Re." Allastar remarked as we found ourselves the only two left and no one new seemed to want to join our table.

"I need to be in my business." I replied looking at the solar system and comet chips dealt to me in disgust.

"Ah yes, business. I prefer to let others worry about the dodging and such." Allastar replied as a moonlet chip was upturned. "I'd much rather relax and enjoy the fruits of my people's labor."

"Sounds kinda boring to me." I said as a star was turned over next giving me nothing much to work with as I called his small bet.

"But much more conductive to a long life I would say. Where all the finer things can be enjoyed." He countered as we both got our last chips. To my surprise he threw in his hand and said what I was waiting for. "But now as I can see we're both in the business, our time is money. So if you agree perhaps we can up the stakes in this next hand? No limits like real men of our profession would do? Skirting the edge of ruin on the call of a hand?"

OK so maybe he went a bit beyond what I had intended as I paused in thought. "I'm not sure if that's going to work out for me. It seems pretty clear you have access to a lot more credits than I do so you can just keep raising until I can't stay in the hand." I explained preparing to turn him down.

"Oh we can't have that. This has been such an entertaining evening. How about this then? You only have to cover one credit for every ten I bet. That way I can not knock you out of the hand without great financial risk to myself?" Allastar countered.

"And you're willing to do this why?" I asked as my fingers began itching for the twins holstered on my belt.

"The excitement dear boy. What else?" he replied innocently.

"OK then." I decided. "Ten credits to every one of mine, no limits. Let's do this." I told him knowing that Pops would feed me to the rancor if I lost our entire profit for the medical supply run. But if I won, then Re Freighters would get a nice influx of credits to tide us over for a bit. Yeah greed I know.

The chips came to me and I found myself holding a moon and planet to start with. Promising for a straight down the line maybe. I bid a hundred credits forcing him to cover a thousand right off the bat. He did so without blinking. The first chip down was a system, mixed bag for me because it limited the run of my hand since I needed a star to link my planet with the solar system. I bid 200 this time and he again matched it. "Quite a good hand I see this time. You haven't been this aggressive in some time." Allastar noticed. "However my hand is quite interesting as well." He said tossing another thousand credits into the pot as I tossed in a hundred to match it wondering what he had.

The second face up chip brought the tail end of my straight into line as an asteroid card lined up nicely behind the moon and planet. But I still needed the star. But I bet another two hundred which he matched and then doubled by adding four thousand credits to the pot. I hesitated briefly but then matched it myself as I caught the hint of a smirk on his face at my hesitation. I gave him a tell. He knows I'm bluffing now. It all came down to the final face down chip. I looked at it. A STAR! I had my straight. But now how to sell it? Deciding to play dumb I went for broke and pushed in all the credits I had left on the table, eight hundred in all.

"I see you're betting everything on this one hand. Rather brave of you, or foolish. However in keeping with my terms earlier I'll simply call your bet rather than raise it beyond your means." Allastar said putting eight thousand credits of his own up in return as a crowd had gathered over our hand.  Smiling he said, "Based on what we have here on the table you only have one hope of winning this hand because as you see I have three solar systems. The question is. Do you have the straight?"

((to be continued- i'm actually almost done but wanted to get the first part up now while i finish it off for comments- thinking about putting the whole thing up on the TOR forums when it's done))

[tanare]

"As a matter of fact. Yes I do." I said turning over my three chips revealing the solar system high straight and scooping up the hefty pile of credits, as the crowd clapped politely, that were now mine and watching Allastar's face blanche slighty. "Brill- get her now!"

"Well thanks for the game and all." I said not sure what had just passed between the two and figuring that it wouldn't mean well for me. "But I think it's time to take my credits and..." I said starting to rise before a desperate "WAIT!" made me pause.

"Aren't you even going to give me a chance to win my credits back? That's not very sporting of you. One more hand? How about it? Double or nothing? Are you a gambler or what?" Allastar pleaded.

"I don't want you to lose any more than you have today. I don't want to push my luck. Besides," I said pointing to the rather small pile of credits in front of him. "I don't think you have enough to cover the bet even if we go back to a credit for credit exchange."

"Listen, you're a young man right? I know the perfect thing for a youngster like yourself, better than credits. Ah here comes Brill now. Bring her here my good man." Allastar said waving his bodyguard over regaining his composure somewhat. Then I saw what he was bringing and my lips narrowed in distaste. Dragging along behind him in a metal collar and a leather leash was what couldn't have been more than a 5 or 6 year old blue skinned twi-lek child.

Misinterpreting my gaze Allastar gushed, "Oh yes a new acquisition from a trip to Ryloth a couple months back, my stake in this hand so to speak. The best thing about catching them this young is that you have plenty of time to train them before they start to fill out and then there's nothing nicer than a soft curvy twi-lek fem ready to satisfy your every whim. Isn't that right little one." He said lifting her chin up slightly only to yelp in shock as she bit his finger when it got close. "You little piece of poodoo." He said backhanding her across the face sending her sprawling to the crown in tears as I could see his knuckleprint across her face.

Thinking fast I said "if you're going to use her in this hand smackin her around is only going to lower her value. You got something else to make up the difference?"  The last thing I wanted was some twi-lek kid that probably got sold into slavery by her own family with me but I wasn't about to let that fat slob beat on someone a quarter of his size and it was obvious he wasn't going to let me go without another hand. I guessed that Brill also picked up another sidearm at the slob's quarters so leaving was a bit iffy, couldn't count on the slob being unarmed either.

"My apologies. This one hasn't been housebroken yet as you can see. She also doesn't speak  basic well yet either so her training has been a bit slower than I usually prefer. I'm sure you won't have any problems though since she does understand me. " Turning back to his slave he yanked on the leash that Brill had handed to him, "Get over here you."

"NO!" came the sniffing reply from the little twi-lek. Sighing to himself Allastar yanked on the leash dragging the twi-lek to his side half choking her in the process until she was back in arms reach and gave a painful squeeze to one of her short lekku causing her to crumple up in whimpering pain. "Do we understand each other pet?" he asked threateningly. Not wishing to look at her tormentor for some reason she decided to look at me instead. The moment I saw those big teary blue eyes staring pleadingly at me I knew I was lost. I had to do it.

"OK this time my rules." I said trying to divert his attention from the girl and I finally figured out how he won so often. Or at least I hoped I did. "What you have on your table plus the girl for everything I have here. This time neither of us look at our cards until everything's been dealt and then we turn them over one at a time. Winner take all. Is it a deal?" I asked.

"Fine fine. Shall we?" he agreed. I was a bit surprised to see him agree so easily because if I was right he wouldn't be able to play his hunches- I guess some folk would call it the 'Force' – off of everyone's  or in this case my reactions to the chips. I hadn't noticed any regular cheating from him so this had to be it. Oh he was no jedi or sith, I knew that much by looking at him but I heard about people being sensitive to the Force and were really lucky because of it. By keeping all the chips face down we'd be playing blind so he would have no reaction of mine to play off of.

Once we each had our two chips the first face up chip a galactic cluster and then followed by a comet. As we both received our final face down chip Allastar remarked almost idly, his calm seemingly restored now. "With chips falling this way it would be a shame for such stakes to be decided by something a trivial as one of us holding a lone galactic gluster chip." He said flipping over his first chip revealing another galaxy cluster. "Oh how fortunate." He said looking at his pair. "I guess I'll be keeping you after all little one." He said petting the cringing girl on her head as she tried to move away but he hadn't given her much slack on the leash so she couldn't move.

"It's not over yet." I said flipping over a comet chip giving us both a pair though he still had the best hand. Our next chips revealed nothing of worth- a planet for him and a meteor for me putting it all down to the last chip.  "HA! it is now!" Allastar exclaimed gleefully as he turned over his third galactic cluster. "That's three, even with another comet you can't beat this hand. A good effort and all but not good enough when it counts. Brill get the credits." Allastar ordered preparing to drag the slave girl with him.

"Wrong again." I said slamming my final chip down to the table as the crowd whistled in shock and disbelief as the black hole card was placed next to my other cards. "You know what that means Allastar." I said using his first name for the first time all evening. "The world turns upside down so my little comets trump your galactic clusters because the black hole's wild and that gives me three comets. Now hand over the girl and your credits."

"That's impossible! That's something over 100 to 1 odds  that you get what you needed on the last card twice in a row!"  Allastar shouted in disbelief.

"Hey I don't worry about the odds." I said a bit more cockily than I was at the time, thinking of all those credits I'd be taking home. Almost like a second cargo run without going anywhere. But Allastar wasn't finished yet.

"Brill, he cheated!  get..." But whatever Allastar was going to say we never found out as suddenly an explosion rocked the casino and an emergency recording began to play. "Hostile forces have attacked this casino, everyone please return to your quarters until the attack has passed."

((to be continued- found a cutoff point for this part- now you might have to wait til i finish it before the next part goes up))

[tanare]

Naturally that got everyone screaming as panic and a second explosion rocked the base. Brill had been caught by surprise and pushed back from the table by the screaming mob while Allastar had taken off dragging the twi-lek behind him.

Hesitating, I took Pop's advice about never leaving a credit on the table unless someone's got a blaster pointed at you and so I dumped as much of the credits I could into my pockets while Brill tried to get to me. Sure some spilled onto the floor which was enough to add a further distraction as some people who were greedier than they were smart stared fighting over the credits on the floor.

No point in hanging around any longer though, vacation's over. Time to get back to the Runner and get while the getting was good. Yeah I left a few credits behind but hey better most than fighting someone who gets paid to hurt people. Then the next announcement made that an even better idea.

"Intruders have entered the complex. All guests please prepare to evacuate the casino at this time. The Lucky Star is not responsible for any injuries or deaths as a result of your remaining on the premises. The Lucky Star thanks you for your patronage. Security drones have been released to deal with the intruders."

Yup no point in staying around after that. I drew the twins from their holsters and began to make my way to the landing pads. If the place was being bordered then there was fighting to be done. And I never liked pirates anyway. Then another bigger explosion rocked the place and pieces of the wall and ceiling started falling down on top of people crushing them. 

Fortunately we still had air so the environmental shields were still up at least. Of course if these pirates were sick enough they could just vent the place and come in and grab everything they wanted after. Dusting myself off I knew it was time to run when I heard among all the screaming and panicking a child crying. I had forgotten about the twi-lek.

Hesitating only for a second, well maybe two, I turned and started trying to move against the flow of the crowd towards the noise. Turns out that was the best move as a firefight broke out down the hallway I was heading down as the security drones found themselves some pirates. In my hurry I almost missed them, well it was just her at that point. Seems Allastar the fat decided to take a shortcut down one of the side tunnels but too bad for him when it came crashing down on top of him. Fortunately for the kid he was dragging her by the leash so when he got caught she didn't. On the other hand now the kid was trapped since part of the leash was still in Allastar's hand when he got buried and she was stuck.

The kid looked up at me with those damned big eyes of hers, of course she was crying. All this racket, buildings falling on people, yeah tough for a five or six year old to cope with. Seems she remembered me because she reached out towards me and said something in rylothian or whatever it is they speak. Then she tugged futilely on the collar trying to take it off as I approached. Another tremor rocked the casino from another explosion somewhere and the kid started crying again.

"Easy kid. I'll get you out of here." I assured her as I figured there was no time to do this cleanly so I aimed Lefty at the leash and fired a quick blast to slice her free. She still had the collar on but at least she could move.  "There we go.' I said getting back to my feet as the sound of combat grew closer. However I found after my first step that movement was going to be slow as I found the girl had wrapped herself around my right leg tighter than a Hutt with a bucket full of credits. "ME TOO!" she said between sniffles.

"Look kid, you can't hold my leg like that or I can't walk." I said patiently as she shook her head in the negative still holding on. I thought about prying her off of me but I didn't have time for that. Looking around for a place to hide I saw a shop of some kind only a few steps away. Dragging the kid along, she thought it was fun anyway based on the giggled hic-cough she made, I got inside just before I saw a destroyed security droid crash past the entrance to the side tunnel.

Crouching down for cover behind some shelves, I figured it was time to have a heart to heart with the kid who was still clinging to my leg with both arms and feet wrapped around it. "OK kid listen up. There are some bad guys out there who will want to take you away again if they find you." I began and immediately discovered it was the wrong thing to say as the kid started tearing up again. Knowing if she started bawling again we'd both get found I looked around for something to quiet her.

That's when I saw we were in some souvenir shop, there had to be something here to keep her quiet. "Aha!" I said softly as I reached over and grabbed something that should work. "Here you go kid." I said presenting her with a small stuffed wookie. I almost laughed as I saw the kid try to figure out how she could keep holding my leg yet take the toy. Finally the toy won out as she let go and snatched it up as tightly as she had been holding my leg and burying her face in its' fur. "Mine?" she asked piteously as if she never had anything to call her own before. Choked me up, well a little.
   
"It's all your kid now shhhh." I said holding my finger to my lips to try and get her to keep quiet. That had mixed results as she now ran over to hug me, not letting her precious toy go mind you.

   "I've got you now you lousy merchie!" Brill yelled as he stood in the doorway a blaster in hand. Immediately the kid let go of me and  hid under one of the shelves behind us. That piece of Hutt vomit must have scared her silly.  Brill wouldn't shut up though "You take Mr. Merudi's credits, kill him, steal his pet,  and expect to walk outta here?" That's when Pops' other rule of thumb came to mind. 'If you're gonna get into a fight be sure to be the one to shoot first.'  So I did. Pops always was a smart one and Brill looked a lot better with a blaster burn across his chest, course Pops always said I was a lousy shot so that's why I needed to carry two blasters.

   "OK kid let's go. He's not going to hurt you anymore." I said extending my hand and the kid came out of hiding to take it as she saw Brill's body. "Now this is how it's going to be." I said. "if you're coming with me I need you to climb onto my back and put your arms around my neck to hold on."

Holding up the twins I added, "I need to be using both of these so I can't hold you myself ok?". Looking at me, chewing slightly on her lower lip, she seemed to think it over before apparently deciding it was acceptable with a nod and a quick scramble up my back. As I briefly found my nose and mouth covered with fake wookie fur I assumed she was ready. I did hear a spitting sound behind me as we came to the door where Brill's body was and saw a drop of spit had appeared right on Brill's forehead- just a bit off center, but hey she's still a kid.

   Looking carefully it seemed the fighting had passed us by but we still had to get to the landing bay. So carrying the kid we started working back to the landing bay, the kid apparently thought this was fun because she started humming so sort of song as I went forcing me to shush her a couple of times. I heard her sniffles when I did and hoped it wouldn't start her crying again. Pirates tend to notice those sorts of noises after all. But the Force seemed to be with us as we only had to duck down a side passage to hide once before we got to the bay.

   I looked carefully into the bay and saw there was only a pair of unhappy pirates standing watch while their buddies got to collect the loot. My heart didn't really bleed for them much though. The problem was that they were standing between me and the Runner. I needed to come up with a plan. Then the kid sneezed, fur from the stuffed wookie must have brushed her nose or something.

   "Who's there?" the first pirate asked pointing his blaster towards the hallway corner we were hiding behind and slowly making his way our way.

   Muttering to myself I got the twins out and whispered to the kid "Get ready to run understand?" To my relief she nodded. The pirate had gotten  a bit twitchy though.

   "I said who's there. I heard that sneeze now come on out and we'll make things painless for ya." He had promised.

   "Gee thanks." I said diving into a roll across the hallway firing as I dove. I timed it just right seeing how the pirate was only about ten steps from where we were. Then a blaster bolt charred the hallway floor as pirate #2 just missed me from further back. I managed to make it to the other side of the corridor as a second bolt clipped the corner of the wall. Looking back across the kid looked at me all big eyed again with her lower lip trembling about to scream. Silently I hoped she would keep her mouth shut. At that point number two only knew about me and I wanted to keep it that way.

   "Damn you you're gonna pay for that." The second pirate screamed, a Rhodian by the quick glimpse I had of him. Unlike his buddy, the Rhodian tried to stay behind cover so neither of us could get a clear shot. The standoff held for a few moments until I heard the beep of a commlink. "Boss it's Reddo. Got someone down here at the pad. Nerf herder already took out Chazi." That did it, it was time to go before Reddo's friends arrived. Of course Reddo was likely to just wait it out now. Me? not such a good option. The kid was getting uneasy and I couldn't count on her keeping quiet for much longer. Then she surprised me. She started running across the hallway to get to my side. "NO!" I yelled as Reddo stood up and fired.

   The only thing that saved the kid was that Reddo was expecting an adult sized person to be shooting at and not a kid so his shot went right over her head as she started crying again. On the other hand, the kid was fine and Reddo was out of cover. Taking advantage of the fact that his blaster wasn't pointed at me anymore I came into the clear and started shooting as fast as I could with the Twins. It took four shots but I finally took him down. Only two of them actually hit but it's better than none hitting. He managed a wild shot that came closer to hitting the ceiling than either of us.

   Kneeling down beside the kid I said "OK it's over now. Do you want to see my ship? We can go for a trip." Nodding slowly she climbed back up on my back. Which wasn't what I had in mind. "OK fine we'll do it this way. Hang on." I said jogging over to where the Runner was berthed at. Fortunately none of Rebbo's gang had made it back yet and we got inside quick and easy.

   

[tanare]

Bringing the kid to my quarters, I tossed my jacket with the credits onto my bed and then I dug around for some rations I had lying around. "Hungry?" I asked and she nodded. Openning the ration pack for her I said "OK kid they might not be the tasty stuff around but it'll do in a pinch. By the way kid, do you have a name? Can't keep calling you kid."

   Nodding again and with a mouthful of ration she said, spitting a half chewed piece of it off my nose when she did, "Nal'avaleth."

   "That's a mouthful." I said. "How about I call you Nala?" she made some sort of happy noise nodding vigorously as I added "I'm Tanar. Now stay here Nala. I have to get us out of here."

   Getting back to the bridge I fired the engines up and waited impatiently for enough power to activate the shields. Rebbo's friends couldn't be far now. AS I got the shields up at last some of Rebbo's pals arrived and started taking potshots with their blasters as the Runner began to slowly move towards the exit. This ship could take a couple shots from actual Imperial Fighters and keep on going. Blasters wouldn't even dent it.

   Taking the ship out of the casino the ship shook as another blast from outside rocked the Lucky Star which certainly wasn't living up to its name any more. That's when I saw the rest of the pirates.  Another half dozen ships were still in orbit taking out the rest of the casino's defenses. And to make sure no one got out I added to  myself as I saw an image vanish from my screen while being pursued by three of those six ships. Unfortunately that left three more to notice me. Two were on the far side taking out defenses but number six caught sight of me just after I cleared the landing bay and started to pursue.

   I had my nav droid start working out the hyper jump to the nearest system. I had to find a place for the kid to stay after all. The jedi sponsored orphanages on many of the Republic worlds so I could just leave Nala, the kid I mean, there. She'd be better off there than sticking with me, find a good family and all that , though ma always wanted a daughter of her own after three boys. First things first though. I commed my quarters quickly saying "Nala, hold onto something, this could get rough." And then I  got ready to try some evasive maneuvers as the pirate ship looked to be using some sort of afterburners to close the gap. Good thing about those things for me is that they never held up for long before they run out of energy.

    one minute thirty six seconds for hyperdrive activation the droid told me. Well technically it told the Runner's computers who told me. I don't speak beep boop. So all I had to do is keep us in one piece for that long. Unfortunately it was closing in faster than that. And that was bad because I was on my own here. Pops didn't bother sending a crew along with me because since this was supposed to be a cheap run, no need to spend extra  credits on a crew being in pretty much safe space. Then again, Pops didn't know about my detour either. But what that meant is that my guns would be fired using the droid's autofire program instead of having a living being at the trigger. Droids don't play well with guns. But use what you have.

   The pirate had an itchy trigger finger and started blasting away. He didn't come close but the gunbot on my side was just as useless. Don't even know why Pops bothered with them. I mean you never heard anyone say "Yeah I was done for but then my gunbot  put one right up his afterburner and took him out." Do you? Stuill he kept getting closer as we reached the one minute mark.

   Now he was getting the range though. The gunbot at least was shooting in the right direction but that was about it. The first hit shook the ship at the fifty five second mark. A second came a few seconds later as shields dropped to 72%. I started dodging using the old drift slightly to the left then make a sharp right trick and it bought a few seconds as the next bolts just missed. Then they adjusted and another hit landed. Shockingly the gunbot actually managed to nick the edge of their shields with its next shot. Scans showed their shields were still at 97% though. This was gonna be close. Another dodge and then another hit. Twenty seconds to go and shields were at 23%. One or two more hits and they'd be done. I switched power to the rear shields boosting them to 36% and tried to funnel as much power as I could to the shield regenerators. A pair of hits, one a grazing hit thankfully and all that work was wasted as the shields were down to 6% .

    Hyperdrive ready. that most wondrous of astromechs finally told me and I punched it, just as a last shot took out the rest of the shields and breached one part of the fortunately empty cargo hold. Breathing a sigh of relief, I went back to check on Nala,I mean  the kid. Soon we'd be arriving on Alderran and the kid would be off to her new home and new family and I'd head back to Ord Mantell and hope Pops doesn't kill me for that hole in the cargo bay.

   Opening the door to my quarters I immediately noticed the kid was missing. Then, before I started shouting for her I noticed a trail of credits  leading off the bed where my jacket used to be, heading over to one of my personal storage units. Opening the door hatchway I found the kid, hiding under my jacket with the stuffed wookie still in her hands. "It's all over now..." I began before she knocked me over with a sudden lunge as credits spilled all over the floor. "Easy there kid." I said as grabbed me. "Good instincts too, take the credits and run. You might have a job in the smuggling business when you grow up."

   "Where now?" she asked looking around and feeling much more calmer now that I was in the room with her.

   "We stay here for a little while and then we'll be going to your new home." I explained. She seem happy to hear that so I took her to the bridge so she could do some stargazing through the viewing screen. "Now don't touch anything." I warned her, pointing to the controls. She nodded and after putting her toy in the copilot's seat she went scampering around from window to window trying not to miss anything.

   Finally we arrived in the Alderran system and I also finally managed to get that collar off the kid. With my luck I'd get arrested for slaving. The picks I had finally managed to pick the old mechanical lock that kept the thing closed- Rigel was always better at that than I was. But he was a sneak anyway, always jealous of Janar because he was the oldest. Requesting clearing I made my way to where my records showed the nearest orphanage would be and set the Nova Runner down for an easy landing.

   During the descent I managed to comm. Talking to one of the jedi who ran the place, a pale skinned Mirialan named Nersa Lartu, agreed to take the kid on so she was going to meet us on the landing pad and sure enough there she was. You could count on a jedi to be on time if nothing else.

   "OK kid we're here." I said and Nala grabbed her toy and taking one of my hands allowed me to take her off ship. Upon sight of the jedi however, her eyes went wide and she hid behind me, only daring to peek around my leg to see if the jedi was still watching.

   "She's a little shy." I explained.

   "And how did you find her again?"  Nersa asked standing there with typical jedi calmness.

   "Um, I won her in a card game off of the nerf herder that owned her. Figured she'd be better off here and find a good family and all that for her." I explained, after briefly considering and rejecting the idea of lying to a jedi.

   "I see.  And the child is willing to accept this." She asked?

   "I don't see why not?" I answered. "Anything's better than where she was."

   "So you didn't ask her?" the jedi pressed in that makes you feel like a ten year old that just wrecked his favorite holo-imager and tried to blame someone else knowing tone of voice.

   "I guess not. But hey I can fix that. Nala, you're going to be staying with this nice lady and she'll find you a family you can grow up safe with and do all kinds of fun things with. OK?" I said looking a bit behind me to address the kid.

   "NO! NO!" the kid yelled eyes widening again and getting misty eyed as she wrapped herself around my leg still shaking her head in denial.

"The child seems rather attached to you." The jedi said calmly. Was that supposed to be a joke? Do jedi joke? I thought that was illegal or something?

"That's just because I rescued her. Probably the first nice thing someone did for her. But she'll be better off here." I said, looking back down at the kid. "C'mon Nala, it'll be great here. You don't want to be stuck with me."

"STAY!" she said nodding emphatically and squeezing tighter. My leg was starting to tingle as the blood was getting cut off.

"It'll be fine here." I tried again before I was interrupted.

"The child seems to have made her choice already." Nersa remarked. " Who are you to take her choice away from her?"

"I'm just trying to do what's best for her." I answered.

"The child seems to think it's best to stay with you. Is that not so Nala? Do you want to stay with Tanar little one?" Nersa asked Nala, speaking to her directly for the first time.

   "Tanar stay!" Nala said in agreement.

   "Well then it seems clear that the child has chosen you Tanar Re. Are you going to rob her of her choice and do what you wish with her regardless of what she wants just like the man you claim to have won her from? To make her a slave to your choices at the expense of her own? How does that make you better than he?" Nersa pressed using some jedi word twisting to make me the bad guy all of a sudden.

   "It's not like that at all!" I protested. "I just want the kid to grow up somewhere safe. Is that wrong?"

   "It is if the child wishes otherwise. She has chosen you. I will not force her to change that choice. Like it or not your fates are as one with the Force now. None of the other orphanages shall take her either. I suppose you could sell her back into slavery if you truly wish to be rid of her." Nersa said pausing as I spluttered an angry denial. "But I see that you do not wish this. In that case I wish you both well, May the Force be with you." Turning her back the jedi walked back inside leaving me with Nala, still wrapped around my leg.

   "Well kid. I guess you're stuck with me." I said. None of the other orphanages were as good as the Alderran ones and they just got closed off. Besides, ma always wanted a little girl after three boys. Maybe this will work. My train of thought was derailed as Nala let go with an excited whoop "Big Buir!" she said mixing her languages in her excitement. Buir being rylothian for brother, at least that's what some twi-lek smugglers the company ran across claimed. At least she didn't call me her dad.

   As she raced back to the ship I followed more slowly dreading the call to Pops. Then I decided that since it got dropped on me why not return the favor. So I kept the channels closed until we got back to Ord Mantell.  And before I could leave the landing pad with a sack in my hand and with Nala beside me Pops was already there with ma.

   "Tanar, where in the black were you? You should have been back here days ago! And what's this?" Pops demanded pointing to Nala.

Smiling innocently I said "She followed me home Pops can I keep her?"

"She WHAT?" Pops yelled causing Nala to hide behind me once more.

"Now don't be frightening the poor dear, Donral." Ma interrupted holding her hand out to Nala. "Such a pretty girl you are." She said smiling before looking back to me. "What did you do to this poor little thing Tanar?"

"She was being kept by some fat slob that was just waiting for her to grow up. I got him in the hole and he was forced to bet her and I won. Tried to take her to an orphanage but she didn't want to leave me so here we are. I couldn't just leave her in the streets ma." I told her. "her name's Nala, she doesn't speak much basic yet.."

"If you did Tanar Re, then I would have sent you on a spacewalk without a suit young man." Ma informed me. "Donral, take care of the paperwork. Nala, sweetie. I just baked some cookies before I came here. I bet they're all nice and ready now. Do you want some?"

"COOKIE!" Nala agreed nodding happily and took ma's hand just like that. Pops seemed a bit outmaneuvered by it all.

"Now wait just a second Mina! We can't just be taking in strays like that!" Pops argued.

"You mean you'll throw this poor little dear back into the streets after our baby boy rescued her?" Ma demanded and as if on cue, Nala unleashed the big eyes at him. Nope Pops didn't stand a chance either.

"Well we'll give it a week and see how it works out. But don't get too attached to her Mina!" Pops said to Ma's back as she was chatting happily with Nala even if Nala didn't say much. Ma was like that sometimes.

"What did you do to my ship!" Pops said as he looked at the wrecked portion of the cargo bay. "Dou you have any idea how many credits that's going to cost? That med shipment run will barely cover it and we'll be down a ship for at least a week while they get her sealed up properly. And who's going to pay for that boy?" Pops finished looking meaningfully at me.

"Relax Pops." I said opening the sack and showing him the pile of credits I won off Allastar. "Nala wasn't all I won. "

Yup his expression made the whole thing worth it.


((finis))