Vorzyd Roulette

[Dunames Lopez]

Vorzyd 5, a planet along the Mandalorian-Silver Jedi border. Now known as a battleground of crime, where covert warfare is waged between rival criminal gangs that are unofficially supported by either party, and the casinos are much more dangerous to go than they used to be, and the scene looks like the more brutal holovids where gangs even transformed casinos into battlefields, complete with Mandalorian Jedi or Sith. But, upon arriving at the main spaceport of Vorzyd, which already has dazzling neons, not unlike the casinos - that is, when the casinos aren't the theaters of inter-gang warfare. Since the Ossus raid, criminality on Vorzyd is through the roof. Hopefully [member="Salete Kel"] won't be deterred, no more than Dunames marketing the Vorzyd Roulette tour. But the same could be said of Ringo Vinda, too. And also, it is possible that the Vorzyd Roulette won't stay that rough forever. Dunames piloted all the way from Thakwaa to Vorzyd, which forced her to fly to Eriadu, then on to Hosnian Prime, Ringo Vinda and finally Vorzyd, in that order.

"Welcome to Vorzyd, home to the Vorzyd Roulette!" Frank told the passengers of the latest flight from Ringo Vinda.

"Star Tours announces another of our exciting action-adventure tours: join us and play the Vorzyd Roulette! Start your visit among the many casinos and other places of debauchery with the galaxy's most outrageous card sharks. If adventure is your middle name, this is the tour for you. Reservations are limited so call your travel agent or Star Tours today!"

 

[Salete Kel]

Salete had come on this tour, not for the sight seeing. She was here to scope out the place, learn more about the trade. Maybe create a business relationship with the notorious [member="Dunames Lopez"]. On this trip she had taken a fairly large Trandoshan with a D-17 to protect her, she wouldn't risk it without protection. The politician turned criminal moved through the passengers on the Star Tours flight, intent on meeting this Dunames. She pushed through until she could introduce herself to the CEO and pilot of her vessel,

"You must be Miss Lopez, pleased to meet you."

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Efavan. The capital of the infamous gambler's planet. Luckily Dunames brought her big slugthrower firing 12.7x108s, that is to say, bullets that can destroy swoops and even damage unarmored speeders, or penetrate up to 25mm of armor at point-blank range, but they can also kill Sith Lords (she initially bought it to engage Sith Lords at range). Her weapon is properly strapped to her back, so she can fight off Sith Lords if necessary, but [member="Salete Kel"] wasn't a Sith Lord by any stretch, or at least not to Dunames. Because she unfortunately knew about Dark Jedi who almost pass off for Sith Lords and could even present themselves to criminal gangs as Sith Lords and it would take a thorough examination to expose these false Sith Lords. Here Casino Line is where the main action takes place, with six of the big-ticket casinos being the High Numbers Palace, the Casino Royale, the Laughing Luxe, the Arabi Holiday House, the Hand Pot and the Last Card, each of which come with hotels.

"Nice to meet you. Salete Kel, I presume? I usually want to personally test the main products before rolling them out. So we should probably try the High Numbers Palace and come play with the most famous card sharks of the galaxy"

 

[Salete Kel]

Salete, following [member="Dunames Lopez"], agreed with the Star Tours CEO extraordinaire, "Yes a visit to this High Numbers Palace. I haven't gambled in years, since I was a much younger woman."

Kel enjoyed the bright city scape of Vorzyd V, it felt so invigorating to the Zeltronian. The whole planetary sentiment of favoring leisure and games over labour, just made Salete feel at one with this planet. She wore an outfit drab in color to not grab a lot of attention, but elegant enough to make her look dignified. It was a lovely planet to be on, and she was glad to be learning. For she was here to learn about the tools of the trade. While her criminal empire was being started she was out figuring out how to be a criminal, from casinos to spice dealing she was finding every piece of information she could utilize.

 

[Dunames Lopez]

[member="Salete Kel"] followed Dunames to the High Numbers Palace, using the limousine she rented. Pazaak, sabacc were classics, but for some reason the HNP had a few lesser-known games like blackjack or poker, of which five varieties could be played. And also free tests of Force-sensitivity were offered if one accumulated sufficient comps or 50 credits. It was a little weird to think that Dunames would be playing games that are similar but not entirely different from the conventional games, but also that a test of Force-sensitivity was offered on the premises for a fee. If one was to take the variant that 20 cards, 10 each from a given suit, and one had to guess the first four of them when shuffled, three correct guesses out of four were necessary. If the other variant was in use, that is, one had a 25-card deck with 5 cards each of a given suit, 10 correct guesses were necessary out of 25. She knew from the onset that she couldn't use the Force, and that was not an issue.

"We have arrived at the High Numbers Palace. Do you want to hit the slot machines or video-sabacc machines? Or do you instead want to test your mettle against card sharks playing pazaak or sabacc? Or do you want to start with a card-based Force-sensitivity test?"

 

[Salete Kel]

Salete gave out a small laugh,

"Thank you, I think I'll try one of those slot machines, I don't think I've done any of those in a while."

Before Salete approached any of the machines she whispered to her Trandoshan bodyguard, "Hey Sik, get me something strong to drink," The bodyguard nodded before leaving the two women alone. Salete picked an empty slot machine and began walking towards it, assuming [member="Dunames Lopez"] was doing the same. The Zeltronian could not believe where she was, just five years ago she was a senator for the Republic, a senator for the force's sake. Now she was an enterprising criminal, after three years of living in poverty and then a rise into working for local governments, she was becoming a bad guy! Now she could indeed indulge her greatest desires, now she could work for herself, not others.

Before sitting down at a machine, Salete turned towards her hostess, "So Dunames, what do you want from me? We've been fairly vague with each other and by now we should really figure what do we want. So what do you want?"

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"Star Tours can offer a cover for smuggling as well as moneylaundering. Using the Secret Courier service, you pay a security deposit, which is dependent on the merchandise being smuggled, and the goods you want smuggled can be delivered away from prying eyes. The security deposit will be refunded upon delivery of the smuggled goods"

Somehow [member="Salete Kel"] made Dunames harken back to the very beginnings of Star Tours: gone were the days where Dunames was a crime lord. She knew that product still existed but Star Tours isn't primarily about such shady business anymore. And yet, paying up a security deposit and to refund it if the goods are in good condition on delivery is still legal, so long as said security deposit is actually refunded in the end. By now Star Tours was a mostly-honest shipping business, transporting passengers and cargo across the galaxy. That much she knew. But luckily near Salete, there were two or three more empty slot machines: they seem low-key but she knew skilled (not in the sense of winning a lot of money on a regular basis, but in a dexterity sense) slot machine players could somehow play on 2 slot machines simultaneously, and the very best of them, especially four-armed Xextos or Besalisks, could play on a whopping four slot machines at once. But it was a bad idea for her to shapeshift just to impress someone. Hopefully Salete would understand what use is the practice of a security deposit for moneylaundering.

 

[Salete Kel]

After listening to the little pitch [member="Dunames Lopez"] gave her, Salete played the slot machine for a few rounds, compiling the information given to her. Although Salete had much larger plans in mind, using Star Tours as her delivery system for whatever she might need to send without trouble for her starting months and work her way from there. It did not take long for Sik to come back with a drink, from by the smell of it, had a large percentage of alcohol brewed inside. Without much thought she emptied the entire glass and set it on top of the machine, upside down.

"Consider me sold Miss Dunames. Now that we have come to some sort of agreement, how about we drink to it, have some fun while we are at it?"

Salete motioned for Sik, "Sik my big muscley boy," Salete was definitely tipsy with that first drink, "Bring us two of whatever you just gave me." The Trandoshan hissed in acknowledge meant and began to walk back towards the bar before Salete raised up her hand, "Wait wait wait. Four, bring us four of whatever you just gave me." The Zeltronian turned to her future business partner, "We are going to have a good time tonight Dunames, you can hold it to my word."

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"Let me tell you in on a little secret: the main risks come from the larger spaceports"

And that's primarily because more security resources were available at larger spaceports in absolute terms, such as Flashpoint on Cademimu or Derretowa on Morellia. Dunames knew that security was so focused on passengers that cargo transportation was a little lax in comparison. [member="Salete Kel"]'s Trandoshan valet returned with four servings of high-alcohol drinks. Oh, of course, she did sell alcohol (and sometimes even homemade brews on low-density flights) and sold whiskey (not always Corellian, in fact the Corellian variety was very difficult to find) but she rarely drank while in flight, knowing that drunk flying was a big no-no and that she could be called upon to fly on a moment's notice or similar. So she glanced at the drinks brought over by the Trandoshan valet to Salete, knowing that she will receive two of them in short order, to see whether she can associate the drink to anything sold onboard Star Tours flights in this sector.

"Tihaar: around Mando-space, it's common to see tihaar being sold, with many different flavors. Possibly orange-flavored"

 

[Salete Kel]

Salete was happy to see Sik coming back with four identical glasses. Before offering one to Dunames, Salete downed another, definitely past just a buzz, the alcohol really doing its stuff,"Now, let us drink to our new deal" She offered Dunames the drink she promised, "And to an everlasting business relationship."

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"May the Force be with us all" she said, upon drinking the tihaar-strength drink.

She had two glasses of such drinks, but an eight-hour "bottle-to-throttle" period had to be respected. She dangerously entered the 12-hour territory, which, according to the latest version of the Star Tours SOPs, demanded that organic pilots not drink more than what would warrant a 0.03 blood alcohol rate, if they drank at all, and for 0.05, that was 12 hours. Anything beyond that required 24 hours. But during the eight hours, she decided to limit how much she could play in a casino because that carried consequences for her. While it was rare for professional pilots to be drunk, pilots that flew commercial flights and who held all-inclusive licenses to do just that, could lose their licenses if they were to pilot drunk, and Dunames still saw piloting as part of her job duties, even though she ran the administrative structure of Star Tours. The next day, she departed Vorzyd for Coruscant, flying via Ringo Vinda, while enjoying that night in the High Numbers Palace in the meantime.