SWRPF Archive Casino Royale

Stent Kannat
suite

Stent was sitting on one of the chairs in the suite, looking over his fellow agents that had returned from their excursion. Halon and Ryn did look a little haggard in their appearance; they likely did have an altercation with the target, or perhaps someone else. As much as he hated being dragged away from establishing a friendship with Lady Elon (it was quite a relief to learn that there were fresh food options at the Chuodana), this was far more important at the moment. The zeltron was rather nervous to hear their report as it would likely impact their mission greatly.

He decided to break the ice with a simple question. "So, what happened," he asked quietly with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

TAG: mitth, jango, any

 

Ryn Solass
Suite

It was nice getting to lay around on the nice furniture of there room, and from the looks from Stent maybe it wasn't too obvious what they had been up to. Of course that self-deception only lasted until he asked the doomible question of...

"So, what happened," he asked quietly with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

The tone was what really set it off, but he had to answer, and the lie was working so far with Halon...why not everyone else? After all it was the truth...

"Well let's see. We stole a boat, someone should really report that guys illegal fishing equipment. Tsk tsk." Definately was going to go with the lighter air, besides he was happy, he had had his poison today.

Smiling now he continued on, "Found you know who's boat, but he wasn't home so we invited ourselves onboard. He does a scooba-assault that wounds us, I jumped in the water...we dooked it out and he got eaten by a giant eel from behind. I came aboard, drank some paralytic poison."

At this he pulled out the clear bottle and slowly began untwisting the cork, "Boat exploded, we got out, the investigator called. He got us fixed up, we exchanged info, and then came home...anyone for some poison?" Holding the bottle high for moment before setting it on the table before slouching back.

Snapping his fingers he shot forward again instantly, "Almost forgot, snatched this pad from his boat before the explosion." Pulling it out he tossed it to Markus.

TAG: Sprint, Any

 

Stent Kannat
suite

Stent slowly nodded his head in response to Ryn's report, his hands folded close to his mouth as he stared at the floor. He ignored Ryn's ridiculous offer and how he chose to deliver the report, instead gravely focusing on the facts.

So Zaron's dead without an interrogation. Hopefully they would soon find out if the pad would provide any solace in this loss. The death of Zaron without gaining anything from it troubled Stent. If they were going to bring the wrath of the Syndicate upon themselves, at the very least he wanted them to be more informed of the enemy.

After a moment, Stent came out of his introspection, scratching his neck and sighing. The nervousness was gone from his voice, only to replaced by weariness.

"Well, I guess the speediness of his father's retribution will depend on how covertly and discretely this was all done. There was no one else about as far as you were aware? It sounds like you were fairly out there to attrach such sea creatures."

He looked at Markus.

"Please tell me that there is something worthwhile in that pad."

TAG: all

 

Markus Carfax
Grand Suite 703

Markus had been as relieved as anyone to find out that Chuodana catered not only to Hutts, but to beings who liked their food dead before they ate it. It took a lot to gross him out, but the idea of eating something still wriggling had made him wish for the days when he hadn't been able to taste anything.

Back at the Suite, he listened to Ryn's report and tried to stifle his groan as it became apparent that the mission had gone about as well as could be expected with Halon in charge. Stealing a boat, getting into a fight, drinking poison... not to mention that murdering Zaron was bound to bring the Syndicate down on them like a ton of duracrete. And it didn't even look like it would be worth it-

Almost forgot, snatched this pad from his boat before the explosion."

Markus fumbled at the datapad as Ryn tossed it towards him, just about catching it before settling back into his chair to examine the contents. Knowing their luck, it'd probably just be the brat's 'to-do' list. Trawling through the contents, Markus found a bunch of lists, profiles, files and records that Zaron had apparently amassed- with a particular emphasis on matching those profiles with security footage and schedules. Taking a more detailed look at the thing would require more than a cursory glance.

"Please tell me that there is something worthwhile in that pad."

"There might be." Markus replied testily. "If you gave me more than five minutes to look at the fragging thing."

Turning his attention back to the datapad, Markus was soon lost in a world of numbers.

[TAG any]

 

Grand Suite 703

Salek Zaron was rather organized. Each profile was the heading for a file of its own, apparently organized in a chronological sequence of "opened" and "closed" dates, and fat files they were. Images, records, surveillance footage, schedules, route maps, even building schematics and acoustic analysis. Let no one say that Salek Zaron was not a dedicated man. Unfortunately, skimming through the profiles didn't reveal the names or faces of anyone that Markus had ever heard of. But it was a big galaxy, that wasn't really surprising.

Shuffling through menus in search of something more sating, Markus discovered that the datapad had a built-in comm with an encrypted connection to a private channel of some kind. Even more interestingly, there was still an unheard message dated from this morning left in the datapad's memory.

Well, it's not as though he'd be listening to it now, would he?

"I couldn't care less if you miss the wedding this week, but under no circumstances will you shirk your responsibilities at Midnight.

You are here for a reason; insubordination will not be tolerated."

 

Markus Carfax
Grand Suite 703

Midnight?

Markus' fingers skimmed across the datapad's touch surface as he replayed the message and listened to it again. Yes, the voice (and he was willing to bet good money that this was Zaron's father delivering a testy reminder to his recalcitrant son) had definitely said 'midnight'. And by the sound of the word, he wasn't referring to a time. Frowning in concentration, Markus took out the Spot-On Locator (he hadn't entrusted it to any other team member) and, juggling the datapad in one hand and the Locator in the other, ran a keyword search on both.

Hopefully Salek had been scouting the Midnight location beforehand- if these files were anything to go by, anyway. And maybe, just maybe, it was a location on board ship. Markus held his breath as the machines finished their search. One could but hope.

[TAG Any, LightWarden for search results]

 

Grand Suite 703

Salek Zaron's datapad was rather unhelpful in this regard. Sure, there were a few movies with titles such as Revenge of the Midnight Marauders, but barring a truly immersive advertising campaign, it probably wasn't the source of a vaguely threatening personal call. If Salek Zaron was investigating a location, it might be under a different name.

Whether or not the Locator would prove to be useful was yet to be seen. As far as locations went, whoever had been responsible for naming the facilities aboard this ship had apparently limited the use of the term to only three facilities (which as far as preventing confusion went was still probably two too many). The Midnight Lounge was a bar attached to the Empyreal Casino, not to be confused with Club Midnight, which to no one's surprise was a nightclub located at a completely different part of the ship. The third facility was the Midnight Star, which from the description was probably the ship's most exclusive (and expensive) restaurants, located about as far into the upper levels as possible without actually reaching into the Empyreal Suites that composed the top deck.

While not locations, the Locator was helpfully offering the names of a few events. The first, "Death Stalks at Midnight", was apparently some sort of musical murder mystery playing at the Starlight Theatre to rather good reviews. The second was the "Midnight Gala", a celebration of the grand opening of the multi-kilometer complex that was the Casino Royale on Vorzyd V, an event that coincided with the arrival of the Empress of the Stars (whose passengers were graciously being granted access to the casino hours before it opened). It was a night that promised to be full of gaming, entertainment, auctions, prizes, and other surprises in order to cement the Casino Royale's new position as the largest casino in the galaxy.

 

OOC: So I had an accident with my laptop and half a glass of smoothie and despite obsessive CSI-style cleaning I am still very limited in the time I want to have my computer on for (when it starts to smell like jam that's probably a bad sign, right?). Anyway, this means that when I do get online university stuff will have to take priority, so I'm afraid this will seriously limit my fannish activities. Hopefully this will be sorted out soon and I'll learn not to be such a klutz in the future!

My plan for Markus for the next few posts was to share the Locator/datapad info with the rest of the group and suggest that we scope out these 'Midnight' places, with a particular emphasis on the last option as the offworld/ship mingling would be extremely useful if the ship was being used as a safe zone- it means that the criminals travelling on the ship could meet with other bosses who might not be able to afford passage. The idea that passengers can access the casino hours before it opens sounds suspect to me as well.

Also, well, look at the name of the rpg.

 

Grand Suite 703

Checking Salek's datapad, Markus took another look around. There was an electronic correspondence archive that seemed to have been bypassed in his search the first time around. A quick connect to his own datapad and he had soon cracked the security open. Out of curiousity, he searched for "Midnight" again. This time something else came up, a electronic message.

Salek,

Have fun, but keep an ear open while you're out. If you hear anything new about the Centennial, tell Father as soon as possible. He's convinced that something that valuable can only be something that will completely restructure the underworld. It would explain the silence- anyone who knows something solid would have the initiative. But there has to be someone out there who knows.

Take care of yourself brother, we need to make a strong showing at Midnight.

 

Stent Kannat
Grand Suite 703

"Centennial," was all that Stent muttered after seeing and hearing what Markus had dug up. He started thinking out loud.

"It sounds like we might have some time before anyone starts to worry about Salek. There is a wedding this week, from the sounds of it a sibling's wedding perhaps, but it sounds as if is not expected to be there. But Midnight - by then we will definitely have to be on our toes.

"Midnight - I highly doubt that it is the club or the lounge. I cannot imagine someone of Salek's calibre being involved with such a place. Restaurant, maybe. Definitely not the musical unless they had a family date at some point in the near future.

"Casino Royale. The grand opening "midnight gala" celebration. That sounds more like it. Largest casino in the galaxy - something I am sure any syndicate would die to own.

"The Centennial sounds intriguing. 'Something that valuable can only be something that will completely restructure the underworld.' That is quite a statement there. It does not sound like a weapon - the underworld does not play games of deterrence on the same scale as nations do. I cannot imagine jewelry having such sway. Maybe it is something that is not tangible, like a theory, an idea, a method of control and dominance?"

The zeltron was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, this time to his companions.

"I would hate to miss up on the opportunity of finding out what Lady Elon knows. After all she does gamble and she may have some additional insight into the Casino Royale or any other gaming establishments that might nudge us in the right direction.

"We can do several things at once. I will go back and continue the meal with Lady Elon - she should still be dining. Markus, you could do some more digging, perhaps for this Centennial, or the name of this sibling of Salek and who they are to be married to. Does this sound agreeable?"

Stent had already walked to the door and was waiting by it, eager to get going, but awaiting for his colleagues' thoughts.

TAG: all

 

IC: Ryn Solass
Grand Suite 703

Listening Ryn had begun to lean back in the chair, taking this all in as one who cared just enough not to fall asleep.

Of course that didn't stop the others from jabberwailling on different carining paths. Some of them he had to admit where interesting, and all born from three little data storage devices, wonderful.

Stent had his say, and then seemed prepped to bolt, most unsuave of the man. "More than likely it might be an ability, product of information or detection, or possibly even a large newcomer is selling themselves and their resources to the syndicates with enough goods to tip the balance. Also..." Here he dropped his head to look at the fleeing agent, "What am I, keebadas binggona? Or is this a 'special' dinner your working on?"

TAG: All

 

Markus Carfax
Grand Suite 703

Markus rolled his eyes at Ryn's suggestion.

"You did just come off of a mission, Solass. I thought that you'd value some downtime. Besides, I don't think that the Lady Elon would appreciate being fed to the starter, and given your recent track record-" He shook his head and shrugged. "I wouldn't want to risk it."

Returning his attention to the datapad, he waved his hand at Stent as if to shoo him away. "Go. Feast on bugs or whatever. I'll try to find what I can on this Centennial business- and the rest of the Zaron clan. Who knows-" he looked across at Ryn and Halon again. "You could have a hitlist on your hands. I'm sure Detective Dravaal would be very pleased."

[TAG any]

 

Stent Kannat
Grand Suite 703

Stent nodded in approval of Markus's words - at least their meaning, not their actual content that was soaked in sarcasm. He had learned to see through that by now, though.

"Excellent. I will see you when I see you."

Without skipping a beat, Stent left the room to return to the Chuodana.

TAG: lightwarden

 

IC: Ryn Solass
Hotel Suite

"Bah!" was his only cry of disparity to the two raining on his attempted parade, as he got up to head to his shared room. Just as the doors where about to close behind he called out, "If you need me, you know where to find me."

He doubted any of them remembered that he spoke Huttese, and knew the food, despite his using it as a reference to their situation/condition.

Though he never would admit it perhaps that computer nerd was right, he may be perfectly well physically but mentally he might just need short nap to rest up. "Just a short rest. Close my eyes for a moment." he mumbled as his head sank deeper into the pillow.

Of course how often brevity is proven true in such endevours is another matter...

TAG: All, Light

 

Grand Suite 703

And a short rest it was. Barely thirty minutes had past since the Balosar had laid his upon the pillow before he was awake once more, with no apparent cause for his return to consciousness in sight. Markus was still working silently on the datapad. Let no one say that Salek Zaron did not plan. Judging by the fact that an average profile of his contained surveillance images, a selection of weapons and tools, an individual's schedule, place of residence and employment as well as a vehicle route from one of the aforementioned locations to a much more remote location, he was either a serial killer or the host of the Core's most avant-garde surprise parties. Or perhaps both. While certainly a source of interest for Detective Dravaal, the lack of any familiar faces meant that it wasn't of paramount concern to the slicer.

Some of Zaron's most recent plans, however, were. In the past few days, he'd suddenly taken a great deal of interest in the Casino Royale of Vorzyd V, and had some how managed to a rather in-depth set of floor-plans for the massive complex. As far as Markus could tell, Zaron hadn't gotten around to marking any areas of interest, but it was unlikely that he needed a map of the infrastructure just to ensure a spot near the prime gaming locations. It was certainly more in-depth than his map of the Empress of the Stars, though that map seemed... different somehow, not entirely like the ones he'd seen before. Furthermore, he had apparently be preparing for this cruise in advance, placing a small weapons cache at each of the Empress' ports of call. He was certainly ready for something.

---

[b]Chuodana[/b]

The dining room was much as Stent had left it, save for the solitary covered plate on the table, which was a little lumpier than he remembered and seemed to softly twitch now and then.

"Ah, one returns. Ri is pleased to see that business has allowed for Mr. Stent to share a meal with her."

 

Markus Carfax
Grand Suite 703

Markus frowned at the map of the Empress. He wasn't an expert, but he was pretty sure that there was something off about it. Fiddling with the Spot-On Locator again, he brought up a map of the ship and began to compare the two. Yes, it would be lengthy and time-consuming, but that was what slicing was sometimes. At least it wasn't as in-depth as the Casino Royale one, which would prove extremely useful when they got to it.

[TAG Any]

 

Ryn Solass
Grand Suite 703

Coming out of his room he spotted Markus still toiling away on the datapads, very intent on his work. Shrugging he moved over and picked up the unused datapad that apparently held the faces and information profiles and began sorting through them just for kicks.

If he couldn't sleep he might as well get kicks laughing at faulty security paid for by the elite. Who knows, he might even recognize a face or name.

Silently sitting down across from Markus he set to his own play.

TAG: Livi, Any

 

Grand Suite 703

While Markus had been pursing through the locator, Ryn snatched up Zaron's datapad as soon as Markus set it down to poke through the man's files. It was a series of profiles containing a variety of different information, and he quickly cycled through the overview of the profiles from oldest to newest...

Aleth Ahn, Young Adult Female Zabrak, Waitress, Corellia
Ralworr, Adult Male Wookiee, Bar Owner, Corellia
Horm Semtin, Adult Male Human, Manager, Fondor
Tarka Kre'lon, Adult Female Bothan, Detective, Coruscant
Si-Ledo, Elder Male Cerean, Arms Dealer, Coruscant
Ereth Koth, Middle Aged Male Zabrak, Factory Foreman, Corellia
Inder Endac, Adult Male Human, Gambler, Corellia
Middle Aged Male Twi'lek, Social Worker, Coruscant
Sardeia, Adult Female Zeltron, Entertainer, Nar Shadda
Creev Tyris, Adult Male Togruta, Cab Driver, Nar Shadda
Nima Fenn, Adult Female Twi'lek, Mechanic, Commenor
Gida Fenn, Middle Aged Female Twi'lek, Executive, Commenor
Segatas Ikrin, Middle Aged Male Caamasi, Professor, Alderaan
Mas Seda, Elder Male Chagrian, Judge, Coruscant
Barthos Vaan, Adult Male Human, Lawyer, Alderaan
Zera, Adult Female Falleen, Salesperson, Kuat
Middle Aged Female Ithorian, Lawyer, Alderaan
Devornian Female, Hustler, Nar Shadda
Garlug, Adult Male Gamorrean, Activist, Nar Shadda
Orotin, Middle Aged Male Mon Calamari, Engineer, Coruscant

No one he recognized, indeed no one of any real galactic importance at all, just a list of individuals who had the misfortune of drawing Salek Zaron's interest for whatever reason. No sooner had he finished skimming through the list then he found the datapad snatched back out of his hands by the slicer, who certainly wasn't done comparing the map of the Empress to the one he had on the locator.

Zaron's map of the Empress was remarkably similar, but as Markus shifted through it, he noticed that there was one big difference. That difference was in the topmost floor of the ship, the home of the Empyreal Suites, the priciest accommodations aboard the entire vessel. The locator they'd been using displayed only one location on that level, the Empyreal, the most exclusive restaurant aboard the ship and one with a rather long wait list for reservations. In contrast, Zaron's map displayed the floor in full, and it apparently was less of a standard floor and more of a residential zone, the suites resembling small houses surrounded by gardened lawns and trees, spread throughout the two kilometer length of the vessel beneath an immense transparisteel dome that offered its guests an unparalleled view of the stars. It was an exclusive zone for those with the kind of money it took to buy privacy and luxury, literally above and beyond the luxurious accommodations offered on the other decks.