"Well, that's it for me." the black-haired man spoke as he got up from the table, "Looks like I'm safe from the gambling winnings tax tonight." He looked to the group, "Anyway, good game." He then walked off.
The match was now down to three players. The mustached businessman was getting low on chips. The portly redhead still had plenty, but he was no longer so confident. Karmlyn had cut into his pile with her winnings. A small audience was just beginning to gather. Apparently, the redhead's victory streak getting cut short by this feline was getting some attention.
"All right." the dealer spoke, then delt out the cards to the remaining three players. The players made their choices of discards, and the dealer provided replacements. The redhead noticed as Karmlyn looked hers over, she had a slight grin. He looked at his again, then made a decision.
"I fold." The redhead put his cards down.
"Fold." Karmlyn spoke, and put down her cards, face up.
To his surprise, the redhead saw her hand had a lower value than his. She'd tricked him into thinking she had a higher hand! He couldn't help but clench his fist under the table, That cat is making me lose game after game!
The businessman collected his small winnings, "Better than nothing." he commented.
"Perhaps your luck will improve." Karmlyn told him.
"Hopefully."
"LetÕs get on with it." the plump redhead grumbled.
The dealer cast the cards again. After the discards, the players anteed up until it was time to show their hands. The businessman won again. In the next game, however, he had to fold early, and Karmlyn and the redhead anteed until it was time to fold. This time, the redhead won. With what sounded like a combination of a grunt and a snicker, he raked in the chips, "Gotcha this time, lady!"
"For the moment." Karmlyn replied with a sly grin. She refused to let her confidence be swayed.
"'For the moment?' Ha!"
The dealer cast the cards again. After the second cast, Karmlyn and the businessman folded after the second ante. The redhead grinned as he swept the chips to him, "Loosing your courage, girl?"
Giving him the same sly grin, Karmlyn answered, "No."
The cards were cast again. The results were much like the one before last, with Karmlyn and the redhead in an ante showdown and the redhead winning. The man's belly seemed to shake as he openly laughed while grabbing the chips, "I'm going to get my credits back, and yours too pussycat."
For a moment, Karmlyn looked at him with a blank stare. By this time, a few more people had joined the audience around them, and their eyes fell on her, wondering how she would respond to that comment. Karmlyn thought for a moment, then grinned, "The last man who called me that did so while propositioning me. If you're trying to do the same, I'm giving you the same answer as he: no. But for different reasons. Besides that I hardly know you and you're no mymar, you're fat, you smell, and whatever name the humans give your kind, it resembles a pig."
That comment drew some laughter from the audience around the players. Even the businessman gave a few chuckles. The portly redhead stared back dumbfounded for a moment, then scowled and clenched his fist. As the dealer asked them to place their initial bets, the redhead growled, "Allright cat! You asked for it!" He then pushed his entire pile of chips, a pile that was worth somewhere in the thousands, to the center of the table, "I'm betting it all."
The dealer interrupted, "Sir, the maximum bet is-"
"I know what it's supposed to be, but I demand an exception. I'm sure your employer wouldn't want the onlookers disappointed."
"Yeah," someone from the audience said.
The dealer then called the manager on his personal comm. After a few words went back and forth, he put it away, "The manager agrees." There were a few cheers from the audience, and all eyes turned to Karmlyn.
Karmlyn had kept an expressionless face during the furor over the sudden rise in stakes. She had expected some kind of reaction, but not this big. She could simply walk away and still have more chips than she started with. But no, she would not. There was more than credits at stake, but her pride as well.
"I call." She pushed her pile of credits forward.
"Too rich for me." The businessman got his remaining chips and got up. He turned to the lady mymar, "I wish you the best of luck. I never did get your name."
"Karmlyn," she told him with a smile, "Karmlyn Sen-Tiago."
"Karmlyn Sen-Tiago? I believe I've heard of you."
"Enough talk!" the redhead snapped, "I want my money back and this pussycat in her place as soon as possible."
"My place is where it always has been," Karmlyn retorted, still grinning, "In the winners' circle."
Before the redhead could answer, the dealer delt the cards out. Both players looked over their cards very carefully. Karmlyn looked hers over, then discarded two. The redhead, sweating a bit, made his discards. The dealer then gave them their replacements.
The plump redhead looked at his, then burst out laughing to the point where his belly vigorously shook. He slammed his cards down on the table, "Read them and weep, cat! Full house!" He laughed and he laughed and he laughed.
Karmlyn looked at him expressionless for a moment, then broke out in a broad grin. She then laid down her cards one at a time: nine, ten, jack, queen, king.
Karmlyn had scored a Flush!
The audience whooped up in cheers at the match's surprise ending. The redhead continued to grin for a second, not realizing what happened at first, then his face slowly changed to a look of stunned shock. Finally, his face fell onto the table, sobbing.
Karmlyn, unable to restrain a few girlish giggles, collected the pile. She guessed there were at least ten thousand credits worth of chips in there. Seldom had she ever made such a big win in gambling, and she could not recall a moment where she could say with honesty it was a more intense match and such a thrill of victory.
She got up from the table, and welcomed the smiles and cheers the audience gave her. There were words like, "Congratulations." and "Atta-girl." She enjoyed the attention while it lasted. After some moments, the crowd dispersed and each began going their own way. Karmlyn then headed off.
The businessman went over to her, "It would seem congratulations are due, Miss Sen-Tiago."
"Thanks. I guess I'm done gambling for tonight. I never did get your name."
"Bayle Riveryn."
"Well, Bayle, I need to get these converted to hard cash, then I guess I'll hang around for a bit."
"Mind if I join you."
"By all means."
The cab pulled up to the curb, the driver saying to Islyne and Lexxon, "Okay, here it is: the Starlight Club. That'll be ten credits."
"I'll take care of that." Lexxon said, and paid the driver, "And here's an extra twenty for not repeating what you heard."
"Heard what?" the driver asked as he took the money.
Islyne then got out of the cab, leaving her duffel bag with Lexxon, "I'll get that disk to safety. If not to you, to the others you mentioned." She then turned to the driver, "Now please, take him to the nearest clinic."
"Gotcha Ma'am." The driver then drove the cab off, Lexxon looking back at Islyne, his mission in her hands now.
Islyne watched the cab for a couple moments, then headed to the Starlight Club's entrance. But the doorman blocked her path.
"Excuse me." she told him.
"Sorry lady," the doorman told her, "We have a dress code here, and that jumpsuit doesn't quite cut it."
"I need to get through. I'm here to see someone."
"Sorry girl, no exceptions."
Islyne then tried concentrating, using her mental powers to influence him, "Someone really is expecting me. I'm sure my clothes aren't that much out of fashion."
The man hesitated for a second, then told her, "Sorry, no exceptions."
Darn. I must still be tired from earlier. I hardly even influenced him. She then decided to try something else, "Well, good evening." Islyne then walked off. She thought about what to do, I have to get in, but how? She then decided to give the back door a try, and started to walk around.
Karmlyn and Bayle walked away from the cashier's booth with her winnings converted to credits, which she stuck in her purse. Some of it was put on her credstick, but much of it she kept in coin. While it made her purse a little heavy for its size, the money just seemed more real to her if it was in coin, a feeling far from unique to her.
"I'll certainly remember this night for a while." Karmlyn remarked as she let a fistful of coin slide from her hand to her purse before closing it up.
"Indeed." Bayle told her, "It's been some time since I was in a match like that. You certainly are a very good card player."
"Thank you." Karmlyn smiled, "I do have a certain flair for it."
Bayle then checked his watch and glanced around. Karmlyn noticed it, but before she could say anything, Bayle asked, "So what is it you do when not gambling?"
"Oh, I help my Uncle Scullinar with his shipping business. I sometimes ship some of the more quality goods, like finer liquor and precious metals. I also sometimes represent him on business deals and negotiations."
"Negotiations? Are you as good with that as gambling?"
"Sometimes the two are similar, with the raised stakes and calling people's bluff." Karmlyn grinned, "Maybe that's why he has me represent him on occasion."
Bayle snickered a bit, "Interesting comparison. How do you like it?"
"It's a good job, and I have a lot of freedom of movement. Not to mention the free time. Sometimes I do a little sightseeing. Sometimes I have a little night on the town." Karmlyn paused for a moment, then asked, "You said that you heard of me. I take it you mean some stories of me in the casinos."
"I've heard some stories, but they don't quite compare to what I've seen in person."
Karmlyn grinned a little wider than usual, enough for her teeth to begin to show, "Be careful. With that charm of yours, you could get more than you bargained for."
Bayle returned a slight smile, "Indeed."
Islyne got around to the back of the place, and found a back delivery entrance. At this moment, a hovertruck was sitting in front of a large sliding door, inactive, while droids unloaded containers off of it. There were a couple guards there, standing around, chatting to one another.
Islyne wasn't sure how she could get through them. She then noticed the guards didn't seem to pay particular attention to the front end of the truck. She walked over to it without notice, and could see an access door inside the drivers' area leading to the rear area. She tried the door, and found it unlocked. She stepped in, still unnoticed, and opened the door to the truckÕs back end. There were numerous containers. She looked one over, and found the tops were removable.
Karmlyn and Bayle were still talking. She noticed once in a while, he would look around and check his watch. She decided to ask him, "I was wondering, are you expecting someone?"
"As a matter of fact, I was." Bayle answered, "A friend of mine was supposed to meet me here, but he's running late."
"Perhaps sometime came up."
"Perhaps." Karmlyn then noticed him glance in a certain direction, and stare for about a second.
"Is that him?" Karmlyn turned to look.
"Uh, no." Bayle then looked at the nearby dance floor, and noticed a new song was just being played, one for a slow dance. Some people were entering and leaving the designated area. Bayle then turned to Karmlyn, "Well, it may be a while. Perhaps we could dance to pass the time, that is if you don't mind."
"Why no, not at all." It was in the middle of her answer that Karmlyn recalled this kind of request was less common outside of Absolin, where the humans there were more familiar with the mymar. In the galaxy at large, fewer were so willing, although those who lived in areas with a lot of interstellar travel were a little more likely. Bayle had already proven himself fairly polite, especially compared to that fat redheaded pig.
Bayle took Karmlyn by the hand, and took her toward the dance floor.
The droid's sensors clearly noticed this package was a slightly heavier than the others, but it was not programed to deal with that kind of discrepancy. It went ahead, and took it out of the truck, past the two guards, into the other end of the storage room, and set the container on the ground next to the others. It then sped off back to the hovertruck.
As soon as the sounds of the droid motor faded into the distance, the top of the contained opened, and Islyne peeked out, Good, no one's around. The two guards at the back were nowhere in her line of sight. She slowly got out of the container so not to make any noise, and looked for the door leading to inside the place. She found it, went over, and walked inside.
She found herself in a hallway. Glancing around, she saw no sign of security cameras. Nor did her inner senses suggest she was being watched. Islyne allowed herself to breath a sign of relief. Since no one saw her sneak in, perhaps it would be believed if she had to tell someone she went into a wrong door from the main area and got lost.
She went ahead, and began looking for the public area, hoping this Bayle Riveryn was still there.