Gambit Inc. Part III

Part II: An Unexpected Party

It was crowded in the Shaft as Dale and Orlan arrived and took a table along the outer wall. Payday was always crowded as the miners had fresh credits to spend on drinking and other, less innocent, vices. Dale spotted a table of Dure-Lite’s enforcers across the cantina and nodded to point them out to Orlan.

“Some of your old friends?” He asked sarcastically.

“Nope.” Orlan responded without a second glance, “My friends at Dure-Lite are all in the R&D areas. We never trusted or liked the muscle since they report only to the Administrator and he holds everyone’s leashes.”

In the weeks after the race Dale and Orlan had met here often and gotten to know each other well. Tenric had been right about them. They clicked in many ways and kept each other honest in the areas they differed on. They quickly decided to actually go ahead with the plan to start up their own ship customizing business and had launched ‘Gambit Inc.’ with a good deal of fanfare.

Tenric’s interview had indeed elicited Dalba’s forgiveness and his mention of the “…Engineering wizard who’s innovative approach to design and power distribution will revolutionize travel in the galaxy,” had actually brought business offers to Orlan within days of the airing.

Together they had located and claimed the abandoned asteroid base Tenric had told them about. It had needed a lot of work, but possessed a solid infrastructure along with good shield generators. The first influx of investor credits had purchased a pair of Byblos Drives Sentry Security platforms and funded the construction of one of their Asteroid hangar bays. The conversion had drained every credit of investment capital they had garnered in the last year, but everything was finally ready.

Dale had used his credits to bolster Orlan’s and together they had managed to outfit the new base with the minimum necessary equipment. They had a few customers lined up already, Dalba among them, and knew it would only take one winning racer out of their bays to bring in more business than they could handle. Tonight was a celebration. Gambit Inc. was set to go into business with the start of the next work cycle and free time to while-away in the Shaft would be non-existent for the foreseeable future.

“I wonder if our friend will show this evening.” Orlan offered as a way of broaching the subject they both wanted to talk about.

“If he got the message he’ll be here.” Dale replied matter-of-factly.

“Think the last year has changed him?” Orlan asked sounding a bit worried.

“Nah!” Dale sounded almost offended. “Not him. Remember he has both a reason and a plan behind his new career.”

“Yeah, but the stories….” Orlan trailed off not wanting to antagonize Dale. He knew how close he and Tenric were.

“Stories are just that, stories.” Dale answered, “You know he needs to build a reputation in order to accomplish what he wants to, besides I am sure he hasn’t killed anyone who didn’t have it coming.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Orlan sounded unconvinced. “Its just that…” He trailed off again. He wasn’t sure how much Dale knew or suspected.

“Look.” Dale said defensively, “I’m telling you he won’t become one of them, he’s just using them. Hell he’s smarter, faster, and more skilled than any of them.”

Orlan didn’t want to say it, but that was exactly what he was concerned about. Tenric had practically admitted to him that he was one of the outlawed and hunted Jedi when he had explained his plan after last year’s race. Dale had grown up here on SomaIII and had little experience outside his sphere of interest. Orlan had been educated on both Corellia and Coruscant and had seen the Jedi up close several times. He didn’t believe for a minute that they had really betrayed The Republic as Palpitane claimed. He was, however, worried that the life Tenric had been living this last year, and the choices he had needed to make, might have turned him to the Dark Side.

Orlan had done a good bit of research over the last year. Old holo-vids, news-flimsies, and in-depth reports had contained a lot of info on the Jedi from decades past. Along with the footage from last year’s race he was now more convinced than ever that Tenric was one of them. That meant his ‘uncle’ had been as well. Tenric had told them he wanted to assist refugees by way of his new life as a bounty hunter, and Orlan was sure those refugees would be Jedi. The New Empire’s Forces were actively hunting down and exterminating them everywhere. It made him both nervous and excited to be a part of something so dangerous.

“Hello-oo! Come in Orlan, are you there?” Dale said mockingly, waving his hand in the air in front of him.

“Oh, excuse me Dale, I am sorry.” Orlan responded.

“Look we open for business with the next cycle. You’ve spent the last year off somewhere in your head with all the planning. Tonight, at least, join the rest of us and forget tomorrow.” Dale scolded.

“You’re right Dale.” Orlan nodded, “This isn’t the time for worries.” With that he lifted his glass and drank deeply.

As he set his glass down the server droid approached and stopped next to Orlan. While the droid delivered two frothing Hutt-Busters a small panel slide aside to reveal a holo-projector. With a bluish flicker it came to life.

“Orlan,” the diminutive holo-figure of Ragün said from their tabletop. “There are two off-worlders looking for some specialized repairs to their hyperdrive.” The droid deposited a small data chit on the table. “They seem ok and should be by shortly. Thought you and Dale could use a little start up business. I’ll have the droid alert you when they come in and you can decide. This round’s on me guys. Good luck.”

With that the screen went dark and the server droid whizzed away on its rounds.

“What was that all about?” Dale asked

Orlan didn’t answer right away. He was scanning the specs and parts listed on the datachit with a growing interest.

“Here we go again!” Dale commented sounding slightly annoyed.

“Oh. Sorry. Ragün seems to have found us out first customer.”

Dale listened and as Orlan filled him in it seemed to him things were definitely looking up….