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"Aye sir!"

Uproarious as ever, Kalzel performed a mock salute as Cuyan returned to the pilot cabin. He found himself a seat, strapped in and braced for the take-off.

We could really use some dampeners on this thing.

After the gravity normalized itself thanks to the ship's modules, Kalzel unbuckled his seat belt and got on his feet. Stretching his arms, he reached into his jacket and procured a small packet of cards.

"Anyone up for a game of Pazaak? Since we're going to a casino I think I should at least learn the basics before we get there..."

Saheen had buckled down before take off on Cuyan's orders. When the force dampened and the ship had normal gravity again, he heard Kalzel say something about a card game named Pazaak.

"You'll have to teach me but sure Kalzel, I'll bite." answered Saheen.

He looked around and wasn't surprised to see the ATR didn't really have any decorations like ships he owned. He then walked over to where Kalzel sat and waited to hear the basic rules.

Kiel now found himself within the small welcoming interior of the ATR. He was one of the last of the troops to flood into the ship entrance. ATR's were originally designed to hold up to two squads of clone troopers max, leaving many seats for him to choose from. Though, few of them looked to be gun stations to operate the turbolasers and ion cannons. Instead of choosing one of the troop passenger seats, Kiel went for the gun chair on the port side of the ship. Kiel gave a large grin of anticipation as he listened to the twin supercharged engines fire up from a low hum to a burning howl. His body was prepared for the sudden jolt of impact he felt while strapped to his chair. Kiel loved engines and fast ships. Speed and acceleration was something that gave him a great thrill. Working on the mechanics was also a thing that fascinated his mind. Two days spent on a decent ship like this would go by fast despite the slightly confined space. When the ship broke through atmosphere Kiel's body shook in his chair. His military armor provided him a protective shell that would pad and absorb any shock from vibration, or discomfort. Kiel could tell that the pilot wasn't letting up. "Una bombad of a pilot wesa have here. This ting really moves! AAHHhooooo!" The bumpy ride didn't last very long as the ATR used high velocity sub-light speed to quickly penetrate planets atmospheres. Now was the time to await the hyperdrive to kick in and engage with deep space travel. After then it might be safe to unbuckle his seat while the ship remain stable.

There was a few things Kiel wanted to work on before drop down. Tweaking the setting on his DLT20 blaster. As his fellow troopers went about starting up a game of pazzak. Kiel turned small wheels and clicked in some switches on his rifle. The goal was to change the fire rate and accuracy of the weapon. That meant Kiel needed to turn down the energy increments in the cool down sequencer. This could allow the blaster to fire at a slower, single shot rate. Instead of blabbering out a burst of rapid fire shots that do no more then fiz the target and hit everything around it. Now the weapon would be more fitted to Kiel's use. More of a med range sniper rifle then a burst assault blaster. Great amount of time spent in the chair getting the setting just right. Kiel also paid half of his attention to the card game. He knew the basic republic state rules, but had never plaid before. It was typically a two player game with a goal to use green, red, blue, and wild yellow cards to get your personal total to twenty without going over.

You''ve turned six droids into a pile of scrap barehanded. You can figure this out.

Kalzel had finished reading the manual for the third time. As his hands shuffled the decks and danced around the box he used for a table, his lips muttered incoherent phrases.

"Drawfourthenoneaddupifneededwaititoutifcardsaren'tgoodKraththisiscomplicatedAlright Saheen I think I've got this set up straight now. Read this."

Tossing the small handbook to the Barabel, Kalzel folded his legs and collapsed on the floor into a sit while maintaining sight of the cards. The way he was looking at them was aking to watching someone who might spontaneously explode at any given time. Kalzel never trusted his luck.

After reading the manual three times, Saheen decided that the game would come quite easily to him. He set the manual down and decided to pose a question.

"Do you have two side decks? If not I guess we could play without them." said Saheen.

Saheen then took the Pazaak cards from Kalzel and started shuffling in exotic ways.

"I'm really good at shuffling from other games so I thought it would be okay if I shuffled." said Saheen.

"Suit yourself."

Resting his chin against his entwined fingers, Kalzel watched in silence as the Barabel's hands mixed the cards. He had seen the movements many times in his youth, since he often enjoyed watching local card sharks rob their naive victims blind, though he never bothered to pick up the trade himself. Even in these dark days, honor was important and Kalzel's upbringing gave him a strict sense of justice.

"Alright. Deal 'em."

Cuyan blinked and returned to his senses. He looked around the ship, taking in the sight of the men playing Pazaak and calibrating their weapons. He watched as the two soldiers placed cards down on the counter, groaned, and then quickly shuffled the cards back into the different piles. The cards, looking slightly worn, still glistened in the light. Cuyan released a bottled-up sigh, exhaling out any worries he had swarming through his mind the moment before. He held himself still, and focused on his breathing. He slowed down his heart rates considerably, and began finding mental peace. He looked down to his blaster and began configuring it, shoving any thoughts aside.

Within the next few minutes, the pilot kicked the ship into hyperdrive and began the journey through the Core of the galaxy. At first, the ship experienced slight turbulence, but it tapered out within seconds. Cuyan looked out the view ports and all that could be seen was a fantastic blue hue, bending space around the ship and the various stars started trailing, giving the illusion of several lines stretched in front of the ship and behind it. It seemed for that moment that they were compressed in their very own pocket of reality. A smooth hum resonated throughout the ship, filling the soldiers' ears. The act was violent, but in that moment, it seemed serene. It seemed pure.

Cuyan snapped out of his awe and wonder and cast his attention to the Pazaak game once more. He would then periodically check the game's progress as he began cleaning his various blasters. It had been some time since he was afforded the time to have a stray Pazaak game. Perhaps, he thought to himself, he could join in. But in that moment, he was ripped away once more from a notification sounding from his comms.

Recipient: Cuyan Hulo

"Attention, the mission details have just been modified. As of now, Loedorvia is under Imperial control. Our forces occupying the planet are withdrawing as you hear this. My sources say that the data you're being sent for still has not come into Imperial control, which means you need to secure it before it's too late. We estimate that should you arrive in optimal time, you will have very little time to secure the payload. We are guessing that you'll have mere hours once you arrive to succeed. This presents complications.

However, I have projected that this situation will serve as big enough of a distraction for our purposes. The radio chatter and mass activity flooding the planet's channels should allow for a camouflaged entry. Of course, this change in circumstance also presents new dangers to the mission. We do not know currently the progress of the hand-over. You will receive final mission details upon arrival."

-Director of Intelligence

Upon digestion of the new information, Cuyan furrowed his brow. "Great, always with the complications." He then holstered his blasters, stood up and addressed the men.

"Alright guys, listen up real quick. For reasons unknown to me, Loedorvia has fallen into Imperial hands. Or, is in the process. Apparently, our military is withdrawing its forces from the planet. My guess is politics, but I can't be sure. On to the business then. We will have mere hours upon arrival to secure the data we're being sent to collect. There's also the possibility that the Imperials will show up on the scene, so that is added pressure. It will be a rough landing, but the handover from Krath hands should buy us enough camouflage to get in and out. When we arrive, we'll receive the full briefing. I'm thinking however, that we'll be springing a fork attack. I am thinking a couple of us will enter from the front, and the rest will break in from the back. All in all, this will be flashy and likely fast-paced. Expect nothing less of a mission with me!" The Zabrak then lets out a deep laugh and grins from ear to ear. He may have had some anxiety in terms of the mission, but the thought of fast-paced, life-or-death action spurred him to the point of energetic joy.

Looking out the side of the ship, Kiel saw and felt the ship jump into hyperspace. A light shockwave caused a thump that moved him in his gun-seat. From his chair Kiel could see outside of the ship, as well as an aiming hud and weapons controls. At this time the cannon He sat at could not be fired. Seeing a ship jump into hyperspace from the side was indeed different. From the front view, one would see stars becoming lines of light coming towards the ship. But from Kiel's position it was as if for a moment every star became a commit with a tail that would stream out. Then suddenly they disappeared, jumping to the right side as the blue energy took over. The warm blue humming energy passed by in waves from the left side of the view to the right. As he heard the computer sounds of the ships long range communicator, his left ear perked up in interest.

"Alright guys, listen up real quick......."

"Huh, wasa dat?..." With a kicking push of his foot, the chair backed away from the weapons controls and swivelled around to face the direction of the two pilot seats. As Cuyan started talking about this new information Kiel changed his outlook on the mission. There were still some thing very unclear to Kiel. If we knew who exactly were the targets, this would be a little more easy. Perhaps a full briefing would give him an idea where to start looking. Suddenly he realized that his plans on posing as a janitor of the casino and sneaking around to find the criminals would take up too much time. Now he would need to take on a new identity. If anyone asks, Kiel was a bounty hunter looking for an easy job that didn't pay too much but was still decent credits. Imperials were now unfortunately close by. They have a reputation of sticking their hydro-spanner up every star system they can. If they're in the area, they tend to be everywhere and in everyone's business. Kiel still held the belief that there were alternatives to fighting, and that this mission could be carried out without the enemy knowing the Krath Dynasty was involved. That's why Kiel chose a blaster with a greatly effective stun setting and calibrated the blast for a steady, one shot kill.

With this in mind, Kiel got back to watching the entertaining card game. He stood up and approached the ships' snack dispenser. He selected a chocolate energy bar and a portion of fruit juice. With a few beeping noises coming from the machine, both food and drink were produced. After grabbing them Kiel returned to the gun seat to see the rest of the game.

Going over the rules one more time, Kalzel drew his first four cards from the...side deck. Right. Shifting his gaze ever so slightly, he suspiciously checked the cards for their values. 2,7,4, -3. His left hand clutched the cards while his right moved to the main deck and put the top card face up. 3.
Awaiting the Barabel's opening move, Kalzel's subconscious picked up a voice from somewhere behind him.

"...There's also the possibility that the Imperials will show up on the scene..."

Do they ever not...

Saheen watched as Kalxel took his turn he was a really lucky sentient when it came to gambling and even though there wasn't any money placed he was still feeling the luck. He'd been accused of teaming up with a Herglic for how well they both were playing and of course he was doing better but eventually the others tried to kill them so the Herglic and Saheen knocked them down and stole the credits and since the Herglic had only been visiting the planet, he had saved the Herglic by getting him away from the area. He received all the credits as gratitude. He pulled his four cards from the main deck and counted them up. Their numbers were, 5, 10, 7, and -2. 'Woooo, I actually still have the luck because that adds up to twenty.' he thought. He then knocked on the table indicating he would stay for the round.