Open Exit

[Stephen]

Janus walked into “The Eastern Glory”, a sunken casino well past it's prime. Sad eyed greeters ushered him in without enthusiasm into the main building after relieving him of his blaster. Gold paint peeled off of the pillars in long strips and lay on the ground nearby. The fountain no longer flowed, but eddied in near stagnation, giving the casino a musty smell. The buffet was at least fresh, although not adventurous, which as perhaps for the best. Stern faced gamblers wandered with no urgency from event to event with no excitement or fun. The only attentive eyes in the crowd belonged to a pair of well dressed guards standing beside a set of stairs down blocked by worn velvet rope Janus took a deep breath and continued into the main room.



Janus was a terrible gambler, and the casino knew. He sat quietly on a rickety stool, leaning to left to stabilize it. “I don't understand this at all.” He said to himself as he fed another coin to the machine, pulling the lever to have the multifaceted dials spin for him once more. He closed his eyes and felt the ticks in the force. Janus could feel the heavy click of a timing mechanism click behind his eyes, a hidden pressure pushing winning numbers one more turn. He moved the counter back a spot for his row, and put another coin in. He was rewarded with a spray of in house currency. He gathered it in a plastic cup and moved on.



Janus had been working a fairly easy con the entire night, and it had rewarded him with a parade of free drinks and free food. All he had to do was go to one money changer, and ask for 500 credits in chips, then gamble quietly for awhile, then go to the other and ask for it changed back into money. Every time he did this, they showered him with more and more free things, hoping that his imagined winnings would work their way back into the casino. Janus was quite drunk of the company dime, and trying desperately to turn down a free hotel room on premises. He instead allowed them to steer him to the sabacc table.



Janus found he was only slightly better at sabacc then slots. At least he knew it was possible to win sabacc. He squirmed uncomfortably under the gaze of his opponent, a rail thin Weequay named Bael. He constantly bullied Janus, over betting hands in order to force him to fold. Each hand Bael hand was always only slightly better than Janus, and it increasingly grated on him. Finally on a whim, he threw a slight flick of the force at his sleeve of his opponent. A clip of cards slipped out on the table to no ones surprise. It lay on top of the bet chips, in open defiance to the casino. Bael instinctively reached for his holster, only to come up with air, Heavy hands grabbed his shoulders and dragged him from the building. Janus smiled and went to cash in his new chips.

[Neology]

It is said that every complex problem has a solution that is both simple and wrong. While in general agreement, Darth Novus had found that over enough time, over enough problems, the simple and patently incorrect solution could be of occasional use. Violent demonstrations of force, for example, so rarely solved problems. They could certainly get someone's attention, though.

“Mistress Sha-Dar don't want to see you, Sith.” The nikto thug growled the word like an insult, his breath astringent and foul in the alley's close confines.

“A pity. I very much want to see her.” Novus frowned up at the man from beneath the feathered ruff of her hood. All in black, naturally – part of the spectacle.

“That's too -” the nikto's speech was cut off abruptly as the long vibroknife at his waist was telekinetically pulled to the Sith's hand. Quickly, she brought the blade up and in, severing the nikto's carotid artery. He fell, slumping against the wall, and was still.

“You could have just opened the door.” Novus muttered, stepping around the body. A few steps down, an unlocked door, and she was inside. She stuck to the interior wall, shrouded in her heavy cloak with bloody knife in hand. Drawing stares. She stopped in front of the stairs down, eying the guards there dubiously. When they moved for their weapons, the Sith released a blast of telekinetic energy that sent guards and velvet rope all tumbling down the steps. Novus dropped the nikto's knife, hands going to her saber hilts, and followed them down.

[Stephen]

Muffled voices, anxious in tone pushed through the thin floor below Janus. He could feel the tension pour into the room, filling it to shoulder height. He could feel a light tingle, just behind his eyes, like a vibration. It tickled in a distracting way, so that when it turned to a spike, he was caught unprepared. His senses reeled and he lost balance a moment. He leaned heavily grate separating him and the tired money changer. The angry snarl of a lightsaber raced up his spine, and his head shrunk down to his shoulders. “You have to leave” he thought nervously, as he stood, still waiting for his money.

The yellowed squared bell of a speaker shook to life, barking dust and squeals. “It's a raid” screamed over the distortion. The few customers who heard looked around confused before the power cut with a weighty thud. Janus was glad to see red emergency lights still worked. He could just make out the desk where his weapons were kept.

“You didn't see emergency lights when you walked in” He thought to himself, ducking behind a row of slot machines.

“So?”

“Plus emergency lights aren't that close to the floor” He continued to himself.

“Look, what are you on about?” He was beginning to annoy himself, “Can't you see I'm busy?”

“Those lights are probably the lightsabers you heard.” He continued patiently

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. I'm glad I worked that out.” He shook his head to clear it. He slowly crept closer to his belongings in the dim red light. His brain chewed away, just under his scalp. “Red light” he whispered to himself. “Oh. That's what I was thinking. Oh.”

He moved before thinking, discarding the tense cloak of stealth he wore. He jerked the plasteel safe from the wall mount in the front of the room in a spray of plaster. It flew and spun seemingly unaided toward Janus. The door peeled back in a sudden ragged jerk, spraying it's contents in an arc on to the floor, leaving his pistol and a simple steel case following close behind. Janus spun, letting the safe careen past him into a bank of slot machines. His pistol found his left hand and his saber flew free of the case and into his right. It caught fire in his hand.

“You heard the man.” A new alto voice came over the intercom. “Clear the casino of all guests.” The heavy footsteps of armor thundered near the downstairs entrance.