KAZ MAEKON
ROGUE KNIGHT

EPISODE III
ALL TOO EASY
Part One

A much needed vacation sends them off to Malistare for fishing and relaxation
but the Force has a different adventure in mind...                                            

* * *

Lying in his bunk, Vin Wander stared out the porthole at the swirling dancing light of hyperspace. Of course he couldn't actually see any of it but he thought it might make a nice shot for his holo-recorder specs.

Vin had originally purchased them off the holonet at a steal for only eighty credits. When he received them he discovered that the "near unlimited memory" was a plug in sold separately for four hundred credits. Vin knew he was being screwed but he didn't much care. He had really wanted them.

Eventually Vin will have to add his teachings and knowledge to the Wander family holocron and he knew a recording of basically his entire life would be greatly useful for teaching future generations of jedi. Plus he didn't much like having his father's freaky eyes.

The entire Wander family had a rare condition that caused a deep black glaze to cover their eyes in addition to hereditary blindness. Although Vin couldn't see them he could feel people shudder slightly through the Force whenever they first met them. He could never quite understand that. How bad could they be? Go to any seedy spaceport or even the Republic Senate chamber and you'll see a circus of strange and unusual beings raging from puddles of goo to pure energy beings. Still, Vin couldn't change peoples feelings so instead he covered his eyes and he was all right with that.

Vin hit the floor softly, jumping from his high bunk. Needlessly high really. It towered ten feet off the deck. Luckily the Maw Shockwave was built with high ceilings. Nor was there a ladder to reach the bed. Vin figured that Jedi training begins when you first wake up and doesn't end until you fall asleep. If you can train in your sleep, all the better.

Kaz thought he was a bit crazy about the whole thing and accordingly kept his bunk on the ground. Vin didn't care. He liked it. He also liked bugging Kaz by floating on and off his bed. Kaz was never too good at levitation. Still, he excelled in other areas. Kaz chocked it up to adeptness but Vin knew it was just a matter of practice. Kaz simply stopped caring about dedication long ago, though he would deny it. Vin didn't blame him either. Kaz was jerked around and tossed away by the Council.

Vin grabbed a quick mug of stim-tea off the kitchenette counter as he made his way up to the cockpit where he sensed Kaz was. Not that he needed his senses. Kaz was nearly always in the cockpit. Vin thought he just dug the power trip.

Kaz looked back as he stretched. "Hey, Vin." He yawned.

Vin nodded back as he slid into the copilots seat. "How're we doing?"

"Four hours from Malistare. It was a good idea to take this little fishing trip. Van Koor might be a little hot more my tastes right now. I imagine Hillgottt and Ganes don't subscribe to that whole "live and let be" thing."

Vin raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Do you?"

"No I don't, actually." Kaz said as he climbed out of his seat and went to the back.

Reaching the galley, Kaz flips through the cupboards. There's precious little to eat on this ship at any one time. Vin's training prevents him from any real indulgences. Just one more reason Kaz didn't miss the life.

"Ah ha." Kaz remarked as he sensed something yummy in the against the wall, atop the cupboard. Of course, the Force wouldn't bring sweets to a jedi's attention but it did twinge slightly at the fact that Vin was hiding something and Kaz knew Vin too well. It was far too high for any normal human to reach. Child's play for Vin and his accursed levitation tricks. But Kaz had something better. Kaz had balance. He could meditate on the top branch of a high tree when he was a boy. It's a simple matter of shifting your weight away from your body. Loaning your muscle strength to the weak branch. You can balance a Star Runner on the head of a pin if you know where everything is supposed to go and Kaz knew where everything was supposed to go. Master Vico taught him that and it's one of the few things Kaz had practiced over the years.

Leaping up on the impossibly small drawer knob with his left foot, (just to see if he could do it) Kaz launched himself at the L-shaped cupboard fixtures above the counter. Thrusting his legs out in opposite directions, each catches one of the open cupboards leaving Kaz resting in full splits, over five feet above the deck balanced perfectly.

Kaz smiled. A small part of him had hoped Vin would've walked in at this point. Kaz knew that Vin thought he had all but totally abandoned his training, which was partially true, but Kaz used all of his skills taught to him in his day to day work. True, he needed a good deal of polishing and there was so much more to learn but for now he was content. And for now he wanted whatever Vin was hiding atop his cupboards against the wall.

Pulling at it with the Force, Kaz heard it scrape slowly across the top of the plasteel cupboard. It sounded like a metal container of some kind, half full of something. Kaz tugged harder, he heard it clang as it hit various pots and pans Vin had stored in front of it. Maneuvering them away from the prize, the tin of snacks finally peaked over the edge of the cabinet. Kaz called it into his hands. Holding it, he opened it slowly.

"Wooo!" Kaz thought. Doorian sweetcane cookies! He took a bit out of one and savored the sweet taste and jagged texture of the crunchy chunks of sweetcane in his mouth. They were just like the ones Kaz use to steal from Vin when they were boys.

SLAM!

Out of nowhere, the Maw Shockwave reenters hyperspace lurching the ship forward. Kaz falls back but quick thinking and experience allows him to land on his feet. The same can't be said for the several pots littering the cabinets, unfortunately. Several fall, heading straight for Kaz.

A pot hit the deck with a CLANG. Kaz looked up just in time to see three others falling to him. With blaster fast reflexes he grabbed two from the air, catching the third in one of the larger pots.

"What the hell... Vin!?!" Kaz yelled to the forward cockpit.

"You all right back there, Kaz?" Vin shouted back.

Picking himself up off the deck, Kaz went to the cockpit. "Yeah, what's going on?"

"We dropped out of hyperspace." Vin said showing little emotion. Others would have assumed Vin was being cold and aloof when he did this but Kaz knew it meant he was concentrating to extending his sphere or awareness to sense danger.

"Interdictor?" Kaz asked, thinking back to a previous encounter with the ships who could pull an entire fleet from hyperspace.

"Nope. I think it's a systems error. Our hyperdrive motivator's probably shot. Mapping says there's a space station one parsec from here."

"Xon Station?"

"Yeah, you know it?"

"Heard about it. I made a mental not when I found out that it's one of the only stations in this part of the Rim that wasn't Hutt controlled." Kaz said with limited enthusiasm.

Vin perked up. "That's a plus, I guess."

"Droid station."

Vin perked back down. "Oh." Still, with little choice. He set course for Xon and sat back. Wait a minute... Vin sniffed the air. Finally realizing, he snapped a look to Kaz. "You found my cookies, didn't you?"

"Cookies?" Kaz looked away. "There are cookies here?"

"Bastard.

* * *

Xon Station was a good size station. Not anywhere near Death Star class but was comparable to Nar Shadda. Or at least what Nar Shadda would be if it were populated entirely by crooked, half insane droids. At least, that's what Kaz speculated having never been here.

The station itself was something to see. The middle was a standard Hopppi T-S-1 freight station. Oval in shape, Miles of antenna towers stretching from the top and bottom of it. The surface seemed diseased with little out croppings of whatever the droids had decided they needed there at the time.

Attached to both sides of the main body were two "arms" covered with docking ports, antennae and all manner of machine. It was a giant fix-it shop for droids and ships. Kaz knew to be cautious and the argument Vin was having with the port authority only confirmed his feelings.

The cold digitalized voice droned on over the comm system. "I repeat, engage your slave controls to transmitter number 5820.639 and let us guide you into our docking ports."

Vin sighed the sigh if the damned. "And I repeat, this ship is not equipped with a slave system."

There was a feint clicking sound over the comm channel as Kaz and Vin waited for the reply but Kaz already knew what it was.

"I repeat, engage your slave controls to transmitter number 5820.639 and let us guide you into our docking ports."

There's a misconception about droids in the worlds that have none. That misconception is that they're intelligent. In fact, many think that they're so intelligent that they will eventually rebel against their organic creators and take over the galaxy. This is simply not true. Although there are indeed some droids with the intelligence capacity of half the galaxy, most couldn't out think a nerf in an "only questions nerfs never think about" game show. This was one of those droids.

"I repeat," the droid droned once again. "engage you slave controls..."

"Let me speak to your supervisor droid." Vin cut him off. His endless jedi patience just ended.

More faint clicking came through the comm. Finally a voice broke through the pause. "Can I help you?"

Vin and Kaz were startled. It sounded like a human voice. "Uh, yes." Kaz said. "We need to dock for repairs but your droid won't let us through without a slave system."

"Understood." the man said. "Follow this vector to docking bay 94."

"Check." Kaz clicked off the comm and smiled a Vin. "Things are looking up."

Vin responded only with a sullen stare.

"I know. That bugs me to." Kaz said as the Shockwave moved closer to the hulking Xon Station.

* * *

The Maw Shockwave finally set down in bay 94. As Kaz and Vin stepped down from the landing ramp, they noticed a short-haired, pale skinned human walking towards them. Kaz thanked the Force. He wanted to deal with as few droids as possible on this trip. Not that he had anything against droids in general since as a young jedi pupil he was taught to only judge someone on who they are, not what they are. Unfortunately, all the droids Kaz had met in his life were complete and total nobs.

"Good morning. I am Bossak Plume. " The man said, extending his hand to Vin. "I am the West Arm Administrator of Xon Station."

Vin was too distracted in thought to respond to Plume's greeting. Often times, a failing of Jedi. Kaz reached out to intercept his handshake. Plume's hand was extremely cold and his movements calculated. Kaz sighed a slight sigh. He knew what that meant. "Morning. I'm Kaz, this is Vin and that is our broken ship." he said, gesturing to the Shockwave.

"What is the matter with her?" he asked, trying to ignore Vin ignoring him.

"Hyperdrive cut out on us. Here to make repairs." Kaz smiled though he knew what was going to happen next. No matter how nice a person seems, if you want something from it the conversation all boils down to one phrase...

"And how will you be paying?" Plume asked, smiling.

"We have accounts on Coruscant." Kaz said, lying. Though he guessed Vin had funds available to him through the Council. Curiously, Vin did not respond to his statement or any other part of the conversation. Something was defiantly on his mind.

"I'll have someone look at it straight away. Will you be requiring quarters for your stay?"

"No." Kaz said, not wanting to promise anymore credits than he had to. "We'll be gone after you finish. In the mean time we'll just look around a bit."

"I do hope your short stay here will be a happy one." With that he bowed slightly, spun on his heel and walked away."

Kaz rolled his eyes as Plume left. He turned to Vin. "What is your problem?"

"There are no people onboard. That guy was a droid, you know." Vin said, finally talking.

"Yeah, I know. I can sense things too. And there are people onboard. I can feel 'em."

"Yes, but they're very sporadic."

"Well, would you want to live with all these droids." Kaz quipped as he bent down and reached in his boot.

"Point taken, but what about all the ships?" There were ships in the ports, a lot of them. Are you saying that the droids pilot them all. That's pretty rare."

"Yes, I'm sure it's a massive conspiracy to take over the Republic. You can't walk down a corridor without stepping on a revolution, invasion or political coup anymore. Not since the collapse of the Empire." From his boot Kaz removed a roll of Republic credits. He started counting. "The point is that no matter what's going on, we're stuck here until we can get out ship outta hock and I've got...forty-five, fifty-five...sixty credits with me. What do you got?"

Vin shrugged. "Ten on me. Probably another fifty in the ship."

"Get it. That's one twenty. That'll maybe pay for the diagnosis. You have an account with the Council?" Kaz asked, not too worried.

Shaking his head, Vin frowned. "I'm not on an official mission. I'm cut off. The council's being tight with money right now."

"All right, well, maybe there's a casino around here. We can play this up."

"By cheating?" Vin frowned.

Kaz sighed at Vin's pesky morals resurfacing once again. "No, by being extremely, extremely lucky. Come on."

Kaz marched out of the docking bay. Vin rushed into the Shockwave for his money, then back out to catch up with his friend.

* * *

As it turned out, there was a casino on board and to Vin Wander's delight, it had a fully stocked buffet table. The rest of the casino was wall to wall droids gambling away whatever they had. As Kaz scanned the room he saw that several of the droids were unusually twitchy. A pretty clear sign that the room was full of euphorics.

Over the last hundred years or so great strides have been made in the field of cyber-narcotics. Drug-simulant programs like Switch 3.7, Crosswire 1.0, Syntax 9.9 have flooded into the market and proved extremely addictive to the internal programs of droids. The intital program spreads like a virus infecting any droid undergoing a comm download from another infected droid, at no charge. After all, like any good pusher will tell you, the first hit is always free. From that point on droids have to seek out programers to input a fresh hit. This is the kind of thing that happens when slicers have too much time on their hands.

"Still." Kaz thought. "Easy pickings." Walking around, Kaz noted the vast array of games available. This wasn't just a casino, this was a super casino. And it was all for the droids.

Each mechanism watched Kaz intently as he made his way though the room. Some thought he was an intruder, others thought he was a narc and quickly shoved their programs away, and still others thought he was just a mark with a big fat wallet and a big fat target on his forehead. Kaz returned their glares. He knew what they were too. Nothing but parts, pre-programed movements and mental circuits running at fifty percent efficiency. Easy pickings.

Kaz passed the Sabacc table. He learned his lesson long ago that that was not his game. Also, his Force abilities were generally rendered useless by constantly changing rules. No, Bago was Kaz's game.

Bago, the sport of Captains, Kings, Directors and Diktats. To go into the rules of the game would be too lengthy but it mainly revolves around luck and lying. Both things that the Force gave Kaz an edge in. Yes, Kaz was a cheater. And that's just tough for anyone who cares.

"Up your socket, SKV-X!" A scrawny protocol droid shouted as he slammed his cards on the table and bolted away.

"If you don't want your bolts tightened then get outta my repair shop, twip!" A large droid, built like a mechanical rancor poorly coated with red paint, laughed.

Kaz watched the smaller droid scamper off with what was left with his preprogrammed pride. Quickly, Kaz leaped into the vacated chair. "Mind if I join the game?"

The large SKV-X sized the human up and down. "Sure, mushy. Ante up."

Mushy was the pet name given to organic lifeforms by mechanicals. Kaz paid it no mind. He was here for cash. SKV-X was directly across from Kaz. To his left was a silvery droid, though he was thoroughly rusting away in parts. To his right was an obvious euphoric, though the pile of cedit chips in front of him was a sign that even stoned, it was a fierce gambler.

Kaz anted a credit as SKV-X dealt the cards. Each player received one that he would bet on. The catch is that you have no idea what your card is. You can't see it. Everyone else can, but you can't. Conversely you can see everyone else's card. Once again, the whole game is about lying.

Normally, a human playing Bago with three droids would be as good as throwing your money out of an airlock. Droids have perfect game faces, very few tells, and often cheat by broadcasting the cards via comm systems between droids. Kaz wasn't stupid though. This was a good casino equipped with comm scramblers. Any com signals detected are immediately scrambled at the senders system is crashed. Also, Kaz didn't need to read game faces or tells. He could already sense what the cards were.

* * *

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"All Too Easy" Part 2