"All Too Easy"
Part 2
Vin Wander was lying on his bunk, in the Maw Shockwave, attempting to meditate. It wasn't easy considering two factors: One, eating food at a casino buffet on a station almost entirely populated by droids was a stupid idea, and two, the engine room was clinking and clattering from the sound of two mechanic droids working on the ship's diagnostic. Something Vin knew was definitely going to cause more than it was worth.
Still, Vin meditated, blocking all other things out until he no longer felt the need to throw his lunch up, onto the deck. He snapped back into reality when he heard the whirring of servomotors.
"Mister Wander."
"Yes." Vin said standing up. "What's the bad news?"
"Here. I'll show you." said the droid as he scampered back to the engine room.
Vin sighed knowing what was to come, but still he followed the droid.
In the engine room Vin saw that most of the housing compartments and access hatched we're open. The droid stopped by the largest one and pointed to one of the sevo-mechanisms inside.
"You see this? Your vent inductor is all clogged up right at the source here. That's something that you should really clean out every six cycles. It's probably like that in your intake valves too. You don't take care of that, this ship could seize up on you."
Vin nodded politely not wanting to blurt out loud what a complete sham this was. You couldn't ask a mechanic, human, alien or droid, to even fix a meal without him telling you that it could seize up or blow up any second.
"And right here." He continued as he moved to a deck plating on the floor. "The landing gear struts." He wobbled one back and fourth. "You see how that's moving? You don't fix that and they're bound to collapse on ya during landing anytime now."
"That or seize up." Added the other droid across the room. "Technically, we're not even supposed to let you outta here 'til that's fixed."
* * *
Sensing Vin entering the casino, Kaz folded his hand. He was planning to lose this hand anyway. Seeing Vin approach, Kaz got up. "If you'll excuse me for a moment gentlemen, I've got to see a man about a ship."
* * *
"In." he replied as he pushed all his credit chips into the hold pile.
The dealer turned to Kaz. Only having a four, he had to choose. Kaz's hand hovered over the three cards, trying to get any sense of them that he could. The first was a three. The second, an eight, the third...a Commander!
* * *
* * *
* * *
The duo turned the corner, into the docking bay. Standing in front of the Maw Shockwave was Bossak Plume, "West Arm Administrator of Xon Station" His arms were crossed, his manner stern. Behind him stood two old Alderanian defense class droids.
* * *
"Yeah, that and your air filters are all clogged up. I'm surprised you're even still breathing."
Vin nodded and smiled. "Wonderful. I'm glad you brought all this to my attention. I don't suppose you ever got the chance to look at the hyperdrive though, did you?"
"Well, of course. You didn't let me finish. Tell ''em Z-ED."
Vin turned to the other droid as in removed the hyperdrive casing. "Ya see here? Your micro conductors are all fried. So are your thermal control plates. It activated your auto shut down systems. Good thing to. Otherwise, might've seized upon ya."
"Or blowed up real good." The other droid added.
"Yeah. All that and your hyperdrive motivator's shot. Gonna need replacing."
"How much to just fix the hyperdrive?" Vin asked with his legendary patience.
"Well yeah, the drive. But these other systems..."
"Can wait." Vin interrupted. "The drive?"
"Five forty with parts and labor."
Vin huffed. There was a time, before the Mech War, when you didn't have to pay a droid for labor, he remembered. Still, times change.
"Problem is," the scheming droid continued, "that kind of job needs a specialist and ours is off station right now. Won't be back for two weeks."
Vin was shocked. This scam was going on longer than he had expected. Not only did they want him to pony up the scratch to fix she ship but to cover the cost of staying on this hellhole station for two weeks! "Are you saying that on this entire station there's only 'one' hyperdrive specialist droid!?!?"
"Well, no. We got a lot of them, but the repair center only owns one. The rest've 'em are employed by SKV-X. He rents 'em out. Still, I think it'd be a lot more economical to wait. He's got a habit of overcharging."
Somehow, Vin got a feeling that if he were to actually compare the two costs they'd wind up being about the same. That way, no matter what the decision, Xon Station would win and any "mushys" would come up short.
Vin left. He had to find out how Kaz was doing.
"Don't worry, Mushy." SKV-X bellowed. "We'll keep your place warm. I want the pleasure of winning all of my money back."
Kaz pointed to his credit chips. "I've counted these." He waved his finger at the other three. "I find any of these missing, it's your ass." He remarked causing simulated mechanical laughter from the group.
Across the room in an unoccupied corner, Kaz joined Vin.
"What's the word?" Kaz asked, hoping the answer meant he could stay longer.
"Four hundred fifty." Vin replied with a hint of disdain for the mechanics. "How much have you got so far?"
"Almost five."
Vin was surprised. He figured Kaz was cunning but he didn't expect his friend to win so much so fast. "Wow. You're gonna have to stay a bit longer though. We'll need extra. We're gonna be here a while."
"Why? What's the hold up?" Kaz asked confused.
"They 'claim' that they need a hyperdrive specialist droid and theirs is off station right now." Vin reported with skepticism.
"Damn unions. How long?"
"Two weeks."
Kaz threw up his hands in disgust. "Oh, come on!"
"Two weeks. That or we track down some droid named SKV-X and rent one off him."
Kaz perked up at the hulking red droid's name. "SKV-X, you say?" Kaz flashed a coy smile.
"What?"
"That's the chump I've been taking credits from all night." Kaz almost laughed at his luck. Vin, however, wasn't laughing.
"Kaz, doesn't that seem weird to you?" Vin said feeling over his shoulder with the Force. Droids are difficult to get any kind of a read on, still, Vin felt they were being...observed.
"Weird, like how?" Kaz asked, not quite getting it.
"I mean, doesn't it seem, I don't know, all too easy? All these things fitting together. The one person you need something from you're playing a probably rigged game of Bago with in a station where you're surrounded with mechanisms that all hate you?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it probably is a scam but I'm not Joe Spacer here. There's nothing they could pull off without me knowing about it." Kaz said confidently.
"Fine, fine. You know more about this than I do. Just don't do anything stupid and bet it all or anything. We need to eat. Okay?" Vin pleaded.
"Hey," Kaz smiled. "It's me." And with that he strutted back to his seat. Vin stayed in the corner not wanting to get more involved than he had to. He didn't like the sound of his friend's last brash statement.
"That's awful ballsy, Mushy. Didn't expect you to be so stupid, so quick." SKV-X said in a biting tone.
"Maybe I'm just tired of looking at you souped-up toaster ovens." Kaz bit back. It didn't illicit much laughter throughout the table. Kaz had to remind himself where he was and who he was surrounded by. "In or out SKV-X?"
The twitchy euphoric to Kaz's right folded, as had the silvery rustbox the previous round. The big red machine across from Kaz stared him down, or at least attempted to. Kaz wasn't intimidated easily and was no longer impressed by this droid. It was all numbers. SKV-X had a seven and Kaz had either a nine or a captain. He didn't quite know which, but that wasn't all together that odd. It's happened before. All he needed to know was that he hat SKV-X beat.
"I call." The droid said as he tossed his card into the center, the Seven of Coins showing prominently.
Kaz smiled as he tossed his card in. He didn't see the face but knew immediately as it left his fingers that he'd been had. It was a skiff. A card designed to change faces and sure enough, Kaz saw a Two of Staves looking back at him.
Kaz was amazed, but not surprised. Vin was right. He was definitely playing too well, even for all his abilities. Things seemed quiet. Kaz couldn't here SKV-X laughing as he picked up his new found money. All he could hear in the entire noisy casino was Vin's foot steps as he walked across the pit to pick him up.
For a brief moment, Kaz considered calling the pitboss to report the obvious skiff card, but once again, Vin was right. This was a scam. The repairs, the game, the station probably even caused the hyperdrive malfunction.
Vin put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Time to go."
Kaz nodded, got up and left.
"What's the matter mushy? Don't you want a chance to win your money back?" The scheming droid bellowed.
Kaz turned around, back to the game. Vin tried pulling him to the door but it didn't help.
"No, Kaz! We are out of cash! Let's go!" Vin barked.
"No credits? No problem. You can get a house loan." SKV-X offered.
"NO! No, Kaz. I'm not gonna be stuck here in debt. We can call home and tell him it's an emergency." Vin pleaded, even using the Force to give his voice more inflection. Still, it had no effect. Kaz was nearly hooked.
"Or did I hear something about a ship, earlier?"
Kaz bounced back to the table. "You'd take a broken ship for collateral?"
"How broke?" the droid asked.
"Hyperdrive inactive." Kaz answered.
"No problem." SKV-X flipped a switch on his lower left arm. "0Z-1E?"
A dizzy sounding voice came from the arm speaker. "Huh, wha? SKV-X?"
"0Z-1E, a couple of mushys brought in a ship this morning. Fix it. Now!" SKV-X commanded.
"No problem, Boss." And with that, the red machine broke the connection and bid Kaz to sit down.
Kaz sat, looking his opponent in the eye. This would be the last hand and it would just be between the two.
The cards were dealt. SKV-X had a ten, Kaz had a four.
SKV-X pushed all his chips into the pot. At least a thousand credits worth. "Put it up, Mushy."
Kaz held his hand out. "Vin, the keycard please."
Vin's eyes widened behind his specs. "Forget you! That's MY ship!"
Kaz didn't have time for this. He reached into Vin's tunic and pulled out the keycard, tossing it into the pot before Vin could react. When he tried to take it back out he received a shock from the auto-fairness system. Yanking his hand back, he sneered at Kaz.
The dealer offered SKV-X a new card from the three choices. "I think I'm good." He replied.
Kaz picked up the card but contained a sigh, for as soon as he picked it up, Kaz knew he has the skiff again. It wasn't just him. He knew SKV-X knew as well.
The droid tossed his ten on the pile. Kaz closed his eyes and even though his friend was blind, he had a feeling Vin did the same. Kaz tossed the skiff onto the pile.
The milliseconds seemed like days and Kaz opened his eyes and looked at the card.
A Commander! The card didn't change!
Quickly, Kaz grabbed the keycard and the handful of credits off the pot and got up. "Thanks for the second chance, SKV-X. Must dash." And with that, Kaz grabbed Vin and they disappeared into the crowd.
SKV-X just stared into the empty pot. He had no idea what just happened. Had no idea what went wrong. "4-BCU! Get over here!" He shouted across the casino.
"Run, Vin." Kaz said, calmly.
"What? What's the problem? You won fair and square. Those casinos are monitored by the Republic Net, those droids can't come after you unless you cheated." Vin said, still not quite getting it.
In response Kaz pulled out his lightsaber. "Run!"
"What the hell happened, twip! Why didn't the skiff fire?" He demanded to know, almost ready to melt down.
The small droid stuttered as he spoke. "I, I'm s-sorry S-Sir, but I never planted the skiff. You never signaled me to do so."
"Twip! We saw the skiff. It was in the deck. It worked the first time. What went wrong?!?!" He shook the slight droid as he spoke.
"S-Sir. The skiff is right here." The droid pulled the card from the cuff of one of his arms. "If there was a skiff in that deck, it wasn't ours. Sir."
SKV-X bolted straight up, causing 4-BCU to fly across the pit.
"That was your skiff?!?!" Vin said, barely believing it as the words came out.
"The only way to get money out of a con man is to con him." Kaz said as the two turned another corner desperately trying to get to their docking bay. "Never give a sucker an even break."
"I'm sorry gentlemen, but your actions in our casino are under investigation. I'm afraid you cannot leave. Furthermore, we fully intend to press charges where applicable." Plume said in a snooty tone.
Kaz immediately ignited the soft violet blade of his saber and sliced Plume in two below the waist. "Sorry Plume, but you haven't got a leg to stand on."
The defense droids raised their guns ready for a fight. Kaz was about to leap in the fray when Vin stopped him. "Put away your saber, Kaz." He told his friend as he put away his own. Together they walked right past the droids and into their ship.
"Wow, that was pretty easy." Kaz remarked as he hit the close button on the docking ramp.
"A critical design flaw in that particular class of defense droid. The can only fight if they're being attacked." Vin said, smiling.
"Leave it to Alderaan to take all the fun out of war. No wonder it got vaped."
Vin paused, looking back to the rear of the ship, finally remembering what brought them here. "Kaz, what about the hyperdrive?"
"I'm betting there wasn't much wrong with it in the first place. I'm betting that that droid already fixed it." Kaz said, panting and out of breath. Running was never his favorite thing.
"Go back and check, I start up the ship." Vin said as he rushed up to the cockpit.
Zipping to the back, Kaz saw that the engine room was in complete disarray, but considering that it always looked like this anyway, he didn't want to draw any conclusions.
"Hey, Buddy! You wanna hand me that hydro-spanner?" asked a voice, the source of which Kaz couldn't identify. "Up here, dimwad."
Kaz looked up. A greyish-white droid was hanging from the ceiling, waving a robotic hand at Kaz. "Hydro-spanner, please."
"Is the hyperdrive fixed yet?" Kaz asked, almost surprised that there was someone else still on the ship.
The droid made the equivalent of a sigh. "It will be after you give me the hydro-spanner."
Kaz wasted no more time, getting the tool from the floor and handing it off to the mechanic. "How long?"
"Few minutes. Why? You in some sort of rush, Mushy?" It chuckled.
To punctuate his quip, a large explosion rocked the ship causing the droid, 0Z-1E, to crash to the deck. Kaz rushed up to the cockpit.
"Sorry for the jolt," Vin apologized. "Had to blast through the doors."
Kaz sat down as Vin piloted the Shockwave into space. "They're gonna start shooting at us." he warned.
Lights danced around the outside of the ship, confirming Kaz's thought. They were indeed being shot at. "How's the drive." Vin asked as he dodged the blasts.
"Soon. The guy's in there working on it." Kaz said, strapping himself in.
Vin was taking aback at the information but ignored it as he was still being shot at. "Make the calculations to the jump to lightspeed while we've got a bit of time."
"Why?" asked a mechanical voice behind them. Kaz turned to see the droid. "We ain't goin' nowhere. You think I'm gonna help you go up against SKV-X? No chance."
Kaz was simply amazed at everything going on around him. He was nearly speechless. "JUST FIX THE DAMN THING!" he shouted.
Fighters and freighters started buzzing around them, taking shots. "They got ships after us now. Where the hell did they get all of these?" Vin barked.
"Probably all the ships SKV-X conned off of suckers." Kaz replied. He turned to 0Z-1E, staring into his yellow eye pieces, on his long face. "Look Pal, those ain't warning shots they're plugging us with. You're boss wants us dead and I don't think he cares whether you're on this ship or not so if you've got any kind of self-preservation circuits left in your head, YOU'LL FIX THE HYPERDRIVE!!!!"
0Z-1E took a moment to consider this info...but only a moment.