The Race, the Auction, & the Party Heard Round the Galaxy

Chapter II |The Jewel of Yavin | Episode VI | 10/?/2016

Twil awoke in his suite in the Yarith Bespin, completely refreshed from his previous night of partying. Stretching out on the incredibly comfortable bed, he got all the kinks out of his muscles, before finally getting to his feet.

“Mmm, I gotta get one of those for my quarters on the ship.” He thought to himself, gazing at the bed. Knowing he had much more important matters to attend to, however, he quickly got himself ready for the day, and headed out to the Cloud City Grand Prix.

As he approached he could hear the roar of the crowd, all anxiously awaiting the start of the race. It was intoxicating to Twil. Upon arrival, he could see Merl standing next to his newly upgraded cloud car, smiling from ear to ear. As he drew closer he was able to take it all in. The cloud car looked to be in pristine condition, complete with a new pink paint job, and the name “Merl Pearl” written in bold letters across the sides.

“The ship looks great, Merl!” Twil said excitedly, greeting the old man.

“Captain, your guys did a great job.” Merl gushed, “I’ve never seen her look so good or run so smooth.”

“You can thank Draven.” A voice from behind interrupted them.

Twil turned to see Rath standing behind him, along with R5, Idozzi, Zanroy, and a strange looking, partially masked, humanoid.

“So, you’re Draven?” Twil asked, excitedly.

“That’s me.” Draven replied, in an attempt to replicate Twil’s cheeriness.

“Well Draven, if we win this race, then consider yourself in.” Twil said with a knowing wink, he then turned his attention to Merl, “Alright Merl, how does this whole Grand Prix thing work?”

“Well, captain, it’s pretty simple. We just gotta fly through those eight buoys out there.” Merl said, pointing out to the cloudy expanse past the city, “Of course, there’re all sorts of hazards and dangerous critters out there, just waiting to make us their next meal. And there’s the other racers, too. Straight out killing is forbidden, but that won’t stop ’em from trying to take out our ride. There’re also some floating stadiums out there, so the people can watch the races, but occasionally some folk’ll try to get involved, if you know what I mean.”

Twil gazed out at the buoys floating among the clouds, knowing that if anything went wrong, he’d have a very long time to wave goodbye. “Alright! Let’s do it!” He yelled out, pumping himself up.

“We’ll each be in one of the floating stands.” Rath announced to Twil, “Don’t die out there.” With that, the others were gone, leaving Twil with Merl.

An announcer then began speaking over the P.A., telling the racers to take their positions. Twil got into the cloud car, along with Merl, and the two took their place.

Moments later, the race began, and the Merl Pearl shot ahead of everyone faster than either pilot had anticipated. Twil could hear Merl screaming with delight, over the comms, their competition left far behind them.

Twil and Merl passed the first three buoys easily, avoiding the small, dragon-like tibannucks with ease.

As the clouds parted on their way to the fourth buoy, revealing more of the course, both Twil and Merl let out a startled yell, as a colossal, gelatinous beldon came into view. Merl took a hard left, in an attempt to avoid the monstrous creature. With partial success, they skidded by, scraping the cloud car against the creature’s side as they passed.

The fifth buoy was once more, uneventful. A straightaway meant for racers to get the upper hand on each other. However, due to Draven’s tinkering, their competition was far behind them. Ahead, Twil could actually see Draven in the stands. But he had both his pistols out, aiming at someone in another set of stands. He looked towards where he was aiming, to see a shady looking man with a very large rifle, pointed directly at the Merl Pearl. before he had any opportunity, however, Twil saw the man suddenly drop, falling out of the stands into the Bespin gas giant below. “Nice shot Draven.” Twil thought to himself.

As they passed through the next buoy, the two were greeted with massive amounts of Tibanna gas. A valuable resource for Cloud City, but at the moment, a huge distraction for Twil and Merl. With little visibility, the two had to trust the cloud car’s navigation systems.

As they weaved their way through the gas fields, the seventh buoy made itself known. As they flew past, the skies cleared, only to reveal a swarm of ray-like velkers. The massive flying creatures were the size of small starships, and equally deadly. However, with the skills of Twil and Merl combined, coupled with the Merl Pearl’s upgrades, the two were able to avoid the creatures with ease.

Upon reaching the eighth buoy, it was clear skies and smooth sailing. Merl and Twil let out celebratory cheers as they crossed the finish line, unhindered.

As the two got out of the cloud car, they were immediately swarmed by mobs of fans, all chanting “Merl Pearl! Merl Pearl!” Twil soaked it all in, relishing every moment of adulation. He could tell Merl was doing the same, until he saw one particular person shoving her way to the front of the crowd.

“How dare you go behind my back!” Babs Terll yelled at Twil, “You could have gotten my husband killed!” She then looked at Merl, and her demeanor changed slightly, now talking towards Merl, “Still, that prize money would be real nice to have. But don’t you ever do anything like that again!” The two then embraced, and Twil knew Merl would be alright.

“Captain Twil!” A new voice rang out. Twil turned to see a dark skinned man, dressed in fanciful clothing, complete with a cape. As the man approached, Twil noticed that the crowd parted, giving him a wide berth, out of respect, rather than fear.

“Captain Twil.” He repeated, “I am Lando Calrissian, Baron Administrator of Cloud City. Tales of your exploits around here the past couple of days have reached even my ears. I just wanted to congratulate Mr. Terll and yourself. You’ve done a lot of good publicity for my city.”

Unable to resist the opportunity, Twil began to attempt to charm the Baron Administrator, in an attempt to set up the business deal of a lifetime. Unfortunately, the man was in no mood for Twil’s games, and quickly made his exit.

“Just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Another voice asked.

Twil looked to see Rath and company standing to the side. “It was worth a shot.” Twil replied, shrugging. He then turned his attention directly to Draven, “I saw what you did out there. You’re good with a gun, and you may have saved my life. You certainly held up your end of the bargain, you won us the race. But what if I offered you something more.”

Draven eyed Twil suspiciously, “What did you have in mind?”

“Come work for me. I could use a body guard. And you certainly seem qualified for the job.”

Draven mulled the offer over in his mind, “As long as I get to talk with Grayson, yeah, sure, why not?”

“Fantastic!” Twil replied, slapping Draven on the back, “Welcome to the crew! Let’s head back to my suite at the Yarith Bespin and I can fill you in on all the details.”

Before leaving, Twil got up on top of the Cloud Car, and yelled out, “Hey everyone! In celebration of Merl’s victory today, I’m going to throw the biggest party this planet has ever seen, and I want you all to be there! Tonight, at the center of the Plaza Concourse! Spread the word!”

This announcement was met with thunderous applause.

“Well, it’ll keep most of the city out of our hair.” Rath said to Zanroy, both knowing that there was still more work to be done before the auction tomorrow.

Night had fallen, and the party had begun. Zanroy watched on from a distance. Twil had given one of his inspirational speeches. The crowd devoured it all up. And now he was on stage, singing with a prominent Cloud City band. Above the stage was Twil’s name, spelled out in lights. He had no idea how Twil even pulled it off, but he had somehow gotten the entire planet to party with him. Which was fine, except for one small issue: he needed to find Tirsia Lek.

After spending an hour scanning the crowds, Zanroy decided that she wasn’t at the party. Determined, he began searching the streets, making his way to the OREMC offices once more.

As he arrived, he could hear footsteps. He quickly hid in an alleyway, waiting for whoever it was to pass. Much to his delight, it was Tirsia Lek, carrying a rather large, very secure looking briefcase. Not wasting his chance, Zanroy leap from his hiding spot, and grabbed hold of the Imperial agent. Completely caught off guard, the woman could do little else but struggle in Zanroy’s cybernetic grip. With little fanfare, Zanroy pulled his hidden vibroblade from it’s sheath, and slit her neck.

With the job completed, he entered in proof of the kill to his guild datapad. Upon the odd request of Rath, Zanroy also cut off a lock of the woman’s hair, to take with him, along with the briefcase. He was unsure of why the Chiss wanted these items, but he didn’t care enough to ask.

“Job’s done, I’m heading back.” He announced into his comm.

“Did you get the items?” Rath asked in response.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Idozzi and I will be waiting.”

Rath waited patiently for Zanroy to return to the Sovereign. He could tell Idozzi was more than a little uncomfortable being there with just him. Unfortunately for her, he couldn’t care less. He was far too used to the people of this galaxy being uncomfortable with him.

Finally, Zanroy arrived.

“Let’s see the brief case.” Rath ordered, not wasting time with pleasantries.

With a shrug, Zanroy handed over the brief case.

Rath quickly went to work, slicing the locks on the Imperial case. After cracking it open, he quickly scanned every document held within. With the use of his new implant, this task went by much faster than it normally would have.

“Yeah, she was sent by ISB, like you said.” Rath said aloud, still scanning the documents, “They’ve given her approval to spend upwards of 25,000 credits during the actual auction. Clearly she was sent to observe and get proof the auction was being held by Grayson. Doesn’t look like they could care less about the gem itself.”

Rath then stopped talking, staring at one particular document. It took a minute before he began to speak once more, “They have dossiers on all of us… You, me, Twil, everyone.”

“Why would she have that kind of info?” Idozzi asked.

“Why indeed.” Rath replied. He then let out a sigh, “Unfortunately, there isn’t much here that would prove to be particularly useful to us right now. Most of this are things we already know. But the other item you acquired will be quite handy.”

Zanroy then pulled out the lock of hair, confused.

Rath then pulled out an item of his own. Taking the hair, and putting it into the device, he explained, “This is an OutlawTech Flesh Camouflage Set. Idozzi, tomorrow, you will wear this. It will make you look and sound identical to Tirsia Lek. You will pose as her, and do your best to ramp up the bidding as high as you can. And who knows, you might even be able to find out some more information while you’re at it.”

Idozzi hesitantly took the device in hand.

“So, have you found a good entrance into the museum?” Rath asked, turning his attention to Zanroy.

“Yeah, Draven and I spent the day discussing it with Twil. We’re good to go.” Zanroy answered.

Rath nodded in response. “Alright then, I’ve still got work to do on the data spike. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

Rath then left for his room, he could hear the city-wide party still raging strong outside, and shakes his head as the door closes behind him.

The next morning was upon them. Twil groaned as the alarms blared. He squinted as he reached for his chrono. “Oh crap!” He yelled out, instantly waking up, as he realized what time it was.

Hurriedly throwing clothes on he yelled out, “Draven, let’s go! We’re gonna be late!”

Rath and Zanroy waited outside Figg Hall impatiently, finally they saw Twil and Draven running up to them.

“Where have you been?!” Rath hissed.

“No time, now do what you need to.” Twil replied, adjusting his new jacket.

Irritated, Rath activated his stealth tech, going completely invisible.

“Okay, you two are my ‘bodyguards’ today.” Twil said, looking towards Draven and Zanroy.

“Right.” Zanroy replied, rolling his eyes.

As they entered, they spotted Idozzi, now disguised as Tirsia Lek, having what looked to be a very heated discussion with Marus Grayson. The other bidders were all present. Some were mingling, others were keeping to themselves.

Twil glanced over to the empty terminal behind the desk and noticed that it was being used. Rath was already to work, unbeknownst to any of the others at the auction. Soon, the security systems Figg Hall had in place would be rendered useless.

There were a few minutes before the auction would take place, so Twil decided to mingle a little. He first approached the disguised Idozzi, pretending to introduce himself.

Idozzi greeted in kind, but under her breath, said, “Grayson knows Lek. He thinks she’s supposed to be dead.”

Twil gave a knowing nod before moving on. He continued to mingle with the others, attempting to get a feel for the situation. He had even managed to join up with the Torguta professor, Shreya Ordassa, convincing her that by pooling their credits together, they’d stand a better chance at winning the auction.

He also noticed, at one point, Grayson and Draven were having a heated discussion as well. before he had the chance to talk with Draven however, Grayson decided to start the auction.

The bidding started low, at 20,000 credits, but it quickly rose.

“Two hundred thousand!” Twil yelled out.

“Two-fifty.” Kaltho responded, seeming to enjoy the spirited bidding.

Twil faltered for a moment before shouting, “Three hundred thousand!” Knowing full well, that even with the professor’s help, he didn’t have that kind of money.

Kaltho positioned himself upright, or as upright as a Hutt could get, and said “Three-fifty.” This time staring down Twil, in a nonverbal warning to the Zeltron.

The number was high, but he had hoped to get it higher. With no other recourse, he said, “You win, Kaltho. I admit defeat.”