These are the voyages of two captains upon whom Fortune has looked upon. Whether she smiled or frowned would depend on your point of view, but however you look at them, their lives were drastically changed by a single event.
Year 2400, Drozana Station, Donatu Sector
Many run-down casinos were described as hazy, filled to the brim with sin and disorder, seams bursting with greed. On Drozana, an aging space station, these things were often literally occurring. A life support system unable to cope with all the sentients packed into it. Gambling, prostitution, slave trading, and more occurring in every possible corridor until it looked like a space-faring slum. Ancient welds done to remedy the effects of drunken brawls slowly coming undone and letting the atmosphere bleed off into space.
"By S'Yahazah, I almost wish all the air WOULD leak out," Ocard, a hulking reptilian Gorn pirate, thought to himself as he was dealt a hand of cards.
His captain was off getting hitched to some Orion female, leaving his crew to mull about the station for a week or a month or however long it took for him to grow bored, dissolve the probably-illegitimate union, and go find some more Federation shipping to loot in order to expand his fortune. How Ocard hated that man, a tiny VULCAN of all things acting more like a Romulan, and his ship, a cast-off Bird of Prey that probably had been in service since the Klingons started selling ships to the Romulan Star Empire. Most of all, he hated the series of events that led to him crewing aboard the vessel and its too-low ceilings and too-high mortality rate. Thus, he found himself with all his meager wealth plus some quietly appropriated from the captain's vault in a high-stakes game of Tongo with another seven sentients. A Nausicaan, a Romulan, a Cardassian, and members of other races Ocard didn't know, all gathered around the table for one purpose in mind: fleece the others of everything they'd brought with them.
The hunter in Ocard knew who his prey was though: the Cardassian who happened to be in possession of a starship, a Galor-class cruiser that the ridge-headed cretin had boasted about stealing from the current regime. If Ocard could deprive the man and their other competitors of their funds, he could force the man into a situation where he would, goaded by the copious amounts of Saurian and Romulan Ale, be obliged to put his ship up for grabs. And if he took the loss badly, well, he'd soon find out what it was like on the receiving end of a Ferengi energy whip.
Somehow, Ocard's luck held true. He'd confronted, evaded, bought in, sold out, and indexed exactly as he'd needed to in order to remove the competition one by one. He had to admit it was luck; he preferred games where he didn't NEED luck, just brute force. It was just him and the Cardassian though with a crowd of onlookers watching with interest. Hopefully Ocard's own allies were among them.
The resulting hands greatly resembled a fencing match though: both players gave ground, bet aggressively, feinted with their cards, and never flinched. Finally, the dice turned decisively in Ocard's favor, giving him all the chips in the game. He almost didn't need to fleece this captain; the amount of Latinum he now had could buy him a decommissioned light cruiser or an old warbird. He began sweeping up his chips when the hoped-for happened: the Cardassian put a hand forcfully and slovenly upon the Gorn's winnings.
"Friend Gorn, you must allow me one more chance to win, I plead of you," the captain asked with a slur. "I am certain I have not gotten my break yet."
"All the more reason for me to quit now," Ocard hissed. "While Fortune still smiles upon me."
"Ah, but what if it were a prize no money could buy?"
Ocard almost chuckled. "There are not many things this much latinum could buy."
"I wish to make one more wager with you, and I shall make a wager you cannot ignore." The captain reached into his pocket and pulled out a hologram that he had shown frequently that evening. "My ship, the cruiser Fallar, against all of your winnings."
The pirate stroked his chin thoughtfully and with exaggeration. "Well, I suppose I could go for one more hand. What could go wrong?"
Many voices in the crowd snickered at that while another hand was dealt. The two players gazed at each other and then at their cards as the last hand was dealt. This was undoubtedly the Tango match of the night, with both players bringing their most forceful strategies into play. Ocard leveraged his buy-in, the Cardassian indexed his exchange, both players confronted and evading, but neither would retreat. A final roll of the die would determine the outcome of this fierce battle.
The Cardassian grinned, showing his cards. "Full Consortium," he drawled. The second-strongest hand in the game bared its teeth.
But so did Ocard. "An excellent hand, but unfortunately..." He laid down his cards. "I believe my Total Monopoly has the upper hand."
Side-bets were resolved and shouts of alternating glee and disappointing echoed across the table. The Cardassian briefly looked like he was going to draw a weapon before remembering the energy dampener that disabled all weapons.
All energy weapons at least, Ocard thought as he raised the hilt of his Tsunkatse Falchion into sight. "Can't disable a good, sharp edge." He gathered his winnings along with evidence of the ship ownership transfer and set off to the station's dock, but he could tell he was being followed. A second and then a third set of footsteps fell in behind him, cause for concern until one voice rasped "So do you plan to return the captain's money now?"
Ocard turned and grinned, looking down at a trio of shorter Gorn; members of his assault team, Talash, Rlim, and Gthath. Each watched their squad leader now as intently as they had watched the crowd for signs of interference.
"I suppose I should repay my loan," Ocard sighed. "Although I'll probably need the rest to refit my new starship. And find crew for it of course."
Talash, who had spoken before, snorted. "If you weren't so dead set on 'earning' your ship, we would have helped you mutiny ages ago."
"For a share of that latinum and a chance to tell Captain Logical Illogic where to stuff his philosophy, I suppose we could join you," Rlim added.
The four Gorn chortled over their change in fortunes when another voice added. "So what does it take to get on your new crew?"
An Orion female, not quite as lithe as the companions many sentients expected her race to be, walked down the corridor, wiping her hands on a set of worn coveralls.
"Can you do anything besides look pretty?" Ocard asked, half-sarcastically.
"Name's Mulea, I'm a trained engineer," the Orion said. "I've helped take apart dozens of ships and put them back together sans a few important parts."
"I've got an engineer," Ocard shot back. "Gthath has quite a bit of experience himself."
"As a combat engineer, perhaps," Mulea shrugged. "He might be able to get into a ship and know enough to fix a lot of the electronics, but does he know how to balance a warp core's power levels? Probably not since you don't usually want to fuss with those when boarding a freighter."
"She's got me there," Gthath agreed. "But if you know so much, how do you rewire a torpedo launcher for a full spread?"
"Easy enough." Mulea rattled off a list of engineering procedures, tactical command inputs, and physical modifications.
"If you know so much, why aren't you already engineer aboard some starship?" Ocard asked, knowing the answer already but wanting to hear it anyway.
Mulea spat on the deck. "Because as you pointed out earlier, who expects intelligence from Orion females unless they're Melani D'ian? Most captains assume I'm just a trained primate, mimicking 'actual' engineers. Pah!"
Ocard nodded, pleased. Anyone could fake outrage, but she spoke with such passion and indignation. "Very well. You're hired. Follow me."
Within the hour, the five had formally taken possession, bullying their way onto the cruiser and slowly giving any Cardassian who didn't accept the new chain of command the boot. All in all, the crew was at 30 individuals.
"So what name are you giving your wondrous new command?" Talash asked.
Ocard say in the command chair for a moment and mulled it over. "I hadn't thought that far ahead, to be honest."
Rlim massaged the tip of his snout and shook his head. "You planned to just take off into the stars and you didn't even think of a name in advance? Oh, I knew this was a bad idea."
Hmm...a bad idea? Bad idea. It had a ring to it. But one had to be at least a little subtle when a ship's name, a little cute.
"You're right. It was a bad idea. Or should I say, THE bad idea? Gentleman, I christen this ship the Badi Dea!"
A round of groans and chuckles heralded in this new age of piracy and tyranny. Heads shook until Mulea, having spent the last few minutes examining engineering records, asked "Since this is a Cardassian ship, does that make you a Gul?"
"Pfft. I suppose it does," Ocard agreed. "But I had a better title in mind: Gentleman."
"Gentleman Ocard?" Gthath repeated. "Sounds Terran."
"Yes, well, now we're all businessmen, yes? And as businessmen, we shall also behave as Gentlemen."
"At least," Ocard appended. "Until our...hmm...business associates give us reason to behave otherwise."
Non-Canon DLC Edit:
And then Ocard's best friend Lando Calrissian entered the bridge.
"Ocard old buddy, I don't know how you managed to win this one without me!" Lando beamed. "Oh wait, you didn't!"
Ocard nodded as a Wookiee walked by. "I could've never done it without your amazing tips and gimmicked cards, Lando. You are the best card player in the galaxy."
"I'd say you're flattering me," Lando began. "But I know it's true. This is good bye though, old friend. I found a new galaxy, so I'm taking a Defiant-class ship, renaming it the Millennium Falcon, and going to the new galaxy to become the galaxy's greatest Sabaac player."
"You are too cool for us, Lando," Ocard gushed. "Go and remake that universe in your own image."
And thus Star Wars was born.
No comments:
Post a Comment