Old Friends Part VI

The first casino that the group went to, "The Winnings," was packed full with people of various different species. It was nice to know that everyone could get along this way; all you need is a common interest. In this case it was money.

The casino had the usual decore. That is to say that the place looked like a silver and gold bomb had gone off in the main hall and everything it hit became cheap and tacky. Still the punters liked it, and the golden colour scheme made them want to win more money.

There was also a hotel built on to the casino, which was where Lavos was supposed to be staying while on his leave. Lavos never did like to walk around much if he could get out of it, so Werdna was sure that Lavos would have just used this casino rather than travel to another one somewhere else on the planet.

"WOW!!!" yelled out Tom, who had only just entered the casino alongside Werdna and Ravnos, "It's like the land that taste forgot."

That was just the reaction of seeing the reception and main stairway. The main hall, which could just be seen at the corner of the reception, was glowing gold so this room just had to be the half of it. The trio walked up to the reception desk.

Luckily, there was no one in the queue so Werdna went straight for the assistant working behind the desk. "Hello there," piped up Werdna to the assistant, "I was wondering if you could help us?"

The assistant, who was a rather skinny man with a slight moustache, just stared of behind Werdna's head in an attempt to ignore Werdna. Perhaps I should have worn something smarter than my flight overalls, thought Werdna, I do look a bit like a tramp with no money. Probably doesn't want my business…bloody snob!

"Excuse me!!!" yelled Werdna to the assistant, "Can I please have some help?"

The assistant continued to ignore him.

"I am Lord Denwar Nyvyn, and I demand some service!!!" Werdna didn't like to admit this to people, as for all he knew he wasn't. Amnesia does that to people. Werdna reached into his pocket and grabbed his one an only credit. It was a pretty large credit, and certainly worth more than the assistant deserved, but Werdna knew that Lavos would owe him a lot more once he found him.

With a flick of a wrist, Werdna flung the credit onto the desk. The assistant picked it up and inspected the price of the credit. The assistant was rather shocked and took a look at the benefactor once more. With a shake of his head, the assistant bit into the credit to make sure it was real, checked the price again and placed it into his pocket.

"Welcome to 'The Winnings', Lord Nyvyn," grovelled the assistant, "I am Matri, Lord. What can I do for you, Lord?" Ravnos and Tom began to giggle at this turn in character, but Werdna remained stern and regal. Werdna was going to make this little ant pay for being so rude before.

"I want better service for a start, but I guess you'll have to do for now," continued Werdna, "don't think that I won't be talking to your superiors later though. The nicer you are to me, the more nice thinks I will have to say about you to your boss."

"Yes of course, Lord Nyvyn," snivelled the assistant, "I apologise for being so rude to you earlier, Lord."

"Damn it man, stop grovelling and tell me which room a Dengar Lavos is staying in your hotel, or I shall have you flung out of this casino and onto the streets where you belong!!!"

The assistant stumbled back a bit before running into the nearby office to check the logbooks. Ravnos whispered to Werdna, "What will happen when he finds out that you have no more money?"

"He won't," Werdna whispered back, "I'm going to get him to put me on credit for the rest of the trip. When he finds out I'm broke I'll be back in EH space completely untouchable."

The trio could hear the assistant fumbling around in the office look for the information they needed. "I certainly hope that your not going to delay us for too long," spoke up Tom, who decided to also join in the fun, "I would hate to think that that…"

"Hear, sirs!!!" yelled the assistant rushing out of the room, "I have the information you wanted, Lord. A Dengar Lavos was indeed staying here not so long ago, but he left a couple of days ago."

"Damn," remarked Ravnos, "that's widened our search a fair bit."

"Thank you for your speedy response, Matri. Your assistance has been useful if somewhat distasteful." Werdna's words made the assistant give out a little sigh of relief, "…but I may still have to mention your actions unless you give me a temporary tab of 10,000 credits to use in this casino."

"Yes of course, sir," sucked up the assistant, "I'm sure that a Lord like you can cover a loan like that."

**********

"You should have been an actor instead of a pilot, Elbee." Werdna took Tom's words to mind before remarking, "Nah, killing Rebels is way to much fun compared to pretending to kill them on a stage."

The group of Imperial pilots tried to squeeze there way through the crowds in the main hall of the casino. "Mind your pockets, lads. There are a few shady characters in here that could nick your credits," warned Ravnos.

"What?!?! If anyone is going to be stealing anything, it's probably going to be us!" Tom said, a little too loudly.

"We don't have the time to go on a crime spree," chipped in Werdna, "We have to find Lavos first."

The trio got to the bar and placed their orders. Ravnos got a strange look from the posh people in the room when he asked for three lagers, but they soon turned their eyes away in disgust as Ravnos went on to down his pint.

"We might as well give up looking for Lavos. He's probably long gone by now," Tom noted, "You heard the guy at reception, he's been gone for two days. He could be on the other side of the galaxy by now."

"Well I know Lavos and I don't think he's the type to run away like that," replied Werdna, "either he's still on this planet somewhere and can't get off, or he's had problems on the way back to Imperial space."

"If that's the case, how do we know that pirates didn't get him on the way home then?" pointed out Ravnos, "If he did we're wasting our time here."

"Yeah, but odds are if it was pirates we would have had trouble with them too," answered Werdna, "Lavos would be on pretty much the same route to Aurora Prime, just going the other way."

"Oh well, I guess all we can do now is check in, play a few rounds of cards and have a look around in the morning," Tom suggested.

"Yeah, I like the sound of that," agreed Ravnos, "What about you, Elbee?"

Werdna didn't reply. He just stared of into the crowds of the casino.

"HEY, ELBEE!!! WAKE UP!!!" Tom shouted, "Bah, he's just as bad as that damned assistant."

Werdna whipped his head back to face the others, looking slightly shocked and confused, "Huh! Sorry! What was that, guys?"

"What's wrong with you? You just blanked out and stared off into space," Ravnos asked, "Is everything alright…you look like you seen a ghost."

"I have."

more next month

FM/CPT Werdna Elbee/Beth 2-4/Wing III/SSSD Sovereign