Private Cards on the Table

[Rafe Laroque]

A Week Ago, Fondor

The two struggled in the dark. One, clearly larger than the other, shoved the smaller away until they tripped over a table, fell to the floor, and backed away. They grabbed a chair leg, stood, and held it out menacingly towards the taller one, who stopped and and held out their arms wide as if to say they weren’t impressed by the choice of weapon. In that persons hand appeared a metal sabaac card with sharp edges. It glinted in the minute light that penetrated through the blacked out windows of the apartment. The smaller figure stared at it for a moment, and turned to try to run, only for the card to end up embedded in the back of their neck, a perfect shot, unmistakably intentional.

The next morning, Senator Joren Falkane, a human from Hosnian Prime, was found dead by his staff, slain in his apartment, and the only clue left by the assassin was the sabaac card found embedded in the back of his neck. No fingerprints, no lost hairs, no shoe prints, no DNA, just a card, a dead senator, and lots of questions.

Present Day, Ord Mantell

An aide to Senator Varis Deyra entered the home of the Senator on the world, intending to spend the morning going over schedules and reading through proposed legislation. Instead, she stumbled into a crime scene.

The door was secured, and she had an access key, so there was no reason for the aide not to enter her Senators home as planned. But what she found was a disheveled wreck that started in the bedroom and ended in the living room where a glass coffee table lay shattered on the floor with a pool of blood in the middle. Bits of hair were smashed into the carpet and caught on the glass. It was obvious that something terrible had happened, and even though there was no body, given the previous assassination of the Hosnian Prime senator, the aide assumed the worst and informed authorities.

There was no body, no card like the last time, but the connection was too hard not to assume, and the authorities needed help, so they called for a Jedi.

ATTIRE: Brown Pants and Duster w/ a Purple Shirt | WEAPONS: Purple Lightsaber, Metal Playing Cards

TAGS: Katarine Ryiah​

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Just as I thought it was goin' alright​

Location: Ord Mantell - Crime Scene
Objective: Investigate
Wearing: X
Tags: Rafe Laroque


There were a lot of things Katarine wasn't sure of these days. Her place in the galaxy, for one. The Jedi Order's fractured future, for another. But if there was one thing she knew down to her bones, it was this: investigation came as naturally to her as breathing.

So when the call came in about a murdered senator, she didn't hesitate.

A few hours later, she was on-site, kneeling beside the shattered remains of a glass coffee table. Her deep green eyes narrowed, tracking blood spatter patterns with the calm precision of someone born for this kind of work.

Behind her, local officers questioned the senator's aide while crime scene techs moved efficiently, snapping photos, bagging evidence, ignoring her presence. Katarine didn't mind. She was used to the cold shoulder. Local law enforcement rarely welcomed Jedi involvement. Most thought she was there to take over. She wasn't. She just wanted the truth.

A heavyset man with a receding hairline finally made his way over. Katarine didn't look up, her eyes still fixed on the dark, glistening pool of blood in the center of the room, until he cleared his throat and exhaled a weary sigh.

He consulted his datapad, reading aloud from the interview notes. "Welp, looks serial to me. Sick bastard got a senator last week, too. When we catch 'em, they're gonna fry for both."

Katarine rose to her feet, graceful and unhurried. "I don't think it's the same unsub, Detective."

Her voice was soft, melodic, effortlessly so. It clashed sharply with the detective's gruff tone. He scoffed and glanced down at her. At five-foot-two, most people did.

"Oh really? You've been here ten minutes, and you already know what happened, Jedi?"

"No," she replied evenly, "but this scene is messy. There's too much evidence left behind. The first murder was clean. Meticulous. The only thing left was the murder weapon."

She turned her gaze on him. "This killer made mistakes. That one didn't. I think you're looking at two different killers... with the same victim pool."

The detective growled under his breath, clearly unhappy, but not dismissive. She'd planted doubt, and he couldn't ignore it.

"I'll run the prints and DNA at the station," he muttered. "See what shakes loose. You coming, Jedi?"

"Not yet," she said, already turning away. "I'm going to find a sabacc game."

He rolled his eyes and stalked off, grumbling something about Jedi being insane.

Katarine didn't care.

If someone was skilled enough to commit a flawless murder and leave nothing but a playing card behind, someone somewhere was talking. And she intended to listen.

 

[Rafe Laroque]

The Rust Heap was better than its name implied. On the outside it fit the bill, but that was intentional. Mimetic architecture. If you were going to call yourself a rust heap, you might as well look like a rust heap. Plus it fit the atmosphere of Ord Mantell which was, itself a rust heap. Couldn’t go ten feet without stubbing your toe on some old piece of a droid, ship, speeder, or whatever else was made out of metal. The place was a galactic junkyard.

Rafe liked it.

Seedy atmosphere. Lots of scrap workers looking to spend their money in ways that helped them forget about their toil. Easy pickings for someone like him, though he only played honest with those guys unless they cheated. Ain’t no reason to be fleecing the pockets of those just trying to make themselves feel better. No, he was more into those games for making sure the house wasn’t trying to pull one over on the guys. Was fine if the house won too, after all the place has to make money, but not when they did it by fixing the game. That he just couldn’t abide.

“Come on, pretty boy. Play your cards,” the grizzled up scrapper across from him said.

Rafe carefully slid the cards back and forth in his hand, and let his eyes drift up to the man across from him, a smile slowly growing on his face. “Come now, friend. Ain’t no sense rushing the hand. Sabaac is like love-making: half the fun is in the foreplay.”

“I’m not here for foreplay and I ain’t your friend. Play your damn cards.”

A cluck of the tongue and Rafe lowered the cards, facedown, in front of him as he looked across at the talkative one. He was at a nearly full table, the inside of the Rust Heap wafting with a light smoke that obscured the lighting. Intentional. Harsh light made it easier to spot that the house wasn’t playing fair. And from what he’d figured out, the guy that was talking, even though he wasn’t the house dealer, was playing for the house. The cards themselves betrayed that to him. A touch of his played cards had carried it, as had his attitude. See most of the others had been having fun and winning, but not this guy. He was winning a few, but losing many, and losing more money than he gained when he won. And he didn’t like it.

“Friend, if you hurry me again, I just might make a point of taking those last few credits you have left on the table, and then you’ll have to play tiddly-winks with the kids out back instead of playing hands.”

The man stood up, drew a blaster, and set it down on the table, his hand atop it.

“Play. Your. Cards.”

Rafe’s smile didn’t waver, though his eyes narrowed.

“Takes a special kind to bring a blaster to a card game. Tells me two things: one, you don’t like losing, and two, you know you’re gonna.”

Rafe picked up his cards and plucked one of them from the group, turning it around to reveal the idiot. Yeah, he’d been cheating a bit to get to this guy. The card crackled with a white energy at the same time as his eyes did, eliciting gasps from the others at the table.

“Way I see it you got one option to save your hide,” he said, knowing the man would catch on that he knew he worked for the house. “You fold now, or I shuffle you back into the deck myself.”

The man was busy staring at the glowing card in Rafe’s hand, somewhat awestruck, but largely fearful of this unmistakably abnormal vision. When the man regained himself, he looked at Rafe with anger, tossed his cards down, put his gun away, and stormed off. Rafe sat back and flipped over his cards to reveal the Idiots Array, a guaranteed win for him anyway.

“An’ that, ladies and gentlemen… is why they call me the Jack of Blades.”

ATTIRE: Brown Pants and Duster w/ a Purple Shirt | WEAPONS: Purple Lightsaber, Metal Playing Cards

TAGS: Katarine Ryiah​

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

I found out I'm wrong when I thought I was right​

Location: The Rust Heap
Objective: Investigate
Tags: Rafe Laroque


After a quick change of clothes Katarine was ready to blend into the underbelly of the planet. Just the feel of being undercover was enough to make her feel more like her old self. It was amazing how easily it all came back, even centuries latter. After two searches of relatively lively establishments, she ended up at The Rust Heap, a place that had more charm than design. The crowd here was rougher, she could tell, but there were plenty of tables for gambling and that was exactly where she wanted to be.

She walked in and let her deep green eyes scan the harshly lit room for a moment before making her way to the bar. Eyes followed her as she walked, which wasn't uncommon. Katarine used every tool in her arsenal when she was undercover and feminine wiles were a pretty handy one to have. She took a seat on the bar stool and the bartender sauntered down her way.

"What can I get you?"

"Blossom wine... and the name of the best gambler in the house."

The bartender raised his eyebrow but Katarine just gave him a flirty smile. "Well.. I've been known to play a little cards now and then."

"Oh really?" She smiled in a flirty fashion, but as she watched him make the drink, and spill a little of it, she was fairly certain this wasn't the smooth handed guy she was looking for.

 

[Rafe Laroque]

With the house almost effectively removed from the game, Rafe had discretely removed the dealer’s hidden cards and already removed their player, luck was turning in the favor of the locals. Several of them started getting good hands, many even got the magical 23 or -23 needed to win. Nobody else seemed to acquire the rare Idiot’s Array, but honestly that wasn’t surprising. The only reason that Rafe had managed to get it was because he cheated. Well, more to the point, the dealer was cheating and he stole the guys cards and used them for himself, but nobody really needed to know that, did they? The dealer did, but he wasn’t going to say anything because it would out the house, and himself, and people didn’t tend to like fixed games.

He wasn’t there to make money, just to play. Didn’t much matter to him that he was losing. Normally he would bluff well enough that the bad hands were actually better than the good hands. But he played until he ran out of chips and then folded in his hand and decided he’d call it for the night. While he made it appear to those at the table that he was just having bad luck, and one of them even tossed him a credit because of what he’d done earlier, he was actually quite happy. It had been a good night of seeing some honest folk win and the dirty house get what was coming to them. Couldn’t ask for much better.

Starting towards the door, he started whistling to himself and letting a normal playing card flit around between his fingers and between hands to keep them occupied. Though he caught sight of the pretty redhead at the bar and his whistle got a bit drawn out and sharp as he studied her.

There’s a dime if I’ve ever seen one. Probably trouble, too.

He winked at her, if she looked, but then continued on towards the door, just whistling to himself and deftly letting the card run through his fingers. No doubt the man who was called Jack of Blades was pretty slick with his fingers. But he didn’t stop as he headed out the door. Nor did he intend to stop until he made it back to the Double Down and decided to sleep the night away in the comfort of his ship.

ATTIRE: Brown Pants and Duster w/ a Purple Shirt | WEAPONS: Purple Lightsaber, Metal Playing Cards

TAGS: Katarine Ryiah​

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

It's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all​

Tags: Rafe Laroque


The bartender returned with her drink, which she sipped on as her deep green eyes scanned the room. She caught the roguish wink of someone walking out, playing with a card as he did so. Could that be her unsub? He certainly looked familiar with cards. Before she could dwell on that though the big guy from the table walked by, muttering about clobbering do gooders. Interesting... so Mr. Rogue was causing trouble in the establishment. It wasn't much of a lead but she'd investigated less to be sure.

The bartender was still talking when Kat slipped off her seat and slide him a credit chip. He looked a little disappointed as she pulled her leather jacket closer against her and followed the big grumpy grizzled scrapper out of the bar. He seemed to have a score to settle so she figured he would lead her in the right direction.

If that didn't pan out she'd circle back, or go see what the detective found from forensics at least.

 

[Rafe Laroque]

There wasn't just one person following him, but two. The first was probably an employee of the lounge, set to get their revenge because they thought they could beat him. That amused him enough that he was still smiling as he walked along the street, his card still flitting between his fingers. He did love it when people ignored his reputation. A lot of people thought it was false, the things he's done. Many knew it wasn't, especially the ones that had thought it false before.

The second person following him was that absolute hottie that had been at the bar. As he'd suspected, she was trouble. Jedi trouble, if he felt right. There was always one of them that thought they could get to him. Either she wanted to straighten him out, or she wanted to arrest him.

Good luck, sugar. Deck is stacked against you.

He rounded a corner, and as soon as he was out of their sight, he used the Force to spring up onto a balcony above, where he perched calmly while pocketing the regular card. His left hand flicked and a metal card slid out of the device on his wrist and into his hand. He drew on the Force and started charging the card in anticipation of having to use it on one of them.

Hopefully just the Lounge's enforcer. He didn't relish the idea of having to fight the woman.

ATTIRE: Brown Pants and Duster w/ a Purple Shirt | WEAPONS: Purple Lightsaber, Metal Playing Cards

TAGS: Katarine Ryiah​

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Rafe Laroque

As she was wailing the big grizzly man Katarine felt a flicker in the Force. She paused, her deep green eyes traveling upwards. The angry patron kept walking, disappearing down the street but her instincts told her that wasn’t the way to go.

She went around back, climbing up a fire escape until she saw on the rooftop next to hers the man standing and waiting. It looked like he knew that at least one person was tailing him.

She made a running leap and landed easily on the other rooftop, unfortunately her boot landed in a puddle of muddy run off. She sighed and started scraping the boot against the roof edge.

“You know this would be easier if you’d just have a conversation with me.”

She let her voice carry both in the wind and through the Force until she was satisfied the boot was clean. Then she started walking to where the man stood, apparently waiting to ambush.

 

[Rafe Laroque]

The big lug went strolling on by like he was chasing a the river but had no idea what he needed to get. Clearly no sense of his surroundings, but then they rarely did. Most of the hired muscle types were usually meatheads with big arms. They could fire a gun and beat someone up, but they were utterly incompetent if they had do anything else. It was almost offensive that they'd sent someone like that after him.

The woman, though, she was something else. She'd figured out where he was without even rounding the corner. Granted, he wasn't really trying to hide where he was.

"Hold on a second, darlin'," he said, waving a hand back at her.

Mostly he just wanted to make sure the guy was out of sight before he stepped away from the edge. Didn't want any surprises while he was chatting with trouble. When he was satisfied, he turned around and smiled at her, discharging the metal card in his hand and letting it slide back up into his sleeve and right into the holster from which it had come.

"Don't mind talkin', just didn't want that hamfist sneaking up on us." He opened his hands out wide, showing they were empty. "So what can I do for you, darlin'? A pretty gal like you sure ain't likely to be wantin' for company."

ATTIRE: Brown Pants and Duster w/ a Purple Shirt | WEAPONS: Purple Lightsaber, Metal Playing Cards

TAGS: Katarine Ryiah​

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Rafe Laroque

She raised an eyebrow as he told her to wait, and checked to make sure the big guy kept walking. The hired muscle often bit off more than they could chew but Katarine had a feeling there were others after the card dealer, which was partially why she was here. She had a suspicion someone was trying to frame him for the death of a senator on this planet.

"So what can I do for you, darlin'? A pretty gal like you sure ain't likely to be wantin' for company."

She smiled and walked closer, looking over the edge of the building herself, and then folding her arms in front of her.

“Well actually the last visit I had wasn’t that satisfying. A senator as a matter of fact. But the dead don’t make decent company do they? Lousy conversation and all that. ”

She raised her eyebrow at him, but kept talking.

“Sloppy job really, but the locals are trying to link it to a case on Fondor, another dead senator, killed with a playing card of all things.”

She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, as the breeze blew through her two toned hair.

“You wouldn’t know anything about a man that attacks with playing cards would you?”

 

[Rafe Laroque]

"Dead men play no cards," he said, pretending to offer up a prayer.

She walked to the edge and looked down. He looked down too, but not over the edge. He was admiring the view in front of him. Not like he would pass up that chance. And when she turned back to him? He was looking at her eyes, still smiling as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, duster tucked back behind his arms. It was a comfortable way to stand.

"Darlin' I ain't know nothin' about the dead except they're terrible card players, and I prefer to play with good ones. Games ain't fun if the deck is stacked in your favor."

Of course he knew what she was talking about, but he was well-practiced in lying. Very well-practiced. He knew the typical body language tells and had spent years perfecting his own body control to keep from doing them himself. No looking left, tapping the foot, change in heart rhythm or breathing. None of it. Even for a Jedi Master it would be difficult to trace anything on him.

He may not have stuck around the Order after training, but he was no slouch.

"Playing cards belong on the table, not dead bodies." He shrugged. "I'm sure there's someone out there who disagrees with me though. It's a big galaxy."

ATTIRE: Brown Pants and Duster w/ a Purple Shirt | WEAPONS: Purple Lightsaber, Metal Playing Cards

TAGS: Katarine Ryiah​

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Rafe Laroque


“I see.”

She sighed and pushed her long two toned hair out of her face. She was really getting too old for this stuff. Of course isn’t that what all cops said right before they went on to do even more stuff?

“Well maybe you can help me. You seem to know your way around, and I’m guessing whoever murdered the last senator is still hanging around, laying low. Maybe you can give me a tour and I might find who I’m looking for.”

 

[Rafe Laroque]

Rafe actually laughed at that.

"Darlin' I know you're a Jedi. You don't need me to show you around the city. Not that I'd really be any good at it unless you want to know everywhere in the city you can play a hand of sabaac."

Which, maybe she did want that based on what she'd said. Normally he'd be happy to help her out, but honestly he had the feeling she'd just make things harder on him. Especially since he needed to be leaving Ord Mantell soon to get to his next target. Wasn't as if they were going to off themselves, after all.

He stepped over to her and bumped her lightly as he toes the edge of the roof.

"Kinda late to find any good games, anyway. Might want to wait for tomorrow. Even us sabaac players gotta sleep."

He looked like he might jump, but he stopped and looked back at her.

"You have somewhere to stay right? Ord Mantell ain't too forgiving towards beautiful women at night, even Jedi."

ATTIRE: Brown Pants and Duster w/ a Purple Shirt | WEAPONS: Purple Lightsaber, Metal Playing Cards

TAGS: Katarine Ryiah​

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

Tags: Rafe Laroque

He mentioned that he knew she was a Jedi and that actually made her smile. The truth was Katarine didn’t know what she was anymore, but the fact that someone else had and opinion on that subject was interesting. Maybe she wasn’t as far gone as she thought.

“Well since we are being so forward… I know you killed the senator on Fondor. What I don’t know is why. You played a game inside to take down a house that was taking peoples good hard earned money … so you don’t strike me as someone who kills for sport. You wouldn’t care to enlighten me would you? I don’t want to go back to the police station with your description and let you take the fall for something you didn’t do. “

She unfolded her arms and put her own hands inside her jacket.

“THAT would be cheating if you asked me.”

His next question made her chuckle. “Are you offering? Because I’m just going to try and drag this out of you the longer we talk. I’m like a dog with a bone. “

 

[Rafe Laroque]

Well, that gave him pause. She thought he was the one who killed the senator on Fondor? Hmm. Maybe she wasn't as top notch as she thought she was. Or, perhaps, she was playing a con game to try and get him to cop to a murder so she could use an admission to get him in cuffs because she had no actual evidence to tie him to what had happened there.

"Almost sounds like you got Pure Sabaac and think you can't be beat," he said, offering her a wink. "But there's a better hand to be played yet, so don't bet too high."

She had it all wrong, and he was hinting as much, but he wasn't just going to tell her that outright, not out there in the middle of the city where someone opening a window could overhear them talking.

"But darlin' if you want stay with me, I'd be delighted. The best bar in the city isn't in a building, it's in my ship, and I'd be happy to make you whatever you want."

And perhaps more than that if she was the type for it, but considering she fingered him as a murderer, he kinda doubted it.

"Choice is yours, sugar. Follow if you want."

With that, he jumped down from the roof and landed easily on his feet; his hands never even left his pockets. He started moseying on down the road in the opposite direction of where he had been going earlier, because he had been intentionally leading the muscle head the wrong way. Meant now he didn't have to worry about running into him on his way back. And once again, he started whistling as he walked.

ATTIRE: Brown Pants and Duster w/ a Purple Shirt | WEAPONS: Purple Lightsaber, Metal Playing Cards

TAGS: Katarine Ryiah​