Chapter Text
Ord Mantell - by all rights a chaotic mess - to some the prime example of all that was wrong in the world, but to others freedom in its most basic form.
Omega really enjoyed Cid’s parlor, or she had learned to enjoy it. It hadn’t been easy … until she figured out to embrace the chaos rather than trying to make sense of it. The world was so much bigger than she had been lead to believe, so much possibilities. It was exciting honestly.
She took her preferred seat at the end of the bar; this way she had a nice overview of the going-ons in the parlor. Echo had chosen to stay on the ship as a look-out … or as much as one could be on look out while entertaining a guest, wink, wink. For trained soldiers, her crewmates were all equally terrible at sneaking around, Omega thought with a smile. She sipped her juice. It amused her how uncomfortable they all were at disclosing this kind of information to her.
Hunter had business to discuss in Cid’s office and Wrecker was challenging a rival crew to a drinking contest. A loud belch rang through the bar. ‘Ugh, that isn’t going to end well,’ she thought, ‘… for either side.’
Tech sat by her side, he was nursing a drink … a tad stronger than hers. He was wallowing. He’d lost a game of Sabacc earlier this evening. Tech, again, had overshot his hand and once the other guys figured out his tell, all hope was lost … they’d cleaned him out.
Crosshair, however, persisted at the table. Out of all the crew he was the best at the game Omega observed. He was stoic enough to remain an enigma throughout the game, could count cards well enough and had a knack for reading his opponents as well. His biggest weakness was his lack of patience. He often got bored at the halfway point and never really found a reason to suffer through an entire game.
Actually, Omega noted, the game already lasted long past Crosshair’s usual breaking point. Omega frowned, she wondered what had peaked his interest.
Tech noticed her staring. He straightened out the goggles which sat crooked on his nose.
“He’s hoping to win the flintlock pistol,” Tech said, “I noticed him eying it earlier.”
“What’s so special about it?” Omega asked, “He’s got an entire arsenal.”
“It was his favorite,” Tech muttered, he sipped his drink, “He lost one a while ago. Strange though, he usually takes such good care of his equipment.”
Omega thought back, she remembered them all gniffling whenever they caught Crosshair cleaning his already immaculate pistol. His absolute favorite. It must have been worth quite some money. Omega’s eyes widened when she remembered the particular firearm in question and the last time she’d seen it. Back at the orphanage on Skako Minor, where he traded it to save her.
She swerved around in her seat … she had to help him! Omega sat up to have a better view of the game.
Four people remained at the table, including Crosshair.
Omega kept an eye out and for a while it looked like he would win. The one sitting across from Crosshair had quite an obvious tell and Omega was sure Crosshair had caught on. Crosshair usually could read people pretty well and had a special talent to sniff out their insecurities. Her crewmember already had collected a significant pile of winnings. Then again, the end of a poker game was very different compared to the start of a game and Crosshair had rarely stuck around long enough to witness the end of the game.
Omega winced as he got overconfident and two rounds of bad luck later, his credits started to dwindle … along with his patience.
‘Come on, come on, stick it out. You almost have them,’ Omega prayed. Unfortunately, Crosshair’s temper snapped and he shoved away his chair with dramatic flair.
“Oh, boy,” Tech said and intervened before Crosshair got them banned from yet another bar. Tech took him by the elbow and tried to usher him away.
“Yeah that’s right!” the man called, “Run away.”
Crosshair’s face turned scarlet. They’re lucky he’d come unarmed. The men all laughed while they counted the money. Tech struggled to keep his hold. Crosshair managed to duck underneath Tech's grasp. Omega jumped up, hands clasped over her mouth as she watched him advance towards the gamblers. Luckily, Wrecker intercepted him. It took both Tech and Wrecker to drag Crosshair out like a snarling Tooka.
Omega released the breath, she really hated violence. Crosshair would be a pain to live with for a while, but at least he hadn’t gotten into more trouble than a single game of Sabacc was worth.
Speaking of which. Omega stayed behind and something hot bubbled in her chest as she watched the gamblers mock Crosshair. Making fun of him was a privilege reserved for the crew of the Havoc Marauder.
Before she could think twice about it she plopped herself in the vacant spot at the Sabacc table.
“Beat it pip-squeak,” the men were still laughing and distributing the winnings. Omega hated being ignored. The rattle of her coin purse got their attention though.
“I want to play,” she declared, all eyes were on her now.
For a second she feared they’d disregard the game entirely and would just flat out steal her credits. Echo had warned her she still was a tad too naïve to survive long on her own … she feared he might be right. Greedy gazes and hands twitching towards weapons betrayed the men’s initial instinct. Omega gulped, but stood her ground.
Their eyes drifted to something behind her and they all deflated instantly. Omega looked over her shoulder to see Hunter and Cid sitting at the bar. Arms crossed and disapproving stares observing the Sabacc table. Emboldened by their presence, Omega dared to be a bit cocky.
“Deal the cards, twenty credit buy in, if you want to bow out now is the time gentlemen,” she waited with folded hands for them to deal the cards.
The three men blinked. One left laughing, the other two sat back down. They couldn’t steal her money with Cid and Hunter on high alert, but they could take it all in a fair game of Sabacc.
Omega waited patiently until the cards were divided and everyone looked at their hand. She released a breath. She had played against others multiple times and usually let them win … as a lady it was almost a crime to show up the men around you. But, she had learned a lot since then and she realized now that the rule was a steaming pile of bantha-crap … Wrecker’s words.
Now, she had the advantage of having observed these guys go a couple of rounds against Crosshair before. Therefore, Omega had already recorded some of their tendencies. The one with the horrible red shirt swirled his mustache whenever he had a good hand. She hadn’t pegged the one with the gun yet, but he’d been very overconfident during the last game and Omega looked forward to use that against him.
She took a peek at her first hand and deflated. A perfect Sabacc already. She was hoping to get these guys to underestimate her. Later in the game, when they would be reckless and she had a chance to memorize the order of the cards, she would spring her trap.
For the first three rounds she folded too early and made some stupid gambles to lose about half her credits. About an hour later she hid her smile behind her cards, the men were getting the right amount of cocky and drunk for her to switch the tables.
“Omega,” Hunter tapped her shoulder, “Perhaps it is time to walk away,” he said carefully. Omega would have laughed, but she had a game-face to maintain.
So, she patted Hunter’s hand away, “Please, Hunter, I can turn it around, I swear!” she pleaded and gave him her most fake-innocent smile. The very one he associated with her being up to some mischief. It made the little hairs on his neck stand on end. He backed away thoughtfully. Hunter didn’t trust the people she was playing against, but he also knew better than to underestimate Omega.
“Yeah, let the kid play,” the one with the mustache taunted. He had been swirling at that thing for the past four minutes, it was a wonder his upper lip had any hair left.
“It’s going to turn around any second now,” she foretold. The others laughed their asses of. Hunter glared at the two men, but gave her a nod and stepped away … but not too far.
The mustache twirler obviously had a decent hand, but based on the estimations she'd run and the hand she carried it could only be a high pair ... while she had an Imperial flush. Omega tried her best to hide her smirk behind her winning hand.
From that point on, she made no more mistakes and won game after game. She only lost once more on purpose when she noticed the man with the gun loosing hope and itching to leave. But with his interest and hope for a good ending restored she continued cleaning them out.
The next round she took most of his winnings back and the round after that he was ready to bet the gun. Though, when she ran the calculations again, the game could go either way. The man with the gun either had a perfect Sabacc or a high pair. Whilst, Omega had a low Sabacc. She decided to go for it and cheered when he threw his high pair on the table with a curse.
Omega reached for the pile but was stopped. She hadn’t expected his partner to come through, he had kept quiet all round long … mustache untwirled … and fanned himself with the cards revealing a perfect Sabacc.
Even with losing the last round, Omega did leave with a substantial amount of credits. It felt like a hollow victory. She gathered her loot.
“You should know better than to hustle yer elders and betters kid,” the guy with the mustache said, the gun had been a hollow victory for him. He stood over her arms crossed.
“If you were my better, you’d have beaten me,” she pointed out. This infuriated the man, but the moment he made a fist Hunter appeared behind him. Omega noticed the flash of a blade pricking the man between the fourth and fifth rib.
“Are you sure about that?” Hunter asked. Omega tried not to feel too smug. She’d be in a world of trouble if Hunter hadn’t been here as back-up. Also, she hadn’t achieved her primary objective. The mission had been a failure.
The men drooped off and started fighting amongst themselves for the flintlock. Omega sighed.
“Hey, why the long face?” Hunter nudged her shoulder with a soft smile. He took a knee and helped her collect the credits before anyone else got interested.
“I really wanted that pistol,” she admitted.
Hunter frowned, “Why? We have plenty on board, you can have one of mine if you want?”
“No, its …” she waited for the people behind her to pass by out of earshot, “… I wanted to get it for Crosshair, he …”
Hunter’s eyes followed the one boasting as he held the coveted weapon above the loser’s head, “It’s similar to the one Crosshair lost?”
“He didn’t lose it,” she admitted, “He traded it for me on Skako Minor.”
“Crosshair did?” this was news to Hunter, his eyes went wide as he processed the information, “Huh.”
“Please don’t tell the others, I don’t know why he kept it a secret but. I don’t want him to hate me again,” Omega explained.
Hunter smiled and ruffled her hair, but held his tongue. “You know, you have quite a lot of credits here,” he pointed out.
“I have,” Omega said with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to make his point.
“There is an arms-dealer around the corner, I bet we can buy the latest model if we haggle a bit,” Hunter offered.
Omega smiled, that was a great idea, there was only one snag. “Echo says I suck at haggling,” she admitted.
Hunter barked a laugh, “If you can play Sabacc like that, believe me you can haggle,” Hunter smiled, “Besides, if you ask Cid nicely I’ll bet she’ll go with you.
"There’s no one who’s as ruthless at negotiating like Cid ,” Hunter said. Omega laughed, Hunter complained often enough about Cid’s tendency to drive a hard bargain when discussing the payments.
"That's a great idea, lets go!"