I just gritted my teeth, hiding my annoyance. For the tenth time in this short journey, I was regretting trading out the taciturn Imran for Eduard Boyko. Our Space Commando couldn’t hide his astonishment and elation when seeing the wonders of the space station, and just commented on everything he saw like a Central Asian aqyn singer. But worse than that, he was constantly making remarks and giving advice. Still, I had to answer:
“Well, we are going to the casino on business. I’m meeting with the owner, the head of the Pride of the Agile Paw. Actually, that’s what brought us to the pirate station in the first place.”
Then I fell silent because the doors slid aside, revealing the wonder I had just described. The far walls of the huge bright room were washed out and lost in the light fog and smoke. There were colorful bright lamps, innumerable statues and musical fountains. And among all that walked hordes of interplanetary beings of the most unbelievable shape and coloring. There was plenty here to make a visitor gape and drop their guard.
Eagle Eye skill increased to level seventy!
Tini, seeing two Miyelonians walk up to us who were seemingly having a peaceful conversation, hissed like a cat and his hair stood on end, making him look twice as big. After all, it was an odd couple if I considered it. There were no names nor professions over them, and they didn’t much look like space voyagers or tourists. The Miyelonians, without saying a word, walked away from us and moved toward a Trillian merchant crawling along unhurriedly and taking pictures.
“Former pridemates,” the kitten commented. “I used to be in the same pickpocketing group. Gerd Gnat, I just realized... might it not be worth calling your protectors? I’m sure that one word from Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo would be enough for the Pride of the Bushy Shadow to apologize to you and call off the bounty!”
I gave my kitten an affectionate scratch on his furry head and answered that I was grateful for his advice and would definitely use it eventually, but I didn’t yet see a good reason to bother such an influential Miyelonian. To myself, I thought that I really didn’t want to end up owing the Great Priestess or any other similarly influential Miyelonians and that asking for help would imply that, one day, they could ask me to perform a favor in return.
We passed through the great hall without incident and soon found ourselves standing before the casino. As usual, there was a group of sharps standing near the entrance. I pointed them out to my friends:
“I won’t tell you not to do any gambling. You’re not little, and I’m not your nanny. But let me warn you right away: it’s nearly guaranteed that you’ll lose to those guys if you sit at a gaming table.”
Psionic skill increased to level seventy-one!
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level fifty-two!
“I didn’t want to that bad anyway...” Eduard muttered, looking cautiously over the local swindlers.
The other crew members said similar things. They’d only come to the casino to accompany their captain, and they weren’t going to risk their money. Now that was great! Just what I wanted. I had enough concerns without having to drag an immiserated crew member out of the casino.
“Let’s go inside!” I ordered and, in a dense group, we walked through the doors as they slid welcomingly aside.
As with all my past visits, my nose was immediately struck with a tenacious intoxicating aroma of incense. My eyes rippled with the flickering colorful bulbs, and my ears were overwhelmed by the constant racket. Probably, the greatest designers, psychologists and gambling specialists in the Galaxy had come together to create the atmosphere in this cosmic casino. After all, slight disorientation, a sense of recklessness, relaxation and foolish happiness were inspired in visitors of every race. I could see the Geckho bearing their teeth and rumbling in my squadron. Ayni’s eyes went narrow, and stupid blissful smiles came over Minn-O and Eduard’s faces.
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level fifty-three!
Was that right? Was this some kind of hypnosis or mind control? Or was it my psionic defenses reacting to the atmosphere in the casino? In any case, I tried to shake it off and concentrate. But I didn’t manage to even come to my senses before a group of heavily armed security pointed me to a free Na-Tikh-U table:
“Gerd Gnat, please come with us. Our boss has been expecting you for some time.”
Well, well! Although, if I considered it, what was so surprising? The owner of the local casino had probably been alerted by the Great Priestess and was expecting me. It was hard to imagine better cover for exchanging a valuable trophy for cash than an opaque gaming dome. Alright then, why not? More with gestures than voice, I pointed my companions at a free table on the second floor of the stands, then to the bar and swarm of Miyelonian bartenders:
“You’re adults, you can decide for yourselves. Ayni, translate if anyone has any questions. I just want to warn you, Tini. Last time, you made a pig of yourself, drinking yourself unconscious. Try and keep it a little more under control this time!”
My crew knew what I wanted of them, so I followed the guards and took a seat right on the floor next to a small round table. Opposite me, there were already a few tall stacks of chips for my opponent. I tried to estimate how much was riding on this... uhh... those four black ones were a thousand, those were three, those were five hundred... Sixty thousand crypto?! A bit steep... I mean, that was four hundred twenty thousand Geckho crystals! And I had no doubt that these chips were not some mere window-dressing for a business meeting. This was a wager I was expected to match. Seemingly nettled by her earlier vexing loss, the casino owner had decided to have a rematch for the same amount as we played for before.
And here she was now, the head of the Pride of the Agile Paw! Accompanied by a group of attentive security, the short Miyelonian lady came down to the gaming floor draped head to toe in a free-flowing white gown. This time, the emerald green eyes of the pride leader were hidden behind a mirrored mask. She had learned her lesson last time. She was afraid of me...
The lady cat waved her hand demandingly, and her high-level soldiers hurried to leave us alone. A second later, an opalescent forcefield appeared over us, scrambling the beams of light and trapping in all sound.
“Well, Gerd Gnat, let’s pick up where we left off. This time you go first,” my opponent said, sitting on the floor opposite me and starting up the random board generator as if our last round had just finished and the week and a half since then had simply not happened.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, I activated Scanning to learn more about my gaming partner.
Miyelonian Female. Level-178 Swindler.
One hundred seventy-eight! That inspired a certain respect. I also immediately realized why the pregnant Miyelonian was hiding her class. Anyone sitting down to play her would instantly be put on guard by her profession. And my opponent’s tummy had grown noticeably over the last week and a half. If I wanted, I could probably have told the sex of her two future children. But I of course did not do that, remembering the Miyelonian superstition that knowing would invite tragedy.
“I know perfectly well why you are here...” the pride leader broke the silence, at the same time arranging her pieces on the three-dimensional holographic field.
I breathed a sigh of relief. All the better! I had already started forming the impression that a revenge match was my opponent’s only goal here. What could I say? As the Miyelonian knew, I didn’t pussyfoot around so I set the pure white fluffy tail on the table before me. However, she sharply jerked up and started shrieking in fear, so I quickly concluded the casino owner was caught completely off guard by the dangerous and rare trophy:
“Where’d you get THAT???”
Danger Sense skill increased to level forty-five!
My heart was pierced with a presentiment of disaster. I noticed her right hand slowly but surely crawling under her clothes, most likely reaching for a weapon. I had to explain double time before this turned into a big misunderstanding:
“I managed to get my hands on the G
reat Priestess’s tail, which the Morphian killer removed. I got right in touch with Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo and she suggested I return it to her for a reward of a million crypto. But she asked me to be secretive and to go through a trusted broker. Among them she named you, the head of the Pride of the Agile Paw. Actually, that was the main reason I came to the Medu-Ro IV station.”
The sense of danger immediately dissipated. She took her hand away from her bosom and spent a long time looking at the white fur shimmering in the light of the forcefield. Finally, the head of the Pride of the Agile Paw broke the silence and commented:
“Yes, I do know the incarnation of the Great First Female. Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo blessed my future children when she visited Medu-Ro IV. But to me, it is the greatest possible surprise that she considers me, the leader of a pride of swindlers and cheats, a ‘trusted broker.’ I have to admit, I am very flattered and will try to live up to the trust she put in me. Gerd Gnat, I of course will carry out the Great Priestess’s request and compensate your labor.”
Authority increased to 49!
The pure white tail disappeared from the table, and it was so instantaneous that even with my high Perception, I could only see a fleeting movement of the Miyelonian’s paw, barely detectable by the naked eye. My wallet vibrated, and I looked at the incoming message. A deposit of one million crypto!!! Finally! How long I had been waiting for this moment! I was ready to jump and laugh for joy, but my opponent’s cold and rational voice jerked me back to reality:
“Gerd Gnat, your turn. I’ll admit, I didn’t know why you came to visit me. I figured you had come for protection and the tokens I had on the table were my price. Now I know that isn’t so but, once a match has begun, it must be finished. Those are the rules. You’ll have our protection in any case, but if you can beat me, it will be free of charge.”
I gave a showy laugh, revealing my feelings:
“You think I can defeat a professional gambler who is one hundred and six levels higher than me and whose fingers are laden with Intelligence rings? You’re either trying to flatter me or lying! By the way, I recognize that ring! Intelligence +3. The Trillian merchant Ussh-Veesh promised to hold onto it for me. I guess he didn’t keep his word...”
The Miyelonian ignored what I said about her level and furrowed her brow unhappily:
“Gerd Gnat, don’t make false accusations of an honorable Trader! I never could have bought this rare ring no matter how I tried to convince Gerd Ussh-Veesh. I had to beg him to use it for just one game.”
So, my opponent was that seriously prepared for this? I guess her loss really stung! I quickly realized how senseless it was to keep arguing with the casino owner and started the game, making a roll and beginning to move my starships along the three-dimensional board. Now while playing, I asked her who she thought I needed protection from. The pirates of the Pride of the Bushy Shadow?
“Who else?” the Miyelonian snorted in surprise. “Just about every interested party here on Medu-Ro IV knows about your conflict now.”
“Come on, what conflict?” I waved it off, as if it was pure nonsense. “It’s just that young Captain Rikki slipped me some counterfeit crystals instead of paying fairly. And I flew here to demand he make me whole. And that is basically it...”
“Come now, Gerd Gnat. There’s no sense in trying to play clever!” she reproached, shaking her head as she skillfully cut off my front row of ships, dooming them to quick destruction. “The status of ‘dangerous pirate’ doesn’t just fall on your head. It’s pretty hard to come by. As far as I know, you’ve got to capture and rob at least two starships, then players the pirate has wronged can set a bounty on them. What, Gerd Gnat, are you saying you haven’t done that?”
Capture two starships? When had I done that??? Unless the game algorithms considered that space battle when I had the Morphian’s help and sort of hijacked Rikki’s interceptor. It may have been counting when we took the Meleyephatian frigate off the planetoid, too. It also may have taken into account the fact that the same interceptor was initially going to Uraz Tukhsh after the battle, but then I pinched it. Could that really be? Or was it considering the recent high-speed spat in the hangar, when I took the starship keys from the pirate captain and technically very briefly captured his ship? There were plenty of options that somehow fit the bill. You might say it wasn’t just two, but three or maybe even four instances of “piracy.” But nevertheless, it wasn’t fair to make an honest person a wanted criminal for such minor incidents!
Nevertheless, I had to admit that I had captured at least two starships and maybe even more. Although in any case, they had all been coincidental. I never wanted to become a pirate! The Miyelonian found my answer funny:
“So you accidentally stole a starship... and two times... or even three... and maybe four. It isn’t every day you hear of such things! Although, strange as it sounds, I believe you, human! Do you think I dreamed of becoming a swindler and professional gambler my whole life? You won’t believe it, but I used to be a law-abiding citizen! I dreamed of building open-work skyscrapers, unimaginable arches and bridges, which would simply hover over an abyss! But one day I had to smack down some jerk, then I had to teach a jackass a lesson... I didn’t even notice when I became a swindler... it was also an accident.”
I managed to pull off a great tactical combo in the game, driving her heavy fleet into a minefield and seriously damaging it. The owner of the space casino even spoke approvingly of my abilities:
“You’re doing great, Gerd Gnat! You’re already doing incomparably better than last time. With twenty-five or thirty years of constant training, you might even be able to beat me once and a while. But not today!”
In just two moves, my defenses were broken. My success with the mine field was just a distraction, which allowed my opponent to draw my forces away from the real breakthrough point and win. Hrm... Being able to play even half that well would take lots of work.
“You owe me sixty-thousand crypto,” the pride leader reminded me, stretching out her sore back and arms. “By the way, Gerd Gnat, I’d like to give you the chance to earn that back, maybe even more. Interested?”
Losing sixty thousand crypto had me very upset, although I was trying not to show it. However, I was very interested in getting my money back. The Miyelonian first checked to see I had given her all the money, then continued:
“Owning a space station casino is of course nice. It gives a stable income. But it isn’t enough. Me and my Pride of the Agile Paw need to grow. Gerd Gnat, you must already know that I have a certain interest in the rare metal business. I already have fast ships and experienced captains. But unfortunately that sphere is already occupied by the Pride of the Bushy Shadow, and it will be very difficult to edge them out. I do not desire a direct conflict with hardened pirates, but I see an easy chance to weaken a competitor. I just couldn’t figure out how to take it! And then, you came along, a Free Captain with the same enemy. And an enemy of an enemy is basically a friend, don’t you think?”
I also found the alliance beneficial but asked the leader of the pride to tell me what she wanted directly.
“You probably already know, Gerd Gnat, that the main forces of the Pride of the Bushy Shadow are not on Medu-Ro IV right now. They aren’t even in this system. I do not have all the information, but my informants have told me they’re on a ‘great hunt’ for a cargo ship transporting ore from a gold mine. The Pride of the Bushy Shadow has no more than fifteen soldiers on the station, and they’re all busy guarding their valuable bullion stores. My pride has the forces to deal with them, but the problem is that the guardsmen are locked inside the vault and will not open the door. And that’s where you come in!”
“You want me to open the armored door? But couldn’t any high-level Thief handle that better than me?” I didn’t understand.
“They’d notice and kill a thief, but you could make them open the door!” the high-level Swindler continued. “Just walk openly into their defended corridor and say you want
to have a talk with ‘someone important.’ Tell them you want to make peace with the Pride of the Bushy Shadow and that you are willing to compensate them to be removed from their enemy list. Every member of the Pride of the Bushy Shadow probably already knows about your conflict, so they won’t be surprised.”
Hmm... For now, it all looked plausible. In the guards’ place, I would not be surprised to see Gnat. After all, no one wants to be enemy of a whole pirate pride, so it would seem natural that I wanted to just pay them off and be done with it. The Miyelonian continued:
“The guards do not actually have the authority to add or remove someone from the pride enemy list, but they will probably figure you’re some naïve rich guy they can rob, so they’ll try that. They’ll start suggesting you send them various amounts of crypto ‘as compensation.’ But you refuse and insist you only have Geckho crystals. That is how you get the guards to open the door. The guards will be convinced you aren’t a threat, and greed will probably win the day. As soon as the doors open, your job is over. From there, my cloaked soldiers will sneak in and block the armored door, then my assault troops will storm the vault and do all the dirty work.”
Danger Sense skill increased to level forty-six!
I thoughtfully led my gaze over the system message. Even without that, I already knew perfectly well that I was being offered the role of scapegoat, and all the anger of the enraged pirate pride would be coming down on my head. Most likely, after all, every Pride of the Agile Paw soldier would try not to identify themselves. The only reliably identifiable figure would be me, so they’d be coming after me to get their money back. Not good...
However, I wasn’t one to turn down a profitable venture just because of a little danger. First of all, I asked her to tell me what I stood to gain for becoming target number one of a dangerous pirate pride.
“One hundred thousand crypto now as a down payment, then you can take everything you can carry from the vault! Well, and my pride will defend you from the Pride of the Bushy Shadow on Medu-Ro IV for let’s say... three days. My guys will look like simple mercenaries, who you paid with the money you took from the vault, so the Pride of the Agile Paw’s participation will go unnoticed.”
Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series Page 27
