Urbaan sat in the rec center staring calmly at the 4 cards in his hand. Smirk firmly in place, he let his gaze crawl up to the Chief Petty Officer sitting across from him.
“What do you got, friend?” Urbaan asked with a drawl that only seemed to come out at a table like this.
The large man glared at the young punk who had been taking his money all afternoon, “I’m not your friend, Crewman,” He said with a snarl, “I am a Chief Petty Officer in the Imperial Navy and your superior. You would be wise not to forget that!”
Urbaan’s Smirk grew as he let his eyes fall back to his cards. The Chief sure seemed more amicable before he lost all his money to an 18 year old kid. It was funny how financial disappointment spurred the protocol reflex in anyone who outranked you.
Smoke wafted past Urbaan, reminding him of the pack of Lung Blasters in his flight suit pocket. He pulled one and lit it, offering one as a second thought to his opponent, who shook his head quickly. Urbaan shrugged and brought his focus back to his hand. After another few seconds he discarded the Mistress of Sabres and the 3 of Coins, and placed his two remaining cards in the neutral field.
The chief didn’t even draw, obviously anxious to end this slow evisceration.
“Call.” said the Chief smugly, showing his cards.
The automated dealers mechanical voice chirped “Twenty Two, Commander of Flasks and the Ten of Staves. Player Two please show your cards”
Urbaan didn’t even look down as he turned over one, then two cards. The Mechanical voice chirped again, “Ace of Staves and Seven of Coins, Twenty Three, Pure Sabacc. Player one wins."
The chief stood up quickly and turned on a heel, muttering something about “…See you in the air…” and left the center. With a laugh, another recruit sat down next to Urbaan.
“Not a good idea, man, pissing off the Chief like that. What if you get him as Flight Leader or something.
Urbaan gave the kid a serious look as he put out his cigarette, “Then I will be rich, and he will be poor.”
The two stared at each other for a second, then burst out with laughter. Urbaan sat back and lit another smoke, offering one to the kid next to him, who took it out of habit. He was a social smoker, as Urbaan had learned in Flight School, and Urbaan actually found him amusing, which was rare. The two smoked in silence for a moment, looking around the room. Today the Rec Center had been the victim of a takeover by recruits. The Aviators Exam had ended less than an hour ago, and the recruits were told to find something to do until Training Officers had a chance to grade them. This freedom after the rigorous structure of flight school was unsettling, so the recruits kind of wandered the halls in small packs until coming here, where they could all worry together. That Chief had probably made a tradition of fleecing Sabacc players who were too worried about test results to put up a fight. Heh, heh, serves him right.
The kid shifted and the synthetic booth material squeaked.
This place was certainly cleaner than the bar where he had learned about cards, of course so was the garbage bin, but that was to be expected. Nar Shadda wasn’t known for it’s fine accommodations. The kid next to him wouldn’t have lasted 5 seconds there with his soft hands and preppy haircut. Well, that wasn’t exactly fair. Once he had been this kid, stars in his eyes and all, and he had learned…fast. One grew up quickly on the smugglers moon.
“How do you think you did?” asked the kid with almost, but not quite, no subtlety at all.
“I try not to think about it,” replied Urbaan, “either we passed or we didn’t.”
“That’s a bit depressing, what if we didn’t pass?” All traces of nonchalance had passed now, and the kid had reverted back to one of the pack animals.
Urbaan sighed, disappointed. “Look kid, if your smart enough to figure out thrust to lift ratios and not fly a Tie into a schoolhouse, then you're smart enough to find something worthwhile to do with your life. Don’t stress so much, the Galaxy shall unfold as it wills whether or not we get what we want.”
The kid looked annoyed, “You know, you’ve called me kid since we met, and I’ve told you my name a dozen times, it‘s--”
Urbaan stopped him, “I don’t care. It’s not that I don’t like you, it’s simply the fact that if you or I didn’t pass that exam I doubt were ever going to see each other again. I can’t waste time making “buddy-buddy” with someone that may vanish tomorrow.”
The kid stood up angrily, said “Thanks for the smoke” and went over to another group of recruits. If people kept leaving like this, he might start to feel dejected.
After what seemed like days of playing Sabacc Sims with the dealer, the rec center door opened and one of the instructors walked in, downloaded some data into a pad on the wall and left without a word. After one or two seconds of dignified silence, the pack animals descended. The recruits crowded the wall, scanning the pad to see if their dreams came true. A few cheers and tearful hugs later it was over, and the room cleared. Urbaan got up, collected his things and headed towards the pad.
Time to see where my next meal is coming from.