here it is part 1!
The boy pushed forward with all of his weight and dragged the heavy broom across the floor, another couple of bristles fell out and another choking cloud of dust rose up. The boy coughed once and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his grimy shirt before carrying on.
He held his breath as he pulled the wet cloth from the bucket, wrung it out and started to wipe the vomit from the floor. The water was already dark from cleaning the bar, but the boy was too tired to get up and change it. The smell from the foul stuff rose up to his nostrils, but the bar already stank enough for it to make little difference.
A sharp pain shot up his arm as he cut himself on a shard of glass. His finger went straight to his mouth, but not before a few drops of bright red blood landed on the shard of glass he had missed. He looked down on the glass and bright green eyes starred back at him, contrasting with the bright crimson of his blood.
Eventually he had finished cleaning his father's bar. The crowd had been rowdy tonight, disturbing his sleep, and it had taken him a long time to clear up the mess. He slipped out of the door and quietly eased it shut behind him, fearing to wake his father. He squelched up the nearby hill and sat down on a flat piece of wood he had dragged up here a long time ago.
He sighed as he sat down on the hard wood, flinching as his blood-soaked bandage caught on a splinter of wood. Nal Hutta was a flat place and he could see a long way from here. Just down below him was the retched settlement where he lived, it was a small town on the outskirts of the planets largest port. Most of the people here worked at that port moving shipments of goods from place to place, most of the people were slow witted and heavily built. He couldn't remember the last time he had had a conversation with one of them.
He raised his eyes, above the border of the little town. To the north was the port city of Arduan the bright signal lights lit up the damp Nal Hutta atmosphere and made the sky glow red. Like the moon Nar Shaddaa the place was a hive of smugglers, corrupt merchants and other scum. It was quite a disconcerting sight. A large sprawling city with a vast red haze above it, almost as if the place was cursed.
He wandered why humans had ever come to this place. The land was flat and marshy and the atmosphere thick, damp and hot. Humans had of course quickly adapted, they had learned to build on the bogs and over a few generations they were now excellent at staying cool in the hot, constricting atmosphere where sweating was almost no use. But still the people here were living under the shadow of the Hutt population. The Hutt tolerated the human presence because they made excellent bodyguards and smugglers. They also liked to have something in-between themselves and the outside world, they valued their privacy.
One thing, the boy reflected, that no man had learned to live with was the day. The days here lasted a massive 87 hours and there was no-one who could stay awake for much over twenty. Instead the people treated it as two days, one light and one dark. They would work hard during the first part of daylight, before it got too hot, then they would rest. They would wake up for dusk and go back to work and then they would enjoy themselves for as much of the night as they could stand. The boy didn't come out much during the day; he mostly stayed inside and cleaned the bar. He dozed when it reached the busiest hours as his father hired more people then. When it was closing time he would get up and clean the place up as quickly as possible and then he would come out for the night. He loved the night.
He swivelled himself around and looked at the nearest Hutt city, a very different place from Arduan. The richest Hutt families gathered vast amounts of wealth and could live in luxury.
The boy laid down and looked up. His eyes were drawn instantly to the great nebula. It was a thing of absolute beauty, most nights he would spend hours just starring at it. If he looked at it for long enough he could make out many patterns in the gas, each of them adding to the spectacular
Tonight however his gaze shifted almost immediately. The moon Nar Shaddaa moved slowly across the night sky, closer and closer to the nebula. It was not a thing of beauty. It was black in colour, but bright orange lights criss-crossed its surface making it look like the rock was breaking up. He had been told that it was the centre of the galaxy to many people. Those people being the same kind that inhabited Arduan. The moon drifted across the Nebula, it looked like an intrusion. One terrible dark, evil entity moving across the image of beauty.
The boy looked back down and sat up, he would go walking tonight.
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He woke slowly. Eventually he gained enough consciousness to stop the thing that had been annoying him. He reached across his bed and turned off his alarm. Most nights a crowd of young burley men came into the bar to drink and fight the night away. One night a week was different though.
One night a week none of those men were foolish enough to come into the bar. Tonight a small group of people would come from the city to gamble and talk. They were wealthy merchants from the city and they would use this time to make deals and sign contracts in the privacy of the small quiet town. The boy didn't really know why they came to his father's bar, but he understood that his father had once been one of them. He swung his legs out from under the covers and stood up, reaching for his trousers.
He opened his door and walked out onto the gallery above the bar. The tables had already been set and the men were already off. They played various games, most with cards. He sat down and hung his legs over the edge of the gallery and held onto the rails and watched.
At first they had complained about the small boy starring at them with intense green eyes, they were used to it now and ignored him. The boy liked to watch them cheat. At first he had never noticed them cheating, but now it was easy to see. His quick eyes followed their hands and counters and he found it amusing to watch people slyly hoard counters or hide cards. He had even learnt to spot the men playing tricks with the cards to make sure they had the advantage. He tested his wits this way every week, it was a relief from the boredom of life.
He looked down at the table where his father's best fried sat. J'den was a powerful man, the child could see it in the way the others looked at him. J'den was a tall darkly coloured man, who was also a good friend of his father's.
Seeing the boy looking at him the man smiled even more and waved. The boy smiled back, he liked J'den. J'den was always smiling and was genuinely nice to him.
After watching for a few seconds the boy saw that a lightly built, fair haired man sat across from J'den was trying to cheat him. He watched as the man quickly slid a pink counter up his sleeve as he laughed about a joke someone had just made. The motion had been ever so quick, but the boy's keen eyes spotted it.
Somehow by the end of the game J'den had still won. Shaking hands with the other players he stood up and went to talk to the boys father. The boy stood up and went down to talk to him.
"What do you want boy?" His father said. The boy shrank back into his shirt, but J'den smiled and patted his head.
"How've you been Raz?"
"Good, thank you sir," the boy replied. His father was about to say something when J'den cut in;
"Give the boy a rest 'Leth I'll watch him," the boys father looked at J'den for a second and then walked off into a back room. J'den looked down at him and smiled.
"You were watching our game I saw you!" he said in mock anger.
"Sorry I didn't mean to put anyone off if that's what I did i&.."
"No, no its fine lad. Do you ever get to play double twist?"
"Only when you play with me," the boy replied, reflecting that J'den not his father had taught him how to play the various games.
"We could play now if you like? I have some business to do, but not for a while."
"That man was trying to cheat you!" Raziel said. He just blurted it out and pointed to the fair haired man. J'den starred at him, he looked at him seriously for a second.
"You noticed him cheat?" he asked suspiciously. The boy wandered if he was in trouble.
"Yes sir, he was hoarding some pink and red counters, as well as swapping the dice over." J'den smiled at him and held his hand to his chin in thought.
"Come sit over here and we'll play something." J'den sat at a table and set all of his counters on the table.
"Now Fenith over there," he indicated the fair haired man. "Is actually quite a good cheat. I wouldn't expect any novice to notice what he does. You see he is a good player, not excellent, good. He has a weak grasp of subtlety and his hands are quick, to spot what he does you'd have to have sharp eyes and a quick mind." The boy smiled with pride.
"Thank you. How good are you?"
"Do you ever see me cheat?" J'den asked
"No" the boy replied slowly
"Do you think that's because I don't?" he just looked at J'den. "What you have to understand lad is that cheating is a part of the game for us, those who are best at it win. Although there are occasions when you need to lose, but I wont go into that." He looked at the boy for a second, an idea hit him. "Would you like me to show you how to cheat?" the boy didn't even think about it.
"Yes"
"Ok then, there are some things you need to know first. I want you to remember these things, they don't just apply to the games we play here either.
"First of all hide you assets. Never let anyone know what you can do, what you know and what you're planning. If you know everything about your opponent and can guess what he will do next you already have a huge advantage." J'den smiled and paused for a second. The boy was digesting what he had just said and he could see that the boy would understand. This kid was sharp.
"Ok number two: distract people, divert their attention. It is one thing to have you opponent guessing, it is entirely different when they think you're doing something you're not." Again J'den paused for a second and read the boys reaction.
"Lastly you must move in ways they do not expect you to move in. Strike unexpectedly and take control when they least expect it. In this way you can keep your opponent guessing and take control. Oh and also take every advantage; don't be afraid to cheat, because the next man would do the same to you. If everyone is willing to take advantage of you, don't be afraid to take advantage of them."
Raziel smiled, he thought he understood. Again J'den watched him for a second to read his reaction, the boy would make a fine businessman.
"Now enough of the life skills and back to games. By the rules you have to leave your counters on show, some people take advantage of this rule by hiding the odd counter they believe will be important. Remember rules two and three. This means don't hide counters which the other players believe are important to you, they will notice and distract people so they don't see what you are doing."
J'den started bouncing some counters in his hand. He then smiled as Raziel watched the counters intently. The boy had seen people do this before, if he kept track of each of the bouncing counters he would spot the missing one.
"You missed it," he smiled.
"They're still there!" the boy protested.
"You're absolutely right, these counters are here!" he looked down at a pile of counters by his right hand. The boy smiled.
"You see most players you've seen will do something like bounce counters or play tricks with them to distract you from the fact that they are hiding them. However the good players let people watch them do this as they go about cheating elsewhere." He pushed the pile of counters towards the boy. "You try!"
The kid started bouncing the counters in his left hand. "Like this?" he asked.
"Yes, but don't look at them look elsewhere. You don't want to make anything too obvious. If you need to look at something important distract them with something and move your eyes quickly."
The child carried on bouncing the counters, J'den saw something flash in the corner of his eye and saw that some counters were gone from the pile.
"Wow!" he said, genuinely impressed. "That was damn fast!" he looked at the smiling boy for a second before regaining his composure.
"Anyway you looked at the counters for too long! You have to completely throw people."
Then J'den went on to show him more techniques and was more and more impressed by the lad's potential. Then two Twi'leks stood in the doorway looking in their direction.
"Sorry lad, but I've got to go. I'll be here again next week."
"What's it like having power?" the boy asked quietly. The question completely threw the man.
"Good. The respect is the best part of it. However the worst part is you can't rest, there's always someone trying to take it from you." He looked to the two Twi'leks at the door who were starting to disturb people.
"I'll see you next week."
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Raziel sat on the gallery again, waiting for J'den to turn up. While he waited he watched the men playing. He realised that there was a whole new level to the games that he hadn't seen before. His eyes followed the player's movements and he kept the boredom away for another evening by testing himself.
He looked down at a stray coin on the floor. He looked back down at the gamblers and shifted the way that he sat, at the same time his hand snaked out and snatched the coin. He looked down at it and started thinking.
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Please when you read this post a comment. If i know people are reading this i'll get on with part 2
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SL/SGMTRaziel/4SQD/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/ {EW1} {WoS} {VP} {IG}
Squad Leader - Squad4 Wraiths
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.
