Backpost: Bedrock

Posted on Fri Jan 11th, 2013 @ 1:21am by Sev Rezer & Kalen "Rex" Vickers

2,228 words; about a 11 minute read

Chapter: Chapter III: Relics
Location: Coruscant Undercity
Timeline: 2200 Hours (Local Time), Day Six

ON

Down at the Bedrock Level, Coruscant was dark, dirty and dangerous. The law didn't get too far here and when did get there, it didn't stay long. The lights were replaced and destroyed weekly and criminals, vagrants and lost souls walked around the level, looking for food, a chance to get rich or to hunt prey. There were also the innocent; people that lived there because they were too poor to live any place else.

The security was maintained by outposts and when crime rose too much, CoruSec swarmed the place, arrested the same people and even killed some that were real threats.

For Sev Rezer, the Bedrock Level was his home on Coruscant. It was the place where he found out about jobs, where got his supplies and heard about rumors. It was a place where he could find some bounty hunters on leave and others retired. All that in the same place - the traditional bar called The End Game.

As soon as Sev entered, several patrons nodded to him or looked at him with despise. No one could settle personal scores in the place; it was the rule established by the owner Zack "Stumbler" Has, an old retired Bounty Hunter. Everyone respected Zack and his rules because, in the end, the place was still the best for getting good paying jobs.

"Sev Rezer", said Zack, behind the counter, "You took awhile to get back here", he added, serving Rezer a mug of Mandalorian beer. "Heard that you made a mess with the Slugs".

"Things got complicated", Sev simply said. "Have you seen Rex? I need a few things."

"You're lucky, kid", Zack said. "He's back there, playing pazaak."

As if on a cue, a large collective noise of groans and cheers carried from the back room Zack kept for games of sabacc and pazaak as well as other gambling ventures. Although not a game that was as popular or well-spread as sabacc (particularly in the modern day), pazaak had survived since the years of the First Republic around the time of the Jedi Civil War. Its simplicity and enjoyment factor made it easy to access and play for the people of the galaxy, and was still going strong in cantinas even if not as well publicised.

In the spacious but dimly-lit and foul-smelling room, pungent with the odours of a variety of species both playing and observing, Kalen "Rex" Vickers could be seen settled into one of the poorly-built chairs, his brown eyes smiling even though his mouth was set and he focused on the cards before him, and the Nikto opponent sat opposite him, who was clearly in a far less agreeable mood than the Cartel supplier.

The small crowd of nobodies and nothings had grouped together tighter in what must have been one of the later games of the evening; the money in the centre had reached three and a half thousand credits, the pool that everyone had entered initially and had clearly risen in recent hour(s). Most seemed to be supporting Rex, finding the charming and happy-go-lucky dark-skinned Human a far more agreeable player to support.

The Nikto had two other of his species behind him, also looking angrily at Rex across the table as he ended his turn on nineteen, one of the best pazaak score. He then looked gruffly amused as it became Rex's turn. They had been playing first to three, and both were at two, but Rex - as before - remained calm and happy.

His cards racked up until reaching twenty-five. A gasp came from those about him and the Nikto began cackling; Rex had only one card left in his hand he could play, having used up his other three in previous turns. But with an amused grin and the flick of his finger, he threw down the 'Minus Five' card, bringing his score down to twenty. An almighty shout of "Pazaak" jumped up from everyone, but as Rex leant forward to grab the credits, the Nikto jumped up and threw a clawed finger in Rex's face.

"You cheated!" He roared in his own tongue. "You already had two 'Five' cards!" He went on, smacking his fist down and beady black eyes full of fury at having lost a sizeable number of credits.

"Hey, hey," Rex said with what he hoped to be soothing voice, raising his hands in a defensive posture towards the Nikto, palms facing out. "There's no need to get violent; we've just been enjoying a friendly game together, right? Look, look... I'll tell you what: I'll buy you a few drinks, give you a little extra to cover you for another game, and maybe we can all be co-"

The Nikto gave a guttural growl and magicked up a small blade from his foot area, and the small crowd gave a small yelp, a Twi'lek girl (who looked far too young to be at The End Game). "Whoah, whoah!" Rex said, standing himself and taking a step back, knocking over the chair. He did not dare let his hand drop too close to Cindra, his slightly-modified DL-18 blaster, in case it made the Nikto jumped forward with the blade, plunging it into his gut.

"Look, I'll give you some of the creds, it's cool, my friend. I just want to get a few Jawa juices and be on my way." Rex flashed a smile with a small but nervous shrug. He could handle himself fine in a firefight; he was notoriously apt at discovering improvised cover. He always preferred to blast non-essential parts of the body - Rex had no love for violence and certainly not murder; finding an agreeable solution for all parties was even best, even if it was a blade-toting impoverished Nikto.

"Drop the knife and leave. Now. Or I will have the pleasure of blasting your head off," said Sev to the Nikto. "Hi Rex. Still a lousy pazzak player. Give this scumbag two hundred creds. That will be enough for him, wouldn't it?", he said with a touch of menace at the end.

The Nikto dropped the knife and nodded fast as he saw his life flash before his eyes.

"Hey," Rex stepped over to the lead Nikto, offered him his best winning grin and gave him a lit pat on the shoulder, "let's call it four hundred and no hard feelings, right?" He passed over the credits in his other hand.

At first, the alien gambler looked at Rezer warily, but quickly snatched the credits and darted towards the door, giving a nasty hiss to the Mandalorian who had got in his way as he disappeared off with his cronies.

The others who had been watching began to disperse, particularly as Sev's eyes bore into each of them, making it clear he was not in a conversational mood. Rex gave each a look or a thumbs-up to try and cool any angry heads, but most seemed pleased that no blood had been spilled or otherwise. When it was just the pair of them, Rex placed a hand on Rezer's back and led them towards the main bar.

As they stopped and the bartender brought over a couple of drinks - two garishly pink-coloured and frothing drinks with umbrellas poking out of them - Rex made a face and let a long gush of wind escape his mouth. "Man, you saved my bantha hide back there," he said, grabbing the drink and sipping some it through the clear straw, the liquid turning blue as it made its way up, "you know me: I'm a lover, not a fighter, but I was sure I was gonna have to blast that guy in the foot. Thanks, Sev."

The dark-skinned human placed the drink down upon the grimy, sticky bar and turned to the bounty hunter. "So what brings you back so early? Get caught up in that little Hutt turf war on Nar Shaddaa? It's 'cause of that I've not headed back yet; Cartel's got me staying out here and making as many creds as possible, but I'll be leaving in the next couple of days."

Sev didn't like to admit it, but he liked Rex. The human was talkative and could be very annoying sometimes, but he was well connected and very good in getting things. Not that he wouldn't think twice about betraying Sev if the creds were good. So far, Sev and Rex understood each other: Rex didn't betray Sev and Sev didn't blow his head off in retribution. Sev had heard of friendships that started even with less trust than that.

"Things are never what they look like, Rex", said the Mandalorian. "The slugs did fight each other, but there were Jedi involved", he paused. "Which explain why I'm looking for you. I need equipment. Not any kind of equipment... I want the kind that I used in my... former profession. I will need it for my next target."

Gulping loudly as Sev made the request, Rex's eyebrows shot up and eyes grew wider. After wiping a bit of the drink from his mouth with his already-dirtied sleeve, he looked the Mandalorian up and down a couple of times. "I thought you'd got yourself outta that line of work, Sev?"

"I had. But someone made an offer that I couldn't refuse", Sev replied. "I'm going after the Jedi of Nar Shadda. I'm going to be paid for it and it has some personal matter in it too."

Rex let out a long gush of air, something that approximated a strained sigh, to express his thoughts on the matter. He looked over and beyond the bar, as if searching into the horizon for a difficult answer before glancing back to Rezer. "Goin' after those Jedi from Nar Shaddaa, eh? Well, I can't imagine Grogga would have many problems with that," he said, referencing the Hutt that was responsible for most of his payroll, "but that stuff really don't come easy. I mean, yeah, I got the standard kriff on the G-bit and stowed away at the Cartel safehouses, but most of that stuff's custom."

With a small shrug, he took a sip of his beverage before continuing. "I'm gonna have to make most of it up myself, y'know? You in a rush? 'Cause it'll take a few days, assuming I can get all of the pieces together, and you pay me up front." Rex then gave another of those winning smiles and a friendly shrug. "You know I'm good for it, Sev."

Sev gave the human a very dangerous smile. "Rex, you know I like you because I haven't killed you yet, but don't push your luck. I can ask anyone here and one in five will say you owe them some money. I could go further and head to the other side of the level and ask for Galen Zaset, and ask him how much you're owing these days... or I can pay you half now and half on delivery and you avoid having to explain to Galen where his three thousand creds are."

At the mention of the last debt, a stream of Rex's drink was blast through the front of his mouth, and he quickly tried to regain his composure, concerned eyes glaring at Sev as he wiped his mouth clean with his sleeve again.

Sev leaned towards Rex. "What do you prefer?"

"'Kay, 'kay," Rex hushed in a lowered and panicked tone, waving his hands up and down at the bounty hunter. "No need to get all cocky, eh? We're all buddies here, right, Sevvy?" At the sight of the look the Mandalorian gave him at the nickname, the small smile that had appeared immediately dropped. "Alright, lemme do a bit of mental maths."

The Human pulled a pencil from within his jacket and started etching some figures into the wooden bar, the fingers on his free hand drumming up and down as he muttered sums to himself. After about three minutes of what looked to be strained and painful thinking, he finished carving out the numbers on the bar, just in time for Stumbler to stumble over and notice what he was doing.

Rex through a massive shrug at the ex-hunter and shoved a few credits over when he realised that wasn't going to work, before looking back to Rezer again. "If it's the same sorta stuff as you were after before your sort-of retirement, it's gonna come to..." With shifty eyes to see if Stumbler was nearby, he did a couple more sums to be sure. "...Say, nine thousand creds now, and another three on delivery, just like you suggested! You have to understand the increase since the days of old for the inflation an' all..."

Sev reached across the table and smacked Rex on the back of the head with an open hand. "Rex! That's not half now and half later. It's two thirds now and one third later!" The Mandalorian leaned back. "I'll pay four thousand now and four thousand on delivery. Either that or I'll find Galen, you pirate."

Rex rubbed the back of his sore head. "Five now, five later," he retorted, but then quickly shunted backwards and pointed a shaking finger at Sev, "and you don't kriffing slap me again!"

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