Cloudy with a Chance of Espionage

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Kale gamely handed over his keycard, and Rai'raa had a moment to breathlessly hope that he'd given her the guard's and not the Operations Manager's, both identical rectangles of white plastic. Forcing herself to relax, she helped herself to a seat as a tired patron might, and tucked one foot up underneath her. "I do hope you find it, Misterrr Rrrotan," she'd managed to read the name off his new ident badge. "It was a gift frrrom my motherrr."

The other female's eyes zeroed in on her as she handed back the keycard to Kale, and Rai'raa knew she'd said something wrong. But what? Dammit, she's a halfbrrreed too. Shouldn't have used the motherrr line. She remained calm, her body relaxed, and looked up at Kale. Might as well keep playing the hand I've got. "Please hurrrry, my frrriends will be waiting forrr me."

She smiled as beautifully as she could, a smile that she turned on when she wanted men to do things for her. But she could still feel the other female's eye boring into her.

[Kale]

As regarded anything passing between the two females, Kale remained Captain Oblivious. Few things said "business as usual" like the existential resignation of a bored security guard. His disinterest was the perfect counterbalance for Rai'raa's nerves. He had only to hope that Rai'raa could keep up her end of the charade while he rooted through whatever valuables the casino's customers had trusted to the public safe.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, accepting the card back. "Sorry for the inconvenience."

Kale turned and walked straight back out the door with that lazy, swinging gait peculiar to coppers and security guards across the galaxy when they weren't in any hurry. Of course, he had no idea where the safe was, but he let his instincts lead him into areas of higher security.

He passed few people in the hallway - a pair of young men in suits arguing in hushed tones, a human woman with a briefcase walking so fast the clicking of her heels was like machine gun fire. And then he spotted a female Twi'lek guard whose blue skin blended uncannily with her uniform. She was as gorgeous as her species' reputation would have it to be, but Kale didn't doubt she could fold him like origami given half an opportunity.

He made sure to read her badge from a distance before speaking. "Hey, Amanita - I'm such an idiot, second week here and I still get lost. I can't find the guest safe. I thought it was around here somewhere?"

It was a risk speaking to a guard - corporate fat cats tended to never look past the uniform, but he was screwed if Amanita and Tosska were drinking buddies. He was trusting to those nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine in a million looks of his that always seemed to put him on the edge of familiarity.

[Kal Olorin]

I said my farewells to Legs and the doors swished open to release me back into the corridors of Cumulus. The Twi'lek guard was irritatedly pointing someone down the hall. "Its that way, you must have gotten turned around. Behind the front desk."

I eyed the other security guard, an average guy a few inches shorter than me. He seemed young. I don't remember being that young, though I suppose I was, once. Probably idealistic too.

If I ran into that me I'd probably punch me in the face and tell me to go back home.

I refrained from punching the kid in the face though. "Hey, I'm heading that way, I'll walk with you." I tried to get to know all the employees, but it was impossible. Still, I tried.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri sat back in the chair, eying the female across from her. "You arrre frrrom the Clusterrr?" When the girl looked at her, she shrugged. "You arrre parrrt Cjizerrrack, arrre you not?"

The green skinned felinoid nodded, hesitantly. "Yes. On my...fatherrrs side." Her eyes looked away a bit, and Sasseeri's narrowed. A lie?

But no Cizeri female would give their half-breed daughter a gift. She opened her mouth to say something else, to dig at this unusual female, who was so very attractive. Her shirt was merely window dressing, the brassiere underneath only accentuating the swell of her breasts as she breathed deeply.

Sasseeri's lips curled up in a smile, and she met the other's eyes, bright blue eyes much like her own. "jI am Sasseeri. Perhaps once yourrr thjings arrre found we mjight have djinnerrr togetherrr?" She shifted a bit, her tail twitching. "jI own the casjino, we could eat anywherrre you ljike." She very much wanted the green enigma to accept, and wanted nothing more than to spend as much time with her as possible.

...Getting to know her. Sasseeri smiled again.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa smiled prettily, leaning forward as the other female fell under the influence of her pheromones. "You own the casino? That's amazing. Its a beautiful place... just like you."

"Oh," Sasseeri said, her cheeks flushing a little at the compliment. "jIts nothjing. jI have one on Corrruscant that puts thjis one to shame." She pushed up from behind the desk, walking around towards Rai'raa, and the girl considered that maybe she'd overdone it with the pheromones. Cizerack tended to react to them much more than other humanoids, if Saa was any proof.

The casino owner put a warm hand on her shoulder, and Rai'raa smiled up at her, putting her hand on top of Sasseeri's. "I'd verrry much like to see the rrrest of this one. I'm surrre you know all the secrrrets behind the scenes." She scooted her chair backwards a bit as Sasseeri leaned against the edge of the desk in front of her, her chest at eye level.

"Oh, therrre arrre lots of grrreat places herrre." The older female put her hand on the desk, fingers tapping lightly. "jIn the casjino."

[Kale]

Kale's eyes drifted in the directly of the open door. Outwardly, he was as bored as ever, but he'd have to be dead not to feel his blood race at the sight of counting table stacked high with credit chits.

"Oh, thanks, Mr. Olorin, that'd be great," he said. Other thieves would have cursed the encumbrance and the added risk of discovery that came with it, but Kale looked at this sort of thing more philosophically. Everything, even capture, was an opportunity if you knew what to look for.

He fell into a lazy walk alongside someone who was obviously deep in the casino's pocketbooks and began observing. The man was all business, but there was a little tightness around the corners of his eyes that spoke of strain, and maybe a dull headache. Not that Kale could blame him - there was a reason he'd never gone into business himself. Olorin didn't strike him as someone who was loose-lipped, but Kale decided to take a stab in the dark nonetheless.

"Crazy day, huh?"

[Kal Olorin]

Lost in my thoughts, it took a moment for his words to register. "Oh - yeah. Like usual," I sighed. "You weren't involved in that Diva Trelawny mess this morning were you? I thought that Pa'lowick would never stop yelling at the maids."

I rolled my eyes, "Sapient amphibious species, my ass."

We came to a locked security door, and I reached in my pocket for my keycard. Flicking it in front of the scanner the door unlocked and I let the guard follow me through. "So, Rotan, is it?" The name seemed familiar, but I couldn't place his face. I must have been getting old. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa licked her lips a little, and then decided this female was burning hot enough to melt durasteel. She was ripe for the picking, and if there was something Rai'raa knew about it was taking advantage of this particular situation.

She put out a hand, resting it on the desk just beside Sasseeri's. After a moment she pushed herself up to her feet. "Maybe I can get my brrracelet laterrr." She was taller than the other female, and Sasseeri looked up at her, her eyes bright. "A tourrr would be interrresting." Rai'raa walked her fingers across the wood of the desk and lightly touched Sasseeri's hand.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri nearly grabbed the girl right there and threw her on the desk, but she managed to contain herself. After all, she could be misreading... no, no, there was no way she was misreading that look.

Olorin would complain, however, if she messed up his office. She gave her a predatory smile, and said, "jI would be morrre than pleased to show you arrround. And yourrr name jis...?"

"Rai'raa," the exotic female replied, and she didn't move away as Sasseeri ran a finger up her green arm. Excellent.

"A beautjiful name," she replied, and then she raised an eyebrow, "jIt does mean... crrrazy jin Cizeri."

"Yes," Rai'raa said, smiling suggestively. "It does." She winked, and Sasseeri raised her other eyebrow, her own smile growing.

"Herrre, jI'll show you arrround. jI don't norrrmally... but jI can see you'rrre a specjial guest. And then some djinnerrr... and desserrrt."

Rai'raa followed her towards the door, and Sasseeri started when she felt her tail get tweaked a little. She turned her her head to look at the green female, who had an innocent look on her face. "I always liked having my desserrrt... firrrst."

Oh my. This was going to be fun.

[Kale]

"We've passed in the hallway once or twice, sir," Kale replied. "I've only been here a week. Got some beautiful slice of Cizerack halfbreed says she's missing some valuables, thinks they might be in the customer safe. Cizerack and Falleen, can you believe that? I didn't even know they were compatible."

As they walked, he was mapping the place in his mind. He knew they'd gone past the door he and Rai'raa had used to enter the back corridors, and now they were approaching the rear of the customer service desk. If he did pay a visit to the counting room, he'd need to find another way out. Even if the front door wasn't watched like a dying shaak under a nest of hawkbats, it was much too far a distance to carry that much cash without an ironclad cover.

They passed into a back room with lockers and mail slots, and in one wall was a closet-sized safe door with a hand scanner and an alphanumeric keypad. A few employees sorted mail while a female security guard sat leaned back in her chair and reading a Zeltron romance novel.

"Hey, just need to get into the safe," Kale said.

"Sure, knock yourself out," she replied without even looking up.

Kale hesitated for a moment before confronting the safe. There was no keycard slot, which meant he was expected to know the combination, and there was the hand scanner for redundancy. A false read probably wouldn't set off any alarms, but he sure as frell didn't want to leave a biometric calling card for Cumulus to track down later.

He approached the safe closely so as to hide both the scanner and the keypad from view of Olorin and the cameras. Then he pressed the back of his hand against the scanning plate and tapped in a random combination of numbers.

He was rewarded with an electronic squelch and a "1 of 3 attempts" warning. "Damn it - I'm still not in the system, can you believe that? Hey, could you give me a hand here?"

Kale turned to find the guard still absolutely unresponsive, so he caught Olorin's eyes.

[Kal Olorin]

"Hmm?" I saw Rotan looking at me, and my brain processed what he'd said. "Notoriously slow. I'll have a talk with HR about making sure you're set up."

I walked over and pressed my hand to the scanner and keyed in the code. The safe popped without a sound, and Rotan pulled it open. I looked in over his shoulder, and then a group of off duty showgirls entered the locker room looking for their purses. I straightened up and walked to the doorway, looking in.

"Good show tonight, ladies." I winked, and they grinned and chattered noisily. Ah... yes the job had its perks.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Rai'raa was flirtatious and beautiful, and Sasseeri's mind was racing. Djinnerrr? Desserrrt fjirrrst... yes, yes...

"Therrre jis an excellent vjiew frrrom the penthouse sujite," she said to her nubile companion. "We can check jit out whjile you'rrre wajitjing to hearrr about your corrrusca brrracelet."

The other half-breed looked at her, brow slightly furrowed, and then nodded, "Yes, my brrracelet. That sounds lovely." She smiled, her lips a rich plum, moist and perfectly shaped.

"jIts wherrre jI stay when jI'm jin the arrrea," Sasseeri added. She ushered the girl out of the back corridors and through the main casino floor, putting a solicitous hand on Rai'raa's lower back. A green tail looped lazily over her tanned arm as they entered a turbolift, and Sasseeri took a few deep breaths to calm her racing libido. The doors closed and she managed to swipe her keycard to send the 'lift straight up to the penthouse.

Then she turned and grabbed Rai'raa's shoulders, pressing her against the side of the 'lift and kissing her. "You'rrre jincrrredjible," she gasped between kisses, her heels not quite making up the height difference between them as she ran her hands up Rai'raa's supple green neck and twined her fingers in her fine blonde hair.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa was caught a bit by surprise as Sasseeri pressed herself against her, but stayed in character, letting the older female pull her head down to meet her urgent kisses. And she was a good kisser, too. Not too wet, not too dry... just enough tongue.

She was doing some calculations in her head, however, as the makeout session continued. They were headed towards the penthouse where Sasseeri stayed when she was in the region. Sasseeri owned the casino, and at least one more in the Core on Coruscant. That meant she was one of the most wealthy beings Rai'raa had ever met.

It was also more than likely that Sasseeri - Rai'raa gasped involuntarily as the female expertly ran her hands over her ears, sending a delicious tingle down her spine - that Sasseeri did not keep her personal valuables in the customer safe. They were most likely kept in her room safe. And she was taking Rai'raa to her room.

She ran her hands up Sasseeri's arms, taking a firm hold of her hands and lacing her fingers through hers. "Wait, slow down a bit." Rai'raa smiled, kissing her fingertips as she held her at bay for the moment. "Can you call to the guarrrd that brrrought me to you? Let him know wherrre I'm at? So he'll know wherrre to brrring my brrracelet?"

"Mmm," the other female agreed, sighing a bit as Rai'raa released her hands to let her reach for her commlink. "Maybe jI'll gjive hjim a rrrajise too." Sasseeri touched Rai'raa's face almost reverently before placing the call.

"Trrrajina'a? jIs therrre a securrrjity guarrrd stjill therrre, checkjing the safe forrr - Olorrrjin? Put hjim on." Sasseeri's tail twitched and pressed against Rai'raa's leg, gently easing upwards and underneath her short skirt. The Falleen-Cizerack half-breed breathed out quiet moan, teeth biting at her lip as the tan female continued her conversation. "jI'm gojing to my rrroom wjith a new aquajintance. jI don't want to be djisturrrbed... unless the guarrrd... jI suppose so, jI don't rrrecall hjis name Kal," she sounded irritated even while her tail continued its exploration.

She winked at Rai'raa, who was feeling a little breathless as the 'lift came to a stop and the doors opened to reveal a gorgeously decorated suite with stunning vistas of Cloud City. "Just have hjim brrrjing herrr brrracelet up herrre when he fjinds jit." She clicked off from the call and grabbed Rai'raa by the front of her see-through shirt and dragged her into the penthouse.

For the moment she was more than willing to go with the casino owner, her pheromones releasing unconsciously as her arousal level reached new heights.

[Kal Olorin]

I stared at the dead comm for a moment, and then gave the handset back to Traina'a who hung up and went back to reading her novel.

"Hey, Rotan," I called. "Boss lady wants you to bring that bracelet to the penthouse when you find it." He was half hidden behind the huge door of the safe, but waved a hand to show he'd heard me. "I'd wait about an hour before you do, however. They're a little busy."

If the noises I'd heard through the comm was any indication, Sasseeri was very busy indeed. Her voice had that husky quality to it that I'd heard many times before... it stirred faint feelings of guilt deep within me. And on a purely physical level it stirred some other feelings in me that made me want to take a cold shower.

That, or run up to the penthouse and find out what was going on. I grinned a little bit to myself, and then sighed, leaning against the wall and staring at the cover of Traina'a's novel as she read.

[Kale]

"'Busy'?" Kale repeated. "Damn. What I wouldn't give to have a spy camera in that room."

On the one hand, he was impressed, and on the other, he was a little concerned. There were stories about the casino owner - stories that went above and beyond the usual Cizerack licentiousness. He just hoped Rai'raa could handle herself.

He walked out of the room richer to the tune of a gold wrist chrono, a roll of credits, and a pair of large cubic zirconium earrings that had obviously been good enough to fool one buyer into thinking they were diamonds, and might be good enough to fool another. He hadn't found the corusca bracelet, of course - it would have to be checked out, and of course it had never been checked in. Kale just gave Traina'a a shrug and walked back out the way he'd come in.

It wasn't hard to kill an hour. He walked back onto the casino floor and managed to swindle a pair of high-rolling Wroonian women out of three hundred credits in chips while showing them a new twist on Pazaak and introducing them to a new cocktail. After he'd pocketed their money, they thanked him for a wonderful time, and one of them passed him a comm number written on a napkin.

As he headed back behind the "employees only" doors, his mind drifted again toward that counting room and the piles of loose credits sitting on the table - more than he'd made the entire time he'd been on Bespin, and all in unencrypted, medium-denomination chits. Those were designed to pass hand-to-hand rather than electronically, ideal for illicit payments. Rob from the casino vault proper, and they'd simply cancel the credit and descend on you like an Ithorian shadow hunter the moment you tried to cash it in. But this was money the casino didn't want tracked. They probably intended to pass it out to their employees to spend in the casino, start a new legacy for the credit from scratch to legitimize their ill-gotten gains. Usually stolen credit was only good on the black market, but if Kale got his hands on pre-laundered currency, he could do anything he wanted with it - heck, even open a bank account big enough to draw income for life. Him! Imagine that!

Well, that was a nice pipe dream. But something like that would involve more planning and risk than he could possibly afford. Right now, his objective was to find Rai'raa and get the frell out before their cover was blown.

Kale found his way to the executive penthouse, and the moment he stepped off the mag lift he could smell the opulence of the place. He tried the buzzer at the front door and waited.

Come to think of it, he thought he could smell something else, too...

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

A stiff butler droid answered the door, accepting Kale's keycard as clearance to enter, and stepping crab-like out of the way. "Mizz waz called away on buzinezz... She said you were to be admitted... pleeze to come thiz way..."

The droid walked to the sitting room where a large screen was playing a popular holomovie, on mute. "Drinkz, zir?" It turned creakily towards its guest, only to find him walking the other direction towards the huge master bedroom where some faint noises were coming from. "Zir?"

[Kale]

Kale's nose could have led him to the door, even if his ears hadn't picked what he could have sworn was Rai'raa's voice. Fearing the worst, he crossed quickly over expensive rugs and threw the door open.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw on the other side.

[Rai'raa Anjumi]

Rai'raa stared up at the ceiling, head lolling to the side with exhaustion. The afterglow had faded and all she felt was sore and tired. She'd tried for several minutes to get free from the Ithorian silk scarves that tied her hands and feet to the posts of the immense four poster bed she was spreadeagled upon, but Sasseeri was good with knots and the effort had just made her more tired.

The door opened, and she sighed, expecting that Ms. Reouurraa had finally returned, hopefully with some food. She flexed her muscles a bit, pheromones filling the air a bit, but only a small amount. She'd overdone it earlier, clearly.

Lifting her head she started to smile, and then she saw Kale. "Oh my gods, Kale, please, get me out of here!" Rai'raa yanked at her bonds, lifting her naked body up off the damp sheets with the effort.

[Kal Olorin]

Whistling, I made my way down the blank grey corridors in the back of Cumulus, hands in my pockets. Sasseeri was out of my hair, and I'd just found a receptive ear in the new Imperial Garrison.

"Hey boss, the guy on the south door hasn't checked in and he's not at his post. Rotan? Big Togruta? Anyway, we're looking for him, thought you should know."

"Okay," I replied. Rotan was a non-human? I frowned, opening a door to a random interrogation room and somehow not being surprised by what I saw. A Togruta tied to a chair. I walked over and pulled the tape off his mouth. "Is your name Rotan?"

He nodded. "There were two of them, sir..." The room smelled a little like piss, and I grimaced and stepped away from the guard, lifting my commlink. "Uh, I think I found him. We might have a situation on our hands."

[Kale]

Over the minutes that followed, Kale was presented with a very strange revelation: if in the course of your chosen profession you find yourself untying a spreadeagled and very naked Cizerack halfbreed female from the bedposts in the private chambers of an obscenely wealthy casino magnate, you are either doing things very right or very wrong. Banking on the former, he didn't mind enjoying the view as he fought against some rather frighteningly well-crafted knots.

"Listen, I don't want to tell you your business, but here I thought the whole idea was to seduce and tie up the other person."