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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LostSoul" data-source="post: 623893" data-attributes="member: 386">Troy turned around and stood up.  It had been a long time since he saw her, and he wasn't sure that she wasn't just a hallucination brought on by the drugs, alcohol, and exhaustion.  But she smelled right and stood right, with one hand on her cocked hips, a playful pouty smile on her face.  Her eyes had the same quality they always had.  He remembered the last time he looked into them."Brooke," he said."Lady Ashby," she said and smiled.  She had lost none of that grace and beauty that brought him to her in the first place.  She still wore mystery, but something of it was lost, something of her was raw and closer to the surface.But she never looked tired in the night."Milady," Troy said in the old fashion, and kissed her hand.  She giggled and punched him playfully."Stop it," she laughed, "we're old friends.  None of that."Troy leaned back against the bar to settle his nerves.  "I can still remember the last time I saw you," he said, knowing it was a mistake when the words left his lips."It was a long time ago," Brooke said.  They both felt a gap open between them, one that had always been there but laid quiet if you didn't bring it to mind.  "I hear that you and Arthur are both on planet."  She smiled again and the gap retreated into the darkness."Yeah, with a couple of new friends.  I don't know how long we're staying."Brooke took out a guntha stick and lit it.  Troy looked at her standing there, smiling and playful but sad in the eyes.  She was a blend of sadness and sensuality, fragility and confidence.  Troy felt the need to be both her guardian and child.  He could not resist that feeling; he had been both in the past."That's a shame," she said, flipping her short cropped hair.  She looked at him intensely, as though she were waiting for something but Troy did not know what it was.  He wasn't sure if he ever would, and if he somehow discovered it he knew he would not be able to give it.  She was so much the Brooke of old, but different somehow, like a switch was flipped deep inside her.  Troy wondered if it had anything to do with him.She exhaled a breath of the sweet-smelling smoke into the air.  Troy felt the old feelings coming back, the walls tumbling down on top of him.  He had not thought of her but had never forgotten.  His mind flashed back through the nights and days since, the lights and flesh and emotion. Nothing, nobody in the time spent apart was the same.  "Listen," she said, "I've got to be somewhere.  And you look like you could use some rest.""Probably," Troy said and stroked his face."I've got something set up that you would be perfect for.  A bit of high stakes action.  You think you're up for it?"Troy looked at her.  She smiled."That's what I thought.  I've got to iron out some things first, but everything should go smoothly.  Especially after what we've seen tonight."  Troy nodded.  "Here's my number; call me when you're ready.""In the night then," he said."In the night," she repeated, and put the half-spent smoke out.  She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek; Troy felt a rush of endorphins run through his body.  Brooke smiled and waved, turning away.  Troy watched her as she walked out, commanding the attention of every pair of male eyes and rising above it.  She turned one last time and smiled again, and then she was gone.Troy turned back to the bar and sighed."She a friend of yours?" the bartender asked, his words full of surpressed longing."Yeah.  A friend."--- Star Wars ---The auction hall on Casino Royale was large and filled with people.  Empty space rose above them.  It echoed with the words of a hundred different tongues and dialects.  The smell was just as cosmopolitan.Darius led Arthur and Feyd into the hall.  "Right over there," he said, his voice tinny and removed through the blast helmet.  "Wait there.  Try to draw some attention to yourself.  I'm going to be waiting here."  He loosened his blasters."Right," Feyd said, taking Arthur with him into the crowd.  They jostled for space, but Feyd commanded distance.  Troy was right, Darius thought, the kid had changed."Remember," Darius said, "I'll be able to hear you through the comlinks."The lights above dimmed and a shadow descended over the crowd.  It hushed the restless speaking, leaving only murmurs.  A great spotlight sprung up and the crowd silenced itself.  In the spotlight, high above the throng below, a man in a dark suit and flashy tie stepped up."Let's get this thing started!" he shouted in an arrogant voice.  "Time to spend some money!"A cheer went up from the crowd, and the cheer was joined with heavy, throbbing electronic music blasting throughout the cavernous hall.  Excitement rose.  Darius stood silent near the door, keeping an eye on Arthur while scanning the crowd.  Looking for anything out of place, anything that might catch his attention, no matter how meaningless.  A great hologram sprung up in the darkness, flashing the Casino Royale's symbol along with the auction hall's.  The hologram changed into a tall, slim, long-legged and short skirted woman with her hair back holding a small urn covered with strange symbols.  The urn looked expensive and the woman moreso."First up for bid," the announcer said.  The woman smashed the urn to the floor, and holographic dust fell around the crowd.  She picked up a small electronic device.  "A portable scanner blocker!"  The crowd cheered.  "Perfect for keeping hidden whatever you want.  And very discreet."  The woman hiked up her skirt to the whoops and cat calls of the crowd, and snapped the device to her stockings.  "Opening bid: eight thousand!"This went on for some time.  The value and relative illegality of the items rose and fell with the crowd.  Some of the things up for bid - geniune Sorosuub rifles, Imperial broadcasting codes, transponder jammers - were so illegal that mere possesion would end you up on a blasted rock in the middle of space mining for the Empire.  Nobody seemed to care.Some items were more esoteric.  There was some art and some collectables.  Feyd bid on, and won, a collection of rather worthless and gaudy Malastair crystals - something that caught Darius off guard.  Feyd's excitement at seeing the crystals, and winning, was unexpected.  Especially for a plain-dressed kid.An entire military class hyperdrive went up for sale.  Darius thought Arthur might bid on it, but he bowed out after the first round of bidding.  But Arthur's bidding brought more eyes to him than Darius'.  In the back of the hall, in the dark spaces between the rafters and shadows from the hologram, Darius spotted a flash of light.  Not light reflecting off metal, but the distinctive flash given off by a sniper's targetting system.  Jib Raltair had showed his hand.Darius responded in an instant.  He engaged his rocket booster, launching him up above the crowd on the edge of the hologram.  His blasters were in his hands before he was even a foot off the ground.  Just as soon, they started firing.  Round after round of bolts flew through the darkness and at the shadowy bounty hunter.  Some were off their mark, but more made it through.  When both pistols emptied, Jib Raltair fell to the ground with a heavy thump.  Darius fired off another boost and landed near the body.  What was left of the body.  Still smoking and pumping blood.  Another mark for Darius.A spotlight descended on him.  The announcer spoke.  "Looks like we've got even more action than we planned for!  The competition here is so fierce, our inventory so damn fine, we've got people killing each other for it!"  The crowd laughed.  The spotlight winked out and the auction began anew."Arthur, Feyd, we're done here."</blockquote>

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