"Refill me, will you, dear?" Reegas said to the haggard-looking blond dancing girl perched on his lap. He jingled his ice and wore a smug smile that Khedryn would have preferred to wipe off with a power sander.

"Me, too," said Earsh, and the dancer snorted with contempt. "Hey!"

While the dancing girl bounced off Reegas's lap and ignored Earsh, Reegas grinned at Khedryn.

"Credits are looking a little thin, Faal."

"You, however, look not at all thin," Faal returned. "Nor hirsute."

Snickers and a couple of guffaws made the rounds among the spectators who formed a ring around the table. Reegas's false smile hung on his face as if painted there, but his eyes turned hard.

As if summoned forward by his anger, Reegas's pair of Weequay bodyguards left their perch along the back of the wall and slunk through the crowd until they stood at its edge.

"You play about as usual," Reegas said.

Khedryn shrugged. "Some beings are born lucky. Some are born pretty. Never both. I suppose that makes you lucky."

Even Earsh snorted, though he tried to hide it in a cough.

"The bet is to Reegas," Himher said, its voice changing to female when it said Reegas.

"All in, Himher," Reegas said, pushing his sea of credits into the center of the table and staring at Faal the while.

"Reegas Vance is all in," the droid said, and an excited susurration went through the spectators.

Earsh grunted, folded his cards in disgust. "Out."

Flaygin looked first at his cards, then at Reegas, then at Khedryn. "It seems this is between you two. Good enough. Out."

"You are short, Khedryn Faal," said Himher, studying Khedryn's remaining credits. "Please produce six hundred forty-two credits, obtain credit in that amount, or cede the hand."

The crowd murmured. Khedryn stared at his credits as if he could cause them to breed and multiply through force of will, all the while seething over ceding anything to Reegas.

"Marr," he called over his shoulder. He stared at Reegas, daring the fat clown to object to Marr's presence at the table.

Reegas made a dismissive gesture-a king granting an indulgence-and eased back in his chair.

The Cerean appeared beside Khedryn, his face composed.

"Don't say a kriffing word about losing," he said, and Marr's mouth stayed closed. "What do we have?"

"What we have is sitting in front of you," Marr answered.

Khedryn nodded. He had figured as much. He looked up, thinking to save face by making light of the situation, and spotted Jaden Korr in the crowd. The man's gaze pinioned him, and concern carved grooves into his brow. Khedryn looked past him, smiled at some random spectator, and tried to laugh, though anger and embarrassment made his voice too tight.

"Anyone out there have six hundred and forty-two credits to loan?"

Laughter moved through the crowd. Khedryn downed his pulkay and when he looked up, he'd lost Jaden. He scanned the crowd, picked him up again, sliding around the perimeter of the room. The man was smooth. He was not sure Marr had correctly evaluated him as not looking like much.

"No one?" Khedryn asked.

The laughter died.

Khedryn faced Reegas and held up empty hands. "It appears I'm short."

Reegas grinned through his jowls. "So it appears. Perhaps you'd consider putting something other than credits at risk?"

Khedryn knew what was coming but played along. "Such as?"

Reegas took a sip of his drink, smacked his lips, both of them glistening wet in the overhead lights. "The coordinates of the signal you picked up. Word is there might be some value in the site. If that word is legit, we can throw those in and call it even."

"You in the junk business now? Selling narco not earning you enough?"

The crowd let out a collective ooh at that. Reegas lost his grin; his upper lip twitched.

"I am trying to do you a favor, Khedryn Faal."

"You don't even know what's there. I don't know what's there. It could be valueless. A crashed survey droid."

Khedryn did not think so. He thought he had stumbled upon an unoccupied base of some kind. There was bound to be lots of value there, in electronics if nothing else. And he had probably told the three Zeltron dancing girls exactly that. And they had told everyone, including Reegas. He cursed himself for a mouth that ran like a bad power manifold, always opening at the wrong time.

Reegas leaned forward, his fat folding over itself a few times. "There's always something of value floating in the black, correct? Isn't that what you salvagers say?"

Khedryn said nothing, thinking that Reegas's mouthing the salvager's motto somehow soiled it.

Reegas made a show of sighing before he stood and started reeling in the credit pool. "If you'd rather just cede the hand, then… "

"Fine," Khedryn said, and had to unclench jaw and fist. He would not cede the hand to Reegas Vance. "Done."

Reegas held his pose over the table for a moment, a bloated, half-drunk, smug dragon hovering over his hoard. He sat down and fixed Khedryn with a hard stare.

"Let's get them on the table then."

"My word is not good enough?"

"The table," Reegas said.

"The coordinates," Khedryn said to Marr, who still stood at his shoulder.

Marr hesitated a beat before he pulled a small datapad from the dozen or so pockets in his trousers and started punching keys.

"You all right with this?" Khedryn asked him.

"You need his permission?" Reegas asked.

"Shut your mouth, fat man," Khedryn spat.

Earsh lurched from his chair, but Reegas stayed him with an upraised hand.

"You need his permission?" Khedryn said to Earsh. "Do it. Do it."

The slits of Earsh's eyes moved from Khedryn, to Reegas, then back to Khedryn, and he retook his chair. His chest rose and fell like that of a man who'd run five klicks.

"You are pushing it," Marr said to Khedryn.

"I always push it," Khedryn said.

"The coordinates if you please, Master Marr," Reegas said to Marr.

"Marr," Khedryn said, his tone soft. "Sorry."

Marr made eye contact with no one as he punched the coordinates into the 'pad. "You are the captain," he said, his tone equally soft.

Khedryn almost reconsidered-Marr's disapproval was as tangible as the heat in the room, and Khedryn valued Marr's opinion above all others'-but the smugness in Reegas's expression beat wisdom off with a stick.

"You keep all those numbers in your brains, Cerean?" Reegas asked.

Marr stared at him from under the cliff of his brow, but said nothing. The Cerean removed the storage crystal from the datapad and placed it in the center of the table. It caught the light, flickered like a diamond.

"Good luck," Marr said to Khedryn, and withdrew into the crowd. Khedryn felt his absence. Marr's presence offered Khedryn something he could not quite articulate, something solid, something… certain.

Word of the wager and brewing confrontation must have spread through The Hole. A few dozen spectators crowded the room, elbowing out space and craning necks.

"Give me fake coordinates," Reegas said, "and, well… you know."

Khedryn looked past Reegas to his Weequay bodyguards. Jaden Korr, now standing behind Reegas's bodyguards, stared back at him and slowly shook his head. Khedryn ignored him.

"Like I said, I don't cheat, Reegas. Not ever. I take my losses when that's how the cards fall."

"So you do." Reegas sipped his keela. "Deal, Himher."

"An accord over the wager has been reached," said the droid, and dealt.

Khedryn studied his hand, his heart racing. He was not so much concerned about losing the coordinates to Reegas as about simply losing to Reegas in front of a roomful of people.

His first four cards included the Master and brought him to nineteen. A mediocre hand. He stared across the table at Reegas, trying to read his cards in the set of his lips. Nothing. He dared not call at nineteen.