The Ace of Spades Campaign - Take a Chance On Me part 7

"How could you, Storm?" Rebecca screamed furiously. "You promised you'd give Luna safe passage off planet! Now you're just going to hand her back to her father. For God's sake, why?"
"Calm down, Becky," Storm said knowing there was little she could say to placate the young burglar. "Our first priority is to get Kyran back. She's crew and family."
"But you promised Luna," Rebecca countered petulantly. "Surely that must mean something?"
"I'm sorry, Becky," Storm said apologetically. "If anyone has a sensible suggestion to get us out of this mess then I'm all ears."
"Actually, I've been thinking," Julia said. "I have a plan for getting Kyran back and saving Luna."
Rebecca, Storm and Sharuna looked at her in open-mouthed and wide-eyed surprise. To them it seemed like a simple choice between saving Kyran or Luna, not both.
"The hand over will appear to go ahead as Darius expects," Julia said calmly, "but I know how we can double cross him. We can set up an ambush and remain hidden with our new invisibility cloaks!"
"That's brilliant!" Rebecca squealed. She hugged Julia who smiled warmly at her.
"Sharuna, contact Jeanette, Katja and Danica," Julia ordered, instinctively taking command. "Tell them to get back to The Jack of Spades and rendezvous with us."

Danica and Katja agreed to return to the starport. They had finished their shopping spree and were ready to return home anyway. Jeanette was on her own in the foyer of the hotel she, Kimberley, Gwendoline and Celeste were staying in.
"Hi, Sharuna," she replied to the coms message. "What's up?"
"Jeanette, listen," Sharuna said. "Get back to The Jack of Spades as soon as possible. Danica and Katja will be waiting for you. I want you to fly them back to The Ace of Spades. We have an emergency situation here. Do not mention that to Kimberley, Gwen or Celeste. The least they know about what's going on the better."
"Sure," Jeanette confirmed, "But what sort of emergency is it?"
"Don't ask," Sharuna answered. "All will be explained when you get back. Make haste. Sharuna out."
Jeanette frowned and wondered what sort of emergency it could be. She decided to lie to Kimberley and tell her that she was going to pick up more of the crew to watch her in the poker final. Lying was second nature to her. After all, she had been living a lie as the ship's gunnery officer ever since she joined the crew of The Ace of Spades two years ago.

The Poker Final

Kimberley had spent the day of the final getting glammed up. She wanted to make a good impression when she arrived at the Casino Triomphe that evening. She pampered herself by having her hair professionally washed and styled at a high class stylists. She also had a facial and manicure. From her wardrobe she chose a skintight sparkling pink body suit that was daringly cut to below her belly button, emphasising her ample cleavage. She accessorised the body suit with long white silk gloves and a white belt. Her perfume was a very expensive gift from Storm who was a perfume connoisseur.
"You look stunning, Kim," Gwendoline approvingly remarked when she saw Kimberley emerge from her hotel room.
"Thank you kindly, Gwen," Kimberley smiled at her best friend. "Let's go break some hearts."
Together with Celeste, Kimberley's loyal bodyguard android, they arrived at the Casino Triomphe in good time for the poker final. Kimberley was feeling full of confidence, even though she was placed as the third favourite to win.
Casino manager James Eliot Brubaker introduced the four finalists to the large crowd that had gathered and to the Tri-Vee viewers who had tuned in. First in line was Darek Kincaid, an elderly and portly human who was second favourite to win the final. He was a professional gambler and much respected. Next to him was Emerich Rach, Kimberley's old friend who she had met a few days ago. Kimberley was secretly pleased to see him in the final. Matching Kimberley in the looks department was Halmia Katura, the runaway favourite to win first prize in the poker contest. She had a reputation as a successful gambler that made her a feared opponent across the galaxy. She was charming and polite. Both the crowd and the media loved her.

Turn 1
Darek had CHA 3d6 and Gambling skill 4d6 giving him 7d6. He also had the Cheat exploit, allowing him to re-roll 1s and the Hook, loves to gamble, which makes any 6 he rolls explode. His LUC attribute was 4d6.
Emerich had CHA 3d6 and Gambling skill 3d6 giving him 6d6. He also had the Hook, loves to gamble, which let him treat any roll of 6 as an exploding die. He had LUC attribute 4d6.
Halmia had CHA 4d6 and Card Games skill 4d6 giving her 8d6. She also had the Cheat exploit, allowing her to re-roll 1s and the Hook, loves to play card games, which makes any 6 she rolls explode. Her LUC attribute was 4d6.
Kimberley had CHA 3d6 plus Gambling 3d6 giving her 6d6. Her Hook (enjoys gambling) let her treat any roll of 6 as an exploding dice. Her LUC attribute was 5d6.
Darek rolled 6+(4)+6+(2)+4+4+3+2+{1}+3=34. Remember numbers in {} are not counted towards the total.
Emerich rolled 6+(5)+6+(3)+5+4+1+1=31.
Halmia rolled 5+4+3+3+3+3+2+{1}+6=29.
Kimberley rolled 6+(3)+5+5+5+4+2=30.
The opening gameplay was a surprise with Halmia coming last. Darek made a good start and Emerich and Kimberley only just beat Halmia.

Turn 2
Darek rolled 5+5+4+3+3+3+2=25. He now had a running total of 59.
Emerich rolled 6+(5)+6+(3)+5+4+2+2=33. His running total was 64.
Halmia rolled 6+(5)+5+5+5+4+3+2+{1}+2=37. Her running total was 66.
Kimberley rolled 6+(5)+6+(+3)+6+(1)+4+2+1=34. Her running total was 64.
This time the roles were reversed with Darek performing very poorly and Halmia storming into the lead. Emerich and Kimberley were tied in second place and were happy with their showing.

Turn 3
This was now the first of the elimination rounds. No one wanted to come last but someone would. The tension was ramped up as potentially any one could win or lose.
Darek rolled 6+(3)+5+4+4+4+2+{1}+3=31. This gave him a running total of 90.
Emerich rolled 6+(6+3)+5+4+2+1+1=28. This gave him a running total of 92.
Halmia rolled 6+(5)+5+4+4+3+2+2+{1}+3=34. This gave her a running total of 100.
Kimberley rolled 6+(6+1)+6+(4)+4+3+1+1=32. This gave her a running total of 96.

With the lowest score so far, Darek Kincaid was sensationally eliminated. Kimberley and Emerich gave each other a thumbs up, knowing that with Darek gone their own chances of making it to the final were suddenly much improved. Even so, Halmia had found her form and was still the firm favourite to win.

Turn 4
Emerich rolled 6+(5)+6+(3)+4+4+3+1=32. He had a running total of 124.
Halmia rolled 6+(4)+5+4+3+3+2+{1}+6+{1}+5=38. She had a running total of 138.
Kimberley rolled 6+(6+4)+5+5+4+3+1=34. She had a running total of 130.
Emerich was out.  

Kimberley gave him a sympathetic hug and a kiss on his check.
"I'm so sorry, Emerich," she said consolingly, "I wish we could have both made it to the final."
"These things happen," Emerich acknowledged wistfully. "On the day, you two ladies were better than me. Now go beat her ass!"
Kimberley smiled as he left the stage. Beating Halmia would be extremely difficult but her confidence was still sky high. She could do it.

Turn 5
The final turned out to be far more dramatic than anyone could have imagined or predicted.
Both players spent all of their LUC dice - 5d6 for Kimberley and 4d6 for Halmia. LUC dice scores are denoted in red and they explode on a roll of 6.
Halmia rolled 6+(3)+6+(2)+5+3+3+2+2+{1}+4+6+(4)+3+3+2=54. This gave her a running total of 192.
Kimberley rolled 6+(6+5)+4+3+2+1+6+(3)+6+(3)+5+3+1=54. This gave her a running total of 184.
I could not believe it when both players achieved the same scores but these were the numbers I rolled. Just incredible! If they had not tied the winner would have been whoever rolled highest on that Turn. But because they tie, the winner would be the person with the highest running total, which was Halmia.

It was a tie! The casino manager bounded on to the stage and turned to the audience and camera crews.
"What a final that was!" he said with breathless excitement. "Who could have predicted that? However, there can only be one winner and overall, Halmia scored higher than Kimberley winning more of her matches. And so it gives me great pleasure to announce the winner of this year's professional poker competition is... Halmia Katura! Many congratulations, Halmia! My commiserations, Kimberley. You were a gallant and worthy finalist."

He handed over Kimberley's prize to her, a credstick with a value of 200MCr (200,000 Credits). Halmia won 500MCr and Emerich came away with 100MCr, whilst Darek received 75MCr. So none of the finalists left empty-handed. Kimberley left the stage knowing she had done her best and was very happy with her prize. All in all, it had been a good contest for her and she felt fully justified in entering. The prize money would go a long way to paying off the mortgage on The Ace of Spades.

Gwendoline swiftly ushered her to one of the casino's many bars where they met up with Emerich and his bodyguard, Karl Bergman. It was early in the morning of the next day and the drinks were flowing freely when Kimberley suddenly realised that none of the rest of her crew were present. Jeanette had told her that she was going to collect the others to watch her in the final but only Celeste and Gwendoline were present.
She switched on her planetary communicator and said, "Hi, Storm. Where is everyone? What's happening?"