Anakin once visited Coruscant’s underbelly, as an escort for Supreme Chancellor Palpatine’s secret visit. Festering within the 2685th level of Coruscant, it is a feeding ground to the best and worst criminals—bureaucrats among them. Slaves and contraband are bought and sold on the hour, while others gamble with their lives or ill-gotten gains on the roll of a chance cube.

Others are content to seek entertainment, watching holographic projections of exotic dancers in various states of undress—the likes of which will no doubt be traded as slaves in exchange for credits or other services. Games of chance are often obscured under the sheer volume of patrons gathered around the game tables. Smaller round tables serve for social or business gatherings, with more discreet booths tucked into alcoves along the walls.

Having undergone unfinished renovations at some point, the ceiling has been raised to resemble that of a warehouse. Smoke gathers among the durasteel supports, making a buffer for the intense red and violet beams lighting the cesspit below. Zeltron perfumes are among the most common smells in the establishment, while the rolling of dice cubes make for the most recognizable sound above the music. Fights don’t often break out, and violence is often dissuaded at the sight of armoured bouncers several heads taller than most humanoids

“Impossible!”

The yell overtook the small corner of the giant room and caused a few heads to turn. The Rodian, who was obviously pumped full of muscle stims, pushed his chair back so hard it bumped into a young human barmaid, who herself may have been on the menu in this underbelly club. The tray of drinks she was holding was sent flying. A Togruta helped the young woman to her feet and shuffled her off while the roided up Rodian pointed a long slender finger at a Twi’lek who was beaming ear to ear on the other side of the table.

“You’re cheating somehow!”

“It’s your chance cube, Bofa. Don’t get your skivvies in a bunch,” the Twi’lek, who said his name was Tal’ektro, leaned back in his chair and looked up at the massive green alien. “You can roll the next one if you want. Blue gets you all your money back.”

Bofa sneered and thought about it a moment. “And red?” he asked, clearly intrigued.

The Twi’lek locked eyes with him and recorded the bet contract into his pad. “I own your sovereignty.”

Bofa knew he had already lost every dime he had. A life of servitude would have been better than a life on the streets. It took him a few moments, but he put his thumb on the pad and kept his gaze locked with the Twi’lek’s. “Deal.”

Bofa picked up the cube, and shook it vigorously in his hands. He released it and it bounced several times on the table before finally coming to rest.

Blue.

The Twi’lek raised an eyebrow and looked down at his hand, which had been twisting the cube in his favour all night. “You betrayed me,” he accused. He exhaled and looked up at the Rodian who was smiling a big meaty grin. “You win! Congratulations!”

Bofa grabbed his winnings and ran off to the bar to meet and hire the barmaid he had unceremoniously interfered with a few minutes earlier. Several loud yells indicated his absolute joy at not becoming a slave, which the Twi’lek found amusing for a man who wasn’t leaving this club any richer.

The Twi’lek looked up at the crowd and said gleefully, “Alright, who’s next?”

“How about me?” A stout and short man burst his way through the crowd and the Twi’lek’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“Of all the karking days. I almost had a new slave until you showed up, Andrel!” The Twi’lek stood up and crossed his arms. “I assume that was you saving his freedom.”

“Telekinesis never was your strong suit, Jinn. It didn’t take much effort to overpower you.” The plump man took his seat across from Alaris and leaned back. He took a long drink from the bottle of beer he had acquired from the bar, then let out a satisfied sigh as he swallowed. “Quite a nest egg you’ve built up for yourself here.”

“I think I deserve a break after helping crush the Collective’s latest attempts. I’m just enjoying my spoils.” Alaris hadn’t taken his seat and seemed to be doubling down on keeping his arms cross. He was already taller than Andrellious, a feat that Alaris was unaccustomed to, and he was enjoying being an imposing figure.

Andrellious was having none of it, though. “How much money DID you steal from Capital Enterprises?”

Alaris frowned. “Enough to retire and for my unborn great-great-grandchildren to forge an empire out of. Why are you here?”

“To bring you home. Rian and Justinios want you to stop buying slaves on Coruscant.” He took another swig. “You’re bringing far too much attention to yourself.”

“Is it buying if they’re signing away their own freedom?” He asked waving his datapad.

“I have nothing against you building your own army of steroid-juiced Rodians,” Andrel leaned onto the table, “just don’t be doing it right under the Republic’s nose.”

Alaris waved his arms aside. “What Republic?!” He collapsed into his chair and took a long drink from the bottle of fine sparkling wine in front of him.

Shaking his head, Andrellious grasped one of his lightsabers and placed it on the table. “We can do this the easy way-”

“Oh, don’t give me that kark, Inahj,” the Twi’lek interrupted, “you’re not gonna light up a lightsaber on Coruscant. You’d be bringing far too much attention to yourself.” He let the mockery drip thickly.

“Point taken, Jinn.” He slid the lightsaber away back under his robes. “Threatening you probably wouldn’t have resulted in anything pretty anyway. Most of the people in this room would likely die.” Andrellious glanced around at the mob of people watching them.

“Including you,” Alaris said matter-of-factly.

“That’s bold to assume.”

“Andrellious, I own this club. One of my holding companies acquired it during the Meridian acquisition.” He tilted his head. “How stupid do you think I am?”

Andrellious crossed his arms. “Okay. What do you propose then?”

“Why should I propose anything? You should just leave me in peace.”

“A game of chance, then?” The human leaned forward. “My credits versus your cooperation.”

Alaris snickered and leaned back in his chair closing his eyes. “I could buy you and everything you own several hundred thousand times over, Andrellious. Why would you think I want your credits.”

“Alright then. Your cooperation versus my servitude.”

The Twi’lek’s eyes opened suddenly and he looked sharply at Andrellious. “What are you playing at here, both of us can manipulate chance?”

Andrellious stood from the chair and crossed his arms. “I’m not playing at anything. Let’s say a game of skill then. Do you accept?”

“What exactly do you have in mind?” Alaris questioned.

Andrelious smirked “I’m not going to let you hold all the cards. You like to gamble. I’m not going to reveal what I’m planning until you tell me that you accept. What are you, Jinn? A man or a mouse droid?”

“I wasn’t born yesterday!” the Twi’lek snapped.

“A pity. We could have started your personality from scratch,” the Human responded dryly.

“Is that your game of skill? Cheap insults that you’ve probably stolen from old holoshows?” Alaris sneered.

Andrelious glanced at the crowd, who appeared to be waiting very patiently for whatever it was he was about to propose. He spotted species of all kinds of shape and size, from a gangly Wookiee to an Aleena who he swore was a dead ringer for Justinios. What the majority of the crowd did share, however, was the fact that they had imbibed a good amount of alcoholic beverages.

Spotting a set of small openings in the ceiling, the Archanis Quaestor began to have an idea.

I need to get this crowd away!

Extending his arms upwards, the Sith directed a burst of lightning straight towards one of the fire sprinklers.

Alaris watched on with a smile.

Just as I foresaw!

Moments later, the fire alarm sounded and the sprinklers activated, apparently having been overloaded by Andrelious’ lightning. Water started to pour down, drenching the crowd, as well as the two Taldryanites.

“Someone deal with him!” Alaris ordered as the crowd began to panic and charge for the exits. A Zabrak grabbed his blaster from its holster, and aimed it at Andrelious, but Mimosa-Inahj simply reached out with his right arm and ordered the Force to yank the blaster out of his would-be assassin’s hand. The horned humanoid took the act as a hint that he was best staying out of the way of whatever Andrelious planned next, and ran out of the room, not even trying to retrieve his lost weapon.

“I thought you weren’t going to try anything like that on Coruscant?” the Twi’lek questioned, rising to his feet.

“Judging by how quickly I just cleared this room, I think you need to be more careful what you think about things,” Andrelious hissed.

“What? You think they were my allies? I have the kind of money that hires Mandalorian clans, Inahj. I wouldn’t bother with a few drunks who can barely shoot straight” Alaris answered.

“It won’t be long before the Dark Council finds out what you’ve been doing. They’ll want the money back,” the Human explained.

Jinn chuckled. “It’s almost sad, Inahj. I have already foreseen all of this. I knew you would be coming here. I knew you’d just insist on that show of Force, if you’ll forgive the pun,”

“You have always been the same. Obsessed with the future. With what’s going to happen. That will be your downfall,” Andrelious responded.

“Typical Sith. So focused on an apparent weakness that you miss the bigger picture,” Alaris snapped back. “Even now, you stand here, hoping you’ll somehow talk me to death,”

Mimosa-Inahj sighed “We may not see eye to eye, but we are both part of Taldryan. I would rather that you left this place to run itself and come back to the Clan. In fact-”

Andrelious stopped mid sentence as he spotted what appeared to be a pair of Collective operatives flanking a prisoner. The prisoner had long, dark hair with purple tips, and appeared to have been tied up.

“KOOKI!” the Archanis Quaestor cried, activating his lightsaber and charging as fast as he could towards his spouse and her two captors. As he swung his crimson blade through one of his enemies, the scene disappeared into thin air. Andrelious turned furiously towards his former Proconsul.

“I see you’re still as weak minded and impulsive as ever,” Alaris taunted.

Andrelious had run out of patience with the Twi’lek. He sprinted towards Alaris, lightsaber ready for what he hoped would be a straightforward kill.

Jinn sighed and shook his head as he activated his own lightsaber, its emerald blade immediately called into action as the former Imperial reached his target.

“You really thought it would be that easy?” Alaris mocked.

Mimosa-Inahj didn’t offer an answer. He was fully focused on trying to bypass his opponent’s defences, but Alaris wasn’t about to yield, with carefully planned, yet remarkably dynamic movements even forcing Andrelious to defend against several rather unorthodox counter attacks.

Alaris took a few steps back, then, making sure he remained out of his clanmate’s reach, jumped onto a table, trying to use its height to approach Andrelious from above. The Sith, presented with the onrushing Twi’lek, dove underneath the table, avoiding Alaris’ incoming blade by mere milliseconds.

Emerging from the other side of the table, Andrelious turned to face Alaris, but noticed that the former Proconsul had taken the time to conjure up no less than four duplicates.

“Give it up, Andrelious. Your ability with a lightsaber is nothing compared to my power over your mind,” the Alarises said in perfect unison.

Andrelious grit his teeth.

Things had certainly become very interesting.