Hammer says, "Me too. Ante up."

Desi will continue to watch the Dralasite to see what is going on while the three play cards.

The dralasite antes up and deals the cards:

Porter has a great hand.
Hammer has an average hand.

Desiraye smiles as she thinks she has figured out the Dralasites game plan.  She will say aloud in a calm voice, "Is it cheating if you are psychic and can read peoples' minds while playing cards?"

The dralasite raises the pot by 100 credits and then looks up at Desiraye.  "There is no such thing as reading minds.  The only cheater here is the Kirscht woman.  She tried to pick my pocket.  Who are you anyway?"  Though hard to read a dralasite's face, he must clearly be offended by the accusation.

After Desi's whispered info about the woman and the dralasite gambler's accusation, Porter is now very interested in Kirscht.  He's also paying attention to the dralasite's expressions and actions to see if he can detect any cheating.

"I'll raise another 50 creds.  And let's hope there's no cheating going on by any of us.  It's just a nice, friendly game."

OOC: Porter has Intuition 50.  Does he feel as if any of the dral's actions or words are suspicious?

Hammer doesn't comment on the turn of events.  He simply says, "I fold.  But by the way, my name's Hammer.  What's yours?"

"That clears up a little of the problem then.  We were trying to figure out what her angle was.  How long were you playing with her?"

The dralasite replies, "20 minutes or so."  To Hammer, he says, "My name is Blirdor."

He finishes the hand.  This time, the dralasite wins.

Hammer says, "I think I'm done with gambling for today.  You got to know when to hold them, and know when to fold them."  He stands up and whispers something to Desiraye.

"It has been fun.  Maybe I'll join you for a few more hands tomorrow.  I'm Sgt. Min, by the way."  Porter smiles and reaches out a hand to shake.

Whether Blirdor returns the gesture or not, he continues, "This was a fun game.  I'll be sure to show my buddies on base when I get back to standard duty.  I'm sure it will be a hit."

After leaving the table and getting out of ear-shot, he tells Desiraye and Hammer, "You know how some dralasites every now and then know when someone's lying?  I think that Blirdor is especially good at that.  No cheating through card manipulation or anything, it's just really hard to bluff him.

"Now, please tell me a bit more about Kirscht.  What's her story, and why should we pay attention to her?"

"Both of their names came up during our investigation.  Wasn't Blirdor suspected of trying to bribe us with something?"

"Are you just an unusually lucky gambler or do some of your other talents include threatening people to do what you want them to do?"

"Threats?" the dralasite says, surprised.  "No threats.  I am just a gambler who likes his games.  Why do you reproach me so?"

Porter stays back at the other end of the car while Desiraye confronts Blirdor.  He's ready to react in case there's trouble.  But if things don't blow up, he thinks it might be wise to have at least someone in their group who can still talk to the dralasite.  If he's a suspect in some crime, Porter wants to keep up the best relationship possible with Blirdor in case good cop-bad cop tactics are needed.

Desiraye moves closer to the table where Blirdor has been sitting and sits down herself.  Keeping both of her hands on the table, she continues the conversation.  "Pulling a scared Vrusk into a closet and telling him that he had to put a portable drive into the control room at the SAK offices and his job depended on it.    Perhaps it was a recorder or a relay device you had him plant there?

We also have evidence of this of you on video."

"I never did any such thing, and you don't have a video like that," the dralasite says.  "Is this some form of intimidation to help you see if I bluff?  Amateurs."  He shakes his head.  "If you want to play, let's play.  Otherwise, let someone else join me."

Desiraye smiles at the Dralasite when he comments about bluffing.  "The girl was the perfect set up to get close to you to verify your identity.   Believe me Blirdor, we do have that evidence already to the authorities and it was pretty clear as well as a corroborating evidence to convict you wher you will be playing for cigarettes and snacks in prison.  Enjoy you last couple of days as a free being."

The dralasite shows no hesitation when he says, "I don't know who you are.  I get the feeling you are telling the truth as far as you know it, but since your allegations are false, please show me the evidence you think you have."

"IF you're willing to clear your name Mr. Blirdor, I can contact the people who have hired us to do the investigation.  They are in possession of ALL of the evidence and witnesses that has been collected thus far.  We have already made an initial contact with our employers about finding you on this train and they're waiting to hear from us on how you want to further proceed.

I'm not here to judge you Mr. Blirdor, we were hired to do a job and we are filling our obligation.  I assure you, this is not personal on any level, just business.  Kind of like your card game.  You don't take it too personally if you win or lose.  It's your job and you go with the flow.  If you have nothing to hide, there should be no problems?"

Blirdor listens to you thoughtfully and says, "I think you mistake me for someone else.  I was recently the victim of identity theft, which is easier than you might think for dralasites.  His name is 'Gorboz,' and he's quite the criminal mastermind."

Blirdor leans back. "Gorboz also got me in trouble for a robbery gone bad in the offices of a human advisor named Semoins a few days ago.  Something about planting a bug and getting information related to LeGrange.  Semoins is a human advisor for the Clic'Aqat trade house, which had some executives on the Golden Dawn ship at the time of LeGrange's murder, execution, assassination, martyrdom, or whatever it's called.  Once they figured out it wasn't me, they linked Gorboz to the Vist'Lat trade house, which I think Semoins was investigating or something."

He says, "I don't have all the information, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are still sending people to spy on me, just in case they change their mind about my lack of involvement.  In fact, when you made the accusation, I thought you might be with them, but now I see I was wrong.  I'm not usually wrong when it comes to reading people.  Hmm."

Desiraye looks curiously at the Dralasite and his comments.  "Would you be willing to make a formal statement to what you just told us?  That would clear your name and get us off your back and we can go after the real criminal, this, Gorboz is it?

Everyone has a bad day every now and again Blirdor.  I'm good at what I/we do and I don't like it when we're off.  People can lose their lives and no, this isn't a threat to you sir."

Blirdor says, "If I go on record in this political environment, I'm dead.  Better to stay off the radar if you're not a Vrusk.  But I think if you find Gorboz, you'll be in a better position to finding your perpetrator.  They mentioned he  ran around with a Yazirian who did his bidding.  I think the name was Sikriie.  I don't know much more than that, even though I was trying to eavesdrop on the investigators."

OOC: In case you have forgotten your encounter with the Yazirian, go here at about message #107: link to a message in this game

As Porter listens to Desiraye interrogating the Dralasite, he sends a message to Star Law, asking for any information they may have on Gorboz and/or Sikriie.

Other than that he hangs back, watching Desiraye get to the truth.

The response Porter gets back is that he is no listed in their books, but if it is a local Kraatar matter, they do not have access to those records.  They suggest that he contact RIK authorities for answers to that question.

Blirdor is getting uncomfortable with you hovering over him asking him questions.  He mentions something about not wanting to be in the field of fire when all hell breaks loose, gathers his cards and money, and heads back to his room.

With nothing else of interest in the vicinity, you go back to your rooms.

OOC: I will advance this to the next day unless someone is doing something else.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:28, Tue 22 July 2014.