Predatory

Check and Fold

Vos was dealer first, so Helex and Tesarus got to be the blinds. Tesarus tossed a one shanix chip in the pot, Helex tossed in two. Then Vos dealt out the hole cards. I glanced at mine. A ten and a nine of spades. Okay. Not the best hand, but not the worst either. 

Kaon began the pre-flop round since Tesarus and Helex had already committed to the pot with the blinds. Kaon stared at his card for a few moments, keeping his expression unreadable. Then he tossed two one shanix chips in the pot. I did the same. 

Vos also threw two in. Then he dealt the three flop card in the middle. A king and queen of clubs and a queen of spades. Hmm. If the next cards had a Jack, I would be set, and if not, it could be two spades and I would still be okay. 

Tesarus stared at his hand before saying, "Check."  

Helex also decided to check. Kaon stared at his cards for a moment.

"I think I'll raise to....oh let's say....five." He said, and threw a five piece in the the pot. Scrap, he must have a decent hand. I looked at my cards, they weren't horrible, no. But how much were they worth? I contemplated for a moment, then I threw a five piece in.

 Vos folded. Apparently his cards weren't worth keeping. Then he flipped over the turn card. A three of spades. Excellent, I might be in with a shot...maybe. 

Tesarus folded, and moodily took a sip of his high grade. "Stupid hand. Why did you give me terrible cards, Vos?" 

Vos sighed and threw his servos into the air. Apparently very unhappy with his luck in a hand too. 

Helex glared at his cards for a long time, before throwing a five chip in the pot. 

Kaon stared at his for a minute. "What to do, what to do......hmmm. Well, I guess I'll fold." He flipped his cards over and took a sip of his drink.

I sighed, before throwing quite five chip in myself. 

Vos went to turn over the last card, or the River as some called it. I just prayed that it was a spade. Just a spade!! He flipped the card over....and it was a ten of diamonds. Scrap. It was still a two pair, but not a very good one. If Helex had a king I was done. 

"Well, this ought to be interesting." Kaon muttered, staring at the five cards in the middle of the table. 

"You're telling me!" Helex said from the across the table. 

Vos gestured for Helex to reveal his cards first, and he did. He had a Jack and a three of hearts. Helex sighed, and looked at me nervously. I have him a sad look. Then I flipped mine over and grinned. My tens beat his threes and I won! Well, the first hand at least. 

Helex groaned in defeat and I laughed. Kaon helped me to collect the 20 shanix from the pot, and then the new hand began. 

This time Tesarus was the dealer. And we began to go around again. 

"Ugh, my hand is terrible, I'll fold," Helex remarked as soon as it was his turn. "Overlord must seriously be acting up tonight. Tarn hasn't even given a message as to being on his way." I looked up at him in surprise when he said that.

"Well, he didn't exactly look like he was going to behave earlier. I wouldn't be surprised if he attacked someone to be completely honest with you. That mech is crazy." Tesarus replied.

"Wait," I said, confused. "What's this with Tarn and Overlord that's keeping him out so late?"

"Overlord decided that since Sixshot didn't want to fight earlier, that he was going to pick on some trainee or some rookie like that. Poor kid lost an arm apparently. So Tarn had to keep an eye on him for the rest of the day." Kaon muttered agitatedly. "He seems to think getting into trouble with anyone and everyone is fun or something. And he likes to make as many problems for Tarn as possible, although the feeling seems to be mutual. I don't know what happened but they have it out for each other. The two are always trying to get under the other one's armor. Unfortunately for you, the main way Overlord likes to aggravate Tarn is to bother us. That's one of the reasons we stay in the ship, he's too unpredictable. The crazed son of a glitch." His tone led onto something more, but I didn't ask. Something told me I would find out of I needed to know. 

We completed several more hands. I folded on all of them, not feeling like losing any money if I didn't need to. We were on our fourth hand, (I was dealing), when Tarn entered through the doorway. He was limping slightly, and he was bleeding from under his mask. There was also a significant tear in his chassis. Nothing serious, however definitely alarming. He sighed as he walked towards our table

"Kaon, I know you've already picked the lock once tonight. So make yourself useful and get some of the high grade out." Tarn ordered with his amazing voice-er, I mean his voice. I have no idea whether it's amazing or not, crazy thoughts! Yes! That's it! Just my fever brain pumping words into my brain circuits! Right? Right!

Tarn sat down in the chair at the head of the table, which happened to be right next to me on my left. He rested his helm in his servo. I couldn't see his face plate, but somehow I could tell how exhausted and tired he was. After all, he had been up since before dawn, and it was now late at night. 

Kaon returned with two bottles of high grade in his servos, I recognized both as very potent. He also passed him a new glass. It hadn't occurred to me until this moment, but, how was he going to drink it with his mask? Was he gonna use a straw or...? A few moments later I got my answer, when he took his mask off.