A Phoenix Raises

## Summary

The crew embark on a stealth mission to the opulent Totopo Casino to find the elusive Phoenix Ash. Pleck goes all in. Bargie gets a BOGO. Nermut gets an autograph.

## Plot

Bargie announces that they got a pet. C-53 asks what type of pet, she doesn't know. Bargie doesn't need another ship in their life when they have a pet. The pet arrives and sounds adorable. Pleck asks how many species of pets will eat a Tellurian, its at least four dozen. Pleck looks through the air hole and is terrified by what he sees. Bargie then tells them that she ordered two pets, it was a buy one get one free sale weekend. Nermut calls. He accidentally nub-dialed them but denies doing so. He has a poster of Turk Manaked as he is giving a REB talk, you give a short fifteen minute speech on something you are a specialist in. His talk is about strapping explosives to the core of a ship. Nermut firmly says that he is not going, you get the poster when you buy a ticket. He asks if they've heard of Phoenix Ash, a shady guy with deep ties to the Federated Alliance. They ask Nermut if he wants a pet. Their mission is to go to the Totopo Casin and track Phoenix Ash and get intel, its a stealth mission. They are giving Pleck a couple of hundred Kroon in order to help him blend.

Hark Tartigast is stuck inside a hyperdrive vortex, he reads sponsor copy for Squarespace and TheRebellion.space.

The crew borrow some costumes from Bargie, Pleck is wearing the suit that Jim JImenar died in. They are welcomed to the casino and are walked to D-34\_LR, a high rollers table. Dar is dressed in a large shiny balloon as it was the only thing that fit them. The table they have been lead to plays Royal Nortan with a 100 Kroon blind. C-53 advises that they step away from the table, Dar sits down to play. Pleck reasons that they'll be fine as C-53 used to be a Nortan dealer. The dealer begins telling them the rule differences between Royal Nortan and Nortan. C-53 grabs Pleck's arm and tells him to leave the table as he's too stupid for the game. Dar wants him to play so they can beat him. After hearing some rules Pleck asks C-53 how to play, C-53 is unwilling to help him. Pleck asks about the purpose of the river, after 10 rounds the loser is drowned in the river. Dar bets 600 Kroon, Pleck questions where they got it from but Dar tells him that its none of his business. Another player at the table is on their 9th round. Pleck goes to pass a card to the right but is told by C-53 that will automatically lose him the round. He bet matches 500 Kroon. They call over the pit boss to extend a line of credit so Pleck can keep playing. Pleck doesn't know how credit works, eventually putting C-53 up as collateral. Pleck feels that he missed some vital rules at the beginning, C-53 lets him know that he hasn't even heard 1% of the rules of Royal Nortan. The pit boss comes back with the Kroon. They drown another player as they lose their 10th round. The pit boss announces that they are about to meet their biggest high roller of the casino Phoenix Ash. Phoenix is charming, complimenting Dar's gown. They load two shoes for him as he likes the vibe of the table. As someone was drowned the house wins the first round. They start the second round. Pleck is three questions short of making a doop. Pleck asks what a doop is and it starts a new round. Phoenix, presuming they are married, asks Dar how much it would cost to spend a night with Pleck. No price is too high. Pleck asks what a night with Phoenix would entail. They would stare into each others eyes and try to guess what the other is thinking and Phoenix would take him up to his Planet Crusher Crusher. Dar asks for an aside, C-53 calls a short recess at the table for them. They are surprised that a Planet Crusher Crusher exists. Pleck is terrified that Phoenix wants to spend a night with him. C-53 isn't very sympathetic as Pleck sold him to a casino. Dar reasons they can buy him back with the money Phoenix will pay them for a night with Pleck. Back at the table the crew are at 6 losses. For a small fee they can upload their consciousnesses so in the event they are drowned they can be downloaded into a new body. It costs 17000 Kroon. The pit is reloaded and the chamber shuffled, thats two more losses for Pleck. Everyone else has been playing while talking, Pleck has been staring into space. Pleck and C-53 have an aside, Pleck is convinced he can't lose because he's connected to the space, he can see the cards before they're flipped over. C-53's argument is that he doesn't know what he's doing with the cards so that isn't helpful. C-53 assumes that they wont see each other again after this day and says goodbye to Pleck. They return to the table. Pleck is at 9 losses, they are at the river's edge. Pleck goes all in. D-34\_LR starts to explain the rules for round 10, Pleck interrupts and plays perfectly until he realises that he cut him off before he explained all 11 steps. Pleck loses. D-34\_LR asks Phoenix if he'd like to 'indecent proposal' him before or after his drowning, he decides after. Sammo and Wink approach the table to play, they are willing to play Milsch Hold em' Royal Nortan using Pleck's life as a blind. They get a triple zing and win the entire round, this means they win Pleck and C-53's freedom and Dar comes out even. It also means twelve losses for Phoenix. Pleck feels bad that he doesn't return Phoenix's feelings. Phoenix is drowned. Dar criticizes that Pleck didn't ask who he sold the Planet Crusher Crusher to.

Back on Bargie, Pleck asks her where the pets are. Beano ate them. Bargie goes into pout mode. Nermut calls. They ask him how the REB talk went, he ran into Turk in the bathroom and he got his chest signed. They tell him about their mission. A friend of Bargie told her that Nermut gave a good REB talk about management. She plays a clip. The crew are impressed. He also gave a REBx talk about music.

## Trivia

* Pleck's alias is 'Tom Stopper' or 'Corp', C-53's alias is C-17, Dar's alias is Norm. Sammo and Wink's aliases are Pammo and Bink.

## Credits

### **Voice actors**

C-53 - Jeremy Bent

Pleck Decksetter - Alden Ford

Dar - Allie Kokesh

Nermut Bundaloy - Seth Lind

Bargarean Jade, drowned player, and Wink - Moujan Zolfaghari

Pit Boss, and Sammo - Winston Noel

D-34\_LR - Christopher Scott

Phoenix Ash - Matt Little

### **Production**

Edited - Seth Lind

Recorded - Shane O'Connell

Sound Design and Mix - Shane O'Connell

Music - Brendan Ryan

Opening Crawl Narration - Jeremy Crutchley

Ship Design - Eric Geusz

Additional Audio - Becca Pridmore