"Welcome to the Heaven Casino, the jewel in Cloud City! Come, and try your luck at the finest quality sabacc facilities in this half of the galaxy! Or, if that's not your thing, we've got Pazaak, Coruscanti roulette, and others! So why not come in, and try it?"

Gero took a step back as what appeared to be a three-dimensional image of a strikingly attractive woman spoke to him as he walked up to the entrance of what that Lando fellow had told him and the others to spend some time out while the ship was fixed. Inside, he could see yet more aliens, all shapes and sizes, milling around tables, with more holographic women gyrating in the background. Robots—or droids, as they seemed to be called—were present everywhere. At bars. Dealing cards. Cleaning the floors. Damn, their mere presence made him uncomfortable.

"Come on!" said Samuel, leading them in. "Might as well try and kick back here. Everyone meet here in half an hour. Okay?"

The others nodded, walking into the casino and dispersing. Nervously, Gero walked in, with various eyes of differing color and size turning his direction, as strange pulsing music played in the background. Reptile things, insect things, things he couldn't describe...he wondered if he was ever going to used to all these colourful things.

"You're a strange-looking fellow." Rasped a gravelly voice behind him. He turned around to see a man clad entirely in armor, with a helmet dominated by a T-shaped visor, and some sort of strange backpack. "Why not have a game? I've always liked trying new people, and I've got a table specially reserved."

He gestured at a nearby table, with a group of guys hurriedly moving away from it.

"Uh, yeah. Sure, I guess." Was this how people asked to play card games in this strange galaxy, he wondered as he followed the armored man to the table.

"So, what's your name?" he asked as another damn robot began distributing cards.

"Boba. My backpack's got jets." He said casually. "You know how to play sabacc?"

"Not really, no."

"You must come from some backward place, then. It's like this: At the beginning of each round, each player contributes an ante to the hand pot which goes to the person with the winning hand at the conclusion of that round of play. Similarly, at the start of each round, players also contribute an ante to the sabacc pot, which can only be won by a player who's winning hand is either a pure sabac, which holds a value of either 23 or -23, with the former trumping the latter, or by holding an Idiot's Array, a hand containing a card called The Idiot, worth zero, a Two of any suit, and a Three of the same suit. When laid out on the table, an Idiot's Array is read, literally, as 023, and is considered the highest hand in the game, trumping even a pure sabacc of 23. A win with any of those three special hands will give that player both the hand pot and the sabacc pot, and is typically seen as the end of gameplay for a single game. Got that?"

"No."

"Thought so. Let's just roll; best way to learn is to play."

**

Looking around, Anya found herself immensely nervous surrounded by all these freaks, robots, and holographic women pole dancing, with all these eyes constantly looking at her. She had last seen that woman from the ship fraternizing with that Lando man, and now, split up from the others, she found her hands shaking. With that, she walked up to a bar.

"What can I get you, ma'am?" For frak's sake. Another robot.

"Er…cold water."

"Coming right up. Don't worry, first two drinks are on the house."

That was pleasing to know. As the robot served up a drink, she took a look over her shoulder. Samuel was playing cards with a strange man in armor. Kidas was entering a booth of some kind, and she glimpsed another holographic woman inside that. What a perv. Perseus was watching another game of some kind, and Thescera was nowhere to be seen. At least they seemed to be getting pretty well with all these.

"Preeeeety!" she gasped as some three-eyed monstrosity sat down next to her. "You come me! Hotel! Pay good credits!"

"Frak off!" she screamed, giving him a powerful kick that knocked him off the chair, causing him to knock over a glass that shattered. All eyes diverted towards her as the music stopped.

"You make me angry!" he snarled. "No like angry! Get her!"

Several more ugly freaks strode over to here as she sat there, stunned with horror. Then, someone banged loudly on a table. It was the armored man.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but I don't think that woman's done anything wrong."

"Fett!" said the three-eyed thing. "You! Stay out!"

"Not inclined to, sorry."

"Fine then. Boys, get him!"

The men advanced on the armored man, who calmly stood there, as if assessing him. Then, flames shot out of the end of his backpack and he shot forward, slamming into one of the thugs and sending him flying against the wall. Two more ran towards him, only for him to activate his flamethrower and spin in a 360 degree angle, roasting them both.

As the others drew guns, he ducked behind a table just before they opened fire, shooting out what looked like bolts of energy. Then, he shot out from cover with his jetpack, almost hitting the ceiling, and gunned them down with his own gun in what seemed like an instant. The last one produced a larger gun, only for him to fire more bolts from his wrist, vaporizing a large hole in his chest. With that, he settled, before walking up to the cowering three-eyed thing.

"Not while I'm around. Okay?"

"Y-yes." And with that he scurried out of the casino. The music resumed playing and everyone continued with what they were doing as robots began to clear up the mess.

"Thanks." She called to the armored man.

"My pleasure." He growled. She paused. Was it her, or was that voice incredibly sexy?"

**

"Sorry about that." Said the Boba man as he took his seat at the table. "Now, shall we continue? I believe it's your turn."

"Of course." Said Samuel, still in awe of what had happened. "Say, what's your profession?"

"I travel a lot." He said cryptically. "Now draw."

Samuel threw down his cards. Several beings watching gasped.

"Well, well, well." Growled Boba. "Idiot's Array. Congratulations, you've won. Beginner's luck."

"Er, thanks. Good game."

"My pleasure too. I hoped you've learned something from this game, because I certainly have…"