The main playing room seemed larger with the extra tables missing. Five small circular tables clustered neatly in the center, leaving large empty space surrounding the players. I took my seat and once again Solo, Pandora and I were separated. That seemed odd, I'd figure one of our paths would have crossed at a Sabacc table by now.

I could see Pandora's face occasionally appear behind the fat Sullustan sitting in front of me. I smiled at her, the Sullustan was not sure how to react to my assumed friendliness. He blinked stupidly and occasionally shifted in his seat.

Han was off to my left. He'd have his hands full with Lando, Tord and Oxbel. A trio of good players. I smiled at the thought of Solo not making it to the finals. I liked him well enough. And the fact he put up his winnings to save my hide was pretty upstanding, especially for him. But I knew he could beat me. And I wanted to win. Badly.

"Good being seen my buddy-pal Garic. Ready to play game cards? No feelings of illness if I win, right? " the Squib rattled off. I turned to my right to see the small flop eared Spofin take the seat right next to me. I rolled my eyes and pulled out a cigar.

"Ditto," I said absently as I struck a match. I gently brought the flame to my cigar and puffed the cigar contently. "Look pal," I stared at the small Squib, "you're gonna have to zip it if you're gonna play here." Startled, he gazed back slightly offended.

"No problem, Smokey. . Me real good like at hush-hush. Back on Grand Homeplace me a quiet one. So no worry here..." I clamped onto his snout, shutting it tightly.

"Well start now. I like ya, but this is business." He muffled a yes and I let him go. "Let's play." The Squib adjusted his flightsuit collar and picked up his cards. And people say I talk too much!

- - -

Hand after hand was dealt. Chips were bandied around but no one at my table seemed to make progress. I was nervous, and playing conservatively, for no apparent reason. After about two more hours, I had made a small dent in everyone else's pile. Lando had already been dismissed by Solo and company. He was angrily pouting over a fruity sissy drink, overlooking Solo's table. He'd occasionally peer over at Pandora or myself, but never for too long.

"Sabacc!" a voice cried from a nearby table. Solo grabbed at chips as Tord slammed his cards down. Broke and upset, the gambler stood from the table and swore. I looked over to see the commotion as several guards approached the table in case there was trouble. Tord raised his hands to show he wasnt going to do anything foolish and took a step away from the table. Our eyes met and he laughed.

"Good luck, buddy." I nodded silently and he shook his head, disgusted with his performance. The guards separated as he strode across the room. Angrily he pushed over a server droid, spilling a rainbow of drinks on the dirty floor. The little droid's legs flailed as it tried to right itself, whistling and chirping helplessly.

The gambling resumed, the outbreak a mere memory now. Flasks, Sabres, Coins, Staves. Every hand, a desperate attempt to get Sabacc. Shifting, calling, drawing. Fortunes came and went. Alternating cries of happiness and despair. Slowly the tables emptied.

Pandora laughed like a giddy child as she collected the last pot, sending the smelly Shistavanen Wolfman with the rest of the losers. She winked at me and went for another drink. I smiled as the chubby Sullustan lost another round. The last of her stash joining the Squib's. Now it was just me and the mouthy alien.

I shot back another whiskey and prepared to end this game. My quick talking opponent was desperately low on chips. Winning that last round only allowed him to play a few more hands. I lit another cigar and concentrated.

"Woohoo!" Another winner. The table to my right emptied. One man remaining to enjoy his victory. He was a thick man, with a long leather jacket that went to the ground. His scruffy black beard was salted with age. He seemed confident and refined. Obviously a man from wealth, here for the prestige. The money only a secondary thought. He was unfamiliar to me. And I thought I knew everyone.

"Who's the blue-blood?" I asked the Squib.

"Oh! He rich pal Jarrell. Not good at the art but he got plenty loot."

"Jarrell Mantooth?" He wasn't at all what I expected. I could tell he was from Alderaan immediately. The way he held himself and walked proud. But I wouldn't think he was smuggler. Live and learn.

I finally finished off the Squib. He seemed almost happy I won. Hopping off the chair, he grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously.

"Well buddy-pal Garic. Seems card art is thingy of yours. You play like good bargainer, you bet. You take all here! Kick bad-guy butt no less." I smiled at his cheeriness. I couldn't help it as I patted his furry head.

"You're a pretty good bargainer yourself Spofin. One of the best." He smiled, complimented and content, hurrying off to do some business with a Jawa no doubt. I stood and looked over to see Solo still trying to finish off the Devorian Oxbel and an ugly Gran. Like there are good looking Gran, I laughed. I gave my chips to the dealer and walked over to the bar Jabba's servants had built for the occasion.

I scanned the surly crowd for Pandora but found nothing. She probably went to her room, I thought absently. Wandering towards me was the wookiee Chewbacca and Lando. I took the last swig of my drink and gestured to Lando with a finger.

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. He feigned an innocent look and placed his empty glass on a passing droid. As soon as he was in reach I grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him into the nearby stairwell.

"Hey!" Lando said startled. "What the...?" Chewbacca let out a howl of surprise and I held a finger up to him.

"Listen Chewbacca. This is between me and Calrissian. You take a chill. I'm not gonna hurt him, I promise." The hairy giant stood silent for a moment, my eyes not dropping from his. He could sense I just wanted to talk and he took a step back from the stairs.

"What's the matter with you, Starr? I knew you were crazy but..."

"Shut up, Lando." I pulled deeper into the stairwell, out of everyones view.

"What's the deal? Why are you and Solo fronting your winnings to save my hide?" I looked angrily at him as he gaped back in confusion.

"Can't a guy do something nice for a colleague?"

"No. Not when it's you, Lando. Just tell me why." He grabbed my hand, still holding his shirt. I released him with a little shove. He adjusted his cape and regained his composure.

"Consider it professional courtesy." His smile widened. He was trying to smooth talk me like I was some drunken beauty at a casino.

"Save the charm for the ladies, Lando! Talk straight for once." His face turned serious and controlled.

"Garic, we've known each other for years. Back to our Corellian days. We may not be the best of friends anymore but I'm not going to let you get killed if I can help it. You don't turn you back on people." I tried to remain angry, but I couldn't. "I know you think I'm a double-crossing womanizing gambler. But I'm not holding any grudges. So say thank-you and let it go. Besides, I'm out of the running."

He was right. I was being stupid and childish over something neither of us could control, in a time that's long past. I swallowed and realized he was trying to save my life.

"I was wrong about you Lando. You're right. Thanks for stepping up for me." My eyes narrowed and it was my turn to get serious. "But this doesn't put Neena behind us. Just remember that." I could feel the heat in my face as I stood, eyes locked with Lando. His eyes fell. Looking down at his feet he spoke softly, nodding in agreement.

"I know."

- - -

Neena was one of the special people that you meet so rarely in a lifetime. She was warm and kind. Someone you could settle down with and never regret doing so. I was in love with her and she with me. When I first started smuggling, she went with me to keep me company and share in the excitement. We made a great team.

It was my first year in the business. I was twenty and she was eighteen. We somehow or another had hooked up with Lando Calrissian on a few jobs. Solo and the wookiee worked with us on occasion too. But Lando and I were partners. He was the one who taught me Sabacc and all it's idiosyncrasies. How to master a game that had no patterns. He was a few years older than I but not by much. And he as well was in love.

Whether it was respect or principle, Lando never made an attempt at Neena's hand. But he loved her. I could see it in his eyes and his mannerisms when they were together. And when a shipment delivery went bad on Frenkor due to Lando's lax on security, I lost Neena. And a friend. Lando never forgave himself and neither did I. He could have prevented it. He could have done things differently. Maybe it was time to heal old wounds. Maybe it was a chance to put Neena to rest. Maybe.

Then the words of the mysterious stranger hit me. Friends who are enemies and enemies who are friends. Made me think who was going against me.

"Just like old times." Solo slapped me on the back as he stirred me from my thoughts.

"Huh?" I said disoriented. "Uh...sure. Not too much I hope." Solo laughed and I ordered another drink. Solo had just cleaned up at his table and the next round would start in an hour or so. I grabbed my glass and walked away from Solo.

"What did I say?" I could hear him ask in the distance. He looked confused as I went to find Pandora. Maybe I could put Neena to rest.

The hallway was empty as I made my way to the visitors wing. The shadows moved eerily along the walls as the sounds of creatures and drunk inhabitants made noises from nowhere. I turned a hallway to see Jarrell and Pandora talking..

"It's done. I'm out of this deal as of now. You're going to get killed." A dignified voice, educated and secure.

"What's going on? This guy bothering you?" I asked Pandora. She seemed startled by my presence but quickly seemed relaxed and calm.

"Uh...No. Finishing up some old business. I was just telling him that after the tournament would be a better time to discuss this." Jarrell seemed nervous and jittery. His coat swayed gently, exposing a large blaster. Something wasn't right.

"Well it's almost time to start the final game. I wanted to talk but if you're busy..." I waited for a response. She seemed to take an unusual amount of time responding.

"Fine. Jarrell and I are done." She reached for my hand and I took hers in mine. "Let's chat." She smiled at Jarrell as he silently walked away in a hurry. I stared after him and she put her hands on my shoulder, her lips near my ear.

"What's going on Pandora?" Still looking down the hallway.

"Don't you worry...nothing to get riled up about, I promise." She whispered, her breath tickling my ear. I looked into her glowing eyes. She had a danger about her. I couldn't put my finger on it but I could sense her Cirpian traits coming into play. And like my father once told me. A Cirpian can only be trusted when they're dead. Sometimes not even then.

I led her back toward the main gaming room. I felt something...not right. This whole situation seemed odd. My urge to talk to her subsided and we walked silently back to finish what we all came here to do.

- - -

The smoke from my cigar hung like a cloud over the table. The L-11 droid guarded the table like a silent sentry, inactive until game time. The remaining players sat alone at the center of the room, while a small crowd mulled around the fringes making side bets and idle conversation. There was only a fraction of people in the main playing room than I expected. Something was up.

Solo sat there silently, stirring his whisky casually. His rugged face scanning his opponent's. With his elbows on the table, he folded his hands in front of him and waited quietly. Putting on his game face.

Jarrell seemed out of place. A playboy of affluent means, he stuck out like a prissy sore thumb among us scoundrels. His neatly pressed cloak and starch shirt made me itch just looking at it. His posture was straight and seemed awkward to the more relaxed smugglers. He sneered at my cigar and I puffed a smoggy cloud in his direction, just to be a jerk.

I noticed Jabba was conspicuously absent. I figured he'd want to be here to see this. I took a glance around and realized Boba Fett was nowhere to be seen. Something wasn't right.

"Where're the big boys?" I wondered aloud.

"Had some business to take care of somewhere." Solo said casually.

"So the fat guy bolted huh? Left us to fend for ourselves?" I chuckled at the Hutt's absence. I rubbed out the remnants of my cigar on the heel of my boot and took a swig of my Thuris Stout.

"Guess so. It's always something." Solo concluded. True enough.

"Well we just gonna wait for His Chunkiness to return or are we going to play?" I looked at my opponents and they agreed. It was time to get this show on the road.

The droid whined to life and dealt each player a card. Han had the highest value and was the first dealer. We played a few rounds and no one seemed to get an edge. Then, out of the blue, Pandora seemed to start losing money. She was calling hands with low numbers and losing, having to double the Sabacc pot each time. It was like she was throwing the game.

The talk was few and far between, everyone concentrating. Jarrell seemed nervous, always looking around. His restless was starting to annoy everyone.

In an hour or so Pandora had managed to lose most of her money. She didn't seem too upset or concerned. Then she surprised us all.

"I fold," she announced quietly. She still had a few hundred credits left but she tossed them into the Sabacc pot and stood.

"What?!?" Solo and I said in unison. You never left a game if you still had a shot. Jarrell seemed tight lipped and uneasy. Sweat beaded on his face and his eyes blinked constantly. I thought he might have a heart attack right here at the table.

"What's the point? With you four playing there's no way I could possibly catch up. So I'm just going to step aside and let the professionals play." She stood and bowed deeply. Her sarcastic smile spread wide across her face.

"You boys play nice," she winked at me as she stepped away from the table. I suddenly realized what she was doing. She wanted me to stall the game while she looked for the bomb. I winked back, acknowledging her plan. I wish she'd clue me in about these things.

"Women," Solo muttered. He picked up his cards and I shrugged.

"What are ya gonna do?" I anted in with a few credits and we continued.

The cards shifted and money was won and lost. Coins, Flasks, Balance, Moderation. The odds of me staying alive increased with each round. Confidence was slowly building.

With Pandora gone, Solo and I teamed up on Jarrell. He was the weakest player and seemed to get tenser with every moment.

"You okay, pal? " I asked. He seemed dazed and unstable. His face was pale and the sweat kept coming. He looked up from his cards and wiped his hair out of his eyes.

"I'm...I'm fine." He looked like the walking dead. But some people can't handle the pressure. I patted him on the shoulder and he struggled to smile.

On we played.

- - -

We played for another fifteen minutes when the pressure finally caught up with Jarrell.

"I...I can't finish. I fold," he stammered. He rose unsteadily. Solo and I looked at each other in confusion. Jarrell leaned to both of us and spoke softly. Solo had a smirk on his face, probably sure Jarrell was insane.

"What's the story, Blueblood? Sit down and finish." This was all too weird. The fear and anxiety in his face was palpable. His hands trembled slightly and his legs seemed slightly unstable.

"She's going to get us all killed."

"Who?" Solo asked. I was starting to see a picture form in my head. And it wasn't pretty.

"Pandora's planted a bomb somewhere. She hired me to splice into the computer and rig the Sabacc computer. " His face darted around, looking for one of Jabba's thugs to grab him.

"What? You're not making any sense." Solo seemed confused by the accusation.

"She wants Jabba dead! You don't understand. She's gone off to kill him. When the droid tells the mainframe the tournament is over...the bomb goes off. While we're picking up the pieces, she'd go off to kill him."

"Mainframe? What are you talking about? Why would Pandora want to kill Jabba?" Lando chimed in. The room buzzed with confusion. I sensed dread and déjà vu all at once. Friends who are enemies and enemies who are friends.

"Besides Jabba left hours ago and she just folded. She'll never find his barge." Solo insisted. I stayed silent. Pieces falling into place around me.

"Unless she's planted a tracker..." I suddenly remembered waiting for Pandora in the motor pool. She took an unusual amount of time looking for supplies. "When we were in the garage sending our meaty friend Salko out into the desert, she must have slipped a tracker on Jabba's barge."

I felt stupid and manipulated. She was just using her womanly wiles to distract me from her real purpose. And now I was sitting here waiting for a bomb to blow up.

"Well if we go boom when the game is over, we just won't finish. We'll wait until they find the bomb and go after her...problem solved." I folded my arms and leaned back into my chair.

"The droid is programmed to disqualify you if you do not continue in five minutes. Either way...it's going to go off." His pale face seemed to realize what he'd set in motion. He was no longer just a smuggler. Now he was a terrorist.

"We need to stop her before she does something she'll regret. But we need to keep playing," Solo looked around, searching for something. His neck craned and then he waved over his wookiee companion.

"Chewie. Chewie! Find Lando and get him in here." The hairy beast growled and loped off.

Solo's sly crooked grin appeared replacing his nervousness.

"Keep playing Starr. Wouldn't want to go boom now would we?"



- - -

A confused Lando sat in my seat. Chewbacca sat across from him holding Solo's cards, equally mystified.

"Just keep playing Lando. Don't stop and don't lose." I glared at my proxy and he smiled widely. "Or win." A frown appeared for a moment then vanished.

"If you guys keep playing, then the bomb wont go off. Well be back."

"When?" Lando asked, trepidation in his voice.

"A few hours." I guessed.

"A few hours?!?" Lando shouted as the wookiee roared a complaint.

Solo patted the thick hairy shoulder of the wookie and looked at his stack of chips.

"Don't let him take ya for too much pal." With a chuckle Solo walked with me out of the gaming room. The dark halls seemed empty. Word of a bomb spread fast and no one wanted a part of it.

Our footsteps echoed as we kept in stride. Solo's face was stern and focused, his fingers tapping his blaster lightly. With each stride he seemed to get more agitated.

"Idiot." He spat out. We turned a corner toward the garage. "Idiot."

"Settle down Solo. We'll get there in time."

"I can't believe this. I'm smarter than that. I should have seen it coming."

"She took a lot of us by surprise. Part of her charm I guess." I tried to chuckle the last comment off. Solo just leered at me, seething with anger.

"All that time we spent together. And here I thought she actually liked me." I shook my head. Solo came to an abrupt stop.

"You two didn't...?" His face telling me not to tell the truth. I was searching for the right response. No need to make him angrier than he already was.

"Uh, no. You?" Now his face showed the truth. He hesitated long enough to see him get ready to lie.

"Me either." I shook my head and scowled

"Never mind." He didn't want to deal with it all here. I didnt either.

As we entered the garage, Barada ran to us demanding information.

"What do you want here? No one's allowed in the motor pool." Solo pointed his finger at the dog faced mechanic.

"No time to discuss this with the committee. We need a skiff. Faster the better."

"I can't..." Barada started.

"Can't is not an option. Give us a skiff and tell me which way the woman went." I grabbed the alien by his scruffy shirt and pulled a blaster to his snout. He whimpered slightly at the threat.

"We're not playing. We need it now."

"Ta...take that one over...over there." He pointed to a dilapidated skiff that looked like its best days were long past. "It's the only thing running. She took the other one. Headed due south. "

I pushed the dog faced brute away and Solo ran toward the skiff as I opened the massive door. He was already firing up the engines as I climbed in. With a whine the skiff lurched forward. The skiff jerked a few more times. I lost my footing and fell into a seat.

"I thought flying junk was your specialty?" I tried to raise myself up to a more comfortable position.

"Nice. Hold on," Solo gunned the thrusters and the skiff managed to find a rhythm. As we exited the garage a small blast rocked the palace. Solo's glance met mine. Dejectedly he shook his head. I shrugged. We spoke simultaneously and with the same annoyed look.

"Lando."