Shuu and a small group of visitors left the turbolift on the second floor.
The jedi could see a crowd of patrons, dressed in exotic and even provocative clothes, on this bustling floor. The cocktail servers and other club's workers walked among the guests. There was live music.
The four-handed besalisk croupiers stood at each table, managing the ongoing games. These aliens did their job quickly and efficiently.
Shuu observed this scene for a couple of seconds. He was collected as ever. It seemed that nothing could disturb him.
Earlier the man had visited the sports gambling zone (that occupied a portion of the first floor) and made some bets. He wasn't satisfied with the coefficients. Shuu calculated that his winnings should be small. No more than two thousand.
It turned out that the sports analysts could predict the result of future matches not worse than the Force. They knew the strength of each team. The coefficients were based on their data. Plus, there were obvious winners. Take for an example a future match of “Kuat Artisians vs Tusken Fury*”.
Old Shuu knew that Kuat Artisians was one of the top teams in a shockball that played in (and won) many sports competitions, while Tusken Fury... Old Shuu knew nothing about them. They had no winning records. The result of this match was obvious.
Shuu came up to the cashier desk. A male human and a female twi'lek stood behind it.
The female twi'lek smiled and asked politely. “May I help you, sir?”
The jedi nodded. He placed two gold-colored credit ingots on the table. “Exchange, please.”
Two thousand credits was a big sum of money for an ordinary citizen but it wasn't enough to buy even a pair of the B1-series battle droids.
The twi'lek took the money and gave in return the gambling chips in the plastic tray with a cover.
Shuu examined the chips. They were made of metal and in the form of a coin. The female cashier explained that colors showed the value of each chip.
The jedi read that many casinos used the color system to indicate the value of their gambling chips. It was a standard practice.
The human put the chips back in the tray. Then he took the tray, thanked the woman, and went through the crowd towards the long rows of slot machines that stood along one of the walls.
There were various slots in the Outlander club. The jedi had even seen a few ancient ones like “Smugglers Luck” or “Kingpin”.
Do they even work?
A majority of the slot machines were occupied. Some patrons played alone, some patrons played in the company.
The place was very noisy.
The human sat on the round stool and put one of his chips in the slot machine.
He knew that all slot machines had a special (often made from carbonite) shell that could prevent tampering. Also, complicated algorithms should stop various slicing attacks.
It is fortunate that I am going to use the Force. Shuu thought.
The mechanism was activated, and the interactive hologram panel appeared in front of the player. The symbols began to spin while Shuu concentrated and applied some Force to the slot machine to “see” what was happening inside it.
As the jedi expected, neither the special shell or the complicated algorithms could stop the Force.
The man began to play. Shuu lost a few rounds. He studied the slot machine.
I think I have realized how it works. The jedi concluded finally.
The man took a new chip from his tray and put it in the machine. The symbols began to spin again. The jedi applied a portion of the Force with an “order/wish” to display a winning combination.
The Force didn't care about the safe protocols. The Force just did its “magic”, bypassing any defensive algorithms.
In a few seconds the symbols of the slot machine formed in the sequence that Shuu wanted.
All of a sudden the jedi noticed that some defensive algorithms were activated. Thus, the jedi applied a new portion of the Force to turn off the activated algorithms. It worked.
Next second Shuu saw as the slot machine displayed “You won 250!” on its holopanel, and then it gave the prize to the player.
Shuu took the won chips and put them in his tray. He looked calm but in reality he wasn't. Just several seconds ago the slot machine could raise the alarm.
It is risky... The slots are smarter than I expected.
The man continued to play. But he was more cautious than before. Shuu knew what the slot machines could do.
The man didn't want to attract the attention of the club management to himself. Thus, he decided to win only small jackpots. No super prizes.
In two hours Shuu stopped playing. His winnings were around four thousand.
No, I can't continue like that... Shuu thought. I am tired of these slots. Besides, their defensive algorithms activated more often than I thought.
The jedi stood up and, holding his tray, moved towards the card tables.
+
Three hours later
Shuu fell in love with the chance cube game. This game - as if - was invented for the Force users to earn money.
The rules were simple*. All players made an equal bet and named their color: red or blue. Then they rolled a handful of dice (three times) in turn. Each die had three red and three blue sides. A die that showed a player's chosen color, earned him/her a point. That player who earned the lowest points would be eliminated from the round. If there were an equal number of points, then those ones who earned the lowest number of points should roll dice again.
Each new round required a player to double his/her bet – or else a player would be eliminated.
All points earned in the previous rounds counted in the new ones. A player must accumulate the maximum number of points to win.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Starting from the three players, the game allowed the participants to divide the bank among themselves equally, or players could continue the game to determine a winner.
It was just one of many variations of the chance cube game that the Outlander club could offer to play to its guests.
Up to the present moment Shuu had won around 15,000 credits. It was an easy game for him. He could control each die with the Force.
The players, including Shuu, discussed various topics while they played. The jedi learned from these conversations some useful information.
First, he learned about the existence of the so-called “economic separatism*” in Star Wars. It turned out that after the disaster at the Eriadu Conference in 33 BBY some planets began to create their own currencies – separating their own economy from the republic's one. The Naboo Crisis sped up this process but it still was minuscule. Only after Dooku's speech, many planets (especially from the Outer Rim) began to create their own money like crazy.
Shuu realized that this process was very dangerous for the Galactic Republic because it showed their weakness. It showed that this state was losing its influence and power, while the separatist movement was getting stronger.
Second, the jedi learned about the war (that had ended recently) between two large criminal organizations: The Family and Manglers.
The Family managed many illegal races in Undercity. They owned multiple tracks and gambling dens around Coruscant.
Manglers was a very huge gang that controlled the Southern Underground. It was well-known that they used a lot of implants. This practice made their fighters very formidable opponents. Plus, the gang supplied their fighters with the best weapons.
The war started because Manglers wanted to force The Family to pay them “a protection fee”. The latter had some business on Manglers' territory.
Also, Shuu learned about the existence of some Coruscant's gangs and their politics.
Third, the republic credit had lost its credibility in the Outer Rim several decades ago. As a result, just a small number of planets agreed to accept this currency as a payment in the Outer Rim. Plus, the state treasury was empty for a long time, thanks to the corruption. Therefore, the taxes and prices in the Galactic Republic were rising nonstop during the last decades.
Listening to these conversations, Shuu realized that the Galactic Republic was dead. And it was dead for a long time.
The jedi took five dice in his hands. It was his turn to roll them.
Are the jedi going to fight and die for this republic? Are the rebels going to restore this “democratic utopia”? They are fools.
Shuu rolled the dice. They fell on the table as he wished. Each one showed its red side on the first roll. Second roll ended in three red dice. The third one showed only one red die.
The four-handed croupier who managed their game added the new points to Shuu and the statistics on the holoscreen changed. Every player could see the statistics from his/her place.
Shuu lost some games intentionally. He did it to lower the possibility of being accused of cheating. Although, he suspected that everyone at this table cheated somehow.
But not this time I am going to lose.
Thus, during the game the jedi was “helping” other players to roll the dice. As a result, Shuu reached the final round and won the bank – almost two thousand credits.
All of a sudden a blue-skinned man who sat next to Shuu hit the gambling table with his open palms. “That's enough for today! I will leave your company, gentlemen, because I don't want to leave my pants here!”
He laughed loudly and stood up.
The obese man, armed with a holstered pistol that was on his right thigh, collected his chips from the table and moved through the crowd towards the turbolift while the jedi stared at his back.
This man tried to persuade Shuu that “Thugs of Thule” is a good mercenary team that is worth hiring because “the streets are not safe nowadays”.
The jedi noticed as an armed wookiee joined the blue-skinned man.
A bodyguard?
The game continued. Soon a vacant place was occupied by a new player.
+
Five hours later.
Shuu, sitting at the chance cube game table, looked at his chip stacks that stood in a row right in front of him.
There are around around 50,000 credits. He thought.
It was a very huge sum of money. Especially here – in Undercity.
This wealth attracted attention. The man could see many greedy gazes that were aimed at his money from the murmuring crowd of spectators.
As well, Shuu noticed that several girls, dressed in revealing clothes with catchy makeup, began to smile to him invitingly.
Shuu glanced at the other players at the table. Two players – a male zabrak and human female – looked like bounty hunters. Each had a blaster and wore armor.
A rodian, a green-skinned man, looked like a criminal - but not like an ordinary thug. The jedi thought that this man could be a leader of a small gang.
The rest of the players looked like businessmen or wealthy citizens.
Shuu decided to stop playing. Thus, he finished the current game and collected all his chips. Then the man left the table.
+
The turbolift brought Shuu to the first floor. He entered the sports gambling zone.
Several large telescreens, which hung on the wall, were displaying podracing, shockball, odupiendo racing and swoop racing at the moment.
The jedi came up to the droid and collected his winnings. As he thought, it was less than two thousand. It was a small sum in comparison with the money that he had won playing the chance cube game.
The young man calculated in his mind that he had earned around 56,000 credits in total. Four thousand from the slot machines, fifty thousand from the cube chance game and two thousand from the bets.
He looked at his plastic tray. There were twenty thousand. Earlier Shuu had exchanged a majority of his gambling chips into credits. That's why the jedi's belt became much heavier.
I need to buy a bag, I guess.
Shuu looked at the exit. He was sure that many ruffians were in the vicinity of the club at the moment, waiting for him. Shuu was like a walking bag of money for them.
You will be disappointed, guys, because I am not going to leave the club. I need more money than I have now.
The jedi knew that the Outlander club could offer various sleeping chambers to its patrons (as well as a service of the beautiful girls (and boys)). It was easy to buy sex, drugs and illicit goods within the walls of this “fine” establishment.
Shuu didn't plan to leave the club. He planned to rent a sleeping chamber. Plus, it was safer to be inside the club then outside.
Despite the fact that the man was a jedi with a lightsaber, old Shuu had proved to new Shuu that even the jedi could be killed by mere thugs.
Unexpectedly the man felt that someone took his elbow. He turned and saw a nice-looking woman. She had a black hair, black eyes and wore a black hooded dress.
The jedi could see that the woman was tipsy.
She, smiling and holding a cocktail in one hand, said. “I watched as you played. It was admirable. I think that I...”
The woman hiccoughed and covered her mouth.
“Sorry...” She mumbled.
“Who are you?” Shuu asked.
“I..? I am an actress. I have even played a role in Dark Romance...” The woman paused before questioning. “Do you know that once director Ch'been said that I am a good actress?”
The man noticed as she puffed her chest out. The woman said nothing then. It was obvious that she expected his reaction.
“What do you want?” Shuu questioned and looked around quickly.
The man was suspicious. He pressed his tray with chips closer to himself.
“Um..? You know, currently I am gathering money to shoot my own holodrama with me as a lead actress. People must remember me from the Dark Romance, thus my holodram must be a successful and profitable project. I am sure of this. Right now you have a chance to join me and become my investor.”
“Thanks, but I am not interested.” The jedi answered and tried to leave but couldn't do that because the woman held his arm tight.
The woman leaned closer and whispered. “Listen, we can reach an agreement. I have a special reward for all my investors. Let's go to my chamber – it's right here on the second floor – and I will show you how grateful I can be.”
She, smiling, placed her hand on Shuu's chest and began to move it down slowly. She could feel sturdy muscles under the fabric. Years of combat training in the temple, plus healthy food, made the body of the jedi very strong.
“Oh, you are hot...”
Next moment the woman crushed her lips against his. It was a passionate kiss. He felt her warm breath and the strong taste of alcohol with some fruit flavor.
The cocktail slipped from her arm and fell on the floor. It shattered into pieces. But they didn't notice that.
A new life, then weeks of training, studying and scheming in the temple; then his escape from the temple and the fear of being caught; then hours of playing in the club... It all accumulated a lot of stress. As a result, the wall of Shuu's will had cracked. He realized that his suppressed emotions and desires wanted to be set free.
The man gave in to the kiss but only for several seconds.
Then he pushed the woman away. Shuu turned around and walked through the crowd towards the nearby turbolift.
The jedi looked collected, although his heart was beating fast at that moment. He realized that his self-control wasn't perfect.
I must be better than that. I must be strong. Desires lead to the dark side... I must have no feelings.
+
*I made up “Tusken Fury”.
*I made up the term “economic separatism” but the rest is true. Many planets were creating their own currency.