We were one more Warp Gate away from Theeve system, which meant that we were now in more civilised space so the likelihood of us getting attacked by pirates were lower.

The autopilot rerouted us to the next Warp Gate and fired up the ship's Travel Drives, boosting us towards it at its max speed.

I double checked that our route was indeed correct before relaxing in my seat.

I then spun the chair around to see Lea and Amber behind me, both girls looking at me in anticipation.

A grin appeared on my face and I slowly placed the cards I had been holding in one of my hands on the crate we were using as an improvised table.

"Straight Flush," I announced with a flourish.

Amber let out a bark of laughter, "Ahahaha!! She got you there, Lea!!"

Lea pursed her lips, looking down at the community cards that were dealt in the centre of the table. More specifically, she was looking at the final card that was dealt which had given me the combination I needed to beat her flush.

"Captain bet on the last card?"

I shrugged, "I mean… I already had a flush like you, right? The last card just bumped it up to a straight flush."

Lea sighed, "Well played Captain."

I gave her an apologetic smile as I transferred the pot to my Codex, the numbers jumping up by three hundred Credits.

Yes, we're playing poker.

It seems like this card game also exists in this universe so I didn't even need to spend time teaching them. In fact, Amber and Lea were more surprised that I knew about it instead.

Obviously I wasn't winning all the time and Amber was surprisingly bad at the game since she didn't really have a poker face at all.

Lea on the other hand showed that she was either very experienced or had an innate talent for it because most of the time I could not even tell whether she had good or bad cards in her hand.

Amber gathered the cards and started shuffling them, "Hey, why don't we up the stakes a little?"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "You want to increase betting increments?"

"No, no~ I meant something else~ Let's bet our clothes instead~"

I gave my lover a pointed look, "You mean we should start playing strip poker…"

The blonde haired Merc let out a surprised gasp, "Oh! You know what it is too? That will be easy! Let's play it!"

"No," I refused immediately.

"Ehhhh… Why not? It'll be fun!"

"Because it's going to be humiliating for anyone who loses. I'm sure Lea wouldn't like the idea either, right?"

Lea raised her hand, "I don't mind. We're all girls here, aren't we?"

I pointed at myself, "I'm not."

Lea shrugged, showing that my answer doesn't change anything.

Amber giggled, "Come on, Tera! It'll be fun!!"

"You just want to either see me naked or get naked yourself to seduce me, don't you?"

"Ehehe~ Was it that obvious? Let's just play a few rounds of it!"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Before I could reject the idea again, the door to the cockpit slid open and Bimic came in, yawning loudly.

He then noticed what we were doing and his face immediately lit up, "Oh hey!! You didn't tell me you were playing cards! Let me join too!"

He quickly sat on the floor in an empty spot beside the box, inviting himself into the game.

Not that I have a problem with it since more people means more money in the pool anyway so why not, right?

"Just so you know, we're betting in increments of ten Credits, ok? We're just playing this casually, after all."

"Oh, I got a better idea to make this more fun!" Bimic grinned while giving me an odd look.

"Really? How?"

"Let's play strip poker!"

"Denied."

"Absolutely not."

Both Lea and Amber rejected his idea even faster than I could.

Amber was even looking at him like she was looking at trash, "What kind of degenerate are you to even think about suggesting such a thing?"

Lea was also giving him the exact same look while saying only a single word, "Trash."

…

I stared at them but both of them seemed to be intentionally avoiding my gaze.

Ok, sure, Bimic's a guy so that's different and I'm sure none of us want to show off our bodies to him and we don't want to see him naked either.

He quickly lowered his head, "Ah… That was just a joke… Hehe…"

"It better be."

"Bad taste."

Ok, you two, stop bullying him already and let's just play.

"Speaking of which, have you gone to a casino before? There's supposedly a casino in one of the stations within this system we're in," Bimic asked, recovering from his earlier slump quickly.

I checked the map, "Hmm… I think I see it. The Linc Pleasure Station, am I right?"

Bimic nodded, "I've heard some good things about that place, how about we stop there for a few hours as a rest stop before we continue?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Aren't you on a schedule or something? You're being employed by that company you were working for, weren't you? I don't think that being late for the first meeting is a good idea…"

Bimic shrugged, "There wasn't exactly a time limit imposed on when I should reach the station in the first place. Anyway, if it wasn't for you girls giving me a lift, I might have needed to spend at least another two or three days there looking for a ship to get me off the station. They would most likely not head directly towards Theeve station anyway and I would need to make a few more stops along the way so you could say I'm ahead of schedule right now!"

I turned to Lea and Amber to see what they thought about it.

Amber shrugged, "We're also not in a rush anyway so I don't mind stopping by the station for a day or two either."

Lea did not seem to agree with that, "Captain, I would recommend against going there."

Oh? That's a surprise. I thought Lea would actually want to go as well.

Amber was just as surprised as I was with Lea's answer and my lover turned to the Alv and gave her an odd look, "Why not? I'd think you would earn a lot of money over there!"

"I do not condone such gambling habits. To play casually is something I do not mind. But such places are designed to get you hooked on it and once you do, you would find yourself on a very slippery slope that spirals you down into the abyss of addiction."

Well, I'm fully aware of the dangers of gambling myself and I don't gamble much back in my original universe anyway. I'm only curious about what a gambling station might look like in space.

Then again, I'm also concerned that I may be drawn into their games and end up losing a lot more than I plan to.

I thought about it for a moment before asking Bimic, "What's so special about that place?"

The Merc grinned, "You mean aside from the multitude of ways you could get rich from?"

"Or lose your Credits on," Lea interrupted.

Bimic grimaced but decided not to acknowledge her, "Ahem… There are also other forms of entertainment there. That's a pleasure station after all!"

"Yeah, what is a pleasure station?" I asked.

Bimic was giving me a look like I had asked what a rock was before Amber came to my rescue.

"A pleasure station are privately owned stations that primarily host amenities focused around entertainment. That includes facilities like casinos, brothels, bars, nightclubs, drug dens and various other kinds of shops."

I blinked at her, "Drug dens?"

"Most of these stations are owned by the very rich and they would have paid off officials to be recognised as an independent entity so most conventional laws don't apply there. Which also means that you could get shot in the face by the owner of that station and they wouldn't even be charged of a crime."

"Isn't that basically just Denibi station all over again?"

"Ahahaha! It certainly is! But the good thing is that they rely on people coming to spend money in the station to do business so unless you have personally offended the owner of the station, you would usually be safe. In fact, they normally make visitors deactivate any combat implants and also leave weapons at the door to maintain the peace within the station itself."

Bimic leaned a little closer, "Also… In case you are ever hunted by anyone, government or otherwise... As long as you're on good terms with the owner of the station, you can seek shelter on their station and no one will be able to touch you."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "You sound like you speak from experience."

"I am. So are we going?"

I thought about it and…

"No."

What? I don't want this guy to stay on my ship longer than he has to, ok?

Even if we want to come back here, it'll be after we drop him off.