Battle of Naboo: Prince Jepsen Casino

[Maxx]

The Prince Jepsen Casino was built in 432 ABY by Prince Jepsen of the royal family that lived at the Theed Palace. The prince never sat on the throne, but he did have a strong love of sabacc, and from that, the Prince Jepsen Casino was built. The casino held row upon row of slot machines, sabacc tables, roulette, and many other addicting forms of making one's wallet run dry. Gamblers from across the Mid-Rim flocked to the casino to participate in the high-stakes games. And attendance had never been higher with the hosting of the 437th annual Royal Jepsen Sabacc Tournament. Many had come to participate in the tournament, and today was the final round of the tournament. The top players sat at the table, as others watched over their shoulders, and if they couldn't get close enough, one of many vid screens throughout the building.

One such finalist was Kenny Lucille, an aging human who sat the table with his arms crossed, cards held in his left hand, eyeing them out of the corner of his eye. He looked around the table, seeing who else had made it to the finals. He spotted a Rodian, a Twi'lek named Krill Tsar, another human, and another of a species he didn't recognize. The dealer was a large Besalisk who shuffled the cards with one set of arms, and punched in commands into the table's computer, programming the cards and the electromagnetic field. The field was to prevent anyone from cheating, and there would be a riot on everyone's hands if anyone was caught trying to cheat.

The dealer finished shuffling the cards and began to pass them out. Five cards each, and since Kenny was to the dealer's right, he was the last one to get all of his cards. He picked them up and looked at what he had. A Commander of staves, two of staves and coins, Endurance, and five of sabres. That gave him a score of thirteen and his best chance was to attempt to get the twenty-three. The other players at the table began to put in their chips, and he threw in a few of his.

 

[TWD26]

It had been months since Dag Corrino had last stepped out of hiding, and more or less a Casino. He had been on the run from Cartel Bounty Hunters for sometime, K'essa the Hutt had put a large bounty on his head--thus exiling from his once prominent job among the Hutt Cartel. He had shifted around planet to planet, not staying in one place for long. Naboo was a place of Tourism and retreat, somewhere where people all over the galaxy would come to spend their credits, with such a large influx of people making their way onto the beautiful planet, no one would expect a small time fugitive to seek refuge on the planet, little did he know that the Empire, one of his former employers, would come searching the planet for something much bigger than Dag himself--the spark of a rebellion.

The Prince Jespin Casino was full to capacity, as guests and players alike made their way to watch the final rounds of the Sabacc tournament. Dag shifted through the crowd, keeping his eyes low as he blended in among the crowd. He was taking a risk by attending such an event, but he hoped that with such a gathering of particular individuals he could find a possible contract-something to get him off this rock and away from the eyes of the Hutts.

His eyes shot up towards a viewport as the crowd erupted--as a small Chadra-Fan bombed out from the table. He gave a nod towards a few of the patrons as they began to call out in various languages, some in approval and others seeming to curse the small rodent, due to lost bets. After pouring through the crowd he was able to make it into view of the table, watching as the dealer began to push out a series of cards to the final contestants. He watched with little interest as he backed into a wall--simply waiting for a potential opportunity.

 

[Maxx]

Lucille paid attention to the faces of the other gamblers sitting around the table. Krill, the Twi'lek, had his chin in his hand, his eyebrows in a furrow. He was trying to decide what to do, coming up with a plan on what to do. The Rodian and strange gambler both held unreadable gazes. The other human at the table had excitement dancing in his eyes, he was holding something good in his hand. Everyone threw away a card and was dealt another card, except for the other human, who exchanged two of them. Kenny had returned the two of coins and was dealt back a three of staves, causing his eyebrow to arch. He had two of three cards needed to put a quick end to the finals.

His mind was brought back to the others sitting at the table when Krill set down his cards with a sigh. He had bombed out, getting a 24, above the 23 limit. The two aliens left were still as unreadable as before, put the other human was clearly agitated. Two more turns past, each of them exchanging a card for another. On the fourth turn, all the players were still turning up no luck. Sight and hearing were the two biggest sense that came to this game, and Kenny was making use of them. As he listened to crowd around the table, he noticed something odd. Normally the only sound would be the chatter of the crowd or the silence of it, but now he heard something else. What sounded to becoming from the distance, was a low rumble. He paid it little mind.

Now on the fifth turn, he returned another card and was dealt another one back. Before he had a chance to glance at it, the crowd nearest the entrance to the casino erupted in screams. Blaster fire could be heard and the screams traveled from the entrance to the sabacc table, fear washing over the people in the casino like a beach in a hurricane. A shout rang out from behind Kenny's shoulder. "It's the Imperials, Theed is under attack!" A blaster bolt whizzed past his head and struck the Rodian between the eyes. The poor sap was dead as his body slumped over the table. If there had been someone without a sense of fear before, there wasn't now. The crowd surged and people began running, hiding, doing anything to get out of the way.

Kenny, Krill, and the Besalisk dealer didn't however. All three of them turned to face the entrance of the casino, where stormtroopers where pouring through. Their blasters drawn and ready to fight. Normally he tried to avoid fights, but now the damned Imperials were storming his home world and shooting anything that moved. The dealer flipped the table, creating cover for the sabacc players. Kenny ducked behind it and looked over it, blaster pointed at the incoming troopers. His years of police training kicked in and he opened fire. Two blast marks appeared on the white armor of a stormtrooper and he fell to the ground.

Outside the walls of the casino, scenes just like this played all over the city of Theed. The Nabooians had minded their own business, and the Imperium had come knocking. Now war was in the streets of a one peaceful city. The fate of many would be decided over the course of the battle, but everyone knew it. The Battle of Naboo had begun.