We were one more Warp Gate away from Theeve system, which ant that we were now in more civilised space so the likelihood of us getting attacked by pirates were lower. Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire
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 , both girls looking at 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 the combination I needed to beat her flush.
"Captain bet on the last card?"
I shrugged, "I an… 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 ga also exists in this universe so I didn't even need to spend ti teaching them. In fact, Amber and Lea were more surprised that I knew about it instead.
Obviously I wasn't winning all the ti and Amber was surprisingly bad at the ga 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 ti 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 incrents?"
"No, no~ I ant sothing else~ Let's bet our clothes instead~"
I gave my lover a pointed look, "You an we should start playing strip poker…"
The blonde haired rc let out a surprised gasp, "Oh! You know what it is too? That will be easy! Let's play it!"
"No," I refused imdiately.
"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, "Co on, Tera! It'll be fun!!"
"You just want to either see naked or get naked yourself to seduce , don't you?"
"Ehehe~ Was it that obvious? Let's just play a few rounds of it!"
Before I could reject the idea again, the door to the cockpit slid open and Bimic ca in, yawning loudly.
He then noticed what we were doing and his face imdiately lit up, "Oh hey!! You didn't tell you were playing cards! Let join too!"
He quickly sat on the floor in an empty spot beside the box, inviting himself into the ga.
Not that I have a problem with it since more people ans more money in the pool anyway so why not, right?
"Just so you know, we're betting in incrents 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 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 sa look while saying only a single word, "Trash."
…
I stared at them but both of them seed 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 so 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 sothing? You're being employed by that company you were working for, weren't you? I don't think that being late for the first eting is a good idea…"
Bimic shrugged, "There wasn't exactly a ti limit imposed on when I should reach the station in the first place. Anyway, if it wasn't for you girls giving a lift, I might have needed to spend at least another two or three days there looking for a ship to get 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 recomnd 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 sothing 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 gas and end up losing a lot more than I plan to.
I thought about it for a mont before asking Bimic, "What's so special about that place?"
The rc grinned, "You an 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 entertainnt there. That's a pleasure station after all!"
"Yeah, what is a pleasure station?" I asked.
Bimic was giving a look like I had asked what a rock was before Amber ca to my rescue.
"A pleasure station are privately owned stations that primarily host anities focused around entertainnt. 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 ans that you could get shot in the face by the owner of that station and they wouldn't even be charged of a cri."
"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, governnt 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 co back here, it'll be after we drop him off.
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