A/n: Hmm...not so sure about that title, but it'll do for now.
If anyone has a better suggestion, please include it in your review.
This stars one of my made-ups, Li-Sen. Pretty much everything you
need to know about her is explained in the story, so...
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Li-Sen, Doxerith/Damion and Uso-shi
are the only ones who belong to me.
Chapter One
Lando glanced up and tapped the ash off the end of his cigar. "No," he replied, and took another drag. He waited for her to begin her story.
Li-Sen sighed, but made the diplomatic decision not to argue with
him. It wouldn't have been very intelligent to fight with the man
who was responsible for saving both their lives. She leaned back,
more to get away from the cigar smoke than anything else, and thought about
how she'd gotten there.
It had all started with a simple game of cards.
Li-Sen Kenobi, the daughter of a senator and heiress to billions, had just gotten through her fourteen years of formal education and was returning to the estate where she and her wealthy mother lived. While at school, she had taken up the hobby of playing sabacc, a semi-easy card game. Upon arriving home, Li-Sen had convinced her mother, Lady Tae-Kai Genera, to allow her to invite the galaxy-famous gambler, Lando Calrissian to play. "To test the phenomenal luck he's reputed to have," her daughter claimed. Li-Sen had heard about Calrissian from her friends, the same ones who had taught her how to play sabacc. One of them even claimed to have played with him before. Lady Genera, having catered to her daughter's every whim since she had been born, could not have possibly turned this request down.
So, with minimal begging from her daughter, an amused Lady Genera
had agreed and an invitation was sent to Captain Calrissian.
Two days later, a battered freighter landed in the private spaceport in the Genera Estate.
Li-Sen was there to meet Lando Calrissian, pilot of the Millennium Falcon, a tall black man a few years older than her. He looked-
Handsome, Li-Sen thought.
-Sure of himself in the royal blue semi-formal ship-suit he wore. "I'm glad you could join me, Captain Calrissian," she said, extending her hand to him.
A smile spread across Calrissian's face and he took the proffered hand, placing a kiss on the back. "Thank you for inviting me, Miss Kenobi. And please, call me Lando. Captain Calrissian sounds so formal."
She returned his smile. "Well, then, Lando, welcome to the Genera Estate. We'll be playing in the back garden." She led him around the side of the expansive mansion, to a large landscaped, probably equally expensive lawn. "I've heard much about your abilities at sabacc from my friends. I can't wait to test them myself."
They sat down at a white table with two chairs. Li-Sen picked up the deck of cards lying there, waiting for someone to do just that, and offered them to Lando.
"If you would, Captain."
Yes, indeed, it had all started out with a simple card game…that was, if you could call sabacc simple. The game was based around a deck of seventy-eight cards in four different suits; Sabers, Coins, Flasks and Staves, all from Aces (valued at one) to Masters (valued at fourteen), plus an extra suit of twenty-two cards, all with negative values. The goal was to get twenty-three points, but to go above, to get exactly zero, or a negative twenty-three or below would cause one to lose automatically. There was only one thing that could not be relied upon; the cards were actually computer chips. At random, the faces changed, transmuted into a card of a completely different value or suit. Unless placed facedown on the electromagnetic field of the tablemat, a winning hand could change instantly to a losing one, or vice versa. Fives were wild.
In essence, it was simple, once you got the hand of it, of course. And while Li-Sen had thought she has a good grasp on the game, her quickly dwindling pile of winnings said otherwise. A good grasp on the game was apparently nothing compared to Lando's luck, which was as good, if not better, than had been rumored at her school.
Li-Sen threw her card-chips down in disgust. Another losing hand. Was it humanly possible for someone to lose this much? She shook her head in disbelief. "Mind if we take a break, Lando? I don't think I can stand much more of this awful luck of mine without something to drink."
Lando chuckled and stood up to stretch. "We can stop if you like," he offered, obviously happy with his own luck.
"Yes, that would agree with you, wouldn't it?" Li-Sen replied dryly, although her smile betrayed that she wasn't really upset. "I already owe you enough to purchase a small planet."
"You're right about that one," the professional gambler agreed, grinning. It was actually Lando's habit to lose purposely on small bets and then rake in winnings on the big ones. People got less suspicious that way, even though he had never cheated before and wasn't about to start now. He was trying to do that now; win on big, lose on small bets, but despite all attempts to lose, Li-Sen always seemed to beat him to it. She didn't seem upset, however, and that agreed just fine with him.
Li-Sen shook her pretty head again, this time to stop herself from bursting into laughter. "Would you like another drink?" She signaled to a silvery 'droid at Lando's nod. It hurried over immediately.
"May I get you something, Miss Li-Sen?" asked the automated, effeminate voice.
"I'd like a soda and Lando would like a…" She trailed off, glancing at him for an answer.
"The same," he prompted.
The 'droid nodded "Yes, Miss Li-Sen. I'll be right back with your drinks," and went off.
Li-Sen sank back into her chair and watched in disapproving silence as Lando took a cigar out of his breast pocket and lit it with a lighter taken from the same place.
"Want one?" he asked, not noticing-or perhaps ignoring the look of disdain on her face.
"No, thank you, I don't-Ack!" She let out a scream as an explosion rocked the estate. Lando fell out of his chair in surprise, dropping the cigar, which rolled away into the grass.
He scrambled to his feet, finding it hard as a series of slightly smaller, but more rapid eruptions followed. Across the table, Li-Sen had fallen as well, but was shakily making her way up and yelling for help. Her yells were cut short by her second scream, however, when the east wing of the mansion collapsed. "Mother!"
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Lando grabbed her arm. "Come on! This place is going to be destroyed," he guessed (and rightly). "And us with it if we don't get out!" With that said, he began pulling her towards the spaceport. "We can get out on the Falcon!"
Li-Sen didn't protest at first, then, as if it was suddenly dawning on her-which it was-she pulled her wrist away and put both hands around her mouth. "Doxie!" she yelled. "Doxerith!"
There was a loud, high-pitched back and a small orange and white animal came running towards them.
Though inwardly annoyed, Lando waited until Li-Sen picked up the
tiny ball of fur to drag her onwards. He looked back as they reached
the Millennium Falcon and his heart wrenched at the tears streaming down
the heiress's face. He shook his head, however. Tears were
not incapacitating. Death was. He'd comfort her when they were
far away, preferably on a different planet, or even in a different star
system. He pressed the button to open the hatch. Dragging them
in, he closed the hatch, and then marched to the cockpit, leaving the sobbing
girl and her animal in the corridor.
Lando, not knowing where else to go, had set the trajectory for the next planet in the K'ler System, the tiniest planet, farthest away from the old, red sun of the K'ler System.
It didn't take them long to get to the tiny desert planet of Naího. Checking the computer's databank, Lando read all there was about Naího, which wasn't much. That made sense, he told himself. According to the computer, Naího had only been inhabited for a few galactic years, then been deserted because of the shallow atmosphere and constant dust storms.
Lando also reviewed one of the sub-articles. There had also
been some reported trouble with creatures at one time…Monsters of some
sort, but it was believed that they had all been destroyed. Shrugging,
he switched the databank computer off and commenced landing.
A/n: Yes, the sabbacc description is accurate. Yes, Lando smokes cigars. And yes, he owned the Falcon before Han. If you didn't know that, you did *not* pay much attention to the movie. Anyways, that's just chapter one. Constructive criticism, comments, questions, etc., accepted and appreciated. I hate flames, and fight them with all my might.