Hey guys, here is chapter 7. Yeah I know it took a bit longer than expected, but I have to say that I really enjoyed writing it. I even had to play with my Sabacc deck and the reason why… Well read the chapter.

Disclaimer: Still no sign of Star Wars ownership papers. Maybe our postman got stuck in Imperial control. "These aren't the letters you're looking for."

Chapter 7 – Wanna bet?

As Han left detention level he walked the hallways like a ghost. Even if they weren't empty as they were due to the late hour, he wouldn't have noticed anybody coming his way. His mind was torpid and he felt as if he couldn't form a single reasonable thought. His heart on the other hand was far from apathetic. His own decision hurt Han deeply, but there was nothing he could do otherwise. Thinking about the latter was painful just as much.

Vader put him in charge for Leia's interrogation and he wanted results. And when Vader wanted results he would get them or the one responsible for the failure would have paid with his own life.

Even Leia herself said that one should do what one's duty is and this was Han's duty. But Leia also said one should hope it is the right thing to do. Han had no hope this would be the right thing. It was wrong as wrong as it can get, but it was just how the things were.

His hearth was heavy because of his choice and he felt guiltier than ever. He prayed to the gods, to ones he believed into as a kid, that they would give him the strength to look into Leia's eyes and hurt her anyway.

Han stepped out of the turbolift on level where his quarters were and typed in the password when he arrived to his door. He was just to enter his room when a familiar voice called his name.

"Han" called Kezzel, who Han used to work with, before he got transferred to detention block AA-23. "We've been looking all over for you."

"Oh, hi Kezz" spoke Han absent-mindedly.

"Where have you been? Your shift ended hours ago." Said Kezzel, but Han didn't answer. "So are you coming or what?" spoke the other man again and started to walk away. When he saw Han didn't follow he returned and started to pull him along. "Damn what's wrong with you Solo?" Again Han didn't answer.

"Okay Kezz stop it. I can walk by myself just fine" said Han. "So where are we going?"

"Corellian whiskey night, remember?"

"Oh yeah… of course."

"Don't tell me you forgot?" spoke Kezzel a bit disappointed.

"No" said Han quickly. "Of course I haven't forgotten." This was a big lie. He had forgotten. But seeing how things changed drastically during the day, a little party with his friends didn't seem important anymore.

He followed Kezzel trough the hallway and entered Gren's room right after him. Sitting on floor chatting and with bottles in their hands were Han's friends: Hectnor, Gren, Xilon and Fion, who was Xilon's younger brother. They said their hellos enthusiastically.

"Xilon and Fion decided to join us. You don't mind do ya?" said Kezzel, sat down beside others and passed Han a bottle of Corellian whiskey. Han opened it and took a swig with his eyes closed.

"Come sit" spoke Hectnor.

Han looked down on five faces of his friends, who were smiling and were happy. Han took another sip before sitting beside them. He wished it would be so simple for him too. He wished his day would have been as theirs were and he now wouldn't have to care about anything. He wished he could forget, so maybe this alcohol night wasn't a bad idea after all.

"So anybody up for a drinking game?" asked Gren and received loud cheers from his friends. "So this is how we're going to play it. One will choose two to four letters and the one he picks will have to tell two to four words starting with this letters."

"And when do we drink?" asked Fion.

"When one thinks more than two seconds, he has to make two gulps."

"Or when what he tells isn't funny. Then he has to make five gulps." added Hectnor. "I'll start. EP, Kezz."

"Emperor's potty" shot Kezz.

Everybody laughed and even Han smiled.

"My turn" said Kezzel. "Ok well… HREO, Fion."

Fion thought for a second. "Hungry rancorn eating Odio"

Again laughter spread trough the room. Then Gren, Hectnor and Kezzel exchanged glances. "You thought for a second too long. Take two gulps." Spoke Hectnor.

"That's not fair, you said two seconds" complained 15 year old Fion.

"And it's Colonel Odio to you, young man" added Gren imitating Odio's voice. "Take another two gulps."

The younger boy shook his head disapprovingly but still made four sips. The strong taste of Corellian whiskey made him caught.

They played this game for a while and the alcohol was starting to take it's toll.

"VHA, Gren" spoke Xilon.

"Vader has asthma" shot Gren.

The sentence itself wasn't even that funny, but Han and his friends were already slightly drunk and the laughed as if this was the funniest thing they ever heard.

"Hey guys" spoke Hectnor. "What do you think happened to Vader. I mean asthma is a great idea, but I don't think…"

"Maybe he is a Squib or something" cut in Xilon.

"Yeah" added Gren. "And he just wants to look scary."

Han smiled at the thought of Vader being a small blue creature covered with fur and with squeaky voice.

"Emmm guys" muttered Fion nervously. "We really shouldn't make fun of him. I heard he can read mind and…"

"Oh come on" spoke Gren.

"No guys I'm serious. What if he is reading our minds right now?"

"Nobody's reading your mind Kid," said Han and smiled "because you obviously don't have one."

Fion went red and didn't say a word.

"Who's next?" asked Kezzel

"Me" said Gren." Ok let's see. RP, Han"

"Rebel princess" said Han quickly. When he realized what he had just said, it was far too late. He looked around uneasily. Alcohol certainly did took its toll, since he obviously spoke up the first thing that came up his mind. Damn how am I ever gonna explain this he thought.

"What the hell Han?" asked Hectnor disbelievingly.

"And it isn't even funny" added Xilon. "Drink!"

Han took offered bottle. Hell this forgetting thing wasn't really working for him.

"Now that you mentioned" said Gren still looking at Han with what seemed to be concern " I have to tell you something, guys. I am being transferred."

"Where?" gasped Fion

"Tatooine. It appears that Senator Organa has hidden the plans in the escape pod together with one or more droids. And since we captured her ship over Tatooine the droids must have landed there. "

"So how long will you be away?" asked Kezzel.

"Not long, I suppose" answered Gren and shrugged. "I mean how hard can it be to find two droids on a desert planet."

"Yeah" laughed Xilon. "How stupid do you have to be to trust really important plans to a droid?"

"What?" burst out Han. "And who let an escape pod away? Who can do something more stupid than that?"

"What's gotten into you Solo?" spoke Kezzel.

"Nothing" muttered Han.

"No seriously Han. I mean you were at work early, you worked afterhours, you haven't been gambling or drinking for a week at least,…" continued Kezzel.

"Damn Kezz. Just leave it, alright."

They were all silent for a few moments and Han pretended he didn't notice his friends' puzzled looks.

"Anyone up for a game of Sabacc?" asked Xilon to break the tension.

Even though Han wanted to leave, he decided to stay and play since he didn't want to draw any more attention than he already has. He played absent-mindedly. He was becoming more and more dizzy and only then he noticed that he had emptied the whole bottle by himself. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't know what was going on around him. He saw Fion lying on Gren's bed. He was clearly drunk, most likely for the first time. He walked over to him and noticed that the kid was awake. Han went to the bathroom on the other side of Gren's quarters and returned to Fion with a glass of water.

"Here you go kid" he said. "Drink this."

"What is it?" asked Fion and sat up unsteadily. "Is it Kuati Vodka?"

"You wish kid." Said Han and laughed. "It's water. Drink and it will make a great difference tomorrow."

Fion emptied the offered glass and returned it to Han. Than he lay down and was asleep in seconds. Han smiled down at him and covered him with a blanket. Fion was a great kid. He was always happy and enthusiastic and he wanted to help everyone. When Han met him a year ago, he was still so childish and he remained him of a boy himself once was and never got the chance to really be one. Han was brotherly protective to Fion and taught him how to handle a blaster when he joined the Imperial army. He wished a kid would have a better future, he deserved it.

Han walked to the other side of the room where Gren, Kezzel, Hectnor and Xilon were playing Sabacc. He sat down beside them and watched them play. They finished and Han joined them for the next round. He was quite drunk and was still drinking so naturally he lost quite big pile of money. He didn't care though. He was better at Sabacc than all of these guys together, when he was sober that is. But somehow money didn't seem to be important anymore.

He lost again and was left only with a couple of Credits. He wanted to stand up, say goodnight and leave, but something in corner of his mind told him to stay.

He said "This is my last round guys."

"Ok, let's play."

Han looked at his cards. He got 9, mistress, which was worth 13 points, 3, 6 and the evil one worth -15. Not bad for a start, but not that good either. He looked around him and saw Hectnor trying to hide his grin. He on the other hand remained motionless, which was for a big part because he was a bit sick already. He discarded a 3 and drew new card. Another mistress. That was not good.

Han patiently waited for others to end their turns and was relived when nobody decided to call. In that case he would have, what is called "boom" and would have to pay the penalty. He took a minute to think what he was going to do, then discarded card worth 9 points and drew another one. 8. Damn not again.

Some turns later it still didn't seem game was going to end anytime soon. Han was now feeling really dizzy. How many points do I have? Is that 20 or 21? And when did Gren and Xilon drop out? Well doesn't matter, it's only Hectnor, Kezzel and me now. He threw a glance on the table, where their bettings lay: pile of credits , Kezzel's binoculars and a data pad.

"I rise" spoke Hectnor and added 10 credits.

"I drop" said Kezzel and put his cards away.

First they get me drunk and then they expect me to think though Han and looked at Hectnor. He on the other hand seemed as sober as ever.

"I rise for another 20 credits" spoke Han and put almost all credits he got on the table.

Hectnor counted his. "I don't have enough credits, but how about I bet a ship I won from that Calrissian guy?"

"Falcon?" asked Han. "That piece of junk?"

"Yeah I know she's not much. Wanna bet or not Solo?"

"Fine" said Han. "I have also ran out of credits, but here is a preposition to you mister. If you win I have to do whatever you tell me to."

"Great idea" smiled Hectnor and Han was starting to regret his idea. "If I win you have to go to Colonel Odio…"

"Naked" added Xilon quickly.

"Yes, you have to go to Colonel Odio naked at tell him that he's an ass."

Han laughed. "I've been planning to do it for months now, though I've never pictured me naked.

Hectnor decided to call a hand, which wasn't really surprising. He opened his cards. "-22" said Xilon loudly.

Then Han opened his and Gren, Kezzel and Xilon started cheering.

"Han you won" screamed Gren. "You actually won!" He clearly didn't believe Han was sober enough to win.

"No I didn't" rejected him Han. "I've got 21."

"No stupid," Said Kezzel. "You have 22. And Hectnor has the same score too, but his is negative, so you win anyway."

Han grinned at sight of Hector's disbelieving expression. Then he stood up, slightly reeling: "I'm going to bed."

"What?" asked Hectnor. "You're not going to make fun of me for loosing?"

"I'd love that, but I'm afraid I'm dead tired and not to mention drunk."

His friends laughed and Kezzel said: "Han are you sure you will find your room?"

"Very funny, Kezz" said Han and surprisingly found the door. "See ya, guys."

He walked across the hallway unsteadily. He was glad that his quarters weren't far. When he arrived he managed to type in his security code and fell onto the bed.

So this is all for now. I hope you liked it. Be so kind and leave a comment. And just so there won't be a misunderstanding or something - I am not giving any underage people here an advice to drink etc.

Question for readers: What do you think of Fion? Cause you see when I started this chapter I didn't think about him a lot, but now I kinda like him and I'm thinking of keeping him in the story. What do you think about this idea?

Tip: I'm not really sure what will happen in next chapter. I have two ideas, but can't decide which to pick. Either way I guarantee it will be tense and a lot to do with Leia, cause I kinda missed her in this chapter.