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Treen glanced at her cards with affected disinterest. “Fifty.”

In silver letters, the words FIFTY THOUSAND CREDITS appeared on the tabletop before her, indicating her bet.

Jaxton glowered at her. “Some of us are public servants, you know.”

“Oh, yes. Rescale stakes for the armed services, please.”

The words before her changed to FIFTY CREDITS.

Lecersen set his cards down. “Match.” The same bet appeared on the table before him. “So now I understand why this casino has had regular costume nights for so long.”

Treen nodded. “Actually, I established costume nights years before ever hosting a meeting here, but with an eye toward this sort of gathering.”

Jaxton, around the table to Lecersen’s right, pushed his cards together as if closing a fan. He was clearly thinking hard.

Lecersen was amused. The ancient Imperial game was probably new to Jaxton, who doubtless wished he were holding cards from a children’s deck, which would have all the values printed on them.

Finally Jaxton shrugged. “Match.” The words representing the bet appeared on the table in front of him.

Bramsin, around the table to his right, rolled his eyes. “Hundred. So, what news?” His bet appeared on the table.

Treen did not bother looking at her cards again. “Match.”

Then it was Lecersen’s turn. “Match.”

“Match.” Jaxton offered a slight expression of disapproval. “I’m afraid that Admiral Bwua’tu is not proving as amenable as we had hoped.”

Treen tossed out a card, the Red Clone Trooper Captain. “We always knew that his quirky personal ethics might make it difficult.”

Lecersen tossed the Red Imperial Guardsman beside it.

Chambers was based on that most ancient of children’s questions, “If so-and-so fought so-and-so, who would win?” A card tossed out by a player was presumed to meet with the card to its left in a private chamber, with the stronger card winning the presumed combat. But complicating the comparisons were choices of categories—Strength, Will, and Chance—and card colors, with blue trumping white, red trumping blue, and black trumping red. So Lecersen was in a superior position to Treen.

Jaxton hesitated, then threw out the White Clone Trooper Private, among the lowest-powered cards in the deck. “Well, it’s more than that. My psychological warfare officer, who is doing analysis on Bwua’tu’s mental profile based on the assumption that he’s evaluating a captain of industry in the Corporate Sector—”

Lecersen snorted.

“—sees a pattern of loyalty to Daala that goes beyond the professional.”

Bramsin set down a White Imperial Guardsman. It easily trumped the White Clone Trooper Private but did not trump Lecersen’s card.

The dealer droid collected the four played cards. Its voice was the whisper of a quiet sports commentator. “Current hand, Round One. Two kills each to Lecersen and Bramsin. Please adjust bets.”

“Stand fast.” Treen fiddled with her cards as if nervous, which Lecersen knew she was not. “Bwua’tu remains your objective, General. What is your next step?”

Lecersen, in line to bet, interrupted. “Stand fast.”

“Raise to two hundred.” Jaxton looked unconcerned. “Time is substantially on our side. I’m continuing to make our choice for the next head of the navy into a combination of Thrawn and Mon Mothma in the public eye, and to determine what influences might cause Bwua’tu to resign. Sadly, he does not seem the sort for early retirement.”

Bramsin seemed unworried. “Stand fast.”

Treen nodded. “Stand fast on two hundred.”

Lecersen stood fast as well. One more revelation of cards later, Treen had one kill, Lecersen one more.

On the third and final round of the hand, Treen raised the stakes to a thousand. The others matched. The Kuati Senator then tossed out the Blue Vizier, a powerful card. “And what if he can resist your efforts to retire him?”

Lecersen smiled and tossed out the Red Courtesan, whose Will value exceeded that of the Vizier.

“We’ll find someone to kill him, of course.” Jaxton played the Black Emperor, which trumped everything.

Bramsin offered a little sigh of vexation. He tossed out his