Game Night

Posted on Sun Jun 7th, 2020 @ 5:11pm by Lieutenant Aurelius Davis & Lieutenant Sovar

Mission: Mission 3 - 100
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: Day 30, Month 2, Year 0 11:30
1337 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Aurelius was practically bouncing on his toes as he waited for anyone to arrive. He'd invited the whole crew but realized that a lot of people were busy at the moment and he really needed to feel useful. What better way than to improve morale since that's all he seemed to be able to do with his hands lately. He would be happy with just one person at this point. The doors swished open and he stepped forward quickly. "Welcome, come in."

Sovar came to an abrupt halt in the doorway and leveled a hard stare at the "morale officer." He seemed uncertain if he should enter the other man's social space to move into the room or if the quick move toward him was meant to keep him at bay.

"Good evening, Lieutenant Davis," he said. And then, more cautiously, "It is agreeable to see you."

"Hello Sovar," Aurelius said, trying not to smirk. "Care to broaden your horizons and learn a human game?" He pointed to the deck of cards sitting lonely on the table.

Sovar hesitated. The situation brought to mind his time on earth, when he entered a marketplace in a region called Morocco. The vendors there presented everything in the same manner as Aurelius had suggested 'a human game.'

"Is it an adversarial game, lieutenant?"

Asher had never exactly heard it put that way but he nodded. "I suppose you could call it that. But it's really only fun if we have another player. Have a seat though. What kind of games do Vulcan's like to play?"

"Vulcans do not play games," Sovar said, seemingly shutting down that entire avenue of conversation. He crossed the room, seated himself at the table, and picked up the deck of cards to examine it. "We engage in exercises of logic and strategy, such as kal-toh. Are you familiar with it?"

"I've heard of it. Never seen it played though and no one has explained the rules to me." Aurelius replied. "I would like to learn."

"Cards may not be kai-tah," came a voice from the door. Min walked in, giving both a gentle smile. "But depending on the game, they are equal parts chance and strategy." The doctor sat herself down at the table, uncharacteristically pleased with the sight in front of her. "Did you have a specific game in mind to partake in?"

"Nah," Aurelius said grinning at her arrival. "I bet you have some ideas though."

Benedict walked in. "Sorry I'm late. So," he sat down, "what's going on>"

"Cards, maybe, possibly. If we can agree on a game. Actually, I have an idea. It's called Salad, like the Human food because it's a toss up of different games in one. Shall I explain how to play?"

"Commander Leroux once insisted that I try her Cobb salad. I did not care for it," Sovar said flatly. Then turned to Aurelius, "You may proceed."

"Well lucky for you, no one will be eating this. All right so there are seven different rounds in this game. The first round is I'm going to deal out all of the cards since there are four of us and it comes out as a nice even number. The object is to take no tricks." he said as he was dealing. The first person to play will be Min here because she's to my left. She also gets to chose what trump is for this round. Each trick is worth five points, at the very end of the game, the person with the least amount of points wins but we'll play it hand by hand. Everyone with me so far?"

Ben raised his hand. "'Trick'? What is that?"

"Uh, so if I deal out four cards, one to each of you. And Min here goes first, her card is . . . . four of hearts. Let's say that she said hearts were trump at the beginning of the game, that means that the highest heart takes the hand, taking a hand is called a trick. So if we keep playing . . . Min has the only heart." Aurelius showed them the cards, "She takes that trick and gets five points."

"What if I didn't have any hearts to play? Does that mean I win the trick?" asked Ben.

"No, only if no one had any hearts and you had the first card played and it was the highest of that suit. If you have a heart you have to play it, but if not you can play what you like. Since the goal is to take as few points as possible it's a good idea to get rid of higher cards that aren't hearts."

"An elementary game," Sovar announced. "Nevertheless, I am prepared to play. You may commence, Lieutenant Davis."

He couldn't help but grin at that. "Thank you very much."

"We'll practice a bit just to make sure the others get it. Ok, first hand is to not take any points if you can help it." He began to deal out the cards. "Any other questions so far?"

The Vulcan looked around the table and asked, "Is it not customary to make a wager in human games?"

"Some games it is. I don't normally with this . . . . I'm not too sure how the Captain would take us betting. I guess it would depend on what we betted?"

"All we have to bet with are food rations." Ben said. "And I don't think the captain would like to hear that we were betting our rations."

"We could probably be creative and come up with something but for now let's just learn the game." Aurelius said with a wave of his hand as if pushing the thought away. "Right so . . . Where was I? Oh first hand, okay. In this round there is no trump. You want to try to get rid of all the cards in your hand without taking a trick. I know I dealt but I'm going to go first. I'm going to play the two of clubs and everyone needs to play as low of a card as possible while still following suit."

Sovar stared at a card in his hand like it was a venomous creature before placing it down: an eight of clubs. "I believe this has placed me at a disadvantage in relation to Lieutenant Davis."

Ben looked at his cards, looked at the table, then selected a card and placed it down. It was the 6 of clubs. "Guess I am safe."

"For now," Min stated in an eerily cheery manner, setting down the four of clubs cards after drawing. It was as if she had played the game many many times before. "For now."

Ben nodded, and looked at his cards.

"So Savar takes this hand and he gets five points but we generally don't add up points until the end of the round. Here we go next hand. Savar, you get to go first since you took that trick."

Sovar placed down a two of hearts and looked around at his fellow players. He didn't necessarily look smug; it was more like he just was smug.

"So now everyone has to play hearts now if you have them. If not then you can play anything you have . . . .and remember we don't want to take points if we can avoid it so get rid of high cards when you run out of a suit."

"It's your turn Min, then Ben and finally myself." Aurelius reminded them. He was pleased that at least a few people had shown up, and one of them Vulcan. It just proved that people could come together to take care of each other in times of crisis, even if all that was needed was a bit of relaxing fun.

END:

Lieutenant Aurelius Davis
Morale Officer
NX Atlantis

Ensign Benjamin Livingston
Helmsman
NX Atlantis

Lieutenant Sovar
Chief Science Officer
NX Atlantis

Lieutenant Min Seong
Chief Medical Officer
NX Atlantis