Kansas City Shuffle

Posted on 25 Mar 2017 @ 2:20pm by Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Chief Petty Officer Torgeir Naes & Chief Petty Officer Crispin Snow
Edited on on 25 Mar 2017 @ 4:50pm

2,321 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 14 - Statecraft
Location: IKS DuJa'Q - Crew Quarters
Timeline: MD04 2000

[ON]

Crispin pulled up a chair as Terje entered the small shared bunk room they had taken in the main living area, "Fancy a game tonight, Moose?" he produced a deck of cards from a pocket. "Show me those famous skills the security department gave you?"

Terje snorted. "Who said Security gave them to me - they just make the game interesting." Flipping the chair around, he took the stack from Crispin and began shuffling. "Anglin' for a one-on-one lesson here?"

"You're the one who boasted about the cut-throat nature of the security poker night." Snow said calmly. "I assumed they taught you all you knew; hold'em, or stud?"

"Stud. I never could take the other seriously." Mostly because of one particularly annoying crew-mate some tours ago. "And they taught me the value of not betting more clothes than one wears to the game. Fortunately, I wasn't the one to learn that lesson the hard way."

Snow laughed. "All right, shut up and deal. Show us what you've got."

Cracking a half-grin at that, Terje gave the cards a last shuffle. "Right; so what are you willing to ante up?" There wasn't a lot to choose from currently. Rations were a come as you were basis, and most anything of value had been lost with the Galileo.

"Hah! I'm prepared for this too." Snow reached under the bunk he was sitting next to and dragged out the small crate he had brought with him from Kreanus. "I have no intention of loosing any clothes." he pulled out a small sack that clinked heavily when he set it down. Reaching in he drew out a handful of small nuts, bolts and washers. Once upon a time they had been plated with gold, but now they were chipped and worn. "Point per piece." He gave himself two generous handfuls, and the same to Torgeir. Then he moved five of his bits into the centre.

Terje dealt out three cards each, laying the last for both face up. A quick glance showed Crispin with the higher card. Tossing in five of his 'chips' to match the ante, he grabbed another to raise the stakes and tossed it in as well.

Snow matched his bet, checked his hole cards, and raised another five washers, trying to scrutinize his room mates expression.

An easy half-smile curved Terje's mouth as he checked his own down cards against the ups, tossing a few more chips in to meet the rising pot.

"Alright, point made, you don't chicken out on the first round." Snow allowed. "Next card please."

Chuckling, Terje flipped the card to Snow, regarding his own hand before drawing again. "I never understood that phrase, Chickens are rather bold in my experience." He had something building ... possibly ... but it was still early to tell.

Amaranai had finally been given some time off from the bridge and she decided that she wanted to rest. Too much brain work for a simple job of sitting at the tactical station. Luckily, she had gotten a simple overview of the Klingon language that would allow her to understand the sensors and weapons functions. She was never going to be an expert in Klingon, but for the mission, she would be capable of performing her duties.

Heading down to the main living area, which wasn't that large, she really just wanted to lie down and think about everything that had happened in the past few days. Instead, she heard some laughter and decided to head toward it and see what was going on.

She stepped into the small bunk room and saw a couple of petty officers playing cards. Amaranai recalled them from the colony and how they had welcomed her.

"Hey guys," she said. "Can you deal me in?"

"Grab a seat, ma'am," Terje offered, dealing off cards to start her in. "We're a few rounds in, but plenty room to catch up."

"I was hoping to sleep, but now that I'm here, sleep is not necessary."

Snow raised an eyebrow. "Dare I ask why?"

She smiled as she sat down.

"No reason," Amaranai said. "I was tired from this day, but cards seem to usually perk me up." She paused. "Of course, if I start losing, I might get tired again."

She chuckled and looked at the other two.

"So what's the game?"

"Five card stud." Snow dipped into the bag of bolts and put a handful of hardware in front of her. "Current bet is at ten. One point per peice." He put a second handful of hardware on top of the first. He looked at the new card Torgeir had put out. Seven of spades. He shrugged and put in another handful of bits. "Make that fifteen."

Amaranai took the cards that had been dealt and then to the table.

"I can see that," she said and tossed fifteen small pieces of metal into the center.

Shaking his head in amusement, Terje checked his own card. "Seven card, actually," he clarified. He was just about ready to call, but decided to let the Lieutenant meld in some. It was only the first round, after all.

Crispn laughed. "This is not my forte. Moose says that all the security team are ruthless card sharks."

Amaranai had to chuckle a bit. She had only played cards once with her security team shortly after she had arrived and then the Galileo was destroyed. She had found Snow and Naess on Kraenus after a few days and started to play cards with them just as a way to stay sane.

"I wouldn't say they were all card sharks," she offered. "But they are good."

She looked at her cards and what was on the table.

"I call."

"Crispin labels anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the game a 'card shark'." Terje quipped. "All I implied is that Security plays for keeps." Giving a final check to his cards, he added. "Call here as well."

"All right," Crispin looked at his cards. "Me too then. No sense in putting this off. Lets see what you've got."

Amaranai put her cards down - a pair of Kings and junk. She knew it probably wouldn't be enough to win the pot, but she did come into the game a little late.

"Pair of Kings," she said. "But I'm just getting started."

She cracked a smile and waited for the others to show their hands.

Crispin sighed and laid down an eight and nine of spades. He had managed to miss both a flush and a straight by a couple of pips. Instead he had nothing.

"Read 'em and weep," Terje offered, laying down three tens, accompanied by a motley three and five. Quantity over quality won him the hand, at least this time around.

Crispin pushed his pile of bits towards the tall man. It was a move he repeated multiple times over the following thirty minutes. In shuffling the deck for the latest round, he became thoughtful. "You two are really quite good at this," he observed, dishing out the hole cards, and then putting down the opening three for each. His hand looked hopeful, but not brilliant, an ace and jack of clubs, and a ten of diamonds. He peeked at his hole cards. "Ante up, moose," he added impatiently."

Tossing his chips in, Terje flashed his roommate a look that - in any other circumstance - could have been innocent. "It's all in the presentation, Snow." He'd won a few more hands, and lost a few as well, coming out more or less well-balanced. A glance at this hand showed it falling towards the latter of the scale, but that was of no concern to Terje.

The time passed and Terje and Amaranai were surprisingly equal in their winning and losing. Neither was doing better than the other and while Amaranai wished she had been winning a little more, it didn't matter. She was distracted from sleep, which was more important than nuts and bolts.

Amaranai tossed in her ante and looked at her cards. She was starting off well with a pair of tens and hoped that the cards would be in her favor.

Crispin looked at his hole cards, and pushed the bare minimum bet in. If anyone raised, he'd have to go all in. He had almost nothing left. "Remind me not to play you two again."

"You know you love us, Snow," Terje chuckled, checking his new card with a short nod of the head. He was a card away from a low straight - unfortunately not a flush, but looking better than the last round. "Raise yah," he offered, pushing in a few extra washers.

Crispin sighed and pushed the last nuts and bolts into the centre. "All in. I love you, but you still use your powers for evil."

Amaranai looked at her hand. She was close to a full house, but she wasn't sure just how long her luck would last. When Crispin shoved the rest of his haul, Amaranai stayed stoic. Her stoicism changed to a smile at his comment.

"Come on," she said as she tossed in a matching bet. "Be evil with us. It's fun."

"I think I have to find my own way to be evil. I doubt i could profit from playing cards like you could."

Terje's grinn widened as he tossed in his chips to meet the current bet. "Come to the dark-side. We could do with some of your spirits."

Crispin sat back whilst the two security officers fought it out to the last card. "My spirits are in need of improvement. Mostly the flavour. No one wants to drink cooler fluid and recycler grease."

"On the contrary," Amaranai said. "Being evil means you'll drink anything." She checked her hand one more time. "Even cooler fluid." She paused. "I call."

Crispin flipped over is hole cards. Altogether, he had a pair of aces. "And I'm done." he stated.

"I've got a straight," Terje offered, laying out his set before looking to Amaranai to see whether or not she could beat him.

"Full house," she said as she laid her cards down.

Amaranai smiled at the win and looked at the other two players.

"Sorry guys," she said. "Guess it wasn't your night."

"When it comes to cards, it just isn't my lifetime," Snow replied. He pushed the pile of nuts and bolts towards her. "You missed your calling Lieutenant."

"What do mean?" she said to Snow. "My calling is hustling some young petty officers out of nuts and bolts and washers." She laughed. "I think I'm perfectly capable."

Shoving his sacrificed winnings to the table, Terje leaned back with a sigh. "Wonder how hard it would be to talk our 'hosts' into a game - they probably wouldn't know they're whipped until we had the codes to the whole Klingon fleet, let alone this ship."

Amaranai took the pile and moved it closer to her. If it had been real money, it would have been great, but there was still a bit of pride in her smile regardless. She heard Terje's comment about their situation and what playing cards with their captors could elicit.

"And they've probably never played cards, so if we start out small and let them win," she paused. "Build up their confidence a bit before starting to make more intriguing bets?"

She looked at the two NCOs.

"It might work but could we pull it off?"

Snow looked thoughtful, tapping a nut on the table. "We could. If we don't ask for anything too far. Perhaps sow time on the comms without the block in place. Being able to call home would be good." He thought some more. "I think we could lure them in with a good bloodwine."

Terje snorted at that one. "You're still working on getting a passable whiskey. I guess, though, as long as it's strong, they wouldn't be all that picky. Drunk is drunk after all."

"We would have to start with the strongest stuff," Amaranai started. "Klingons are known for two things, killing and drinking. They might not think your whiskey is even good enough."

Snow looked at the crate of painfully bad and industrially strong, alcohol he'd scrounged from Kreanus. "Well. If it looks like bloodwine, and tastes like bloodwine...who's to say it isn't blood wine?"

"Get them drunk enough and who'll care anyway. Alright, then - where do we start?" Glancing at Amaranai, he tilted his head. "Might seem more credible coming from an officer."

The security officer looked at the others and nodded.

"You're probably right," she said. "But how do we convince Klingons to play a game they know nothing about?" She paused. "They might want more than just bloodwine."

"We can cross that bridge if we come to it. Decent booze was so hard to get hold of on that rock, they'd probably sell their grannies for just a glass of something good." Snow shrugged. "I'm game if you are Lieutenant. You're the one who'll have to do the real work. I'm terrible at cards, as you just saw."

Terje chuckled. "That's just it, though, Snow. We need you to lure them in; once they're drunk and confident, the LT can clean their clocks and we walk away like champs."

Amaranai smiled, but inwardly was a little wary. She could play poker, that wasn't the hard part. The hard part would be first convincing some Klingons to want to play a game they have no clue about and then letting them win to lull them into giving up what they need.

"I'll certainly do my best," she said.

And that was really all she could do.

[OFF]

--

2PO Crispin Snow
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

Lt. JG Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Security / Tactical Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

CPO Torgeir Naess
Security Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

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