Showing Their Hand

Posted on 10 Feb 2022 @ 8:04pm by Ensign Mimi & Lieutenant JG Karras

2,267 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Regula 1 - Xora's Diversions, Promenade
Timeline: MD 04, 1330 hrs

[ON]

"Welcome, welcome, to Xora's," the small Bolian beamed. "Kal-toh? Dom-jot? Fizzbin? We've got 'em all - what's your pleasure?"

Karras returned the greeter's smile and looked around the room, filled with tables and consoles of all shapes and sizes, the soft hum of conversation, and the sounds of an old arcade he had once visited on Earth. The cheerful vibe was exactly the distraction he was looking for, a nice break after a morning filled with all the busywork associated with taking on a new posting.

"I'm not entirely sure," the counselor answered, scanning the room for any possible inspiration. "I have about an hour... I guess I don't know. I think I just want to clear my head, relax a bit. Any suggestions?"

The Bolian's smile widened as he sized up the youthful looking Lieutenant before him. "Well, for immediate relaxation, I recommend the bar in the back corner there..." He pointed to clarify the location and punctuated his recommendation with quick laugh. "Followed by any number of games. Are you looking to play solo, or would you care for a partner?"

Not looking to get intoxicated in the middle of the afternoon, Karras was intrigued by the second offer. "A partner would be great!"

"Fantastic!" the host exclaimed, presenting a PADD. "Everyone here is matched up at the moment, but just add your name to this list and I'll pair you with the next available sentient. In the meantime, feel free to peruse our offerings. And if you need anything, any of our friendly staff will be happy to assist!"

"Thanks," Karras nodded, adding his name to queue before turning his attention back to the bar. Perhaps they had some fresh juice, or some new variety of tea he could enjoy while he waited for another player to arrive.

Drawn by the myriad of unusual sounds coming from one of the bars that her ears had picked up long before she saw it Mimi approached the venue and after a few moments looking in from outside she headed in.

"Welcome Miss." A well dressed Bolian said as he approached Mimi.

"What is this place?" Mimi asked.

"Xora's, an arcade, we have all sorts of games and entertainment for people to enjoy." The man replied.

Mimi's ears perked up slightly, that explained the unusual noises and lights. "That sounds quite interesting, I am a fan of games." Mimi told him.

"Then here is just the place for you, there are games you can play by yourself or we can find you someone to play against."

"Games are more fun when you have someone to play against." Mimi smiled slightly.

"Then step this way and we'll see who we can find for you." He motioned further into the venue.

With Mimi in tow the man led her towards where Karras waited. "Mr Karras, I have a partner for you."

The counselor looked up, a fresh glass of icoberry juice in hand. He immediately recognized his partner from the files he'd been reviewing but given Lt. Shizn's suspicious reaction the night before when greeted by name, he decided to be less forward.

"Hello! I'm, well, Karras," he smiled, offering his free hand. "Newly arrived and assigned to the Galileo."

"Nice to meet you." Mimi replied, her nose twitching slightly as she took his hand, something about him seemed off, he looked human but didn't smell like one. "I am Mimi, from the Galileo"

"It's nice to meet you, Mimi," Karras smiled, and then glanced around the room. "Are you in the mood to play anything in particular? They seem to have a pretty wide selection, and least as far as the sit-down variety. I even noticed a display of old Terran board games," he pointed to the antique looking collection arranged along a section of the nearest wall. "But, I'm pretty flexible, especially if you have a favorite."

"I like card games, but I will try anything at least once." Mimi told him.

"A card game could be fun," Karras agreed, taking a sip of his juice. "I'm not very good at poker, but I guess we'd have to think of a game for only two." He thought back to his days at the Academy, when he had first been introduced. "Um, the only ones I can recall are Go Fish and Gin Rummy..."

Mimi smiled "I am quite good at gin rummy." She was glad he'd named a game she knew, she had no idea what 'go fish' was.

"Gin rummy it is!" the counselor smiled, turning to the bartender as she hand him a deck of 52 playing cards. The pair looked about for an open table, finding one in the right back corner of the room. Taking his seat, he offered the deck to his newfound shipmate. "Would you like to deal?"

Ordering a drink before they left Mimi followed Karras to their table, "Sure." she took the deck and started dealing out cards, placing the remainder in the middle of the table.

Karras considered his hand, pleased to see he'd been dealt a sequence: a 3,4, and 5 of Clubs. Reviewing the rest of his cards, he glanced to see which one had been left face up in the discard pile. Alas, it was a Jack of Hearts, which was no help at all. "How long have you served on Galileo? Oh, and, uh, pass."

Looking at her cards Mimi frowned slightly though she tried to hide it from Karras, her cards were a scatter from all over the deck, completely useless for now, she took the top card off the deck and thought for a moment before putting it back down on the discard pile. "A few years now, only my second posting."

"This will be my third posting," Karras shared, pulling a card from the stock pile, adding it to his hand, and discarding another. "I've only been onboard while it's been docked here, so I don't have an accurate sense of it yet, but it seems... cozy. Well, maybe not 'cozy' exactly, but I'm enjoying that there doesn't seem to be a lot of travel required to get from one end of the ship to another."

"It is a 'cozy' ship, most of us share quarters with at least one person, the enlisted usually more." Mimi picked up a card and added it to her hand, rearranging them a little before discarding a 'useless' card, the 6 of Clubs.

"Ah, I see," he said, feeling a little guilty that he had been assigned a small cabin all his own. He picked up the 6 of Clubs and laid down a piece of deadwood, a 9 of Diamonds. "Does everyone tend to get along well?"

"I would say so, most of the crew is the same from the earlier Galileo we have been through a lot together." She picked up the 9 of Diamonds smiling slightly as her hand slowly started to get better.

Karras took a deep drink of his juice, then nodded. "Conquering adversity as a team does strengthen bonds. I'm not entirely familiar with everything the ship and crew have been through, but I'm getting an idea." He drew a card and discarded it immediately. "What are your duties, if I may ask?"

"I am the assistant chief of Ops, so pretty much anything that needs doing that the other departments do not do." She replied then picked up the 8 of Diamonds adding it to her hand dicarding another 'useless' one.

"I remember being drawn to the logistic side of Ops in my early days at the Academy, but I just didn't care to spend so much time on learning the technological aspects," he shared, only one more discard away from knocking. "Counseling has been a much better fit."

"I grew up on a starfleet ship," Mimi picked up a new card sighing slight as she discarded it. "loved taking things apart and learning how they worked, it was hard at first, federation technology is centuries more advanced than mine."

"Is that so?" Karras remarked, drawing a 2 of Clubs and not believing his luck. "I'm afraid I don't know very much about your people. I don't know anything, really. Oh, and, uh, I knock." He laid his hand out on the table: a sequence of Clubs (2,3,4,5,6), an Ace of Hearts, and a 6 of Spades, leaving him with 7 points of deadwood.

Mimi frowned and laid her hand out, the whole thing was deadwood. "The majority of people do not, being the only alive Nekomi the federation knows about." She handed her cards over to Karras so he could shuffle the deck. "There is a little information on the database, all of it from me or my foster mother."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he offered, mixing up the cards swiftly and then dealing the next hand. "I'll have to do some reading, but know that if you ever feel like sharing, I'll happily listen. Professionally or personally." He reviewed his cards, which were not as promising as those in the first round, and waited for Mimi to either pass or pick up the face up card - a Jack of Diamonds.

"Reading is good but hearing it...... from the mouth of the horse is better." Mimi said as she reviewed her hand; a much better on this time. She took the Jack of Diamonds and added it alongside the Jacks of Hearts and Clubs and discarding a deadwood.

"Agreed," Karras nodded, not even realizing the idiom had been altered and understanding her version of the expression all the same. He drew a 2 of Hearts and discarded a Queen of Clubs. "I've enjoyed learning about so many cultures through conversation... although, I can't entirely discount reading. A Cardassian friend from my last posting gave me some Cardassian literature as a parting gift when I was reassigned. I must say it has helped to deepen my overall understanding of his people."

"I have quiet a lot of trinkets from many of the species I have met, my species are from somewhere far outside federation space so pretty much every species I have met is a new one to me." Mimi drew and immediately discarded a card. "I hope one day I will be able to take what I have learned back to them, when ever I find them that is."

Karras added a 4 of Hearts to his hand and discarded a 7 of Spades. "I'm sure your people will appreciate your thoughtfulness when you do." He reached for his juice, which had lost its chill but was still below room temperature. "I hadn't really considered bringing back any such... trinkets to my people. I assume I intended to bring back stories... or perhaps some small sculptures, inspired by my experience."

"Your people..." Mimi remarked then decided to put her earlier thought into words. "This may sound wrong but I can tell most species by their scent long before I see them, you look human but do not quite smell like one."

"I'm sure I don't," he admitted. "I'm Ba'ku. We are identical to humans in appearance, but we are not human. I'm impressed you could notice a difference. Almost everyone else I've encountered just assumes."

"A Ba'ku...." Mimi thought for a moment, she'd heard it before somewhere. "from that planet where you do not age?"

"Yep, that's the one. Although technically we do age, the process is just slowed drastically, and sometimes reversed altogether." Karras drew and discarded. "I love my home, and I will enjoy returning there to live out the rest of my life, but I just had to see what was out here. I guess I was always like that, though... wandering off as a child because I just had to see what else there was to see."

Mimi laughed. "I was like that too, I would sneak out of the compound I grew up in to explore the planet, my mother would tell me off but she soon stopped when I found a cave full of what we later found out was Dilithium."

The laughter was contagious. "Well, I don't think I found anything that exciting, but I did find a small grove in the hills beyond my village. A small creek ran through it, and I would go there whenever I needed to be on my own." Karras closed his eyes as he recalled his favorite spot. "Sometimes I'd even sleep out there. So serene... anyway, what happened with the Dilithium? I'm sure that was a valuable find."

"It was, the colony got quite rich but then we attracted some Klingons that did not want to pay. They started killing everyone they could find." Mimi explained, she'd told this story several times before but it never got easier.

Karras felt a pang of empathy, and his eyes met hers. "I'm so sorry." He sat quietly, giving Mimi as much time as she might need. If she needed to talk, he would listen. If she needed to talk about something else, that was okay, too.

"It is ok. I know I will find my people one day. I have always been lucky." Mimi said, she picked up a card and added it to her hand smiling as she discarded then placed all her cards face up on the table. "Gin."

"Well, that is lucky!" Karras grinned, dropping his hand to the table. "Best two out of three?"

"Sure." Mimi said and collected the cards.


[OFF]


LTJG Karras
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

and

Ensign Mimi
Asst Chief Ops
USS Galileo-A

RSS Feed

Comments (1)