From: Gershon <jrbowman@london2.skn.net>
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 08:01:50 -0500
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Liquor in the Front, Part I
Deck 6
MD 7.2030
Counselor Stavay Tats-Marush and Chief Science Officer Anne Murray walked
Deck 6. Neither of the two looked very happy.
Murray was undoubtedly unhappy about Poker Night. The Counselor had
placed her in another situation over which she did not have complete
control, like the golf game on the Holodeck. She was probably simmering
over the events in the Science Lab as well, mulling over some inadequacy
in her subordinates...or herself.
It had been an unhappy day for Stavay, too. The Counselor could see how
everyone walked on eggshells in the Science Lab. LTJG Derek Fielding
had apparently stepped into the leadership vacuum, and now the loyalties
of the department seemed to be split. Not a good sign. Furthermore,
in what she had seen of Murray and of Fielding, it looked like Fielding
would be in charge of the Science Department quite soon. Murray seemed to
be one step away from a nervous breakdown.
And now...this party. She would be lucky if she could walk Murray through
it. Well, tough. Anne Murray was going to make nice, even if it killed
her. This was a FITREP, and FITREPs tended to have little mercy. The
challenges of command, even in a staff position, were multiple, and an
officer had to meet each of those challenges. If Murray couldn't handle
a simple party, why would Brennan, or, Goddess help us, Bell think that
Murray could handle the Corellians?
"Counselor, we appear to be stopping at your quarters." The Vulcanesque
mode again. It seemed that the further she was from the laboratory and
other people, the better control she could maintain.
"I have to get dressed for 'Poker Night'."
"Get dressed? As in 'formally'? If I remember, the invitation said, 'Come
as you are'."
"True. However, since the Recreation Officer and myself arranged this
thing, I think I ought to look a little stunning."
The doors opened and the Counselor retreated to the bathroom. Anne amused
herself by looking at the objects on the walls, trying to make an inventory
of the Counselor. It was a typical Federation officer's quarters. A
casual observer would never have guessed that the officer was Shrevashalu.
Anne turned towards a small mirror, looking at herself. Attractive, or not?
Anne decided "not" and settled for straightening her uniform.
Stavay emerged from the bathroom, wearing all white. White skirt, white
dress shoes, a white blouse with a white jacket with padded shoulders.
Dark green hose finished the ensemble.
Anne was taken aback. "I didn't know you had such fashion sense, considering
your former gender."
"I *don't*. This was given to me by a member of the SUFFOLK crew. Ditto
for the gold bracelet."
"A...romantic gift?"
"Hardly. A gift by some of the female command staff who thought that I needed
a reminder that I wasn't a man any more." Stavay looked at her short hair
in the mirror. "However, I've never been able to complete the illusion by
growing
my hair longer. That might come in the future."
"So," asked Murray, "who's going to be at this party?"
"That's what we're going to find out. Come on. Time to mingle."
*******************************************************************************
Deck XX
MD: 7.1930
PO/1 Joachim Buecher looked over at the head of his department, ENS Keyrin.
The other two guys in the armory looked at their cards. Another had
already folded.
Keyrin had drawn three cards. Buecher had drawn *one* in the discard round.
It was time to ante again. Aelyria looked at her small pile of chips.
Three little white chips. "I'll bet twenty."
Buecher dumped a red chip into the pile of chips in the middle of the
table. "One hundred."
Another player threw his cards face down on the table. Another looked
at Buecher very cautiously, and reluctantly anted a red chip. The faces
of the young men in the mustard-colored uniforms turned to Aelyria.
Keyrin muttered, "I don't *have* one hundred."
The young security crewman with the straw-colored hair smiled. "Well, Sir,
you can owe it to me."
"Hmm...well, we'll forget it. You've cleaned me out. I have to go."
"We do, too. Sorry, Sir. Maybe you can win it back at the party."
"Well," muttered Keyrin, "I'll have to see what kind of resources I have.
But I had fun anyway."
The young men said their goodbyes, split the chips and exited the room.
Was she hearing laughing behind the door? No matter. How much did she lose?
Each point was worth a tenth of a latinum slip. She had lost 200 latinum
slips. A significant, but not crippling loss.
It didn't matter. Aelyria picked up the deck of scattered cards and reshuffled
them. With her right hand, she spread the cards across the table, face
down, in an exact horizontal row. She took the last of the cards, and
wedged it under the first card. With a flip of her wrist, and using only
the card she was holding, every single card in the row was turned over,
from face down to face up. The effect looked like a worm crawling across
the table.
She reshuffled the cards and dealt an imaginary hand. All of *her* cards came
from the bottom, *not* the top of the deck. She hadn't lost any skill.
As for her lost slips...hell, that was just "priming the pump". Set up the
suckers in her department, and skin them later. It would be a nice night.
***************************************************************************
Deck 6
MD 7.2045
"Puttin on the lah-dee...dah dah dah dee dah...."
ENS Ozwald O'Graeach looked quite sharp in his black tie and pseudotux.
The pseudotux was formerly the possession of the Great Mandoni, who greatness
was placed in doubt after he was killed in a Klingon border patrol incident.
"Well, Mandoni, you certainly were 'Great'. Can you hear me, Michael?
Are you back from the dead, yet?"
"Trust me," replied a female voice, "*I* would know. He ain't back."
"You again," muttered Ozwald. "Are you going to help me during this game
or not? You could at least make some use of yourself."
"You don't need my help. You know enough to make several prestidigitators
in the sector uneasy. But the tuxedo. Please! You look like the little
man on top of the wedding cake."
Ozwald answered by pulling out a 10-meter long string of tied colored scarfs
out of his sleeve. "Well, this tux has multiple uses."
"I'll bet. How many decks of cards does it contain?"
"I would *never* cheat at cards! Never!!" At least, not in the *beginning*....
**********************************************
Rec Deck A
MD: 7.2100
The synthale was flowing freely on Rec Deck A. Murray looked uneasy.
Instead of studying, or preparing for unit exams, *every* single member
of Alpha Shift Science was on Rec Deck A. Or so it seemed. Even the
MLD was here. And there was LTJG Fielding, holding court. He waved
at Murray, who simply smouldered. The entire department was going to the
hot place in a handbasket.
Murray, however, did find someone to talk to. A mechanical device which
was taking a break in Rec Deck A. For a few seconds, she thought it was
some elaborate Starfleet mechanical butler, but instead answered by the
name of Unit. The machine, or artifical intelligence, or whatever it
is, seemed to be having fun. Why couldn't she?
The Counselor was talking to CMDR Brennan, who had showed up and had become
an unofficial master of ceremonies. He looked bemused as the party kicked
into overdrive, with everyone joshing about.
"Counselor," smiled Brennan, "there must be some non-fraternization rules
being broken here, somewhere. But since this is a festive occasion,
I can forgive that."
"Thank you."
Looking around, Brennan asked, "How is the SCI doing?" He was watching
Murray mope about.
"Well, the look on her face should answer your question."
"How do you intend to solve this problem?"
"Very simple," answered Stavay. "Me and Anne are going to play some rounds
of poker tonight. Of course, it will have to be a forgiving game. I've
found out that Murray doesn't play poker at all, and it's heightened her
anxieties."
Brennan nodded. Stavay continued. "Commander, I'd love it if you were to
play Poker with us."
"Uhhhhmmm...hmm. Well Counselor, I appreciate the offer, but someone has
to fly this vessel during the Bacchanal. It looks like that's going to
be me."
"Come *on*, Commander," Stavay pleaded, "I know how it is on a Starship!
On that bridge there are two or three young officers who would eat their
own shoes for a chance to be at the CONN of the CHESAPEAKE! We're not
under any threats. Certainly, you could skip a shift and give someone
else the CONN for once."
"Uh...well, I'd have to talk to the Captain."
"That should be simple," answered a familiar voice. "She's just entered the
room."
It was LCDR th'Tellan. Stavay was suprised to see the Second Officer here,
and even more suprised to see the Captain. "What's she doing *here*?"
"I don't know myself," answered th'Tellan, "I never imagined the Captain
to be much of a poker player."
Brennan looked at th'Tellan's off-duty togs. "Romulan loungewear?"
th'Tellan smiled, but did not laugh. Stavay realized that she had never
actually seen th'Tellan *laugh*. Come to think of it, she had never seen
*any* Romulan laugh. Most of the Romulans she had seen came from Levan's
World. Most of those were dead.
"I would hardly call ch'Havran silk 'loungewear'. This is formal dress.
At least, Commander, *I* dressed up. And by the way, Counselor, you look
charming."
"Thank you." Hmm, thought Stavay. th'Tellan can turn on the charm when he
wants to.
Brennan looked at the Captain from a distance. "She seems to be talking
to the Assistant Engineer."
"Yes," muttered th'Tellan, "I noticed that. Could there be some sort of
problem?"
"Let's hope not. I want to get to Corellis in one piece."
*************************************************************************
MD 7.2130
"Three cheers for Captain Bell!", someone shouted. "Hip hip -- ",
"***HOORAY***!", "Hip hip -- ".
Bell smiled. It was probably the only time she had smiled since she took
command of the CHESAPEAKE. *Well Amanda,* she told herself, "*now you
know the way to their hearts and minds.*"
Actually, she disapproved of the whole thing, for one reason. Poker meant
*gambling*, and gambling was deadly on a Starship. It was the same
old story. The gamma shift yeoman janitor would clean out the Cochrane Prize-
winning alpha shift physicist. There would be debts run up, and hard
feelings. The physicist would ask for a transfer, and any monkey could
push a broom.
On the other hand, gambling was inevitable. Bell decided that if gambling
*were* to take place on the CHESAPEAKE, better it take place under controlled
conditions. She had simply stated that from 2100 to 0100, the ban on
gambling aboard the CHESAPEAKE was lifted. With a few conditions. First,
if anyone got "cleaned out", the cleaners would be spending some time in
the brig. Anyone caught cheating -- the same. O'Greach winced. Who
would take care of the CHESAPEAKE's engines?
The other restriction was that the gambling could *only* take place on
Rec Deck A. "The Chief of Security will be in-charge of policing the
area." Keyrin almost moaned, but then realized that being in charge
didn't necessarily mean she couldn't play.
The captain's announcement led to widespread cheering and goodwill. Many
of the CHESAPEAKE crew fashioned themselves poker experts, and all were
willing to try.
"Well, Commander?", asked Stavay. "Are you ready to play?"
The Commander whispered, <the Captain!>, in Shrevashal. Bell walked over
to the assembled group.
"Mr. th'Tellan, I wish to speak to you." Bell looked over the rest of the
faces, said merely, "Counselor," and walked away with th'Tellan following
behind her.
The ringing in Stavay's ears came back. "Uhm?", asked Stavay, "Has anyone
seen Doctor Ledoux?"
"Private M'Hax has appendicitis," replied Keyrin, "and she's going to remove
his appendix tonight. I don't think she's going to make it. So," asked
Keyrin in all innocence, "who else will be playing with us tonight?"
"I will!", shouted O'Graeach.
Keyrin almost burst out laughing. "Does that outfit come with its own
banjo?", asked the Security Officer.
O'Graeach shyly smiled. *It comes with a lot of extras, dearie*, was what
he thought.
"Perhaps you'd care to join our game," asked the Counselor. The CSO and CEO
smiled. Four people. Each figured it would be best to take most of the
money from the *Counselor*, **not** the Commander. At least, not until
the Commander proved himself a good sport at losing.
"Dr. Murray will also be joining our game. She's never played poker before."
Murray shout Tats-Marush a look that could have phasered through durasteel.
"Don't worry," answered Keyrin, "I can show you what you need to do."
Keyrin tooked Murray aside and hunted to find one of the multiple decks of
cards lying about. Before long, Keyrin was explaining to Murray the general
rules and writing down the order of ranking hands, as well as some general
strategy.
"That makes five. I guess we can count the Captain out." Th'Tellan
walked back to the group. Smiling at someone, he returned to Brennan
and the Counselor.
"The captain just gave me the four saddest words in history."
Brennan lifted an eyebrow. "*The game is over?*"
"No. *The bar is closed.* So...who wants to play poker?"
**************************************************************************
The six senior officers commandeered Game Room D, a small room approximately
8 x 8 meters. Aside from a table, chairs, and a replicator, the room was
empty.
The Counselor sat down. Brennan sat to her right. Murray sat to the
Counselor's left. Keyrin took a seat to the left of Murray. th'Tellan
beat O'Graeach to the seat next to Keyrin, and O'Graeach had to sit between
th'Tellan and Brennan. The layout looked like so:
th'Tellan
Keyrin O'Graeach
Murray Brennan
tats-Marush
The conversation was broken by th'Tellan. "Counselor, your deal. What
do you want to play?"
Stavay smiled. "Let's play *Romulan Showdown*."
"Well, you seem to want to separate the sheep from the goats rather
quickly," answered th'Tellan with a smile. "Try not to lose too much in
the first round."
Keyrin was forced to explain to Anne the concept of how the deal passed from
person to person, to the left. Each of the dealers had the opportunity to
choose his own variation of poker as the deck passed around the table. Stavay
had chosen, "Romulan Showdown", the name of an ancient Terran game formerly
called, "Five-Card Stud".
Each of those at the table would recieve one card dealt face down and one
card dealt face up. After that would begin a round of betting based on
the strength of these two cards. Everyone's cards would be dealt face up
and remain face up except for the "hole card", which remained face down.
Each player knew their own hole card, and everyone else's face-up cards,
but *not* everyone's hole cards. Stavay spun the cards around the table,
the confused Murray only watching.
Deal began to the left. Stavay dealt all the hole cards, followed by the
first run of face-up cards. Murray received a four of clubs face up,
and Keyrin warned her to keep the four face up so everyone could see it.
Murray's matching hole card was the nine of hearts. That seemed better,
being an nine instead of a four, and a nice looking heart instead of an
ugly club.
The tally, so far:
Anne: 4 *
Keyrin: 4 *
th'Tellan: 8 *
Ozwald: 4 *
Brennan: 7 *
Stavay: 6 *
The first round of betting began. Keyrin and Ozwald quickly noted that
most of the fours were on the table. Anything like a straight, such as
a hand like 4-5-6-7-8, was now almost impossible. Out of 40 cards left
to deal, only one was a 4. Ozwald sighed. A four of spades and a nine
of spades. Better not to bet too much, and hope for a flush...a hand
full of spades. It would require some major bollocks to make like he
had that last four, and he wanted to know what card-playing skills the
others possessed first.
Betting began with the person who held the best card combination, who was
th'Tellan. He conservatively bet one chip, and everyone else did, too,
Anne just following along. Stavay dealt the next hand of face up cards,
beginning with th'Tellan
Anne: 4 8 *
Keyrin: 4 10 *
th'Tellan: 8 A *
Ozwald: 4 K *
Brennan: 7 Q *
Stavay: 6 3 *
Stavay looked at her hole card. A stupid two. No pairs had popped up,
which meant for a good round of betting, depending on who had a pair, or
who wanted to *pretend* that their hole card matched one of their
face up cards.
Keyrin had a four, five and ten. Not much to look at. She'd probably
lose this round, unless she bluffed successfully -- it would be unlikely
that she'd receive more cards that matched these. The winner of this hand
already *has* a pair right now. She would wait.
th'Tellan, once again, had the best hand. "Imagine that!", he smiled,
immediately earning the hatred of everyone in the room. Ozwald looked
down th'Tellan's left sleeve, hoping to find a mechanical arm or some
such device.
Would th'Tellan raise the ante, in other words, would he start betting higher
amounts in the hope of intimidating the others that he had the beginnings of
a great hand? The ace looked mighty powerful. "I'll bet one", meaning one
white chip, the lowest valued chip. Everyone sighed. White chips were tossed
into the pot.
Stavay dealt the next round of cards, and now, the game looked interesting:
Anne: 4 8 6 *
Keyrin: 4 10 10 *
th'Tellan: 8 A A *
Ozwald: 4 K J *
Brennan: 7 Q K *
Stavay: 6 3 2 *
Once again, th'Tellan got to bet first. Everyone looked at their own cards.
Anne cursed her hand of 4-8-6-9, a bunch of unmatched cards that didn't mean
anything. Right now, it looked like a challenge between th'Tellan and
Keyrin. The Romulan had the better hand, but what was Keyrin holding as
her hole card? Another ten, perhaps? A four?
This was the round where things got interesting, Keyrin told herself.
She knew there was only one round of face-up cards left, and th'Tellan
would begin eliminating his competitors quickly.
th'Tellan tossed a blue chip into the pile of chips. "I bet *five*."
It was time to put up or shut up. Ozwald looked at his unhappy collection
of 4-K-J-9. Right now, the other cards remained in his jacket, where he
could add them to his hand, if need be. Laugh at my suit, willya?, he
thought.
But this wasn't the time to beginning Ozwald's Famous Winning Run of Poker.
He could bide his time. Tossing his cards face down to the table, he said,
with a smile, "I fold."
Immediately, Ozwald's body was surrounded by a shimmering blue aura of light,
just like a transporter effect. When the effect disappeared, Ozwald remained
sitting, but his suit jacket was gone.
His jacket! His jacket, which held fifty-two decks of spare cards (one for
each card in the deck) was gone! Where?
"Computer," Aelyria shouted, "what just happened?"
<The penalty for losing a hand of strip poker is the loss of one article
of clothing.>
"Strip poker?", Ozwald muttered. This was a front! They took his jacket,
and now they were going to strip him bare! Paranoia sat in...he could
almost see the tar and feathers....
"AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ozwald ran out
of the room as fast as his legs could carry him. All eyes settled on
the Counselor, in shock, as Stavay's face turned dark brown. Brennan
was tapping his foot, each tap landing with authority.
th'Tellan broke the silence. "House rules, Counselor?"
*************************************************************************
Go to messages for
June 1997 or latest