Season 2 Interlude

Posted on Sunday February 14th, 2021 @ 7:08pm by Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe & Lieutenant Commander T'Pri & Commander Sam Perkins & Lieutenant Commander Michael Stevens
Edited on on Sunday February 21st, 2021 @ 5:05pm

2,561 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: S1-A1-Ep. 1: Spectrophobia
Location: T'Pri's Quarters
Timeline: 239501.10

= T'Pri's Quarters =

It was quiet on the Poseidon, even after T'Pri got back from leave their ship was still in dry dock being repaired. Term papers had been corrected and grades had been posted. So in an attempt to interact with more of her shipmates, she called for a poker game. She had done a bit of research on the subject and some of the traditions. So she had prepared some ale and pretzels and invited some of her fellow officers over. She had replicated a deck of cards and some chips as well.

Micheal had finished his duties in his office and had not long returned to his quarters having spent most of his leave overseeing the replenishment of the ship’s stores and the repairs that he had been Co-ordinating with the Posiden’s Chief Engineer Lieutenant Sharpe, but now all he wanted was a relaxing night. But when head checked his messages before leaving his office, he found one from Lieutenant Commander T’Pr the Posiden’s Intelligence officer for a poker night he thought to himself oO Do Vulcun’s play Poker? Oo as he had not heard during the last few months of a game here as decided to go take a quick shower and change before he went to the officers quarters.

= 20 minutes later =

After his shower, Micheal wore brown pants with a Hawaiian shirt and placed his combadge over his left breast pocket and had checked his hair to make sure it was ok, he though oO now what do I take as a gift for a Vulcan? Oo as he knew that this was going to be a social visit and decided to take a bottle of white wine to the game for her. As he left his quarters, Micheal walked along the corridors and seeing workmen still at work with doing repairs to the ship as he wondered how long they were to take before they left on active duty once more with more cadets in tow. As he stood outside the Lieutenant Commanders quarters, Micheal felt like he was a bit overdressed for this but it was a bit late now to go back and change and was here now and pressed the buzzer and waited to be invited in.

"Welcome to my cabin Michael, please make yourself comfortable," T'Pri said.

“Why to thank you, Ma’am, for the invite to the game” replied Michael as he handed her the bottle of wine over to her, he said, “This is for you?” as he knew that it was only a gift for her but nothing more, However, he was pleased that he could have some downtime finally after the shift he had today, as he entered the Lieutenant Commander’s Cabin, he said, Wow this is nice,”

"Thank you". T'Pri said. Vulcan's enjoy a variety of colours. Several pieces of art were acquired from the Gamma quadrant.

Perkins was very surprised to be invited to the game. As until the mission was to start. It was a good idea to mix with his fellow crewmates. Plus it would be good to talk with others. Because they wanted to, not because they had to or fail their class. He excepted the invite straight away.

Sam was sure of the fundamentals of the game. It was just the scoring that confused him. The Ace card for an instant was it one point or eleven? Jokers wild what did that mean? He could pick it up as the game went along.

There was also a custom of taking something with you. He read about something called guacamole. A “ dip “ people used to eat with something called chips or crisps. So he replicated some and made his way to T’Pri’s.

After pressing her door chime Perkins stepped in when the door opened.

“Hello. I brought you some guacamole. It’s an avocado-based dip. That was eaten with chips or crisps at these games.” He informed her.

"What kind of chips or crisps go with Guacamole. Mr Perkins?" T'Pri asked.

Sam blinked at her a few times.

“ You know I am not sure. But as the main ingredient is avocado pear. I would assume potato-based with hardly any seasoning.” He said.

= Sharpe's Quarters =

Paul was fine-tuning his idea when he got an invite to the Chief Intelligence Officers quarters, this both puzzled him and intrigued him, he changed out of his uniform and put on some jeans, a T-Shirt and a pair of sandshoes minus the socks, grabbed a bottle of Antarian Brandy and with Commbadge on he headed to T'Pri's quarters. As they were on the same level it did not take him long to get to the room, he stopped outside and pressed the buzzer and waited, he had become used to the clothes he was wearing, they were a gift from his wife who was retro mad.

= T'Pri's Quarters =

"Mr Sharpe, Please come in you are most welcome," T'Pri said.

T'Pri welcomed him with a slight incline of her head.

"I believe you know everyone here."

Looking at the attractive Vulcan "please call me Paul off duty" he said with a smile. "I brought some Antarian Brandy with me" he added handing the bottle to T'Pri.

"Thank you that was most thoughtful," T'Pri said as She took the Brandy and placed it with the other spirits and food.

Sam nodded at Sharpe. The last time they had met. The CEO had helped him repair the damage to the labs. Caused by the rioting Cadets.

Sharpe nodded back as he took a seat at the table looking at the cards and chips 'hope it is a game I know!' he thought to himself.

"Well, gentlemen thank you for coming here. I have read the rules of the game, is there anything I am missing?" T'Pri asked.

Sharpe nodded back to Sam and looked at the other one "who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Lieutenant Michael Stevens the Posiden's Chief Operations officer," replied Michael, he continued "I have been coordinating the repairs with you," as he gave a grin and held out his hand in greeting.

"Ah, pleased to meet you, as for if you missed anything I have no idea I have never played Poker before and I do not even know how to play it, perhaps we could play a couple of practice hands while someone shows me how to play?" He added with a question.

Its a relatively simple game, though there are many variations, won't you all pick a place and be seated.

Sharpe nods

The game of 7 Card Stud can be played with 2-8 players at a table. The goal in Stud is the same as any other poker variation: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.

Stud game has a lot of little rules and a few quirks but it's a simple game at its core. 7-Card Stud rules can be broken up into four sections:

OOC: The rules can be found here----> https://www.pokerlistings.com/poker-rules-7-card-stud.

"Do any of you have a preference for a particular game?" T'Pri asked.

Perkins thought about all this. He had absolutely no idea what game. In fact, up until now, Sam assumed there was only one type. So he decided to be the ever-popular diplomat.

“I am free with whatever game you guys decide.” He replied

As a rule, I do not generally gamble, so I am easy on what mode we play" Sharpe added.

"Okay we will start with 7 Card stud" if that will be acceptable," T'Pri said.

T'Pri started by dispersing an equal number of chips to each player.

Seven-card what? He took the chips T’Pri gave him and placed them before him. She said they were chips. He wondered if these were the snacks. No one else seemed to be nibbling theirs. So Perkins assumed these were part of the game.

Sharpe looked at the officer "I believe they are used in place of physical money, they represent actual money, I would assume" Sharpe said to the confused officer.

“Why are they in different colours?" Sam asked.

"The colour of the chip denotes the denomination of the chip. White chips equal one, red chips equal five white chips and red chips equal ten white chips. The purpose of which is to increase the bet and to either bluff or acquire depending on the strength of your hand." T'Pri said.

"Well this will be interesting," Sharpe said as he stacked his chips and made ready "just say when to Ante up" he added.

"Poker does have certain advantages over another game of strategy I know, Chess," T'Pri added.

"Only two can play chess though" Sharpe commented looking around the room.

Perkins looked around.

“Is your Aunty here?” He said confused.

Shaking his head sadly "A-N-T-E, not Aunty, basically, it is a saying in games like this Ante up means we need to put in our starting value chips" he said

"That is correct. it will take 2 white chips to Ante up. That is to enter the game." T'Pri said putting in her two white chips.

Perkins felt his face flush. “Sorry. So we put in two of these crisps. Then I suppose it goes up if we think we have a winning hand is it?” Sam said

Sharpe had to use all his self-control not to laugh out loud "A different type of chip Sam, you cannot eat these, but I do believe that it is a 100 to start" he said just barely managing to keep a straight face.

"Perhaps chess would be more to your liking," T'Pri said in jest.

Perkins blushed.

“To be honest I am not that great at chess. Plus It’s good to be with friends. Instead of grumbling students. I am sure I will get the hang of this interesting game.” He replied

"Chess is a two-player game and can take a long time to make a move, so in this scenario, it would be illogical, but do not worry Sam I have never played Poker before" Sharpe assured the Lieutenant.

Perkins nodded he picked up one of the potato chips and dipped it in the guacamole dip he had brought. Sniffing it he took a bite.

“ Hmmmm..... I must say this avocado dip is quite nice.” He said

Looking at the dip "Never cared for avocado's myself" Sharpe said putting in his 100 starter chip and looked up "okay deal" he said.

T'Pri shuffled the deck and dealt the cards two up an two down.

T'Pri's up cards were a 2 and 5 of diamonds
Sharpes was a jack of clubs and a king of diamonds
Perkins had a pair of red fours.
and Micheal a 6 of clubs and a 9 of spades.

Looks like you have the high hand at this point Mr Perkins, bets? T'Pri asked.

Perkins was confused. He looked at the cards in his hand, then back at the two cards on the table. He picked up a chip and placed it on the table.

“ One red chip?” He said not sure if that was correct.

Sharpe looked at his hand and sighed "Fold" he said "deal me out of the next hand, I will watch you guys play and have me a drink of some of that Brandy I brought" he said throwing his cards in "Poker is not my game, I will watch vicariously from here on in" he said getting up from the table and finding glass and opening the Antarian Brandy and pouring himself a glass and walking over to a comfier seat where he could watch, then his Commbadge bleeped he sighed "oh for heaven's sake, what now I am on downtime" he complained and topped his Commbadge "Sharpe here what is it?" He asked.

"It is Ensign Merrick in Engineering Sir, the computer relays in the Science lab have just fused again, I sent someone to fix it, but they could not understand your repair method," the Ensign said.

Sharpe's tone was suddenly serious "my method Ensign, I put them back as per Starfleet standard repair guides required so that means the one you sent was terrible," Sharpe said.

There was a stutter, Sharpe realised that the Ensign was trying to protect a crewman, that was gallant of him, but wrong "Ensign Merrick you and I will have our words later, I will attend to the relays in the Science lab, Sharpe out" he said and closed the link noting the Ensign gulped before the link was closed and looked at the others "Sorry Commander T'Pri I will have to take my leave of you and this game, it seems there is incompetence on the night shift I have to attend to this" he said knocking back his drink and looked at Perkins "it is the lab those damn Cadets ruined Sam, so there must have been more damage elsewhere that evaded the first scan" he said standing up and putting the glass down.

Perkins gave a loud sigh and shook his head. There had been a problem with one of the cellular probes. But he had thought it would sort itself out.

“ Oh. That is a pity.” He said.

"Duty calls Mr Sharpe. Thanks for stopping by." T'Pri said.

He walked to the door and stood in the open doorway and looked back "sorry all, may the best player win" he said and was gone leaving the group to continue.

Maybe Perkins should follow him. But then again it sounded like Sharpe had it all In hand.

“ Let me know if you need us,” Sam said.

"I will Paul said with a smile" and looked at T'Pri as she spoke.

T'Pri put in a red chip.

"Perhaps next time we can have a movie night," T'Pri said.

"That might work better Commander, good luck to all," he said and was gone.

Perkins smiled. Movie night. He had not been to a good movie night for ages. Picking up another chip he tossed it into the pile. It rolled off and came back to him. Turning a little red he picked it up and placed it on the pile.

“ I know a few classic 20th and 21st movies we could see. There is one about a human boy who is given a strange pet. Whose offspring destroy a small town.” Perkins said

"I like spy thrillers," replied Michael looking back at the Chief Science officer as he liked to try and work out the plot and how the story followed, He continued " and I'm up for more group nights," as he knew that it would help get to know other members of the crew.

“ Yes I agree fully. You know they say that the Andorian’s also having quite an interesting movie industry. Much the same as Earths early 20th century. Although their movies are more blood thirsty. Someone is always having their antenna sliced off. Plus they don’t have any censorship.” Perkins said looking at his cards.

"Andorian's are a very passionate people". T'Pri said.

"Personally I enjoy the monster movies of that era, especially Dracula, Frankenstein the Wolfman." T'Pri added.

[End]

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A post by:

Lt Cmdr T'Pri
Chief Intelligence Officer

Lt Cmdr Paul Sharpe
Chief Engineering Officer

Lieutenant Jg Micheal Stevens
Chief Operations

Lieutenant Sam Perkins
Chief Science Officer

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