5 Card Stud, Nothing Wild But The Dealer, Part 4

Posted on Thu May 30, 2019 @ 8:34pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Civilian 'Arrival' Avis Larant Ms & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Civilian Jason Haines & Lieutenant Commander River Morgan & Ensign Jessica Mayhew & Ensign Tizo Criteser & Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca

1,345 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Box of Delights, Holo-Suite
Timeline: MD 8, 2130

[ON]

Previously…
Jason then turned his attention to Brianthe. "Okay, gypsy queen, it is time for you to start getting prepared to tell fortunes by the cards. Deal is to you."

Now The Conclusion…

Jessica sipped her beer and nibbled on crunchy bruschetta and spinach dip. That left her worried she had spinach between her teeth, distracting her a bit from the cards. She called to stay in again but found herself with little more than a middling pair of Sevens at the end.

Brianthe laughed and shuffled the cards. "Okay. Here goes nothing." She dealt the cards, following the pattern Jason used.

River waited until all the cards that were to be dealt had been laid down. She tried to remember the rules again. She had really sort of winged it the first time and nothing much had gone too wrong, but it was just luck of the draw.

Jason took a peek at his cards. He wasn't pleased, but didn't show it. If they were playing for actual money, he would have folded, but tonight the game was just about fun, so he stayed in.

Alanna looked at her cards. Better than the last round, but it would depend on what she got to fill in the holes. She put in her chips and waited to see how the round went. It really didn't matter, but she enjoyed watching how other people played.

Brianthe finished dealing and looked at her cards. A pair of twos. Nice, but easily beaten.

River seemed to have a lot of hearts, but she wasn't sure if that was a good thing. She put in her starting chips anyway.

Avis picked up her cards, and at first glance the hand was a little better than her first hand. Of course, that wasn't saying much. Still, what fun was it if you didn't at least play? No huge stakes either, win or lose. She tossed in the necessary chips and looked at the various players. "I'm in."

When it was her turn, Brianthe added her chips to the pile and continued to deal. Since there were no penalties to losing, the pile grew as the round continued. Finally, she turned the last card.

"Well, looks like it is 0-2 for Sheriff Haines," Jason said. He had a four of hearts, six of hearts, nine of diamonds, two of spades, and a king of clubs.

“Not me,” Jessica said, tossing down her cards. She waved to the bartender for another beer.

Having already studied the game guide, Tizo tossed a few chips on the pile. His hand was mediocre, but he decided it was worth the small risk of losing.

If the goal was to get a variety of cards, Annora was doing well. As that was not the goal, there was little chance she'd win. Still, she added to the group of chips simply for the thrill of the game.

Alanna decided that since there was absolutely no way she could win this round, she was going to ignore the rules and just play. She didn't even look at her cards as she tossed in some chips.

The bartender brought over a beer for Jessica and after the last card was dealt Jason said, "Read 'em weep". He turned his cards over. "Absolutely nothing."

He laughed wondering what everyone else had.

"Ha! I've got you beat," Alanna said, turning over a hand even more disparate than Jason's.

"Well, I have something. It's not much, though." Brianthe turned over her cards, revealing a pair of twos.

"So much for lightning striking twice."

Annora flipped over her cards to reveal none of them the same nor in any order to make a sequence.

Tizo turned over his cards to reveal a pair of threes along with other random cards.
"Not much here."

River turned over her cards to reveal a run of hearts from six to jack.

“Looks like you win, River,” Jessica said, sipping her drink. “So she gets to ask the question.”

"I do?" River was surprised, but she grinned, happy with her good fortune. "Okay then. I'd like to ask Jessica. What made you go into Security, and would you do it again if you could choose now, knowing what you know today?" River asked.

Jason looked over to Ensign Mayhew with a smile, waiting to hear the answer. While waiting, he motioned to the bar for another drink.

Jessica considered it for a moment. “I come from a long line of cops,” she said. “Seems like everyone in my family is either police, or civilian defense, or Starfleet Security. Even Federation Marshals. No one expected that from me really.” She shrugged. “I was always the petite, pretty, cheerleader type. But my mom made sure I could take care of myself. Or others, if I needed to. She died when I was sixteen, but I remembered she used to always say there were three kinds of people in the universe. Wolves, sheep, and sheepdogs. It was the job of sheepdogs to protect the sheep from the wolves. I guess I took that to heart and wanted to honor her, so I joined Starfleet Security.”

Avis didn't think it was a tough question at all, but she did like Jessica's answer, great analogy too. She raised her drink and quipped, "Woof!"

Jessica chuckled. “Mom also used to say, ‘If you make some comment even obliquely alluding to menstruation or menopause and its effect on my judgment, I will break your arm in eleven places.’”

"I like your mom," Alanna said, smiling at Jessica. "She sounds like she was quite a woman."

Jason raised his glass in response to Avis and said, "Woof! Here is to tough moms!"

Alanna and Brianthe raised their glass with the others in the toast.

Jessica beamed and raised her glass as well. “She was remarkable,” she said, clicking her glass with the others. “I miss her. Dad misses her more, though, I think.”

"Nice answer!" River agreed and raised her glass to join the toast. "I wasn't sure it was different enough from the last question, but you answered it with a different approach. I liked hearing about your family. Thank you for sharing those anecdotes."

While she knew the ensign's service record, Annora liked hearing the more personal reasons for her joining Starfleet and the Security division. She joined the others in raising a glass in toast to their mothers.

As they were finishing the toast, the saloon doors swung open and Yolanthe walked in, a crate of clinking bottles in her arms. "That should keep you going for now. You need anything else, Sam here can let me know." She nodded her head at the holographic bartender.

"Oh, yes please, Sam. A round on me, if you would be so kind," River called to the barkeep.

"Another game, anyone?" she added as the drinks arrived.

"Two down, five to go," Jason said, and then drained his glass.

At that moment the lights flickered some and it seemed like a wave of energy had gone through the room. Jason looked at his arm and the hairs on it were standing up. The music in the room stopped and it briefly grew pitch black. A moment later sunlight peeked through the saloon doors and dust could be seen drifting through the light. The temperature had gone up significantly and was definitely not from the station filtration systems. The holographic bartender and piano player were gone.

A loud, unfamiliar voice broke the confusion.

Avis lowered her drink and looked about. This was definitely not part of this game.

"Come on out, elf. We know you are in there! You are only going to make it harder if you don't come out."


[OFF]

Ltjg. Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer

Avis Larant
Investigative Journalist

Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner, The Box of Delights

Ltcdr. River Morgan
Acting Chief Medical Officer

Lt. Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer

Ens. Tizo Criteser
Security Officer

Ens. Jessica Mayhew
Security Officer

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer

Ensign Brianthe Oaxaca
Botanist

 

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