Gold Gutter
Posted on Tue May 6th, 2025 @ 6:03pm by Lieutenant Commander Riavria & Lieutenant (J.G.) Avir Yavan & Lieutenant (J.G.) Rrawran & Lieutenant Commander Ash Randall & Commander Zhora zh'Roothi
1,594 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
InQuiry
Location: Dr. Riavria's Quarters, USS Enterprise
Timeline: 2439-03-13, 20:00
"Warning: Plate is hot."
Romulan Doctor Riavria dropped the plate of freshly replicated nachos back onto the grid and looked at her hands. Chief Medical Officer of the Starship Enterprise, the doctor sighed as soon as she saw her hands and mumbled underneath her breath. While she hadn't been the most social of people aboard the Enterprise since being assigned here, she was looking forward to the weekly poker game for the Senior Staff of the starship. Ever since she'd become part of Starfleet poker was one of the only things that really kept her sane in her career. It gave her a lot of insight and focused on guile and - often - deception.
Grabbing a dermal regenerator from her medkit, she quickly repaired the damage to her hands from the plate so that she could be ready before people started arriving. Comfortable with her handiwork, the Chief Medical Officer went back to the replicator and grabbed the plate of nachos. Safely picking them up, she took them over and placed them on the table next to the eyeshade visor that lay on the table. Next, she grabbed the deck of cards and the chips so that they could have their 'friendly game.' She couldn't help but smirk at the thought, wondering how friendly the game really would be.
Behind her the door chime beeped as the first player had arrived.
The smell of warm corn hung in the air as Commander zh'Roothi stepped inside, she took a moment to realize she was the first to arrive before greeting the host. "Good evening, Doctor," she began. "Am I incredibly early?"
"No more than usual," the Romulan answered as she fidgeted with the bowl. "You are the first one here though so welcome. Feel free to get yourself a drink, pick a chair, and get ready for some fun."
Lt Cmdr. Randall paused outside the door to the quarters of the ships Chief Medical Officer for several seconds, eyes fixed on the closed door like she could, somehow, see through it. Ash loved playing poker. She enjoyed the dynamics of calculating odds coupled with reading tells of which, virtually all players had, at least, one and most, had many. Having waited what she felt was a proper amount of time before following zh'Roothi in, Ash rang the chime and waited to be granted entry, hiding the bottle of scotch she brought with her behind her back..
"It's open," the Romulan Doctor announced.
"Good evening." The Chief Engineer greeted, as she entered and, see the plate of Nachos, grinned widely. "Excellent choice." Ash observed as she produced a bottle of scotch from behind her back. "I brought something to sip while we play." She added.
Accepting the bottle, Riavria looked surprisingly happy for a Romulan, "I knew I always liked you, Chief! This will go great with the evening's festivities." She set aside the drink on the table so that all could easily access it, "We'll give a few minutes for others to drop by."
The First Officer's lips twitched at the Doctor's delight. It was interesting to see the lighter side of the Romulan physician whom so far zh'Roothi had very little interaction with, and when she had it was painfully professional.
"How many are you expecting?" she asked. "Otherwise we'll be needing your assistance in the morning Doctor after sharing the bottle three ways."
"Two more, actually," she answered as she heard the door open, "And here they are now."
Lieutenant Rrawran from Security and Lieutenant Avir Yavan entered the Doctor's Quarters, each carrying a different appetizer with them. Rrawran had brought Croserkal Wings with him for the group. A native animal of his world, Croserkal were fierce herbivores that were similar to an Earth chicken. Meanwhile Avir had brought with her Toratfisu Jerky. Made from the Toratfisu fish on the Angosian homeworld, it was a popular snack on her planet.
"Sorry we're late."
The Doctor brushed it off, "You're actually right on time. Let's get this party started," she said as she took the food and placed it. She was eager to get playing and took her chair as the dealer, since she was hosting. Pulling the cards she waited as the group started to sit down.
"Hold it," Avir said as she placed a hand of Rrawran's arm, "that's my chair. I have no luck unless I sit to the dealer's right."
The somewhat mechanized voice of Rrawran's universal translator answered as it tried to keep up with the alien's natural language, "Superstitious hogwash, my dear."
"Experience has taught me otherwise," the Angosian answered as she held tightly on the Rorworr's arm. "Please, could go well for you."
"Alright," the canine alien answered as he pulled out the chair for Avir and took the seat next to her.
As the others sat, Riavria explained the game as she started dealing the cards to the players, "The game is five card draw, nothing's wild. The ante is one and action starts to my left. Maximum draw is 3 cards unless you are holding an ace." She continued dealing the cards to the group, with the betting beginning.
Ash waited for all five cards to be dealt before taking a look and tapped the table to indicate a check on her part.
Sliding a thumb under the dealt cards to inspect her hand zh'Roothi opted to check also thus offering her a chance to assess the other players.
"I'm in five," Avir said.
"Five and five," Rrawran added.
Ash considered the betting, so far, and opted to fold. The composition of her starting hand and, the betting so far, indicated short odds for drawing a winning hand.
Caressing both her cards and table with a finger tip weighing up her options zh'Roothi reached for her chips: "Call," she said.
"Fold," Rrawran quickly answered as he tossed his cards forward.
The Chief Medical Officer looked at the Executive Officer, "I'll see your call, Commander, and raise you five."
Avir mumbled, "Well I think I'm in trouble." Looking at her chips, she decided to fold.
Ash glanced the direction of Rrawran, when he folded to the commanders' call of his bet and, mentally, shrugged as Riavria raised and Avir folded in the face of that raise. Had Ash called instead of folded she would be in the same position that Zhora was, vested, and staring at decent pot odds before drawing any cards.
The Andorian glanced at the other players as they folded early into the round before turning to gaze to the one remaining party. Stubbornly she reached again for her chips and met the new price. "Call," she repeated.
The Romulan woman looked at the Executive Officer, carefully studying her and her looks for any tell that may give her an edge. A devious smile raised on her lips as she teased, "Nice poker face, Commander."
"As is yours, Doctor," the XO replied, though given how secretive Romulan's were zh'Roothi hadn't expected anything less from Riavria.
Ash started to reach for the bottle 18yr old scotch, to crack it open, and withdrew her hand, instead looking to Riavria. "Time to discard or hold pat." The Chief Engineer prompted, quietly.
Looking at her own cards and then looking over at the First Officer, the Romulan calculated out the odds of winning. There were several options ahead of her that could lead to success, but there were more still that could lead to failure. While winning the game was important, winning favor could also be considered an important task as she was new to the Starship Enterprise. Considering carefully all of her options, and studying the XO's face for a moment, she knew she had only one option.
"Dealer folds," she informed as she pushed her cards forward.
The Andorian's gaze followed Riavria's cards as she folded in defeat and considered the purpose of her actions. She found it surprising considering no additional cards had been drawn. She concluded it was the Doctor's method of testing the room before increasing the ante and slid her own cards forward to be collected, then swept the chips toward her pile.
"That was interesting." Ash commented, while helped herself to a, very small, portion of the nachos. "Have a bite of food, while you can." She commented.
"Yellow alert," the main computer announced, "all crew to stations."
The Chief Medical Officer sighed and grumbled, "Looks like we may go hungry."
"Well, that was soon than I expected." The Chief Engineer, muttered and devoured her, small, portion of nachos in one, not so dainty, bite. "Duty calls." She added, as she rose from the table and indicated the bottle of, top shelf, scotch. "I guess we'll crack that open next week?" Ash suggested, as she left the bottle where it was and headed to the door.
Like the others zh'Roothi uttered a sigh at the interruption before obediently rising to her feet. "I'll look forward to it Ash," she replied. "In the meanwhile let's find out what's going on."
OOC: For funsies these were everyone's cards.
Zhora
Ace of Hearts
Three of Spades
Seven of Clubs
Four of Spades
Ten of Hearts
Ash
King of Clubs
Five of Spades
Jack of Diamonds
Ace of Clubs
Ten of Spades
Riavria
King of Spades
Jack of Clubs
Queen of Clubs
Queen of Hearts
Four of Hearts
Rrawran
Eight of Hearts
Ten of Diamonds
Two of Spades
Ten of Clubs
Jack of Hearts
Yavan
Nine of Diamonds
Four of Diamonds
Six of Spades
Nine of Clubs
Five of Clubs
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