A game of wits, even if we don't play for our clothes?

Posted on Wed Sep 6th, 2017 @ 8:14am by

Mission: Mission 4 - Combustion
Location: medbay
Timeline: MD 5 lunchtime
1415 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Braden slipped into sickbay quietly and looked around for Bettina. He had decided since he would be working late tonight he would take a slightly extended lunch and visit his girl. When he saw her he cleared his throat loudly before speaking. "I brought sandwiches and snack chips for lunch. Sound okay to you?" Braden had a six pack of soda as well and as he looked for someplace to set everything down he saw a chess set. "Do you play chess? If your not busy we could play a game?"

"Um, oh, hi!" Bettina had been restocking her medical kit when Braden surprised her, and she broke into a grin, happy to see him any time. "Perfect timing!" she declared, "I was just getting ready for lunch. And, um, no, I don't play chess." Her nose wrinkled up. "That's the doctor's, but we could try something else? Or you could try to teach me, but that might be as successful as showing me how to fly a shuttle." She laughed.

"Well if you have a table we could eat as I explain the game. If it sounds interesting we could play a few games till you get a call or I have to return to work." Braden picked up the game and went to the table Bettina indicated. He handed her a bag with her lunch and set the soda on the floor so she could reach them as well. He put the board on the table to the side. With his hands now free he put a hand on her cheek leaning in to kiss her. "I am glad I decided to stop by, your smile when seeing me was enough to make the effort very worthwhile."

"Ah, a cheap date?" She grinned at him, returning his kiss, but lightly on the lips, before opening the bag and pulling out the contents. "Oh, turkey! And chips! Perfect!" Settling at the table, she looked over the chess board as she munched her sandwich. "I want to be the horse!"

"That piece is called the 'Knight' and he is unique. You have two, they are in the second row and they are the second piece in from each side. They move in a fashion to represent ancient cavalry flank attacks. They move three spaces counting the space they are currently in then one space to the side like so." He showed how the knight moved in all direction but in a set pattern. "When you learn the game the knight is one of the harder pieces to keep track of, thus their movement style allows them to ambush other pieces." Braden put the two knights, black on her side and white on his side. "One other thing, white always goes first."

"Well, good, because I don't have any idea where to move anyone." She shrugged, shoving a potato chip between the layers of sandwich then biting into it, satisfied with the crunch she had created. "Someone tired to teach me back in school...emphasis on 'try'. I know the pawns move one space ahead, and are sacrificial."

Looking up at him, she shrugged again. "I'm a pawn."

Braden raised an eyebrow and tilted his head "not in my book your not. Still you have the pawn down correctly they can move two squares on their opening move but on one square straight forward after that. They only attack to the forward corner but to either side. They do have one additional special ability if they reach the other players back line they are promoted to a queen." Braden smiled "you maybe were a pawn before but now, at least to me you have been promoted. My Pretty Princess." He went on to explain the castle or rook and the bishop next how they moved and attacked. The the King and his limited but useful movement. Adding "The King is the game piece, he must stay free and can not allow himself to be trapped or move into a threaten location. All the other pieces are there with the dual purpose to protect their own king and destroy the opponents king. The last piece to explain is the deadliest, the Queen. She has the same ability of the king to move in any direction but she has an unlimited move. She can cross the table and destroy a piece or put the king in check from many directions. A solid tactic is to place the knights to cut off escape then slip the Queen in from across the board to win the game."

When Braden was done explaining the way the pieces moved he had the board set up and moved his knight to K-B-3. "I always was a sucker to use my knights heavily." He freely admitted. "It is not a typical strategy and the people who play by some formal book learned stratagem often go crazy when I do that."

Well, the poor girl was lost pretty much straight off with the pawn only moving forward, but attacking to the side, which was, well, to the side and not straight. The rest of it was all gibberish, and then he moved a piece and said something that sounded more like a Bingo call to her.

"Oh, really?" she raised an eyebrow, then looked at him as if she knew what he was going on about, then she moved her right-side bishop.

Braden shook his head "the bishop can not go over the pawn. Only the knight can move on the first turn from the back row. So you have to lead with a pawn moving one or two spaces straight ahead or the knight moving past the pawn. The knight is the only piece that can move over other pieces." Braden shrugged "you want to play of just watch me show you how for a while?"

"Um, sure..." She looked at him skeptically, wondering if he understood that she had trouble with these sorts of thing. But she did want to try, for his sake, at least. And a big part of that was convincing herself not to just give up before she even tried. Despite her track-record, she might actually get it if it was explained properly, and she wanted him to be happy.

"Just, go slow..." Sighing, she looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I'm just not too good at this kind of thing."

"No hurry, I will play myself and explain how the game works as I go." Which is what he did, he named the piece then told her the moves it could take and the reason why each move would help or hinder her position. He played a game of attrition so the pieces were removed rather quickly but it cleared the board for a few pieces to move and be highlighted. His white side was down to his King, Queen, and a rook. Her black side had the King, two bishops and a Knight. He showed her how to try to trap the King and what to watch out for that you did not trap yourself. He ate as he played and he answered her questions throughout the game.

Once the game was finished He knew he should get back to work. He put the game away then returned to Bettina, "If I get a chance I will stop by for lunch as tomorrow. We will have you playing soon never fear. He reached for her hands to pull her into a hug. "I get a hug and kiss before I go?"

"Um, sure, of course!" She put on a game smile. "After all, you won, right? So the victor deserves a kiss!"

She stood on her toes to give him a little peck on the cheek. "There!" Then she laughed and grabbed him around the neck and gave him a proper kiss to remember her by.

Still, once he was gone, she worried that he was going to be disappointed with her. Sure, she'd understood some of what he'd said, but most of it had been gibberish, and she knew that she'd never be able to give him the competition he wanted, and eventually he'd get bored with her...Bored, that's what she had been...chess just didn't interest her.

So, maybe tomorrow, she'd try to distract him with something she liked to do and could do!

OFF:

Bettina Davies
Field Medic
S.S. Mary Rose

Braden MacCloud
Chief Science
S.S. mary Rose