Bat'leths & BiHnuchs: Session One

Posted on Wed Jul 16th, 2025 @ 3:56am by Ensign Amelix Milumad & Ensign Devon Hunt & Ensign Hale Moore & Ensign Serena Bailey

2,477 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: 1 - Third Contact
Location: Surplus Room
Timeline: MD02 - 1800

[ON]

Ensign Hale Moore carefully put down the bowls of snacks, as well as the jug of drinks. He was nervous, the sort of nervous you got when you were excited about a new situation. It wasn't that he had really thought this through. He had picked up Bat'leths & BiHnuchs on his way to the ship, hadn't really played it except a session or two at the Academy. The good things was that the game was run by the game itself, as opposed to having a designated leader. He sat down at the large table, carefully reaching for his dice to play with as he waited.

His character sheet was a female Klingon Warrior named M'nea of the house of Kogh. He had decided to go down the route as the skills he had decided on, mainly dealing with things that could blow up. So technically she was down as an Engineer Warrior but that was just, boring and not very Klingon-y. He glanced at the time, hopeful that someone would...show up. He had spread the information around the Ensigns in the hope that, well, someone would show and that it would be more fun than the senior officers playing poker.

Serena arrived, she'd not heard about this game that Ensign Moore was talking about. "Hello, I am here. I've not played this game before. Is it like playing D&D? " She took a seat at the table. "My name's Serena, if you didn't know that before," she explained feeling just a touch awkward.

A gust of wind blue in the room and ended as there was a brown creature that sat at the table immensely engrossed in her PADD. "I can't make up my mind! The weapon choices are just too awesome!" Amelix exuded. "I could go with the bat'leth, but if I do that, I really have to buff up my movement because they're not as strong as the traditional mek'leth, which could snape the bat'leth in half with a well-timed attack! But with the bat'leth, I could possibly get several attacks in before the mek'leth struck! Of course, if I had two d'k tahg, then I could weild those and throw those!" She held her hand as the PADD fell on the table. "Decisions! Decisions!"

"I don't...know D&D," Hale said with some alarm, since he wasn't sure what it was. He just knew of this game. "Is it good? If you don't like this game, we can do that one instead..." he looked at Amelix, reaching for the PADD with the rules, if he remembered rightly you could acquire more weapons if you killed someone for them.

Amelix snatched the PADD back. "What do you think you're doing, Comet? Replicate your own PADD! My character sheet is on this one, even if I can't fully make up my mind on all of the equipment! And what is this D&D?! I've never heard of it, Serena! I have to know!"

Devon walked up to the small group that was playing a D&D game that he was all too familiar with. "Bat'leths & BiHnuchs. Wow, I haven't had anyone to play this with since I graduated the Academy."

Amelix enthused, "Well now you do! Sit down! Get cozy! Let's kill things with honor!"

Hale took a spare PADD and slid it over to Devon so he could create a character sheet, even as he looked at Serena, curious about this D&D she had mentioned.

"Perhaps I will be able to show you, once I learn how to play this game. I have no clue as to what is available. Perhaps you can make a suggestion?" Serena giving an actual smile.

Pulling up a seat, Hunt sat down as he accepted the character sheet. "So, what do you all think about the Quebec so far?"

"It's exciting," Hale said quickly, and smiled, looking at him. "Come on, we're actually in Starfleet! No longer cadets, it's so...it's amazing! We're amongst the stars!" He leant closer to Serena and smiled, showing her the Klingon warrior with extra agility modifiers. "This one could work well...I don't mind if you double up on skills from someone else. It's meant to be fun, not...you know...all rule-y. That's what the in-game Klingon is there for, to narrative our adventures."

"Okay, I will work with this. And I am looking forward to playing." Serena replied, not so cold like she was when she first came onto the ship. "This is a new experience, sleeping in a corridor like being in camp."

Amelix complained, "Lieutenant Bailey, she's the Science Chief. She told me that I have to slow myself down! How can I slow myself down?! It is not my fault that I have so much going on in my mind! Also, there's so much to do! I mean, being slow stands in the way of progress! I know that she means well, but, but, but! I mean, do you all think that I need to slow down?! Can't you understand me the way that I am?! But the ship is so new that I can't believe we have some of the best scientific instruments!" She then shyly added, "even I broke a few already."

"Wait, you broke a few instruments already? That gave Serena pause, then the other shoe dropped. "Oh... did you say your boss in Science is Bailey? As in Ava Bailey?" She sat back and steepled her fingers together, tapping them. "Hmmnnn Very interesting."

"I only broke a couple of beakers when I bumped into Lieutenant Bailey," Amelix replied abashed. "And she was super nice about it! And yes, her name was Ava, I think! She only said it once. Chief Science Officer! So, what's so interesting about it?!"

"Sleeping in the corridor is a bit weird," Devon admitted. "On my last assignment, we had rooms but shared with other another officer. This is definitely a step down. But I am curious about the direction Starfleet went with this posting."

Serena had an impish smile when she answered Ameiix. "Ohhh nothing. Just that she's my cousin." she looked at Devon, "Well this is my first posting so, this is all new to me. It's a lot like going to camp, when I was in my early age. Summer Camp."

"Your cousin?!" Amelix enthused. "I can't wait to tell her that I know both of you! Are there more of your family on board?! I have nobody hear for myself! Of course, I'm the only Tygarian in Starfleet, so that makes sense, right?! I want to meet your entire family now! Are you all alike?! Do you have to date certain people to keep your family lines strong?!"

"Who is your cousin?" the security officer asked. "And what does she mean about family lines remaining strong?"

"Not MY cousin!" Amelix replied laughing, the sound of which sounded a bit slithery coming out from her. "Serena's cousin is my Chief of Science! How cool is that?! Now, as to Tygarians, we have 12 families! That's all! Technically it is 13, but that's a bit of a story! I guess you might call them tribes or clans! I'm a rarity! My parents were from two different clans! It was a bit of a scandal!"

Devon knew hardly anything about Tygarians. And to be honest, this was actually the first one he had even came in contact with. "So I assume these tribes get bigger as you get married and integrate the families together?"

Serena raised an eyebrow. "Well, Lieutenant Bailey is my cousin, and I don't want her to know that I am on board as of yet, Amelix. I want to surprise her and if you tell her I am here, it will spoil the surprise."

Hale smiled as he listened to them talk, biting his lip for a moment before he looked down at the dices. He had done this to...get to know people. And he was getting to know them. "Are...are we ready to begin?" he asked, motioning to the game.

Amelix visibly bobbed up and down in her seat. "Ready?! Of course I'm ready! I can't wait to begin! It is time to earn some honor!"

Serena turned her attention back to Hale, "I am ready now. and looking forward to learning this game." Picking up the character sheet and examining it.

"Alright!" Hale nodded and turned on the game, the Klingon appearing on screen. A Klingon with wide eyes and a grin that made Hale shiver.

"Ah! The blood of my enemies is forever immortalized on my d'k tahg. I can still taste their final panicked screams. My death will be ecstasy. A glorious end that will take me straight to Sto-vo-kor!"

Hale looked around the table with a smile, with excitement to be playing the game with the others. The quality of the game wasn't the best, but he could tweak the audio a bit. Maybe rebuild it a little if people liked it.

"I have honored my house, but will you?" the Klingon continued as a finger was pointed at them. "How many soldiers in the Klingon Empire will be proving their toduj?"

"You have me, Amelix! Oh, wait! Should I be using my real name or a Klingon one of my creation?! I don't want to do this incorrectly!"

"I asked how many soldiers of the Klingon Empire!" the Klingon shouted, followed by a beeping sound to cover up a lot of swear words.

"I...sorry, this is the uncensored version," Hale said quickly as he looked at the others. "Four. We're four! I think?"

Serena stifled a snigger when the curse words sprang out. "Yes, we are four." she stated with an impish grin. "That is a good censor program," adjusting her character sheet once more.

"Four!" Amelix agreed readily pounding a fist on the table enthusiastically. "I live to serve the Empire! ARRRRGGHHH!"

"Woah rather enthusiatic aren't you Amelix." Serena giving a chuckle. She turned back to Hale, "What's next?"

Observing the table, Hunt scratched his head. This version of the game was definitely more advanced than what he was typically accustomed to.

"Are you okay? Uh with this game do we answer questions and see who will survive?" Serena taking a look at Hale

Hale was looking a little shellshocked before he smiled. "Oh worse than that," he said and swallowed. "Continue, warrior."

"Ah! Your party of four are travelling to fight in a glorious battle. On the way you enter a cave. It is dark! What do you do?"

Hale looked at the others and nodded. "Okay, so here we can do what we want. Roll for investigate, try and illuminate...it depends on what you want to do. So...Amelix, what would you do? Dark cave, the four of us, needing to go through."

Amelix cried out, "Illumination is for the weak! But darkness is a way for cowards to fight! Investigate first and then if our enemies cannot fight with honor, we must illuminate the cave!" She then shyly added. "Besides, I really don't want to bump into a wall."

Serena blinked. "Illuminate would be a good thing to do. Do we have any electric torches to do this with?" her mind starting to paint an image of a huge cave with stalactites hanging down and they having to avoid crashing into them. Well maybe they weren't that large.

"Roll your dice for illumation, travellers! A nine you must beat, on a D20 dice," the Klingon roared then lowered his voice like a Ferengi plotting.

Serena rolled her dice and it came out a six. "What does this do, did it work?" she wasn't certain if it would but hey worth a try. She looked eagerly towards the Klingon.

Amelix took out a dodecahedron and rolled it on the table, "1. I think that is really bad guys! We might be in some trouble here!" She giggled gleefully.

"Ah! You!" the Klingon pointed at Serena. "You raise your torch to light the hall, to see it's wonders...when you!" he pointed at Amelix. "Unaware of your companion, stand on your tip toes! Your hair catches fire! Your honour takes four hit points and the area smells of burned hair!"

"Can't say that I know what that smells like," she explained to the group. "I don't have any. However, I can only imagine that it doesn't smell great." She wrinkled her nose, 'causing her crystaline-like objects on her forehead to press closer together and spread prisms of light everywhere.

"Well the scent of burnt hair does smell awful- Arrrgh! My eyes!" The flash from the crystals in Amelix's forehead temporarily blinded Serena. She moved to rub her eyes to get them to clear, accidentally hitting the container which held her dice. These in turn went scattering over the table. "Gah sorry, sorry!"

"Your eyes? What's wrong?!" Amelix exclaimed concerned. "I could examine them! I have a little medical training! After all, it is just science!" She excitedly raised her right arm up into the air.

"Just that the crystals caught my vision just right to where i am temporarly blinded, don't worry it will clear up soon. I am just seeing spots in front of my eyes." Serena said closing her eyes once more. "You know how something shiny catches the light; the reflection can do this."

"Oh!" Amelix exclaimed, taken aback. "Oh, yes, that has happened sometimes! I can't really do much about it! I wish I could! I have no intention of blinding anyone!"

"I'll, I'll be okay, I promise." Serena's eyes blnking rapidly. They were starting to clear up, then she looked at Ensign Hale. "So... when is the next session. I think I messed up things for the time being."

"Next week, same time, same place?" Hale asked, with hope in his voice and his brown eyes earnest. He had...liked this. Bonding with the others, getting to know them. A break away from the pressures of their duties.

"This was really fun!" Serena exclaimed. "And I hope we get to have another session," giving a vigorous nod at the group.

"But we just started!" Amelix whined. "I want to know if we're going to stumble into something or I'm just going to die an inglorious death." She pouted slightly.

"This was definitely an interesting game indeed," Hunt admitted, "Perhaps we should plan some other activities as well. A way to just following up with each other after a busy week?"

"Let's get together later on and makes some plans, I would like that very much." Serena stated. "For now, though let's call this game to a close."

Amelix pouted further, "Well, as long as we are going to play another time."

"I am sure we will, Amelix, I am sure we will," Serena replied smiling towards Amelix.


END

 

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