Solal had once again taken to the lounge, though today it was because he needed the table space. There really wasn’t much in the way of cleared off flat surfaces in his quarters. Sitting at an empty table in the corner of the lounge he fiddled with a deck of playing cards. One did not grow up on Earth without learning at least a few card games and Solal was no exception. Shuffling the deck, he set up a round of solitaire, using the empty space for the card spread.

Some time later, his current round was nearly finished. It was a good way to waste time. Solal rarely played with anyone else, he’d found rather quickly that people didn’t like when one was good enough with memory and numbers to know how to win a game of poker. But he had always liked the games, and a deck of cards did not take up much space. In fact, it fit right in the pocket of his violin case, the very violin he preferred never to tell anyone about. When he’d won the game of solitaire, he switched games, playing himself in the card game of war.

~ Lt JG Solal