Colonel McLean

“Old Friends: What Universe is this?” Joint Log: Colonel George McLean and Lt. Colonel Travis Kroells 0510.27 George leaned forward in the squeaky chair as he shuffled the cards for the next hand while Travis slowly opened his mouth, letting a cloud of smoke from his cigar drift out. George found out that the cards were conditioned perfectly as they easily fell from one hand to the other. Travis smiled as he watched the Colonel, "Smoothie." "Of course." George said with a smile while dealing the cards to the other three players, "I've been a natural since before I was born." Travis smiled as he looked down at his cards, his expression not changing, "But remember my good man, you’re in my house tonight." After dealing the cards, George picked up the cards and looked at what he had dealt himself. He did not look back at Travis, but instead said, "The gods seem to love underdogs though." Travis watched as the betting came to him, and raised, "But the cards don’t." The Colonel looked at his cards again, then with his free hand tossed in his bet, while one of Travis’s trusty pilots quickly folded. Travis tossed more chips in and continued the conversation, “"So, how's our lovely General been? I don’t get up to bridge often enough to see her." The Colonel made a motion that resembled pulling a necktie way too tight, "Oh, you know how she is...straight laced as always. She obviously was neglected as a child...or, maybe some guy in the eighth grade broke her heart and it's her duty in life to take it out on the rest of us." The Lieutenant Colonel smiled, "You see, that’s why I like being down here. From this distance, she's just the menacing CO. Although I wouldn't mind if she ordered me around a bit." He gave a light hearted chuckle as he tossed more chips in. George looked up in surprise as he betted his second round, "Dude, she's way out of your league. Do you really want that kind of ice in your life?" Travis smirked as the second pilot dropped out as well, this quickly getting out his league, "Like I said, it's nice being down here. It doesn't hurt to admire from a distance. You’re the one that has to deal with her on a daily basis." George could only come back with, "Yeah well..." as he looked to see if Travis would bet again, "How is life down here anyway? There are days that this place seems like Risa compared to what I go through. Although, let me tell you that our new Operations officer is quite a sight to behold. Mmmm." Travis actually let out a audible laugh at that, almost forgetting to put more chips in, "You dirty old dog, I swear one of these days I'm going to have to throw you in a fighter and unleash you on the UFP." "Bring 'em on," George returned, not taking that as an insult to his age, "If there's anything that I like more than a good woman, it's sending a torpedo into the side of one of Duren's ships and watching it burn." He tried to get a read on Travis as he pondered his next move. Travis’s face flashed from a moment of seriousness back to a normal smile. "You go ahead and do that; I'll take the OPS out for a night on the holodeck then." "Oh no no," the Colonel came back quickly, "She'll be riding with me and having the time of her life." The picture passed through Kroells's mind as he laughed and took another puff of his long ignored cigar. "Just remember, those flight sticks are a bit touchy, prone to sudden erratic maneuvers" The Colonel shook his head, with a slight smirk appearing on his face, and then he leans forward to push his chips, "I'm all in." Travis looked him over for a second, before smirking, "Call." George looked at him seriously for a moment, then broke into a smile. He flipped over his cards revealing a pair of nines amongst other worthless cards, "I only clean you out so you'll get it back in my will." Travis frowned as he gently tossed his cards down, never seeming to get angry over this "Hey, just remember now, I'm more likely to get shot down by some UFP fascist then you getting whipped to death by Debbie. Besides, you get her too!" George coughed, "I beat you with a pair of nines?" He smiled, as he took another puff of the cigar. "I often find is better to have a drained phaser rifle then fully functioning laser scalpel old friend."