"Check and mate," Spock pronounced gravely.
Kirk sighed. "Couldn't you have at least tried to lose this match, Spock?" He asked, looking at the tri-dimensional chessboard in despair.
A faint smirk reached Spock's eyes. "I had actually delayed checkmate by four turns, Jim."
"Right," Kirk looked up to see Doctor McCoy enter the mess hall. "Looks like the three of us will be having dinner together after all," he remarked.
"Indeed." Spock agreed, swiftly resetting the chessboard for the next player before joining his friends en route to the synthesizer; he had the computer create a bowl of plomeek soup, some b'lltarr, and a glass of orange juice. Kirk was complaining, albeit good-naturedly, that Doctor McCoy had placed restrictions once more upon his food card.
"All you need to do to lose the restriction is lose those extra five pounds that you're always carrying around and keep them off," McCoy drawled.
"I've lost those five pounds," Kirk protested.
"And then I took the restrictions off your card and you gained them back. Now, you're going to eat that salad and enjoy it or go hungry. I'd prefer the first option since it's healthier, but I could always starve you down to size." McCoy smirked.
"Yes, Doctor," Kirk stuffed a forkful of salad cubes in his mouth, eager to choke it down and be done with it. "But I'll have you know that just as you have the power to give me a physical, I have the power to fire you." It was an empty threat and McCoy knew it, his smirk growing wider.
"Damn it, Jim. I'm a doctor, not a nutritionist," he said slowly, although as he was the Chief Medical Officer, it was technically part of his job to know the responsibilities and duties of the ship's nutritionist.
Disguising his eagerness to change the subject, Spock turned the conversation to the scheduled upcoming shore leave. He listened to his friends discuss the types of alcohol and synthehol that was marketed on the planet, and agreed to accompany them during their visit to the planet's surface. Noting the time on a nearby chronometer, he suggested returning to their posts. Bidding farewell to Doctor McCoy, who was (for once, thought Spock ironically) heading to Sickbay for a Medical Staff meeting, Spock and Kirk made their way back to the bridge and relieved the officers from the conn and primary science station.
Author's notes: I have no idea as to what b'lltarr, except that it is a Vulcan dish that is programmed in the Enterprise's computer databanks.