I took this out of the next chapter of 'In the Shadows' because it didn't really fit . . . But I liked it too much to scrap it entirely! :)

Wrecker shifted, shoved his hands in his pockets, and brightened. He pulled out a pack of cards. "Hey! Anyone up for a game?"

Quinlan slouched to the floor right where he was. "Sure. What, sabacc?"

"Nope!" Wrecker grinned at him. "We have our own card games."

The card game was rather long and involved, as card games went. Hunter thought this was probably because no one could keep the rules straight. Players didn't normally choose which cards were worth which points. The numerical value was the value assigned. With his men, though – well, since they'd all decided to pick values for each card, they were supposed to determine which cards were worth what before the game started. They didn't even follow that. Instead, it usually happened that the commandos started assigning points about four hands into the game.

"That is not worth seven," argued Tech. "You said the red ones were worth four."

Wrecker frowned. "Yeah, I said that last round. For this round, they're worth seven."

"Fine." Tech tossed a black three onto the stack instead. "Then these are worth two apiece."

"Can't do that," Crosshair said, picking up the card and flinging it back. "I called it already. Black threes are worth four."

Quinlan rested an elbow on his knee. "Okay, but I still say I should've been able to make that blue eight a ten."

Hunter, not for the first, second, or even fiftieth time, had to wonder why his squad couldn't just play the game with the regular rules. This kind of thing was exactly what had ended in a brawl and a broken table, a couple missions back. He silently lay down a yellow five and waited.

Tech perked up. "Yellow five! New card! I say it's worth a ten."

"Thanks," said Quinlan, tossing in another card. "Exactly what I needed."

"Yes, I know," said Tech.

Hunter glanced at him. "What is this, an alliance?"

"Yes, why not?"

Everyone paused.

"Good idea." Wrecker leaned over to look at Hunter's cards, then held up his own hand. "Which one do you want?"

Crosshair glanced from one team to the next. "Guess I'm the third team."

"You have half as many cards as either team has," said Tech. "Statistically, you are most likely to lose."

"I'm not trying to win," Crosshair said, leaning back on one hand. "Not anymore."

Hunter tapped the card he needed before casting a brief look at the sniper. "Then what are you trying to do?"

Crosshair studied his cards and smirked. "Your move, Wrecker."

Wrecker flung down the card Hunter had indicated. "Our team's got forty points!"

Crosshair eyed the pile, tilted his head, and laid down a negation card. "It did."

"Aw . . ." Wrecker discarded the card he'd just played.

Tech went next, bringing his team's total up to forty-six. Hunter played, bringing his to forty again. Quinlan played a card, putting him at forty-nine. Wrecker brought his up to forty-seven.

Crosshair laid down a red twelve. "New card. Red twelves mean everyone has to discard his card with the highest worth."

Since there was only one round left in the game for one of the teams to get their total as close as possible to one hundred points, all of them shot him glowers. Hunter reluctantly discarded his black twelve (which was worth eleven).

Tech discarded a yellow five, then did a double take. "Wait – I have two red twelves!"

"I know," said Crosshair. "Should have been more careful when you leaned forward last turn, Techie. Now they're not worth anything."

Tech grabbed a handful of the game chips and held them up threateningly. "Don't call me that."

"Why not, Techie?"

The multi-colored game chips hit him in the face.

"That's why not," said Tech.

Hunter studied his cards. "Hurry up, Tech. I've got an uncalled card."

"Okay – total's fifty-four."

Hunter dropped a blue seven. "Calling this at a twelve. Fifty-nine total."

Quinlan laid down a doubleplay and a seven. "Fourteen. Sixty-eight total."

Wrecker hesitated, then grinned. "Ten! Sixty-nine total!"

Crosshair looked thoughtful. After a long moment, he laid down a doubleplay, then a negation card. "Forty-nine now."

"You can't play double negations," said Tech.

"Yeah," said Wrecker, squinting. "I thought you could only play doubleplays on numbers."

"Prove it," Crosshair shrugged. "We lost the rules ages ago."

"I don't think we lost them," Tech said accusingly. "I think someone discarded them."

Hunter, sensing an impending argument, leaned forward and started stacking the cards. "Okay, let's get this cleaned up. Tech, go find those chips you threw."

Tech obeyed, 'accidentally' tripping over Crosshair's ankle as he moved.

Calvinball, anyone . . .? That got out of hand. ;)

I'll be updating 'In the Shadows' on Sunday.