Plek'et

Posted on Thu 13th Aug, 2026 @ 10:41am by Commander Heriah Rex

1,638 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: [MAIN] Learning to Fly
Location: Rec Room
Timeline: Current

The officer’s Rec Room was speckled with various games. There were tables for card playing, billiards/snooker/pool tables, hoops for shooting balls, cases along the far wall housing many board games, chess, checker, hnefatafl, an area equipped with many old Earth video game computing devices, and of course a few holo-tables in the event a desired entertainment amenity was not otherwise available. In this case, Heriah wanted to get better at Plek’et, a little known Trill board game.

Though meant to be two-player, Plek’et was able to be played by an individual. Before her were two boards. Both were set up identically. In traditional Plek’et, both players would play both boards at the same time. Seeing how Heriah was playing alone, each move she made on one board, the holoprogram would mirror that move as her invisible opponent on the other board where she would move to counteract the move she made on the previous. And then that move would be mirrored on the first.

’Playing with yourself, eh?’

All too often, Heriah realized that simply explaining the rules was confusing to others, to include Trill who were unfamiliar with Plek’et. One had to play to fully understand and appreciate the simplicity and complexity of the game. All in all, it was truly a mental exercise in attention and focus as well as symbolical of the duality of the Trill, especially those who were joined.

Heriah, after many moves, found herself becoming a little frustrated as she found little opening to adequately attack or defend on either of the two boards. Then again, her invisible opponent was only herself. Trying to get the upper hand upon herself and besting herself proved a dilemma. She knew all of her own moves and would have to make a sacrifice somewhere if she hoped to find an advantage over herself or to exploit one of her own weaknesses.

“Come on,” she said barely audible, “you have to make a mistake some time.”

’Agreeing to be Joined with me, I would say, was your first mistake.’

Many moves later and still the boards seemed in a stalemate.

“Who’s winning?” asked a disembodied voice over her shoulder. It was Garan’s voice. He was Rex’s last host before Refkin’s run-in with the Borg.

In Heriah’s imagination, Garan circled the table then sat himself across from her examining the Plek’et board close up.

Having the day off, Heriah was simply in a shirt and a pair of leggings. Nothing special or meaningful in any way. Her clothing appeared mismatched; like she threw something on and left her quarters.

Her eyes danced back and forth between the two boards, wondering how she was going to get the advantage against her opponent; herself.

Those dancing eyes added a step by looking at him a time or two. “I am. I think,” she answered.

‘Perhaps I am winning.’

“Shut up,” she said. “Sorry Garan,” she apologized to her imagination. “Not you. I was not telling you to shut up. I was…”

”I understand,” said Garan. ”Symbiontic confrontation. Remember I was Joined with him as well.”

Heriah returned her attention to the boards and she finally made a move and the invisible opponent moved a piece on the other board, again mirroring the move she made on the previous.

“You’ve played Plek’et. Right Garan?” she asked whilst contemplating her next move.

Looking up at Heriah, Garan shook his head. “No, can’t say I have. Spent my time chasing women and…well…you know…making mistakes. Even the one that made me dead and Rex…well…you know.”

“It is not too dissimilar from the Earth game of Hnefatafl. Only you are playing both games at once. There is supposed to be a mathematical equation you can apply to help you play the perfect game and win, but I cannot see it.”

”A mathematical equation to help you win, you say. So, if you know it, you can use it…to win…every time. Sounds a little like cheating.”

’And Garan knew all about cheating.’

“Rex says…”

”I know. I am part of you too, remember.”

Heriah lost all her focus for a moment as she thought what others would think had there been anyone else in the game room at that time.

“Am I going crazy,” she asked Garan.

”No.”

’Yes.’

It was the answers she was expecting, from both.

Still, on both boards, Heriah saw no avenue for a move to provide her with the upper hand against herself. “Frustrating,” she said. “This game is not too dissimilar to Hnefatafl on Earth,” she explained to the air. “The game had uneven sides for the players. And each of the two players has a different goal to achieve. It is customary for the players to play two games, switching sides after the first. With Plek’et, the players are playing both games, both sides at the same time. He who can win both games is considered the Plek’et master. I…” she sat back in her chair with a sigh, “…I am playing myself.”

’As I said, you are playing with yourself.’

“And I cannot seem to get the upper hand.”

’Well, if you play with yourself properly, you will always have the upper hand.’

”I take it, this is also supposed to be a contemplative exercise for Joined Trill.” said the disembodied Garan.

Heriah shrugged, not wanting to play anymore. “I must not be in a contemplative mood right now.”

’You are talking to a slug inside you while also talking to an old host, lost since dead. Contemplative is not the word for this. Cat Crap Crazy is more likely the term.’

Heriah sat there, Garan, in her imagination, sat there, Rex was silent, the pieces on the board had not moved in almost a minute.

‘Beginning to wish you had never joined with me?’

Heriah found herself thinking back to a time before her Joining. Things were simpler back then. Of course there was her family that she was estranged from. There was Starfleet where she had her career and little else to show for. She had no lover or anyone back on Earth or Trillius Prime waiting for her. Things were far simpler all the same.

She waved a hand over the holotable and the Plek’et boards wafted away to nothing.

Heriah sat there and thought back to those days, the days after her Joining with Rex. Yeah, the simpler days were gone, but she had years of being Joined in front of her. The name of ‘Heriah Khatain’ was to be forever inserted into the pages of the Book of the Joined. Whereas other names would pass into oblivion, her name would be forever known.

It had been Heriah’s dream to become Joined and she saw it as advantageous. Yeah, that dream was denied to her for some years until Rex needed a host. She truly saw her career going stagnant, herself as no one special, the sparkle of no-one’s eye unless if she was Joined.

‘See? You need me.’

“And Rex…” she said barely audible, “…Rex was my final opportunity to fulfill that dream of mine.”

‘That dream turned into a nightmare.’

That dream did turn into more than she could have imagined. Sure the road was not always smooth, fun and advantageous. It certainly had its challenges.

‘You did not imagine having to argue with me all the time.’

She did not imagine the level of bureaucracy involved in becoming Joined. Her name was written into a book, but there were also levels of responsibility, yearly reports, progress, and…in the case with being Joined with Rex…counseling.

Speaking of counseling, I want to know what information Rikata the Mole give to the doctors here?’

Prior to Joining, Heriah had been aware of a game called Plek’et and had played it only a few times. She never understood the game herself, until after becoming Joined. Only then did she see the game as being akin to being Joined. A game with uneven sides where both players have differing goals, but playing two games at the same time with each player playing different sides on each board.

’And you could not seem to get the upper hand. That means I have the upper hand.’

Heriah looked at the powered down holotable and envisioned the two boards. She never imagined she would be on the defensive as well as offensive with her symbiont. They were joined…yes…but it was like their goals are different.

The disembodied Garan thought and considered. “When we Trill become Joined, a new Trill is born with a new personality. But it is us hosts who have the final say in all we do. So, we have the upper hand. As do you, Heriah. You have the upper hand. You were playing Plek’et against yourself. Next time…” he looked at her torso.

She realized that next time she played, she should play against Rex.

’Oh bring it on. I will win every time and you will see there is no defeating me.’

“We will see about that,” She said as she rose from her seat. Still the game room was void of anyone else. She looked to Garan with a nod and he wafted away. “What is meant to be will come to pass I suppose. If given the chance again…I do not think I would change a thing.”

‘You’re weird.’

 

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