Culinary Diversions
Posted on Tue Mar 26th, 2024 @ 4:35am by Lieutenant JG Callin Mastrel & Lieutenant Scott Hayes
Mission:
Shakedown Shake-Up
Location: Esquimalt
2043 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure
The line to the tables of food moved a bit too slowly for Callin's liking. He was hungry, made all the worse with the delicious smells on the air in the conference room that was hosting the event. Spicy, sweet, savory, exotic, and more, the scents made his stomach rumble and mouth water. He held his own dish that he'd painstakingly replicated, given his temporary quarters assignment and having just arrived too recently to figure out where to get both fresh ingredients and a place to cook them at. The station might even be running low on fresh goods, for all he knew, given its recent relocation; that must've wreaked hell on the supply runs.
"You'd think Tellarites might argue less when it was meal time," Callin observed with a sly grin to whomever stood behind him in the line, figuring he'd strike up some conversation as he waited. The pugnacious humanoids seemed to be complaining about a pasta dish from what he could see. "I'm glad I brought a cold-dish to share too!"
Scott leaned in close to the man in front of him and playfully whispered, "I wouldn't say that comment about Tellarites any louder, they may turn to insults next, and trust me, you would rather they had something to complain about than start hurling insults," he took a step back and smiled. "Just wait to they get to the pizza I brought, I may leave the room should I happen to hear what could be said about it... but that's what you get when you just arrive and have no notice about such a get-together." He sat down two perfectly replicated white pizza boxes with an image of himself holding up a piping hot pizza all in red ink.
Callin chuckled though his eyes turned towards the boxes the other man carried. While he recognized the word for the dish immediately, he did raise a quizzical eyebrow at the picture, looked back up at the man, back down at the box. Odd. "Oh. Pizza. Another amazing addition to the galaxy, courtesy of Planet Earth!" He took the lid off his own uttaberry pastries, cylinders of dough 'deep fried' as much as a replicator did such a thing around the swollen purple fruits and mixed with some sort of cream, found a spot for the tray somewhere amidst the bounty of food and drink on display. "It'd be rude to pry of course, but lets just say both Tellarites are really happy at the moment. I think that's why the smaller one is nearly shouting! And I like that expression from Earth as well um...fashionably late?" He turned his grin up a warp factor, made his black eyes squint a bit, as the Tellarite blew her top over the 'horrible service' despite this all being self-serve.
"Then maybe we should step back before things take a turn for the worse?" Scott began to ask. "We are in a direct line of fire after all... and I haven't had enough food or sleep yet to deal with that."
He was definitely getting some pizza first though. Somehow ignoring the shouting going on a couple of meters away, and with a grin on his face, Callin filled up a plate with a slice of pizza, hesitated a moment, then added a roll of hasperat, some jellied gree worms, pipius claw, and a Kitarian chocolate puff. It was way more food than it looked like the pilot could possibly eat, but soon enough he'd followed the other man over towards an empty part of the room to watch the sudden show. "Want some?" he asked, lifting the plate, before he started in on the hasperat.
Scott looked down at the plate, looked back up at the man and tried not to stare in wonder how he was going to fit it all in, "I think I'll pass for now thanks." He nodded instead of shaking a hand as both their hands were full, "I'm Scott by the way, Scott Hayes. Currently positioned here as a counselor but looks like I'll be getting a shift over to the Vesta at some point."
"Oh, Vesta, me too. Callin Mastrel, pilot. We must've made the right people happy for such a prestigious assignment. Have you had a chance to review their mission reports yet?" He juggled a couple of gree worms and tossed them into his mouth to chew. Callin held up his right hand as if doing a count-down with his fingers: 3...2...1... The Tellarites stopped shouting and moved on with plates of their own. When he'd swallowed he continued with another laugh, "Now's your chance!"
The new counselor continued to stand in awe, and not let it show, on the food that was being eaten in front of him, "I'm still good, I think I'll just pick away at a slice or two of pizza. In all honesty, I'm not that hungry, I just came down for a chance to socialize and meet people, the journey here was a little isolating in a pretty small ship. I was hoping for such an interaction as this, meet someone from who I hope will be my future crew and have at least one friendly face when we get on the ship." He opened one of the boxes, slid out a slice and placed both boxes on the main table near them.
Callin hoped he was coming across friendly; sometimes people took the straightforward behavior with so little filter the wrong way. After he'd swallowed a mouthful of claw, cleared his mouth, Callin asked, "Not a fan of small spaces, Counselor? Or just not a fan of only a few people to talk to?" Not the pilot psychoanalyzing the psychiatrist? He seemed genuinely curious though, black eyes searching, though he kept his mind to himself in so much as he could, while he finished off the claw and got to work immediately on yet another slice of pizza.
"Lack of people," Scott grinned, "when you are a social person and you only have the same two people to talk to on a runabout for a few days at a time, it tends to get a little dull. Especially when they know you are a counselor and are afraid you are going to analyze every single thing that they say." He nibbled on his slice, "It tends to make things less than fun."
"That sounds dreadful, actually," he admitted, and paused for a moment in his feast. "People are more than just their jobs, and I doubt you're always digging into people's minds," said the mind reader with some sympathy. "Sorry you had a rough trip out. I know a lot of my kind - pilots, I mean - can be a pain to deal with. Or I'm starting to learn as much. Getting the few of us here on the station ready for the Vesta has been a challenge, not the least of which has been telling them to get their psych evals and physicals up to date." Callin paused thoughtfully again and then shook his head, "Nope, not gonna talk work anymore right now, unless you want to. This was supposed to be a chance to meet people, like you said."
"Shop is definitely for the day we step foot on the Vesta, although I do now expect you to be one of the first to my door, Scott said slyly, lightly teasing. "I don't think in all this time we have had proper introductions yet, Scott Hayes... I'm leaving rank out of this for now," he sat back in his chair, trying to relax into the conversation and have a proper, non-medically required chat with a member of the crew.
The Betazoid chuckled, wondering if it was the food, the Tellarite shouting, or just the remembered trauma of being cooped up in a runabout for weeks that had made the introductions from a moment ago slip Scott's mind. Blunt as he normally was, Callin didn't hesitate to say, almost word for word, "Callin Mastrel, pilot, Vesta, me too! What's that other human term? Deja vu? And I'm sure I'm going to make for a boring session, so sign me up for your earliest appointment. Absolutely no problems at all!" Overconfidence, a feeling of immortality, the hedonistic way he was eating today, definitely nothing for them to discuss. Callin began to devour the chocolate puff.
"Wait, sorry," Scott shook his head, "we did that, apologies, Tellarite shouting likely got me distracted and into counseling mode for a second." He looked a little embarrassed, "So, Callin, what joys can I look forward to on the Vesta? Bustling social life? Well-equipped gym? Thriving crew social spot with all the latest ship's gossip?" he leaned in, head in his hands, shifting from embarrassment to comical inquisition.
"Ah, I thought so. Nothing to apologize for, Tellarites can be really distracting. But as for the ship, Scott, wish I could tell you," Callin said after the chocolate puff had vanished somewhere inside of him. The pilot began nibbling at the last of the gree worms, and that big mountain of food was gone. "I'm just transferring over from the Aries myself. Haven't even seen her yet. Where are you coming from? Deep space assignment or something cushy?"
"So, new faces together then?" Scott gave a little sigh of relief, "As for my last assignment, you could say a little bit of both. I was based out of Deep Space 4. I've been attached to the crew there who have been working on enhancing and improving the Quantum Slipstream Drive. How about the Aries? Where did you find yourself? What wonders and adventures were in store?"
It was nice to hear he wouldn't be the only new officer when the Vesta launched again. "Deep Space 4, that's over near the Typhon Expanse, right? What was that like?" Callin's face had lit up with excitement hearing the words 'Quantum Slipstream Drive', he was so eager to get his first actual experience with it soon. "Aries was a good ship, my first post too after uni and the Academy. Mostly patrol duty, some skirmishes with Ferengi and Tzenkethi pirates. Not a lot of real exploration. That's what I'm looking forward to the most."
"It was interesting, to say the least," Scott began, "I was assigned to help those away from their families, returning from deep space assignments with the QSD and their testing. I obviously can't go into too much detail, but you can guess from the experimental nature of things, it hasn't always gone well, and then the fallout from that."
"I can only imagine," Callin said wonderingly. "I hope it wasn't too hard on people, but I guess we'll find out some of it. Someday. Maybe." He hadn't paused to think about that yet, the costs that might have been involved in developing the new propulsion method. "So you're probably well-prepared for what's to come. Any kind of advice you can give? This is the furthest I've been from Betazed already, and I suspect we'll be going a lot, lot further away still."
"From anything anyone has ever hinted at on these drives is that they always found it better to 'ease into the QSD more than what they would the warp drive'," Scott scratched the back of his neck with almost a look of confusion on his face, "which I am sure will mean a lot more to you than it would do to me."
Callin chuckled, and shrugged slightly - by the excited look on his face, this pilot fully intended to leap head-first into his first Slipstream flight despite that advice, "I'll try to remember that. I'm going to grab another plate and some other bits to eat - " he must have a hollow leg or two to fit it all! " - and see about this mingling-thing. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to chat on the Vesta soon!" Callin stood up and offered the human gesture, a hand to shake, "A pleasure to meet you, Scott Hayes."
