"Good Food, Great Company, and Too Much Information"
(Previous Post: "Celebrations and Congratulations")
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Stardate: 60329.1400
Over the last hour or so the gathered officers of the
USS ANUBIS had enjoyed an impressing variety of
non-replicated foods which had originated from every
quadrant of the galaxy. Working under the
jurisdiction of Starfleet Intelligence had meant that
the crew had more than often been made to carry a
heavy burden such as severing any and all contact with
friends and family, so it was nice to see that the job
had certain unmentioned benefits. As great as the
food might have been though it was far from offsetting
the inability to communicate with loved ones, but this
did not seem to dampen the atmosphere whish reigned
all around the table.
"Nico, can I ask you a question?" The Enaran Marine
asked while looking at the oddly shaped noodles
contained in the bowl resting in front of the
Nausicaan. "What is that?"
"This?" Nico asked while pointing at his bowl,
confirming that this had been the aim of the question
made by the Marine First Lieutenant. "I am sure you
have heard of Gagh, a Klingon delicacy. Well this is
similar in many ways but the worms are from the
northern continent of DELLOS PRIME where the soil is
abundant with unique minerals which give the worms a
certain *zesty* taste."
"Those are WORMS?!?" Ensign Mei gasped as she nearly
chocked on the piece of Risian Sunrise Omelette the
Counsellor had ordered and was in the midst of
enjoying.
"And very tasty ones at that," the Nausicaan said
taken another large fork-full into his mouth. "Remind
me to congratulate the cook; he did a wonderful job at
preparing these using what I believe to be genuine
Nausicaan root oils. Tasting these I would be ready
to bet that the cook is either Nausicaan or has spent
some time studying on my home planet."
"What about you Lieutenant," the Chief Medical Officer
said looking at the Oltharian and the towering pile of
pancakes on his plate. "Why such a simplistic
selection? Surely you could have asked for something
a little less common than pineapple pancakes?" The
query presented by the newly promoted Lieutenant
Summers had not been meant to question the selection
made by the peaceful giant but to draw the attention
of the conversation away from the content of the bowl
sitting in front of the Nausicaan chief of Security.
"The selection may well be simplistic Healer," Elan replied with his usual reverence towards the Chief Medical Officer, "but to me the taste is a reminder of times gone by and of friends and families who are for one reason or another not able to be with us at this time."
A general hush spread through the table as everyone
contemplated the deep significance of the words spoken
by the Oltharian engineer. The giant might have been
referring to people who had transferred to other ships
or other duties such as Commodore Simmons, but many
took a moment to think about those who had left them
in a more permanent manner, such as the Intel Liaison
Officer of the USS ANUBIS, Lieutenant Commander Enaii.
"So those pancakes are your version of comfort food?"
Ensign Mei asked, wanting to counter the sombre cloud
that had appeared over the gathered officers without
outright changing the subject entirely.
The imposing Oltharian smiled and nodded, confirming
what the Counsellor had suspecting while not
disturbing the stillness which had taken hold of the
people sitting at the table.
"Commander Serenna," Ensign Kea began as he looked at
the woman sitting at the end of the table, "as
Commanding Officer of the HATHOR, would it be possible
to know more about our next mission? It may be only
because I have just arrived, or maybe because I am
taking on the role of Chief of Operations, but I would
like to know a little more about what it is we will be
expected to do. 'Testing the systems' or doing a
'shakedown cruise' is a little vague for my liking."
"A reasonable question," the half Human, half Romulan
woman said thinking that now was as good of a time as
any to jump into the business side of this luncheon.
"Since the mission layout was devised by Lieutenant
Commander Maya, I will let her give you the details,"
Serenna said causing the greater majority of the
shoulders at the table to suddenly fall. If Ensign
Carft and Ensign Halliwel had not known about the
longwinded habits of the Shillian scientist, they
would soon be made to fear them as everyone else.
Wasting no time to comply with the task that she had been given by her Commanding Officer, the Shillian woman jumped in with a detailed explanation of their upcoming mission. "In order to properly test each and every system of the USS HATHOR, the shakedown cruise will last about two weeks. In an effort to minimize travel time and make the best possible use of our time, I have setup the following itinerary which will take us first to the KARRABY CLUSTER. The journey there will allow us to fully test the warp engines and once there we will be able to put the tactical systems to the test. The asteroid cluster in that region of space is perfect for us to test of the pulse cannons of the HATHOR, including both the firing and targeting mechanism, not to mention that the debris from the explosions will be perfect to test the shields. After that we will set course for S-7331, a T-Tauri star around which a great deal of gravimetric activity has been recorded over the last several years. This should provide the HATHOR with a solid testing ground for the structural integrity field, the inertial dampeners as well as the primary frame of the ship, I mean the tests there may be a little extreme but that is the goal of our mission; to put the HATHOR through its paces. From there we will head to SENMAAR II, an uninhabited and barren F-Class world where we will use the sensors to get as much information on the comet that is schedule to crash on that world in just over 11days. We will be able to get preliminary sensor readings of the comet and planet before we move onto our next testing grounds which will take us all the way back to SENMAAR II just in time to witness the crashing of the comet and allow us to get invaluable sensor data on this rare occurrence. I mean it is not every day that we get to see a full size comet crash into a planet and I am convinced that this will prove to be the highlight of our mission, that is of course given that nothing major happens between now and then. As I have been reminded many times during the last few days, there is always the possibility of something unexpected happening," the Shillian unleashed in what had felt to be a single breath on the rest of the crew leaving everyone gasping for air.
"Thank you," Serenna said, not entirely certain that
having the Shillian scientist give the mission layout
had been such a good idea, yet following the report
the mission did seem to have been well planned,
something that the Executive Officer of the USS ANUBIS
could appreciate despite the length of the report.
"On another related matter, by now I am sure that you
have all become aware of just how small the HATHOR is,
therefore quarters will be shared. I have carefully
reviewed the list of officers and paired you with
someone with similar interests so as to not make this
mission any *longer* than it needs to be."
"Whoever you are paired with cannot be any worse than
Lindsay," the Chief Medical Officer whispered to the
Counsellor, knowing how much Susan had disliked having
to share her quarters.
"Lieutenant Fairborn and Lieutenant Dawson, you two
will be roommates," the half Human, half Romulan
hybrid said first knowing that neither one of them
would complain about the pairing. "Ensign Rostov and
Ensign Uxtar, you two will be together, all that I ask
is that you try to keep the room in one piece.
Lieutenant Pravat, you will be bunking with Ensign
Carft while Lieutenant Commander Maya will be sharing
quarters with me."
"What about us?" Lea and Susan asked in almost perfect
unison, the two of them glancing at the Assistant
Chief Medical Officer.
"Due to the lack of quarters, you two and Ensign
Halliwel will be sharing the same quarters. This
means that at all times one of you will be stationed
in Sickbay as the room assigned to you three only has
two beds," the Commanding Officer of the HATHOR said,
expecting some resistance from one or more of the
women, especially when taking into account that the
accommodations for Captain Rikar and her daughter had
not been mentioned.
"We could always replicate an air mattress and have a
slumber party," Lieutenant Summers said jokingly, not
coming across as being upset about the living
arrangements she and the other two women would be
enjoying for the duration of the mission.
---
"To see the world in a grain of sand, 2005 post #522
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 16, The Black Hole
Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com }
Lieutenant Commander Maya
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)
