Dinner For 4, err 5 - Part 2

Posted on Sat Sep 19, 2020 @ 7:26am by Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Civilian Jason Haines

2,558 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Anatoles D’Ors Houvre
Timeline: MD 04, 2130

[ON]

Previously...

Everyone nodded and N’varra was interesting as she ordered eight different things. After the waiter left, she looked at everyone staring and said, "What? I am very hungry."

"That's a good enough reason." The other woman grinned. "The food here is definitely worth it. So, while we wait for our food, what have you been up to recently?"

"Does there need to be another reason for eating?" N’varra asked. "I thought the purpose of a meal was to replenish nutrients. As to what I have been doing, I have been thinking."

"I hope it was productive. I've had need to do a lot of thinking myself recently. Sometimes life throws you into a spin and you need time to figure things out. At least that's been my experience. I hope I'm not being too presumptuous, but I hope you've found the answers you need." She intended her words to be supportive rather than bossy.

"In fact, I have indeed found my answers", N’varra said to Alanna matter of factly, as she turned and looked at Rob. "Father, I have decided not to kill you."

Now The Conclusion...


Rob smiled and gave her a nod, "That is much appreciated."

"I will however require some form of employment", N’varra continued. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"There's a book shop on the promenade that might need extra help," Alanna suggested.

N’varra, Rob, and Jason all gave Alanna that said, 'Seriously?'

"Sounds like a good time", Thomas remarked. "Maybe I can get Samantha to move out here."

Jason said, "I got Z'era to help me with an op here and she hasn't left."

"Z'era, really?", Rob remarked with a smile.

Jason nodded and N’varra asked, "Who is Z'era? What does she do?"

"Z'era is extended family shall we say", Jason answered. "She's a bounty hunter of sorts, she mainly deals in finding kidnapped children and disrupting slavers. I think you would like her."

N’varra smiled.

"Well, there is also Gevari", Rob said. "If it is ok with you Jason."

Jason nodded with a smile.

Alanna offered what help she could. She had nothing close to the contacts Jason and his family had. So, she sat back and let them talk.

"What or who is Gevari?" N’varra asked somewhat skeptically.

"Well, back about twenty or so years ago, we had a mission to break up a weapons deal on a small little club built on a rat trap of a space station just barely in Orion space, where a lot of riff raff hang out", Rob said. "We had some time to kill, so I played the Dabo wheels there and well that night I couldn't seem to lose. I broke the bank and more. The owner, Gevari, couldn't pay, so I cut a deal with him that I become the silent, majority owner with a steady stream of passive income. There is definitely some accumulated wealth there. I will make sure you get access to it."

"So, in essence you own a rat trap of a space station where a lot of riff raff hang out doing questionable things?" N’varra remarked.

Thomas couldn't help but laugh.

"You are a... very colorful family," Alanna said, grinning.

Several waiters came with their food. The eight meals were carefully arranged around N’varra.

N’varra smiled when the food came and Rob said, "You know you two ladies make it sound that being a petty crime lord is a bad thing. I've been gone for a bit, but I did clean the place up some, not sure what it's like right now. Gevari always needs a reminder."

Thomas shook his head, placing his napkin in his lap and looked at Alanna, jerking his thumb towards Rob, "Colorful only applies to rainbow bright over here. He's been trouble since he we were kids. It's a wonder dad got the rank of Admiral given the trouble he's gotten into. So, you've gotten an insight into us. Tell us a bit about your family and how you came to be at this fine station?"

"My life is pretty boring," Alanna said with a laugh. "I grew up on a small colony. My parents were both teachers and I spent a lot of time playing in the woods. Then we moved to earth where I fell in love with history and ancient cultures. I've spent most of my life learning about old cultures and their artifacts. I got here because of a transfer. Accepting the position was one of the best things I ever did. However, I can hardly compare my years of climbing in and out of holes to what you guys have done. Speaking of which, I know what Jason and his father do, but what about you?" she said, addressing Thomas.

"The only holes I crawled in and out of were Jefferies tubes", Thomas said to Alanna with a smile. "I was an engineer and after the Dominion war and all the events in the Romulan government with Shizon that got things stirring, I figured I'd retired and me and my wife went back to Earth and settled down outside of San Francisco. I teach a few classes to keep my skills up to date and not get bored, but it is a quiet life and a good life. Robbie here makes enough noise for the both of us."

She glanced at Jason and grinned. "I understand the feeling. I don't mind a little adventure--it often comes with the life of an archaeologist--but I do like having a quiet place to go home to." Although lately she found more value in having someone to come home to.

Rob smiled and said, "Retiring would be nice. Every time I have, Starfleet seems to find a way to pull me back in. I hope the fifth time is a charm."

"I don't think you can count being stuck in a penal colony for 10 months retiring", Thomas remarked.

N’varra and Jason both gave Rob quizzical looks.

"Tomato, tomatoe", Rob said. "I wasn't planning on going back, so I'm calling it retirement."

"Yes, but Starfleet or the penal colony?" Alanna asked. "OR do they amount to the same thing?"

"Penal colony you get three straight meals, education time, exercise time, and you do some rehabilitation work, until some Admiral thinks he has a use for you", Rob said. "Starfleet you never know where you are going to end up and you are at the mercy of some higher ranking officer who may or may not know what they are doing, most who are jockeying for their next promotion opposed to doing their job and helping improve their crew. A good commanding officer is hard to find in Starfleet."

"I have to agree with you." Alanna grinned. "Starfleet is definitely a mixed bag. I guess I'm fortunate to be in science as I am often left alone to do research." She wasn't so sure a penal colony would be all that relaxing, though. She doubted they'd let her dig for fossils.

"Father", N’varra said, with some hesitation with the word. "Why were you in a penal colony?"

"I punched an Admiral", Rob replied with a smile.

"That would do it. And, knowing Jason, I'm fairly sure he deserved it." There had been one or two Alanna thought deserved a punch, although she generally found other ways to deal with obnoxious people.

"Admiral Nalsey, a very smug Betazoid", Rob said. "He learned that day not to bad mouth the rescue team that saves your bacon. I went to prison, but I did hear that certain high-ranking individuals eventually heard how he acted and well his career sort of stalled after that."

"And they didn't overturn your sentence because of it?" Alanna asked. "Or at least reduce it?"

"No", Rob replied taking a sip of his drink. "They let me out because they needed a particular set of skills I had, that few in Starfleet do. Starfleet doesn't want to admit we need those skills anymore."

"Ah. I understand that. " Alanna nodded. "At least to a limited extent. I've dealt with governments on a number of worlds. Not the same as Starfleet, but similar practices."

Rob nodded and his brother spoke up and said, "Rob, I didn't realize that drinking yourself into a stupor was on Starfleet's list of needs."

Rob shrugged with a smile. "No one can do it with quite the flair I do and manage to get sick on an Admiral's boots, while he was wearing them."

Alanna shook her head. "That...is quite a feat." Not one she wanted to try, even if she was a drinker.

"No, the feat was doing it from two feet away", Rob said with a smirk. "But enough of that. Tell me Alanna, what's the worst trouble you've gotten into?"

"Umm...I'm not sure if it was the time I set snares in the trees around the dig site to catch a thief, or when I reprogrammed the computer to electrify the force field."

"Let me guess", Tom chimed in. "The traps you set didn't snag the individuals you had meant them to snag?"

Jason listened with interest; this wasn't a story she had told him before. Then again, he had never asked.

"It did. It also caught three archaeologists who snuck out after curfew and the local governor, who thought we were the smugglers. It didn't help that we'd baited the trap with fake antiquities."

All but N’varra laughed and Rob asked, "So, how did you get out of that?"

"A lot of paperwork--and charging the governor of instigating the looting to begin with. We found out the looters actually worked for him. Plus, he had one of our fake antiquities on the wall of his office."

"Ah paperwork and bureaucracy", Rob said with a snort. "is exactly what separates the desk-jockeys from the doers and the operators. If things hadn't gone the way they did in my life, I probably would have committed suicide by a million 'paper cuts' "

"I don't mind some paperwork, as long as I can get out in the field," Alanna said. "Here, I can escape to Pangaea and do research there. I'm studying some of the ancient ruins right now."

"See, that's what makes you a doer along with setting unique traps", Rob said with a smile. "Now, your Captain on the other hand, she's a desk-jockey. There's a desperate doer-operator in her wanting to break free, but she's too interested in appearances, procedures, always being right, which holds her back that and that broom stick up her ass."

"I agree that she is a desk jockey who likes her procedures." She glanced at Jason. "I don't always agree with them, either. But then, I've never been one to follow strict protocol. I'm too much of a rebel for that."

Rob smiled and said, "Although can you pass the real test of the operator?"

She leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. "And what test would that be?" she asked. In many ways, she was no operator.

"That's the one where you are the last person conscious at the table after a game of drink you under the table", Rob said with a smirk.

She laughed and shook her head. "I'm more likely to be one of the first under the table. I'm not much of a drinker. I'd rather sit back and watch everyone else get pie-faced."

"Well, when it comes to the test, there are no spectators", Rob said with a laugh as he finished the last of his food. "but it is good to know your limitations."

She smiled mischievously. "I do. That's why I tend to...fudge...and make it look like I'm drinking more than I actually am. So, while I can't drink anyone under the table, I can stay relatively sober." It wasn't all that difficult to do, especially as the night wore on. She'd gotten herself out of a couple of awkward situations in the past by managing to empty a glass without actually drinking more than a sip or two.

Thomas and Jason both laughed.

Rob said, "I can see why Jason likes you Miss Wells. Heck, you'd fit in with my extended family I believe."

Alanna glanced briefly at Jason. She hoped so. At least, she hoped they approved of Jason dating her.

"Deception can indeed come in handy from time to time", N'varra said approvingly.

She smiled at the other woman. "It can indeed. Especially when dealing with pompous bureaucrats."

"I think a disruptor would be better for those", N'varra replied with a smile as she finished four of the eight dishes she had ordered.

Jason smirked and Rob laughed.

"I'm not sure those are family traits you should be passing along bobby", Thomas said.

"Hey", Rob replied. "Only grandma could call me that and seeming how she has passed, that's off the table."

"Except for those rare occasions when you need blackmail..." Alanna said sweetly.

Thomas laughed and said, "Yes, she would fit right in"

"Well..." Alanna had to be honest. "My kind of blackmail revolves around getting corrupt bureaucrats to quit hamstringing our operations so we can work a site. Some think that because we're scientists we're easy targets."

The conversation stayed pleasant and it was about 10 PM when Rob said, "I need to make some calls and get some rest. A lot of things to plan. Do feel free to continue, I'll make sure the bill is paid."

"Thank you for dinner." Alanna couldn't help grinning. "It was nice meeting you--officially."

"Likewise Alanna", Rob said with a smile.

Thomas got up and said, "It was a pleasure." He left with Rob.

"N'varra, do you have a place to stay", Jason asked.

"I am still working on it for tonight", she replied.

"You can stay at my place", he said. "All I need to do is straighten things up a bit and change the sheets. Family doesn't let family have to hunt for a place to stay."

"Very well", she replied.

"I'm glad you have a place to stay, and I'm glad you're good with your father," Alanna said to N'varra.

She turned to Jason. "Thanks for inviting me along."

"Well, given things are going to get crazy in the next few days", Jason said. "I wanted to make sure to get as much time as possible. Plus, my Uncle Thomas was dying to meet you. He's more social than my dad. But him in a grand ball and he would know everyone's name by the end of the night."

She chuckled. "And I'm the type to stand in the corner and watch others. I like your uncle...and your father." She smild at N'varra. "And your sister."

She took his hand. "And I always like spending time with you."

He smiled and took Alanna's hand. He looked at her and then his sister.

"Well ladies, shall we go?"

"Lead on, MacDuff." Alanna smiled at N'varra. "Shakespearean reference."

Jason nodded and led them out of the restaurant. Who knew what was going to happen in a few days. Regardless, at least tonight had been an enjoyable evening to remember.


[OFF]

Jason Haines
Live Bait

Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer and Rabble Rouser
Deep Space 5

 

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