Ports in the Storm (Part III of VI)

Posted on Sun Oct 28, 2018 @ 5:16am by Captain Maritza Soran & Civilian 'Arrival' Geral Lasuma

1,413 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Victory Conditions
Location: Lasuma's Ship
Timeline: MD 11 1730

Previously on

"Bajor is 120 light years away. I'm sure I would like it. But I doubt I'd get two months leave to get there and back."

He shrugged accepting the undeniable fact of interstellar distances. "Not forgetting the time spent there as well. Luckily there are plenty of holodecks on the station. I can get you a topographical scan of the area if you would ever care to take of a considerably shorter time off."

At that moment Sharae entered. "Pardon the interruption. The pilot is asking for you sir." Her standard interruption when there was an issue that needed his attention.

Geral rose from his chair. "I won't be a moment."


And Now the Continuation...

Sharae stayed behind turning to her boss’s guest. "Is there anything I can get you ma'am"

The drink was making her feel a little fuzzy round the edges. She was trying to remember when in the last seventy two hours she'd eaten, or slept. Her eyes drifted back to the site of DS5 through the window. There was no sign of the damage to the Diplomacy deck from the outside. She'd have to double check with engineering to make sure any metal fatigue wasn't-

She took another gulp of her wine, finishing it. She was supposed to not be thinking about work, but left to her own devices it was hard not to. "Perhaps another glass?" she offered the wine glass back to the steward. She'd have to pace herself though. Unable to throw off the effects like synthehol she might end up being ill, or passed out, and neither would be good.

Taking her glass and refilling it Sharae then passed it back. After returning the bottle to the table she sat on the arm of one of the chairs. "If I may...you seem a bit distracted."

"It's been a long few days." Maritza admitted. "And I'll admit I don't socialize too much, always so much to do. And I'm taking it out on my staff, which isn’t good." The drink must be affecting her more than she thought if she was admitting that to a stranger.

"Well when Mr. Lasuma gets stressed I always ask him this; "Is there anything your worry is going to influence in the next few hours? If not you are merely wasting your time and energy."

Well, Maritza could always pitch in with the all the diagnostics that needed doing, be chasing the UFP state department to get her a proper diplomat to deal with all the way the international relations were going to shit with the attacks, plural, on the Cardassians. She needed to check on Dr. Telemon, now she was on maternity leave. She needed to check with the Dyson yards, see if they had any engineers spare to help with the rebuilding of DS5. Except that the yards and DS5 kept the same day/night cycle so no-one would be in the office now. There was a pile of applications to the imminent colony opening on Pangaea that had to be reviewed and verified.

"There's always something." She offered, knowing it was weak. "If your boss was hoping for a quite but productive frontier outpost he ended up in the wrong place."

Geral re-entered the room in time to hear her statement.
"The frontier is rarely quiet, but always ripe with opportunities." With a knowing smile he added. "Dinner is served."

Maritza walked through the indicated door and stopped. She was surrounded by trees. Warm sunlight broke through the canopy and cast dappled spots across a wrought iron table set for two. Most of trees were tall; branches wrapped in smooth copper colored bark, and interspersed with them were lichen clad trunks of the thick solid ren trees of her home world. The forest floor, rich with moss was also dotted with the pale hyacinth purple of taviel flowers. She'd spent hours picking the small delicate blooms as a child.

She pressed her fingers to her lips for a moment, being delighted, surprised, and touched. She could even hear the bird songs of native species. "Trill? I didn't mean to put you to such trouble."

Her reaction created a satisfying grin on his face. "No trouble at all. The holographics was the easy part...thus the earlier questions. The hard part was narrowing down the Trill equivalent to what humans refer to as 'comfort food'. I hope we got it right."

"Well, if this is any indication, I'm sure it will be just fine." Maritza assured him, though she was quite convinced it had been so long she'd eaten anything, even gruel would be good right now. "Shall we?"

"By all means; we don't want it to get cold now do we?" Stepping up to the table he pulled out a chair for her.

Maritza gave a brief smile at the show of chivalry and sat down, tucking herself close to the table. She could smell the scents wafting from under the silver dish covers and they made her mouth water; she folded her hands neatly in her lap to stop herself tearing into them.

As she settled into her seat he opened another bottle of wine, expertly pouring her glass before pouring one for himself. He then uncovered the various dishes while Sharae came in with glasses of water for them both. Taking his seat, the door to the room closed as Sharae left and the hologram replaced the door with the appearance of the forest.

Maritza looked at the array of traditional trill foods, many of her favorites and suddenly felt ravenous. "You've certainly done your home work." The thought made her a little... she wasn't sure, it was both disconcerting and flattering.

"Don't give me too much credit...I was scrambling on the 'homework' there until I finally got you to open up." He replied honestly. "I'm just glad you like it."

She did; she was positively delighted. She couldn't think of a time when anyone had gone to so much effort. Not that she had exactly helped anyone, she’d concentrated so much on her career she'd made no time for anything that wasn't in service of her desperate need to prove what she could achieve without a bloody symbiote. "It's very impressive. Thank you."

Tilting his head to the side slightly as he smiled; “You are very welcome. If there is ever anything I can do I hope that you will not hesitate to ask." He had never had Trill cuisine before he leaned in towards her with a sheepish expression. "What are we eating?"

"That's Grakizh." She indicated a salad of green yellow leaves, "Topped with meksha nuts and what smells like a perita puree," The red pesto like sauce drizzled over the salad had an aroma of mint and berries. She picked up some salad spoons and served him a portion. Then she peaked under a second cover. Scents of wood smoke and meat floated out "And then it looks like some sort of steak, plus dorfish and tendara trout for mains." She served herself some of the salad, and then tasted the red sauce with some of the salad. "And the perita is perfect." She didn't know which fact recipe he had in his replicator, but it was a good one.

By the expression on her face as she ate he could tell his people had out done themselves. Sampling all of the dishes he found them quite flavorful. "I can definitely see how these are considered comfort food. Very satisfying."

"Perita is basically anti-salad. It takes away all the virtue, but it tastes so good no one cares and it gets served with everything. As a dip for Galzak, sauce for any type of burger or hot dog. The really hard core perita lovers have even made it into ice cream."

He chuckled at that. "That seems to be a universal constant. There is some group that will take something that shouldn't be a desert and make it into one."

"Or deep fry it." She agreed. She took another mouthful, enjoying the crunch of the nuts. "So, Mr. Lasuma, you know where I'd go, but what about you? You obviously can go anywhere you'd like, where do you choose to go?"

To Be Continued...


Commander Maritza Soran
Commanding Officer
Deep Space Five

Geral Lasuma
Owner Lasuma Enterprises

Sha'rae Astare
NPC - Valet for Geral Lasuma

 

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