Good For Goodness Sake

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:39am by Lieutenant Commander Mindo & Lieutenant John Sandoval & Ensign Emmanuelle Larose & Petty Officer 1st Class Greep & Petty Officer 2nd Class Zo
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:56pm

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Pandora's Box
Timeline: Some time before "Oh No"

ON:

John Sandoval and Emmanuelle Larose had just finished planning a proposal for an upcoming diplomatic conference that the Chief Diplomatic Officer hoped to attend. It had been a long day and as neither had plans for the evening, they decided to get dinner in Pandora’s Box. Still in purple-shirted uniforms, the two walked in and looked around for a place to sit.

They both heard their names being called and turned to see Mindo sitting at a table with his fellow Engineers Zo and Greep. Mindo waved them over and Zo got two more chairs for the table.

"Please, have a seat," Mindo said, gesturing for the two to sit down. "We just got here and haven't ordered our dinner yet. So your timing is perfect!"

John smiled and nodded. A few days earlier, Emmanuelle might have suggested that her dinner with John be private, not wanting to eat with Mindo. But her drinks with him changed her opinion of the man. She smiled and nodded too.

“Very thoughtful of you, Mindo,” John said as he hooked his cane over the back of his chair me took a seat.

"We were just discussing our little adventure on Paradise station and the potential future the Expanse could have because of it," Mindo said.

“The future of the Expanse,” John repeated. “I’ve got ten colleagues back on Earth telling me ten different hypotheses on that. So if you’re planning on making a wager on how things will change, I’m no help.”

Mindo raised himself up on his knees of the chair, saying, "Well I'm not in a position to wager either, but I could use some grub." He caught eye contact with a server across the room and gestured to the table with his finger.

"What does that even mean?" said Zo. "You think pointing at the table just makes her--"

"What'll it be, officers?" the server cut in with a smile on her face and a PADD ready for their orders.

Mindo looked at Emmanuelle. "Ladies first."

Emmanuelle smiled warmly at Mindo for his polite gesture. She looked to the server. “Vegetable spring rolls to start, then the chicken parm, and a synth-ale to drink. Something hoppy, please.”

John, sitting to Emmanuelle’s left, ordered next. “Same for me, please, but a Pilsner for the synth-ale.”

Zo ordered next. "I'll try the vegetable spring rolls too," he said. "And I'll have the smoked salmon with lemon and a side of sugar snapped peas and an iced tea."

"Make that three orders of spring rolls," said Mindo. "And I'll have the T-bone steak, medium rare, with grilled pineapple on the side and a Zefram Cocktail."

The server nodded and turned to Greep. "The usual?" she asked. Greep nodded. The waiter finished making her notes, repeated their orders to be sure, and left the table.

"What are spring rolls?" Greep squawked, looking at Emmanuelle.

Emmanuelle’s back straightened as she realized she had never really thought about it before and had to think of an answer. “Um...vegetables, or maybe also meat, wrapped in a kind of pastry called a wonton wrapper, and deep fried in oil?” She smiled and shrugged at Greep. “Y sont bons! They’re good! Oh! You dip them in sauce sometimes, too.”

Zo nodded. "They're kind of like a cabbage salad wrapped in a thin dough. A restaurant on Earth back in San Francisco used to make them. I haven't tried them here, though."

"You're talking about Skeet's Tavern!" said Mindo.

"I am!" Zo exclaimed. "Did you ever try their spring rolls?"

"Sure did," said Mindo. "Did either of you go to Skeet's?" he asked John and Emmanuelle.

John shook his head, but Emmanuelle nodded vigorously. "In my second year in the Academy, some friends introduced me to it. Actually, it was one of the few places outside of home where I could get authentic poutine." She looked to her boss. "If we're ever back on Earth together, I'll take you. Skeet's is too good."

"Can I come?" Mindo said.

"Me too?" Zo asked.

Emmanuelle blushed as her crewmates focused their attention on her. But then she gave both Mindo and Zo a warm smile. "Only if you both behave yourselves," she joked. "But the spring rolls here are pretty good. They made some with pork in them too, but it's not as good as the vegetable ones."

Greep made a clicking noise before squawking, "Asking Mindo and Zo to behave themselves is like telling someone not to eat. You should see us in Engineering. It's a wonder this ship still works."

The group enjoyed a good laugh before John spoke up. "How are things in engineering, by the way? I never make my way down there. Anything technical my department needs is usually done by Operations. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've even been to engineering since coming aboard."

"It's not like you'd have any reason to," Greep squawked.

"We don't get many visitors," said Mindo. "But they're always welcome, unless, you know, we're about to explode."

"Which happens more often than you would think," squawked Greep.

"He's exaggerating," said Mindo, shooting a glance at Greep.

"I visited main engineering on my last assignment a handful of times," John explained, "usually in the context of giving ship tours to dignitaries. As the Assistant Chief, that usually fell to me, but given that my Assistant Chief is eight years old and not allowed in engineering, I'm going to need to do those tours myself."

Emmanuelle leaned in to explain to the engineers what her boss meant. "Starfleet isn't giving him a full staff, so instead he gave an honourary commission to Dr. Alves's little girl," she said.

Mindo scoffed. "I'm not entirely sure she isn't qualified to give a tour. Veronica seems to know everything about everything. She sees us when we're sleeping, she knows when we're awake..."

"That's a song," said Zo.

Mindo shot him a look. "It is? One of your bluerock country stuff?"

"First off, it's bluegrass," said Zo. "Second, I play rock and roll. Thirdly, I dated a human one winter and she insisted we go door to door singing that shlock. It's a song about some insane old man living on the north pole who watches children and gives them toys and it's not considered creepy."

John smiled at the exchange. "While a lot of traditions have faded over time, that one was special enough to persist. It can appear creepy to adults, but to kids...it's just magical. You spend the month anticipating it, being extra well behaved, and then one morning you wake up, having learned that someone magical brought you toys and other gifts, and then you spend a beautiful winter's day playing and spending time with your family. The creepiness that the magical being is watching us all the time never enters our heads until adulthood."

Emmanuelle chimed in. "A lot of my family still follows some of the older traditions, too," she explained as the appetizers were delivered. "The night before the gifts came, we would go to the church -- um, an old building where religious rites are practiced? -- and sing songs together and tell the old myths of the Creator who sent his son to Earth to experience humanity. Not many people believe in it anymore, but a lot of people remain comforted by the rituals, and how they bring the family and the community together."

Just then, the food arrived.

"Ah, the vegetable rolls do look delicious," said Mindo, taking a bite of one. "You're right," he said to Emmanuelle. "They're good here."

“Dip it in the different sauces,” she suggested. She began pointing to them. “This one is sweet and a bit spicy. That one is tangy. This one has a lot of heat.” She smothered a spring roll in the hot sauce and took a bite, enjoying the heat and the flavour.

Mindo decided to try the hot sauce, while Zo went for the tangy option.

Mindo coughed. "That's extremely hot!"

Emmanuelle laughed, though she wasn’t being mean, just appreciating the comedy of it. She looked warmly at the chief engineer and dipped her second spring roll in the hot sauce.



At the end of the evening, John went off to find Aeryn. Greep and Zo headed back to Engineering, leaving only Mindo and Emmanuelle. She asked him to walk her back to her quarters, taking the long way out of the recreation deck so she could burn off some of dinner without hitting the gym. “How was your steak?” she asked.

"It was very good," Mindo replied, hovering beside her. "But I'm still facing the after effects of that hot sauce. How was your 'chicken parm?' And what is 'parm?'"

Emmanuelle grinned. “It’s a reference to the cheese that they melt onto the chicken. And it was delicious, thank you. But that hot sauce was amazing! Do they not enjoy spicy-hot foods on your world?”

"Oh sure, plenty of people do," said Mindo. "Fesarian cuisine is not far from Earth cuisine. Some of us eat meat, some don't. Some like sweet and sour, others hot and spicy... I'm more of the former, though Humans have a great thing called 'burritos,' which doesn't exist in any form on my planet. When I eat a burrito, I want my mouth to be on fire. A guy I dated in the Academy told me it's the only way to eat burritos. I trust his judgment. Ever try burritos?"

“I love burritos!” Emmanuelle exclaimed. “And you’re right, they must be as hot as possible or they’re no good. Come to think of it, I also learned that from a guy I dated in the Academy. A San Francisco resident who did contract work on the grounds named William Martinez. Ever met him?”

"No, but it's funny, the guy I dated had the same last name, Anthony Martinez. Could be a brother?" said Mindo.

Emmanuelle couldn’t help but grin. “Will did have a brother named Tony! Oh wow! We dated brothers! What are the odds?” She laughed and then leaned close to Mindo and stage-whispered “How was the older brother?” She had a playful and mischievous look in her eye. She wasn’t asking whether he was a nice person.

Mindo grinned at the awkward question. Finally he admitted, "Cute, but inexperienced. Yours?"

"Sounds about right." Emmanuelle could be shameless when she wanted to be. She had slowly come to realize that her and Mindo were similar in some ways. She had misjudged him; thinking he worked his way through the crew with a scorecard in hand, but he just appreciated fun and intimacy. As did she. And she liked that she could joke around with him. "So Mindo, you've been on the ship longer than I have. What do you like to do for fun around here?"

Mindo cracked a smile. "I invent it," he said with a small laugh. "Little Caesar's, my 'barcade,' is a great place to interact with the crew and also get some much-needed down time. I also periodically show live feed of various sports, and I'm thinking about starting a movie night. I'm a huge fan of all cinema. When I need alone time, typically I'm watching a film on a makeshift screen I have in my quarters. This is all assuming everything's hunky-dory with the rest of the ship."

"I do like your barcade," Emmanuelle replied. "And cinema from around the Galaxy can be very entertaining. When we first met Mister Terrekal, he told us about Fesarian literature, but not movies. What is Fesarian cinema like?"

"Practically non-existent," Mindo chuckled. "We hadn't even heard of things like film and cinema until the Great Balok made his return. Most of it went unnoticed, as Fesarians took more note on things like fashion and art. There were a few of us, though, that took great interest in cinema. My father was one of the few, I guess. I inherited a data chip of over two hundred movies he'd compiled before he died. He must have been a romantic, since a lot of the films were love stories. Since then I've collected thousands more films from various cultures. My mother loved the theater, which was much more popular than film, and had been around in Fesarian culture for over a thousand years. When I was very young, she took me to a few of the plays starring some of her friends. That all ended after they died. I didn't see any plays after that. Not until joining a short-lived acting troupe at the Academy."

“You were in an acting troupe?!” Emmanuelle asked gleefully. “I’ll admit I’ve not seen too many stage productions of anything, aside from some of Raven’s shows here. Did you play any fun roles?”

Mindo smiled and shook his head. "To be honest, I was only there because of a girl, and she ended up with another actor. I think they even got married. But I never really gravitated to the whole 'acting' thing. We only did two shows, and I was just a bit part in both of them. But I did end up going to a lot of plays with the troupe. I think my favorite was 'Hamlet.' Lots of drama and action. Bleak ending, though."

"That it does," she agreed. "But back to cinema, I find it much more enjoyable than holodramas and hologames. Mister Sandoval has tried to introduce me to some of his favourites, but I don't want to interact with my drama. I just want to watch it unfold." Their walk neared its conclusion as they came across the turbolift in front of Pandora's Box, having done the loop of Deck 5. She turned to face Mindo. "You mentioned having a screen for watching movies in your quarters. May I see it sometime?"

"Of course!" said Mindo. "But can we do it some other night? I'm rather beat and ready for sleep."

"I look forward to it," Emmanuelle replied. "Bonsoir, Mindo." Junior officers' quarters being elsewhere, the young woman left to find a turbolift closer to her own room.

I'm beginning to like her, Mindo thought as the turbolift hummed to his quarters. It was a somewhat louder noise than usual. The lift is still acting weird? I've got to get on that... He yawned. Tomorrow. I'll get to it tomorrow.

OFF