What's For Lunch? Part 2: The Long and Winding Road

Posted on Mon Dec 2nd, 2024 @ 6:51pm by Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Commander Greep & Lieutenant Zo & Lieutenant Commander Caradan Eunidas & Lieutenant Daniel Keith & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant JG Olivia Keith & Lieutenant JG Aeryn Jameson & Ensign Aenardha Sh'vastarth

Mission: The Only Thing Left Was Hope
Location: Lounge
Timeline: 1200 hrs, Day 3 of transport back to Earth

ON

Previously, on "Star Trek: Pandora"
Daniel shook his head and grinned. "You guys are just pessimists by nature." He countered in good humor. "Never happy, never satisfied."

Zo's eyes widened. "Oh I beg to differ!" he said, matching the humor. "Engineers are always happy when they're fixing something! It gives us stuff to do while you guys stand at your consoles on the Bridge all day reading trashy romance novels and wishing for a reason to fire phasers!"

"Zo!" came a voice from the entrance. It was Mindo, wagging a finger at Zo. "Don't pick a fight with a Security Officer. Trust me, you'll regret it."

"Chief," Zo started, "you fought a Klingon in the Warp Core and-"

"Trust me," Mindo interjected, sending a wink at Keith. Mindo looked down at the table. "Are those French fries?"

Others began milling into the room. Zo looked at his chronometer. It was lunch time!

And now the continuation...

Mindo was first to the replicator, punching up an order of French fries. Zo had fixed the food replicator so much as to be able to make bland or salty food items. Replicating a steak was out of the question, and types of bread like pretzels didn't work either. But it could do a decent plate of fries, or steamed rice, tofu, or runny noodles.

Lieutenants Zo and Keith had been carrying on about rock music, passions, and most recently the happiness of one's assignments. Mindo grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed over to the sitting area, behind him, more officers were arriving, starting with Lieutenant-Commander Greep, who wasn't hungry but heard the noise and thought he'd take a break.

Aenardha stepped in with a stretch. It was the first time in hours that she actually stood from her desk. Her antenna perked up and stood erect at the number of people already in the room. She had no trouble with public vision and already had full vision of the entire room. Not that she needed it. Aenardha went to the replicator. "Computer, one glass of Andorian ice brine fortified with trace amounts of liquid oxygen. And one plate of cold clathragar," she said and the replicator spun up, producing her plate. The finished product was a plate of, what Earthlings would probably call, earthworms. Unlike the Klingon couterpart, these were not squirming around." Aenardha grabbed her beverage and plate and set out toward the others. She sat down directly across from Mindo and regarded everyone with nods. She could certainly tell that several eyes were, on and off, looking at her plate of food.

The door opened to reveal Krysia, Aeryn, & Olivia as they arrived together, busy chatting and laughing as they made their ways across to choose their breakfasts. Once all three had chosen their various platefuls they made their way across to the tables. “Good Morning all” Krysia smiled warmly as she took a seat.

“Hello handsome” Olivia smiled as she kissed Daniel on the cheek and took a seat beside him. Motioning for Aeryn to sit beside her.

“Looks like we all arrived at the same time this morning” Aeryn smiled warmly as she sat down. “It’s nice.”

Daniel beamed at Olivia, "Hi darling." He replied as he returned her kiss and squeezed her hand softly as she sat down beside him.

“Hi yourself handsome!” Olivia grinned as she held onto Daniel’s hand.

Daniel gave an answering grin. Olivia had a wonderful gift, she always made him feel good, always made him feel like he was the most important thing in the world at least her world. "You always brighten my day darling!" He answered honestly.

Olivia smiled as she leant against Daniel’s arm for a moment as she held onto his hand, their partnership kept her strong no matter what.

Daniel turned his head and whispered into Olivia's ear, "I love you Olivia. Now and forever. Thank you for your love and support darling."

Mindo, on the other end of the table, was not looking at Aenardha's food, but rather Aenardha herself. The mind meld was still swimming around in his head, and he suddenly felt that chill again.

"Are you ok?" Mindo asked. It was directed at her, but Mindo felt like it was more something he was asking himself.

"I am fine, sir," Aenardha said in reply. She started forking at her food. "I was actually wanting to ask the same of you." And, as she mouthed a bit of her lunch, she thought, only to him, 'Some do tend to endure side effects from telepathic connections.' She ended her thoughts to him and recalled the dwelt upon thought he had when they were linked; the thought of them in a cabin that she could only surmise was his cabin.

That image clicked in Mindo's mind. At least, the image of the interior of the cabin itself, like an interactive snapshot that didn't move. It was a blur, and only momentary, and the memory or "snapshot" seemed to fade after a second. The feeling though, was the only thing that lingered. Within seconds he was left with a chill, but he had forgotten the strange image of his cabin.

"I'm doing fine too," Mindo said, feeling a shiver again. He was getting better at ignoring it, but the following feelings of remorse... were drowned out by his angry stomach. He went back to eating the French fries, and soon his thinking went back to normal.

"With your permission, sir," Aenardha continued, "I will reach out to my Broot contacts regarding a larger ship. Something with at least 3 decks and crew quarters. As kinfam, I am not sure what I can manage beyond that."

"I'll try and get us a starship first," Mindo said. "Maybe there's an old Constitution-class schooner Starfleet can spare."

Aenardha looked him in the eye and smiled. "Anything Starfleet can spare will certain have more defenses and armaments." She knew there was a reason why she felt to bring this up with him first. "Maybe they will give us special authority to rename it," she said before returning to her food.

Mindo couldn't help but smile at that. "Whatever we get will probably need a new name. I can't think of anyone better to name it than you, Ensign! Consider it your first assignment."

As he was speaking, when he got to the part about her naming the ship, Aenardha somehow forgot how to breath, chew, swallow, etc. and ended up whimpering slightly as she nearly choked on a bit of food. Her antennae shot up erect with the cups pointing at him as though ensuring his thoughts were the same as his words. Aenardha did not allow herself to probe his thoughts however. "Me, sir?" she asked after finally remembering how to swallow.

"Did I stutter, Ensign?" Mindo said with admittedly a bit of mock authority, amused and touched by the young Aenar's reaction.

"No," and then she added, "sir," to that. She thought briefly. Already a slew of words and names were flooding her thoughts. "I will certainly give it my all."

Mindo nodded. "Good," he said, and stood up to address the group.

"Hey everyone," he said as the chatter died down. "Since we're all here," and Caradan stepped in right as he started speaking, froze and remained in position as he continued, "I wanted to inform you all that I've decided to reenlist into Starfleet. I want specifically to find our Captain and the Pandora. I have no idea how to make that happen, but I hope all of you are with me. We've all been gathered here by a mysterious force, and all our fates seem to be tied together. So we'll do this together. Sound good?"

"Sounds good, sir," said Aenardha. She raised her glass of beverage that would give anyone else frostbite. "Woo," she called out in something of a shy yell before gulping it back.

Krysia raised her glass. “Welcome back Mindo!” With that she sipped her drink.

Aeryn smiled warmly. “Welcome back indeed, it wouldn’t be the same without you Mindo.”

Mindo held up his glass. "To the Pandora."

The crew followed suit. The rest of the meal was met with enthusiastic conversation, most of it surrounding the many adventures they all had gone through on the Pandora. A day later, the crew arrived on Earth, and their mission to find their Captain and ship began!

OFF