Pizza and a shoulder (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 16 Dec 2013 @ 2:13am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim
Edited on on 16 Dec 2013 @ 4:01am

2,489 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2 - Allyndra's quarters
Timeline: MD06 - 2220 hrs

Previously, on Pizza and a Shoulder (Part 1)...

"We've got some good beaches on Earth, that's for sure. I like the ones in Florida and on a small island called Puerto Rico," he replied. Lamar finished off the second slice of pizza including the crust, then promptly procured two more from the large dish and set them on his small plate. "You're always welcome to come to Philly with me if you want. It's a big city and there's not much ocean around, but it's a pretty cool place. Real diverse, lots of different kinds of people," he offered.

Allyndra was a bit surprised at that. "It sounds lovely but I would not want to interfere with your holidays with your family."

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

He smiled and looked into her pretty jeweled eyes while briefly shaking his head. "Don't worry about that...I wouldn't have offered if I thought you'd be interfering. We have friends come over all the time for the holidays, it's nothing out of the ordinary," he explained.

"Then I would be honoured. On these traditions does one bring gifts or is there a set of protocols or..." Allyndra was visibly excited. "I am not exactly familiar with Terran traditions except for a little bit from Academy days and even then I tended to avoid others."

"It's up to you," he answered with a shrug, not too seemingly concerned with the concept. "Mostly we just enjoy each other's company, but if you want to bring something, don't let me stop you. I've already picked up a couple souvenirs for my two younger brothers. They're not in Starfleet but they've always liked space so I try to get them little things from around the quadrant."

"I would love to be able to reciprocate such a kind offer and on Akkadia we are taught from a young age to be polite and respectful. It is somewhat of a stiff culture but then there are reasons that I have come to appreciate why. I will not bore you with details," Allyndra knew there were aspects she would like to avoid, "but suffice to say history we made mistakes." A thought crossed her head and she asked. "May I bring beverages? As you may suspect I have a fondness for Klingon Blood Wine unless of course your family does not indulge in alcoholic beverages or it is forbidden by custom."

He grinned in between bites and nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, sure. It wouldn't be much fun if we didn't have anything to drink," he added with a light chuckle. "I'm not a big fan of bloodwine myself, but feel free to bring as much as you want. Hell, maybe my brothers would like to give it a try. Doubt they've tasted it before...they don't travel too much."

Allyndra laughed, "I do they like pizza as well? This was a lot of fun to 'cook', it was truly a lot of fun and I am glad it came out well. I also tried some Calzone which seemed similar. I can send you on with them and you can tell me later if they met with success."

"They like pizza...and calzones," he answered with a nod. "Come to think of it, I think most Humans like them. It's a pretty popular food for us and you can find it everywhere in most of the big cities and colonies. And I bet you found out there's a bunch of different styles, including the crust, toppings, and presentation. If you have leftovers I'll be happy to make good use of them." He patted his belly with a wry smirk.

"Good though I will see what else might be traditional. I could use a good opinion before presenting them to your family." Allyndra replied happily and then another aspect intruded that dampened her spirits slightly. "That is if your girlfriend does not mind. I would not want to cause friction between you two. She is most welcome as well."

Lamar finished eating in silence for a long moment while he thought about Lilou and the future between them. It was filled with uncertainty, but the last thing he wanted to do was to abandon her, especially after she had just gone through a bunch of trauma at the hands of the Borg. She deserved to be loved, not cast aside despite their apparent differences.

"Yeah...I'm not sure what her plans," he finally answered as he wiped his hands clean on a napkin and leaned back in his chair. "I need to talk with her when she's feeling better. See what plans she has after we finish the mission. Hopefully she'll recover soon and won't be stuck in a rehab facility for the next couple months."

Allyndra nodded. It just reminded her that the man in front of her was otherwise engaged and it just intensified the loneliness she felt. Perhaps it would be best not to go to Lamar's home. It was an awkward several moments. She could see the emotion in his face and then quietly said, "You know in a previous posting I was Obsidian Colony's Chief Counselor for a bit. That is if you would like to talk."

He gave her a weak smile and shook his head. "Thanks, but I don't think there's anything to do right now except wait. I'll go and check on her tomorrow...hopefully when she's awake. Maybe we can talk a bit. At least I can figure out how she's feeling," he replied, then gave her a small smile as he looked over her lithe frame and attractive dress.

"So, um," he cleared his throat to change the subject, not wanting to focus too much on Lilou while instead preferring to spend some time with the woman in front of him. "Did you have anything in mind for after dinner? Do you want to watch a holofilm, maybe?"

Allyndra felt a little relief herself and she had to admit that she wanted him to stay even if their was just a little guilt. "That would be lovely. Why don't you pick something out and I will get us something cool to sip on while we watch."

Shaking his head, he politely declined the offer for fear that he would select something not to her tastes. "Thanks, but it's your quarters. If you leave it up to me then we might end up watching some cheesy, gory action flick from the late 21st century," he insisted with a light chuckle.

"Well," Allyndra shrugged. "It matters not to me. We did not make such things exactly. Oh, we have art and stories told but nothing quiet like you humans have seemed to have done. I find them all fascinating and really nothing comes much to my mind. Thus, while I prepare a dessert for us you must make the selection." Allyndra turned to go prepare the desserts leaving Lamar to make a choice.

She went to prepare something she had come across along with pizza and calzones. It was something combining ice cream of some flavor, with milk mixed with other bits and topped with cream which the Earthlings called a shake. She had decided on chocolate and had added bits of fine shaved chocolate. It was something that she could actually enjoy along with him.

She turned and headed back to couch in her quarters bearing the thick drinks.
"Now this is something I can enjoy as well. Here you go..." she handed him the tall glass filled with icy deliciousness.

Lamar had been busy browsing through the ship's holofilm database on a PADD when the winged Akkadian returned. He smiled up at her and gladly accepted the delicious-looking shake, then set the PADD down on the table and took a long slurp of the frothy drink. "Not bad," he commented with approval while licking his lips.

"So...you might hate me but I found a film...its in the action genre, called Terminator. It's about a cyborg from the future who travels back in time to find and kill the mother of the Human resistance. Well, it's all in the future you see, because after Humans have created robot machines, the machines turn on them and try to eradicate their makers. So the leader of the resistance is this guy named Connor, and the machines can't kill him in the future-present because he's too good...so they travel back in time to the past-present to try and kill his mom before he's even born. Altering the timeline, you know?"

Allyndra swivled her wings around and took a seat listening to Lamar describe the film a little. She nodded as she listened. "I remember reading a Terran book called 'Frankenstein'. It sounds a familiar theme, a warning of letting technology or advancement get too out of hand and having it turn on you."
It was a familiar theme and one her own people had experienced as well.

"Such a thing is not unique to your own people Lamar. We have our own story of something that seemed wonderful at one time and getting out of hand." Allyndra sat quiet and pensive thinking on her log and what she had learned over time.

"Real-life Skynet, huh?" he remarked, referencing the antagonists from the Terminator film.

"Hmm? Sorry, I was musing on things. So many events such as your movie and the L'ekt have cut very close to home. We Akkadians have learned the hard way of such things." She took a deep breath.

"The hard way?" he asked, wondering what exactly she meant by that. He didn't want her to elaborate if it was a touchy subject, but Humans also had a rather rough history when it came to learning lessons, including three world wars. "Well...I guess there's never an easy way. If only it could be that simple."

Allyndra nodded and put the movie on hold. "Yes, the hard way. Lamar there have been ones on your world, Einstein, Hawkins come to mind, that have the ability to make great intuitive leaps. The same on my world as well but we discovered that it was genetic in nature. A long time ago we bred for the trait and our technology leaped quickly forward, we called such with the gift the A'burab'atu. It means to do things quickly. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say there were terrible wars, we nearly killed ourselves off much more so than your third World War and nearly destroyed our world."

She stopped realizing she had said more than she should. Allyndra took a deep breath. "Most of my people do not know our real history, nor what we managed to achieve. Only among some of us do we know the truth and there is much conflict on if and when, if ever to reveal it and if it is revealed the best way." Allyndra looked Lamar straight into his eyes, "I would ask that this remains between us."

"Yeah, sure," he replied, noticing the seriousness in her voice as well as the deepness of what she was trying to tell him. It was hard for him to understand exactly what she meant due to his lack of Akkadian history, but he got the impression their civilization had suffered some setbacks at one point just as Humans had. "You're so serious sometimes," he added with a grin, then reached out to rub her upper arm and give it a light squeeze. "Let's relax. You can tell me more about your race after the film."

"Sorry, just much on my mind. Now on with the show?" Allyndra took a big sip of the shake and made a face as the freeze hit her and especially that big nerve. She suddenly laughed as it finally wore off. The show was interesting but she could see flaws in the thinking. The only thing she had hoped for was when the main actor playing the Terminator robot first appeared. He made even the sterile males at the Irsemia house look puny. She had hoped to see a lot more of him sans clothing but it was not to be. She found herself leaning against Lamar after a point and could care less. It had been way too long she mused quietly to herself.

Lamar put an arm around her shoulders and sipped on his own shake, happily content to watch the explosions and gun battles portrayed by the film. In a weird way, the 'terminators' reminded him of a primitive version of the Borg, although with different motives. He privately wondered what life had been like on Earth when this film was made, and wondered if all Humans had been so paranoid about technology.

Allydnra just snuggled closer enjoying the closeness. She watched the movie and though interesting and perhaps even funny in parts; she certainly could see that when the Terminator said: 'I'll be back' and did so running a vehicle into the police building. She still could the comparisons to Shelly's 'Frankenstein', technology turning on its creator. The movie came to an end and though it was alright, what it meant was that their time together was also coming to an end. She sighed and wanted to pull away but just sat there snuggled into Lamar's arms.

"Thank you for movie and time. I suppose it is time for you to leave," Allyndra said but her eyes and her hearts said, "I wish you would stay."

"Yeah...I probably should get going. It's getting late." He would have liked to have stayed with her for the evening, but the appropriateness of such an action while Lilou was laid up in sickbay didn't feel right to him. Slowly, he sat up and finished off the rest of his now-melted shake, then gave Allyndra a smile before standing up and stretching. "That was fun, we should do it again sometime."

Allyndra stood as well and nodded in agreement. "I look forward to meeting your family as well." She started to hold out a hand but then instead gave Lamar a kiss on the cheek. She pulled back smiling and laughing lightly, "I had forgotten that you grow hair on your faces. Take care, Lamar, let me know about meeting you in Filli Delfi Ah?" Allyndra thought she got the pronunciation correct but he had a little accent that made it difficult when he said his home town name.

"I will, I promise," he said. "Thanks again or cooking...it was great and I'm still stuffed." He gave her a goodbye wave with his hand then headed towards the door, out into the corridor, and back towards his quarters to take a much-needed nap.

[OFF]

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WO Lamar Darius
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Saalm]

Lt Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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