Mess Hall Musing

Posted on 17 Aug 2016 @ 11:29pm by Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Ensign Mimi

1,132 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 11 - Divinum Mundi
Location: Deck 2 - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD -7 0745 hrs.

After finishing the last bits of her work and returning the equipment she'd used back into storage Mimi looked at the clock and reaslised it was gone the end of her shift and after her stomach growled at her that she was hungry. So she headed straight for the mess hall.

Heading in she looked around for a free table and headed to the replicator. "I would like a peice of steamed salmon with rice and vegetables. oh and a tarkelian tea." The replicator hummed and her meal appeared, taking the tray she headed for the table greeting some of the crew she passed on the way. Settling down she pulled a Padd from her pocket and fired up the latest book she was reading.

Ryan rubbed his eyes as made his way into the mess hall and strait to the replicator. He was hungry and in a desperate need of coffee. "I would like Eggs Scrambled, Earth Chicken, with Earth Pork Sausage, and Coffee 82 Degrees C, Colombian Earth Blend." Ryan said, waiting patiently for the requested items to appear. Grabbing his tray, he looked around for a familiar face. He noticed a fellow ops officer sitting by herself.

He hadn't spent any time with her, or even really talked with her. They were on different shifts, and usually only spoke to one another during change over.

He smiled as he made his way over to her. "Hey, mind if I sit with you?" He asked, only then realizing that she was reading something.

Mimi looked up as she heard someone talking to her. She saw one of her fellow ops officers standing there. "Sure, feel free ensign..." she cocked her head to the side slightly as she tried to think which one it was.

Smiling, Ryan replied. "Alexander, Ryan Alexander. And, thank you." He set his try and coffee down first before sitting down himself. He looked at her meal. "I hope that I am not interrupting anything." He nodding to her PADD as he unfolded a napkin and placed it into his lap. He couldn't help but notice the Salmon. "Coming off shift?" He asked trying to make polite conversation.

"Just yes." Mimi replied. "Working on deck 4's cargo transporter took longer than I thought."

"Is that the one that is having issues with the pattern buffer on any object that contains a certain amount of radon?" Ryan asked taking a bite of his eggs.

Mimi took a sip of her tea then nodded "Yep that's the one. I adjusted it and send a few test cylinders through, everything looked ok."

Ryan nodded, as took a sip from his coffee. "I saw that come in through the request queue before I got off yesterday, and was going to tackle it today if no one had gotten to it." He said with smile. "Thank you for taking care of that one." Taking a sip from his coffee, he motioned with his mug at her PADD. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you reading?"

"It's a Shakespeare book." Mimi replied. "Romeo and Juliet, it's not bad. Has a lot of word I've never heard before."

Ryan nodded. "Ah Romeo and Juliet, a track tale of two loves that couldn't be." He said with a flourish, twirling his fork as if to bow. He smiled. "It's impressive your grasp of our language. How long did it take you to learn?" He asked taking another bite of food.

"I am still learning." Mimi said, she'd explained to most of the Ops crew that as the Universal translator couldn't correctly translate her language she had to learn english in order to communicate properly. "I still have problems with long and difficult words."

Ryan munched on some sausage, washing it down with swig of coffee. "To tell you the truth, so do I." He said with a laugh. "One of my favorite novels that I have read recently was an old Earth novel called, "Poor Man's War." It is about the 'future' on earth if we never encounter any other civilizations but our own, and if we were governed with a mix of what we have now mixed with Ferengi," he said try to explain the novel, "the main protagonist, is a really smart individual and he uses some rather uncommon phrases and words that I have to look up from time to time." He said with a smile. "Besides reading, is there anything else that you enjoy doing?"

"I collect trinkets." Mimi replied after a few bites of her salmon. "Little things from all the different species I've met."

Ryan nodded. "Are there certain requirements for the trinkets? I mean is there something specific that they represent? What have you collected from humans, or even the captain?" Ryan asked, genuinely intrigued.

Mimi shrugged a little. "A few have them have meanings, some I bought myself, some where given to me by friends. I had a Bajoran friend at the academy when we left for assignments she gave me a copy of her ear ring."

Ryan again nodded. "Interesting, how many of these items have you acquired?" He asked as he finished the remainder of his food.

"A few dozen maybe." Mimi replied. "They are all small things so they dont take up much room." She paused and devoured a fork full of rice. "Biggest thing I have is...... a small Risian horga'hn statue."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "I have never been to Risa, but I have heard...uh...alot of good things about that place. Is there a story behind how you got the statue.?" Ryan asked, genuinely intrigued.

"I haven't been there myself either but I've heard good things too, I got it from a trader on DS9 a few years ago but I didnt know it was a fertility statue until I showed it to my friends and my foster mother. Mimi smirked slightly. "I'd never felt so embarrassed."

Ryan could only imagine the scene. He laughed, not a laugh of mocking, but one of mirth. "I can only imagine!" He said between bouts of laughter. "I am sorry Mimi, you aren't the only one that has done that, I have been there when that has happened." His PADD chirped indicating that he had 15 minutes before he had to get to work. "Shoot, I need to get going." He quickly downed his coffee. " It was really nice talking with you Mimi, hopefully we can do it again sometime."

"Hopefully. Have a good shift Ryan, thanks for the chat." Mimi said as Ryan stood and turned to leave. Finishing off the last of her meal she sat back and picked up her book again.

OFF:

Ensign Mimi
Operations officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Ryan Alexander
Operations officer
USS Galileo

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