Opening Day

Posted on Sat Jan 25th, 2020 @ 11:04pm by Crewman Thomas Jefferson

Mission: Coming Aboard
Location: Ship
Timeline: Current

OFF:
I'm not familiar with this ship layout, but I assume there is an equivalent of 10Forward from the Galaxy class. If someone has a deck layout, or a name for the crew lounge I would appreciate it.


ON:

Thomas was neither surprised nor excited when he received notification that his application to Starfleet as a civilian contractor to work on a Federation starship as a chef. It was simply just another fact that he was not only qualified for the position, but, more likely, over qualified.

Leaving Earth to wander the stars was not an easy transition, considering the (very successful) restaurant that he is responsible for, but also the fact that he has a family that he is responsible for. Fortunately his wife agreed to join him on his new adventure which just left making arrangements for his business interests.

Fortunately he was able to arrange for his wife to join him, so he would have someone on board who could help him with the garden he would need in hydroponics.

He didn’t travel light to the starbase where the Independence was to be docked, in addition to his personal belongings there were two cargo containers containing all of his kitchen equipment.

Upon arrival Thomas found that the Independence was being refitted and empty. After getting his wife situated on the starbase he went to take a look at the captains ward room and the “kitchen”. As expected, the “kitchen” was just a bank of specialized replicators.

He immediately went to work. As the ship was swarming with engineering staff, nobody questioned his presence on the ship, the crates he brought in, or when he grabbed some of the engineers and put them to work remodeling the “kitchen”. Though, when he told them to tear out a wall to expand the space into an adjoining office, one of the engineers wanted to challenge the order, but Thomas can be very convincing when he is challenged by an employee. Speaking to the engineer like he would speak to a sou chef that challenged him on the amount of thyme to add to a recipe. The cowed engineer, assuming Thomas outranked him, complied without further comment.

Thomas got his remodel of the Captains Mess done a couple days before the ships overhaul was completed, so he was prepared to receive boarders, so to speak. In addition to having taken over an office next door to the Mess to make room for his kitchen, he also took over one of the smaller cargo bays nearby to use as a pantry. Now that the kitchen was ready it was time to test out his new domain...

...

Lt Barclay was in a panic as he ran through the corridors with the other crewmen.

The ship was currently docked with the starbase for resupply and to bring on some new crew, so the vessel was basically empty except for engineering staff doing final touch ups.

When the alarm first went off it brought him to a complete halt as it was an alarm he had never really heard before on a ship, let alone a ship in port. It wasn't until the ships computer added the words "Fire in the Captains Ward Room" that he finally broke out of his confused state and started running for the Ward Room tapping his comm badge and yelling (though he thought he was speaking calmly) "Damage control fire team to the Captains Ward Room On The DOUBLE!".

Bursting through the door (well pausing for a moment while the door 'swished' open), with the fire team close on his heals, he finds the ward room full of smoke. An acrid grayish smoke that filled his lungs (with a hint of ginger and cinnamon) and brought him up short for a moment, causing the lead man in the fire team to bump into him and push him out of the way.

Barclay called out "get the fire out!" pointing at one of the fire team "check on the ventilation system and get this smoke cleared!"

As the smoke seemed to be coming from the "kitchen" area (we say kitchen, but as everyone knows its really just a bank of specialized replicators designed mainly for food production), pushing through the door (yes an actual swinging door, Hey! Some Captains like fancy!) he finds a man, dressed in what he identifies as baggy white clothing wearing a white doo-rag standing next to an open flame in some sort of Iron bin with sizzling strips of meat on a grill. Taking his fire extinguisher he sprays the flame instantly filling the bin with retardant foam and putting out the fire immediately, and also covering the meat at the same time.

The man in white responds instantly by striking the fire extinguisher out of Barclay's hand with a caste iron rod that he had been using to flip the meat. Turning on the Lt he says (calmly all things considered) "do you have ANY idea how hard it is to get Argentinian grass fed beef out here in space?"

OFF:

Thomas Jefferson, PhD
Chef de Cuisine, Le Cordon Bleu