Last Minute Shopping Trip

Posted on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 @ 12:27pm by Lieutenant Commander Feyd Relor & Lieutenant JG Kevin Lance & Crewman Thomas Jefferson

Mission: Ghost Station
Location: Station
Timeline: Just before ship leaves

::ON::

The Briefing for the upcoming mission complete, the ship finished loading supplies and crew.

Thomas had a last minute trip to the station to pick up the remainder of the supplies that he had ordered for the Captains Mess.

<^> Jefferson to Doctor Relor <^>

"Relor here" replied Feyd.

<^> I have last minute business on the station before we depart, would you like to meet me at T'Kaaveth's Review for dinner? They have a decent Vulcan cuisine <^>

=/\= "Sounds delightful." =/\= He said, and headed for the docking ring. He had never had Vulcan cuisine, so wasn't sure what to expect, and he certainly wouldn't be able to tell 'decent' from 'crappy'. Still, stretching his legs on a Starbase before being cooped up on a Starship sounded like a good idea. =/\= "Meet you there." =/\=

Feyd tapped his comm badge again. =/\= "Commander Relor to Lieutenant Lance." =/\=

=/\="I'm here, Commander, what can I do for you." =/\=

=/\="Care for a last minute meal on the Starbase? I hear it's Vulcan. =/\=

Kevin paused and considered the question. He didn't really like xeno-cuisine but Vulcan fare had several dishes that were sufficiently bland. Besides, Captain Huang had said that he should try to cultivate friendships with his fellow crewmembers. =/\= "Yes, Sir. I will join you." =/\=

=/\="Great. I will send the location to your PADD." =/\=

[Starbase]

Feyd walked into the restaurant, a swanky looking place, and searched for the Chef.

Although there were replicators in evidence there was also a kitchen area where fresh foods were prepared for the Vulcan patrons, as they are vegetarians and prefer grown vegetables to replicated foodstuffs. Feyd could hear voices coming from the kitchen area and one of them sounded like Thomas. It sounded like Thomas was sounding out Vulcan words while he discussed various recipes.

Feyd peered around the corner of the kitchen to find the Chef taking orders from a Vulcan Chef. He noticed Lance arrive out of the corner of his eye.

Thomas noticed Feyd and said "take a seat, I'll be out in a moment". Thomas then turned to the Vulcan and thanked him for his time and stepped out to the dining area to join Dr Relor. A few moments later the Vulcan came out with a tray loaded down with food.

Relor eyed Thomas as he took the dishes from the Vulcan and set them on the table and named each of them in Vulcan, accepting the correct pronunciation from the Vulcan when he said it incorrectly.

As they sat and enjoy the Vulcan Cuisine, conversation picked up between them as Relor said "I looked you up Thomas, you have an amazingly successful career in the restaurant business in France, what possessed you to join a Federation starship crew and leave that all behind?"

Tapping his glass of Vulcan wine with a finger Thomas said "well, that depends on who you ask, for my wife this is our honeymoon since we never got a chance to take one when we got married. For me, its an opportunity to travel to other worlds on the Federation's dime and expand my culinary skills. In fact, K'oPak here" as he nodded to the Vulcan approaching the table "has already taught me something new". Standing up he bowed slightly to the Vulcan and accepted a small cloth wrapped package, thanking him for his hospitality.

Sitting back down Relor glanced at the package. "Fresh spices unique to Vulcan" taking a bite of salad he continued "don't get me wrong, I love my wife and will fully enjoy our time together, but the opportunities this trip presents must not be wasted."

[Later]

After a wholly satisfying meal, minus shellfish, the three officers had long since vacated the swanky restaurant and found themselves in the bowels of the Starbase, in the somewhat 'seedier' section. They had all had a few drinks, so no one was particularly on their guard as much as they should be.

Thomas said to Relor "So this is where you go for 'culture'? I can't see how the drinks here will be better quality than what we can get in the class A section of the station."

Relor smirked, and thought to himself that the Chef had spent too much time in 'High' society "I didn't say better, I said unique, and you seem to be a person who likes to experience new things" being a bit tipsy from the drink he paused at an intersection turning back and forth trying to remember the way to the Star Pelican bar.

Kevin was being quite amused when Thomas stepped up to Relor and said "This looks like a good direction to go in" and turned suddenly and ran into a Klingon who was just stepping out of a doorway.

"chay'pen SoH bej!"

Thomas looked up from the Kingon's chest to his face, took a half step back and said "Pardon me".

"tIqlIj 'ej qagho' jIH!!" as the Klingon reached for his D'k tahg.

Feyd found himself backing away, hands raised in supplication. He was the picture of innocence. "Hey guys, what seems to be the problem here? We're not looking for a fight.." He hated to fight.

Kevin shouldered his way past Thomas. "rIgh bIH!" he shouted, his pronunciation slightly slurred by the wine, "doH! 'oHbe' batlh naDev!"

Two other Klingons step out of the door, one of the seeing what is going on and says "Hurry up and kill him". The Klingon that Thomas ran into appeared to be weighing the Honor.

Thomas looked from one Klingon to the other and said "That's an something of an excessive response don't you think?" Turning his back on the Klingon (which is never a good idea) he saw Relor with his hands up and said "Come along, lets leave these gentlemen to their business."

Kevin winced. He had just about convinced the Klingon that killing Thomas wouldn't be worth the Honor but the chef's dismissive tone and air of superiority only inflamed the Klingon.

Relor saw the look in the eyes of the Klingon that Thomas turned his back on and the fact that the insult would not be tolerated. The Klingon tensed as if to spring.

Time slowed down for Feyd as he moved forward to intercept the blow aimed for Thomas's back. 'Strike to the Solar Plexus, causing respiratory distress. Strike to the left ear, causing extreme tinnitus, disarm knife, plunge into esophagus, pivot, intercept blow, hypospray in left pocket, slam into left quadrilateral.' The thoughts strung together in his mind, all evidence of inebriation vanished.

In the blink of an eye, he had the Klingon's knife in his hand, ready to shove it into his throat. Kevin was surprised at the speed of the doctor's actions.

Feyd hated to fight, but not for the reasons most people did - to avoid conflict. He had spent most of his formative years fighting in one way or another, so it wasn't like he felt like he needed to avoid violence or that he couldn't be a violent person. No, his problem was that he didn't understand 'a good old brawl'. When you fought, it was to kill. And being a doctor gave him access to ways to kill that normal folks would never think of...and Feyd had no compunction using them.

The second Klingon started to move towards Feyd. Kevin moved forward to intercept, adrenaline suppressing the alcohol's effect. He dropped to a crouch and shot his foot out to connect with the back of the second Klingon's knee. The Klingon's leg buckled, he lost is balance and fell back to the deck. Kevin stepped on the wrist of the hand that had held the Klingon's d'k tahg and kicked the blade away.

The third Klingon, not to be left out of the fun, stepped over his two companions wrestling with the feds and rushed the Chef. Thomas paused just a bit too long before reacting to the attack and took a blow to the right shoulder that spun him around. He recovered quickly and lashed out with a kick to the Klingon's knee. The last time he had been in a good fight was when he was a teenager on the reservation, but in those brawls, his opponents were not trying to kill him. Drawing a short knife that he carried from habit, Thomas quickly found himself in the fight of his life, and he was instantly regretting his choice to leave Earth. The clang of steel on steel and flashing blades was a sight to behold. Unfortunately skilled chef vs hardened warrior was no comparison and Thomas eventually missed a parry and ended up with a Klingon battle knife buried in his chest.

Feyd reacted immediately, driving the blade he was holding up into the head of the Klingon he was holding down and rushed over to Thomas. Grabbing the head of the warrior who was on top of Thomas he snapped the Klingon's neck turning it a full 180 degrees in his rage. Pushing him off he dropped to his knees to try and staunch the blood flow. Tapping his comm badge he yelled <^>Relor to Independence! Emergency transport, three to beam directly to sickbay<^>

Rather than the familiar tingle of being transported, Relor got a verbal response <^> Sorry Sir, do you want me to transport one of the Klingons to the ship?<^> The transporter operator sounded truly confused by the request.

<^>NO DAMMIT! Myself, Lieutenant Lance and Mr Jefferson!"<>

<^>I'm sorry Sir, I can only get locks on you and the Lieutenant, do you want me to continue with transport?<^>

<^>No, Send emergency medical to Deck 27, section gamma niner niner, send security as well!<^>

The fourth Klingon, who had stood as stoically as a Vulcan during the brief fight, looked at the Klingon grappling with Kevin and commanded, "Qam." The Klingon stopped struggling and so did Kevin after a moment. "Honor is satisfied human," the fourth Klingon declared to Kevin, "Look to your own problems." The Klingon indicated the body with the knife, then turned on his heel and stalked off followed by his only surviving companion. Kevin turned towards where Feyd was working to save Thomas' life, just as the starbase security detail arrived.

Feyd looked down at Thomas and reached for his med bag, which wasn't there. Where was it? He didn't even have a medical scanner, He visually assessed the wound, a deep puncture, but by the look of the entry point and the angle, he guessed it had missed any vital organs - Lungs and Heart. He was guessing, and he didn't like that, but he had done this before. He looked around and addressed one of the Starbase security personnel. "Give me your phaser."

The man looked down at his phaser and then looked up uncertainly at Feyd...after all, they didn't know who was aggressor and who was victim.

Kevin walked up to the man. "You heard the Doctor, do it...now." The man glanced at Kevin's pips and nodded, handing the weapon over to the kneeling doctor. Feyd dialed the beam intensity and power down to zero, then pointed it at the wound. "This is going to sting." He said, and pulled the trigger, instantly cauterizing Jefferson's wound and stopping the bleeding.

"Get this man to Sickbay!" He yelled, stepping away from Thomas and watching as he was loaded onto an antigrav stretcher.

Kevin gently placed a hand on Feyd shoulder as Thomas was tended to by the starbase's medical personnel. Feyd turned on Kevin with the phaser leveled at Kevin's waist. Locking eyes with Feyd, Kevin covered the phaser with his hand and eased the weapon from Feyd's grip. As he looked into Feyd's eye, Kevin saw defiance, determination, and the flinty glaze of a killer. Of all of the expressions that Kevin expected to see, this was not one of them.

Kevin handed the phaser back to the security guard it had been borrowed from. "Mr. Jefferson is in good hands," he said quietly to Feyd, "and I expect that these gentlemen have some questions for us."

::OFF::

Thomas Jefferson
Captains Chef

Lieutenant JG Kevin Lance
Chief Tactical Officer

and

Lieutenant Commander Feyd Relor
Chief Medical Officer
USS Independence