Posted by James Sinclair in Officer’s Mess Kitchen- Food for a Crowd

Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Officer’s Mess Kitchen- Food for a Crowd

(snips)

Gazing at him, the goofy smile that was for him returned. “I’m getting there,” she said softly. Did she believe it all worth it? Definitely. Would she really change nothing? Well, she wasn’t sure she could say that much.

Holding out her hand, she gazed at the beautiful ring. Shara moved over and took her daughter’s hand to see it better. “Oh Faye, it’s lovely,” she said before enveloping Faye in a long hug and looking over her shoulder at Daggum. “You did good there, Hammor.”

Daggum smiled at the vegetables and then looked at Shara and winked and said “I know.” and chuckled.

Vegetables were cooked to the right point and Faye’s spicy brine was added. The wraps were cooked off in batches and soon everything was set to the side to be rolled up closer to the wake. And as they had cooked, Faye told her mom and Dag about how Jaris taught her how to make hasperat for her 15th birthday and how his grandmother who died in the camps had taught him how to make it. It had been his gift to her. She also shared how she hadn’t taught anyone how to make it until she cooked with Alex and told him the full story of the end of Tracken. The first time she had, and every time since then it was getting a little bit easier.

Well and truly hungry, the trio was able to vacate the kitchen and grab some food. Not wanting to cook anymore, Faye just opted for the replicator and grabbed a chicken Ceasar salad. Flopping into a chair at a table by the windows, she sighed happily. “I know later will be hard at times, but I’m kind of looking forward to it. Not everyday you can say that about a wake.”

~The Calloway Women

Daggum sat down next to Faye with six cheeseburgers, three bowls of Cyrullian Wonton soup, a loaf of sourdough bread, and a Bajoran Chocolate cake. And a pitcher of milk. As he did he looked at both women and said “Now, please tell me if I’m out of line here and I’ll shut up… but what happened to Traken after the war? I looked it up when I was researching the mushroom house, and all I could find was an entry saying ‘Tracken relinquished by occupational forces. System is now United Federation of Planets territory by terms of Peace Treaty.’.”

Daggum

Both women were quiet for a few moments but then with a silence exchange of looks, Shara spoke up, setting her fork down next to her vegetable penne. “It’s a valid question,” she said quietly. “After the War ended, most of the Maquis who survived were in prison. A few were granted pardons in exchange for their service during the War, but not everyone was willing or able. And then there was the group of us from Voyager who were an entirely different matter. The short answer, Daggum, is that there has been no one willing to re-settle the site of a massacre, and those that had ties to the place, like myself, can’t even set foot on the place, let alone imagine living there again. For now, until the memories aren’t so devastating, it remains uninhabited. And there’s not enough of us left to have our descendants one day settle it, so if the Federation wants to push for that, then it’ll be other people who have no connection to what it once was.”

“I thought about going, once, after I graduated from the Academy,” Faye said thoughtfully as she stole a pice of Daggum’s bread rather stealthily. “I couldn’t bring myself to do it, but then again I was still hiding my Maquis past and that would have likely drawn attention I didn’t want. Though, had I thought about it more deeply I would have figured out sooner that Starfleet already knew I had been Maquis,” she said, slipping into a lopsided smirk. “And answered a few more questions I’ve had but haven’t yet asked.”

~The Calloway Women