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

Posted by James Sinclair in Officer’s Mess Kitchen- Food for a Crowd
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(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

Daggum looked at the women and chewed slowly for a long time. Finally he swallowed and, pushing another piece of bread to wards Faye without looking, said “I can understand that. A lot, actually.” and he took a drink. “I’ve thought about going back to Orion sometimes. To see it. And my friend Paul has been back a few times. He said nothing has really changed. And that’s kinda heartbreaking.” and he ate some soup.

If there was one place that Faye would avoid for as long as she could, it would be Orion. Going there would be too much, and knowing that it was much the same? It wouldn’t make her feel better.

“But I’d also think that, at some point, someone would want to restore it’s true meaning, though. Community. Hearth. Home. Family. I mean, I don’t want to belittle what happened at all… but I also don’t understand why the people who love the place would want that to be it’s legacy. From everything I have have heard you say about it… both of you… it seems that there is something more to it than just the war. It had an identity before that… maybe it should have that after as well. I dunno… I never really had a home to lose. So maybe I’m oversimplifying it. If I am, I’m really sorry to you both. I just…” and he took a breath. “I just think you both deserve your home back. Not just in people… that place was and is special to you. And I’m sorry it was taken.”

Daggum

Faye didn’t have an answer to that. Her life was still very much before her and would likely take many turns before she reached a similar point, but for Shara, things were a bit more clear. At least for her. “You’re not wrong. It does deserve to have new life and both Faye and I deserve to have a home that we feel connected to. But here’s the thing Daggum, Tracken Two is a world, a planet, just like so many in our galaxy. And the things that made it special , worth fighting for were the people. We came together to build a beautiful vision of what life could be. We wanted something different, something couldn’t find elsewhere. But the thing is that we could have built that anywhere. It didn’t matter that it was Tracken specifically. What that place is for me, and I think for Faye too, is what the people there gave of themselves. A place can call to us and we can feel connected to it in a visceral way but at least for us, the legacy is the love we all had for each other.” She looked at Faye, though she was still talking to Daggum. “In Faye I can see my math classes, and Edward’s ability to break down a machine and put it back together. I see T’Lora’s deep love of living things and her insight into Faye’s remarkable mind, I see Jaris’ quiet reflection and sense of honour. I see Cameron’s youthful whimsy, and Grant’s dark sense of humour. I see a belief in self-reliance and making do with what you have. I see an appreciation for beautiful things, even if they are fleeting. I see resilience and determination.” She shook her head and looked back at Daggum. “Don’t you see? Faye is Tracken for me. There’s a Terran saying ‘Home is Where the Heart is’. And it sounds like wishy-washy nonsense, but when you’ve lost the physical home you threw yourself into more than once, you learn that home is less tangible. It’s a feeling. And it’s up to each person to find that feeling in other places and people.”

Faye stared at her mother in shock, momentarily ignoring the tear that slipped over her cheek. Shara Calloway was not a wordy person, and not prone to speeches but there she was, saying more, giving more than she had ever known her to. Her mother was about action, not words, and so in yet another moment where she felt everything had shifted, she smiled shifting her gaze to Daggum. “That. All that. Dag… when I stepped into your hotel room after a month of confessions and shared secrets, and we had that first kiss? I felt I had come home. There’s no other way to explain it.”

~The (Unusually Wordy) Calloway Women