Posted by Civilian Char’les Harv (Officer’s Mess Chef) in side - sim: Keeping My Word

Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in side - sim: Keeping My Word

Posted by Fleet Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in side - sim: Keeping My Word
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Per her agreement with Alex, Shedda was headed to the officer’s mess for a meal and to check on their fugitive chef. She didn’t eat every meal there, her schedule didn’t allow for that. And she felt it was good to be seen in the lounge as often as possible as well, mixing with the enlisted crew as well. She was the XO, for everyone and it was important to her to be approachable. She wouldn’t admit it, but that also saved her from having to see Harv 3 times a day. She dreaded these meals, but she agreed, so there she was walking into the Officer’s mess for dinner at the end of her shift. It had been a long day, and she had hoped there would be a letter from the judge, but there wasn’t. Shedda sat down at a table and waited. There was no point in ordering from the replicator or asking for what she wanted. Harv was going to serve her whatever it was he wanted to.

Mal’athar, XO

It was few minutes before the door slid open and the chef came out, fresh baked bread and butter on a small plate. He walked over to the table, set the bread down, and looked at Shedda. “I guess the lofty need to slum it times, huh? So? Whadda ya want?”

Harv

Shedda wondered how many times she would have to count to 10 during this meal. She would not rise to the bait, she was the XO she would act like it. What was it about Harv that set her nerves on edge? Credit where credit was due....more flies with honey than vinegar and all that. He was asking her what she wanted, being nice, she could be too. “I would hardly call your mess a slum. Pasta salad?” Yes there were many types, but if he actually had any made she would not be picky about the type. Even if it has fish in it.

Shedda

“You avoid it like a slum.” Harv grunted and turned away without another word and walked back to the kitchen. It was not ten minutes later that he came back with a large bowl filled with muti-colored pasta spirals and wheels, assorted diced vegetables, and a very white meat-like something cubed up and mixed in. The aroma was heady, herbal, and citrus-esque. The bowl was frosted, obviously chilled, and Harv set the bowl down with a thunk. “Pasta salad. Hope it meets your highness’s refined palate.” and the Bajoran chef turned and began walking away.

Harv

Avoid it? Hardly, though she did tend to avoid Harv like the plague. Refined palate? Hardly. Shedda grew up on a very poor colony, a slum mostly. Except that the people there worked hard to make the best of it. If anything, Harv’s food was too fancy to what she was used to. She also didn’t require nutrition in food format, or not as much as other species. Of course she wasn’t getting nearly as much sunlight as she needed either. 10…9…8…7…6… okay she could speak now. The bowl was large, all portions from Harv seemed to be large. Even something she enjoyed was usually more than she could eat. “Thank you, Harv. I’m sure it’s excellent like everything else.” Everyone raved about Harv’s food and it wasn’t bad it was the atmosphere. She paused in picking up her fork. She was supposed to keep an eye on him, make sure he was okay. She seemed more surely today than normal. “Harv is everything alright?”

Shedda

Harv paused and turned around. But, unlike typically, he didn’t just verbally explode. He looked around, made sure the people that were dining were out of ear shot, and then walked back to the table and leaned down slightly.

“No. Its not. I really don’t appreciate you treating my place like its infested with rats and is the last place on the ship you choose to eat. You’re the XO. People follow your lead. And since you came on board, less people come in than before. They seem to think that if they do, they’ll piss you off or something… or they want to put in their face time and that means the lounge because that’s where you go ninety-nine perxent of the time. And since all I have left in this gods-forsaken existence is the joy I get from cooking… now I don’t get to even do that as much. And it sucks… and I blame you.” He stood up and put his hands behind his back. “I hope that clarifies things, Commander. Enjoy the salad.” and he turned and walked back to towards the kitchen.

Harv

Shedda stopped herself from telling him the only rat in the mess was him. She listened instead, or tried too. And it was obvious they were never going to see eye to eye about most things. “First and foremost, you’re right, I do spend time in the lounge and I am the XO. I am the first officer of this entire ship and this entire crew. Not just the officers, but the enlisted too. The enlisted make up 70% of this crew and when I’m in here in this room they can’t access me. Personally I don’t think there should be an officer’s vs enlisted mess. It should be one mess in my opinion. And then you could cook for a lot of people and not just ‘the rich’ crowd of the crew. I’m sorry this is all you have left, but that was your choice. I’m not saying it was right or wrong, but you have to live with the consequences, and that’s not my fault.”

Shedda took a slow breath, “But, you might be civilian but I’m your XO too. It was not my intention to drive people away from your dinning room. I will make sure I’m aware of the percentages of my meal times, and make sure I’m spending half of it here.”

Shedda

Harv turned around at the door and said “Lady, you most definitely aren’t my XO. I answer to one person, and one person alone. And just because he told me to make nice with you doesn’t mean I have to like it! Oh, and for your information? Everyone is allowed to eat here. Even the civilians. Officers just get priority seating if there’s a wait. If you had ever deigned to come by during meals, you’d probably know that!” and he wheeled around and walked into the kitchen.

Harv

She was not going to loose her temper, she was not going to loose her temper, she was Not going to loose her temper. What she SHOULD do was go call Star Fleet command and tell them where to find him. Screw Alex and his ‘law vs morality’ crap. Harv was a spoiled brat and Alex was letting him get away with it. If the man didn’t like the consequences of his actions that was just too bad. She might have to come play nice with a giant toddler but she was not going to change her schedule for him. He didn’t dictate how she did her job. Her schedule and the demands on her time were more important.

She forced herself to eat. Wasted food was unforgivable, though she had no apatite to eat. How the man could make such good food but make your stomach sour at the same time was a twisted talent. Maybe she should talk to Sair about why she was having such a hard time getting along with Harv. Shedda really had to do better than this. Then a sigh, she couldn’t talk to Sair because then she’d have to tell her about Harv and she promised to keep his secret. She ate until she realized she was stabbing the food like she had to kill it before she ate it. She wasn’t going to speculate on what the really white meat was. Nor was she going to make a face if she didn’t like it. She ate, a little over half of it while reading over a PaDD.

Shedda

The white was tofu, expertly and light crisped to provide a wonderful texture contrast to the softness of the pasta. The flavor was herb and citrus, and made one’s taste buds tingle and stomach want more even past being full.

Okay it was good, after she stopped trying to kill it. The tofu was excellent and she was really thankful it wasn’t fish.

After she had slowed down, Harv reappeared from the kitchen with a single small plate. He walked over to the table and set it front of her. “Blueberry grilled cheese. I used a ricotta and brie mixture and Bajoran drell berries. Takes the edge off the sweetness and still tastes the same.” and he turned and went back towards the kitchen.

Harv

Shedda’s eyebrows went up. “Thank you, Harv.” It was genuine but surprised. She liked it, it was savory rather than sweet and her favorite. It was also very very weird. However, as he got to the door, “It’s still creepy how you do that.” She picked up her fork and took a tentative bite because it was served hot and not because of the taste. She ate half before slowing down and then ended up leaving about a fourth on the plate. She just couldn’t eat more. She looked at what else was on her PaDD and realized it was going to be another very late night.

Shedda

Harv came and collected the dishes. “It’s not creepy. It’s science. Any half-decent chef can create a flavor profile from what their regulars order. This guy prefers savory herb to sweet or citrus. She favors textures over spice. Its simple enough. All I do is take that up a notch. I pay attention to what people order. From that, I can tell where their taste and smell physiology skew one way or another. Because what we like to eat comes from our biology. Once you have someone’s basic sense physiology figured, the rest is easy.” He sat the dishes on a tray and motioned for a server to come clear it.

Science? Data collection and drawing conclusions. Shedda’s eyes squinted for half a second. So she was in more than his little tantrum admitted then if he ‘paid attention to what people order.’ She was expecting him to say that she wasn’t around enough for him to do that. Then again maybe he went into the computer and looked at her replicator logs. That was still creepy. A grin tried to tug at the corner of her mouth. “And are your hypotheses ever wrong?”

“So in your case, you don’t like fish… so overly salty and too-firm, fleshy textures are out. You also don’t eat much bread… except for toast with melted peanut butter on it for breakfast. That means you favor simple flavors over the more complex ones. Fresh fruit over pastry. Herbal over sweet. Your palate isn’t refined, but it is delicate. Easy to overwhelm. So for your salad, I seared the tofu in Kalisian sesame oil instead of cooking wine. The pasta was seasoned with Risian thyme and fresh Terran oregano with just a hint of Deltan lemon juice diluted with Vulcan granseed oil. Simple flavor palate, but worked into a cohesive dish. Its like the ancient Erudicans of the Bynaex system used to do. I studied their kitchen frescos. Got a whole book of ‘em by some archeological guy… T’Lent. Used to come into my place. Nice guy. He signed that book for me.” Harv shrugged and began to walk back to the kitchen

Harv

Shedda listened, he was passionate about it that was for sure. Of course she was the same way about archeology. She listened as he explained how he’d made her food. If that was ‘simple flavor’ she really didn’t want to know what was complicated or detailed. The Erudicans’ frescos were standard study and the kind of thing that every archeologist hoped to come across.

T’Lent? Shedda’s eyes widened and her jaw might have dropped for half a second. “Wait…you’ve met T’Lent? What’s he like?” Yeah okay she sounded a bit like a kid, all excited over some celebrity, but T’Lent was like the Neil De Grasse Tyson of archeology. Shedda followed all his work, he was amazing.

Shedda