Posted by Fleet Captain Ghubari Koraia (Captain) in Holosuite Two- A Dinner

Posted by Commander Luka (Executive Officer) in Holosuite Two- A Dinner

Posted by Fleet Captain Ghubari Koraia (Captain) in Holosuite Two- A Dinner

(snip)

Ghubari grinned. “I’ll have to introduce you to mbege, it’s a beer made from bananas that originated from group to the north of the area I grew up. It’s quite popular all over and it’s made at special occasions. I’ve, uh, had some bad experiences with it in the past, but am keen these days to get reacquainted.” She was a long way from the crazy drink and high trip down memory lane that had revealed the telepathic loop lodged in her mind that had informed her nerve pain for so long. While the process had worked to reveal the issue, it had caused havoc on her life and her relationships in the days afterwards. Thank the Ancestors for Konral’s determination. If he hadn’t put his foot down, they never would have gotten back together and eventually got married.

Luka’s brow lifted slightly. “Banana beer. Definitely an interesting concept. I’ve had bananas before, I find it somewhat confusing that no Banana-flavoured candies taste like actual bananas. They taste similar to a Banana, but… different. Like, apple and cherry candies taste like apples and cherries, but not banana candies. Have you any knowledge as to why this might be?” Luka asked.

Ghubari’s face scrunched slightly as she contemplated this random question. “You know, I’m not sure, but I would imagine it might have something to do with the fact that it’s particularly difficult to extract the juice of a banana, and there’s no oils from the skin that you can really use. You can mash a banana, ferment it, whatever, but you can’t juice one. Not enough water content for that. That would be my guess.”

“What’s a food you’d especially want to introduce to me?” Koraia asked, as she added some broth to the concoction and put a lid on to let it simmer for a bit. Reaching for the drink, she inhaled its scent first and then took a tiny sip, letting it sit in her mouth before swallowing. Then she took another more generous sip to fully taste the wine. “This is good. I like the sweetness. It’s not overpowering, and it’s quite full tasting.”

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

Luka took a sip of the Tha’nah wine, sighing deeply in contentment as she drank it. “If you want something very new to your palate, anything made with Zeth’ag. My mother’s U’mak meat stew would also be something I’d love to share. There are some foods that are so similar to Earth foods I doubt you’d find anything new - any world with a milkable animal is bound to discover some analogue to Ice Cream, Cheeses, and Yogurt. Although I’m sure every type of Cheese is different,” she said thoughtfully.

“Indeed.” Having got all her ingredients needed in the pot for the moment, Ghubari put the lid on to let it simmer before she added the final ingredient in a bit. Grabbing her glass of Tha’nah wine, she moved around the counter and came to sit with Luka.

“I’ve got another question for you, while it’s still my turn to ask. What’s the most interesting mission you’ve experienced, that isn’t classified? When I was on the USS Killian, I met Q. Not the Q that Picard is infamous for knowing, but one of that race. I can say, the others aren’t quite as… quirky as Picard’s Q. I think there was time travel involved as well for some of the senior staff, but I was just a lowly operations officer at the time so I wasn’t involved,” she chuckled lightly.

Luka, XO

Koraia smirked slightly. “I bet that was an experience for sure. Hmmm”-she took a sip of the wine-“well, it depends on what you define as interesting, but probably one of the most defining that isn’t classified was soon after I was promoted to Captain and given the Athena. I was still figuring out my life after my accident, and here I was the new commanding officer for a ship who had had a long time captain at the helm. I was both excited and brash, but also uncertain and wanting to prove myself. So here we are, all still getting to know each other and we’re in a conflict situation involving Species 8472. That part is complicated but it all starts with us encountering the Borg,” Ghubari said, pausing dramatically as any mention of the Borg as a plot point warranted.”

“As you can imagine, I was not exactly glad to see them, but even our Trafalgar-class tactical destroyer wasn’t going to survive long in a fight against three cubes, so when they hailed us, I put on my poker face and prepared to do what I could to keep my crew out of danger. As it turned out, they especially wanted to speak with me. Why I couldn’t imagine, but I knew there were little options given they had weapons locked. So I make an agreement for myself and my Chief of Security to beam over, which not even came close to reassuring my crew. So we lower our shields to be beamed over and rather than finding myself and the COS next to me, I’m alone. Stark was my First Officer back then too, and I’m sure you already know him well enough even after a first meeting to know he is fiercely loyal.”

“I was upset at the deception, but the Borg Queen herself was there and revealed her presence.” Ghubari shuddered slightly, almost imperceptibly. “Even today I can still feel the distinct sensation of her circling around and running her hand across my shoulder. Never mind that she wanted our help and had no intentions of assimilating me or my crew, but it was quite honestly terrifying. And yet, I was the Captain and I had to set an example for the crew. Meanwhile on the ship though, Stark was ready to take any and all action to retrieve me safely.” She smiled. “I was returned soon after I got my crew to stand down, but it was the first moment where I could truly feel they had warmed to me as their new captain and I had their loyalty.”

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

“That definitely qualifies as… interesting,” Luka chuckled. “I’ve heard of Species 8472 but luckily never have been on a mission that encountered them!” she took another sip of wine, holding it in her mouth for a few moments before swallowing. “I’d love to hear more about that mission sometime. Something else… I read in your file that you had a prosthetic leg, but from what I can tell, your legs both seem to be biological…?” She glanced at her drink for a moment, then looked back at Ghubari.

Luka