Posted by Lieutenant Emily Fox (Counselor) in Academy Flashback - Time for Two

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Nash (Chief Engineer) in Academy Flashback - Time for Two
A week had gone by. On Arakis that was a week of hot, sandblasted days and relentless heat, that merged into each and every week on the planet that, on the surface, very little to endear it to anyone.

Emily’s soup kitchen had operated every day without fail, although the coffee machine that had been left by Nash when he had left the kitchen had raised more than a few eyebrows. Most loved the bean machine that turned water into black gold, but many distrusted anything that changed such a precious thing as water.

Today was no different as the evenings regular clientele pushed there way through the doors and began to take their seats. Dusty, smelly and dirty, dressed in linen wraps with hoods over their heads most of them couldn’t be told apart at first glance unless they had something specific about them. One of these men that sat at a table was clearly broad shouldered and muscular, but not overly so. His hood was pulled down over his eyes as he looked at the table, and toyed with something metallic in his fingers. Fingers wrapped in cloth and to protect them from the sun. For a time, he watched the goings on and the Cadets as they worked stirring pots and calling out for more of whatever they needed, and his eyes followed one woman in particular.

“Coffee?” He asked one of the Cadets quietly who was walking around serving tables with drinks and clearing bowls. In his fingers was a Starfleet Comm badge. “If you could ask the Soup Savior of Arakis to come with it, I have news for her. About her friend.” The mans voice was heavily accented, like the people of Arakis.

Nash

The man nodded and heard back to the small kitchen area. “Yo Soup savior,” the cadet called out to Emily. “Someone is asking for you. They say they have news or something and they want coffee.”

Emily wiped her hands on the rag that seemed attached to her shoulder and moved to the small machine Ethan had left a week ago. Glancing out into the room, she smiled seeing a dusty, cloth-covered individual. There was only one man it could be. No one asked for coffee that wasn’t part of the Federation. Approaching the table, Emily had a spring to her step. She had waited a week to hear anything about Nash. The problem was not all the desert cities communicated. When Nash disappeared into the desert, only the immediate people with him knew where they were going. Emily had asked but the only response she could get was the dog roams the desert at night. The response was poetic and the fact Ethan’s nickname was now his tribe name was comforting and problematic. Ethan was bound to be less than pleased to see the nickname Emily playfully gave him has been bestowed as an official one. For Emily however, it had meant Ethan, as she expected, had earned a place in the tribe. Being an outsider this was unheard of.

“So you have some news for me,” Emily said to the stranger setting the coffee down on the table.

Emily Fox

The man looked up at Emily a moment as she set the coffee down, and under the hood she would see that it was neither Dulin or Ethan, but a young man that had been in the kitchen once or twice. Picking up the drink, he brought it to his lips and drank it in one sitting, closing his eyes as he did so. Giving a body shudder as he set it down, he gasped slightly for breath and waved a hand in front of his mouth, the coffee had been hot, but not enough to burn.

“The Dog told me to ask for coffee, and then drink it before giving you the message,” the man explained, his mouth making odd shapes as he tried to decide if he liked the drink or not. “He told me it was good manners among his people to drink this when meeting someone,” he shrugged, “it is disgusting, I liked the pineapple better.”

“Oh!” The man said, looking up at her and remembering why he was here. Holding up the Starfleet Badge that was in his fingers, he motioned for Emily to take it. “Your friend told me to give this to you, he told me that you have to meet him at the place you took him the night you met. The first place, he said, under the stars. Meet him when you finish here, as he cannot come back yet.”

“Ahh,” the man let out a long, drawn out sound of understanding. “The dog does know you. He told me to say these words when your face did that, he described it well. He said to tell you, Why is your face doing that? He likes it more when it does that smile thing, not that confused thing. Meet me where you opened my mind to the world and where you asked too many questions. Those were his words.”

Pushing himself to his feet and turning to leave, he paused, and then turned back to her. “Room Mate of Doctor Doolittle,” he said, using one of Dulins names for here that Ethan had used in the cave, “the Dog told me that you are to ride in style tonight to the place he will meet you. He left you a gift outside, and asked that you bring coffee.” Turning, the man walked out of the door, throwing the hood further over his face to cover it from the sun and sand.

Outside, he patted the animal that was tethered to a post outside the kitchen, a post that was very reminiscent of old hitching posts outside saloons on Earth. The animal resembled the Yak that Ethan and Emily had joked about, but was saddled for a rider. Like all animals on Arakis, this one could go without water for a long time, was strong and sturdy, stank, and was uncomfortable to ride with the way it swayed side to side when it walked.

Ethan Nash