Posted by Commander Amelia Manning (Executive Officer) in Mess Hall

Posted by Ensign Issac Forgrave (Security Officer) in Mess Hall

Posted by Ensign Clinton Reed (Engineer) in Mess Hall
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<Snip>
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

not a bad billet Stores thaught as he tried yet another iteration of coffee ala Forgraves. “ The problem with replicator recipes is most simply dont have enugh culinary drift” Stores had found him self indulging in his replicator hobby hoping to make a brew that would fool Issac. So far he had replicated and experimented with different beans, grinds, water mineral content and brew methods. “One must do more than enter a generic algorithm to approximate drift one must insure each ingredient exhibits variance”. Sniffing the replicated watch cup, with his eyes close. Then siping the coffee and holding it in his mouth like a wine taster. “ ah, that should do it” * just have to run it for a few weeks to make sure nothing sckunky comes up*
As Stores enjoys his work, his computer terminal chimes. “ ah, my Kentucky style moonshine samples…”

Clinton “Stores” Reed.

OOC: Thought that was an interesting hook; hope you don’t mind if I pick it up again. I’ve got it in my head that this might continue a few weeks later, in the mess hall one morning. It being a public area, others would be welcome to join in, of course.

IC:
Wandering into the mess hall that morning, Issac filled his plate and eyed up the open seats. Seeing a familiar face, he smiled and ambled over to join Stores.

“Morning, Stores. Ya doin’ alright lately?” Taking a seat, he set his plate and thermos down on the table, before pouring himself a mug of coffee.

“Now, rumor says you been working on getting something a bit better than the standard coffee out of the replicators lately. You had any luck, or should I brew some more for ya? Issac had a twinkle in his eye, contrasting slightly with the earnest, helpful expression he wore.

Ensign Issac Forgrave, Security

OOC,
not at all. I posted it as a bit of character background, if it becomes a hook it’s great.
IC,
Stores looking up, and a grin spreading across is face wile he lounges back in is chair. “I have in deed, my young freind! It’s under “Issac’s brew”. Might not be perfect but it should been the stock recipe and I would love your opinion.” Leaning forward to retrieve his seemingly ever present watch cup and taking it in both hands and positioning it under his nose wile Forgrave went to fetch himself a cup.
OCC,
I plan a few more exposays to help flesh him out and provide more hooks.

Clinton “Reed” Reed, Supercargo

OOC: Hope you don’t mind me barging in… ;) – Joana

IC:
The words reached her ears as Manning was walking back toward the doors. With a quick glance around she spotted the two officers in conversation, and slowly moved closer to their table. They were an unusual pair, to say the least. Of course, she had heard the whispers about the new Ensigns, but she had not yet had the chance to meet them. Command’s decisions were Command’s decisions, and she wasn’t used to question them.

“Why replicate coffee when you can have tea?” The voice carried a strong British accent that would make it obvious to most members of the crew who its owner was. “It’s much healthier, much tastier, and it really only needs water. I have a few spare cases of English Breakfast if you care to try…” The last sentence had a clear sarcastic undertone, but it was not immediately obvious whether the XO was joking or being serious.

Cmdr. Manning, XO

OOC,
Dear lady you are welcome, as is anyone else who cares to join in!

IC,
Stores looks up to see who the new arrival is, and recognizing the XO from her picture in the Dresden’s “bio” he cracked a big grin and pushes away fron the table to stand up. “Well hello Boss, good to make your acquaintance” sticking out his hand” Mr, Forgrave is from a place called Kentucky, and those folks are still holding a grudge over tea taxes” Stores face shifts from his shit eating grin to a wry smile and a wink. “ My self I am not predudice when it comes to my alkaloid stimulents”

Clinton “Stores” Reed, Supercargo

Amelia couldn’t help but smile as she shook the Ensign’s hand. It was nice to see him walking out and about given the circumstances in which he had gotten on board the Dresden. Manning knew the crew could be quite suspicious, but she was glad that the man didn’t seem to care.

Laughing, she turned to look at the other man, who had just been pointed out as ‘Mr. Forgrave’, before turning back. “Well, Mr…” Amelia’s words trailed off, clearly in search for a name or other form of address. “Earth was a much different place 600 years ago. What happened in the past, must stay in the past. But I’m always glad to know that there are other tea drinkers out there.”

“Reed. Clinton Reed but the fleet types on my last ship took to calling me Stores”

“Issac’s Brew.” As Forgrave spoke the request into the replicator, he wondered what to expect. ‘Stores’ had certainly seemed to know his way around a ship, and no reason to expect that wouldn’t lead into replicators too. Well, it Smells damn good… Issac wasn’t a connoisseur by any means, but he had spent the last 15 or so years brewing coffee the old-fashioned way. Replicated coffee wasn’t bad per say, but it was distinct - every cup of it tasted the same; and he thought it had a slightly… shallow flavor. Issac would say similar things about most replicated foods, but he’d admit having trouble differentiating some items.

Figuring it would be appropriate to taste-test it in front of it’s creator, he carried the steaming mug back to the table, arriving in time to see the XO was present, and to catch ‘Stores’ mentioning Kentucky.

“Mornin’ Ma’am.” Issac nodded politely in greeting; setting down his mug before extending his hand to the XO. “Uh, please feel free to join us if you’d care to. Though Stores is right - I might have to pass on that offer of tea; I fear my ancestors may haunt me if I accept any from ya. Way I heard it, there was a big to-do over the whole thing, threw a bunch in the ocean some… oh I reckon about six centuries ago.” Issac tried to maintain a straight face at this statement, but quickly gave in to let a large toothy smile cross his face, complete with a short laugh.

With a smile still in her lips, Manning nodded back in acknowledgment, eyeing the contents of the man’s mug. She assumed that was the famous new brew the pair had been discussing prior to her arrival. “I understand, Mr. Forgrave.” Amelia said with a hint of playful sarcasm. “No grudges held from my part, but my ancestors wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t at least try. Remind me to take some tea the next time I visit Kentucky.”

“And Kentucky, Stores? I am hurt by your baseless accusations, sir. I am from the good state of North Carolina, but I suppose it’s hard to expect a Boomer to be all that familiar with Terra’s geography. Lucky for you, this coffee you engineered smells too good to let that ruin my day.” Issac closed his eyes, taking an exaggerated sniff of the fresh mug. “Yep, I think you’ve earned some forgiveness.”

Issac took a sip of the dark, fragrant liquid. Immediately obvious was the fact that this was NOT standard replicator coffee. He took another sip. Damn, but this is good coffee… Matter of fact, if I hadn’t gotten it myself, I’d have put money down on this being fresh brewed. Damn!

Issac set the mug down, willing his face to stay neutral. He paused, and looked at the older man. “Well, Issac’s Brew may be a success. That’s damn fine coffee right there, make no mistake! I’d-a been hard pressed to… No, that ain’t quite right. I don’t think I could have guessed that came out of a replicator. Least, not with the one cup of it.” Issac leaned back in the seat, still with an impressed look on his face.

He nodded to himself, before looking around conspiratorially and leaning forwards again. “And maybe you already know this trick, but I’ll let you in on my secret, if you can call it that. Thing is, at least to me, all replicated coffee tastes the same; iffin’ ya order the same thing of course. Medium roast, black coffee’s my order. Every cup I’ve ever had out of a replicator tastes the same, and so I can tell immediately. If ya can throw some random variation in that program of yours, I bet you’d be real popular with the coffee-drinkers on the crew.”

Ensign Issac Forgrave, Security

“That my boy is called culinary drift” Stores Sid with a grin “ Most replicator recipes use a simple algorithm, if at all to acount for this. To do it right you have to acount for difrences in the ingredients, proportionately and individual cooking methods. It isnt perfect and one still has to keep the program to a reasonable size, but with some work it”s possible. “ stores leans forward conspiratorially “ and now that I have the basics, I can modify it to suit difrent tasts, say for Turkish coffee or expresso.” After a pause for dramatic effect, “ I have a slew of recipes I can upload, being that there isnt much else to do on cargo runs than tweet the replicators”

Clinton “Stores” Reed, Supercargo

“Interesting; I’ve only ever done basic work with replicators in the past. Mainly used it for raw materials; metals mostly. Easy enough to dial in specific alloys and what not - used it back on earth when I was working, doing antique repair; making odds and ends. With that sorta thing, don’t really want any variation!”

Issac turned to the XO “What are your thoughts, ma’am? You mentioned you had a large supply of tea; do you find the real stuff that much better than replicated?”

Ensign Issac Forgrave, Security

For the most part, Amelia had sat down and quietly listened to the conversation. That was probably what she missed the most when it came to her current job placement, and the one thing that kept making her coming back to Main Engineering whenever she had the chance.

“The real stuff is much better than the replicated one. That’s not even a question. I just restock my supply whenever I happen to hop back home. When I don’t have the chance, I’ll just have it shipped here.” Manning smiled.

“I assume you’re trying to improve the coffee recipes on the replicator? If you want my opinion, tailoring replicator recipes is a lot of work and it doesn’t really pay off… Personally, I’d rather not mess with it. Not to mention, it will taste the same every time, regardless of how good they may be. Sure it’s great when you just don’t have the time, but…” Amelia shook her head. “For one, randomness is not really random. A pattern is a pattern is a pattern. You can in theory add some randomness to your order by creating a list of slightly different patterns that the computer could cycle through whenever you ordered your coffee, effectively surprising you every time. But depending on how big of a list you have of those, your surprise is going to stop being one quite fast…” Manning paused for a moment to catch her breath. “But let’s say that, for the sake of argument, this would solve your randomness problem. Whatever pattern you’re storing is highly compressed, effectively storing one molecule of a particular element and repeating it several times to fill whatever foodstuff you ordered, which will always lead to single-bit inaccuracies on the final product.”

Manning shrugged, looking at Stores. “I would say your best shot is to actually brew the coffee you want and upload it through the transporter buffer, since it is finer grained than the replicators, if you will, but… same storage compression issues. And the replicator will still assemble it at a molecular level rather than at an atomic one. Not to mention, you’d have to convince the Transporter Chief to work with you.” She shot the man a smile. “That may be the most difficult part. But… if you do find a good alternative, let me know. Maybe I’ll ask you tweak the ship’s tea recipe next!”

Cmdr. Manning, XO

“For the most part you’re right m’am but as we are acual dealing with several chemical molecules and they can very in individual concentration one can write in some algorithms for variation. As to the transporter buffer, its easy enugh to go in to the logs and see the coffee crew members have brought on board and replicat it and then go on to brew it on the Holodeck. I could even do so with your tea if you want. You will miss out on the ritual of letting the tea leaves steep but when things are going pear shaped and you need a quick cuppa it would help.’’ Leaning back, Stores srugged “ as for more complicated dishes I have them on good old data rods so as not to gumm up the replicators with huge files” looking around and leaning in conperitoraly” I know it is a compleat wast of time, but a man has to have hobbies”
Taking a sip of coffee, Stores shrugs yea I have met your transporter Cheif. He is competent but not at all impresive “As to our transporter Cheif, I’ll mind my manners and keep my opinions to myself”

Clinton “Stores” Reed, Supercargo