Posted by Lieutenant Commander Baldur Bragason (Strategic Operations Officer) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There

Posted by Captain Mathias McGarrett (CO) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Baldur Bragason (Strategic Operations Officer) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻
“Don’t even go there.” Mathias couldn’t remember anymore who told him that during his first week as XO of Outpost 42, but it was advice he had followed. The Mess Hall provided a great service to all Starfleet personnel on the Outpost, at least in theory. Mass quantities of food were produced without expense to those who would eat it. But it had a reputation of being an awful place to get a meal. The staff produced food with actual ingredients, but those ingredients tended to be nearly expired or abandoned or otherwise unwanted items that were rejected from the nearby restaurants. There were also replicators, but rumor had it no matter what you got from them it tasted much worse than any other replicator on the station.

Perhaps it was because he was just thinking of some play where the king mingled with the commoners in the army on the eve of battle. Or maybe it was that he felt obligated to explore the few remaining places on Outpost 42 that he had yet to set foot in. Whatever the reason, Mathias found himself walking in. Immediately a strong odor hit him like an invisible wall. It wasn’t that it smelled awful. Well, it kind of did, but “funky” would be a better word to describe it. There were plenty of officers in the room, mostly ensigns or crewmen. Somehow there seemed to be an unusual percentage of unattractive people among them. A few shot stares his direction, which he returned with a couple of nods.

Mathias hopped in the back of the line. As he grabbed a bowl and got closer, the funky smell increased in intensity. There were too large pots full of what appeared to be soup. “Green or brown?” the young woman behind the counter asked him. “Green or brown what? What do you call this?” asked Mathias. Rather than answer she gave him shrug with a half smirk. “Brown I guess,” said Mathias. His bowl was filled and he took it to an open table where he sat down. He stared at the soup, wondering exactly why he thought it would actually be a good idea to come here.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

OOC: Bump for anyone who wants to try the green or brown whatever it is. - Adam

OOC: Giving bumping one more try. ~Adam

“I recommend a half and half” A booming base bellowed from behind the Captain. The Bearded Commander and latest addition to the senior staff stood holding a bowl that was clearly holding at least the second serving of the… soup? He smiled widely and indicated at a chair opposite the McGarret “Mind If I join you, sir?” He asked in the friendliest tone he could muster.

SOO - Baldur

Mathias turned at the sound of Commander Bragason’s voice. At this point he would have welcomed the sight of anyone he knew, perhaps even his mother. “Please do.” He took a spoonful of the soup-like brown substance cautiously. He winced as he tried it and pained expression stayed frozen on his face for a few seconds. “Thanks for the suggestion. I’m not sure I’m headed back for seconds.”

“Do you eat here often?” asked Mathias as he dared risking a second bite.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

Baldur gave the Captain a polite smile “I guess I’ve been here often enough since I arrived. Some of my staff gave it some less than glowing recommendations and I’ve always enjoyed a good challenge when I saw one. What’s a better challenge for your belly than mysterious food. Altough they could clearly use some direction in preserving food” He explained before taking a good serving of soup? for himself.

“I love a good challenge,” said Mathias, slightly shaking his head. “Particularly when my belly isn’t what is being challenged. Let me guess, you’re a regular at that Klingon fast food place. They don’t even have to cook it. No wonder it’s fast.” Maybe this was a poor time to be thinking about Klingon cuisine.

OOC: Okay, I’ll bite .. er, pardon the pun ..

Baldur shrugged “I don’t mind Klingon, reminds me of home,” He said with a half-smile “Although I have to admit their dessert selections do leave something to be desired that’s for certain. I generally like my Ice Cream not to try to crawl away”

IC:
Nikki strode into the mess. He was intending on booking it for a rally with his boys. Basically an introduction to the boss and his own looking at what cards fate had given him in an engineering crew. He had nearly 200 under his wing. Not all were specifically ‘engineers’ but related departments. A mess like this was not an uncommon sight - even the liners had a similar kind, though the odor that wafted past his nostrils would challenge the scent of his cigar. He could always cater and put it on the ‘fleet’s’ nickel. There were people there eating. He spotted one group playing cards. Another group were huddled around a ‘foosball’ game and still others around a dartboard. Nikki looked longingly at the card game. Maybe if they were his boys but they looked to be medics. Clean cut, short haired and skinny and each one looking bored. Among the people there Nikki spotted the couple of men at a table. Officers. One he thought looked to be the ‘boss’, but was blocked by a fleshy monument of a man whom he didn’t know. His bodyguard? The bouncer for the mess? Either way he looked like one who could handle himself; he was certainly handling the spoon quite ably.

Tearing himself from that vision he moved to where the food was being dispensed. “Some of each,” he said. His nostrils curled up. He didn’t ask whether it was vegetarian or not; somehow he just knew that no meat had ever really found its way into that pot. Slipping it onto the tray he scooped up a glass of water, a shaker of pepper and a slimy bottle of what he took to be hot sauce. On his way around he gathered a couple of slices of bread and the appropriate cutlery and made his way over. It may have been a mess hall but the whole appearance looked not unlike the ‘fine dining’ hall in the ‘Pen’. Approaching the other two officers in the room he set the tray down and sat, meticulously forming his stiff napkin onto one leg. “Local grub?” he asked, then glancing at the others, he introduced himself. “Brako.” That may or may not have been drowned out by a yell and high fives from the foosball table. For all their noise they might have won at dabo.
- Nikki, COO

Baldur turned his head around and nodded in acknowledgement but lacking the friendly smile he had shared with the Captain “Baldur, SOO” he introduced himself to the Operations Chief before taking another spoonful of the questionable dinner, which he had actually gathered a slight taste for in his short time on the Outpost. “I’ve been considering taking samples of each meal and having them analysed by the labs, find out what’s really there but so far I’ve decided against it, frankly I’m afraid what it’ll show” He stated taking another spoonful.

Baldur SOO

Friendly fellow, thought Nikki. He looked at the fare and decided before tasting it that it needed help and applied pepper and a generous slop of the hot sauce to it. It looked a little thin for the bread but he’d cross that road when he came to it. Glancing at the two over a sip of the water he tried to formulate what they were about. The ‘upside’ is that he was among men and not surrounded by the run of dames that he had thus far been with. They were an odd couple. Eating here but sounding like they’d like nothing but. A momentary chill passed through him. Were they here because the replicators were down? He considered Baldur and his response. Stirring up the matter in the bowl he commented, “Think this is bad? Should try prison food.”

“Mathias McGarrett,” said the captain, omitting his rank as if it wasn’t the most important thing in the galaxy to him. “Welcome. I think you came to the right place to get a heck of a first impression of what the Outpost has to offer.”

Well, he had had his luggage rerouted, his cabin utterly unfurnished, nobody seemed to really expect him. He’d had a hell of a lot of first impressions. Still the counselor dame was a fresh bit of air to help balance off the ‘impression’. He noted that the ‘captain’ didn’t run rank, but Baldur was keen to let him know who he was. He took a spoon full. “My gran had a way of adding things to her soup to make it go farther when more people showed up than she thought.” He looked down, deciding it needed salt and began to apply it. “I’m a guessin they are expecting a lot.” After the salt it was okay. Thin, with otherwise unknown bits in it. But Nikki was a cosmopolitan fella and had seen a great many unknown bits in kitchens. He shrugged. He’d eaten worse. He’d even cooked worse when he had started off. Didn’t excuse the cook here though.

“Commander,” began Mathias, turning back to Baldur. “I think you’re making the right move to not have science analyze what’s in here. Sometimes the price you have to pay to see the cards just isn’t worth it.” He took a deep breath and went after another bite. This was the slowest he had eaten a meal since he was a dinner guest on Orina V. He supposed if he had evolved from fish he might have different tastes too. That was another thought he was going to need to shake off before his stomach started doing somersaults.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

“Hah” The laugh came like a deep boom “Very true, sir, very true” Baldur grabbed a napkin and wiped some soup from his great beard with care “I think this place shows what people can do if given the opportunity” He said with conviction “Also that no matter where it is, non descript space soup always tastes the same”

SOO - Baldur

“Or not do,” Nikki said. He found the man ate like someone out of Lord of the Flies. If one had a beard, one took care how one ate and didn’t virtually dip it into the soup to better have the ambiance. His uncle Patty had instilled in him certain manners, especially around soup. Spoon to mouth, not mouth to spoon. It was a lesson he had never forgotten, however, not always held to. With this soup he found he had no urge to rush. Dipping the bread in he bit the piece off. It had a taste. Of what he wasn’t sure but it wasn’t horrible. As for the food anyone with half an imagination could make this better. “Is this a random quality control check?” He asked. Why else would they be here. At least Nikki had a reason.
- Nikki