Grilling at Renato's Continues

Posted on Thu 20th Aug, 2020 @ 2:35pm by Commander Mikaela Locke & Lieutenant Commander Alora Baro & Yuliette Marayan Dr. & Renato Solis & Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD & Purulence Addams & Ignatius Collins

1,417 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Brown Sector Deck 2245 Renato's
Timeline: MD 14, 1600

Re-collecting her own plate after helping other guests, Yuliette brightened with recognition at Purulence and Ignatius, whom she had met earlier, and who chanced into the same party as she had. "Fancy running into you again!" she said.

"Hey! Good to see you again!" Purulence waved at Neone. "I dragged Ignatius to the art show that's farther down this hall, and on the way back, we found this party going on."

"Come join us?" Ignatius said, pulling out a chair, "before she drags me to another art show?"

"Just a second, hold the seat for me." Yuliette went to get her self some tea.

Alora's afternoon, so far, had been a fun sort of chaos but it was good to get off her feet. She hadn't realized how many people she knew until she tried to walk across a crowded courtyard. Lanis was deep in conversation, so she didn't interrupt but placed her food offering on the table, then gathered her choice bits from what was there. She found a seat after a moment, absorbing the conversations as they flowed around her.

Renato approached, red jacket standing out as he brought a tray of selections from the buffet. He had a sheepish grin on his face, holding the food in front of him and acting in a dramatized fashion. After he set the tray on the table, utensils for all to share, and bowls for separate service, it was clear this was delicate demonstration.

"I heard we had an order for something special, and I wish we could accommodate that, but we have no kitchen to order from, ... yet. Brandt wanted to make sure you didn't go hungry, though, and he told me. So! I have been assured these are most savory morsels. This buffet is full of options that were brought to us from the community, and I am happy to bring you more to sample. Please let me know if you don't enjoy them! Peldor Joi!"

A little embarrassed at her mistake, Alora simply nodded with a vague smile.

Yuliette made her way to the table. "Did you find something you liked?" she said to Alora, trying to gauge if she would be welcome in the adjacent chair or not. "I think I've tried more new things this afternoon than I have in a long time!"

Alora smiled. She didn't know the other woman, but all were friends today. "More than a few." She nodded to the empty seat on her one side. "I may have to be rolled out of here."

Yuliette grinned and nodded at that. A couple of days ago she was worried about how she would feed herself and now there was more food on her plate than she could possibly eat. She relaxed, thankful that this Bajoran didn't seem to have any issues with her. "Everyone here is too generous. Do you live in town?"

"Tivoli Gardens," Alora said pleased she could be understood as she, what her human roommate called 'chimpmunk cheeked', a mouthful of food so she could be understood and not gross people out. Go multitasking. It was only then she consciously registered the Cardassian aspects of the other woman. A child during the First and Second Occupations, she remembered some but not nearly what the adults did. She'd learned not to paint all with the same brush and so asked, "You?"

"I just came to Brown Sector. I live a few decks below here, in a place called The Zodiac. Is Tivoli Gardens in Brown sector? Sorry, I'm still getting my bearings."

Alora smiled and held out her arm and pulled up her sleeve, after putting down her fork. Showing an arm mounted computer on her forearm, "I'm still getting my bearings." She quipped, "Hence why I have this." She bypassed her schedule, usually the first thing she viewed and called up a small 3D map, tapping a few more keys highlighted Tivoli Gardens decks and Brown sector Decks as it showed, "Whenever possible, keep a map handy."

Yuliette was impressed at the gadgetry. She missed her own hi-tech goodies rather badly since she had to destroy them to keep from being tracked by them. "That's a really clever imager! And more convenient than a hand held. I like the gauntlet style." She gushed. "Is it custom made?"

Alora, always happy to talk tech nodded, "It seemed easier than carrying multiple devices. I just made a list of everything I needed it to do and designed it. It took a little time, but I got there," she said proudly. "Especially useful here. I'm always connected to the computer, my schedule, and it's set to ding me if something shows up on routine scans. All sorts of useful things. If anyone hacks it, it's even programmed to slag itself. I call it my second brain." Then she smiled, "Well, third brain after my yeoman who helps keep me on track."

Yuliette grew a little nervous. What if the scanner was making a record of her? She had to remind herself that nervousness wouldn't help and it was better not to raise any suspicions. "A yeoman? So you're in Star Fleet? Are you a member of the station staff?"

Alora nodded, oblivious to Yuliette's hidden nervousness, "Chief of Operations, which is a rather fancy way of saying I fix broken things and coordinate others who fix broken things." She smiled in a gently friendly fashion.

"Why am I always late to these things?" Mikaela Locke asked as she approached the doorway to Renato's.

Andrus Grax didn't look at her. "I am to presume you're looking for something deeper than, 'because you're acting-commander of a station with just under two-hundred thousand life-forms on it, and that makes you a very busy woman?'"

Mikaela noted that there was not a hint of sarcasm in his reply.

"Besides," Grax continued, not allowing space for Locke to respond, "I'm late, too."

Mikaela emitted the smallest of chuckles. "You're late because you were in a meeting with me," she stated.

The two officers - both still clad in their Starfleet uniforms - crossed the threshold and immediately stopped in their tracks as they took stock of the size of the assembled gathering.

Disheveled but otherwise in great spirits, Renato greeted the two at the edge of the fray. His hair was sweaty, shirt a little worn for the day but he hoped an earnest smile would tide them over. "Welcome, Peldor Joi, I am Renato, and this is a feast for all... though we are running out of food for the next few minutes so get in there quick before we set the last round... Desserts."

"Um... thank you, Renato," Mikaela said with a slightly hesitant smile. She looked around the room again, but couldn't quite make out what the system was. "So," she continued, her hands open in front of her, "Do we just ... help ourselves?"

"Yes, there was at one point, a system, but the children carried it off and lost it. We have plates over at the far end, utensils abound on the tables, Napkins ... will be forthcoming."

"Great," Mikaela said with a smile. She turned back to Grax. "Shall we?"

"Let's," Grax replied simply, offering a slight smile and a nod of acknowledgment to Renato as he and Locke stepped past him, into the mingling throng, in the hope of procuring some dinner.

Paul caught sight of the pair and waved to them, then came forward to meet them. He smiled at Mikaela in lieu of kissing her. "I wasn't sure you'd be able to make it. Did the meeting go well?"

Mikaela glanced at Grax, who shrugged his shoulders as if he either didn't know to didn't care. "It was fine," Mikaela said with a look that said both 'I don't want to talk about it now,' and 'I'll tell you later,' all at the same time. She looked around the areaagain, and then back to Paul. "Please tell me there's some food left?"

Paul nodded once in understanding at Mikaela. His question had only been an ice-breaker, after all. "There's some food left--vegetable dishes, even--and they're bringing in more. The tables are on the other side of this mob of people." Paul walked with the two of them as they skirted the edge of the crowd to where the buffet line was. "There have been a lot more people here than I expected," Paul said. "Word travels fast."

Continuing as the Peldor party grows ....

 

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