Kitchen Invasion!

Posted on Thu 26th Jan, 2023 @ 8:23am by Lieutenant Damion Ildaran & Jaroth Dieklin

800 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: A Fresh Perspective
Location: Brown Sector Community Center
Timeline: MD-6, 1800 hours

"--And you're not to come out the rest of this evening," Damian said to Kya as he firmly closed the kitchen door behind her. "You're knackered. Get some rest before you fall down. I'll take care of supper tonight."

Whatever she said in reply, Damion chose not to hear. He put on a hair net and gloves, then unloaded from an anti-grav cart a mountain of produce from the hydroponics set-up he had in his quarters. It was more than he could eat by himself or with Elizabeth. He'd begun donating produce to the community center a year or two before, so people who needed fresh food could get it.

Any child who came in, he set to peeling potatoes, carrots, and squash while he heated large kettles of water and tossed in salt. Then he began to sauté onions. A cough sounded behind him.

Damion pointed to his left, his back turned to the person who'd come in. "If you're sick, go see the doctors in the clinic; we don't need you in here."

Damion heard a man chuckle behind him. He turned to see it was the local constable. "Hello, Dieklin. What's up with you?"

"You don't look nearly as pretty from the back as Kya does," Dieklin said.

"Neither do you," Damion said. "Do you plan to be useful or just stand there chatting me up all night?"

"How's about I make some bread? I run a mean replicator."

"Be my guest, please," Damion told him. "I have no idea how to do anything with dough."

"Really? You've led a deprived life. I'll replicate us some mapa." Dieklin entered the kitchen, washed his hands, put on his own hair net, and began programming the kitchen's replicator. Soon, the aroma of Bajoran bread filled the kitchen. Damion collected the peeled and chopped vegetables from the children and added them to the pot, along with the onions and his thanks for the help.

"Don't forget your Holy Trinity," a teenage girl who lived in Brown Sector told him. She'd been watching the show.

"What's that?" Damion asked.

"You've got your onions and carrots, but you don't have any celery."

"Celery?" Damion made a face. "That stuff's disgusting!"

"We'll handle it, darlin'," Dieklin said to the girl. "Why don't you stack some dishes and put out silverware at the service counter, eh?"

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes but did as she was told. "You gonna make any dessert?" she asked once she was finished filling the silverware cannisters and setting out stacks of napkins.

"Fresh strawberries," Damion said as he added some Worcestershire sauce to the stew. "They're cut in halves, already. I'll sprinkle them with sugar, and they'll be ready to serve."

"Yuck! The seeds always get in my teeth. You don't have any chocolate?" the girl asked.

"The man doesn't even know about dough," Dieklin said to the girl. "Chocolate's way out of his league."

"I know about chocolate," Damion protested, "but I don't know how to make it. You're the replicator whiz. Magic some up for us."

"No way!" Dieklin held up his hands. "Chocolate's an Earth food. I only cook Bajoran. Sorry, kid; you're out of luck."

"Uh-uh. I'm gonna find somebody who knows how to make chocolate. I'll bet Renato knows!"

"Renato's out helping with sick people--or doing whatever it is he does," Dieklin said from the replicator. He tapped a button. "And there we are! Mapa, steaming hot, fresh from the Replimaker. So good, you don't even need jam."

"Maybe not, but I've got jars and jars of tomato preserves and strawberry preserves to put on it," Damion said. "I'm not taking them back home."

"Sounds good to me," Dieklin replied. He set out a pan of mapa at the service counter, and brought a few jars of preserves there, too. "You gonna do any kind of meat?"

"The only kind of meat I know how to cook is either vat-grown or seafood," Damion said. "I was going to grill some mushrooms."

"Mushrooms." Dieklin lifted his eyes to the heavens and shook his head. "Right. Deprived. I'll replicate some larish pie."

"Can Kya's budget handle that?" Damion asked. "I figured flour and whatnot for bread would be cheap, but actual pie costs more."

"You let me worry about the replicator rations; they do pay me, you know," Dieklin said.

"It's your credits--and I wouldn't mind some larish pie if you know how to program it."

Dieklin grinned. "Just like my Grandma used to make. I'll even help clean up afterward."

"Deal! Korfmager at Qaraq's tomorrow night? I'll be looking after a friend tonight."

"Deal. A friend, huh?" Dieklin shot Damion a knowing look. "If I know who you're talking about, she'll be up for a while. I'll start working on these pies."

 

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