Let's Hope This Chef Isn't A Spy...

Posted on Mon May 25th, 2015 @ 8:53pm by Commander Angelica Fairchild & Miril Sa'Vvn

Mission: The New Sydney Fiasco
Location: Transporter Room
Timeline: After T'Pel becomes Miril

In order to preserve Miril's cover, it was important that no one else figured out who she really was. So once she'd heard that Miril was out of surgery and feeling well enough to make her appearance, Angel had gone down to the transporter room and let the transporter operator on duty have a break. He'd looked at her a bit oddly but had happily left once he realized that she was, in fact, quite serious, about relieving him for a while. She swore she heard a shout of joy from the corridor as he practically skipped off, probably in pursuit of coffee and a snack. Taking her time to cover her tracks and falsify the transporter data in a manner that operations and engineering would be unlikely to detect, she locked onto Miril's biosignature in the hidden medbay 13 and energized the transporter, simultaneously sending a code packet to New Sydney to trick their transporter system into thinking that Miril had beamed aboard from there.

Looking around, then stepping off the transporter pad, Miril smiled softly to Angel. "Miril Sa'Vvn, reporting as ship's chef."

"Welcome aboard, Miss Sa'Vvn." Angel smiled a bit, stepping out from behind the transporter console and picking up a PaDD she had lying there. "You'll find your cabin assignment and expected duties on this PaDD... probably best to just tack your name on the door to your cabin though, rather than trying to remember specific intersections. It's a big ship." She handed the PaDD to Miril, inviting her to proceed into the hallway. "You'll be working in our mess hall, obviously. Pretty straightforward except we've banned a lot of Andorian spices. Apparently there are allergies."

Looking the PaDD over, Miril nodded as she stepped out into the hall. "Ah yes, that would make sense. Better to avoid the allergens rather than bog down sickbay. I assume on a ship this size there are quite a few people that have issues with replicated food. I'm also betting they'll be my main customers. Am I correct?"

Angel nodded. "I personally don't have a problem with replicated food, but I like a home cooked meal just as much as anyone else... plus real food is better for sharing with someone you love." She subtly directed their path toward the turbolift, trying to make it seem like she was actually leading Miril through the ship. "And if you can get your hands on real coffee... I'd come in just for that."

Miril looked up and smiled at Angel, shifting to how she was being directed and falling half a step behind. "I think I can get some fresh coffee beans on the orbital station. I will endeavor to keep a good supply in stock."

"That would be great. I'm pretty sure Sinek thinks I'm crazy, but replicated coffee... I just don't know how people drink it without cringing." Angel wrinkled her nose a bit as she called the turbolift car. "I don't think he drinks coffee though, so he just might not understand."

"I have to agree. Replicated versions of most drinks just miss something. Normally it's flavor and even when it has good flavor, it's so uniform in that flavor, it's repulsive." Miril said as she stepped into the opening turbolift. "What deck are my quarters and the galley on again? I hope they're close to each other. A Nebula class is a lot bigger than a freighter." she asked, glancing back down at her PaDD.

"Main galley's on deck 9. Civilian living quarters..." Angel had to stop and think about that for a moment, not entirely certain. "Deck... 13 or 14, you should be on 13. Not terribly close, but not half the ship's distance either. All of those decks are saucer section only."

"Destination unclear," the computer interrupted. "Please state destination."

Angel sighed and rolled her eyes. "Deck 13, residential quarters." As the turbolift began to move, she turned her attention back to Miril. "Once you're settled we'll get you a commbadge and make sure the computer recognizes your voice commands."

Rubbing her fingers lightly against her throat where the doctor had tweaked her vocal chords, Miril cleared her voice just before the turbolift doors opened. "It should easily be able to recognize my voice though, right? Federation systems tend to be good at that."

"It should, but you know how technology can be. I swear, sometimes the terminal in my own office doesn't know who I am." Angel shook her head slightly as the turbolift stopped and opened its doors again. "Luckily we haven't had any serious computer issues with the Hera, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"That's good to know," Miril said as she peered out of the turbolift doors. "Is this the right deck?"

"It should be..." Holding the turbolift door back with one hand, Angel stepped far enough into the corridor to tap the bulkhead panel next to it, looking for the deck number notation and the section they were in. "Cargo bays? Not funny, Hera." She knew there was another turboshaft opening on this deck closer to the civilian residential quarters. Maybe it was in use. "Well, it's not such a long walk from here. We're on the right deck, about half the deck away from where we meant to come down but not terrible."

"At least it's the right deck," Miril mumbled as she stepped out of the turbolift. "I'll review your prior chef's notes and logs tonight and start my first meal in the morning, if that's ok. What happened to them, by the way? These gigs tend to be extremely long term."

"That's quite fine. And it's an interesting story." For a moment, Angel struggled to maintain a straight face as they talked. Luckily no one was around to see it. "We were having some issues with someone passing information to a third party... got the ship in a lot of hot water. Couldn't believe it when it turned out the be the chef..."

"Ah, so they're in the brig then." Miril assumed.

"Uh... no. She's dead. Captain Telvan didn't take too kindly to her actions and vaporized her. Saw it happen... was not pretty." Angel shuddered just a bit remembering how real that had looked.

"Oh..." Miril said, walking in silence for a few. "If it comes time to terminate my contract, I hope it isn't so... Final..."

"Unless you're secretly spying on us for the Obsidian Order or something... you'll be fine. This way." Angel guided Miril around a turn to the right, and they found themselves in the residential section. "What's the cabin number on that PaDD?"

Looking down at her PaDD, Miril checked the room number. Now this was too ironic... It was the same room she was in as T'pel. That made things easier yet more difficult. "Three three eight," she said, barely managing to keep the smirk from her face. She wanted to ask if anything was left in the room, but she'd find out soon enough.

That was ironic, considering they'd just cleared that cabin of T'Pel's belongings. Angel managed not to react to the news, looking for the 300 block of cabins. "I didn't realize we had so many residential cabins down here."

"It is a big ship. Lots of people need quarters. I just hope it isn't too hard to find." Miril said as she checked the room numbers on the doors they passed.

"Shouldn't be too hard... it's right... here." The proper door was easily found, newly stripped of the name of its former occupant. Angel tapped in the code to unlock the door, quickly followed by the code that would assign this cabin to Miril. The door readily slid open, revealing an empty cabin waiting to be filled.

Miril entered the cabin and sighed as she looked around. "Very spartan," she said, unable to hide the hint of sadness in her voice.

"They tend to be that way." Angel followed her in, waiting for the door to close and then grinning just a bit. "I swept the cabin for bugs earlier... it's clean. Anything you want from your old belongings, we can get it." Peeking at the PaDD she'd given to Miril earlier, she tapped a tiny icon in its corner, bringing up a menu for the transporter buffer she'd hidden the more personal things inside. "Anything that's not in this buffer is in storage. Considering 'T'Pel' is dead, it's in general storage so you can easily get it back. We haven't let anyone look through it yet, so it's all still there."

That brought a smile to Miril's features. She didn't have much and a lot of it was replicated junk but she did have a few personal items she had hoped she wouldn't have to part with. Tapping a few of the items in the buffer, she handed the PaDD to Angel. "These are all I want to keep. Thank you again, Commander. I owe you and the Captain my life. If there's anything I can do for you, please just ask."

"There is one thing." Angel took the PaDD, still grinning a bit. "I know you probably don't know how to cook Vulcan food... but you must know some vegetarian recipes in general. Sometimes Sinek and I want to eat at home but I don't want to always rely on the replicator... and I've never cooked a meal in my life. Terrible, isn't it?"

"Very terrible. I happen to actually be quite good with Vulcan recipes, actually. They're one of the simpler races to cook for - it just takes patience. Just let me know when you'd like it, and I'll have a homemade Vulcan meal for two ready for you, properly reduced plomeek broth and all." Miril said assuringly.

"That would be great!" Angel had never considered herself to be a 'hug-gy' type of person, but she hugged Miril anyway. "And maybe sometime you could teach me a recipe or two. Just so I can cook something?"

Hugging back, Miril nodded and accepted the request. "In that case, come down to the galley when you can and I'll give you some cooking lessons. I won't make it easy on you though."

"I will when I have some free time... and I wouldn't expect you to make it easy." Angel laughed a little. "I'm taking some leave time over the next few days, so I might pop in."

"Stop by any time," Miril replied.

"I'll keep that in mind." She'd barely slept at all with all the work involved in hiding Miril's identity, and Angel couldn't help yawning. "Sorry. It was a long night... maybe I can still sneak a few hours in before anyone expects me to file reports or settle disputes..."

"Get some rest then, you look like you need a few days off." Miril said as she headed towards the replicator. "I'll be here or in the galley if you need me."

"I need a few years of vacation. This ship's going to be the death of me," Angel replied with a theatrical sigh and a bit of a giggle. That was it, she was going to sleep whether anyone needed her to do something or not. "Let me or Enalia know if you need anything and we'll get it for you. I'll see you later." With a brief wave, she headed for the door to go home.