Family Meal

Posted on Mon Nov 27th, 2023 @ 5:28pm by Captain Lukas Fredricks & Zirvell Khen

2,089 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: To Catch a Thief
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: MD02 1900 Hours

With Britannic's repairs and Lukas' own recovery, family time had been few and far between in recent weeks.

Now they had left spacedock and had some quiet time before they reached the Chin'toka system, Lukas had planned a family meal, where both his children and Zirvell could sit down and talk. There was no agenda for the evening apart from reconnecting as a family unit.

He had just finished placing the cutlery on the table when the door to his quarters slid open.

"Hi..." Zirvell smiled as he walked in, PADD clutched to his chest as of it were a prized possession. His bunny, which he seemed too drag everywhere the past weeks, was tucked next to the PADD. "Am I late? I was...in sickbay..." He paused, not wanting to worry his caretaker. "I wanted to be useful."

Lukas smiled, "You'll never be late, just not on time." He said with a small wink. "Is Doctor Elyro OK with you being in Sickbay?"

Zirvell nodded slowly, a slightly excited look in his eyes now. "Yes, though I think he'll come talk to you about me helping with things after school. He's okay with me finding a quiet spot to do homework too."

"I don't have a problem in quiet times but in an emergency, sickbay isn't the best place to stay. You'll see all sorts of horrible things." Lukas replied as he glanced at the door wondering where Oliver and Adele were.

Zirvell followed his glance then looked back. "No worse than I've already seen," he answered softly, looking away again. "But I won't go to sickbay in an emergency," he promised, "not unless I need to. What's keeping Adele and Ollie?"

"I know you've seen..."He paused thinking of a delicate way of putting it. "...things that no young man should have seen this early in his life but I don't really want you seeing them here. I want Britannic to be your safe place." Lukas placed a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "As for Adele and Oliver, I'm not sure. School finished ages ago and..."

The door to their quarters slid open to reveal Adele and Oliver. "Sorry Dad, Ollie forgot his homework padd so we had to go from the holodeck back to school to grab it." Adele explained as she walked through the door and placed her padds on her fathers desk.

"Holodeck?" Lukas asked, with a small frown.

"We've been doing the Khan uprising in school so we wanted to just watch a couple of holovids about it to help with our homework." Oliver replied as he walked intonthe quarters and plonked himself down on the couch.

"Alright, go and wash up. I'll start getting your dinners on the table." Fredricks replied as he moved to the replicator.

Zirvell's face lit up at the sight of the captain's daughter and he smiles awkwardly at her. "What's a Khan uprising?" He asked as the twins walked off to get cleaned up, "why don't I get to learn this?"

"You will in time, Zirvell. Your academic level is still being tested by the teachers on board." Lukas replied with a smile.

"Dunno why you'd want too, it's boring as he'll." Adele replied with a roll of her eyes. "Only went with Ollie to get out of doing my homework."

"How is the story of Khan uprising boring. Its very fascinating." Ollie interjected.

"I'll come with you," Zirvell offered eagerly, "I want to learn more on alien cultures and history. I read a lot back on Lamenda but it was all Cardassian, nothing uhm... alien."

Ollie shrugged, "I s'pose." He replied to Zirvell, giving him a sideways glance.

"Good, saves me sitting there bored as he'll watching about it!" Adele added with a smile. "Is Cardassian history interesting? We haven't really learnt much about your people in school." She asked with a inquisitive glint in her eyes.

"Depends on who you ask I guess." Zirvell shrugged. "I do like history and I think we are an old race? I haven't read much of our history though,, I have no interest in reading just how brutal we could be, not at all with recent evidence at hand. I'm sure I can find something for you if you like?" His expression softened as he regarded the teenage girl. "Once I figure out how .."

"Well, Cardassians have only had an extreme and brutal expansion plans due to the Cardassia and surrounding systems being pretty much devoid of natural resources. That being said, there are other ways of getting hold of those resources, diplomacy being that main one." Lukas explained. "I believe the early Cardassian history can be quite interesting. If I remember correctly they're the second sentient species to evolve on Cardassia Prime."

"I may have read something about it," Zirvell nodded, "when I was little. I don't really remember though and father took the book from me and destroyed it. Maybe the library can produce a copy? And how does having no resources give us the right to just take another world and enslave the people?" It was clear the teenager had a very different take on things than most of his peers among his own people.

"Exactly Zirvell, they have no right but that was Cardassian policy for so long." Fredricks then smiled. "Come on let's get washed up and we can eat."

"OK, dad." Adele replied before she disappeared into her room.

Oliver just rolled his eyes as he too headed to his room to get himself sorted for dinner.

"That it's policy doesn't make it right," Zirvell said as he went to wash his hands before taking his claimed spot at the dining table.

While the teens went and washed up for dinner, Lukas went to the replicator and pulled out the steaming Chicken casserole which he placed in the middle of the table. He then went back to pulled out two bowls, one with mashed potatoes and the other had a selection of vegetables.

After placing both on the table, he poured himself a glass of red wine before taking his seat.

Zirvell eyed the glass before reaching over and lifting it to his nose to sniff the contents. Wrinkling his nose, he set it back on the table, pushing it away from him. "That smells vile," he commented as he leaned forward to sniff at the potatoes. "Now that.... that smells heavenly. What are they?"

"An Earth vegetable called potatoes. There are various ways to cook them, this is mashed potatoes." Lukas explained.

Oli rolled his eyes as he walked out of his room. "Chicken casserole, haven't you learnt to cook anything else?"

"You're so spoiled," Zirvell scolded the other boy. "Be glad you have this delicious food, even if it is a variation of something you had before. If you don't like it, why don't you cook dinner?" His eyes almost blazed. "How dare you question your dinner when you at least have dinner."

"Shut up, Zirvell, you haven't had to endure the same meal over and over again for the past 15 years. It's a replicator, we can chose what we want but dad can only replicate one thing."

"Erm, excuse me Oliver. He is right, be thankful you have food on a plate 3 times a day. How many millions don't have that luxury." Fredricks said, his tone changed to one he tended to use on the bridge.

The young Cardassiab's expression darkened. "At least you had food," he spat back, "I had to go without, for days. And the food I did find often was on the verge of inedible."

"That wasnt my fault was it!" Oli replied with an eye roll.

"Enough, Oliver! Show some respect. Not everyone has the privileged life that you've had. It'll serve you well if you remember that. Now sit down!" Fredricks said in a stern voice.

Oli roll his eyes again before falling into a chair furthest away from Zirvell and his father.

"Oli causing problems already." Adele said as she approached the table from her room.

Zirvell's priorly dark expression softened considerably as Adele walked in. As she approached, he stood and held back a chair for her. He'd observed some Human males do this for females in the mess hall so he assumed this was a Human gesture...that this was a Human custom. He also cast the captain a somewhat nervous glance, as if expecting to get shouted at as well. This was nothing new, as his father always shouted at him, without needing a reason to do so.

"Thank you." Adele blushed as she wasn't expecting anyone to do that for her. She took the seat and sat down. "You do need to look at getting better with the replicator. Chicken casserole is nice but a tad boring after a while. I'm sure Zirvell would like to taste other dishes Earth has to offer."

"I would but I'm content with what I'm given," Zirvell answered politely as he reclaimed his seat, "I also want to learn how to prepare food too... I want to be useful." He offered his host an uncertain smile, not wanting to offend the man who had offered him a place to stay. "I can't do nothing, I can't... what do humans say? Sit idle?"

"Don't overload yourself, Zirvell. School work and helping in sickbay will keep you busy, but you can just ask the replicator for what you want and how you like it and it should materialise." Lukas explained as he began to dish up the casserole, mash and vegetables. "However, the replicator seems to not be able to grasp what I'm telling it. Perhaps we could take turns in preparing a meal each night?"

"Great, my night will he pizza and nachos. Do they have anything like pizza on Cardassia?" Oli asked looking at Zirvell.

"That was that disk thing right? With lots of gooey stuff on it?" Zirvell shook his head. "I don't think so but I'm not sure. I've never been to Cardassia and we didn't have any on Lamenda." He tilted his head in curiosity. "What's a nacho?"

"It's like a spicy potato chip. Perhaps we could do each do a night of food preparation." Lukas said as he passed the first plate to Adele, then Zirvell and lastly Oliver. "I'm not sure if there's many Cardassian dishes on the replicator but I'm sure we could get some added."

"I don't wanna try Cardassian stuff!" Oli objected pulling face like he'd just been poisoned.

"Stop being a baby, Oli." Adele said giving her brother a playful shove. "I think it'll be interesting to try different foods."

"I'll have to look up Cardassian dishes," Zirvell said thoughtfully, "I'm not sure if I remember any. Or even had any. I think, I'd prefer trying dishes you all like and if you can help me discover new things to prepare that'll probably be better." He cast Oli a careful smile. "Would you?"

Oliver grimaced at the thought of trying Cardassian food but a telling looking from his father made him change his attitude. "Erm, sure."

Zirvell looked over to Adele, hoping she'd help him too. He wanted desperately to fit in and he wasn't sure about finding Cardassian food. "What is your favourite food?" He asked quietly.

"I love hasperat. Mums best friend was a bajoran so she used to make it for us. Not had a decent hasperat for ages!" Adele replied with a smile.

"You still like that???" Oli replied frowning. "It was always too spicy."

"That was the best bit about it!' Adele replied, narrowing her eyes as she looked at her brother.

"I wouldn't mind trying that, perhaps we can try making it together?" Zirvell asked hopefully while spooning up his dinner in the process. He was still trying to be more civilized with food but it was a challenge, not to down it too fast as if someone was going to steal it from him.

Adele smiled at Zirvell, "I'd love yo make it with you."

Zirvell beamed back at her in delight as he folded his utensils over his now empty plate. "We can always make it to everyone's taste, right?" He asked for Oli's benefit, not wanting to alienate him any further.

Adele smiled, "We can try." She beamed.

Lukas couldn't help but smile as he listened to his children interact with Zirvell. They seem to be embracing him into their family. It wouldn't be long until he would official be a family member.

 

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