Dinner and Danger .. Pt 1 - Dinner

Posted on Sunday 22 January 2017 @ 05:49 by Lieutenant Commander David Tan & Captain Melody Jones

Mission: Intermission
Location: USS Merlin
Timeline: Mid January
3817 words - 7.6 OF Standard Post Measure

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ON :

07:00 hrs - Wednesday ...

"So what do you think ?" Lana asked as David helped Mia into her school uniform.

"Can I take it that you intend to invite 'every' Officer on this ship to dinner in turn, and that I have little or no options in this 'get to know you' scheme of yours ?" he replied, a wry grin on his face, allowing his Daughter to fasten her own shoes before she ran out of the bedroom leaving them to their discussion.

"Well, we 'do' want to get to know everyone, I don't see why having them over is an issue." Lana said, her face the picture of innocence. David shrugged inwardly, knowing she was right, but at the same time not wanting their home to become a 'revolving door' of dinner guests. it was vital that everyone, from Crewmen up to and including the Captain of a Star Ship, all required some modicum of social interaction, thus the inclusion of area's like the Round Table, or Ten Forward, he just wasn't too sure this interaction needed to center around their living quarters.

"Your being a little over-excessive there." his wife replied, tapping him playfully on his head as she went into the living room area, David following, feigning injury as Kenzie came over to get him to sit at the table.

"What's happened Daddy !" the six year old asked, concern on her little face.

"Daddy is sulking Kenzie." Lana answered for him, "Now, breakfast please, or we'll be late for school."

"I'm not sul ....." David began, but his moment of sympathy had well and truly, been and gone, as Kenzie returned to the table and the three females in his life began chatting as if he wasn't there, "OK ... OK, invite her." he said, throwing up his hands in mock submission. Mia handed him a piece of toast with what appeared to be a gravity-defying amount of jam atop, watching him closely as she took a bite out of her own piece ....

19:30 hrs ...

Melody was slightly surprised at the invitation to dinner but it was a welcome one. She had forgot to ask what they were having so decided to play it safe and turn up with a bottle of both red and white wine just to be on the safe side.

She had decided to wear her trusty black dress with a little white cardigan on top, just to cover her shoulders.
Melody walked up the the Tans quarters and pressed the chime. The door opened ad Melody looked down to be greeted by the smiling faces of 2 girls. "Why hello there" she said smiling down at them

"Your hair is very red." Mia said instantly.

"Hello." Mackenzie said to the woman stood at their door, pulling her younger sister aside whispering to her, "You shouldn't comment on such things Mia, she might not like it." returning her attention to their guest, "Come in, erm, Lieutenant Commander. Mummy and Daddy are getting the meal ready." ...

Melody smiled at them. First she looked at the elder girl "It's quite alright" then to the younger "Thank you Sweetheart, that's very observant of you. Do you like red hair?"

"Yes actually." Mia said, pronouncing the last word to what she considered her posh perfection, "I like my hair, but sometimes you just need a change. Please come in." she said, beyond her years, and making David shake his head, bemusedly.

Following the girls in to the room, Melody held up the gift bag she was carrying "I didn't know what we were having so I brought a red and a white just in case."

Lana took the offered bag, thanking their guest, she was about to ask her to sit but her Daughters had taken that task in hand, literally, as they each took hold on a hand and pulled her to the large settee. Dropping down either side of her the girls scrutinised their guest as only children can do. Lana came over with a glass of the red their guest had supplied. Lana sat down with her own glass. she had spoken to her Daughters earlier and asked them not to 'pester' their guest, knowing full well that both would ask questions, she just hoped those questions wouldn't be too embarrassing for all concerned.

"We're having lamb, but to be honest I completely forgot to ask beforehand what you would prefer." Lana said, apologetically.

"Commander." David said, entering the living area from the bedroom, "Glad you could make it. These two are not annoying you are they ?" he asked.

"We don't ... 'Annoy' ... Daddy." Kenzie rebuked, winking at her sister, who obviously got the secret message, "But you did say that you don't learn things unless you ask questions ..."

Soooo." Mia said, returning her attention to their guest once more, "What's your name ?" she asked without preamble, focusing on the dress Melody was wearing as if appraising her attire.

Melody raised an eyebrow at the child's directness. "My name is Melody Jones. I'm this ships first officer bur first and foremost I like to fly. There is nothing love more than flying a starship, the feeling of traveling faster than light. I also love music, as you know after our Christmas sing-a-long. I also have a pet Hedgehog named Nibbels."

"Listen you two ..." Lana said, a wry grin forming, "Can you let our guest relax, I'm sure Commander Jones will chat to you both as the evening progresses. We've allowed you to stay up so stick to the agreement OK."

"Yes Mummmmmy." the girls said in unison ...

"Its quite alright, I don't mind. Now then," she sat up straight "You two know a little about me, now it's your turn." She looked at the girls expectantly.

"What's a, hedgehog ?" Mia asked, the smallest frown appearing.

"It's a little animal with pointy spines all over it's back and a tiny nose." Kenzie said triumphantly, before looking up at their guest, "My name is Mackenzie, but all my friends call me Kenzie, I'm six. Mia is only four, so she doesn't know these things yet. We don't have any pets, yet." she said, glancing at her Mother for a fraction of a second.

"I do know things too ... I know Kenzie likes a boy at our new school." she said, her mischievous smile appearing showing the dimples in her cheeks.

"I do not !" the elder sister said, quickly denying the accusation and almost, but not quite preventing herself from blushing.

"Who flies the ship when you go to bed ? ... Can we have a hedgehog Mummy ?" Mia said, her usual changing of the subject as rapid as ever.

"No, we can't." Lana said, reaching for the bottle to top everyone's glasses up then going into the other room to see how the meal was progressing. She began serving while the girls spoke to Melody. she could hear them chatting, or rather she could hear her girls quizzing their guest incessantly, but thankfully Melody didn't seem to mind answering the quick-fire questions. As she came back into the living area and sat on the arm of the chair David was sat in, Mia reached up and touched Melody's hair.

"It's hair sweetheart, everyone has it." David said, smiling apologetically at Melody, "You're is blonde, while Commander Jones's is red." Mackenzie was frowning, and he knew she was recalling something that had been said earlier, it didn't take her long to pose the query on her mind.

"Daddy doesn't." Mia whispered conspiratorially.

"How can you feel travelling faster than light, it's not as if we all fall over, and the ship is smooth because of the inter, inert, imt ...." Kenzie stumbled.

"Inertial dampers hunny." David helped her out.

"Yes, them ...." ...

"And a good job they do as well" Melody agreed "Because if they didn't, the reuse would be.......... unpleasant." Melody refrained from saying that if the inertial dampeners were not working, when'd the ship accelerated to warp it would shatter, possibly liquefy every bone in a persons body. "It was a figure of speech sweetheart. I suppose everyone who flys a starship imagines they can feel the acceleration."

"Ahhhhh, I see." Kenzie said, nodding. We went to a theme park last year and went on some of the rides, you could really feel it going faster. I suppose the rides didn't have these damperers." she mused as Mia climbed onto Melody's knee. David grinned knowing his Daughter was seemingly fascinated with the Commanders' hair.

"Do you think you could take us flying one day ?" she asked.

"Hey, I've said I'll take you if you want to go." David said, feigning his hurt feelings, but Mia wasn't falling for it.

"Melody is the one that flies the ship Daddy, sooo, she must be able to fly the shuttles better than you can .... Probably faster too." she whispered loud enough so only Melody could hear, "Daddy is very, good really." she was about to continue where there was a clatter from the other room.

Melody raised her voice as to be heard in the next room "Are you Ok in there Lana, do you need any help? I must say it smells really lovely" Lana popped her head in:

"No, thank you ... I just dropped a pan, I'm not used to cooking in such a small, area. It should be ready in a few moments, David will top you up, won't you." she said before vanishing from sight once more. minutes later she came in and said everyone could take their seats ... The oval table could be set for eight at a stretch, but given there were only five she had spaced out the seating a little, David and Lana would be at the wider part, while the girls sat beside each other with Melody opposite. As Kenzi and Mia came in there were whispering and the older sister finally nodded. She began to swap the plates and utensils but Lana noticed.

"Mackenzie ?" she said.

"It's OK Mummy, Mia wants to sit next to Melody that's all. I don't mind. David quickly assisted in rearranging the seating arrangements and they sat down, he began to carve the meat and plate ...

"This all looks lovely Lana" Melody said as she took her seat next to Mia.

They began eating, David refilled the adults glasses then filled the children's with a fair semblance of the red wine the others were drinking. His initial misgivings of having each of the Senior Staff over to eat was rapidly diminishing. he knew Lana wasn't about to go through the crew list, but it was good that she had picked another woman as oppose to one of the male Staff. Mia watched as Melody cut a piece of the meat and put it in her mouth:

"Daddy told us that long ago people used to actually eat 'REAL' meat ... From animals, they used to have great big farms that had cows and sheeps and even chickens, that all they did was grow them big then !" she said, running her finger across her throat dramatically, causing everyone to pause for a fraction of a second.

"That was before we could replicate it, or get it out of a tin." Kenzi said, her eyes rolling, "She does this every time, to see who stops eating."

"Do Borg eat ?" Mia asked innocently curious ...

Melody's fork paused halfway to her mouth. The question caught her off-guard and It took her a second to gather her thoughts "N.......No they don't Sweetheart, not food anyway. Why do you ask ?"

"Don't be rude Mia. You know your not supposed to." Kenzi said, chastising her younger sister.

"I was well, just, you know, curious, as you seem to be really enjoying Mummy's cooking." Mia said, the picture of angelic innocence, "the peas are nice, you should try them, personally, I prefer the sprouts."

"Yuck !" Mackenzie said, making her parents laugh and frown at the same time, "No-one should like sprouts, they are like, weird."

"They make Kenzi pump ... A LOT !" Mia said, chuckling at her big sisters' obvious embarrassment, "Pump pump pump, all over the place." she was giggling uncontrollably now, so much so that it became infectious .....

In spite of herself Melody began giggling also. "Tell me, what's it like to be six ?" Melody was still laughing "You're curious about the Borg, I'm curious what it's like to be six because..... I really don't know."

Melody paused for a breath "My mother was a holo-novelist and my father was the first officer of the USS Independence. That's were I was born. The Borg attacked our ship when I was 18 months old. My parents were assimilated and I was placed in maturation chamber. I was rescued 3 months later by a crew from the USS Thunderchild but by that time I was older ...... A lot older."

"So you was a little baby !" Kenzi said, astonished. Mia took hold of Melody's hand, her way of offering support because she decided their guest needed it.

Melody took a deep breath. She had stopped laughing as she told her story, "When they rescued me I had aged 12 years."

David and Lana sat in silence as they listened to her story. both had silently agreed that Melody could answer the girls if their insatiable curiosity got the better of them, which they knew it would at some point, but her situation was nothing short of harrowing in their eyes. No childhood, no parents, or at least no memories of a childhood with them, or indeed her own. Both Mia and Mackenzie were seemingly absorbing this last information in their own unique ways, it was Mia who reacted first: She got off her chair and went into their bedroom, returning seconds later with a PADD ... She climbed back onto her seat and shuffled it closer to Melody's then activated the PADD, which in reality was a simple screen to display images.

"That is me when I was only two." she said, showing the picture then sliding her finger across the screen to show the next, and the next, and the next. fifteen minutes later she had shown the Executive Officer an almost complete record of Mackenzie and herself growing up. both parents had decided never to stifle their children, whatever they were doing unless it was deemed dangerous. Lana watched the reaction of Melody as she took in each image. she could also see that Mia was on the verge of crying, her four year old sense of caring almost getting the better of her.

"Being four is OK. But I think I can get away with a little more than Kenzi can because she's six, and should know better." Mia said out of the blue.

"Hey, It's not all fun being six you know, and I get in trouble for things 'you' have done." It seemed that the sibling rivalry had defused the melancholy situation.

"I'm sorry Commander." Lana said, genuinely worried that the girls had brought back unwanted or suppressed memories, "If they are getting too personal then please say so. Sometimes they don't know when to call a halt to their interrogations."

Melody looked at each picture with Mia and smiled as the young girl tried to lift her spirits. She saw the tears in her eyes and thought to herself 'would I have look that cute at that age?' She drew the Mia close and gave her a hug "Thank you for that Sweetheart and don't be sad, ok?" she looked over to Lana "Don't worry. I've learned after talking to Save'ena it helps to talk about what happened."

Grateful it hadn't spoiled the evening, she realised there was another course:

"I've done apple pie and rhubarb pie for our sweet. Take your pick." Lana informed them ....

Melody drained her wine glass "The lamb was delicious, thank you. I'd love to try some apple pie if that's OK?"

Melody gestured for Mackenzie to lean in close with her sister "If your parent say it's OK, I'll take you out for a trip in a shuttle some time. Also, you can come over and meet Nibbles as well. She loves meeting new people. Sound good?" she smiled.

"REALLY !" both girls said in unison as David's comm badge chirped to life:

=^= Tan =^= he said, silently apologising to those around the table.

=^= Lieutenant .. You have an incoming sub-space communication .. Marked priority =^=

=^= Relay it to my quarters please =^= he said, closing the comm and getting up to leave the table, "Girls, no pestering our guest while I'm gone OK." he said with a wry grin, then went to the small office in his quarters At the table he activated the screen and gave his access code ... The screen burst to life with the image of an old friend of his Family:

..... "Nora, long time no see." he said, realising quickly that something was seriously amiss, "Has something happened Nora, is Laurence OK ?"

"He's fine." Nora Tennant said, eyes filling, "It's Stephanie David, she's in trouble."

"Whats happened ?"

Long story short, we had a researcher at the facility, Valok Narat .. .. He was found with documentation and information pertaining to some, research work we're doing .. .. .. We received a cryptic message from him yesterday .. He is on Tenlex IV in the erm, Caleb Sector .. .. He said that if he isn't as he put it 'Compensated' for his dismissal, which he deems unjust, harm could come to Stephanie .. .. We need your help David."

"Have you or Laurence contacted the authorities !" David asked instantly.

"We have been told that if we do so he will know and will be able to reach our Daughter before anyone can take action against him .. Laurence feels that you could go in and get her without being discovered."

"Nora .. I would need to get permissi .. .. .."

"NO ! .. You can't David .. He will KNOW .. .. You could take leave .. Go to Tenlex and bring her home .. .. Please David .. He has set a deadline for his compensation to arrive .. No compensation .. No Daugh .. .. .." she broke down finally, not being able to hold it in any longer.

"When does it need to be there ?"

"Zero three hundred hours .. Two days from now."

"Has he taken Steph' ?"

"No .. That's what is so haunting .. He says he is watching her and can take her easily at any time should he feel threatened .. We have been told not to contact her under 'ANY' circumstances .. Failure to comply with these instruction to the letter will be in his words, 'Unfortunate' .. .."

"We're almost thirty light years from the Calab System .. It will take us the best part of today to organise something and get there .. I'll get back to you Nora but don't worry .. I'll do what I can."

"Just get her back David .. .. Please."

The communication closed and he leaned back in his chair, thinking frantically: If he took this to the Captain it would become 'official' very quickly, and if this Narat was true to his word, Stephanie would be serious danger should he find out, so it was something he needed to do 'unofficially' ... Nora and Laurence Tennant were long-standing family friends. He had practically grown up with Steph' and they were more like Sister and Brother than friends. It was a simple fact that he needed to go after her. but he would need help ... Shutting the screen off he returned to the table, smiling at the girls as they quizzed their guest about 'when' they could go out in a shuttle. Lana was watching him closely and knew something was amiss, he mouthed that everything was OK then sat down.

It was late and the meal was over ... They moved back into the living area, Mackenzie and Mia excited as they had been allowed to remain up later than usual while they had a guest. They sat down with Melody between them, Lana on one of the chairs, while David retrieved another bottle of wine before replenishing their glasses, before settling himself on the arm of the chair Lana was sat in .... It occurred to David that he would need the use of a fast shuttle, and the ships' Exec might be able to help him with that, albeit somewhat 'unofficially' rather than going through channels. If he explained the situation, she may not be too diligent is asking his reasons for the unexpected departure from the Starbase. Not that he technically needed one, they were effectively on Shore Leave, so what he got up to was his business, but he decided he needed to confide in someone, and if he had her word that it would go no further then he would speak with her tonight.

"Kenzie, Mia, I've an idea. If you want to go get into your pyjamas now so you're ready for bed when Melody goes, you can stay up for another hour. What do you think ?" The girls looked at each other then jumpped off the chair, running into their room. Once they were gone he turned to Melody:

"I have a problem." he said quietly ...

Melody heard his tone and thought to herself 'this sounds serous'. "David, what's wrong ?"

He got up, making sure the children were still getting ready for bed, then approached his desk.

She sat there and listened as David explained,playing the recorded communication for her. When he finished "Tenlex is quite a distance from here. Sounds like you're going to need a good pilot to get you there and also we might need some fancy flying if we encounter any resistance. I can get the shuttle ready by 0400 hours."

"You're sure about this, I didn't want to ask, as technically I'm on Shore Leave, so could have gone myself, but the back-up, and piloting skills could come in handy."

Melody stood "Let me get a few hours sleep otherwise we wont stand much of a chance will we ?" She moved over to Lana and gave her a big hug "Thank you for a lovely meal, I'll have to return the favour sometime. David, I'll see you in the shuttle-bay at 0400 hours."

"You think you can get Stephanie back safely ?" Lana asked after showing their guest out. The girls came running back into the room, coming to a complete stop as they realised Melody was nowhere in sight, "Melody had to go. She said sorry and would talk to us about taking you for a flight soon. She said you could even have a turn at being the pilot." the girls looked slightly saddened, but it never lasted long for either of them.

"We 'can' still sty up though, right !" they said, grinning .....


TBC in: Dinner and Danger .. Pt 2 - Danger


OFF:

Lieutenant David Tan
Operations Officer
USS Merlin

Lieutenant Commander Melody Jones
Executive Officer
USS Merlin

Lana Tan
Mackenzie Tan
Mia Tan


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