Refined Tastes

Posted on Mon Feb 16th, 2015 @ 5:27pm by Ensign Chloe Bishop & Doctor Maya

Mission: Begin with a Bang
Location: Mess Hall, Discovery NX-04, At Warp
Timeline: May 14th, 2155 - 1200 hours

After Captain Curtis had revealed the true purpose of the Discovery's first mission, it wasn't long before it was time for lunch. At 1200 hours, some of the officers received a break to go down to E deck and grab a meal.

On the starboard side of E deck was the Discovery's mess hall. Boasting several large windows, the NX-class mess hall was a buffet-style environment; food prepared in the ship's galley was brought to the mess hall and stored in a refrigerated display case located on a bulkhead adjacent to a beverage dispenser.

As the ship's doctor, Maya was one of the only people aboard who kept her own hours. Consequently, she was one of the first ones to arrive out of the assembled officers who had attended the morning meeting. She was a somber figure, clad in a dark floor length garment that made her appear as a priest more than a physician. Her raven tresses were covering the pointed tips of her ears but there was no mistaking her arched upswept eyebrows. At the moment, she was the only person in the mess who wasn't wearing a uniform. She was the alien, the other, the stranger. It was anyone's guess whether she would ever truly belong on the starship Discovery.

It wasn't long before another of the officers entered the mess hall. Ensign Chloe Bishop, armed with a datapad, was on a mission to learn her way around the ship. After nearly running over Commander Carpegiani, she needed to learn the layout of the ship before she caused any more accidents. She had spent the previous night downloading the schematics to the ship. Her first goal was to get E Deck sorted out. Since she was going to be living and eating on that deck, it was probably the most important. Getting to the bridge was easy enough, so she didn't have to worry there. Using the map on the datapad, she managed to make it from the turbolift to the mess without any problems, a victory that she celebrated privately.

Much of the food served in the mess hall was a result of protein resequencers. They certainly had nutritional value, though the menu was rather limited. It was a tall order for the small galley staff to provide food for everyone on the ship, so she had no choice but to relent. It was just going to be another thing to get use to about life on a starship. It was rough now, Chloe constantly reminded herself, but it was going to be much better once she began to work with new cultures.

Chloe requested a BLT sandwich and potato chips chips from the resequencer. At least they claimed that it was a BLT. She had her doubts about the bread and bacon. Tray in hand, she started looking for a place to sit, when she noticed their Vulcan doctor. Chloe had worked with Vulcans before through school and while working in San Francisco, and she was curious about getting to know Dr. Maya. Some people might have said that all Vulcans were the same, but those people hadn't had the chance to get to know them. Vulcan individuals varied just as much as humans, though she wasn't sure any Vulcan would admit it. She approached Maya, who was sitting alone, and asked in Vulcan, "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," the little Vulcan replied in her native tongue. "Your command of my language is very impressive. If anyone wishes to learn my native tongue I shall not hesitate to recommend them to Stanford University."

One glance at Maya's meal revealed that the little Vulcan was well aware that perishables such as fruits and vegetables would become very scarce after a few weeks. There was nothing on her plate that had been salted, frozen, or reconstituted. If the Discovery didn't receive an underway replenishment shipment in a month or so it would be impossible to find an unreconstituted bean.

The ensign was impressed. "Thank you. I did have a very good teacher, Professor Sitak," she continued, still speaking in Vulcan. "I see you've been reading up on my bio. Stanford is a very good school. I actually chose it for its reputation in linguistics."

"My apologies Ensign, but I have only just came aboard and I have not had time to familiarize myself with the personal histories of any of the crew," the little Vulcan replied. "The reason why I inferred that you had studied my language at Stanford is because you are wearing your class ring," she added as she pointed a casual finger at Chloe's hand. "You graduated as part of the class of '52, unless your initials are ‘SZ'. In addition you pronounce your words the way natives of the ShiKahr province do, and I happen to know that Professor Sitak grew up in the city of ShiKahr. When these observations are placed together, the logical inference is that you learned to speak my language at Stanford University." Maya paused to squint at the potato chips on Chloe's plate. "Pardon my asking, but are those giant flakes a delicacy?"

She was quite impressed with the Vulcan's deductions. But then again, she learned during her time at university not to underestimate anything when it comes to the Vulcans. She waved her hand with the class ring in the air. "I forgot I was even wearing it. I suppose my accent was pretty noticeable. Professor Sitak tried to be more varied, but I suppose part of him rubbed off me."

She considered the question about the chips being a delicacy. It was an unusual question, but not surprising considering that the Vulcan was not from Earth. "We call them potato chips, though some parts of the world call them crisps. I wouldn't exactly call them a delicacy though. You can get them just about anywhere on Earth. Actually, they're not really that good for you either, but they're a comfort food." Chloe took a bite of one of the potato chips, making an odd expression before forcing a smile. "I suppose they're close to the real thing, though a little salty." Chloe eyed the fresh food on Maya's plate. "Then again, nothing will ever be quite as good as the real thing. I've been trying to train myself to get used to the engineered food substitute. So far it's going, but not necessarily going well."

"I shall soon be required to do the same thing," Maya admitted. "Your people put sodium chloride on most of what you eat but my ancestors spawned from different oceans than yours. My body's salts are quite different. Incidentally, my name is Maya. May I ask your name?"

"Oh, where are my manners," the ensign exclaimed with a bit of surprise. "I'm Chloe Bishop. I'm the ship's chief communications officer." Usually she would have offered her hand, but she knew that most Vulcans preferred to not make personal contact with another person. "I would wager a guess that you are our ship's doctor. Though my observational skills are not quite as keen as yours. It just happens that there aren't many Vulcans on board."

"There is another Vulcan on board?" Maya blinked. "I was under the impression I am the only one."

"Oh, no, no, no, no. It's just an Earth expression, an over exaggeration," Chloe tried to explain. "I'm not familiar with the entire crew, but I would be surprised if there was another Vulcan on board. I know your people have been on Earth for a while, helping us with a lot of different things, but there's still a bit of distrust, even among Starfleet. Fortunately our recent alliances have been helping people get over that. But as you can tell from our mission, there are still some people who think Earth should stand alone in the galaxy. But I doubt that we have anyone like that on Discovery though."

"There are those on my world who think that Vulcan should stand alone as well," Maya admitted. "The Vulcan High Command was riddled with them. There is nothing special about bigotry; it is the one thing that all peoples seem to have in common. Fortunately most species that have achieved faster than light travel have made pains to outgrow their prejudices rather than embrace them."

"I suppose you're right," Chloe added. "Bigotry is certainly nothing new in Earth's history. It's just that now, people are looking to the stars for their disgust instead of looking at each other. I wish I could say that it's an improvement, but then again it's really just more of a redirection. Hopefully in time we can learn to celebrate each other's differences, and not be repelled by them."

"It may come as a surprise to note that my people have not entirely given up looking at each other when it comes to disgust," the little Vulcan said. "The recent overthrowing of the High Command and the exposure of their offenses illuminates that fact in stark detail. I have chosen to celebrate differences." Maya's preference for salads was now made clear; she didn't have to worry about her food growing cold. And the reason she was aboard a ship ran by Terrans rather than spending time with her own people was becoming less mysterious.

"As have I, Doctor. I've always been interested in learning about different cultures. I was learning to speak Vulcan years before I even considered a job in Starfleet. I'm excited to get out there among the stars, finding new life and new civilizations." Chloe finally took a bite of her BLT. While it had been sitting for a little while, it hadn't grown too cold. But the taste still left something to be desired. "I just need to learn to like the food, and learn how to not get lost."