It Could Be Worse

Posted on Tue Jan 23rd, 2018 @ 5:06am by Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Jasper Offermans

Mission: Ishimura
Location: Main Mess Hall
Timeline: 2244 July
779 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

The mess was crowded as the crew came in trying to grab a bite to eat before scurrying back to their work stations. There was tension in the air as Jasper walked through the sliding doorway and got himself a trey. His uniform was in great shape, thankfully he hadn't been crawling around in the Jefferies tubes but rather coding the LCARS trying to fix some minor glitches.

"Cassie," the man said with a grin seeing a familiar face, "mind if I sit with you, that is if we can find a seat."

Ensign McAvoy sighed as she looked around the packed mess hall herself. "So much easier on Gamma to find a seat Jasper." She said sleepily thinking why she was doing an extra shift on Alpha shift. The woman pushed her way through the crowds until she found a few places to seat on the end of one of the long tables.

The man laughed as he slid into one of the seats, "better get used to it, Ensign." Jasper was teasing and his eyes gave away that fact quite readily though there was a bit of truth to what he said, "I can't believe cook still had lemon meringue pie with all these people here." He pointed to the yellow dessert with a stiffly whipped topping on top, "but had beef tips and Broccoli for the last three days."

"I don't mind the repetition of the food." It was comforting to know what she could be having. Her father when she had been on Vulcan had made the same meal every day, it wasn't laziness just logical to not wonder what she would be having. Her mother on the other hand when they had moved back to earth had enjoyed the different foods too much to go back to planning.

"It's better than ration packs," Jasper said with a knowing grin, "but I don't mind mush, it's better than me having to do it." He grinned and shook his head, "number 12 is the worst."

"Number 12?" The woman wondered looking up at him with an unsure looked. She didn't understand the reference at all. It didn't make sense to her but he was grinning so maybe it was something funny that she just failed to see.

Jasper chuckled, "yah they number the different ration packs, 12 is powdered chicken liver and tomatoes."

"Ration packs," Cassie said with a roll of her eyes trying to not think about them. The only good thing about ration packs was the desserts that came with them especially if you were lucky enough to get the human version of the packs. The Vulcan one was the same food repeated but no dessert at least the human one had dessert which the woman secretly enjoyed despite liking order with her food.

The man laughed and picked up his glass of water, "perhaps I should suggest a few more flavors."

"Yes cause liver and tomatoes don't appeal to my palate." She admitted with a small smile. It wasn't a big thing, there hadn't ever been a need in the last year to ever need the ration packs, she prayed that that situation stayed the same.

"We had some on an exercise while I was a cadet," Jasper admitted, "I'm not looking forward to having them anytime soon." He drew in a breath and tilted his head, "for a new ship there seems to be a lot of things that need to be fixed, sure was hoping they would have had it worked out before we launched."

"Well, at least I know who to swap my liver with," Cassie commented on with a look of disgust still on her face. "How so?" She wondered thinking that was the first thing she had heard about issues.

Jasper chuckled, "coding issues mainly, probably nothing most would notice, I'm just trying to create work for myself."

The woman nodded at him brushing her hair behind her ear showing the curved ear that showed her mixed heritage for a moment before she remembered. "I think my mother used the phrase glutton for punishment for someone like you." She teased the man with a grin as her Scottish accent slipped out for a second.

The Operations officer laughed, "I guess I am." He leaned forward and grinned, "could be worse." Jasper tilted his head, "I could be cleaning the torpedo bays with a brush." The man sat his fork down for a moment and picked up his glass, "probably get assigned to that if I mess it up."

OFF::

Ensign Cassie McAvoy
Science Officer - Biology
USS Ishimura
(PNPC Gregnol)

Jasper Offerman
Operations Officer
USS Ishimura