'Dinner at the Court'

[Cptn Corizon 0]

He sat his tray down on the table with a heavy thud. Corizon looked down at the plate of hot food with a slight bemusement. He'd made his way down to The Court, one of dozen such places on the station that offered a strictly human cuisine, and the only one who offered actual cooked meals as opposed to be a replimat.

 

So rarely did he actually eat human meals; like most of his people they tended upset his stomach and cause him to be sick. Frankly though, he needed comfort food, and most of all he needed to be left alone. No one would come looking for him down here.

 

Stabbing at the...what did they call them? Mashed Potatoes. That was it. Stabbing at the mashed potatoes he sighed heavily considering the past few weeks since they'd returned from the alternate universe.

 

Nearly eight months had passed; the Scorpiads and the Dominion had signed a loose armistice and were working on the terms of a more concrete agreement; the Romulans had all but pulled out of the Quadrant, leaving only a handful of their forces and a few dozen staffers for Ambassador N'Kedre; the Hundred were again causing problems for the Dominion; Starfleet had been mum on his agreement with Keevan and Taenix to go looking for the Founders; and to top it all off he'd been persona non grata with ATAG—they weren't even returning his calls.

 

Unfortunately he was apparently on the top of every other agency in Starfleet's list-of-people-to-call-and-pester. Today for example, he'd regurgitated the same report about the Founders being AWOL to no less than half a dozen Admirals, Senators and Federation Council members. It was beginning to grow tiresome.

 

Of course, he'd prefer that to what he'd spent the majority of his time doing the past few weeks—defending every command decision he'd made since they lost contact with the Alpha Quadrant. And that was to say nothing of the grilling he was going to get when they got back to Earth in a few weeks. Lord, he wasn't looking forward to that trip at all.

 

Corizon sighed again and put his knife to something he'd heard one of the humans call 'meatloaf.' He really never had understood the human naming conventions for their food. On his planet, you called food, food—more accurately you referred to its origin as its name—granted few off-worlders ventured into Dameon eating establishments..

 

He'd not gotten the meatloaf to his lips before he heard a familiar voice behind chide him for his choice of foods. “Now Checkers,” the buttery-smooth alto-voice said brightly, “You know that'll make you throw up on the carpet.”

 

Like a kid caught with something he wasn't supposed to eat, Corizon shoved the meatloaf into his mouth and swallowed it quickly. “Not like anyone would notice if I did it on the bridge carpet...”

 

“Now you're being silly. Care if I join you?”

 

“Do I have a choice?”

 

“Not particularly no.”

 

Commander Janis Eason sat down her own tray directly across from Corizon. It was filled with decidedly more healthy choices—a salad, something Corizon thought smelled vaguely of grilled fish, and a cup of fresh fruit.

 

Eason pulled up a chair and sat down smirking at Corizon. She had long, flowing blond hair that she kept up and out of the way in a neat, regulation-style pony tail. Apparently the commander had been blessed with eternal youth, not a single wrinkle showed on her face. Only the slight hints of crows feat had begun to form at the corners of her deep, blue eyes. On some level, Corizon envied the woman. Despite everything they'd been through since graduation, she seemed untouched.

 

“It's good to see you again, too,” he finally said, feigning annoyance.

 

“Oh you know I love you Checkers.”

 

“So what do I owe the pleasure, Doctor?”

 

“Just checking in with you,” she said as she tipped the small cup of dressing onto the greens that made up her salad. “I'd not had a chance to come say hello since we'd arrived...”

 

“How'd you know I'd be down here?”

 

“Checkers, how long have I known you...”

 

He started to respond but she stopped him. “More precisely, how many times did I help you clean the...”

 

A glancing blow from his yellow eyes stopped her and she smirked. “Oh right, wouldn't want any of your people to over hear.”

 

“One of these days...”

 

“You're going to suck it up and tell them you can't eat human food because it gives you a nasty tummy ache?”

 

“No...”

 

“Oh right, bam-boom, straight to the moon!”

 

“We already went to the moon...if you'll recall.”

 

“Yes and you managed to nearly drown in Lake Berlin...who knew you could fetch!”

 

“I swear you never change...”

 

“Neither do you.”

 

“Point taken.”

 

The meal progressed for a few minutes with both continuing to eat uninterrupted. After finishing her salad, Eason looked to Corizon. “Checkers, I've not seen you wolf down food like this since the Academy. What's up?”

 

“Oh...” he said, stopping eating and whipping his mouth off with his napkin. “You know just Fleet being Fleet.”

 

“Now don't try that with me,” she said, poking him with her fork. “I know you better than that. You wouldn't willingly induce yourself to sickness if you weren't upset.”

 

“They're most likely going to decommission my ship and may not give me another one anytime soon.”

 

“That's not what's upsetting you,” she said firmly. “Hell that's almost a reward.”

 

“Yeah,” he said despondently. He wasn't going to bother confirming what she was saying, because it was true, he'd never been someone who liked commanding a starship. “But they're also not going to honor an agreement I made with the Dominion. Makes me look like a lair.”

 

“And there we have it ladies and gentlemen...”

 

“Don't patronize me...”

 

“I'm not...”

 

After a few long minutes, Eason decided to drop the subject and go back to her meal and catching up with her long-time friend. After she'd finished and Corizon had filled a second plate she patted him on the shoulder as she got up to leave.

 

“It was good seeing you again Checkers,” she said warmly. “But I really need to be getting back to the Hephaestus we're due to head out in a few hours.”

 

“It was good to see you too,” he said turning to face her.

 

“Should I call your doctor and tell him to get some anti-nausea meds ready or your janitor to get the carpet cleaner out?”

 

“Neither,” he said sharply. “I'll be fine on my own.”

 

“In any case, I'll drop off a supply a Purina at your office before I leave...”

 

He only shook his head and smiled as Eason walked off and blended into traffic. It was good to see someone from his era. Especially this far on the frontiers. People like him and Eason were fast becoming far and few in between, even in the Admiralty. As his conversations with that particular group had revealed, a number of them hadn't even been in the service as long as he had, earning their rank in the Dominion War.

 

Checkers. He hadn't heard that name in a long time. Perhaps the coming trip to Earth would be good for him after all. If he survived the meeting with the High IQ Prima Donna's, he'd no doubt get to see a few of the old codgers from his academy class.

 

Nostalgia was beginning to kick in, as was the meatloaf. Oh it was going to be a fun evening.

[LeftEar JoNs 0]

Nice!

 

Oh and Checkers? If there is an Admiral Nixon somewhere, please warn us. ;-)

[Victria 0]

He was named that because he used to eat Checkers as a puppy. They had to take him to the vet several times for x-rays and emergency surgery. :)