Let's Try Again

Posted on Thu Feb 9th, 2023 @ 2:49am by Crewman Melly & Commander Ash Randall & Lieutenant R'elle

2,021 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Starfleet One
Timeline: 2431-03-09, 12:00

Location: Cafeteria area

Despite not being assigned yet Crewman Melly kept herself busy during the day with any tasks she could as well as working on familiarizing herself with the nature of her new role. If it remained her role. It was not long however before her stomach was growling. Trying to tell it to stop would not work so she thought to go to the replicator. However people had been working on her to be stronger so she thought.. why not. She would return to that cafe and try some lunch. The same cafe she was carried off by the bounty hunter at.

It was not long before she was back there. Looking to the table she was grabbed under and the table she had waited for her former boss and the security chief and his girlfriend fought causing her to back away into her captors reach. Looking left then right, then left again she saw no Nausicaan's and slowly carefully tip toed to a empty table in the open. This way if she opened a box lunch and a Bounty Hunter jumped out she would be in the line of everyones sight.

It was not long before a waiter came over, a Bolian man who gave her a menu and asked, "What are you having?"

She looked blankly at the menu and then back up, "Slave Nutri-Goop?"

"I'm not paid enough for this", the Bolian said looking down, "Wave me down when you are serious kid." He then slipped off.

Melly hunkered down in the chair a bit unsure and looked about to see if there was a face she knew or something to give her a sign what to order.

Councilor R'elle saw her favorite patient and her problem child, Melly. Poor thing after all that horrible man did to her, it was a miracle Melly was as functional as she was. She went over to the girl. "Hello Melly. It's good to see you again."

Melly looked up from her funk she was in, rising to her knees in the chair she waved to the nice Counselor. "Hello R'elle, I'm trying to come back and have lunch.. despite what happened here. But they didn't like my order I guess?"

"It's very hard for some people to understand why you order nutri-goop. You might try something else. I personally prefer meat dishes, but being a Caitian, that's natural. Why not try something you try something you used to like?"

Commander Randall settled herself into a seat at an adjacent table to where Crewman Melly was seated and conversing with Counselor R'elle and motioned to get the attention of the waiter. There were, at least, 20 other empty tables the Tuansee could have taken so the fact she sat at one to hand of Melly was not a coincidence. However, the felinoid was not going to intrude on her conversation with R'elle or with her lunch. That Melly was here was a good thing, as far as Ash was concerned and she was content to see how she managed after the events of the preceding day.

Melly smiled to R'elle and sighed looking down but looking up and spotting her room mate. Seeing her a distance away she felt more confident before she thought a moment, "I used to love some coconut milk beef curry. It was called Massaman Curry, the coconut milk would make it so mild and not spicy over the rice. It had potatos, carrots, beef, onions, and cashew nuts. I haven't had any since before he started working on me. I think I want some... but something in me is feeling wrong for eating food intended for people rather then.. my kind." Her smile started to fade but the thought of the creamy deliciousness brought a smile right back to her face. "Maybe people food this time, but right back to slave nutri-goop tonight."

~Well, it's progress. One step at a time.~ R'elle thought. "Y'know that actually sounds good. The curry that is! " She looked over at Ash. "Hello Ash. How are you this evening?"

Melly also gave a soft wave to Ash and started to relax, feeling safe and happy.

Ash looked over to r'elle and Melly and nodded a greeting. "I am well." She replied, quietly, and finger waved to Melly in as, professional, a manner as one could do so before looking up at the waiter now, towering, over her.

"Pastrami on rye with mayo, yellow mustard, dill pickle slices and a ginger ale, please." She ordered, before he could even hand her a menu and watched while he entered the order. "Thank you." She added and watched as the waiter took two steps to his right to be at the table with Melly and r'elle.

"OK, I'll have tarakian steak with chocolate milk please." R'elle said to the waiter.

Melly peeked up to the same waiter as before and whispered, "Massaman Curry please, with a cup of Andonian Tea please."

The waiter took all three ordered and hurried off. Melly smiled at the small victory.

Looking to R'elle, Melly sighed, "I was scared to come here but I wanted to be brave. I wanted to not let the fear rule me."

Ash looked to Melly and r'elle and nodded, almost imperceptibly, to herself, and thought about Melly's words. Ash was eight when an, Earth First Fanatic, ran her down on her, red, hover scooter. Fear was a monster that had to be defeated and the little felinoid knew this fact all too well. "Facing ones fears is paramount." Ash said, quietly, with a nod of respect to Melly.

"Agreed! Fear can hold you back.Conquering it is hard. I'm very proud of you Melly!" R'elle

Melly could not stop smiling. She watched as the waiter brought the dishes over and she leaned in to take a deep sniff of the tea and closed her eyes. Thinking back she let the smell of the tea remind her as a single tear rolled down her check to drip into the tea.

Ash nodded a thank you to the waiter for bringing her sandwich and ginger ale and made a point of not watching Melly or interrupting the moment for her. The engineer lifted the lid on her sandwich and liberated about half the pastrami and set it to the side on the plate for later and then put the lid back on before she took a dainty bite and, slowly, chewed.

R'elle got her steak and chocolate milk. She cut a piece and proceeded to eat it!`"mmm." she said. it was good. "now this is one of the good things in life. Good food and good friends."

Melly calmed herself and took a drink of the tea and smiled. "I miss you Ms Tavera." Placing her mug down she took the spoon and timidly dipped a bit of curry to nibble. After one bite her eyes brightened and she dug in ravenously. She forgot how good food could be after punishing herself so long.

Ash set down her sandwich while she glanced over at Melly and wondered, for a second or two, how a stomach that's been accustomed to nutri-goop will tolerate something a bit more substantial in rapid fashion. Deliberation completed, Ash picked up her untouched ginger ale and, wordlessly, leaned across to set the glass on the table where Melly and R'elle were seated. Mission accomplished, the felinoid took another, small, bit of her sandwich and waved the waiter over to order another ginger ale.

Three big mouthfuls down and it felt like an asteroid hit her stomach. Pausing in mid bite she looked up in worry but saw Ash's kind gesture and placed the spoon down. With a few timid sips of the ginger ale she whimpered out, "Thank You Roomie... maybe no Slave Nutri-Goop was a bad idea..."

"Easy Melly. It will take time. Moderation. Perhaps talk to Dr. Marner as to what would be best for you for right now. Once your stomach gets used to regular food, you can expand your diet." R'elle said.

Mellys stomach felt a little better after the ginger ale and began eating again albeit slowly, savoring the wonderful taste. "No.. I am going back to Nutri-Goop after this. This was a special occasion. People eat food like this. Ones like me... get it as a treat if we did good." She looked up from her funk she was putting herself in, "But I did good." She smiled proudly. "So I get a treat. And the tea was what Ms. Tavera served every Counseling session. It helped me and is helping me now."

Ash nodded, slowly, in understanding and took another bite of her sandwich and chewed away, in apparent thought, for a moment or two on how Melly considered herself not a people and, mentally, shrugged to herself. "How do you become a people again?" The Chief Engineer asked, quietly, wanting to understand what Melly meant by not being a 'people'.

"It's called dehumanizing Ash. The subject, someone, such as a prisoner or, in this case, a jr. officer is subjected to inhuman or degrading conditions or treatment. They are convinced they are bad if they don't obey their tormentor. In this case they don't qualify as a person. They are nothing. They don't deserve to be treated as people. Melly thinks that of herself. We think differently of course, but right now Melly thinks she is not a person." R'elle said.

Melly lowered her head and nodded, "That pretty much covers exactly R'elle. You are very insightful." She continues to eat slowly and alternating between sipping the ginger ale and the tea.

Ash understood, very well, what dehumanizing was and had experienced it herself but didn't think it necessary to tell R'elle what her true understanding of the subject was or that her question had not been answered. "Thank you, Counselor." The Tuansee said, with a nod, and went back to work eating her sandwich in the same, small, bites and sipping her ginger ale.

R'elle nodded. "Melly, someday, you will believe in yourself again. Ash, thank you for sharing your quarters with melly. You two seem to have hit it off. Good people like you matter very much! The humans have a saying, "What goes around comes around". I've always liked that saying. We Caitians have a similar philosophy. The words don't matter but what you put put does come back to you in some way, shape or form."

Melly finished the last little bit of rice from her curry, eat the curry with the rice but always leave a little to help give padding for the curry after. She then sipped the ginger ale before taking a long drink of the tea. "I will be better. I will believe in myself. I will slip. I will fall. But I will keep getting up and going. No matter what. My mind will be that of a slave deep inside for a long time but I will endure and I will become better. Otherwise the Admiral wins."

Ash finished off the pastrami she had set to the side and also finished her ginger ale when she looked to Melly at her last statement. "Time is on your side." Ash observed, quietly. "It would be, preferable, if you are not forced to endure until the Admiral turns to dust." She added. As far as Ash was concerned the man should be dead and every second he continued to take breath was an affront to the universe and the universe had a way of dealing with such affronts.

"Good attitude Melly! I'm proud of you! That's a great attitude! Yes, you will slip and fall and have setbacks but if you persist, then you will be a winner! I have faith in you!" R'elle truly despised the admiral but her main concern was Melly. Melly was her patient and it was up to her, Ash, Cyrus and all of Melly's friends to help her and she knew they would win in the end and Melly would be the real winner in the end!

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