Medics and Meals
Posted on Sun Dec 31st, 2023 @ 8:04am by Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason & Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant Jai
2,156 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
What Lies Ahead, Between, and Behind
Location: Arnason's Quarters
Draped in an apron that read 'Aprons are capes worn backwards' - a gift from a former patient he'd 'saved' from medbay food with home cooked meals - Gunnar stood at the counter, happily chopping fresh vegetables. One of the benefits of being stationed on a colony was fresh grown, rather than replicated, produce. Besides, there was something about preparing meals by hand that he found relaxing. In fact, Sofia had once had him use it as a part of therapy, though he suspected there was also an ulterior motive since they both came from cultures that favored lamb dishes. He hadn't minded; she hadn't been wrong about the therapeutic value, and he'd gotten her family recipes for kleftiko and stifado.
Since arriving on Haumea, they'd revived shared meals few times, particularly after trying events, so there probably was some therapy involved, but it had mostly been simply unwinding with an old friend. However, he also had new friends here and tonight he'd invited Luka and the new doctor for a meal. Mindful that Jai did not eat meat, lamb was off the menu, but he had several good vegetarian recipes to fall back on.
Luka was simply content sipping one of the various beers he had brought along with him, an alcohol-heavy tripel, which he elected to bring along with a deep, dark porter and something light and fruity. He honestly could not remember what Cornelius gave him when he trotted into the Silver Tongue, but Luka knew it was bound to be good.
He did also elect to leave the pups at home; while he was sure neither minded the idea of keeping company of two malamutes, the Captain needed a break from the hubbub. And his 'sister' owed him a babysitting night.
"You sure you don't want any help?" Luka offered, for the nth time, from the seat at the nearby table. "I'm real good at stirring pots."
"Thanks, but I'm fine," Gunnar called back, scooping his chopped veggies into a pot. "You just relax for a change, jah? If you really need to help with something, you can taste this for me in a few minutes."
A ring of the door announcer noted the arrival of the young doctor. Running a tad later than he'd intended. First, he'd been waylaid at the office by a call from Mrs. MacDowall, regarding a legacy gift to the hospital. Before he'd become a Chief Medical Officer, Jai had always thought that bequeathments were a nice and touching gesture.
...well, that wasn't entirely accurate. He'd never really thought about things like bequeathments or legacies, because he was just a doctor.
Come to find out, there was a lot to administering a hospital that involved more lawyers than doctors.
But anyway, once he'd finally managed to extricate himself from that discussion, he'd rushed back to his quarters to change and replicate some momos to bring with him to the dinner.
Had Gunnar said what they were having? Probably, but the boy couldn't recall. So he just hoped that chicken momos would go with whatever it was that they were having. Except, apparently the replicator didn't have a recipe programmed into it that matched what the Tibetan had in mind, so then he'd had to come up with the recipe for the replicator -- which he'd sent to someone just ten or so years ago, but now he couldn't find a copy of that transmission in his sent folder. So that had taken longer than expected.
So instead of showing up on time, looking like a normal human being -- or non-human, as the case may have been -- with a tray of nicely prepared dumplings, the boy was arriving out of breath, still in his scrubs, with whatever had been spit out of the replicator and just hoping that it was edible.
It was a low bar, but when you were as short as Jai was, sometimes the low bar was the only one within reach.
"Doctor Jai, welcome!" Gunnar called from behind the kitchen counter. "Please, come in and make yourself at home. Can I get you something to drink?" He doubted Jai drank beer or wine - though one never knew; the Romulettes had been allowed a watered down version of ale at Jai's apparent age. But despite the fact that on the basis of ale tolerance Gunnar himself counted as a child by Romulan standards, he never served them anything alcoholic and so had a stock of juices and sodas on hand.
"Tea would be lovely right now," the boy supplied in answer, as he came inside. Holding up the tray, he asked, "Is there somewhere I can set these?"
"Certainly. Captain, if you want to help, could you make the tea? I have a couple varieties in the box there." Gunnar pointed with the hand not stirring. "If that's food, you can put it on the table," he told Jai. "Or I can take it if it needs to be keep warm, or cold."
"I can do tea." Luka was up from his seat, happy to be of any help that didn't involve pushing paperwork. Someone had to do it, but it wasn't like Luka to delegate the tedium. Not until Davna came up with the umpteenth lecture about how he needed to go outside with his dogs or they would find themselves in the brig out of sanity for the rest of the crew.
"Get yourself caught in something at the hospital?" As the Captain sorted through the box of teas, he offered a smile to Jai, "What kind are you after? We've got black, green... I'm not sure where this one's from but it looks a little blue? And this one has a small copper hue - is that a Vulcan tea?"
"Surprise me," Jai replied, as he deposited the dumplings on the table.
As he straightened back up, he added, "Tibetans traditionally drink a tea made with yak milk. Which, if you've never had it then just trust me. I'm the least picky person when it comes to tea," the boy added, a weary smile softening his expression.
"A widow wants to make a gift to the hospital that would expand on our current elder care facility. But, every day there seems to be more strings attached. And more meetings. And lawyers," the boy explained, as he looked at the captain, then at Gunnar.
"Can I help?" the boy asked.
Gunnar puffed laugh at the comment about Tibetan tea. "No yak milk, but I think I have some creamers if you want. The copper colored tea is Romulan and it has a bit of a bite taken straight. The blue one is a fruit tea from Risa." He paused to pull some flat bread from the oven. "And for future reference, you should ask Nikedoros for help with bequests. She helped cover the admin side of things when I got here, and generally people are more ...cooperative with a Chaplain."
"As to helping I think I have everything in hand," Gunnar lifted the lid and stirred his stew again. "Though you can both taste this red curry in a minute and tell me if it's spiced enough for your tastes."
"And if that doesn't work, let me know and I'll apply more pressure," Luka added on nonchalantly, plucking out a tea he had identified as Vulcan and working to brewing it according to the instructions he remembered receiving about brewing it many years ago. "Or at least get the lawyers off your back. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to tell me the ins and outs of the legality of generous donations." He shook his head. "I had a hard time with similar instances myself on my first department head assignment on Leto. It's good to know some things never change."
"I'm sure Ms. t'Leiya could provide legal advice as well," Gunnar put in as he lifted a spoon from the stew. "Ready to try a taste?" he asked, and added with a glance at Jai, "Don't worry. It's vegetarian."
"Yeah!" the boy chirped excitedly at the offer to taste the food.
Then the second part Gunnar had offered sank in. "Oh, were you eating vegetarian for me?" Jai asked. Then he gave an awkward laugh as he added, "I was worried I'd messed up when I brought chicken momos."
Not that there was anything wrong with vegetarianism. And Jai was excited to try the stew.
Gunnar shrugged, offering a somewhat embarrassed and apologetic smile. "All the Buddhists I've met are vegetarian." He ducked his head slightly. "Though admittedly it's a small sample. Forgive me, I shouldn't have assumed." Placing a dollop of stew in each of two bowls, he offered them to his guests. "If you'd prefer it with meat, I can add some. I grew up in farm country and before this I was stationed on a world full of felinoids, so I have no problem with eating meat."
"Oh, that's a pretty safe assumption," the boy admitted with a laugh. "I think Tibet is the only region on Earth where nothing grows." Hard to be a vegetarian when you lived on a mountain. Just some monks, maybe a few chickens, and a yak. And whatever grain you could eek out of the rock.
"At least, that's how it was hundreds of years ago," the boy added, seemingly as an afterthought, as he accepted the bowl. "I imagine with replicators that it's assimilated into a more traditional Buddhist attitude."
Accepting the offered bowl, the boy remarked after a bite, "I got a crash course in plant-based diets when I studied with the Kolinar monks on Vulcan." Thankfully, unlike the Kolinar masters, Gunnar understood how to use spices. Vulcan cuisine had a flavor of its own, which the boy would have described as bland.
"Interesting. I hadn't known that history," Gunnar said. He was not particularly a believer in any faith, but he tried to cognizant of faiths as they could be important to patients. "I suppose replicators would solve the issue, particularly for monks who already took a practical attitude toward food. As I understand it, there are a few very orthodox sects among a few faiths that reject replicated food because the molecules might have come from something forbidden." Running into that one had been a head-shaker, but fortunately it had been possible to arrange food brought in for the patient.
"In any case, studying with the Kolinar masters must have fascinating." The statement was sincere, but he grinned a little thinking of commentary from his Romulan friends on what Vulcans done to dishes once common to both. "Even at the cost of the blandest possible vegetarian food."
"It was!" the boy chirped in reply. Then he paused to add, "On both accounts, actually."
Taking another bite of the stew, Jai turned the question back on their host. "Have you been to Vulcan?"
"Only very briefly," Gunnar replied, shifting the bread he'd pulled from the oven a moment ago to a serving plate. "Less than a day layover on a cadet cruise. Most of the time was spent in the city and seeing the Science Academy, but I did get an hour hike at Vulcan's Forge - which was quite enough. I'm better suited to hiking around Andor," he added with a chuckle. It was a running joke between him and one of the colony biologists, who had grown up in the Negev and been considerably less excited than he'd been about being outside during Haumea's last winter. "So, how is the stew?"
For a man with manners, the Captain's reply came with a full mouth of stew and momo. Through the garble, it sounded very much like he was enjoying it, but he swallowed his bite to confirm. "Everything is delicious. I don't think I've had time to have anything this warming since..." He made a dismissive gesture with his spoon. "I don't know, the dogs usually end up getting fed better than I do. But this is quite good. I think I prefer the beaches of Risa to either Vulcan or Andor. Not because it's Risa, but because it's beaches. To be clear." He gave an oddly cheeky grin.
"I'll take Risa for beaches too, though I won't say it's the only reason," Gunnar replied with a small wink toward the Captain, then grinned. "They also have excellent food. Somewhat reminiscent of earth Polynesian dishes," he said, ladling stew into bowls for his guests. "Perhaps I'll try that for our next meal. I do hope we can have another," he added, smiling at both of them. "It's a pleasure to cook for friends, especially when they enjoy it. And as much as I approve of well-fed dogs, Captain, you should eat better than them," he said, taking his own bowl and coming around the join his guests, "at least occasionally."
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