By Ensign Rada Dengar
80122.1130
Concurrent with Let it Begin
--=Arboretum=--
80122.1130
Concurrent with Let it Begin
--=Arboretum=--
Rada had always hated public gatherings; just a large group of people waiting to see if you do something stupid. He especially hated public dinners. On Angosia III there had not been much variety in regard to cuisine, this had created some embarrassment for Rada one night on Taneria when he had accidentally eaten the cutlery and left the meal untouched. Luckily the food being served tonight did look somewhat like food as he would define it.
He saw plenty of familiar faces as he looked around. He realised that he had attracted Commander Salvek’s attention.
"Mr. Dengar. I was not aware you were on board." Commented Salvek with the closest tone a Vulcan tends to use to surprise.
"Commander Salvek!" Rada replied genuinely happy to see the Commander again, it is strange how much losing control of your own emotions can make you appreciate the control Vulcans exercise "Yes sir, I just arrived earlier today."
Salvek raised an eyebrow, standing silent. The conspicuous dignity with which Vulcans conducted themselves is something which Rada had always envied; something about it kept him ironically unable to hide the emotional state which he had been able to disguise from even the most skilled empaths. He shifted a bit anxiously.
"Clean bill of health, sir." Rada offered. "I've already spoken with the Captain and I'm serving under the condition that if any of my previous.... issues... should resurface that I'm to report to her, the Chaplain or Medical immediately."
"Feel free to come to me if Medical, the Chaplain or the Captain are not available." The Commander told him, Rada wasn’t sure whether this was simple politeness or whether it was Salvek’s way of making sure that Rada had no excuse for not getting help should he become unwell again.
"Understood sir." He replied.
"Salvek will do for this evening, Mr. Dengar. Welcome back." Rada could never understand why some officers insisted on a lack of formality when it came to these events, it always terrified him that he might get used to it. He always promised himself that if he ever got promoted he would make sure to give his junior officers the option to only address him with one term.
Salvek clasped Rada’s hand and shook it firmly. Rada was thankful that the doors then slid open and the entrance of the Captain took the Commander’s attention. This allowed him to slip away unseen.
Trick London soon called out for everyone to grab a plate and start eating, Rada was glad for the instruction.
He decided on something he’d heard referred to as French Surprise; he reasoned that if Klingons make the best Klingon food and Vulcans the best Vulcan food then the best French Surprise would be made by the woman who best suited that description, which had to be Fleur Le Marc.
He also took some type of roasted meat, he wasn’t sure what type of animal it came from but whatever this animal was it was apparently called a beef. He took his food and sat down at the table between two empty seats.
The table quickly filled up with same old faces and some new. Rada recalled the definition of ambivalence when there was a call for a speech; first and foremost Rada was glad that when someone was speaking no one expected him to have anything to say. However knowing what to do during a speech, particularly one by a Vulcan, was in many ways much harder than normal conversation.
You either seem like a rude bastard by not looking interested, leading to people shunning you. The part where they don’t talk to you didn’t seem too bad to Rada, however he knows shunning is not all fun and games. It could also cause them to be equally rude and probably disruptive if you ever have to make a speech in the future yourself, to the point where they start throwing sharp objects at you until one inevitably pierces a vital organ and you have to by rushed to sickbay.
Sickbay will be empty of course, with the medical staff not seeing the point in turning up for such a rude bastard. Consequently leading to you dying on the table after a very slow and painful bleed out.
Alternatively, you seem like an incredibly dull imbecile by looking as though you find something very interesting which is clearly not. The inevitable consequence of which will be you being constantly left to do everything alone, since no one wants to risk working anywhere near you due to the fact that they could end up ‘stuck talking to that dull bastard’.
Rada knew that there was only one thing that could follow from that; people would see how incredibly incompetent he really was if there was no one there to pick up his slack, he would inevitably be moved to less and less important work until he could sink no lower and Kellyn decided to beam him to the next ship within range. Of course there probably wouldn’t be a ship within range and Rada would simply be beamed to the nearest Class L planet where he would spend the next six months of his life starving to death.
Clearly you need to look somewhere in between. However no one except an android will be able to quantify where in between. Considering there were none on board that Rada was aware of he was stuck. He settled on oscillating his face somewhere in between just hoping that he wasn’t mistaken for having some kind of facial tic.
Thankfully, Reece soon stood up and ordered a round of applause for the Commander, Rada was glad the Trill had been there or else he never would have realized Salvek’s speech was over. Salvek was apparently not completely finished and he next presented the Captain with Bajoran Spring Wine to christen the ship, leading to an unexpected hug.
This was followed by a call for celebration. Generally this would have terrified Rada and tonight was no exception. A celebration is just the opportunities for embarrassment of a dinner multiplied tenfold. It tends to involve a lot of people, a lot of laughter, a lot of stories of wild times and quite often a lot of alcohol.
Still, Rada looked around at so many happy faces and then looked down and it hit him; he was no longer tied down, he was no longer locked up, he was sitting down eating food he’d never heard of in a room designed for plants aboard a ship full of people whose only common feature seems to be humanoid form. Still, they were good people and that was worth celebrating.
Ensign Rada Dengar
Engineering Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
NRPG: "It was apparently called a beef." Oh, Mr. Dengar, have I told you lately how much we've missed you? LOL~ ZL
Engineering Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
NRPG: "It was apparently called a beef." Oh, Mr. Dengar, have I told you lately how much we've missed you? LOL~ ZL