The Secret Of Lao's Dumplings
Posted on Wed Dec 16th, 2015 @ 12:47pm by Lieutenant Commander Leto & Lieutenant JG Phoebe Chaelt & IKS Ning'Tao
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: Lao's Chinese Restaurant / Intel
* Lao's
“Mmmm... smell that!”, Isa enthused as Lao's’ host showed them to a table. She almost leaned over one table to smell their dumplings and fairly well floated to the table. “Could you please ask our server to just start bringing plates to us, please? All the flavors - unless you’ve expanded the menu and have gagh dumplings now.”
The host grinned, “No gagh dumplings, though perhaps that would increase our popularity with Klingons. I’ll tell your server.” He turned and walked away.
“Good, good, good. Gosh, I love it when places don’t change much,” she said, smiling at Ronin before looking around the place.
“Me too.” He smiled and held her chair for her. He was careful not to touch her, however, not wanting her to know he’d just been here two weeks ago. “We’ll have to pack in as many as we can hold once we leave here don’t you think?”
“Yup. Oh, I should let Rafe know where we are,” Isa already had her commlink open to him. Briefly, she told him where she was then closed the channel. “All right, First Matey! Hey, I found out an old, old friend of mine is here on the Station - I mean old, as in way before I got tangled up with Drekkar. I promised him I’d stay around for a couple of weeks. Think you can find stuff to do?”
Ro merely smiled at the question. “Please. On a station this size? With a tropical planet down below? There’s plenty I can do. You’re not the only one with friends around here. Maybe I’ll lure that nice lady from sickbay to the beach.” He had, in fact, another prospect in mind, but that young lady had to remain nameless, at least when talking to Isa.
“I’m sure I’m not. Kaeli just mentioned knowing Suresh. I suspect most of us came through here on our ways to other places in the Delta Quadrant.” The server brought glasses of water, a bottle of sake and cups and a plate of dumplings. Isa’s face lit up. “Yay! Dumplings.” She looked them over and said, “Oh... I no longer remember what kind these are.” She looked up at the server for help; the server glanced at Ronin, recognizing him from just a week or two ago.
Ronin pointed to the various ones, naming the filling. “Dig in. Thanks.” He nodded to the server, who moved away. He then poured the sake.
Isa’s face fell for a moment. “Aww... you’ve been here before!” The revelation didn’t keep her from digging in, eating three dumplings before stopping to breath. “Still as good as I recall.”
“Save a few for me, querida?” Rafael had appeared at the table and now he sat down by Isaura. “Ro. How’s it going?” The tall Spaniard reached out to take a dumpling as Ronin poured him some sake.
“All’s well, which is a little frightening,” Ronin laughed. “How was the shopping trip?”
“Good. Rhian no longer looks like a kid wearing her big sister’s clothes, and Joe has his leather jacket back.”
“Oh, good,” Isa said around a dumpling. She briefly pressed a kiss to Rafe’s cheek and smiled at him. “Where’d you leave her?”
“In Olivia’s quarters on the ship,” Rafael answered. “Oh, sorry Ro.”
Ronin had frowned at the mention of Olivia but he shrugged it off. “No worries. Is she planning to stay there? We can get her quarters here on the station if she wants.”
Isa was about to answer when she looked up and whispered, “Oh shit....”
Bad news was on its way to their table: four Security officers, none of whom looked happy. They stopped at the table and one spoke up, “Isaura Panossian, you are to come with us.”
“What? But... warm dumplings...,” she gestured at the food. One of the officers had to stifle a grin; the lead officer simply gestured for her to come along. She sighed and asked, “Am I being arrested?”
“Bail will be arranged if you are arrested; for now, it’s just for questioning, Ms. Panossian.”
She looked at Rafe and then Ro before standing. “I’ll be back. It might be late.”
“We’ll enjoy the dumplings for you,” Ro called out as they led Isaura away.
Rafael had risen to his feet but there was nothing really he could do at this point. “Ro? Do something?”
Ro looked at the dumplings, then to the Ning’Tao’s engineer. “But...warm dumplings,” he said, echoing Isaura. At Rafael’s worried expression, he sighed. “Aww hell. Alright. You eat the dumplings. I’ll go see what I can do. But you owe me.”
“I do. Thanks Ro.” Rafael reached over to clap Ronin on the shoulder. “Hurry.”
“Yeah, yeah….” Ronin drained his cup of sake, then stood and sauntered out.
* Intel - Open Conference Room *
Ronin stood at the terminal in the open conference room used by Intel. It was one of several set up for the Intel officers to meet with people who didn’t have the codes to access the locked decks. He tapped it and requested Lt. Chaelt after identifying himself. When she came on the channel, he wasted no time. “Phoebe, get down here now!”
“Well hello to you too. A little bird in security said you were coming in.”
“Yes, well, I’m here again. Just come down?” Ronin crossed his arms. “I need your help.”
“That was fast.” She smiled back at him. “Give me just a minute.” She closed the comm and the screen went dark. Ronin paced the room as he waited.
“So what’s the big emergency?” asked a voice behind him.
He turned to see Lt. Chaelt moving across the room towards him. “Any idea why Security lifted Isaura during dinner?”
She looked Ronin up and down, then smiled. “Maybe. What’s it worth to you?”
“How about I--”
Phoebe held up her hand to shush him and tapped her comm badge. “Come in.”
The doors opened and the woman entering was already talking, "--right in the middle of dinner at Lao's! Phoebe, I had to leave..., oh holy hell, what is he doing here?" Isaura stopped mid-rant and mid-step, staring at Ronin.
“Welcome, Miss Panossian,” Phoebe greeted her.
“Isa.” Ronin smiled but it faded. "What’s she doing here?”
"I asked first!", Isa said. She looked at Phoebe and went on, "I know, I missed my appointment with you. Sorry, but I was in the middle of things and couldn't get away. But, really? Having Security haul me off from Lao's? Come on! I only had three dumplings. That's cruel and unusual punishment!"
“That I agree with.” Ronin sat down in a chair at the conference table. “Secrets and more secrets,” he said. “I am just here to ask Lt. Chaelt to skip out to the beach.” He flashed Isaura an innocent smile.
Frowning at him, she reached out and touched him, reading him quickly. "You bastard! You've been on my ship for how long and haven't bothered to tell me you're a bloody spy!? I should leave you here when we depart!" Her tone was a mix of outrage, anger and, oddly, playfulness. She wasn't actually angry - though she didn't like surprises. "Or were you sent to handle me?"
That got a hearty laugh from Ronin. “Isa, darling, no one can handle you. You have two trying already and neither is making a success of it. So that would be a no. I’m just convenient to help out now and then when needed.”
Phoebe laughed, too. "Isa is also one of ours, unofficially, who helps out every now and then."
"I can do things the Federation can't, since I'm independent... well, almost independent. I have a Patron in Krenim Space," Isa said, remaining vague about that. "So he just randomly ended up on my ship, Pheebs?"
“More or less. I thought it time you two had the blinders off. That doesn’t mean, though, that everything you do is known to the other. It will stay that way, according to Commander Nalas and Lt. Leto. Got it?” Phoebe looked from Isaura to Ronin. “Sorry.”
"Fine by me," Isa said, eyeing Ronin as she took a seat. "Not that I've had any tasks from you lately."
“Well Ro was gone for a week or two and we didn’t want to completely gut your crew,” Phoebe answered. “I know you two are here on vacation and we don’t want to burden you but while you are here, there’s one thing we need. There’s a Cardassian who has landed, a legate named Zikar. Keep a casual eye on him if you happen to see him?”
Ro nodded. “We can do that. Not like he won’t stand out on this station.” The name was familiar, of course, and he glanced at Isaura. Very familiar to two of their crew.
"Yeah... We even have our own Cardassian welcoming committee," Isa said sourly. "We can keep eyes on him."
“Thank you. In the interests of full disclosure, I must inform you that we will be keeping eyes on your two Cardassians as well. Understood?” Phoebe slipped her padd in her pocket. “That’s all.”
Ronin rose and rested a hand on her shoulder. We’ll transport down when you get off shift. When Phoebe nodded, he turned to Isaura. “Going back to your dumplings?”
"Um... Maybe," she drew out the word as she realized she was, for the moment, free of any watchers such as Drekkar. "If I get in trouble, you'll know where I am." She smiled and dashed off.
“Later.” Ronin waved to Phoebe and followed Isaura out.
*********
Isaura Panossian (Ship’s Captain)
Ronin (First Mate)
Lt. Phoebe Chaelt
Oh, The Secrets We Keep
Rafael Hernandez (Ship’s Engineer)
In The Dark
