AAD (After Action Dinner)

The mess hall aboard the Solace, is sparsely populated at this hour, but open for business. "Mid-Rats" is being served, to provide a little sustenance, to those putting in the extra hours following the days events.
Having just being relieved from her duties, Ensign Liara Shran, sits alone at a table near the back of the room. Staring down at her plate, she idle picks at the leftover spaghetti that is the evenings fare. Her face shows little in the way of active thought, or emotion, but her antennae seem to twitch, and wave about, as if they have a mind of their own.

Liara's antenna pick up a familiar gait of footsteps as T'zark comes over with tray in hand and sits down across from her. He in silence prepares to eat his meal placing his eating utensils just so. A way of announcing his presence without intruding into her private thoughts immediately but signaling his willingness to talk.

Eventually he speaks, "I saw your - as usual flawless tactical acumen from my workpod, your warrior prowess is evident to all, my friend. I wish I could have been there on the bridge to assist you - and bask in your well-deserved glory. I could see the helmsman's piloting though...adequate, showed little flare or creativity in his tactical maneuvering. Yet ...you seem less pleased with your... success than I would find usual. What troubles you Liara... if I may ask? Surly a... demanding Captain Pike has not 'stolen' your well deserved victorious exaltation?"

H'suur walks over, tray laden with food, sliding around the various obstacles in his path - the female ones getting a smile. At the table, he plops his tray down, settles himself in a seat next to Liara. Before tucking into the spaghetti with a vengeance, he greets the others with a grin. "Phaser babe, repair boy." Around mouthfuls of the food and draught of reconstituted milk, he says, "You would not believe the amount of paperwork twenty Orion prisoners generates." Chew, chew, gulp. "And that's before any interrogation." Looking between the other two, he asks, "Why the long faces? C'mon, we won!"

Ensign Soong fills his tray and winds his way to the table,
“Mind if I sit here?”
After getting a nod, Ishaan sits, and begins fastidiously arraigning his utensils.
“Did you guys see that there was a faulty magnetic threshold projector on the Pacific’s Warp induction manifold? Do you know how rare it is for that part to fail? Even with a direct spatial torpedo hit it's still almost unheard of!”
The ensign shovels a spoon-full of food into his mouth and grins at the others, then, through the food
“What are we talking about?”

((OOC: and yes, I did find an on-line technobabble generator...))

Liara glares at H'suur. "We won???? Really??? Is that your analysis Tigger, cause I see it a whole lot different. First we bumble our way into a pathetically obvious ambush, but luckily the trap springs to early. But wait, instead of seizing the initiative, we wait till they beam assault teams aboard, so they can capture a third of the engineering boarding team, though admittedly that was taken care of fairly quickly." she says with a nod to T'zark. At this point luckily, the decision to attack a vessel with only forward firing arcs head-on is rescinded, for a more viable flanking attack. Thank the stars Selar was on ops, cause helm wouldn't know an attack vector if it bit him."
Liara pauses a moment, takes a drink from her glass, and continues on her rant. "Luck chose to smile on us again though, as I was able to use the tractor beam line up a decent shot. Then what do we do? We let them escape. Two more seconds, and I disable their engines, but no...we let them go. For all our effort, all we have to show for it is 20 pieces of big green cannon fodder that probably don't know targ dung about whats really going on, when we should have had their entire ship and crew. I'd hardly call that a win H'suur.....It barely qualifies as a tie."

H'suur, unfazed by Liara's anger, watches her as she speaks, a faint smile growing. As she goes on, he rests his chin in his palm, swiping his lips clean of milk as she drinks. When she's finally done, he takes a bite out of vegetable stick (something...blue?), and says, "They're in our brig. We have the Pacific. We remain un-trapped. The Solace took no damage, they did. Their goals thwarted, ours acheived. Yeah, that's a win." Leaning back in his chair, he rolls the veggie stick across his knuckles absently, twirling it about. "Babe, I just don't think you're gonna get to be Nelson or Futhark or whoever on an ERV." To Soong he nods, giving a bemused grin. "Make yourself...rigidly comfortable, boy genius." After the levity, there seems to be a moment's considered thought or memory, looking at Soong, but it passes from H'suur's face as someone else speaks...

((OOC: Nothing deep, he was just thinking about what Soong said about the part...but it slips through his grasp at the moment...))

T'zark merely listens to Liara's rant attentive, knowing sometimes his friend needs to rant her frustrations... he vaguely remembers a Vulcan youth with some familiarity who had and still has similar frustrations...

At H'suurs arrival, T'zark greats him, "Welcome 'gunslinger kitty', you seem to have gotten quite the action last op. Try not to preen too loudly {he teases casually}, Oh wait... uh... too late. As for 'Repair boy', next time you go into action...let me maintenance your phaser first and see if you feel the same way afterward? I am a helmsman... not a space dockpod worker... {sigh}, but I guess each must wait his turn at glory... obviously some less than others...", he nods to both H'suur, and Liara.

"From what I hear from the Security personnel, H'suur, they're acclaiming you as the 'fastest phaser-slinger' in the Fed! They are all impressed with your prowess, Congratulations. {He elbows him playfully} And you thought this would be a boring post!"

Casting his gaze at the Young Ensign Soong engineer who requests a seat at their table T'zark gestures affably for him to take his seat.

T'zark listens somewhat ammused at the Engineering Esign's technical babble with a smirk on his lips.

"Ensign Soong, I hear you were in the 'thick' of it as well! Very nice and innovative use of the Transporter by the way, I hear the chief engineer is still trying to figure out how you did it! I hope my ...unorthodox means to remedy the Orion Pirates of their lives in the Engineering section of the Pacific did not cause you untoward stress. My options were limited."

Turning back to Liara, "I understand your frustrations Liara... its seems as if the senior staff are ...somewhat limited by their unwillingness to deviate from the 'by the book' mentality. It was indeed a blunder into an obvious trap, but try to remember we are not 'at war' as yet, this is not a combat vessel. Luck could just have gone against even a more...{smirk}, aggressive stance to the situation.

Then his expression turns to that serious stoic frown he gets when he perceives a failure to live up to his own high standards of 'personal' success, "I wish I would have been stationed on the bridge...perhaps 'WE' could have made a difference... and perhaps not. It is not a Total victory... but it is one I'll relish. Though three dead fresh trainee Starfleet Engineers for 20 Orion Thug prisoners, and 10 Orion Corpses is hardly what I would consider an 'ideal' victory. We do not have to bear the weight of that decision, Captain Pike does. Which is likely why... he can be so... distant and abrasive. I'm sure none of us considers this less a victory than him."

Emony quietly enters, as if she's trying not to be seen. Grabs a little bit of food and sees how full the table is and sits at an empty table, one away and starts to quietly eat her food. Maybe she listens a little, but if so it would be hard to tell.

Liara rolls her eyes at H'suur. "You know as well as I do, that that Marauder, will be repaired and raiding again, before weeks end if not sooner, so tell me this O' Great and Wise Sphinx. Whats the point of stopping a crime in progress, if your just going to let the bad guys go, to commit another crime? ERV or not, we are still Starfleet. They killed seven Federation Citizens, and WE let them walk. Am I the only one who gets that?" she asks looking around the table.

T'zark raises and eyebrow, "10. They killed 10 Federation citizens. Yes, your point is not lost Liara... but we are not in command. It is not our decision to make. Though, obviously, since you feel so very strongly about it... you should indicate so in your personal logs and inform Starfleet Command of your... objections, along the proper channels. There may be more to the situation than we currently know...do you think it was mere happenstance we start off and not even a week into our first assignment we are in an indecent? Captain Pike may have a reason or Starfleet directives for being in this particular region of space or that hinder the actions he may take. We do not know all there may be to know on the matter. Regardless, the Captain's word and orders are law... despite if we disagree and as long as Starfleet regulations are not violated. I support your assessment, please... calm yourself."

T'zark smiles ironical, HE telling someone else to 'calm themselves'... almost comical.

"Gunslinger kitty..." muses H'suur. "Heh. I like that. Need to get a drop-thigh rig, but 10 credits says that's against ship regs..." He sighs at Liara's question, working on another veggie stick, this one a variegated purple and red. "No, Li, you're not." Crunch, crunch. "But you are hot when you're righteous." He flashes her a broad grin and a waggle of his eyebrows, but is distracted by the arrival of the cadet nearby. His affectionate leer fades to curiosity as he idly twirls his food. "Huh..." he mutters to himself, "Don't remember her from the Academy..."

In response to T’zark, Soong waves his fork in the air enthusiastically, “On the contrary, you did exactly what you should have done. I was planning on doing an emergency vent of the asymmetric variable burst controller to blow the new hull plate off, but I got caught before I could get to the panel. You saved my life, basically…” suddenly the ensign’s demeanor shifts to one of discomfort, “…so, thanks…for that.”

Ishaan ducks his head and goes back to eating. When Emony walks in and sits down, his face brightens and he attempts to get her attention, waving her over to the empty seat next to him.

When H’Suur mutters about Ensign Pren, Soong speaks up, “Oh, she’s still a cadet. Her names’ Emony Pren and she’s a genius. We’ve been study partners for a couple years, I’m sure she’ll come over…” once again, Ishaan enthusiastically motions for Emony to come over and join them.

T'zark nods sagaciously accepting Soongs thanks, "We're Starfleet, we'd do the same for each other, no thanks is required... but it is appreciated. Maybe next time it will be your Engineering Virtuoso that is saving me!"

T'zark follows Soong's enthusiastic admonition to the youngster, and turns in his seat to regard her curiously, smiling at her evident shyness, "Please... indeed come join us Cadet Pren, we do not bite. Its a mark of excellence that you were assigned to active duty though still a Cadet... you must tell us of your genius specialty that has won you such an honor!"

Upon being noticed Emony's face turns a rosy red. Obviously not used to being asked to join a table anywhere, she picks up her tray okwardly and walks over to sit next to Ishaan." You will have to forgive me if I'm not the best company, I'm not used to being around so many unfamiliar faces. I'm- I usually don't talk much about myself, besides I'm more interested in hearing about all of you. I heard that you all had a major roll in saving us from the Orion pirates. Thank you all for that, I just wish I could have been of more use." With that said, she starts to eat again, showing respect and being very polite with her manners. Occasionally, she looks around from person to person at the table as the conversation continues.

Liara glares at H'suur for a long moment before speaking. "You know I hate you right?" she says with a sigh and a shake of her head. "Why I ever helped you graduate is beyond me" she adds with a grin. "Okay everyone rant complete. I know return you to your regularly scheduled meal."

She takes a couple of bites of her food, as she listens to the conversation. "I've seen you fly T'zark. I'm sure Soongs engineering virtuoso, will get a heck of a workout once you take the helm" she says with a grin. "And don't worry Emony. You'll be plenty busy answering all of H'suurs science questions, so you may want to brush up on your Prehistoric Caitian language skills. "Me find shiny rock meow. You tell H'suur what shiny is meow" she says mockingly to her friend.

T'zark comments playfully, "Now don't be mean 'Phaser-Babe', 'Gunslinger Kitty', can't help himself... he flirts with all women, its one of his many charms... while I do more than just flirt. And he does know one end of the 'shiny' phaser from the other so he is not incapable for what he does. Besides if security were engineers they'd insist on all ships weapons being turret mounted for the "personal feel"... then where would sexy Tactical officers be?"

His tone is teasing and all in jest, but he makes ready to block any food hurled his way with his tray...

When Liara jokes about H’Suur and the Caitian language, Soong snorts and fails to stifle a laugh, spraying a good portion of the blue milk he was drinking in H’Suur’s general direction. Seeing the droplets of milk all over the place, he grabs at a napkin and begins cleaning up with a grimace, “Sorry, sorry…”

Emony still remains quiet, but she does looked quite amused at the things that are being said and done around the table. Perhaps she is remaining quiet in fear that she could screw up the chance to be more on the friendly terms with everyone else...

H'suur, about to retort with something witty and salacious, is caught in an open-mouthed grin as Soong's ejecta sprays over the side of his face and shoulder. The remark is lost as he turns to the offending ensign, the wetter ear folded down and a look of incredulous personal betrayal on his face. "I'll have you know that I can recite, in fluent Ancient Ftierle, the hour-long epic poem that is a cultural bastion of..." His expression of affected disgust and hurt vanishes as his grin returns. "Nah, all I know is something along the lines of 'hold my mead and watch this, y'all'." He adds his own napkin to the efforts of cleaning himself up, waving off Soong. "Don't sweat it, bud. Just...take smaller sips, maybe?"

Liara bursts into laughter. "Well that was worth the price of admission" she says between laughs. Wiping tears from her eyes, Liara turns toward T'zark. "For the life of me, I don't know who is more incorrigible, you or 'Faster Pussycat' over here" she says hiking a thumb at H'suur. "But to answer your question, they would all be in the command chair where they belong......at least the sexy Andorian one would be."

T'zark smiles as Liara leans close which turns to a face splitting grin and laughs, "hahahaaa. Yes. Indeed Liara, Likely!"

After a moment of silence Emony speaks up uncertainly. "So, uh, how is everyones, um, training, uh, um, going? Hehe." she says nervously, it is obvious that she is not used to making small talk. At all. She looks around nervous, as if she was afraid that she did something wrong.

Liara turns to Emony. "Training is never ending as far as I can tell" she says with a warm smile. "And as luck would have it, you'll probably see me a lot wandering aimlessly through the science department seeing as science has been picked for my cross training. Apparently the Chief Engineer won that coin toss" she adds with a chuckle. "I'm Liara by the way...Liara Shran" she says extending her hand in greeting. "And yes, the same Shrans as in the history books. Thy'lek was my uncle."

Emony shakes Liara's hand and after another moment her faces lights up with excitment. "Wow. I knew..." She stops, her brow furrowing in thought. "Oh, sorry, that's not what I meant. Zamak Pren, knew Thy'lek Shran well. They worked together on the Federation Council. I think that the two of them helped to negotiate the Bolians into the Federation. Isn't that so cool?! This galaxy just keeps getting smaller and smaller, doesn't it?"