Some Food Advice

Posted on 23 May 2012 @ 6:27pm by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Ansen Pawlak
Edited on on 24 May 2012 @ 3:57am

3,335 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Mess Hall
Timeline: MD06 - 1400hours

[ON]

Limping out of her quarters, Pola heard her tummy grumble as she winced. After the morning she had had, upon Brayden's orders she went straight to bed to get some sleep. Surprisingly she managed to fall into a deep sleep and felt very well rested after it. The painkiller she had been given had kept the pain at bay but now she was up and about again the twinges were starting to develop again.

As her tummy grumbled, Pola found her thoughts wandering back to the breakfast Brayden had shared with her this morning. The thoughts of the breakfast seemed to make the grumbling noises even louder. Thankfully she didn't have very far to go so she set about on her journey, allowing her nose to guide her as she limped along.

Ansen watched the crowded mess hall with pleasure. Pizza Wednesday was definitely a success, and with the replicators programmed to provide the pre-set 'fresh baked' pizzas as soon as the trays were empty, he'd effectively given himself the afternoon and evening off off. Plenty of time to attend to his herbs and experiment with menu options for the days to come. With a half smile, he slipped back through the doors into the kitchen and went to water and feed his plants.

Entering into the mess hall, Pola took a look around, uncertain now that she was here. The place seemed to have emptied out as the rush lunch hour had passed and alpha shift were not due to finish for another two hours. Smile as she spotted pizzas at each of the replicator stations. Picking up a slice with pineapple, ham, onion, olives and normal red peppers, the Doctor took a bite and groaned in pleasure.

As she savoured the taste, her mind wandered back to the medical she had had with Kiri. How could a woman survive on one set of rations every 3days...why would a person want to miss out on food like this. Picking up another slice, another thought crossed her mind. Brayden had mentioned a friend who he felt had become a friend, seemingly it was this friend who had left him all of that food for breakfast, Pola started to wonder if he might be a person who could give her advise on finding a way to talk Kiri around. Polishing off her second piece of pizza, Pola grabbed a third slice and limped her way towards the kitchen. Ok, she didn't even know the guy's name but surely he would stand out.

Pushing the doors into the kitchen, Pola peered around the door, suddenly realising maybe she shouldn't be imposing in another's territory without their permission. "Um....help?!

Ansen looked up, surprised, from feeding tarantulas to a long-stemmed quintillia plant - clippings from the quintillia's leaves were like sugar-coated orange peelings with a hint of jasmine and dissolved perfectly into sauces. The woman in the doorway looked all right, maybe she'd gotten one of the spicy peppers? Or she was having an allergic reaction? "With what?" he asked, worried the woman might suddenly keel over on his floor.

Pola blushed slightly as the man turned to look at her. Noticed his height, Pola started to blush more uncertain what to say now. She hadn't meant to say help, she had meant to say hello. The Doctor quietly wondered if she could blame the fraudulent slip on the pain killers. Limping further into the kitchen, Pola smiled shyly, "This is gonna sound weird. I looking for a chef who cooked a breakfast this morning for one of the counsellors, Brayden."

He relaxed substantially when she didn't seem about to die; not that he was a doctor, so what did he really know? He figured the limp wasn't a good sign, but she was dressed in a medical officer's uniform, so she probably knew if she was about to- Brayden. He smiled a little at the mention. "Only one chef here," he said, grabbing a stool and bringing it to her. "I'm Ansen. Have a seat."

Smiling graciously as she eased herself up onto the stool, Pola started to feel far more at ease. "Ok, well first and foremost can I apologise? I'm going to blame it on a traumatic morning and pain killers." Laughing, Pola folded her elbow onto the table and leaned her cheek against the palm of her hand before realising she hadn't even introduced herself. Jumping back down, wincing as she felt a twinge in her foot, the Doctor held out her hand. "I'm Doctor Pola Ni Dhuinn, I'm the CMO."

He looked at her mutely for a moment, perplexed by the injured woman who was apologizing to him for no reason and then leaping onto her wounded foot. "Yes, nice to meet you, Pola. Nevermind apologies, please sit," he pointed to the stool. "You hurt yourself this morning?" he asked.

Climbing back up onto the stool, Pola was very careful to not put weight on her left foot, leaving it gently resting on the foot bar. "A bad run in with a Fouett rond de jambe en tournant position during a ballet routine. Brayden fixed me up though, just got to wear a boot thingie for a few days." Shifting her weight on the stool, Pola remembered why it was she was there. "The food you cooked for Bradyen, he shared some with me when he realised I hadn't eaten in awhile. It was really really nice, your a good chef."

He didn't know anything about ballet, but he knew French and a 'turning round leg' position certainly sounded painful. "Yes, I know," he agreed, at ease with the compliment. The Australian milling about sharing the meal he'd made wasn't quite what Ansen had had in mind when he'd made it, but it was nice to know the food had been appreciated. "Do you want something - there's pizza out in the mess, or I could whip something together. Do you drink? Vodka is good for jambes se retourna."

Laughing Pola shook her head, "I don't think I need to be a Doctor to know that Vodka and painkillers really wouldn't mix. I need to be able to work the beta shift in a few hours. Food is actually the reason I'm here to talk to you. I need some advise surrounding food. Do you know anything about Starfleet rations?"

"I thought you wanted advice on food," Ansen considered her, resting his hands on the counter. "Yes, I know them. What's the question?"

"I need some ammunition to try talk around a patient I'm having some problems with." Looking down at the counter, Pola started to realise she was making very little sense. "Ok, maybe I should start from the beginning. Basically I have a patient who feels it is ok to only eat one Starfleet ration every three days. Her argument is that the ration supplies her with enough vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, etc that she can survive fine on this diet. Every argument I make she has a rebuttal. I was thinking maybe you might be able to help educate me abit more on starfleet rations, maybe ways I can talk her around. I know I can research everything but sometimes a human element helps."

Ansen stared at the doctor. "Ah... tie the woman down and make her eat?" he asked. "I'm not a doctor, but one ration meal only has 1200 calories; you're supposed to eat three a day when you're on them. And that's only for twenty-one days at a time. So unless she never moves or is the size of a swizzle stick, my vote as the human element would be to force feed her. What's her rebuttal? She wants to starve to death?" he asked, perplexed.

"But see in theory that's correct but in practise it's not. Rations are built for minimum but for longterm survival. As a result they have chemicals inbuilt which mean they slow release the nutrients and vitamins required by the body, thus in turn meaning a person could go 3days without needing anything further. But they are build for emergencies, not for longterm use." Getting down off of her stool, Pola started a limping pace back and forward along the floor. "The problem is she seems to have programming herself to see this as normal, as ok. She doesn't see that it's not normal. She should be eating a minimum of 3meals a day or at least eating small portions a number of times through out the day."

"Kurwa mac!" Ansen shook his head, "Nutrients and vitamins. Yes, if they do nothing but lay in a shuttle and wait to be rescued. But the rations don't slow-release extra calories. How long has she been doing this? She's probably eating into her own muscle by now. Where's the girl? I'll feed her."

"I can't tell you that, I'd be a breech of Doctor, patient confidentiality...maybe there's a way around it...I could ask her to join me for dinner maybe?" Pola continued her pacing back and forwarded, trying to think of ideas.

"Confidentiality," he crossed to a cabinet and poured himself a shot of bimber, tossing it back. "How long has she been doing this?" He looked around the kitchen, suddenly itching to solve the situation. He yanked a pair of leftover cooked Bajoran shrimp and set to rapidly chopping them up with a cleaver until they were a pile of ground, dark pink meat. Protein, he thought, and tossed them into a pan with some oil.

Turning her head to watch Ansen at work, Pola found herself mesmerised at the speed at which he was able to chop and prepare food. It truely was an absolute skill he had, it made her realise that she really should learn how to cook. "How long? Um....If I recall correctly around about the time she start at the academy so just over 4years from what I remember."

"She is very skinny, yes? Very small in height?" he asked, grabbing a handful of garlic and dicing it before throwing it in with the shrimp. "Sodium in the rations is high because the brains like it. But makes you sick over time. My brother, he likes the rations. Now, he is only allowed to have one every week. Bloating, cramping, bad heart, thirsty all the time. It wasn't good." He turned from the stove, grabbing handfuls of leaves of varying shades of green from bins around the kitchen and throwing them into a batch shredder that issued the leaves again as green confetti.

Suddenly wishing she'd brought a PADD with her, Pola attempted to lock in this advise, this had been exactly what she needed and it was even better that there was an actual person who a comparison could be done to. "How if your brother now? If they caused that much damage, why isn't he off of them completely?"

"He's stubborn," Ansen smiled. "Not bad for one meal a week. It was the always eating them that got him into trouble. They replaced his heart. He learned." He shook the pan of shrimp and garlic, mixing it as the scents of the cooking dense meat filled the room, then added a handful of the green confetti and stirred absently with one hand, while he checked the cabinets around him, opening and closing them before finally locating a tray with inlaid blocks. He scooped a spoonful of the mix onto a small plate and poured the rest into a blender, turning it into a green sludge, which he then poured into the block inlays and shoved into the thermoclave. He brought the plate to her. "Nutrients, vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, calories no added salt. The bars will bake, I can wrap them in ration packaging. Help to keep her hydrated. Until you let me feed her an actual meal, whoever she is."

Stopping her pacing in order to try follow Ansen's movements, Pola found herself in owe. How he could gather a completely random ingredients and manage to make a dish completely mistified her. Reaching out to try a piece, the Doctor found her eyes closing as she groaned in ecstasy. "How do you do that?"

"I am a god made man," he said simply, with only the tiniest of smiles to show he was anything but completely serious. "The thing about real food, good food. It rewards your body and makes it stronger, not just," he waved dismissively at the air, "to keep it operating, but to live." He poured himself another shot of bimber, tossed it back, and leaned on the counter, watching her. "If you get too used to starvation, it begins to seem normal to you," he knew from experience. "That doesn't mean it is. Real food reminds your body you need to treat it well. Maybe this will remind her." He replicated some ration bar packaging and pulled the bars from the thermoclave, placing them and wrapping them. "You want anything? Dessert? I have universal berry mousse."

Climbing back up onto the stool, Pola watched the chef package up the food and started to think how she could manage to get Kiri to at least give them a try. She knew if she ordered or forced the girl that it wouldn't work, the scientist would turn against the food no matter what. Placing her elbow on the counter and cupping my chin, she listened as Ansen gave her more information she would be able to use to her benefit. At the mention of berry mousse, she felt the saliva building in her mouth as she looked at Ansen with bright eyes. "Berry mousse. Will you marry me?"

"Marry you? Without any courting gifts? I'm partial to honeycombs and hats." He sealed another replacement ration bar, prepared her a small bowl of the mousse, and went back to wrapping. "Coconut milk, orange liqueur, white chocolate, uttaberry, icoberry, blueberry, raspberry, tartberry, and mulda'din."

Watching him make up the dishes, Pola sighed in contentment, who needing dancing when you could taste so many delicious dishes, "I can offer you free medicals for life, how does that sound?"

"I already get them for free," he told her, amused. "But thank you for the reminder. I should go do that at some point." He stacked the bars together and set them beside her, fishing the bimber bottle and the shot glass and moving to stand across from her to pour himself another shot. It wasn't drinking alone when someone else was there, was it? Nope. And he had no where to be but here, experimenting with fruit and feeding his plants. "He gave you his breakfast. You're pretty close," he said absently, sipping from the glass now instead of just knocking it back.

Eating the food, all Pola could concentrate on was the sensations and tastes exploding in her mind. Only only word came to mind but it made her blush to even think about it never mind saying it. Humming along to Ansen's words, his last statement seemed to seep through, "He? Breakfast? Close?" Swallowing the mouthful of mousse, the Doctor tried to think more clearly. "Brayden? Well I'm his boss as both a medical officer and a counsellor right now so I guess we would be close, as I am to all my staff. He came to my aid after an accident during ballet which left me with this limp. Practised his surgical skills on me. I guess that would make anyone close."

"Oh, so you weren't..." Ansen gestured with his shot glass idly. "Sharing breakfast?"

Taking a spoonful of the mousse, Pola listened to what Ansen said next and took a sharp intake of breath, causing the mousse to get caught in her throat. Bending over at her waist as she coughed and choked, the Doctor shook her head violently at what the chef had just said. Spying Ansen's refilled shot glass, she grabbed it and tossed her back, helping to clear her throat but causing a sharp intake of breath as the power of the alcohol hit her.

"No!!!! Why on earth would you think that?!? I called Brayden at 0700hours as I needed medical attention, he carried me to sick bay to preform surgery on my ankle. Afterwards he learned I hadn't eaten or slept so he made me eat some of the breakfast he had packed up before marching me to my quarters and making me sleep." Realising the last sentence and the first misunderstanding, Pola quickly added, "Made me sleep alone! He left me to my door and then went off to do whatever it is he does."

Ansen smiled, pleased with the answer, and retrieved his glass, refilling it. At least he didn't have to worry about his gifts being used to court pretty Irish doctors. It was also interesting to learn that slight embarrassment of the woman would get him a full accounting of her schedule. He wasn't sure when or how that would be useful, but it was good to keep in mind. "He sounds like a good friend to you." He poured her a glass of water and sipped his shot, letting the fire race down his throat. "The mousse is good?"

Having cleared the blockage, Pola was tempted to take another drink to recover from that shock but she was in duty soon so she knew she couldn't. Looking down at her mousse, she nodded her head. "Brayden is a good counsellor and Doctor and I'm slowly finding out he's also a good friend." Picking up her fork, the Doctor pushed the mousse around her bowl not quite sure what to say next. "How did you manage to cook such wonderful food?"

He smiled. "Practice, talent, and artistry," he told her. "I have to keep ahead of the replicators, after all. Did you eat lunch?"

Finishing up the last if her mousse, Pola picked up the dish, looking around for somewhere to put it. "Um....I think I managed three pizza slices before arriving in."

He took the dish from her hand and patted her shoulder before carrying it to the sonic washer. "I'm glad to hear it," he said, and turned back to her. "I hope you can get the woman to eat those," he nodded to the bars he'd made.

Picking up the pile, Pola climbed to her feet, wincing as she jarred her ankle while climbing down, "Let me worry about that part. If worse comes to worse I can always threaten a removal from duty but I'd prefer she did this voluntarily, it's more likely to work then."

"You tell her, if she wants to hear about how bad it can get, she can come talk to me. I still have pictures somewhere of Marek right before they gave him the new heart. He doesn't like to talk about it, but... I bet I could convince him if it'd help."

Smiling at the chef, Pola nodded her head. Her instinct was to give Ansen a hug but after the mix-up earlier she was uncertain if that was a good idea. "You have been more of a help then I could have ever hoped for Ansen, thank you so much."

He shrugged, watching her limp to the door. "I haven't done anything yet," he told her, "but you're welcome all the same. I'll be praying for you, and for her."

Smiling back over her shoulder, Pola entered back into the main mess hall her mind now on everything which had just happened. The information she had gained to help her talk to Kiri, the alternative rations in her hand, the chef's assumption that something had happened between her and Brayden...The Doctor placed a hand against her forehead as she tried to get her head straight. Something told her that this would be a long day.

[OFF]
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Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Ansen Pawlak
Chef
USS Galileo

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