That Afternoon

Posted on Mar 10, 2018 @ 4:33pm by Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Edited on on Mar 10, 2018 @ 4:33pm

Mission: The Trouble With Triticale

“That Afternoon”
(contd from ‘Criminals’)

Location: USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.18] 0306.0032
Scene: Security Centre

As soon as she set foot in her office, Jasmine Yu made her way to the replicator. She ordered, “Computer, one green tea, please and a slice of lemon cake.” After her order materialized, Jasmine picked up the mug of hot, steaming tea in one hand and the plate holding the cake in the other and headed to her desk. She placed the mug and plate down. Pulling out the chair, she sat down and sighed, grabbing the mug and taking a sip of the tea. Using a fork, she cut a piece of the cake and took a bite. The replicated stuff didn’t quite match up to the real thing but it’d do for the moment. She could always have another one after dinner at the Vulgar Tribble.

Turning to the screen, the Asian began composing a report, regarding one of the prisoners, Evangeline Montoya. Throughout her interrogation, Jasmine wondered if the woman was crazy or just pretending to. Montoya also seemed to have a kind of a foot in mouth disease as evident from that little episode, where she bragged about being declared insane and sent to a psychiatric facility instead of prison, including admitting she wasn’t really crazy. Maybe if she had kept that last part to herself, Montoya might have gotten her wish. But it didn’t matter now, once the Phoenix reached Earth, the pilot would be Starfleet Security’s problem.

Thinking of Earth, a smile crept across the Asian woman’s lips. It had been over a year since she was back home and while she wasn’t really homesick, she was excited about seeing family and friends again. Depending on how much time she had before the ship was sent on another mission, Jasmine decided to visit her parents in Hawaii, her grandmother in Rochester and some other relatives in San Francisco and the upstate New York area.

Her comm badge chirruped and the security chief tapped on it. “Yu here.”

{{Hey Jasmine,}} came Iphie’s voice through the device. {{We have a problem and need you here.}}

“I’ll be right there. Yu out.” Leaving aside the half-finished cake and tea, Jasmine stood up and headed to the Vulgar Tribble. She could have sent one of her officers but the Asian decided some change from writing reports was needed.

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Scene: The Vulgar Tribble

When Jasmine arrived at the establishment along with Crewman P’narr, she found two human male officers engaged in a brawl but that wasn’t what caught her interest. Both their outfits had red stains and at first, Yu wondered if they were having a food fight. After Jasmine and P’narr broke up the skirmish with relative ease, she walked up to Iphie – the blue woman sporting an irate expression as her eyes were shooting daggers at the two men, who were held by the strong Caitian female guard.

“Alright, Iphie,” Jasmine began in a calm voice, “What happened here?”

Bonviva replied, her voice dripping with annoyance, “Smooshy.”

“Smooshy?” Yu raised an eyebrow, wondering what the pug had got to do with this situation. “What about him?”

The half-Bolian exhaled a sigh filled with exasperation. “Let me start at the beginning.”

Jasmine turned to the Caitian. “Crewman, take them to the brig.”

“Yes ma’am.” P’narr nodded, escorting the men out of the establishment.

“Okay, you were saying.” The security chief returned her attention to the Human/Bolian chef.

“Well, Smooshy was here, doing his job as taster, sampling some of my recipes,” Iphie said, leaning against one of the bar stools. “He was seated on one of these stools, behaving himself as usual and providing honest feedback on my new recipes and then it all went downhill.”

“What happened next?” Jasmine asked, arching a brow.

“Well, Hobbes,” Bonviva continued, referring to one of the Bynares. “He came out, carrying a tray for a group at that table over there.” She pointed at the table near the bar, where one of the chairs were over turned and food strewn across the area. “They ordered chicken wings cooked in spices and sauces of different flavours, all hot and spicy – very unhealthy. Anyway, Smooshy, sensing the aroma of the wings, as if the different types of quiche wasn’t enough.” She groaned. “He made a jump for it and next thing you know, Hobbes got knocked off-balance and the food was thrown around, along with the extra cup of Sriracha sauce. Well, Smooshy, with some of the sauce spilled on his fur, grabbed two pieces of the wings – not sure which one, think it was the tandoori, and just took off into the hallway.”

Jasmine sported a confused expression. “Okay, I’m still not sure how this is connected to the brawl.”

“Well, I was getting to that.” Iphie inhaled a single breath. “After Hobbes lost his balance, some of the chicken pieces hit Ensign Smith. Since he didn’t see Smooshy, he thought it was Crewman Kaur, who had the misfortune to stand next to him and began arguing with him, which deteriorated into punches and food fights.”

Jasmine shook her head in exasperation and sighed. Two grown men engaged in a juvenile fight over a misunderstanding and all because, Smooshy couldn’t resist a few chicken wings. Speaking of the pug, she exhaled another sigh, filled with frustration. Smooshy could be anywhere on the ship and he needed to be found quickly, otherwise the entire ship could be smelling of tandoori, chillies, sriracha or any other spicy stuff. “Anyway, Iphie. I will get one of my people on finding Smooshy before the Captain winds up running into chicken bits or sauce stains on the carpets in the corridors or the turbo lifts.”

“Good idea.” Iphie nodded. “Capn’ Homey is already not a fan of Smooshy.”

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Scene: Holodeck 1

While Jasmine assigned a small security team to search for the wandering pug with the help of the bridge crew, she had a session of tactical drills to run with Lieutenant Procter. They were running the bridge simulator program, where Yu, Procter and the tactical personnel were standing in the holographic version of the Phoenix’s bridge. Jasmine stood at the back of the room, watching Procter and Ensign Marois, one of the tactical training officers, instruct the group. The door slid open behind her but when the security chief turned around, there was no one there, puzzling the young woman.

Sounds of scraping and low growling, alerted Yu attention to the console behind her. At the same time, a strong, sharp and bitter aroma filled the room, which made her sport a weak smile. “There you are,” she spoke, turning around to spot the ship’s resident pug, hiding behind the console – his fur stained with splotches of the red sauce and remains of chicken around his black mouth. By that time, the other officers halted their tasks as soon as the odour hit their nostrils and turned their attention to their boss and the dog.

Jasmine shook her head, meeting the animal’s gaze. She adored Smooshy – he was fun-loving, friendly and playful but at times he could be quite a handful with all the wandering around and making some mischief around the ship, making her devote a small part of her department’s resources to finding him. But when she looked into those big, brown eyes, she couldn’t be angry with him. Those innocent puppy dog eyes, Smooshy often gave others, especially after he did something mischievous, was likely the reason why he got away with it. Though she didn’t think that would work with Kane.

A low rumbling was heard from within Smooshy’s tummy and the pug let out a loud belch. Jasmine sighed, glancing at the other officers. Procter’s expression was darkened – clearly the blonde woman was annoyed by the presence of the pug, whose appearance interrupted the session. But then things got worse when Yu suddenly sensed a foul stench in the air and cringed. She glanced briefly at the others, whose expressions filled with disgust as some waved their hands back and forth against the air and others held their noses. Jasmine sighed, turning to the pug, realizing he was the source of the odour. “Smooshy,” she chided, noticing the pug gave her that innocent look with his eyes. “No more hot and spicy foods for you.” But he continued to stare and then barked, wagging his tail.

Jasmine turned to the group. “Carry on. I’ll send for someone to take our little guest to Sickbay.”

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NRPG: It has been a while since I last posted, so not my best work.

~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS PHOENIX