Of blue, coffee and waffles

Posted on Wed Apr 26th, 2017 @ 12:16am by Lieutenant Hel Samedi & Commander Cor Cordale

Mission: The Trial of Cor Cordale
Timeline: Slight backpost, before arrival at Presidium

Having settled in, only one thing remained to do: met her new direct commanding officer, one Commander Cordale. If she knew engineers well enough - and she did - she figured that the only place he could be was in main engineering, so that's where the pale woman headed.

Engineering was the heart of any ship, and some would say her soul too. This Engineering pit was well maintained, well groomed, and well loved from the looks of it. Clean, neat, tidy... three words to describe it. Her crewhands were well taken care of too. So courteous and well mannered and...

"Blue, you got a visitor looks like." called out one of them as they noticed Hel's approach. From around the bend came a ... well, came an Engineer. Solid but actually fuzzy, with cobalt-blue fur covering his entire form save for his left arm, which was replaced by an ancient prosthetic. Well maintained, like the Engineering pit around them. It was obvious that the Thux's attention took a moment to reach the top floor, but it did eventually settle on her eyes.

"Welcome to Engineering Primary." He greeted her with a nod, "I'm Cordale, Chief Engineer. What can I do for you?"

Hel blinked then blinked again at the officer before her. She tilted her head a bit and quirked a brow. "Just browsing. In the market for a new warp core. Dunno yet what I'm gonna do with it though. Maybe drop it no a planet and make it go pop, see what happens. Uninhabited planet ofcourse - far as you know." A sweet and innocent smile from the near-white skinned woman, black on black eyes alight with amusement looking into his blue ones. "Are you as soft as you look? Can I pet you? Can I call you Blue?"

He chuckled, "Well, in order, we keep the spares in the back, but most of them are after-market. Sold as is. No warranty." he chuckled, "As for dropping the core, you'd be better off just dropping the anti-matter containment pods and then using the core to, I dunno, get a tan. From orbit." he shook his head, "As for me, I didn't hear nuffin'."

"Yes I am, except for the left arm. It's as soft as it looks. So I guess technically the answer is yes." he then looked around conspiratorially. "You can, but only when no one's looking, and you can, as long as no one can hear." he chuckled, and lowered his head a little. Optimal petting range.

"Did the Captain send you? This seems awfully prank'ish." he finally came to terms with the situation, but didn't take his head out from optimal petting range.

Her engineering nature shone through in her reply "Well, to be fair, the left arm is probably also exactly as soft as it looks." she mused, reaching up to scritchscritch Cor under the chin, with a wide grin. "And, yes, actually the captain did send me. He figured you'd want to meet your new assistant chief." scritch scritch.

There was a content groan coming from the Thux's throat at the scritches. "I know it's demeaning, but it really has that feel good quality to it. And yeah, the limb's made of replicated durasteel lattice. About as soft as it looks." he chuckled, now pulling away from the scritches with the greatest demonstration of willpower ever.

"Welcome to the Victory. I promise that your duties will never include scritching or pets. Completely voluntary." he chuckled. "I run a casual ship down here, unless someone with a lot of brass on their throat shows up. See, in an emergency, I'd rather you call out names rather then fumble over ranks. I mean, what happens if there's two Lieutenants down here, and the reactor starts to beep. You call out Lieutenant, but who answers?" he smirked, "Just call me Cor. Or Cordale. Or Blue, really. The gang here gave it to me as a nickname. Can't imagine why."

"Hel Samedi, weapons specialist with a secondary in computer tech." she smiled, offering a hand. "Call me Hel. Easy to remember. Plus, it helps keep down on the swearing when I'm around and I respond every time someone says 'Oh hell'."

He took her hand and gave it a good grip and shake. "Good to have another tech on the team. With what we have coming down the line we could certainly use all the brains we can get." he paused, "Though, I don't expect to cut down on the swearing anytime soon. Just fair warning, I take a shock and you're going to hear some words you've never heard before." he chuckled.

"With what you have coming down the line?" Hel asked, sitting down on the edge of a console, making herself comfortable as she did, folding her arms over eachother in a leisurely resting motion. "What's coming down the line then? Something interesting I hope?"

"Religious slaver assholes." That didn't take long. "Scary tech too." he added.

"First time we met them, when they came aboard, Captain asked me to come with. I wish he hadn't. Freedom's important to a Thux, so anyone that threatens that ain't on my friend list." he was pretty upset about the whole ordeal. "Don't worry, not gonna lose my cool here. Especially not in front of the new blood." he gave Hel a nod, "Quick aside, you drink coffee right?"

Hel made a face as Cor spoke. "Yeah no, not a fan of slavers either. It should be everyone's devil given right to be tied up and - ... Yes. Yes I drink coffee."

Cor paused and actually blinked at the woman. Well, mostly for the first part. The rest just proved she wasn't a Borg infiltrator or something. "You know, everyone's entitled to their everything. Big universe." he motioned for her to accompany him as he walked towards his office. Inside was the holy shrine: An actual steel percolator.

"Picked it up in an open air market about two years back. Every morning, it gets filled. Everytime someone finds it empty, it gets filled. Actual grounds, plus cinnamon." he paused, "Help yourself, we all keep our mugs here."

It wasn't hard to spot Cordale's. It was the one with the cartoony blue face, the two thumbs up, and the "Thux to be you!" on it.

Hel gave a low whistle, reaching out to touch the percolater almost as if to make sure it was real and not an illusion. "Niiice. Real, honest coffee is so much better thanthat replicated crap." she mused, heading over to the replicator to replicate a mug. A large, black one with a skull on it, on a field of grass. A flower growing through one of the eye sockets.

Mug in hand she went to fill it with cinnamon coffee. "Mmmm. Hot coffee. Goes well with stroopwafels. Ever had those?"

He watched her dance around and pour herself a cup, all with a smirk. "Stoop Waffles? I like the sound of waffles." he chuckled. "No, I never have had Stoop Waffles. What's involved, and are they anything like conventional waffles?"

"Stroopwafels. Old food from earth. It's nominally a cookie, but not quite." she explained, movig to the replicator to order two large, 6" diameter ones. "Two thin wafers with a layer of caramel syrup between them. Great when eaten as-is, divine when warmed up over hot coffee so the syrup become all gooey and the waffles gain that faint, barely noticable coffee flavor." A smile, handing Cor his stroopwafel, resting her own on top of her mug of coffee. "If you're ever on earth, get a fresh stroopwafel. Warm and gooey, straight out of the oven. Divine."

He took the offered pastry, gave it a sniff, then a tentative nibble. "You know, that's not bad. I have to watch syrup, though. It gets in my fur, and then it's off to the holodeck for a scrub, then off to the showers for a scrub, then... pain in the tail. But it's SOOO good." he was like a child sometimes, and he took a nod from Hel's playbook. He crossed the room to pour himself a mug of coffee in his mug, then put the stroopwafel over it. "Welcome to Engineering, Hel."