Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nikki Brako (Chief of Operations) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Baldur Bragason (Strategic Operations Officer) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nikki Brako (Chief of Operations) in Deck 10 Mess Hall - Mingling With Those Who Actually Eat There
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Snip
Baldur chuckled “I wouldn’t compare eating bad food with the stubbing of ones toes, think of it more like this” He leaned back in his seat, crossing his powerfully built arms “Back home it can get cold, not Russian or Canadian Cold but still cold enough, sometimes as cold as negative twenty. Then it’s great to walk around outside and go inside, remove your cold outfit and put something soft on and warm yourself. Replace one lousy thing with a wonderful thing and you enjoy the wonderful thing even more. Jumping in a frosen pond then going into the hot tub is a great experience but you don’t always do it, sometimes the mood just hits”

SOO - Baldur

A shudder came over Mathias. “That’s not a mood that will hit me anytime soon. I had a hard enough time dealing with how cold it was in San Francisco.”

Nikki presented a look in which he thought that ‘any’ cold weather enterprise was the same as one not shooting with a full magazine. Having grown up virtually his whole life on ships voluntarily going out into cold weather was just not right. But then Baldur had a look that had in it a place that while he looked as though he could lift a ton, spelling it might be a challenge in some arenas. He had the ears and nose that was distinctive of a boxer and, while Nikki could handle himself, he was what might be termed an ‘athletic boxer’. He wouldn’t win any prize fights but he had the tenacity to at least make it a go. “I’ll take yer word for it,” he commented, studying the large man opposite.

Give the man a singular distinctive brow and he would have been close in appearance to Polchuck, his father’s driver and bodyguard. Hands on it might be an interesting match between the two but, Nikki figured, it would never come to that. “What brought ye to this place?” He asked, then gestured to the bowl and plate. “The food so ye could admire the real thing?”
- Nikki

Baldur chuckled “No not really, that’s just why I put up with it. No, I like to test different places so I can make an informed decision. Knowledge might not be power but it sure beats ignorance” He flashed a toothy smile “Knowing the quirks of your own home is necessary to understand what makes it work” He took a short swig of his water “Besides what better place to learn more about the people you work with than watching them eat crappy food, their reactions, and opinions.”

Baldur - SOO

“Quirks,” Nikki replied. “As in where and where not to eat?” Nikki thought the idea of testing out every garbage bottomfeeder greasy spoon to see where not to eat was assault on the senses. “Word of mouth is better,” he said. “Ye could try golf. That game reveals character better than any restaurant. Or money”

“You know, now that you say that I am gaining an appreciation of how resilient some of the crew is. I have to admit they’re tough in a way that I could only hope to be.” Mathias glanced down at his mostly full bowl with a look of distrust. “On second thought, I wouldn’t hope for that.”

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

Nobody should have to eat this kind of food - a test of resilience or not. While this wasn’t something he’d like to repeat soon he did know that he had a potential venue not to mention work to do on scouting the replication systems. So far he wasn’t happy with what he saw here. Sick bay. Quartermasters. Lifts. Now this. What else was there? A feeling in his stomach that was apart from the food told him that there was a lot.
- Nikki

Baldur nodded, agreeing with the Captain, it did show resilience at least on some level. “Word of mouth is only the tip of the iceberg, you don’t find that great little hidden restaurant by relying solely on popular opinion.” He finished his water “Interesting that you mention something like money, you won’t find too many humans interested in such, especially Fleeters” He said with a half smile.

SOO - Baldur

“Then they are liars,” Nikki replied about the comment about money. “Oh sure ye don’t need te do much but bank what ye get fer yer retirement. With everything provided ye have little need now. But it still is revealin. Ye can’t just walk into any shop here on the promenade and come out without payin. Some things ye may get on the Fleet’s dime but only up here in the Fed area are ye free from spendin.” Few people, in Nikki’s view, did things for nothing. Sure there were those who didn’t care much about money but they still got something out of what they did that was personal. Still, one needed currency, even if that was just numbers in an account, to live outside the bounds of the Fleet. If one could afford - again another ‘buy’ - a replicator it went a long ways out from that but even a replicator needed power and charging. You didn’t get something for nothing - even out of a replicator.
Nikki

Baldur smiled then laughed a roaring laughter of great amusement “Over twenty years of service in the fleet, I’ve served with thousands of officers and never have I met anyone who placed any importance on currency beyond perhaps their ranks and position” He didn’t seem insulted by the notion, simply amused by it “What’s that quote ‘People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of ‘things.’ We have eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions.’ Now sure there are species within the Federation that still cling on to this and it is prevalent outside of it.”

He shrugged his large shoulders “I think I even own some slips of latinum somewhere but that’s never the point. I mean I don’t remember placing any importance credits, of course, I was raised on Earth so my view is automatically skewed. Still when push comes to shove I place more faith in how a person behaves in a boxing match than when offered currency of any kind”

SOO - Baldur

Nikki looked at the giant of a man. Definitely out of his weight class and by the look of him was more competent than his own ‘fit amateur’ on and off again efforts. “Why would a person want te box? Why would a person want te try? That takes effort. Work. A few are happy te rise above the mediocrity of doin nothin, but if ye blanket a world with sayin ye don’t have te do anything and we’ll just magically feed and clothe ye and anythin else ye might want ye can just get out of thin air, that strips a man of his dignity. Ye say that ye’ve taken away any risk, any need te do more than pursue what one desires to. Why would one bother if there was no reward?”

“Money was of little use on Ravis IV where I grew up. At least I never heard any talk of money,” offered Mathias. “I’ve always cared a lot more about being successful and important than I did about currency. I’d much rather be somebody than I would have something, if you know what I mean. Though eventually I did discover the importance of latinum when I was introduced to Tongo.” A subtle smile crept over the captain’s face as a long-forgotten memory surfaced in his mind.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

Successful. Why? On what? Why would one risk their lives in something like this if there was no reward? Sure I’ll join a war where thousands will die if not millions for what? No, only one in ten might venture out in that kind of life and escape the tight orbit of being ‘taken care of’. no, lack of purpose makes mischief. Whether these people were just blind or not looking there were many a place where this kind of thing only sprouted crime or abuse. Something caught his eye in the boss’s look. “Tongo?” he prompted.
- Nikki

“Oh you haven’t heard of Tongo?” asked Mathias, slightly surprised. “It’s a card game with a roulette component. All about accumulating more wealth than anybody else, you’d like it. I stumbled across it while on leave as an ensign on Drabar II. There’s hardly anything as amusing as winning latinum off a couple of Ferengi while using strategy they thought was the wrong way to play.”

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

Baldur smiled wrily at the Captain “Tongo, haven’t heard that in some time. Used to frequent a bar owned by a Ferengi maybe ten years ago, always tried to get me to play, he was convinced I kept mountains of latinum in my quarters for some reason, never had much luck at card games, although I admit that the Strategic part of that game I always found a little appealing but not enough to play” Baldur explained.

SOO - Baldur

“Rigged anyway, strategy or not,” Nikki said. Eyeing the coffee machine to the side he wondered how badly they could mess with mere beans. Deciding that they could not be that bad he was going to venture soon to get it. “You were lucky, boss. The house always wins some of the pile that goes into the game. That’s the beauty of it. Everyone is thinking they are playing against one another but the house has its fingers in it too.” The family ships had their own casinos of sorts. While they relaxed the odds - it was a cruise ship after all - they still came out ahead. Nikki was versed in Tongo because of that. His inquiry to the boss was to coax out of him the story that he had hinted at, but he wasn’t going to say that.

“I never gamble for long at places like that. The Ferengi didn’t care for that approach either,” said Mathias, smiling at the thought. He had a feeling those Ferengi made a nice profit off of most of the young ensigns who stopped at that base.

“Winning from a Ferengi is a goal in life, to give them a piece of the economic humble pie as it were.” He knew many Ferengi. And he didn’t much like any of them. Some he had in mind still to see that they had some come uppance. They didn’t limit themselves to latinum in things like real estate and gambling, but they had a political side too that made things very dangerous.
- Nikki

“I was under the impression that Tongo was one of those games that didn’t have a rigged mechanic” Baldur asked curiously “I, of course, heard rumours and such about the Dab-bo” He mispronounced the game name “Someone compared it to the roulette games of old Earth.”

SOO - Baldur

Nikki thought that for an educated man he would know better for any organized game of chance. But then Baldur looked to be a simple kind of man. Not unintelligent but only focused on his world and the things that were important to him. “Any game based on chance where the casino has a hand in it has some form of way to recoup its overhead.” And a bit more for posterity. “It may not be a cheat but a careful examination of the odds that is built into the game itself. You could say there is a game of chance, but you can also say there is a game where the chance of the house winning is a little bit better.” He scanned the glass as though looking for dirt. “People can get good at a game and win. But the overall odds are balanced to take in that possibility with the masses who .. lose.” He set the glass down. “I’m goin fer coffee. Would anyone like one while I am there?”
- Nikki, COO

“From that?” asked Mathias. “No thanks. A smart man knows when to cut his losses. I’ll hold out for some at my mother’s place. Along with some food.” He cast a disapproving glance down at the bowl in front of him.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO