Dutch Courage (well... Italian!)

Posted on Friday, 18 December 2020 - 3:18pm by Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

Mission: Operation: Ouroboros
Location: Baciami's quarters
Timeline: MD3 into MD4

Safely back aboard the Standing Bear, Lieutenant Kingsley had retreated to her old quarters to shower and change into a fresh uniform. What they had learned on their mission had troubled her, enough to understand Commander Stillwater’s order to ensure all data and materials relating to the TR-116 project could never see the light of day. Yet someone already had the data...

After sending a brief update to Commander Stillwater she had gone in search of the one person she was certain could find out all there was to find about their primary target. Which was why she was currently in the corridor, outside the quarters of Adrianna Baciami, waiting for her to open the door.

Adrianna was in civilian clothing having only been home a mere few hours and about to serve up so pasta dish. With the flour on the side, it was clear she'd nadd the pasta herself. She wasn't expecting guests, and assumed it was Leopold. She called, "enter."

Stepping inside, Alex was distracted by the delicious smells. Whatever was cooking smelled so good. “I’m sorry, I can come back if this is a bad time?”

"Have you eaten?" Adrianna instinctively asked, knowing she always cooked for a million people anyway.

“Not in a long while,” she admitted. “I don’t want to intrude though...”

"I cook for too many," Adrianna replied, grabbing another plate and dishing up, wandering over to the prelaid dining table with wine and grappa to hand. She put the plates down and went back for spare cutlery and a glass, "to what do I owe the pleasure."

“Work,” Alex admitted with an apologetic smile, holding up a PaDD. “We just returned from Venus and a name came up. I was hoping with your expertise you could find out more about him? But it can definitely wait until after dinner.”

Adrianna smiled, " I was going to say, eat first business after, unless you require food to cheer you up after business." After shaking on some parmesan shavings, she uncorked the Baciami labelled wine and poured the pair some, before pouring them both a shot of Baciami labelled grappa," to enjoy whilst eating, to help in digestion, " she instructed as she poured each.

"What is that?" Alex asked curiously as she watched the woman pour a second glass.

"The wine is a chianti, very fruity but dry, then that, that's grappa. It's uhh, imagine vodka, but with--" she struggled to find the word but after a few tries did, "aniseed. It's strong. You use it for digestion, celebration or to numb pain."

"How much of it do you have?" Alex asked as she took a tentative sip, her eyes widening. "Wow. Okay, food definitely needed or you'll have to drag me back to my quarters..."

"There's an odd number of people on this ship," Adrianna offered, "there's a spare bedroom here." She looked to Alex's reaction to the grappa and chuckled, "food first or you'll digest air and be sick."

"Yeah, definitely don't want that," Alex nodded, setting the glass down as she surveyed the food, deciding the intelligence officer could be a very bad influence. Which was maybe what she needed. "This is impressive. I cannot cook unless you count what I do in a lab but you definitely do not want to eat any of that stuff. Unless you wanted to die."

Adrianna chuckled, "I spent whatever downtime from family business with my mother in the kitchen. Perhaps from when I could stand up, my mother had me in the kitchen. An Italian that can't cook, is not Italian."

Alex grinned, "my mother was more... flighty. Different hobby every other week. She loved to organise celebrations but I don't think I've ever seen her do more than bake cookies. Ironic, because when we first moved to Earth we lived over an amazing Italian restaurant."

Adrianna nodded, teasing, " well, at least we have replicators."

"True," Alex conceded, "although at the academy, our section had one that drowned everything in cheese. It was... interesting."

Adrianna turned her nose up at that, "Gawd, they are a butchar."

"Butchar?" Alex queried as she took a bite. "This is so good! Spare room huh. Need a roommate?"

"Did I get the wrong word?" she asked, "a person who culls for meat. But yes, spare room. Living in luxury. Did you have someone in mind?"

"Oh, butcher. You were close," Alex grinned. "As for the spare room, I might need it. I'm in my old quarters until Lieutenant MacKenzie and Haru need it back."

Adrianna looked confused, "what did he do?" It was a comical assumption, but one that tended to be correct.

Despite herself, Alex laughed. She knew the woman had to be guessing, sure an educated one since she had mentioned needing somewhere to sleep but still. The fact she immediately assumed it was something her husband had done, rather than something she had done, was oddly comforting. "Well," she ate another bite as she considered where to start. "In a nutshell, he decided to stop taking his shots in the hope I would get pregnant. And then he followed that up - only when Lieutenant MacKenzie confronted him in front of me - by admitting he's been having cardiac episodes since they were taken. I don't know which part makes me angrier."

"Hm," Adrianna thought a moment before reaching over to a shelf near the dining table and pulling a bottle of grappa the seemed to glitter, "in that case, we'll be drinking this after we eat and discuss business."

"Sounds perfect," Alex grinned.

After a little while, food was over. Adrianna downed the shot of grappa and looked to Alex, pushing her plate aside "business."

Alex downed her own glass, gasping a little at the notable kick as she handed over the information she had. "Commander Stillwater wanted us to check out an old project, make sure all the data, weapons and the biological agent were still secure and untouched. While they were all there, someone had copied the data. They basically have all of the blueprints and research data to recreate it all, or modify it.

In not so shocking news, the depot on Venus is not a tourist hotspot. According to their records, the only person to have accessed the secure vault was this person. I figured, given you are our intelligence officer that you might be able do find out more information. This may be whoever is behind it all or just a link in the chain to whoever is behind it... either way, the sooner we find him the better. The thing is, if he got to the data, he is Starfleet. And had clearance to be there. So by trying to find, we might alert him if we aren't careful. Of course, he could know we were there and already be in the wind."

"He seems familiar," Adrianna mulled at the picture a bit too familiar for taste. She had recognition in her eyes, "I'll look into it. Seems that Baciami is part of this stuff. I've got evidence on my PaDD that I need to look through. Didn't think my brother would stoop as low, but I suppose he needs to show power since he's only had command a matter of weeks." She sighed and then got two new shot glasses and uncorked the diamond Baciami grappa. Pouring it," be warned, this kicks harder and you pee and poop diamonds for a week but dammit it works."

"Sounds like it is just what the doctor ordered," Alex laughed, raising her glass. "To... something?"

"Best thing to toast to is 'something'," the Italian chuckled before downing the shot and repouring. Even the burn hit her and gawd it was good.

"This is stronger than the stuff we brewed in the basement at uni," Alex declared as she held out her glass for a refill, "I like it!"

"We used to call it," she thought a moment wondering if there was a translation before finding the words, "the death of something already dead." Adrianna topped off the glass, "I'm convinced they've made this stronger in my absence. But, drink until it doesn't hurt. I used to drink a bottle a week when I was younger."

"Younger?" Alex repeated incredulously. "You cannot be much older than me."

Adrianna grinned a little before answering, "from maybe sixteen. That's when I started to get into the rougher side of the business."

"When I was sixteeen I was sitting in stuffy libraries and lecture halls, worrying about finals and research papers," Alex frowned. "I thought putting up with Professor Odin was bad but sounds like you had it way worse. You deserve another shot."

Adrianna chuckled and poured them both a drink again, "it wasn't so bad. After the first, maybe two or three, bad mental images, you don't really react to anything further. But don't forget, it is also culture to drink from a young age, but not for depression or anxiety, just for taste and appreciation of finer things. It's only when you get older do you realise it is a great medicine. I actually enjoyed the majority of my work in Baciami. Just a few jobs that seriously made me question that got me to this point."

"Is that one of those, don't ask or I'd have to kill you kind of stories?" Alex asked as she downed the shot.

Adrianna looked as if she had fond memories and simply answered, "my hands weren't the cleanest but I got attoned for it. There aren't any questions I wouldn't answer or that you couldn't easily find answers to. Especially with this." She motioned to the bottle and poured two glasses out again. They were getting through it quickly.

"Starfleet should use this stuff for interrogations," Alex mused as she held out her glass. She doubted she would find any kind of comfort at the bottom but it was worth a shot. "First time I ever got drunk, I was fourteen and sneaked into a party on the university campus. I don't even remember getting home or much of what happened that night beyond someone setting fire to the Dean's office. I do remember being so ill the next day I promised to never touch alcohol again. I lasted a month, at most. My rebellious phase. Ha! Now I'm twenty three, married, with two step children. Although the last two are very much up in the air. Men!"

She almost screamed the last word, her frustration evident.

agreed, refuelling the shot glasses," men can be heartbreakers. I means, yours sounds like he's heading the right way for a vass-van-vase-tor-storny..." Adrianna shook her head, unable to get the word before saying, "his boys taken away with a rusty, blunt bakleth."

Alex burst out laughing at the image popping into her head, to the point tears were in her eyes, “thank you,” she managed finally. “Everyone has been telling me to remember that be loves me. Like it’s a free pass! And Mac! He keeps making out this is my choice if I want to try and fix my marriage. I mean, come on! The longest I’ve ever dated anyone before I met Soral? Six days. Six freaking days! I have zero idea what I’m doing. Except getting drunk. Huh. The bottle empties reallllly fast.”

"Means something hurts," Adrianna commented, "I practically ransacked the place on my way out. They have the strongest stuff. And screw Soral and the lot of them. Nothing excuses hurt. Last man that broke my heart, I kid you not, I shot him. He didn't die, but he'll think twice."

"You shot him?!" Alex cried, collapsing into a fit of laughter again. "If I did that, you'd have to bust me out of the brig!"

"Please, I'd be your alibi, throwing the gun out of an airlock," Adrianna laughed, "yes, I shot him. He chose a promotion over me and abandoned me. Literally, didn't know where he was, he just left. I saw him, during my brief training in the academy, trying to pass the phaser aim test thing and 'accidentally' dropped the phaser set to high. Don't think he can have kids anymore. Made me feel tonnes better. Even his wife agreed I did the right thing."

"That is amazing!" Alex grinned. "I never want to get on your bad side."

Adrianna's eyes went a little dark, but it was clear she had good humour, "my temper isn't as bad as it used to be. I'm quite a calm person when I'm angry, I choose to instill fear not violence. It's why my father wanted me as not Don not Giovanni." Adrianna pulled out another bottle of grappa.

"We probably should not drink another bottle..." Alex said with zero conviction.

"Probably," Adrianna agreed, un corking the bottle and pouring two glasses out.

She was definitely a bad influence. "Okay, just ninety nine percent of it though," she grinned. "So, tell me more on this guy you shot..."

Adrianna smirked, "it would be rude to leave 1%." Adrianna sat back reminiscing about the intelligence officer that helped her out of Baciami and into Starfleet.


***

She was dead. She had to be. Although if she was dead, the decor in hell seemed oddly bland. Starfleet kind of bland. Greys and blues. With a groan, Alex rolled over, her hand on her head before she let out a startled yelp as gravity deposited her on the floor.

Adrianna was in the kitchen humming some uncommital tune as she cooked some greasy breakfast. She stood back a little and saw Alex. The Italian asked the computer to translate as before coffee her standard was less than basic. "Are you alright?"

There was a brief pause. And then a genuinely worried, "did we die?"

"No, but I have a hangover cure here," Adrianna replied with a soft chuckle once the translation came through.

There was movement, cursing and eventually Alex appeared, running her hand through a mass of curls which had taken on a mind of their own, “did you say cure? Please say you said cure...”

Adrianna nodded, and plated up some greasy breakfast for the pair of them, two aspirin and a pint glass of water each. "Cure of champions."

“Thank you,” Alex breathed, downing the aspirin. “And thanks for last night. I needed that.”

"There's already a bottle ready for you, just in case," Adrianna offered, nodding over to the cabinet. It was strange. The Italian had never seen eye to eye with Alex, but last night, the pair of them seemed to find common ground.

"If it wouldn't waste really good drink I could hit my husband over the head with it," Alex grinned, taking a bite. She was going to have to spend a week in the gym working this off but boy, it was good. With every bite she felt a little more half human.

"It was free, though at least take the diamonds and gold flakes out first," Adrianna commented between bites, "so then you can buy yourself something nice to feel less guilty for murder, hm?"

"Ha!" Alex laughed. It felt good to laugh. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You can only get the brand in this solar system," Adrianna smiled, "Baciami stuff is a rarity elsewhere, unless you find a Baciami runner."

"I don't think I want to know," Alex decided. "Do you like what you do now? On the ship?"

"I like that my hands are cleaner," Adrianna replied simply and honestly.

Alex guessed there was a 'but' in there somewhere but didn't pry. It wasn't her business. Yet she noticed she spoke often of her family and that couldn't be easy being apart. Even if they sounded like people you did not want to cross. So instead she gestured around her, "and you managed to get quarters to yourself. Congrats."

Adrianna snorted, "happy accident. At least it means I can have guests and no one judges me for being unable to speak standard without coffee."

"No judgement here," Alex promised. "And coffee is the stuff of legends. I'd never have survived without it."

Adrianna slid over a minute mug. It was espresso. "Nectar of the gods," Adrianna agreed, "if you need to stay anywhere away from the cockstrong head sure husband, the bed's yours for as long as you need it." Adrianna paused, "that expression didn't translate right. Was that right?"

"Close enough," Alex grinned as she took a sip of the coffee, closing her eyes for a moment in appreciation. "And thank you for the offer. But my dad always said you need to face your problems and this is a big one. I've avoided it longer than I should have."

"One word of advice I had was actually from my father," Adrianna offered not wanting to offend, "if you cannot resolve your problems sober, getting drunk together will reset the clock."

"So I should get Soral drunk?"

Adrianna nodded, "drunk people can't lie."

“Huh. A drunk Vulcan...”

OFF

 

Comments (1)