Never eat Cardassian cheese

Posted on Saturday, 31 July 2021 - 2:21pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Siana Ilian & Commander Soral

Mission: Operation: Lazarus
Location: Mess Hall | USS Standing Bear
Timeline: 2394 MD07

ON:

After a long, uneventful evening on the Bridge, Petty Officer Ilian had fully intended to go back to her quarters and sleep. Yet her hunger refused to be ignored and her feet carried her towards the mess hall with very little effort on her part to resist. Soon she was seated in the corner booth with an assortment of breakfast dishes laid out before her, a small sampling of the replicator's available menu while offering many offerings from many worlds to choose from. It shouldn't be this hard... the operations officer thought to herself as she sipped from the glass of apple juice.

Soral had been reading as he entered the mess when he spotted the ops officer with a perplexing expression on her face. His mind searched through the crew database. "Hello Petty Officer Ilian," he said as he approached. "Meditating on the … assortment of food?"

Glancing up sharply at the unexpected voice, Siana's eyes widened as she jumped to her feet, having to abandon her intention to stand at attention as her glass began to tip over and she had to reach out and grab it before it could spill. "Commander Soral! Sorry, Sir. I was actually contemplating that a lot of lifetimes of likes and dislikes makes it incredibly difficult to make a decision. Believe it or not this," she gestured to the spread, "is better than the hour or so I used to spend driving the replicator crazy in the beginning."

His lip twitched. "I see it can be a difficult thing to combine so many likes and dislikes." He gestured to a chair. "May I join you?"

Accustomed to most people giving her quirky self a wide berth, her surprise was obvious but she nodded. "Of course," she nodded.

Soral sat down looking at the food. "That is a large spread. Tell me about the food."

"I find things I, Siana, loved before joining I either cannot stomach anymore or just don't like so much," Siana confided. "Please, help yourself to anything you'd like. I recycle a lot or I'd be the size of the ship.

She proceeded to point out each small dish in turn, a blend of colors and textures and tastes. While Trill dishes featured most heavily, there was clearly a lot of influence from a number of worlds. "I should warn you, the Hasperat is spicy though," she added at the end. "Isran, my seventh host, had a penchant for spicy foods. If it didn't make you feel like your mouth was on fire, it wasn't worth eating."

"Indeed, I concur. Tell me some foods that you used to love before your joining."

"Pizza," Siana said without a moment hesitation. "We had nothing like it on Trill and the very first night in the dorms, one of the third-year cadets brought in food for a restaurant at the bay and I would have eaten it every meal if I could."

"And how do you feel about Pizza now?"

"Too bland. It is the cheese, I think," she shrugged.

"Ahhh well perhaps I can show you a way around that if you are willing."

"A way around it?" Siana asked curiously, studying him as if able to see right into the heart of him before she reached across and lifted a few segments of sliced fruit. "Lida. Not spicy, but a taste of home. Not quite as good as the real thing but close."

"Indeed." Soral stood and walked to the replicator and was back with a slice of pizza. It had the standard ingredients but the cheese was several colors, white, yellow, even blue and pale yellow. He pushed the pizza towards her. "Try this."

"Pizza is not a healthy breakfast option," Ilian commented while studying the food before lifting up the slice and taking a tentative bite. After a heartbeat the normal cheese taste was replaced by a spicy kick that was definitely unexpected. "But it has potential..."

"Indeed. My own recipe. I must admit a certain boredom with the original so I improvised. I find that as we take on new experiences as we grow and integrate all aspects of ourselves our wants, desires, likes, dislikes, change. The key is to keep an open mind...and perhaps have a bit of an adventurous spirit."

"Something Ilian and I share," Siana smiled as she took another bite.

"Many cultures in the universe offer cheese in one form or another you just have to find the right combination....oh and a word of advice...never, ever, ever, eat the cheese produced on Cardassia."

"Oh, I did once," the woman admitted eyes wide. "That is good advice. Varod, my previous host, he travelled a lot and ate anything anyone put down in front of him. How he lived to be so old I will never know. Thank you, Commander. I was already a new girl in town before, well, becoming the new me. Most people tend to steer clear. Maybe because I create a queue at the replicators or talk to myself when I'm working out problems..."

"Yes...a week after the cheese I was seeing a bear unicorn following the captain....every time I tried to swat it away it came back...eventually I figured out it was not a bear unicorn...it was the XO. If the captain was not so amused, I may have been in trouble."

"I was seeing Tribbles. Although in hindsight, I really was," she grinned. "We were finding those little critters for months."

He allowed a small smile. "Now to your other problem. May I offer a perspective?"

She nodded.

"We as beings are always changing. The person you were at birth is not the same as you are at age twenty and so forth. A Trill has lifetimes to integrate but in the end the lifetimes are in the past. They help guide, they give knowledge but the woman that you are now...is the dominant personality. They cannot change your essence they can only change your outlook. The changes you notice within you are the growth of you as a person."

"Our past helps shape our future," Siana countered softly. "Siana never intended, nor prepared to be a host. Ilian was never overly fond of the Symbiosis Commission, or the endless tests initiates had to endure. Yet there is something to be said for being prepared. Life, however, is unpredictable. And had our time ended with Varod, it would still have been a long and fulfilling life for me as a symbiote. I have been a physician, a scientist, an artist and musician; husband, wife, mother, father. Loved. Lost. Grieved, celebrated... and everything in between. This is a temporary adjustment, I am sure."

"But in that adjustment, you are never alone." He studied her. "You are a part of this crew and thusly family."

"Kind of you to say, Sir."

He shrugged. "Not kindness but fact. I do also run a meditation class that may help." He stood. "Now I should be going. The pizza is under Soral P-1 there are five variations for you to try."

"I have never been good at mediation, but thank you, Sir," Siana said quickly. "And Commander? If you ever need someone to speak to, please know I am here."

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