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"Chocophoria"
Rating: PG-13 And as the mother of two kids under 5 years old, I had to mention Winnie the Pooh! Italian words (from Chef): amore (love), ragazzi (as in “Ciao, ragazzi!” means “Hi/Bye, everyone!” or “Hi/Bye, ya’ll!”), “Ciao a Tutti!” (Hello/Greetings/Salutations to all!”) Please read and review! Thanks! Three Monday night was Movie Night. Trip arranged it to be a double feature: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Chocolat. Granted, neither movie promised huge explosions, but Hoshi managed to convince Malcolm to go. She spent the day in the Galley with Chef, translating and organizing the Dnayun recipes. Like everything else, the culinary creations were beautiful and delicious, but took several hours to prepare. She couldn’t imagine a better way to spend her day off, unless she was learning a brand new language, which she was. Chef combined his pastry skills with the mokka and the results were stunning. A three-tiered mokka cake for the centerpiece, decorated with whipped cream and cherries, surrounded by piles of the triangular-shaped candy, small rounds of chocolate cheesecake and muffins. Hoshi poured the ingot-shaped, maroon-wrapped candy in a clear glass bowl. “There’s enough for everyone on board to have at least one,” she said. “There are ninety pieces.” “Then we have to make sure all who are currently on duty has a piece,” Chef said. “I will recruit Crewman Cunningham to help me distribute the candy.” “Thanks, Chef.” She sighed and looked around the decorated Mess Hall. “This is going to be a special night; I can feel it.” “Ah, amore,” he said in a knowing tone. “However did you manage to get Signor Reed to say yes to this event?” “I bribed him,” Hoshi replied with a smile, then she wandered away, leaving a curious Chef in her wake. She headed for her quarters and ran into Liz Cutler on the way. Liz wore a blue silk blouse and black slacks, her brown hair held back by a simple blue band. Liz grinned at Hoshi and waved. “It’s all ready,” Hoshi said. “All I have to do is get ready in time for Malcolm to come pick me up.” “What’re you wearing?” Liz asked. “That red dress you got from Dnayun?” She nodded. “It’s got a lot of ties and straps on it. Mind if you give me a hand?” Liz grinned widely. “Sure. Don’t want to uncover anything you don’t want uncovered, right?” Hoshi blushed and motioned Liz into her cabin. Luckily no one was in the corridor to hear Liz’s remark. “Hey, Cunningham, nice of you to stop by!” called Lieutenant Anna Hess. She waved as the captain’s steward left the Engineering deck and brought her attention to the wrapped chocolate in her hand. The piece was smaller than most candies she was used to; barely the length of half her pinky finger. Yet the most wonderful aroma tickled her nose: chocolate with a touch of spiciness, like the Mexican blend of cocoa her father brought home after his long trips. She unwrapped the foil with nimble fingers and popped the candy into her mouth. The taste exploded on her tongue and she leaned against the railing in reaction. Wow! This thing has a kick! But it’s so wonderful! A sense of euphoric bliss came over her; she felt like she was standing in a warm beam of sunlight after a night’s rain. Slowly, it faded, but it still left a rosy feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Wow,” muttered Crewman Rostov. He looked about as stunned as she felt. “I gotta get the recipe from Cunningham. He’d give Chef a run for his money.” “That, or he’ll have every woman on board running after him for another piece,” Hess quipped, “and I wouldn’t blame them a bit.” Lieutenant Capetl from Astrometrics brought the candy close to his face. “I hope you aren’t trying to give me some kind of message, Antonio.” Chef laughed, a bass rumble that attracted the rest of the on-duty Astrometrics team. “No, no, Tenente Capetl! This is a token of goodwill from our friends the Dnayuns, a piece of delicious mokka to tempt your taste buds.” “Smells divine,” murmured Ensign Mujera. She eagerly accepted her piece and smelled it, as if inhaling a fragrant bouquet of wine. “Floral smell, like someone dipped a rose petal in chocolate.” “You should’ve been a poet,” Capetl groused, but he smiled as he said it. “Poetry is in my blood, Tenente,” she said with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a piece of candy or a double-barreled spiral galaxy. Though given the two, I’ll take the candy first.” Chef laughed again as the rest of the Astrometrics team each took a piece out of the glass tray. “A woman after my own heart. Well, I must make more deliveries before the start of Movie Night in the Mess Hall. I’m glad that I was able to lighten your day, ragazzi. Ciao a tutti!” “Ciao!” “See ya later, Chef!” called the team as Chef took his tray of delights elsewhere. Capetl sighed and tucked the morsel in his jumpsuit pocket. He wanted to get back to his data analyses; Subcommander T’Pol wanted them by the end of the shift. “All right, let’s get back to work!” he called. Several of his people had already consumed their mokka and were chattering about how each person had tasted a different flavor. Mujera said she’d had the scent of roses flood her nose as she ate her piece. Bellings claimed that his had a touch of vanilla. Navarrette was convinced she had mint in hers. Capetl was tempted to try his, but told himself it could wait after he got off-shift. It would be a reward for a job well done, providing his analyses met up to Subcommander T’Pol’s exacting standards. He sighed and went back to his console. This was going to be a long evening. “What a delightful movie!” Phlox said, as the lights came up after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He smiled at Liz, who sat next to him. “The boy, Charlie, inherited the candy factory because of his honesty and fortitude. Definitely a good tale for children!” “It’s always been one of my favorite movies,” said Liz. “My sister thought the Ooompa-Loompas were kinda cute.” She hummed a snatch of the “Ooompa Loompa Song”, much to the amusement of the people around them. “And what about the part when that girl swelled up into a grape-like thing?” Trip put in. “When I was a kid, I couldn’t touch bubble gum for the longest time after I saw this movie for the first time.. Kinda worried I would puff up like a balloon if I chewed it too long.” Phlox chuckled and waved a finger. “The Denobulan Huffalump exudes a toxin that when ingested in large amounts, causes fluid build-up in the body. But the smallest drop or two is used to flavor medicines for children.” “Huffalump?” Trip repeated. “Like in the Winnie the Pooh stories?” At Phlox’s confused look, Liz laughed and tried to describe the elephant-like Heffalump in the A.A. Milne stories. The Denobulan brightened as he finally understood. “I don’t know who this Milne was, but he must have been to Denobula. That is exactly how the Huffalump looks like!” Trip blinked, then burst out into raucous laughter. He turned to see Malcolm sitting there, rolling his eyes, and said, “C’mon, Malcolm! Don’t tell me that your mama never read you bedtime stories!” Malcolm groaned and was about to say something when the intercom beeped. “Armory to Lieutenant Commander Reed.” He walked quickly to the com and said, “Reed here.” “Sir, we’ve got a problem.” Malcolm sighed and shot an apologetic look at Hoshi. She glared at him. Don’t you dare, her eyes seemed to say. “What’s the problem?” “Um...we were cleaning the phase pistols and rifles like you ordered, Lieutenant Commander, and...well, we’re missing a few pistols.” “Missing a few?” His voice was a low growl. Such sloppiness was abominable! “Define ‘a few’, Crewman Michaels.” Michaels gulped audibly on the line. “Three, sir.” “How the bloody hell could you lose three phaser pistols?” He kept his tone low, but cold anger ran through it. Out of the corner of his shoulder, he saw Hoshi there. She’d overheard the conversation, and was now standing there, biting her lip. “I–I don’t know, sir. We’ve done a search for them, but they’re not in the Armory, and no one has signed them out...” “I want a thorough scan of the decks, Ensign. Three missing phase pistols in the wrong hands is a danger to the ship and crew. I’ll be there momentarily.” “Yes, sir.” Michaels closed the channel with a snap. Malcolm sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he turned to Hoshi. “Hoshi, I—“ “I understand, Malcolm. This is something you need to take care of.” She managed a smile. “I’ll save you some chocolate and mokka.” “I owe you one, luv,” he murmured. He squeezed her shoulder, then headed for the doors. Hoshi watched him go and sighed. Damn. Ah, well. I suppose I’ll have to enjoy the evening by myself, then. At least I still have Liz, Trip and Phlox to keep me company. She was so upset that she hadn’t noticed he’d called her “luv”. And she didn’t know that events were about to take a strange turn. |
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