Una Cita Inolvidable, Part II
Posted on Wed Nov 26th, 2025 @ 7:26pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Vashti Rao & Crewman Emiliano Echevarria & Ensign Luciana Aguila
1,889 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Rhythm Kitchen, Deck 9
Timeline: MD 09, 1910 Hours
She turned to Emiliano, "What about your family? Surely football is just as big for you guys too?"
Emiliano leaned forward in excitement. "Of course," he said, grinning. "My mom always had patacones prepared the day before a match."
Vashti's eyes shifted from the Operations officer to the Engineering officer. The only thing that surprised her was the fact that neither had reverted to Spanish.
"Patacones! Lord knows I do love them." Luci said excitedly, the smile getting more and more genuine as she talked about food. Then she realised and laughed, "I'm sorry, I've been told way too many times that clearly the way to my heart is through some good food from home."
Turning to Vashti she added, "I'm sorry, I can talk about food and football all day. Before we kind of dominate the conversation, what kind of food and drinks do you like or wish you could have from home?"
Vashti's eyes whirled to one side as she fell into remembrance of her childhood home in Udupi. Eyelids fluttering for a moment, she could almost smell the foods being cooked wafting out of the kitchen and filling the house. "Oh," she murmured. "Maybe bhaji. My mom would use fresh breadfruit and onion--battered and deep-fried."
She shifted a little, bringing a leg underneath her. "During monsoon season, she and my Grandma Bhat would spend most of the day making fresh bhaji with plum chutney." Vashti forced herself out of the reverie and glanced from Emiliano to Luci. "I'm sorry, I was a little lost in those memories. What in the world are patacones?"
Luci's eyes widened slightly and she looked to Emiliano for a moment for the best way to explain what patacones was. "Uh, it's like a savoury dish that uses green plantains, which have a similar texture to potatoes, and they're flattened using a special tool and then twice fried and seasoned with salt. Usually, we have it with a sauce or a salsa, but you can also add in some chicken or beef or fish, whatever you want really."
"I think if we all have a night off again like this, we could do a night of home cooking, if you two wanted?" Luci suggested to them both.
Emiliano brightened at the idea. "A cooking night would be fun," he said. His thumb brushed the back of Luci's hand again, a little steadier this time, as if his brain had taken over and felt the move was completely natural. "I haven't made patacones in years. It might be tough to find fresh plantains away from Earth but we could try with a few replicated ingredients."
Across the table, Vashti was beginning to feel like a bit of an interloper. She tilted her head in a cutesy way, a little grin turning the corners of her mouth upward. "You both look as if you've found a bit of home in each other," she said softly.
A human waiter wearing a striped white-and-red uniform appeared at the end of the booth. In his hands, he held a large data terminal with attached stylus. His hair was blond, parted on the side, and his piercing blue eyes slowly searched each occupant of the booth.
"Welcome to Rhythm Kitchen," he said half-heartedly, but with genuine enthusiasm. "How's everyone today?"
Luci was about to reply to Vashti's comment with something smart and sweet, but she instead turned her attention to the waiter while she brushed her thumb against Emiliano's. "Hi there," she answered him, "I don't know about the other two, but I'm actually doing pretty good." She laughed a solid bark of a laugh at her own little joke.
"I'm thinking a jug of mojito, a large plate of gallo pinto to share, and then whatever they want?" She asked.
Vashti nodded, looking back to the waiter. "Sounds perfect."
Emiliano also agreed, though he felt the need to add some variety to the order. Looking from Luci to Vashti, then smiling up at the waiter, he said, "How about a plate of chorreadas?"
Luci hadn't had that in years, since she was a kid even. She turned to Vashti, "I think you're going to become an honourary Costa Rican by the end of tonight." Again, she laughed heartily: this was actually shaping up to be a really good and fun night.
The waiter nodded, scooped up the old-fashioned, laminated-style menus and turned to leave, saying, "I'll be back with your pitcher of mojito."
Vashti drummed two fingers against the table. "Echevarria," she said, eyeing him sideways. "You look like you're bracing for impact."
"I'm relaxed," Emiliano said.
Glancing between them, the girl from Karnataka let her expression go gentle. "You know," she said, "it's been months since I had an evening with anyone, well, aside from Rixi or Tenzi. The past couple of weeks I've spent my dinner hour eating in front of diagnostic screens."
Emiliano watched her from across the booth. He hadn't known Vashti for long--maybe a week--but they had become fast friends, and he felt he could trust her. Almost in a big sister-little brother way. For Vashti, Emiliano had been adopted into their friend group pretty easily as though he were a piece they'd been missing all along.
"Then we should do this more often," Emiliano replied with a smile.
"Don't tease me," she said. "I might take you up on it. But I'm sure Luci here will make you comfortable in no time." Vashti cleared her throat and turned toward Luci, curiosity brightening her face. "So," she said, "we've been working together a lot and I realized I never asked you... how did you come aboard Astrea? Everyone got a story about that. What's yours?"
She smiled, open and warm, leaving lots of space for Luci to respond--as if a giant stage light were now shining down on her.
Luci didn't actually like the spotlight being put onto her, but she took it with grace because Vashti had asked so nicely, "Well," she cleared her throat and took a sip of the water that was on the table, "I've got my degree in structural engineering and I enjoy fixing things, I saw an opening on here and decided to join."
She shrugged and cast a glance at Emiliano, "I'm well known for a reputation of being just a bit of a hot head and throwing things if they don't work, but so far, I don't think there's been any casualties so far, just the walls.".If things simply worked then tools wouldn't need to be having conversations with walls, would they?
"In all seriousness though," Luci added as an afterthought, "My brother and padre are both in the Marine Corps and thought it would be good for me to gain some experience in Starfleet for a little while before I get out and start up a business of my own." She had a thought that Vashti was the type of person who would match her brother in so many ways.
"How about you?" Luci turned her smile onto Emiliano, curious to know how a guy from Costa Rica managed to end up in Starfleet as well.
Emiliano felt the spotlight on him now and it wasn't entirely comfortable, but he was with Vashti and his fellow countrywoman. "I transferred over from Barisa Prime operations just a week ago," he said with a slight chuckle. "You know, as much as I love Costa Rica, I spent a lot of time on freighters with my parents until I was a teenager. I like the feel of deck plating and bulkheads around me--not so much sunshine and beaches."
He could see Vashti's expression turning incredulous and he refused to look at Luci to see what sort of face she might be making. Taking a quick, deep breath, he decided to head-off their reactions.
"So," he continued, "I've been working for Starfleet operations planetside for nearly a year. But before that, I was on the Trafalgar." He could feel both women looking at him. "And, it certainly wasn't sunshine and beaches for me. I spent half of my time chasing vermin that would get into the operations core and make a mess of things. It wasn't pretty cleaning rodent droppings every day."
Luci made a face at the mention of rat droppings, "You know that's gross, right?" Last time she'd seen a rat back home, her mother had gone mental and screamed at it to get out of the house. "And how can you not enjoy a good beach?! Sun, sand, tan, the beach itself? Playa Hermosa is my favourite because of the untouched jungles that still survive."
Emiliano turned to her and shrugged. "It's nice to know you're a beach bum," he said with a slight grin.
The waiter returned with the an anti-grav cart loaded with their orders. He set the sweating pitcher of mojito in the center of the table, the mint bright and green as a fertile field, then slid the dishes into place: the gallo pinto still steaming and the chorreadas stacked like warm slivers of sunshine on a plate.
"Te encantarán las vistas en la playa, confía en mí," ("You'd love the views on the beach, trust me,") Luci shot back with a flirty smile just as the cart came over.
The smell alone was enough to send her back to memories of her childhood when these dishes were brought out one those easy kinds of nights where the air was a bit too warm, the air-conditioning was trying its hardest but not quite succeeding, and mother wanted all four of them to share a meal together out on the balcony that overlooked the valley. Luci could still feel the coolness of the tiles on her feet and smell the orchids placed all around.
Coming back from the nostalgia, she looked to the waiter and thanked him with a smile, "Gracias". Then, turning to look between her two companions, "Drink first or food?"
Emiliano lifted his glass first, because it gave his other hand something to do besides tremble. The mojito's cool beads slid down the side of the jug.
"Drink," he said, and managed a smile that couldn't hide how star-struck he was by Luci's flirty grin--and the Spanish slipping out of her mouth warmed his heart.
Vashti raised her own glass in a lazy little salute. "To nights off," she said, "and to not eating in front of diagnostic screens."
"Or throwing tools at walls," Luci seconded the salute with a laugh and lifted her own glass.
"Arriba, abajo, al centro, pa' dentro!" Emiliano toasted, raising his own glass. ("Up, down, to the center, and down the hatch!")
Ensign Luciana Aguila
Structural/Environmental Specialist
USS Astrea
Master Chief Petty Officer Vashti Rao
Engineering Technician
USS Astrea
Crewman Emiliano Echevarria
Operations Technician
USS Astrea
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