It Came From Food Court Delta!

Posted on Fri Apr 28th, 2023 @ 12:44am by Bar'soon'fo'da'gree'nars & Lieutenant Commander Jillian Toomey

Mission: S2:4: If Not Like A Mirror
Location: Food Court Delta, lower habitation level.

The construction mech's four spider-like limbs delicately tip-toed over and around the tables bolted to the mess hall floor. In its mechanical arms was grasped a large block of RRFS: Replicator Ready Feed Stock, the material that a replicator used as a blank slate to print new matter based on a template. Usually stored in an energised buffer, the block was almost as big as the mech itself though much less dense. The mech gently placed the RRFS block against a pillar of smooth grey deck plating that rose out of the floor, taking part of a table with it at a jaunty angle.

"And...set," Gald'wyn said with a sigh of relief as they dropped the tiny control unit for the mech. Doing this from the far side of the food court was hard enough, but Captain Ingram had been very clear about safety being paramount when it came to handling the nanotech plague. Something about replicating Ugg boots?

"That should do as a test to see if Portia can use the replicator feedstock supply as a building material," the little rabbit-shaped alien said. Even moments after the contact was made, grey silvery tendrils were beginning to creep around the edges of the block, as the Portia nano tech began to explore this very interesting thing,

"Very good, Gal," JT said as she remembered part of Rabbit's actual name and checked out her tricorder. "Except the table, but hey, you did better than I probably could have. Probably." She wasn't good at giving compliments but she could try a little.

A commotion rang out of the corridor connecting to the closed-off food court, and a force of nature on two legs tumbled in. Bar'soon tumbled in like a juggler, hitting a shoulder and rolling effortlessly back onto his feet without missing a beat. He'd been performing this feat of acrobatics ever since encountering the first 'Please stop, Sir'. But he was a grand master in the Shishimi martial art known as outhmawhei, a non-violent method of locomotion through impassable underlings. (He had a black holdall in the art he was very proud of.)

"There! Right there!" Bar'soon cried pointing at Toomey's work crew. "They stole my succulent serendipitous sauce! These craven cravers suckled my sauce from right under me without knowing! I want their heads! And bodies! And their dexterous digits as decorative toothpicks for a cheese board!"

"What? What?!" JT said as she spotted the bumbling, fumbling non-terror that whatevered in the night. "No. Turn around. Get out. Egress! Exit! Vamoose! Scram! Beat it! Security!" she bellowed at the floppy eared nightmare comedy she had been informed was named Bar'soon something or other with a shitload of titles she hadn't been inclined to remember and told to promptly ignore. It made conversing with the alien easier if you ignored him, she had also been told. But yet, here he was and she couldn't ignore him. Yet.

"I brought Security with me!" Bar'soon said proudly and turned to the phalanx of security that had been following (chasing) him since he'd begun his one-man crusade. "These thieves stole my ability to do business! Do you have any idea of the emotional turmoil you have provided to the station population who rely on the sustenance and succour of my establishment! YES IT IS UNCOUNTABLE! Its a war crime-"

He paused a finger to his lips in thought.

"Does station security deal with war crimes or should I be talking to Captian Ingram?" he pondered.

"OOOOOH! Yes! And tell Captioan Ingram that the dead body will be here upon his arrival, as that was a stipulation for any subsequent meeting we have." Bar'soon explained.

"Get IT out of here," JT demanded of the Security officer, holding her arms out in front of her as she stepped in front of all the work they had been doing to get things ready. The last thing she needed, which she didn't need or want, was this walking disaster coming to fuck it up.

"IT? IT? ME? I AM A KING! A PRINCE! A RULE OF PEOPLE AND SOON TO BE CHEF DE PARTIE OF FOOD COURT CHARLIE!" Bar'soon bellowed. He then paused looking at the security guards. "If you'd like to know more about my rise to power among the denizens of Food COurt Charlie I'm working on a tell-all four-act play."