Pre-Layup Feast! (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Jan 28th, 2024 @ 6:50am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Keisuke Takahashi 'K.T.' & Commander Elisabeth Churchill & Commander Victor Delling MD & Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa & Lieutenant Ami Rori & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Lieutenant JG Max Gill & Lieutenant Alisha Reno

1,149 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Christmas Vacation
Location: Conference Room, Deck 1

The USS Myogi had arrived at Earth Spacedock for her annual winter layup over the Christmas season. The ship was powered down and running off shore power from Spacedock.

Many crewmembers had already disembarked the Myogi for their holiday shore leave. However, before Captain Takahashi would follow her crew's example and return to Japan to celebrate Christmas with her husband and family, there was one more thing she wanted to do for her crew: It was a tradition that had started under her predecessor, Tanaka Miyahara, and Maho was going to make sure it lived on, yet also saw new life:

The annual pre-layup feast was always a private affair, held between the members of the Myogi's command staff. However, Maho saw the opportunity to expand upon this tradition and treat her senior staff to a holiday meal on the house, and now that the tradition was hers to carry on, that was exactly what she was doing:

Maho had reached out for help in preparing this year's pre-layup feast from an unlikely source: Her grandmother living in Florida. Maho normally never spoke about her good old granny, Samantha. Thanks in part to her mother, who always hated the fact that she was half-American and had an American middle name.

However, encouraged by her sister whom had taken a similar step in breaking their mother's programming, Maho reached out to the grandmother who had moved back to Florida shortly after she was born, and whom she'd spent her life in very little contact with for help in preparing an American style Christmas dinner. To Maho's surprise, Samantha not only cooperated, but was more than happy to help her estranged granddaughter.

And Granny Samantha had pulled out all the stops for this one: Though admittedly, the feast was more in line with a Thanksgiving dinner, but that was because Samantha had always prepared "two Thanksgiving dinners," one on actual Thanksgiving, and a second one at Christmas, that meant that the feast had all the components seen in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner: A roast turkey complete with stuffing and dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potato and green bean casseroles, even some deviled eggs which Maho's grandmother made for all holidays that were Christian in nature, be it Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.

And for dessert, in addition to the sweet potato casserole which could be considered a dessert item in on itself, Maho had prepared both apple and pumpkin pies, as well as some Christmas cookies (even some that weren't lethal to Commander Misono) and some fruitcake (though Maho had been warned by her grandmother that the fruitcake was something of a punchline in America, and that the item would go uneaten)

As Maho and Keisuke were putting the finishing touches on setting the conference room table, Maho had sent out a memo to her senior staff:

To all senior staff:

Before you disembark, bring your appetites to the conference room for a holiday meal in appreciation for everything you do. Attendance is not compulsory, and if you decide not to attend, have a Merry Christmas.

-Captain Maho Takahashi

After sending out the memo, Maho returned to the conference room to help her husband with final setup. She knew it was likely that not everyone would attend, and a few department heads might have already disembarked the ship. But Maho was figuring whatever wasn't eaten or taken home would be left available for the skeleton crew that was remaining behind as well as the Spacedock engineers that would be through to assist the Myogi's remaining engineers.

**
The ping of the message drew Victors attention from his tidying up of sickbay to the PADD that sat on his desk. Picking it up, he was pleasantly surprised to see the invitation. "Interesting."

**

Jane Sinclair waited at the catwalk connecting Myogi to Spacedock. She was ready to enjoy a holiday meal with the Captain and other senior officers, wearing a nice pair of black pants and the ugliest Christmas sweater she could find -- a bright green monstrosity decorated with Christmas themes and #81 racing motifs.

All that she needed was her +1.

"My, don't you look um... Interesting?" The approaching form almost giggled as she finally came into some focus. At least they had coordinated somewhat, but Alisha wore a skirt past the knees rather than pants and a bright red sweater with poofy balls bulging out at various places of gold and silver, one bright silver lighted and blinking 'star' right in the center of her chest drawing attention to the swell of her breasts. Tacky was a compliment if it were used as a description.

“Hello, Pot, I’m kettle,” Jane quipped as she pulled Alisha close for a kiss. “I missed you. Now come; I don’t want us to be late.”

**

"Well," Keisuke sighed after they had been waiting for several minutes. "I guess nobody's coming, after all..."

"I wouldn't say that..." Kurumi said as she walked into the room dressed in a pretty red dress. "There is such a thing as being 'fashionably late' you know," she smirked.

“And some of us had to make a detour,” Jane said as she came in behind Kurumi. She gestured to Alisha. “Look who I found along the way.”

“Just don’t ask where she found me.” Alisha winked, “After Al, it’s my whole job to be sneaky, isn’t it? Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’tcha know?”

"Welcome, you three." Maho said with a smile. "And Merry Christmas."

“You as well, Captain,” Jane said. She handed Keisuke a bottle. “A Pinot Noir from Proxima. Synthehol, so your better half can enjoy it with us.”

"How considerate..." Maho responded in a complimentary tone, placing a hand on her belly.

**

Max still didn't know much of the folks on the Myogi that well. He was never a people person much and only kept in touch with a sparse amount of individuals. Most of them from his time on the USS Poseidon during his Starfleet Academy Starship Training courses. He had just got off the comms with Oscar, one of his senior mentors there, and concluded thereafter a conversation with Eradaar - a Gorn officer who was rather friendly - before he settled back in his office chair and sighed. He had seen the invite from the Captain and concluded it wasn't for him. He sent a simple message back.

"To Captain Takahashi,

I will be spending the holidays with my family in Oklahoma. My apologies. See you after my short leave. Have a good party."

Sending the message, he packed his duffle bag and headed off to the dock. His mother and father were expecting him back in the old States. He was quite excited to see them after so many years.

To be continued...

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