Pizza and Pleasantries

Posted on Thu 7th May, 2026 @ 7:13am by Magnus Temple & Commander Heriah Rex

2,793 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: [MAIN] Learning to Fly
Location: USS Thunderchild

ON:

Magnus was so very glad to be back on the Thunderchild after his long journey on the shuttle back from the Broot excursion. He was glad to have a decent room size, a proper shower, a full sized bed, and some quiet time. He loved his work and his team, but even he had his limits. Ten days on a shuttle and a verbal tussle with a Ferengi was more than enough diplomacy for now.

Now showered and dressed in casual leisure clothes, his usually unruly hair left purposefully untamed and floppy, Magnus was spread out on the lounge in the guest quarters of the Thunderchild. He had a small bowl of snacks by his side and a full schedule of programs lined up on the viewscreen, including a documentary on the ancient craft of stonework on the Spanish island of Menorca. It was pleasantly calm enough for him to switch his brain off and forget about work for the day.

A chime sounded from the door.

“Ahh. Food.” Magnus giggled to himself. Yes he could have made something in the replicator; yes he could have gone down to the mess hall. But he was experiencing an overwhelming bout of apathy towards doing things right now, and decided to take a little liberty to have a meal prepared and delivered to his quarters instead.

“Come in!” He called out, lazily pressing a button on his PADD to open the door.

The door slid open and there stood Heriah Rex. Her hair hung loose and her attire was casual and about as loose as her hair, almost nighties. Her top was two-colored, one half red and the other black. It took only a second of looking around to see Magnus stretched out on the lounge. He, rightly so, could not be bothered to get up to answer the door. Seeing him stretched out comfortably made Heriah understand that all too well.

"Magnus," she said, "I do not mean to be a bother. Would you mind a moment's company? And..." she held up a six pack of Rival Talanack, a specialty Trill beer.

Sitting up so he didn’t look quite as slovenly, Magnus cleared his throat. “Oh hello there. Of course, please have a seat and by all means, bring your friends.”

'All of us? Me? Refkin? Davmorda?...'

Heriah ignored the thought and stepped in. "I heard you were staying aboard the Thunderchild while 109 gets a refit." She placed the beer on the table before him. "To be honest, and I am certain that thing can hear me," she said as she looked around, "I would be uncomfortable staying on a ship thinking it was alive and sentient," she said, referring to the Alidade entity. She eyed the programming playing at low volume and said, "I am on board for a few days, checking on morale, giving updates, things like that. I rather meet people face to face rather than viewscreen all the time. And I know you were not aboard 109 long before," and she waved a hand, both knowing fully well what happened. "And wanted to check in on you. Completely social of course. I am tired of duty for the day."

“I hear you.” Magnus nodded deeply, “I can’t imagine all of the running around you’ve had to do. Please, take a load off and sit down. I’ve got a wide variety of programs lined up to take your mind off of everything. How do you feel about pizza?”

"Pizza!" she said. "I love that stuff. As long as its got lots of meat."

A devilish smile came over the Diplomat. “Oh you’re about to become acquainted with a kebab pizza. It’s a lot of meat and a lot of toppings.” He then added as an aside, “I’m being indulgent and getting one made in the kitchen. Because the replicator never quite gets it right.”

"I like your style Magnus," she said. "This beer I brought...it's also the real stuff. Brewed and bottle on Trillius Prime. Even the glass bottles are formed in a kiln. Replication does the job, but nothing beats the real thing."

“Ah,” Magnus had been trying not to eye off the bottles too thirstily. “Sounds like they’ll go very well with the pizza then.”

"I wanted to express my admiration," Heriah contined, "with how you handled that Ferengi situation with Kroll. The captain...Francis that is...well he didn't want to deal with the Ferengi at all, so he delegated their dealings to me. That was until we had a real diplomat. Ferengi politics," she scoffed while eyeing whatever was going on in the program playing at low volume, "it will really wear on you after a while."

Magnus was pleasantly surprised by the comment and he nodded in gratitude, “Thank you for saying that. The Ferengi are born arguing, they can be very taxing to deal with. I think it helped my case that DaiMon Kroll was asking for the impossible. There’s no way I was going to help him find an escaped slave for goodness’s sake.”

"That is what the Ferengi do. They generally ask the impossible. At the very least they ask for way more than you can provide. Do review the sensor recordings of a meeting I had with a Ferengi female named Fala. I gave a detailed list of all I could give. More and the request would have to go through at least three readings in the Federation Council Chambers. End result? Federation would likely deny the request, Fala would be thanked and then sent on her way. If she agreed with my proposal, I would...massage the system to throw in a few more incentives. Fala agreed in the end. Angry, but I am confident she was happy inwardly."

Heriah handed Magnus a bottle of the Rivals Talanack and took one herself. She gripped the top and started to twist, resulting in some grunting and an, "Ow." She pulled her hand away and eyed a surface cut on her thumb. "I hope you have a bottle opener. Replicate one maybe."

“Fala…” Magnus mused over the name as he quietly took hold of both the bottles. He looked at the small glass coffee table and shook his head before he stood and wandered over to the small kitchenette. “I will have to review the records, I’m not familiar with the case. However - “ Using the lip of the counter and a sharp chop, Magnus popped the lid off the first bottle. The lid skittled off across the counter. “If you’re saying the agreement might have needed Fed Council approval, then… Well, then Ferengi must have been asking for something way above her station. I doubt Fala would have had approval from their Commerce Authority to negotiate such a deal on her own. Not as a female, at least.” He popped the second lid and walked back over to the couch. “In which case, if I were there, I would have suggested getting FCA approval first.“ He handed one bottle back to Heriah and smiled, “With an oversight from the Board of Liquidators for forensic auditing, just to be on the safe side. Even if they approved such a deal, it wouldn’t be without taking a substantial cut for themselves, or she would have been handing out massive bribes to make it happen, thus making the whole deal unprofitable. Unfortunately.”

He took a swig from his drink and shrugged, “Hmm, this is nice.”

"It is nice," she took a greedy gulp of beer. "Rivals Talanack," she repeated the name. "The story is that a Joined Trill with a rebellious symbiont..."

'Sound like someone we know?'

"...came up with this beer. If you hold it...in your mouth...you will pick up a contrast of flavors. But they somehow work well together. Hence...Rivals Talanack." They both sat there in silence for a second, enjoying the beer. "As for Fala, do be careful when dealing with her. I am honestly uncertain if she is even working within the confines of the FCA. With the amount of piracy going on in this region of space, she may be throwing around bribes enough to make herself something of a Nagus out here." SHe placed the bottle upon the coffee table. "Rivals are abound out here. So...do keep our wits about you."

Magnus took the offered advice about the beer and upon his next mouthful, he held the liquid for a few moments. There was a surprising burst of flavours that he hadn’t quite appreciated the first time. He gave an appreciative nod before swallowing. “Oh yes, I see.” He commented. He decided to also take the Commander’s advice about Fala. “I will certainly try to watch out. I think we will have an opportunity to reset and refocus with the station re-opening.”

"Speaking of resetting and refocusing," Heriah said, her tone becoming stern. "I feel I need to confess something to you. It involves your father. I know more on the situation than you may think. If you would permit me to speak on the matter, though I understand if you prefer I not."

“My… father.” Magnus huffed out, feeling the air leave his lungs in an instant. He had that familiar drop in his stomach, the same sensation he always felt when this particular topic was brought up. His father was not just a sore subject, it was a crater of a decimated childhood that was still smoking thirty years later. ‘What did she know?’ His mind raced, ‘Has something happened?’ He wondered. No, surely Nyx or his mother would have contacted in that event. He gave a forced cough to nervously clear his throat and trained an intense stare at the bottle in his hands. “What, uh, what do you mean?”

"In the past, and I recalled this only recently. But...in the past your father was mixed up with a shady individual named Luftine...a Trill. He dealt in arms, contraband, counterfeiting, laundering, you name it. He had this umbrella of protection. As long as powerful individuals on Trillius Prime received their kickbacks and their names kept away from the news, everything Luftine did was ignored. That level of protection also enveloped your father, in whatever he was doing. Whatever it was, Luftine was getting a substantial kickback. About seven, or so, years ago...well...you know what happened. Maybe not why it happened. Of course a new Trill with a new personality is born when a Trill host is Joined with a symbiont. Luftine, when he became joined, decided to scale back on his goings-on, to cut off those who he regarded as a liability. The very day Luftine became a Joined Trill, he severed all contact with your father, removed that umbrella of protection. In the following weeks all of your father's exploits came pouring out. There was nothing that tied Luftine to his dealings." Heriah sat a short second watching as Magnus was processing this information; things that he remembered, dots being connected. There was one last dot. "The symbiont Luftine was Joined with...was Rex. The same Rex with whom I am Joined."

“Oh. I see… Small world.” Magnus said as he chewed over the information. It wasn’t the first time someone had known about his father; it wasn’t a complete secret to those with high enough clearance. Most people would express their shock that he could be related to such a criminal, fraudster, traitor, monster. Most people didn’t know that his father had always been a monster. Some thought they could use the information against Magnus, that never went well for them. But this was the first time someone knew his father specifically from the time of his public fall from grace, at the height of his schemes and his crimes. Luftine, if he did work closely with his father, could potentially know so much more. Magnus cleared his throat again, his mind trying to find out more without directly addressing the subject. “That must be so strange, to ah have so many different memories inside of you.”

Heriah gave a singular ironic laugh. "over 300 years worth of memories." She sat straight. "I remember Garan Rex cheating his way to graduation from the Academy. He cheated mostly from my now Captain Francis. Yes, I remember Francis at the Academy, in his 20's. I have Refkin's treasure trove of fighting techniques. The dude was addicted to learning martial arts. I remember Davmorda Rex and her constant paranoia. And I remember Luftine. But all I know of your father was that Luftine cut ties. The rest is what I remember...as an unJoined Heriah, listening to the news." She took a swig from her beer. "As for the details of Luftine's interactions with your father...those were all prior to his Joining with Rex. Any host's memories, prior to Joining, are...at best...a shadow of a long forgotten dream. I just...felt you needed to know. And I needed to get that off my chest."

'Maybe now he will pay you back by wanting to be on your chest.'

"That...and..." she looked at Magnus, hard in the eyes. "You are not your father. Just like I am not any of Rex's previous hosts. You want a reset and a refocus? Let us both start with that."

Magnus managed a small, appreciative smile, and he looked up to meet her gaze. Somehow she had known exactly what he needed to hear. “Thank you.” He said with a wave of relief passing over him. “I have to admit, I still worry when someone brings him up. I never know if they’re trying to pity me or manipulate me. And you’re right, I do just want to move on and not have to worry anymore about that part of me. Of course, you would know what that’s like.” He frowned a little, “Do you think I should mention it to the Captain?”

'There is still so much the Captain does not know about you.'

"No," Heriah said. "It was a fairly circulated story in the news and among upper Starfleet brass. So, he knows. You let him bring it up. And...if he does not know...then...then he's been living under the proverbial rock. And I do know what it is like," she said as she moved her beer bottle about so as to cause the liquid to start into a swirl, "trying to move away from a past you had no control over, to make a new and better one. Rex himself does not have a great track record."

'Oh I have a great track record...of leaving dead hosts in my wake. And you are next, slut.'

She took a sip and, "How about that pizza?"

As if on queue, the door chimed once more. Magnus placed down his beer onto the coffee table and attended to the delivery, thanking the crewman many times for their culinary work. After a few minutes searching around the kitchenette for the proper dinnerware, then dealing with the tricky task of moving some rather heavy loaded slices onto plates, he returned to the couch. He offered one to the Commander.

“We don’t really use cutlery for pizza in our homes back in Denmark.” He stated matter of factly, as if it were written in the country’s constitution. “So please, use your hands.”

'Barbarism. I like it.'

Heriah grabbed a slice without care of whatever grease, oil, food, etc got on her hands. "I certainly will," she said and stuffed the pointy and meatiest end in her mouth taking a greedy bite.

“Good stuff.” Magnus mused as he chewed, savouring every mouthful of the meaty and saucy concoction. The kitchen had recreated the dish perfectly, so he made a mental note to ensure crew would receive proper recognition. He washed this down with another mouthful of the Trill beer, which only served to add another layer of flavours to his pallet. “I don’t mind saying.” He said after he had properly swallowed, “All of the running around, meetings, and reports are worth it when you have can a pleasant meal at the end of the day.”

The pizza was devoured, the beers enjoyed, and the two successfully managed to relax for the evening.

OFF

 

RSS Feed