[Nevos] Do we have hot sauce? (closed)

Taleeze was very moved by Telos’ reaction. She had felt a bit bad for pressuring him to talk about this. She couldn’t have known of course but as it turned out, speaking about it helped him to some degree, he seemed relieved even. Maybe he didn’t have that much of chance to mention all this that often.
It’s not the kind of thing a captain was supposed to discuss with his crewmembers. It looked like she had found the right words obviously. Taleeze smiled and looked at their hands.

“Thank you, Telos, I wasn’t aware of the scope of all this. Anytime, right? It’s great to hear you have a good understanding with your crew. I know turian ships run a tight reign but have their opportunities for the crew to vent. Only the captain is mostly not as fortunate, has to stay above things. So if it helps to talk to an asari stripper, by all means” She laughed. “I’m looking forward to meet them, shouldn’t be too long now.”

She sat there for a while before taking her plate over to the sink.

"Hehehe! Indeed." Tel laughs with Taleeze. Although he was used to bonding with people within small periods of time, it was still a bit surprising to him that he managed to open up so much to someone he has known for only a few hours. Nevertheless it was still very good to have someone to talk to. He really felt comfortable around the asari.

As the turian finished his steak, he put his plate into the sink. The automated cleaning system started working right away.
"Oh yeah it really shouldn't be too long. I suggest we open a few of these boxes or bring a couple outside. Just to have some things set out and ready for the boys and girls when they arrive!"

Taleeze watched the cleaner do its work. Her house had a nice kitchen but this was an extremely nifty piece of equipment.

“Sounds like a plan, my friend. I bet your people will come over with quite an appetite. What about drinks? Do you have enough beer in the cooler – or whatever they will like. Some Tupari maybe.”

She grabbed two boxes to carry them outside to their arrangement of grills and coolers.

"Oh I've got plenty of light Taetran Ale ordered along with the food. But I tried to keep most of the drinks non-alcoholic. We're taking off tomorrow night and I want all of them to be in top shape." The turian smiles. He chuckles as Taleeze mentions Tupari "Oh believe me. We've discussed the topic of Tupari quite thoroughly already. The whole ship unanimously agreed that... well. To quote their exact words "Sucks. Totally. Period." I think it's because of the artificial dextro flavours they used to imitate the drink's normal taste. But oh well. Work to do!"

And so the work was done. All the appliances were carried to the patio, all the boxes were opened, the buffet was set up and all the raw -and still somewhat bloody- meat was displayed. Ready to be fried and served. After a couple of hours the crew members started coming. Most of them were in groups of five or six. Everyone seemed to stick with whomever they were most close.
Everyone seemed to be quite reinvigorated. Telos wasn't sure if that was due to genuine excitement for the BBQ or a result of enjoying Nevos' countless amenities. Everyone seemed to be quite amazed by the size of the house and the beauty of its location. They had all heard about Tel's family but actually seeing a mansion like that is far different from just hearing about it.
As Tel gave a small tour of the place to whomever wanted, the smell of juicy steaks being fried on hot fire filled the entire lot. Before noon, everyone was already at the patio, eating, drinking and enjoying eachothers company. Most of the people were delighted by Taleeze's company. They seemed eager to get to know her and asked several questions, always keeping the all too necessary turian etiquette though. Everyone was having a good time. Even Ardana, the ship's stiff and all too serious XO seemed to enjoy herself, still maintaining her formal posture as always though.

The sun slowly begun descending towards the mountains and the valley would soon be bathen in Teyolia's purple twilight.
Tel and Tal laid in a couple of recliners at the corner of the patio, looking over to the crew who once again had had clustered up in little groups, finishing their meals and sharing stories. Tel shifts in his place a little bit, letting out a heavy sigh.
"Damn it. Those last two couples of xemna chops were unnecessary..."

The crew like poured in like a crowd at the opening of a new club. It was fun to see them all interact like a close knit crew should. Some sure ogled that asari their captain brought along, wondering what’s the occasion but everyone stayed polite, just as what could be expected of a group of turians with their officers nearby.

Taleeze chuckled over Telos’ comment. The advantage of having a biotic metabolism was burning food through much easier. Taleeze took a swig from her beer.
“Well, nobody told you to eat more than you could force down by sheer willpower. If you want I could look around and try to find you some nice gastroliths! I know how to find the good ones, I used to collect them for my dad.” She chuckled, looking around.

She had been to private parties at rich men’s houses before – not exactly this size and class but fairly close, lots of money on Nevos – and usually at some point the had been some exotic dancing going on. Good money and the buffet for free on such nights. It had been a while since she had done such assignments.

“Great girls and guys you have there, Telos.”

Tel chuckles as well "Oh I've had enough of those by now. All I need is some patience till they start doing their thing" He says, cracking open a second bottle of beer.

"They are all great indeed. Handpicked, each and every one of them. It takes a lot of skill to be personally chosen to crew a brand new vessel. Not everyone can handle deep space and the hierarchy knows that. So they've been careful with whom they send to the CEF ships. We're slowly becoming a little family in a sense. It was kind of inevitable after all. Many have seen horrific things during the war. Some have lost everything. So in the end, in the middle of vast, uncharted expanses of space, all they have left is eachother." The captain smiles to himself "I'm proud of them. Everyone is proud of everyone. I never thought I would serve under the Hierarchy, much less captain an entire ship! But I would never ever regret it though. The war has changed many things. Almost too many one would say"

Turian pride, some sight alright.

Taleeze remembered his history as civilian test pilot.
“So what was it like, getting into the Hiearchy fleet without prior service and overtaking some of the established officers on the way? Are all turians really that smooth to let that go uncommented? Getting such a command is, as you say something big. You get top notch equipment, the best people, all the cool assignments.”

"Oh it was quite an experience. I've already had built a bit of a reputation for myself during my twenty year service. I was in command of the helm aboard a Hierarchy cruiser, the Vectis, for quite a bit of time. During the war I was placed in helm of another two vessels. After the Crucible event I was promoted and raised a couple tiers as a gesture of appreciation for my services to the turian people and the whole galaxy during the war. I was quite surprised they actually did this, to be honest. Not that I do not appreciate it of course but it is quite surprising. Especially when most of the members of the Hierarchy that I have encountered dont have a high regard for my 'notorious' family. My... eccentric personality as it has been characterized by many has encouraged the development of a bit distrust. Fortunately, on any ship I've ever found myself in, everybody gets accustomed to this eventually; and seemingly, any still-present negative feelings did not stand in the way of the promotion and commendation of my 'heroic acts in action'." Tel sighs. He gestures to three young turians leaning onto the patio's railing a few meters away. The two men and one women seemed to be enjoying themselves quite a lot. Slowly sipping away their drinks and giggling to some story the young woman was telling "See those three over there?" Tel asks the asari besides him "Thats our helm crew. Edessan Hierarchy Flight Academy graduates. Considered to be few of the best Turian pilots with an even more promising future ahead of them. They've shown to have a great talent that needs to be awoken further in them; and I've been tasked to do just that. Be their mentor." The captain smiles to himself once again. "They are very talented indeed, I must say. But I am still not sure why they chose me. I've lost a ship during the war. Came close to loosing a second one... That might be Neffila's compassion and incredibly high value for life that she held speaking over my turian sense of duty and servitude in me but... I'm still not all that sure."

“That’s an impressive list of achievements, Telos” Taleeze was really impressed with his accomplishments and how high he obviously stood in the view of the Hierarchy. ‘Heroic acts in action' sounded not too shabby.

“You know, you should come over to our place someday – not as big as this but beachfront.” Taleeze grinned wide “and we have an open fire to grill things. Anyway, what I wanted to say was, come over and meet Freh’ya, my mate. She has a mentioning in the asari war scrolls for her actions on Thessia, although she doesn’t thinks she deserved it, for reasons she’s not fully disclosing. It’s a troubling thing for her and I am happy she’s managing as well as she does. Well, I don’t dig or nag. She’s dealing with it in her own way and with the help of her Matriarch, if she wants to tell me something, it’ll come naturally. A lot f people ‘lost a ship’ in the war, one way or the other but managed to do great things, making a difference somewhere.”

She looked over to the trio of turians and sipped at her beer.
“Good for them then, to learn from one of the best. I assume you spice up your voyages with some maneuvers to train the crew an all that? Since you don’t see much real combat these days I hope.” Pirating was still a thing but it had died down a bit in the core systems after an initial burst right after the war and the reopening of the first relays.

“But speaking of tiers, Daia and I have joked around we should someday do our service in the Hierarchy to get our own tiers up a bit. But that may be a century or two away seriously – or might as well never happen. Would be an interesting thing to do though.”

Tel turns to the asari, smiling "Hey I'd love that actually! I think that's something we'll definitely ought to do another time. Of course I won't bring fifty people along again this time" he chuckles "She's on Nevos right? I am not sure if we'll be passing through the neighborhood again any time soon but We're going to the Citadel every few months for a dry dock and and a mission report as well as a bit of shore leave. I am sure I can catch you there!"

The captain looks at the young pilots again "Oh yes. More than just spicing up. You know, sometimes when we complete a mission, like survey a potential mining site or lay a buoy line, our reports and the next mission orders from Command take a bit to get through. So there's nothing we can do than hang around in the system for a little while. That's when my... 'advanced training sessions' come." Tel grins to himself "Oh yes. Quite spicy indeed. I have to tell you, they are all extremely skilled. The inertial dampeners are tested to the extreme! I didn't have a lot of room for maneuvers aboard the Vectis. Those folks take an extremely sophisticated ship of comparable size and make it dance around gravitationally paired asteroid like a class 2 fighter! I am soon to close one third of my expected lifespan and I already feel old."

The turian's mandibles flutter happily. It wasn't uncommon for other species to join the turian ranks. Especially for asari; but these occasions have become rarer and rarer after the war "Oh that sounds like a great idea! If you want to do backbreaking labour during the reconstruction of Palaven. This is what they are doing for now with lower tiers. Especially with clients!" he smiles.
"But that too is quite an experience and you can draw a lot from it all. In other words, this had work teaches you a lot. After all it's quite common in the Hierarchy too. I think I remember a human from the boards serving on Epirus! Plus you cannot deny the privileges of 'tier three' and higher. So yeah. A century or two sounds good! Too bad I won't be there to see you two in your cadet uniforms... " Tel takes another sip from his drink "Who's Daia by the way. The name sounds quite familiar."

Taleeze laughed at the suggestion of not bringing the whole crew.
“Yes, I think my house would just not be able to hold them all. We have a beach though but I don’t want to end up playing lifeguard for drowning drunk turians.” She grinned as she remembered her das at the holiday resorts. She knew that on occasion drunk party turians got curious about water and ‘swimming’ and that asari lifeguards were sometimes much appreciated indeed.

“I’ll be on the citadel sometimes I guess but not permanently. Mostly for events like Bliss Festival. Other than that you’ll find me either here or on Illium.” She hoped to be able to do a stint at the Apricity again soon. After she had managed to work out her relationships.

“Daia is Daia T’Nara, asari_promiscuity on CDN. She’s kind of my best friend, abit like a sister.” Taleeze’s face really lit up when she talked about Daia. “She helped me out and supported me when I was on Illium the first time, looking for Freh’ya. I got a really nice welcome by her and Ana’Therion, her bondmate. So yeah, Daia’s dad also was turian and that had us fantasize a bit. In fact we had been planning a turian themed show – Colors of Palaven. Lot’s of bodypaint and bits of armor.” Obviously ‘bits’ was meant to be tiny bits in strategic places.

“We got interrupted but it’s still a project. And while doing that we had discovered the other had been thinking about it already. So maybe we’ll go together some day. It’s a shame the turian military does not have a regular entertainment company. Morale in the field is important and you people rely on the asari way too much for that!”
She remembered her days on Cyone, when she had been running “it’s a blue thing!”.

“Did you know I was managing a cabaret troupe during the war? We were entertaining the troops in our free time.”

"Oh! That Daia! Yeah I remember her from the boards. I Think I've even seen her from up close on Illium... long time ago that is. Well, that's by turian standards at least" Tel chuckles. Three or four years must be like a few months for the asari.

"I strongly agree on that you know. Apparently, the Hierarchy's idea of entertainment doesn't go beyond sophisticated combat simulation systems. They even managed to get a small one aboard our ship. During the development of the craft in co-operation with the Citadel council, numerous changes had to be made to turn the ship from a battle cruiser into an exploration ship. Heh. I was present in one of the engineering sessions. Our folks were literally cringing each time a weapons system was removed from the original base blueprints. They could not by any means remove the sim though. Sure, it was downgraded into a much more simple and small system but it's still there!"

Tel gulps down the last few drops of ale in his bottle, setting it aside and reaching for another one.[color=goldenrod] "Oh, I'd love that actually. When it comes to the 'colours' of Palaven, we don't go much beyond silver, ochre and olive green. Our planet is as colourfull as a utensil in comparison to Earth or Thessia... But i think silver is just colour to be seen in trace amounts on an asari body!" He jokes, popping open another drink and taking a sip. "Hm that sound's like fun! Did you run it on Illium too? But then again there aren't many 'troops' on illium. Unless we're talking about eclipse or something."

Taleeze chuckled at Telos’ description of turian entertainment. She remembered her dad looking at her mum thatway, when she was not looking. She thought he had been very happy to be able to serve on an asari world.

To you, old man – daddy. She touched bottles when Telos’ took a new one.

“It really is, I personally love silver. It suits my color I want to believe. But the colors of Palaven are more supposed to represent the face paints of the various regions and colonies. Hm, thinking about it, Colors of the Hierarchy would be a better title maybe?

Anyway, that troupe we had, no, it died with the end of the war. And that’s pretty literally . A lot of us ended up dead, some lost limbs. One me and two other got away physically unharmed.” She sighed and looked at her beer. Then her face lit up as she looked at Telos.

“That was a wonderful time though. The name was ‘it’s a blue thing!’. We were all sort of dancers, entertainers… we had a couple of really talented stand ups. So we were running cabaret shows in rented hangars or small bars. Dancing, stripping, comedy… for the many troops that rotated through Cyone. Those reactors saw heave fighting. Some entertainment was the least those fireteams had earned. Turians, krogans, asari, humans salarians… quarians not so much. I mean, they were there but mostly kept to themselves. It’s a shame ‘cause I thought they are great fighters who helped a lot. Also, I am truly fascinated about them.

So… yeah, that’s that. I think those of us who are still around should meet sometime again. Hm… maybe even on Illium. I wonder if the Apricity would be interested in such a thing? It was pretty amateurish in some respects…” Taleeze laughed to herself and took a swig of beer.

"Well. Amateurish or not, when people do it with passion, the result is always good. Besides, the soldiers weren't very picky. I am sure they enjoyed everything you offered to them to the fullest. Given the circumstances and hopelessness of that period though, there wasn't much else they could afford doing.." Tel sighs, taking a big swig from his drink "But if you guys do get together again, make sure to drop me a message!" The turian smiles, setting his drink aside for a couple moments and relaxing, leaning into his chair. He takes in a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air of the mountainous Nevan valley. Glancing to the right he sees the sun finally falling behind the mountains, leaving only a bright orange glow in the sky behind it. It was without doubt one of the most beautiful and fun days he had in a while. The day/night lighting routine aboard star ships as well as the rather monotonous environments get a bit hard to bare after a few months or so.

This BBQ was definitely a very pleasant break from it all. Not only a chance for everyone to have fun but for the crew to bond even more and to make some new acquaintances as well. Tel was really glad to meet Taleeze. She surely seemed like a decent person and good friend. Someone that he could easily open up to if he wanted to.

The night began to fall. The crowd seemed to get calmer and calmer. The food finally begun to run out and the laughs quieted down. The turian couldn't help but look up to the bright starry sky stretching above the valley. It was quite beautiful. It was kind of tough to decide what's better. Relaxing down here on a beautiful world and observing them from bellow, or be out there on an adventure to see them all from up close? In spite of how much he enjoyed the former, Tel's hard always lied with the latter; and now he and his crew had a mission to do just that. Be out there.

Picking up his drink once again, the turian turns to his friend, proposing a toast. "To new beginnings!" He says with a wide smile. This day was one to be remembered by everybody present for a long time...


-fin