"No fancy schrapp for me, thank you," Khor'ruhn also responds.

"Went to a formal Marine dinner once. Hated the damn monkey suit I had to wear, got served microscopic portions of some kind of food that wasn't even edible, and all they served was wine! Blehhh."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. Wine's okay with certain foods, though wine connoisseurs will tell you it goes with EVERYTHING. I don't think so. It don't go with ice cream. It don't go with PB&J. And ain't nothing better'n beer with pizza!"

"I'm with Yuri. Skrootlydoo sounds like fun!"

"Very well. The Captain's Table it is. Sounds appropriate enough," Baris answers.

"Even reconstituted food is palatable if it's prepared properly. And there isn't anything that Royal Epicurean Mystery Sauce can't fix. I even put it on mignyl chorts once. Still don't know what they heck they are, but those were the best mignyl chorts I ever had."

"I suspect the garden is more for show than actual produce, though fresh flowers and herbs certainly wouldn't be amiss. The vegetables are still probably grown in a hydroponics tank. You can't get enough yield or frequency with only that much of a garden."

He leads the way to the indicated restaurant. Upon entering, he saw that the decor was rather simple though not exactly ordinary as there were models, pictures, and pieces-parts of starships decorating the walls. Still, there was an openness to the place that didn't make it seem like you were on the cramped rooms of a real starship... well, except for the great liners.

"We were just wondering if you grow your own vegetable?" he asked the maitre d' as he walked up to her.

"Skrootlydoo it is then!"

Yuri, Bannacor and Khor'ruhn head for the Skrootlydoo. Not unexpectedly, it turns out to be a rather casual environment, with music and entertainment, and good old comfort food. The decor seems to be somewhat reminiscent of old ragtime and French Quarter.


Baris, Beto and Nicodemus head for the Captain's Table, a somewhat ubiquitous name for a starport restaurant. The atmosphere here is a rather relaxed semi-formal one.

"Of course we grow our own vegetables," the maitre d' replies, "with a few exceptions. We tried growing aspergrass but there's something about the planet below that makes it taste better... a lot better... than anything we could grow."

"Would you still like a table for three?"

"A table for three would be fine," Baris answers. Having never heard of aspergrass, he didn't think that was enough reason to go to another restaurant.

"My apologies about ignoring your suggestion we go to Terra Nova," he says to Beto as they are escorted to a table and sit down.

"Something about The Captain's Table just seemed to call to me. I heard you say 'Terra Nova', but I can only say that this tired old body had a brain fart."

"Maybe it was just the Spacer in me."

In reply to Space Control (msg # 232):

"I'd like a steak and potatoes, peas and gravy over the potatoes. A nice salad too"

Beto laughed genuinely while examining the menu.
"I understand the call. It's surely a marketing trick. The captain of a ship is attracted to a restaurant, and he - or she - brings the crew along. Wham! Many seats filled. Or may be it's literally the table of an ex-captain?", she mused. "Anyway, we happen to pass by this system again on week 10; I'll have choose the restaurant. The restaurant does not matter at all: after more than one week eating at home, convenience food and frozen-heated courses... A dinner out feels so good."

The old lady hailed a waitress and asked for the origin of the restaurant's name.

"Of course, Miss," the waitress with the pink hair replies. Her name tag said she was Tafoya.

"Captain Avery Quindel was the captain of the Independent Star Liner The Light Fantastic some 50 years ago now. He didn't own the ship, of course, it belonged to Tukera Lines."

He'd served on several liners before he got his own command, and he was less than impressed with the food that was often served. And he heard a few passengers complain now and then that they thought the food should be better for what they paid. He took that to heart."

"So, when he got his own command, he decided that there wasn't any reason the passengers shouldn't have an enjoyable week in Jump Space. He started out by setting a magnificent table. It didn't have to be fancy but it had to be quality. He made sure the menu had a few fancy dishes, a few comfort food dishes, and a few standard dishes."

"It worked. Passengers raved about the food, recommended others to the ship, and soon business was booming. The ship was always booked solid, especially after he added entertainment and recreation. Tukera Lines profits increased."

"For 40 years, The Light Fantastic was THE ship to travel on."

"When he retired ten years ago, he found the same situation here on Vadada Highport. It was something he was familiar with and he could do something about. So he opened this restaurant. And since it was the Captain's Table on the ship that had made its reputation, he named the restaurant The Captain's Table to recapture that."

"Would you like to order now? Or start with a drink or appetizer?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:58, Thu 13 Oct 2022.

"Not a good idea to drink on an empty stomach," Baris said to the waitress. "I'd like to try the Sampler appetizer tray along with a bottle of the Stella Corona Pinot Grigio."

"Anything you'd like, Beto? Nicodemus?"


After the server left, he added, "Didn't mean to speak for you, and I have no intention of drinking the entire bottle, but I was in the mood for some variety and a refreshing white wine. I suppose if I like it, I may buy a case for the ship."

Nicodemus strokes his chin, thinking, "tea would be nice. Maybe something like a jasmine?"
"Oh, and the appetizer needs to be fairly light. If the main course lives up to that history we'll overeat if we're not careful."

"I'll take both!", said Beto, eyeing the chronometer and the report of goods loaded in the ship. "I want to try anything different than the everyday fare aboard". She looked at the menu and wanted to taste every dish on it.

===== Baris, Beto and Nicodemus at the Captain's Table restaurant =====

It only takes a few minutes for the server to return with the orders. She sets the platter of appetizers down in the middle of the table and places a smaller plate in front of each of you.

She then serves Nicodemus his tea out of his own pot.

Then she opens the bottle of wine and pours a glass for Baris and Beto, and waits for Baris to sample it and express his opinion on it before she takes everyone's order for a meal.


===== Bannacor, Khor'ruhn and Yuri at the Skrootlydoo restaurant =====


The server takes Bannacor's order and patiently waits for Khor'ruhn and Yuri to decide what they want. After finally placing their orders, the server leaves. It takes about 10 minutes before their orders are brought to the table.

"A steak sounds good, too," the Vargr adds after Bannacor. "Make that TWO steaks, rare, with no freakin' marinades. Oh, and I'll have the spicy skinny fries. And a pot of coffee. Need my caffeine fix."

"I tried using patches, but they were less than spectacular results."

After the server leaves, he tries starting a conversation with Bannacor and Yuri.

"So what's the plan? Haven't really been paying attention to the details, you know. I was a marine, so I'm used to just getting told where to go and what to do."

"Then I was an Agent, and made up my own details as I went along. This seems to be somewhere in between."

"So, the Old Lady... Beto, that is, not the ship... needs to pay off this loan shark? Maybe we should just lean on him a bit, you know what I mean?"

Yuri had been daydreaming as he looked over the menu, making it hard to focus on food. There was something about this pub that brought back old memories. Sylvia Sparkles was her name; they'd met in a pub a lot like this one. It had been a brief but torrid affair, and then they'd both gone their separate ways. It'd been like two starships passing in the Void...

Khor'ruhn's order had roused him from his reverie.

"I'd like the ribs and the corn cob. Oh, what the heck, I'll try a small order of the spicy fries, too."

"And I'll have the Rootin' Tootin' R-Beer to drink."

He then replied to Khor'ruhn's question.

"I'm a bit in the same boat, really. Don't know where we're heading in the long run. Hauling cargo to make a profit to pay off the price of the ship. After that... who knows?"

"Hehehehehe, Count me ignorant too! She runs the ship and us."

Usually Beto would have protested if a server was so old-fashioned that she would wait for the male customer (Baris) to sample the wine. However, she knew nothing about wines. [which, I assume, depends of the Carouse skill]. So she trusted Baris' wine-tasting skill, and the restaurant's reputation regarding the choice of wines. "Never mind the bottle, let's just drink it!" she thought, trying not to let it aloud.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:04, Sat 05 Nov 2022.

OOC: Bannacor, Khor'ruhn and Yuri are in a completely different restaurant than Beto, Baris and Nicodemus.

In reply to Space Control (msg # 245):

Yes we are, and Ban is enjoying his REAL steak!

Not sure if he was reading Beto's expression correctly, he sampled the wine before he responded.

"Since I'm the one that ordered the wine, it falls to me to taste it to make sure it suits my palate as well as fits the meal," he said.

"Excellent! Thank you, Robere," he said to the server based on the name tag he wore.

"I'm not being pretentious," he explained to Beto. "I'm just following custom. I went wine tasting once and realized I couldn't much tell the difference between most of them. Some I liked, some I didn't particularly care for. I tended to like the two extremes--the very dry wines and the very sweet wines."

"This is one of the ones I liked... regardless of what it's called or who bottles it."

In reply to Baris Dahl (msg # 247):

Beto reflected aloud. "Maybe we could order a few dozen bottles at the winemaker , then - although we're staying a few hours only. Maybe we should buy wine on every planet, and keep a wine cellar aboard... That would attract more first-class passengers. We already have a beverage cabinet in our luxury cabins, but the alcohol it contains are interstellar standards...

I truly believe that we must display a specialty, a distinction, a competitive advantage over the other transports. Be it card games, cocktail mixing, movie-loving and lectures... whatever.

We could hear proposals at our next crew meeting", she wrote down on her notebook.

"Unfortunately, I'm not partial to the base flavor. I've always preferred climacteric pomes. Besides, I've always found fermentation too inconsistent for a proper art form. There are those that would be attracted to such minor luxuries, and perhaps would pay a premium for it."

"Ah, yes. Art," Baris responds to Nicodemus. "Isn't art, by definition, inconsistent? If everyone painted the same thing the same way, how would that be art?"

"Well, let's see what we can order online for immediate delivery. I have to admit that an on-board wine cellar does have a certain appeal for me."

He pulls out his comm, types in the name of the wine and then selects the vineyard. After seeing what's available, he orders ten cases.

Once everyone finishes their meal and reports back to the ship, the wine that Baris ordered has arrived, final departure preparations are finished, and the ship is ready for departure.

Any last minute details are dealt with, and the ship lifts off. Transit to the jump point goes without incident, and the ship enters jump space.

Now's the time for the crew meeting.

Welcome back! New thread "Vadada to Tanar" ? :)

Do we have a crew meeting to hold, with Big Decisions to take? Or do we just start "sampling" our crates of wine for one week?
Please complement an old lady's faltering memories!

Why can't we do both?

"At dinner, you'd expressed a... concern... that we needed to have a specialty or distinction... some sort of competitive advantage over the other transports," Baris explained. "Options you'd mentioned were card games, cocktail mixing, movie-loving, lectures... whatever."

"As I see it, we have two approaches: something that merely entertains or something that requires participation. And, of course, a mix of the two."

"We should give some thought to what other ship's are doing."