~ Neelix ~
"Fresh tajaberries and cragas this morning!" Neelix bellowed to the weary crew that was waiting in line for breakfast. Tom Paris, bleary eyed, came up to him, holding out his mess kit.
"Tajaberries and what?" He asked, dumbfounded. With some effort, Tom tried to open his eyes, but this early in the morning, all he could manage to do was squint. The joyful Talaxian almost hopped up and down as he revealed his latest discovery.
"Tajaberries and cragas, Mr. Paris! I found the tajaberries fresh this morning! They've already been checked off by Seven as edible. And the cragas!" Neelix pointed to a slice of the melon like fruit. It looked like an overgrown peanut in shape, but with a soft fruit on the inside. "What a treasure those are! They taste incredibly bright, and are sure to wake you up this morning!" Neelix prodded Tom with and elbow. "And you're lucky. These ones don't have any of those nasty worms in them. I accidentally fed one to Crewman Guarro and she had to go to the Doctor because – "
"Stop. Just, stop, Neelix. I'm sure these will be…fine." Tom forced a smile at the chef. Oh, how brave these humans were! Occasionally they could do something stupid, have a lapse in judgment, but they certainly were brave! Tom turned around and headed off towards the remains of last night's fire.
"Enjoy!" Neelix shouted after him, as he placed some more of the new fruit on Icheb's plate.
"Thank you for the nutritional supplement, Neelix." Icheb said, already digging into his craga.
"Be sure to come back for seconds, Icheb!"
"Of course, Neelix."
As Neelix continued to dish out the fruit to various crewmembers, he recounted to the line how he had found the wonderful cragas.
"I had been out by myself in the woods, taking a walk. I used to love playing in the woods when I was growing up on Rinax. There's really nothing better than a morning walk in the woods to wake you up," Neelix said to various people, shaking his fork as if admonishing them for not getting up any earlier. "Well, this morning, I decided to stop down by the river, where they're building the bath house. You know the place? I had just stopped to catch my breath."
Sitting down, Neelix leaned up against the large trunk of a tree, stretching his legs out. The river was quite beautiful and the small woodland creatures that were running beside it equally amazing. There was this one breed; it had seven legs that it scurried around on: three on either side, one on the back. It was backed up against the river at one of the shallower parts, fishing with its tail. When it saw one of the aqua animals coming, it used its extra leg to grab it and snap its neck.
"Neelix, we're about to eat. We really don't need to hear this…" B'Elanna started, putting a hand on her swollen belly and handing her plate to the Talaxian, who gave her an extra craga.
"I'm sure you tough Klingons can stomach it! But just wait, I'm getting to the good part…"
I was watching this little monkey-like animal bustle around with its morning food, when a craga fell on my head! I looked up, and I couldn't see anything; the tree I was sitting below had many, many leaves on it, as bright and colorful as the sunrise. But there certainly weren't any cragas there, I can assure you of that! I picked it up and scanned it with my tricorder, and then sliced off a piece with my knife, and ate it…
"But, Uncle Neelix, the tricorder can't catch everything!" Naomi said as she popped a tajaberry in her mouth. "You could have died!" Neelix patted her back.
"Oh, it's okay Naomi. I had a hunch. Just don't let me catch you doing that, or your mother will have a fit." He winked in Samantha Wildman's direction, who smiled warmly, and then ushered her daughter along.
It had an amazing taste! I knew I simply had to bring some back for the rest of the crew, except that…I didn't know where they had come from. I was about to get up and look around for them, when two more fell on my head. Setting the first craga on the ground, I shed my jacket and climbed up the tree. Up there, it was dark, except for the little bit of light that was filtering in from below.
And there were three large, red eyes staring back at me.
The crew that was still waiting in line had stopped moving, partly because they were enthralled with the exuberant Talaxian's story, partly because he had stopped serving them.
"Well, I fell right out of that tree! I was so scared of it that I ran to where I had abandoned my jacket and fetched my phaser! I didn't want to hurt the poor thing, but who knows what it would do. I waited behind another tree, and the creature just stayed in the tree, thrashing about. I was so worried that I had disturbed its habitat and that it might hurt itself bouncing around up there, but it eventually scampered down and ran away. As I approached the tree again, I noticed that all of these cragas had been knocked down, and, well, no use in letting them go to waste!" Neelix beamed at the crew, who was applauding him.
"Well, it looks like we have our own Isaac Newton." Janeway said with a wry smile as she came up to him with her plate, confusing the Talaxian. Seeing that she was the last in line, he gave her a few extra pieces of food to make up for all the weight she had lost. She had been looking healthier in the past few days, and the rosy glow had returned to her cheeks. Well, it wouldn't hurt!
"Isaac who, Captain?"
"Oh, it's okay Neelix. Outstanding job on finding such good fruit." She smiled at him again, and then retreated to her cabin with breakfast.
"Thank you, Captain!"