/\=
"I don't believe I have any talent for cooking, Neelix," Icheb said sadly, looking glumly at the lump of dough he was holding. It was squishy and rather sticky in his hands. The flour Neelix had spread on the counter "to prevent sticking" was flying everywhere, much of it landing somewhere on him whenever Icheb tried to do what Neelix called kneading. If Neelix hadn't provided him with an apron that covered him from his chest down to his knees, he knew he would be covered with the powdery substance. As it was, Naomi had laughed at the pasty smear he somehow had managed to get over his eyebrow.
"Oh, don't worry, Icheb. It's like any other skill. Practice makes perfect. Or, at the very least, it makes you better at whatever you're practicing. With replicator technology, you won't have many opportunities to practice cooking, I'm afraid."
"But if you ever have to live in an environment without replicators, you'll want to know how to do some basic cooking," Naomi pointed out. "I think it's even covered in some Academy courses. It's good to learn a little about it now."
Icheb sighed. He pushed a forefinger into the dough. He didn't know what it was supposed to feel like. It was very discouraging. Neelix spoke up then. "Icheb, you probably won't have to worry about cooking anything with dough anytime soon, other than these pierogi. Why don't we change places. You can mash up the cheese with the cooked onion, along with just a very little bit of this root vegetable. I'll worry about getting the dough kneaded and rolled out. It's a very springy dough, but I know how to handle it. I've made cheese pierogi before."
"Neelix, you aren't slipping any leola root into these, are you?" Naomi asked worriedly.
"Oh, no, no. Mr. Lessing has been growing these in his hydroponics bay. He found them a year ago on an away mission. He traded with a farmer for them because he says they taste just like white potatoes grown on Earth. I think they're rather bland, myself, but Mr. Lessing and everyone else who eats them seems to really like them. I'm adding just a little bit to some of the cheese filling. For a little variety, you know."
"Then these aren't authentic, First Contact Day pierogi like Zefram Cochrane loved?" Naomi asked.
"This big bowl over here is the regular cheese filling. Don't worry. Most of them will be Zefram Cochrane's favorite. I'm just experimenting with this other flavor."
"Adding a little Delta Quadrant flair?" Icheb asked, with a grin.
"As a matter of fact, no. I did my research. In Poland, on Earth, many fillings were used. This cheese-onion-potato flavor is actually a very traditional version. That's one of the reasons I decided to try it out. After you've mashed that filling up, Icheb, we'll all take a taste."
When Neelix said the filling was ready, they each took a small spoonful to compare it to the plain cheese version, which they'd already sampled. Icheb and Naomi looked at each other and smiled. "I like this flavor even better than the plain cheese ones," Naomi said.
"So do I," Icheb admitted.
"Well, then, we'll make up this batch and put it aside for us to eat later on. No one else has to know we've got these here! We'll give the rest of the crew the cheesy ones!" Neelix declared.
Looking at the huge bowl of cheese filling, Icheb asked, "How many of these pierogi are you planning on making?"
"Oh, I think sixty dozen should do the trick."
Naomi and Icheb looked at each other with a panicked look on both of their faces. "That's over seven hundred pierogi!" Naomi exclaimed.
"Seven hundred twenty, to be precise," Icheb added.
"We'd better get busy making the first batch, team. We've only got four days until our First Contact Day party!" Neelix said brightly.
Icheb sighed. It was going to be a very long four days.
=/\=
After three days, they had formed seven hundred and forty-seven cheese pierogi. It had been a lot of work, but once he tasted one, slathered in butter and a little onion, Icheb had to acknowledge they were worth all that work. They were delicious. The "secret hoard" of cheese-onion-potato pierogi were safely stowed away in Neelix's freezing storage unit, ready for the First Contact Day "after party" Neelix had promised his "team." He'd set aside some deep red made from ground up roots, too. Icheb was afraid to ask what was in it. It was so pungent when he sniffed it, his eyes began to water. Despite Neelix's assurances that it was a "traditional Polish horseradish sauce," Naomi and Icheb agreed it was probably another experimental recipe of the Talaxian chef's, just another way to use up more of the leola root most of the crew disliked.
The last day before the party was the fun day. They made decorations to dress up the tables in the Mess Hall, which Naomi promised to put in place just before the party was scheduled to start. As they were finishing up their craft work, Tom wheeled in the primary decoration, a contribution he'd put together with B'Elanna's help.
"What is this, Tom?" Icheb asked his friend.
"Why this is a gen-u-wine reproduction twentieth century juke box! I've loaded it up with the songs Zefram Cochrane had on his list of 'favorite tunes' - as dutifully recorded by the first Vulcans to visit Earth, right after Cochrane's first warp flight! He had great taste. A lot of the songs are favorites of mine, too. Johnny Be Good by Chuck Berry. Black Magic Woman by Santana. And of course, the ever popular, Shake Your Booty, Baby, by . . .
"That's great, Tom," Neelix interrupted. "Why don't you roll it over into that corner. We'll make that the dance floor area."
Tom didn't seem at all disturbed by Neelix cutting him off from enthusiastically listing every song in the jukebox. Icheb suspected B'Elanna did the same thing whenever her husband began extolling the virtues of one of his hobbies. He'd seen her do it to Tom on several occasions.
Once the device was set up, Icheb wandered over and perused the choices listed on the front panel. He was familiar with some from hearing them when he visited Tom and B'Elanna's quarters, but others were new to him. Since Tom seemed to like really lively numbers, Icheb looked forward to hearing the ones that were unfamiliar. This party was shaping up to be one of Neelix's most amazing extravaganzas. Icheb was really looking forward to it, and to their private "after party," once it was over. Icheb and Naomi had both volunteered to be part of the clean-up team, knowing that the tasty "secret stash" of pierogi awaited them once they'd finished putting the Mess Hall to rights.
=/\=
The party was in full swing when Icheb finally arrived. He'd volunteered to serve part of a shift in Engineering so that Freddie Bristow, who was scheduled to work throughout the party, would have a chance to attend for a couple of hours. Icheb hoped he hadn't missed Tuvok's recreation of the first words by a Vulcan to a human: "Live Long and Prosper."
Tuvok wasn't there, however. Neelix wasn't, either. In fact, none of the senior staff was present. Naomi was standing in the corner of the room, near the juke box. She looked a little lost. Before making his way to her, he picked up a plate and grabbed a few cheese pierogi and the red sauce which, as Neelix had maintained, was a nice, spicy counterpart to the cheesy dumplings, which glistened with melted butter and bits of translucent onion.
"Hi, Naomi. Has Tuvok done his dance yet?"
"He didn't want to do it, Icheb; and he didn't have to. Neelix was trying to convince him to do the dance, but then Commander Chakotay came in and took Neelix away. I heard them talking about finding Talaxian life signs on long-range scans. They're only a few light years away, according to the commander."
"Talaxian life signs here? This far from Talax?"
"That's what the commander said."
"I wonder how they got here. Talax is almost 40,000 light years away."
"Maybe the Talaxians had some very fast ships," Naomi answered, sighing. Absent-mindedly, she helped herself to one of Icheb's pierogi. After tasting it, she added. "This sauce smells really strong, but it's just as good with the pierogi as Neelix said it would be."
"I think so, too. Do you want me to get another plate for you?" Icheb smiled as he moved his plate out of her reach. She was reaching for another of his pierogi, and he only had two left.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I can get my own. Stay here, won't you? I don't want you running off to Astrometrics to find out more about these Talaxians."
"Oh, I can wait." Actually, he had just been thinking about going there, but looking around, he noticed none of their particular friends were in the Mess Hall. Naomi undoubtedly wanted someone to keep her company; and he was the only person who could provide that at the moment.
He didn't mind, really. Naomi wasn't quite an adolescent yet. Actually, she was barely five years old, but she'd matured very quickly because of her Ktarian heritage. Now, all of a sudden, she seemed even older. Perhaps it was the fuzzy pink sweater she was wearing. It made her look a lot more mature than her usual jumpsuit outfits. Icheb felt a little pang. Was Mezoti maturing as quickly as Naomi? As far as he knew, the Norcadi developed much more slowly than Ktarians, but after being placed in a maturation chamber, children could develop much more quickly, no matter their species. He wasn't even sure how old he really was. He was much more than five, he knew that from those few days he'd lived on Brunal, but he might only be twelve or so. His parents had never bothered to tell him his true age. That, of course, was the least of the facts they'd failed to share with him.
He shook his head slightly and bit into his last pierogi. It was best not to think about that. He was almost grown, however fast it had happened, and at least he had Seven to care for him until he finished the job.
He'd like to go to her to find out what she knew, but Naomi was counting on him to stay with her for a while. He wandered over to the snacks table and scooped up several more pierogi. He'd helped make them. He deserved to eat a bunch of them, too.
After refilling their plates, Icheb sat down with Naomi and speculated on ways Talaxians could travel so far away from their home planet. Had they left as colonists before the Haakonian takeover? Or had they found a short cut, like a wormhole, that led them to a planet in this region of space? All the time they chatted, however, Icheb felt an empty place growing in the area of his stomach, despite the fact that he was filling it with starchy treats. He couldn't shake the feeling that a big change was coming, and he wasn't sure he would like whatever it might turn out to be.
=/\=