Too Sweet

Posted on Wed Jul 31st, 2019 @ 8:29pm by Commander Logan Vance & Amanda Vance
Edited on on Sat Aug 3rd, 2019 @ 4:01am

Mission: Preludes
Location: Starbase 234 - Infirmary
Timeline: 2387 - Directly after I Am Your Father
Tags: Prelude

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Time: 1747
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D'Ral was still quite hesitant around Logan but she was trusting enough to accompany him to the quarters the Commander Smith had set up for her. Instead of simply dropping her off, however, he stayed to make sure she had eaten something and was comfortable. He was going to replicate something but D'Ral insisted that he cook something himself so that she could watch and make sure it was safe to eat. Seeing as how Logan was not much of a cook, he replicated ingredients that she inspected and whipped up the only thing he was good at. Pancakes with cut fruit.

He set down a plate with a single blueberry protein pancake in front of both of them along with a bowl of grapes and cut strawberries. The two sat down and Logan waited for her to try it to see what she thought. After three minutes of her just staring at it, he was worried something else was wrong. "Don't you want to try it?"

"You could have poisoned it," she replied.

"Why would I poison it? When would I have poisoned it? You watched me the whole time making it. And wouldn't me poisoning it mean I was poisoned too?" he asked.

D'Ral looked down at the food and then back up at him. "Not all poisons are fatal. You could have poisoned it as leverage for information I might have on my people or for some other purpose. And you are obviously an accomplished spy, so you could have slipped something in when I wasn't looking. And you would certainly find a way to only serve the poison to me and protect yourself," she decided.

"Is that what you think?" he asked and she nodded. "All right, so you want to switch then? I give you my food and you give me yours?"

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"If you anticipated me discovering your plot, then you might have placed the poison in front of yourself so that I would ask to switch food."

Logan smirked and shook his head. "Never go in with a Sicilian when death is on the line, huh?" She cocked an eyebrow at him. "It's a story in human culture. Two men are competing over the life of a princess. One man, a Sicilian, has taken her hostage, the other man, a masked Pirate wishes to free her. The Silcian knows he cannot best the Pirate in combat but deduces that because of his superior intellect, the Pirate will refuse any intellectual challenges. However the Pirate surprises the Silcian when he proposes a battle of wits to the death."

D'Ral seemed instantly interested in this story. "Was the Sicilian really that intelligent?"

"He certainly thought so," Logan replied.

"Then the Pirate was a fool and he should have cut his losses and walk away," D'Ral argued.

"But he didn't," Logan continued. "He had the Sicilian pour two goblets of wine and then revealed a vial of deadly poison. Odorless, tasteless and instantly dissolves in liquid. He takes the two glass and turns away from the Sicilian and empties the vial. He places the goblets back on the table, one in front of him and one in front of the Sicilian. He then tells the Sicilian that the game is over when he chooses a goblet and they both drink."

"The Sicilian is confident he can outwit the Pirate and pours over logic about which of the goblets is poisoned. Back and forth, back and forth over whether the Pirate would put the poisoned goblet in front of himself or the Sicilian. The Pirate then tells him he is stalling, hoping that the Pirate will reveal information to the Sicilian to make the proper choice. The Sicilian insists he already knows the answer because the Pirate has given it away."

"With his body language," D'Ral interrupts.

"Exactly," Logan smiled. "But, the Sicilian doesn't really know. So he tries something underhanded. He distracts the Pirate and when the Pirate turns away, he switched the goblets. When he turns back, the Sicilian chooses the goblet in front of him and waits just a moment for the Pirate to drink first. When he does, the Sicilian confidently drinks."

"He outsmarted the Pirate and defeated him!" she was enthralled.

"I'm getting to that," he assured her. "The Pirate declared the Sicilian has guessed wrong. The Sicilian laughs and says that the Pirate only thinks the Sicilian guessed wrong, as the Sicilian has switched the glasses when he wasn't looking. He then starts to laugh, saying that the Pirate has fallen victim to a classic blunder. 'Never go in with a Sicilian when death is on the line'. The Sicilian then laughs maniacally before he then drops dead."

"The Pirate had outwitted him?!"

Logan shook his head. "The princess assumed the same thing, however the Pirate says he poisoned both goblets and that he had spent years building an immunity to the poison. There was no way he could lose."

D'Ral was astonished by the ending of the story. "So what you are saying… there is no correct choice. Both plates of food are poisoned."

Logan shook his head again. "You've missed the point of the story. The Pirate rigged the game so that he couldn't lose. So if I were like him, I would poison the food with a poison that would only affect a Romulan, thus keeping me safe."

She stared back at him with a mixture of horror and respect. She then traded looks back between the food and Logan.

"Don't worry. I haven't poisoned the food at all. I told you, I have no desire to hurt you and you have no information I want. Even if you did, studies have proven that torture is not a reliable means of gatherining information. This is why I prefer much more… pleasurable methods of extraction."

"More… pleasurable?" she questioned.

"That… is a story for when you are older," he replied. "For now, all you need to know is that you are hungry and I am providing food to keep you alive. If you wish to believe it is because I want information you have, go ahead but it does not benefit me in the least to poison you."

She looked back down, longingly at the food. He could see she was incredibly hungry. She likely hadn't eaten in days. Slowly she tore off a tiny piece of the pancake and put it in her mouth. She wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brow at the taste. "It is too sweet."

"You'll get used to that, trust me. And if you think that is sweet, wait until I get you some maple syrup."

"...what is maple syrup?"

Agent (Lt. Cmdr) Logan Vance
Intelligene Officer