The Emberlight Café and Grill was devoid of the usual crowd of patrons that would otherwise be packing the place to capacity. Currently, it played host only to a small gathering of the staff from Starbase 11 in addition to the staff who ran the establishment. It was an odd thing to see for those who were accustomed to the usual routine of the station, but a private gathering at Ember’s was hardly something that the regular customers could begrudge anyone for wanting.

Inside the restaurant itself, Tessa Reid was moving between the kitchen and the dining area, trays of food balanced on each arm. She practically glided through the building’s interior, depositing plates onto a row of tables that had been lined up in order to provide a buffet style atmosphere that Ember’s normally didn’t possess. Following closely behind Tessa, two younger girls with nearly identical faces but completely different fashion senses walked out of the kitchen with trays of their own, though they weren’t able to carry more than one of them given their smaller frames.

Annabell Reid, her wavy, shoulder length light chestnut hair bouncing around her with every step, was clad in a pastel blue dress that hung just below her knees. Her twin Eleanor Reid, on the other hand, had her longer deep chestnut hair tied in a long braid that sat stiffly at the center of her back and was clad in a charcoal gray outfit that loosely resembled a track suit. The two girls took a few extra minutes to unload their trays with somewhat unsteady hands, their mother stopping by them to offer words of encouragement before flittering back into the kitchen.

Lieutenant Commander Vernon Reid stood propped up against the bar, standing next to his longtime friend, Lieutenant Commander Jakrin Holv. The two were nursing beverages that Tessa had poured them as soon as they’d made it inside after leaving the Station Operations Center at the end of their duty shift. Despite being the first to arrive, they’d managed to only make it through a quarter of their first drink as they chatted away.

“I can’t believe the girls are turning fifteen soon,” Jakrin said as he shook his head, “I remember when they were only about as high as my hip… Time has flown by…”

“Tell me about it,” Vernon chuckled before letting out a sigh, “And they’re at that age where they don’t want to spend any more time than they have to with me and Tess. There’s always running around the station doing something. I miss them wanting to walk through the arboretums or go down to the surface to visit the beaches…”

“I have eleven nieces and nephews, and I can assure you that you are going through something that all parents have to deal with eventually. Just accept that they’ll soon be off on their own, forging their path into the future,” Holv said, slapping Reid on the shoulder.

Vernon’s face soured, “As long as they don’t bring home any boys…”

The Bolian laughed heartily at his friend’s surly statement, “I’m afraid they may very well do so in the very near future.”

“Where did I put that phaser…” Reid muttered, deadpan.

“Best be careful, Vernon,” Jakrin said between laughs, “The girls might come to hate you.”

“Too late,” Ella called out as she set down the last bowl from her tray and gave her father a pointed look.

Holv’s laughter jumped an octave at the girl’s sudden interjection into their conversation, wrapping a friendly arm around Vernon’s shoulder and giving his body a hard shake, “See!” Vernon’s already sour expression morphed into a crestfallen sulk as the Bolian continued to jostle him about.

Tessa walked back out from the kitchen just in time to see the two men carrying on at the bar and couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong with Vernon?”

“Ella said she hates me,” the man explained in an overly dramatic tone.

Tess rolled her eyes at her husband, “If that were true, she wouldn’t be here helping out with the party. She’d be locked away in our quarters doing… whatever it is that girl gets up to these days. Stop being so melodramatic, dear.”

Vernon continued to protest as the front door to the restaurant slid open as three women stepped inside. Lieutenants Teydra Nireth and Vahna Drae walked in first, followed shortly behind by Lieutenant Commander Lohrani Velori, the station’s Chief of Engineering. Vernon waved them over toward the bar while he circled around it in preparation to play host for the new arrivals.

“Ladies, what can I get you?” he asked, producing clean glasses that were tucked away under the bar.

Lohrani was the first to saddle up to the bar and take a stool, “Anything that will get me drunk and do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

“Gotcha. Since I’m fresh out of plasma coolant…” Vernon said with a smirk as he browsed the collection of bottles at the back of the bar, “How about Saurian Brandy. About as thick as coolant, has the same lingering afterburn… or so I’m told.”

Velori snorted at the man, “You would know. I’m sure you’ve had to patch up at least one idiot who gave that stuff a taste test.”

“Well… there was this one engineer on the Mercy…” Reid started to reminisce as he poured some of the deep amber liquid into a glass, “Want any ice?”

“Nah, this is good,” the Efrosian said as she took the glass without hesitation and gave the liquid a quick quaff, “That’ll do me. Thanks Reid.”

“I’ll leave the bottle here in case you need it,” Vernon said with a smirk before moving down to where Vahna and Teydra had settled in, just to the other side of Holv, “And how about you two? What do you fancy tonight?”

“Can I have…” Teydra began before wrinkling her nose in thought, “You know what, forget the synthahol, how about an Andorian Ale?”

“Oh…” Vernon said, shooting a glance over at Holv, “Look who decided to be fancy tonight.”

Jakrin lifted his own glass still half-full of Aldebaran Whiskey, “To fancy drinks for classy folk.”

“Hell, I’ll drink to that,” Lohrani said, topping off her Brandy before taking another deep pull from the glass.

Vernon chuckled and dug around in the small cooling chest that sat beneath the displayed liquors. Once he found the correct decanter, Reid grabbed a simple square glass and dropped an orb of ice into it before pouring the electric blue liquid over the ice in a rather flashy display of bartending prowess.

Nireth smiled as she accepted the comfortably chilled glass and took a small sip, “I love how the chill just… washes over you as you sip it.”

Vernon took a moment to put the Ale back in the chiller before turning to the last customer in line, “How about you, Miss Drae?”

“Can you make me that thing you cooked up at the last get-together? I don’t know what that thing was called but it had just the right amount of bitter-sweet… oomph!” Vahna requested vaguely.

“Ah yes…” Reid said with a playful smirk, “I actually did give that one a name. I called it an Orion Nova. What do you think?”

“The name sucks, change it immediately,” Drae said with a glare.

“Aww, come on now… I spent entire seconds coming up with that name. You don’t like it?” Vernon said with a mock pout as he started grabbing some bottles from the display.

“I like the name about as much as I liked you-know-who,” Vahna growled.

Reid chuckled as he added a splash of something to the golden-orange liquid that made it glow with a subtle luminescence, “Okay fine… I didn’t actually name it that. I called it an Emberlight Glow.”

Vernon slid the stemless tulip glass toward the Orion, whose face had softened considerably upon learning that he’d only been teasing her about the name, “An Emberlight Glow… see, that’s a drink I wouldn’t hate to order. You should have led with that… not all that nova nonsense.”

“Oh come now, Vahna,” Jakrin said with a soft chuckle, “If Mister Reid here wasn’t cracking jokes, everyone would be hunting for breaches in the fabric of space-time to see which mirror universe the imposter had spawned from.”

“Facts,” Velori pointed a finger at Holv with the hand that was currently gripping her drink.

Teydra looked around the dining area, then back to Reid, “Where’s Doctor Vreen?”

“She couldn’t make it,” Vernon answered, “She had to cover a surgery for another doctor at the last minute. She did send her regards though.”

“Zakdorn regards…” Vahna snorted derisively, “That’s like saying Vulcan affection unironically.”

Jakrin straightened up, “Speaking of people we’re missing… our guest of honor doesn’t seem to have arrived.”

“Huh…” Velori said, finally looking at the empty room around them, “You’re right, no new faces.”

“Well, there would have only been the one,” Reid said, “The other two aren’t going to get her for another few days.”

“So where is she? Did she tell you to jump out an airlock when you asked her to come?” Drae asked with a thin smirk.

“As it so happens, I wasn’t the one to initially invite her,” Vernon said with a smug look of his own, “That was Tessa.”

“And how did your little fact-finding mission pan out?” Holv asked, leaning heavily against the bar, “You never actually mentioned what she said after you two had that chat earlier.”

Reid was about to say something when Tessa clapped her hands to attract everyone’s attention, “Alright, everyone, all of the food is ready. Come grab a plate while it’s all piping hot and delicious.”

“That smell was driving me crazy,” Vahna said, the first one to abandon the bar in favor of the array of enticing dishes that had been prepared.

Teydra looked back and forth between Reid and the food before finally losing the battle of wills to follow after the Orion, though not before muttering a curt, “Hold that thought.”

The Efrosian looked at the two men still at the bar, “Might as well grab a plate, gentlemen. If the Commander does show up, I’m sure she won’t mind us putting a little fuel in our bellies after a hard day’s work.” Lohrani slid off the stool and took a few steps before casting a look at the Bolian, “At least… those of us who weren’t polishing chairs with our asses all day.”

“I’ll have you know I was not sitting around all day, thank you very much,” Holv protested, abandoning the bar to follow after the woman.

Vernon was the last to abandon the bar, walking around it just in time to watch the doors to the restaurant part to reveal the person they’d all been alluding to just moments ago. Commander Mira Novak stepped inside the establishment, her gaze drifting around the space pointedly as she took in the ambiance and the occupants. The happily chatting officers at the back of the room dishing out spoonful after spoonful of gently steaming food hadn’t noticed the woman enter, a fact that Novak seemed to find either amusing or exasperating, though Reid couldn’t actually tell.

“Welcome to the party, Commander,” Vernon said in a voice just loud enough to carry itself to the back without sounding forced.

“Mister Reid,” Mira nodded in his direction, “Am I the last to arrive?”

“Unless Doctor Vreen makes it out of surgery early, you are,” Vernon replied, gesturing casually.

“Then I apologize for being late,” Novak said as she began walking toward the rear of the dining room.

“You’re hardly late, ma’am,” Reid waved it off casually, “Tessa only just called everyone to the table to grab food. If anything, you arrived just in time. Can I grab you something from the bar while you fix a plate?”

Mira’s stride paused for a moment before she asked, “Do you have any wines? Something from Earth, maybe?”

“As a matter of fact, we just got a bottle of Château Picard, a 2360s vintage,” Vernon said with a snap of his fingers, “How does that sound?”

“That sounds fine, thank you, Mister Reid,” Novak said before resuming her measured approach to the buffet table. As she grew closer, Tessa reappeared from the back with her daughters in tow, her face lighting up when she noticed the new face.

“You must be Commander Novak,” the woman said, gliding over gracefully.

Vernon spun around, his entire body tensing up as he watched his wife hurry over to greet Mira. He prepared himself to leap over to pry her off his new boss and found that his efforts had been for nothing. Instead of throwing her arms around Novak, she simply extended her hand and allowed Mira to take it in her own time.

“You must be Tessa,” Novak said with an even tone, “Your husband has had quite a bit to say about you.”

“I’m sure he has,” Tessa said with a knowing smile, “Thought he does tend to exaggerate a bit from time to time. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

“Yep, right as usual, dear,” Reid called out almost robotically as he abandoned his crouched vigil to fetch the wine he’d promised the Commander.

Mira let go of her hand and glanced behind the woman, “Are these your children?”

“That’s right,” Tessa said with a proud smile, “This is Annabell and Eleanor, our twins. Say hello to your father’s new boss, girls.”

Anna was the first to step forward, giving Novak a small curtsy with the edges of her dress, “Nice to meet you, Commander.”

Ella took a step forward after her more expressive sister and gave a small but friendly bow of her head, “Hello, ma’am.”

“Ladies,” Mira said, giving each girl in turn of nod of greeting.

“Now, shall we get you something to eat, Miss Novak?” Tessa said, motioning toward the expansive assortment of dishes on display, most of which had already been half emptied by her seemingly ravenous senior staff.

“Yes,” Mira said as she looked toward the table, “I’m interested to try this food I’ve heard so much about.”