Starfist: FlashFire Read Online Free PDF Page B

regular menu items.”
    “No, no, not necessary,” Katie said. “Your specials sound marvelous. We will have both the Xanadu roc and the Dominion veal-lamb chops. We’ll share them, thank you.” In her peripheral vision she saw Bass open his mouth to object. She dug her fingernails into his arm—he winced and closed his mouth.
    “Good food preparation takes time, but you won’t famish before you are served,” Einna said with a slight dip of her head. “While you’re waiting, can we serve you something from the bar?”
    “Do you have Katzenwasser ’36?”
    For the first time, Einna turned to acknowledge the presence of Big Barb’s girl.
    “I think we do,” Talulah said. “I’ll check.” She scampered off to do so.
    “If we don’t, may I recommend the Alhambran retsina? It’s on the sharp side, but should pique your appetites quite nicely.”
    Katie dug her nails into Bass’s arm again. “Thank you, we may do that,” she said.
    With a slight bow, Einna Orafem turned and regally made her way back to the kitchen. She only jumped once from having her bottom slapped along the way.
    “Alhambran retsina?” Bass croaked as soon as Katie withdrew her nails from his arm. “ On the sharp side? That stuff’s so raw, it can strip the chameleon paint off a Dragon!”
    “Keep your voice down, dear,” Katie said, patting his bruised arm.
    “Roast haunch of roc? Do you know what a roc is? It’s the main predator on Xanadu, that’s what! I wouldn’t be surprised if the last meal that ‘haunch’ she’s so anxious to feed us had was human! The Dominion veal-lamb chops were the only thing that woman mentioned that qualifies as food fit for human consumption!”
    “Now, now, dear, the woman’s a chef, not the kind of slap-it-on-the-griddle-and-hope-it-doesn’t-burnbefore-it-dies kind of cook Big Barb usually hires. I’m sure the roc will be quite tasty—and the kwangduk, too, if you’d only give it a chance.”

Fortunately, the bartender was able to find a dusty bottle of Katzenwasser ’35 hidden in a deep recess under the bar. It wasn’t as fine a vintage as the ’36, but far better in Bass’s view than Alhambran retsina.
    When dinner was finally served, he loved the Dominion veal-lamb chops, but refused to even taste the roast roc haunch. Katie found the Xanadu roc a bit gamey, but otherwise quite delicious. They splurged on a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee with a dessert of Novo Kongor tart.
    Katie dragged Bass out of Big Barb’s just before Einna Orafem came out of the kitchen again so he missed the fun.
    During the course of the meal consumed by Ensign Charlie Bass and his lady, the common room had filled with nearly a hundred Marines, eating and drinking—mostly drinking. And that didn’t count the thirty or more Marines who crowded the bar that stood along one wall, or the local fishermen and rowdies who also used Big Barb’s as their home away from home. Staff Sergeant Hyakowa was elsewhere, as befitted his rank, but most of the rest of third platoon had filtered in. Nearly every one of them paused briefly to exchange compliments with Bass and Katie. No more than brief compliments. After all, Charlie Bass was no longer a gunnery sergeant, he was a commissioned officer, and therefore looked upon askance by the enlisted men. Besides, he was with his lady, and nobody wanted to take a chance of screwing things up for him for the night; any screwing to be done was up to him. It didn’t take much muscle flexing for third platoon to clear a clump of tables midway along the wall opposite the bar, especially when Lance Corporal Schultz pointed at a table and growled, “Mine.”
    Then Einna Orafem braved her way through the common room to see how Bass and Katie liked their dinner—she found the common room several magnitudes of rowdiness greater than it had been earlier. She groaned silently when she realized the couple had already left, and turned to make her way back to the kitchen.