Work Text:
I chose to use Celeste Ryder for this prompt. First time writing Peebee, so let’s hope I do it some justice!! Thanks again for the prompt!
Lexi could feel the tension headache brewing at the base of her skull. The flashing red lights, blaring alarm, and almost overwhelming smell of smoke in the corridor only added to the dull throbbing. She poked her head out from the medical bay and heard the shrill screaming coming from the galley, the same area that the thick rolling black wave of smoke was coming from. An expression of grim resignation fixed on Lexi’s face as she realized that she’d had to figure out what was going on with the galley. Lexi left the relative safety of the medical bay and headed over to the kitchen.
“Peebee! You said you knew what you were doing!” “And you trusted me.” “Not a mistake I’ll be making again!” Lexi’s lips threatened to curl into a smile as she recognized those voices. Celeste Ryder, human Pathfinder and savior of the Andromeda Initiative, and Peebee, rogue asari scientist. Both were all around pains in the arse when it came to the kitchen area. The door slid open as Lexi tapped her omni-tool, and the thick, black cloud hit her in the hallway. The sprinkler system had already engaged, and curses could be heard throughout the rest of the Tempest as it poured water everywhere.
Liam was swearing up a storm as the ice-cold water jolted him out of a nap. Gil had been working on the engine’s drive core when he was doused with it, eliciting a string of curl the wallpaper curses. Cora prayed for patience as the bio lab was next. Jaal was alarmed at what could possibly be happening. Drack was storming down the corridor with a determined glint in his eyes, grumbling about how his kitchen better not be damaged or there would be hell to pay. Suvi and Kallo were safe as the bridge’s sprinkler system didn’t engage. SAM routed the safety protocols once the fire was isolated to the kitchen. Vetra happened to be in the research room and smelled the smoke from the other half of the ship. She raced to the corridor and looked over to see Lexi standing outside the galley with Drack cracking his knuckles beside her. The sprinklers cleared the smoke and everyone saw the culprits standing in the middle of the galley. Peebee’s blue skin was marred with soot, despite the sprinklers best efforts, and she held the charred pot in her hand. Celeste stood next to Peebee, her Initiative white casual clothes stained grey from the smoke.
“Dare I ask what is going on here?” Lexi’s droll tone snapped the two women to attention. They both turned in unison to see Lexi and Drack standing at the entrance. Peebee quickly hid the evidence behind her back, but it did not go unnoticed by Lexi.
“She did it!” Celeste cried out. She had no shame in resorting to the immature blame game. The way Drack was looking, she would do anything to get the heat off her. Peebee gasped in mock outrage at the passing of blame.
“No, she did it!” Peebee declared. Drack walked into the galley and grabbed both of them by the backs of their shirts. He lifted both women a couple of inches off the ground and shook them gently. The twin squeals of alarm gave Lexi a small smidgen of pleasure as Drack began to give them a lecture.
“I don’t care who thought of it. You two are going to be cleaning the kitchen and the rest of the Tempest for this mess.” Drack growled as he saw the two women nod in agreement. “Good. Now get going.” He released them and they stumbled to their feet. Everyone came by to see Pathfinder Ryder and Peebee cleaning the soot and smoke out of the galley. Drack kept watch to make sure they put the kitchen back to rights again while getting the story out of them.
“You can’t make caramel from just sugar. That’s caramelization, not making caramel you eat. You need sugar, butter, heavy cream, corn syrup, and a vanilla extract. It takes patience to make caramels. Which would be why you two failed to do it.” Drack grumbled as he leaned against the counter. It took the rest of the day to clean all the smoke damage from the galley. Especially with the old krogan behind them lecturing and grumbling about the smoke damage to the Tempest’s galley.