Kim carefully made her way through the remains of the Commerce Section. Most of the broken glass and debris had been cleaned up by now, but the whole area looked like a war zone. Commander Carter had ordered her to report for some sort of official business, but for some reason had told her to come to the El Taco instead of the Banshee territory in the station's main section.
Arriving at her destination, she saw that it too had been plundered and pillaged. She stepped through the open door frame where the main door used to hang and stepped gingerly over some more broken glass. Immediately, an nauseating odor assaulted her nostrils. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she said, "What is that smell?!?"
From across the dining room where she was helping the ruggedly handsome manager Rick clean up his store, Sam called, "The power was cut and the schplict went bad."
At the other end of the room, Jo harrumphed and said, "How can you tell?" She was picking trash off the floor too -- Sam had insisted they all come here to help fix some of the damage the riot had caused. Lee and Max were here too - Lee righting tables and chairs, and Max leaning on a cane, looking like she'd rather be somewhere else. A rather large pressure bandage covered half her face and her left arm was in a sling. When Lee saw Kim standing in the ruined doorway, she waved her over. "Lend a hand, will ya?" Together, the two of them turned over the large table in the center of the room.
From back in the kitchen, one of the cooks called to Rick, "Jefe! No sirve el replicador!" He held up a mangled replicator component to illustrate his point.
Rick looked over, seeming annoyed at the interruption. He'd probably heard fifty reports by now of broken or missing items. "No me molestes ahora, Pancho!" he called back in a marginally passable accent, then turned his attention back to Sam. "Let me help you with that, my dear," he said gallantly, helping her tilt up another table. Sam brushed some stray hairs out of her face and smiled shyly.
Pancho snorted derisively, and stomped back into the kitchen muttering something about Gringos and their weird courtship rituals.
Just then a lumbering gray Lurian shambled into the store and looked around in dismay. Rick saw him and called, "Sorry, Pep. We're not open today."
Pep looked crushed. He shambled over to the end stool at the front counter and sat down heavily with a long-suffering sigh.
Rick looked like he was going to say something more, then decided against it. Instead, he told Sam, "Poor Pep there isn't going to know what to do with himself until we get this place fixed up again." Sam looked at him quizzically, so Rick explained further. "Pep spends most of his free time here, right on that stool as a matter of fact, just drinking his schplict, and the customers like him." He turned back to Pep and said, "It could have been worse, you know. The Marines could have locked you in the storage locker with twelve cases of spoiled schplict!"
Pep brightened at the thought of that, and gave Rick the thumbs-up sign.
Rick rolled his eyes and chuckled, then turned back once again to Sam. "It was unbearably smelly in there. I wasn't sure I was going to make it...."
"Awww. Poor Rick," jibed Sam, patting him comfortingly on the back."
Meanwhile, Lee had finished clearing most of the debris from the center of the dining room. She loudly cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Front and center," she said.
Sam, Jo and Kim dropped what they were doing and went to line up before Lee. Max limped over a little more slowly and stood leaning on her cane. Rick sat down on a bent chair and blended into the background. When all were assembled, Lee began.
"Ensign Kimberly Tycho, step forward."
Kim took one big step and stood rigidly at attention, eyes front.
Lee addressed all her troops. "It's a little out of the ordinary to conduct this type of proceeding in a civilian restaurant, but the Captain ordered that after yesterday's... uhh... unscheduled anarchy--" Lee looked meaningfully at Max, "--that we keep this as low-key as possible." Lee then focused her attention solely to Kim.
"Ensign Tycho. For the bravery and superlative piloting skills demonstrated while serving aboard the USS Prometheus, delaying the Jem'Hadar long enough for reinforcements to arrive and thus saving the station, you are hereby reinstated to the rank of Lieutenant jg, with all the privileges and responsibilities that go with that rank, and are returned to active flight duty."
"At least as soon as all the rest of are!" called Jo from the lineup, unable to keep her silence any longer.
Lee cast her a mildly reproachful look, then took a step toward Kim. Reaching up to her collar, she attached the new pips, making Kim's reinstatement official. "Congratulations!" she said.
"Thanks, Commander!" said Kim beaming. The rest of the gang broke formation now and came forward to slap Kim on the back and congratulate her themselves. Lee stepped back and let them enjoy the moment.
Finally, after the hoopla had died down a bit, she said, "Okay. Let's finish cleaning up this mess." The reunited Banshees happily returned to the task, and to Pep's delight, the El Taco re-opened the next day.