Allie

Agami is one of the three specialist chefs heading the kitchen at the Trident, Titan Garden's premier fine dining establishment. Hailing from the Jovian moon Callisto, Agami has traveled the Sol system studying the unabashed and the unapologetic, meals created by hardy people from all corners who prefer a kick in their palate. She is an older Callistan with a kind, grandmotherly manner about herself, if you imagine a grandmother who is seven feet tall and serves searing-hot food exclusively you'll have a good idea of Agami's presence. Like Rosetta, she takes great pride in her food, but unlike Rosetta her food may be hazardous to eat if you're not prepared for it- don't let her giant grandma demeanor fool you! If you've got a taste for it, there are few other culinary sensations quite like it to be found anywhere in the Sol system.

Known as the Chef of Flame, Agami specializes in dishes that are very spicy, but are also rich and flavorful as well. Pure heat is a foolish ambition; to blend a satisfying heat with a colorful palette of flavors is the craft of a master chef, and Agami has spent a lifetime honing her recipes to bring out the fullness of her ingredients. She will be mindful of her patrons ordering from the Red Menu in how she controls her spice levels, but she'll only lower them so much- they are an integral part of her dishes and she won't compromise on them beyond that range. Thankfully that's rarely an issue- her dishes come from a broad range of people, and so a broad range of people come to the Trident to enjoy her cooking!

As Terran cuisine is the heart of Rosetta's Black Menu dishes, Agami's Red Menu offerings are centered around Callistan and Mercurian cooking, the two schools sharing a duality of heat. Callistan cuisine is vegetable-based, it's lighter and gentler in texture while still packing a remarkable heat, owing to the plants grown on a moon populated by hungry predatory creatures who, like the Callistans themselves, prefer not to be anybody's meal. In contrast, Mercurian cooking is heavy and rich, involving meaty dishes with high calorie loads to help feed a people who need to burn fuel to maintain their Firewalker Forms and thrive on the searing-hot surface of their planet, above the caverns and tunnels they live in. Mercurian spice likewise comes from its native plants found both on and below the surface, being incorporated into seasonings and sauces that give their food a potent kick. "A little heat on the inside helps manage the heat on the outside". Callistans and Mercurians share a bond as two disparate species who love each other's cooking, their friends often sweating at the sight of their meals.

Building on this binary foundation, Agami's dishes also incorporate ideas from cultures found throughout Terra! A curious planet, many Terrans balk at the idea of a spicy dish, but many others embrace it as her own Callistans do, and so she has worked with Rosetta to explore some of these options. Agami is fascinated by Terran dishes from places like Mexico, Jamaica, Southern India and Thailand, and has learned to prepare these meals for her Terran patrons to enjoy, giving them a little Callistan twist of her own. All in all the Trident's Red Menu offerings are an adventurous tour throughout the Sol system.

When the Red Raven and Timberwolf crews come through for a fancy dinner at the Trident, they cut an interesting profile of how different people throughout the Sol system take to spicy cuisine. Naturally, the Callistans and Mercurians like Keera, Kollori, Scarlet, Amy and Jack will almost always order off the Red Menu and insist on sharing with their friends, just try a bite, it's great! Terrans like Clayton and Mahnoor will try the Red Menu now and then, and generally enjoy it, but Dr. Lin is a bit shy about the heat- the latter will succumb to peer pressure now and then, but he'll usually avoid it in favor of more savory meals. The Venusians, Bryce and Viola, seem actively repelled by the scent of the food, they seem to have no interest in even sitting next to a Red Menu diner at all! Similarly, Europans like Slug or Caelians like Dr. Syff struggle with that much spice, although they're not as repelled by the scent of it as their Venusian friends. Emily, the hardy Martian, is easily goaded into ordering a hot Red Menu dish and face-tank the meal, grimacing the whole time while ultimately cleaning her plate. Zephyleer Neptunians like Bell may see the meals as a challenge, while Medileer Neptunians like Pixel perceive it to be a curiosity- like their Terran friends it's a mixed bag whether they build the tolerance to it or not. Ganymedeans will coil it up in their root tendrils and digest it all the same.

An interesting interaction to observe at the Trident is when Androids order off Agami's Red Menu. Now, you'd think an Android would be able to simply shut off their taste receptors and chow down on the heat, but they are sentient beings and they have those taste receptors for a good reason, so they can enjoy their meals the same as their friends. To an Android, spicy food registers not as an intense poisonous reaction to a plant's attempts to defend itself, but rather, it registers as an error; this is, at least, how many Androids describe it themselves. It may be that "poison" enters their database but the food isn't flagged as inedible, but for whatever reason the way flavor receptor interpreters are built a high-spice dish throws up an Error in the Android's sensory profile. And just like their organic friends, some Androids may find this error to be off-putting and unpleasant, and others still are drawn to it, enjoying the sensation they experience once the error is processed and filed away, feeling that heat warm the depths of their biomass energy conversion chambers. Some Androids love spicy food, and it gives them a warm tummy afterwards. Don't worry about it too much. Agami loves to share her cooking with her metal patrons as much as anyone else- once you learn to build a taste for a good spicy meal, there really is nothing else like it.

Rosetta Caffarelli is a Terran chef and owner of the Trident, a popular fine dining establishment on Titan famous for serving three distinct styles of cuisine from throughout the Sol system. Rosetta is passionate about the culinary arts and always endeavors to share the rich palate of her homeworld with starfarers of all ports of origin. She is a kind and patient person, but when she is on the clock she is firm and focused in a way that can come across as strict to anyone entering her kitchen. It's important to understand that this is an expression of love for her craft- she's not trying to be mean, she's trying to do right by her patrons and her professional lineage. Needless to say, the Trident restaurant is popular for a good reason. Yipyap gives the Trident a five bark review.

The main theme of the Trident is it's a showcase of styles, and so it employs three head chefs who each have a distinct specialty. Rosetta is The Earthen Chef of the trio, being an expert in Terran cuisine from many cultures but having a special love for dishes from her home city of Naples, her Pizza Margherita being her favorite of all to prepare. Homesick Terrans of all stripes can find a taste of their own regions at the Trident, and starfarers from other worlds marvel at just how deep the well of Terran cuisine actually goes. Rosetta is extremely proud of her skills, and positive reviews from both familiar and unfamiliar diners are almost more valuable to her than the credits her restaurant earns. Almost.

One of the Trident's biggest fans is Haley Redraven, co-owner of Red Raven Towing & Salvage. Both Red Raven and Timberwolf will often celebrate a big job with a night out at the Trident, the rowdy crews an odd fit for the classy atmosphere of the upscale restaurant, but Rosetta doesn't take offense to the commotion. To see a band of misfits like these step out of their element and break decorum to enjoy her cooking is a high compliment, and she always greets the crews warmly for it. Haley will often put a call in to the Trident from the helm of the Jackrabbit II to make a reservation for the crew as they are returning home from the above-mentioned big jobs.

Rosetta has been known to bump some other reservations off the books to make room for Haley, and she'll come out to greet the party personally. It's always a treat to see them, to see that vibrant, bustling, rough-cut display of life and energy break up the usual schedule of quiet and cloistered fine diners, so Rosetta likes to make sure they know they're appreciated- good food is a foundation of good life and life is loud and messy. Haley is always trying something new, set on tasting the entire Trident menu, and she's always asking questions about each dish she wants to try. Rosetta is delighted to have an opportunity to talk about the history of her craft, and so she's always happy to make room for the curious Android and her friends to show up at her restaurant. She will have to keep an eye out for scheduling overlaps between Red Raven and Timberwolf... Alan Timberwolf doesn't partake in meals but he loves to share facts about everything everyone is eating, and this drives Haley bonkers. Just seat them out of earshot of each other and it'll be just fine.

Amellia and Yipyap are a pair of Androids who serve as directory assistance, coordination and general navigational help in Titan Garden. Titan is a big and very circular colony, so it's easy to get lost, but thankfully information assistants like Amellia are around to help point wayward travelers in the right direction. Yipyap is around too. Amellia is quiet and observant, keeping mostly to herself and maintaining a neutral but friendly presence when dispensing valuable information and helping connect people with their destinations. If you happen to see the pair of droids around, stop by and say hi! Despite her professional mannerisms Amellia always has a moment to spare for a kind word and a warm greeting. Yipyap always has a moment to spare for a treat.

Amellia is a HAL-4 droid built by Delta Astronautics, and is the current director of the Titan's Directory Assistance program. Employing a number of agents stationed in shifts throughout Titan Garden, Directory Assistants are able to connect to a large up-to-date system to quickly figure out what people are looking for based on incomplete, misremembered or even mostly-wrong details, produce a directory listing and connect a traveler with an efficient route from the Assistant's location to that destination point. Directory Assistants can be found standing by tall blue lampposts, and they wear a pair of gloves connected to a special computer that allows them to project holographic data panels- it's usually visual reminders like this which help people figure out where it is they're actually trying to go. These holoscreens have a special feature to them, allowing them to render 3D maps in 2D planes that can be interacted with by touch- with this feature a traveler can rotate, zoom and poke around a live-update map of Titan Garden to better find what they're looking for, or see that it's not where they thought it was, a misassumption Amellia and her team are happy to correct. Once a destination has been found and a route has been plotted, Amellia and the other Directory Assistants can upload a small map program to a traveler's personal comms device, enabling them to follow the route on their own. Shortly after they arrive at their destination, the map program will delete itself from their device. Nice and neat!

A novel feature of Titan Garden's central directory computer is that it's a large database structured like a starship's navigational computer, but tuned to a very small and very dense cluster of location data and traversable routes. By combining the features of large information databases with the system structure of a starship computer, both Delta and Accra droids are able to quickly and comfortably access and navigate Titan's systems, making both makes of Android strong candidates for employment in the Directory Assistance program. Both Delta and Accra droids can be found under the Assistants' blue lampposts throughout the station's high-traffic areas, and they're both equally capable at providing information and directional guidance. Organic people and other model droids tend to have a harder time engaging with the station's central computer system, so you'll generally only find Deltas and Accra droids filling this role. Amellia acts as the program's director, but she is an old droid who loves to help people so she still schedules herself for shifts at the lampposts working a beat with the rest of her staff. It's nice to be outside, to feel the changes in the weather simulators, to hear the buzz and bustle of life on Titan- she can still connect to the network and fulfill her directorial role remotely, which is a perk of being an Android. She really is just happy to help people.

While Directory Assistant staff rotates out of different posts on different shifts in different high-traffic locations throughout Titan, it's easy to spot Amellia, not by her chassis or her title as director, but by her dog. Yipyap is one of a discontinued line of robot dogs developed by Aoba Lifelike Systems Specialists intended to provide companionship on long-haul starships, and as such comes equipped with gravity-inversion hover feet for zero-G traversal and a powerful biomass energy converter, allowing a starfarer to !feed them almost anything. Part of this core design involved simulating a dog brain that also had access to Terran speech capabilities, allowing for an animal friend who could talk back to you. This didn't pan out quite as planned, and the line was discontinued. Amellia adopted one of the discontinued dogbots and Yipyap has been a constant companion of hers ever since, always staying by her side- or, mostly-always. He'll wander off sometimes, but he always finds his way back, usually with some mystery object he found somewhere. He really loves to share !restaurant recommendations with starfarers, he knows all the best places to eat, and he can !speak every language of Dog. He's very dumb but he is a good companion, and Amellia is happy for his presence.

Sometimes Yipyap likes to follow people along on their journey, possibly out of some dog instinct to shepherd people to where they need to be but more likely just because they caught Yipyap's fleeting attention span. If you find Yipyap has followed you home, don't worry! All Aoba robot pet models feature an internal !help manual that can be accessed wirelessly from any personal comms device, which provides simple care instructions. Yipyap will stick around as long as there are snacks and treats to eat and he'll head home to Amellia when he feels like it. And if he happens to get a little lost, that's fine as well! Amellia is the head of Directory Assistance, she can ping Titan's central computer and send Yipyap a map home wherever he happens to be. He's a good dog, just make sure you still have all your shoes after he's decided to pay you a visit.

A group shot of the employees of Altair Electronic Service & Repair, a shop in Titan's A-District specializing in bringing old and beloved technology back to life. When business hours are over everyone locks up and goes straight home, there's no moonlight activities taking place at all, no sir. Why, who's asking?