If He's Dead then Who....?

Posted on Sun Apr 5th, 2015 @ 2:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Nicolao & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Deck 41

* * * Below The Equator * * *

Nico had wasted no time following Dae’s departure to leave his quarters as well. The turbolift going down to the Cherry Pit area of SB900 seemed to move interminably slow and Nico paced with frustration. When the doors finally opened, he emerged, moving through the corridors until he stood in the erstwhile ‘town square’ outside Saturnalia. A few heads turned to look, then the locals went back to their conversations. All but one. He gave a slight nod and Nico strolled in his direction.

“Evening,” the man said.

“More or less, yes,” Nico answered. “Any news?”

The man shook his head. “Nothing. That Cardassian came in for a drink last night and when he left, he just seemed to disappear. No one’s seen him since. I don’t like it. You need to be careful of --” He broke off mid-sentence, staring over Nico’s shoulder.

There, a blonde was approaching, a smoldering glower on her face. Not caring whether she was interrupting, she growled, "Nicolao. You're to come with me."

Nico turned at the sound of Carter’s voice. “Well, Carter, nice to see you too.” He nodded to the man, who moved away, leaving Nico and Carter alone. “Taking me out to dinner?”

"Don't push your luck," she scoffed, "or else you'll find yourself having dinner in lockup." She paused, not wanting to admit, "I've been told to keep you with me."

A slight smile appeared on Nico’s face. “I knew you’d give in eventually.” He took a step back, however, putting himself out of reach in case she took a swing at him. “Where are we going?”

Stepping back was a good idea; she did look like she just might deck him. The moment passed, though, and she turned on her heel away from him. Over her shoulder, she said, "Deck 41, someone claims there's a stench coming from a storage hold."

He fell in step beside her, a curious expression on his face. “So what? We’re on garbage detail now? And why there? That’s the escape pods isn’t it?”

"It is. Seems like a decent place to hide a body."

Nico nodded. “Not someplace your people would go often on a random check.” They stepped into the turbolift and he remained silent for a moment as they began to ascend. Finally, giving her a sideways glance he continued. “I suppose an apology is in order.”

"Hmm." She didn't answer.

“Look, I don’t know how much you know but some things...happened in the last year. Things that made the couple of years before that not so front and center in my head. So what it was that is gone, well.... if I could recall it, I could apologize properly.” That was not the best phrasing he’d ever used and he knew it but it was all he could give her at the moment.

She shot him a look then stopped, grabbing his arm to make him face her. "You don't remember? For real?" She didn't sound happy.

Her reaction surprised him, but he met her gaze and nodded slowly. “Almost nothing since we arrived on Bajor, aside from when I was sold out a year ago. So I wasn’t being an intentional asshole, more like an accidental one.”

Releasing his arm with a light shove, she turned and started walking again. "So that's your excuse for disappearing on me? There one night, gone the next morning? I suppose a Cardy is to blame?"

He followed her out of the turbolift, hurrying to keep up. “I was sent to the DMZ and my contact there turned me over to the Cardassians. I spent six months as their guest at Elmspur. When I escaped, I barely knew who I was, much less anyone else. Which is why I am here under the orders that I am, which you are aware of. End of story.”

Carter's face worked through a number of expressions, finally landing on one that was softer than any she'd previously shown to Nicolao. "Oh. I didn't know. I just...." She shrugged and was thankful when they reached the reported storage unit. "Whoohugh. That's quite the smell."

Nico fanned the air in front of his face. “Body. a couple of days I’d guess. Shall I?” He motioned to the door.

"I've got it," she answered irritably. She keyed in a code and the door shwooshed open, flooding the corridor with a foul stench. She suppressed a gag till she saw the cause of it then turned away and retched against the wall.

Nico looked in and it only took a moment to be sure. He touched his new comm badge and put through a summons to medical to come retrieve the body, and one to security. Slowly he closed the door, then reached for Carter’s shoulders. “You okay?”

"Yeah, yeah," she nodded. "Okay, so if that's the Cardy that took Dru, then where's Dru?"

“Good question.” It was, indeed, the million dollar question. “Clean up crew is on the way, what do you say we get out of here? You’re looking a little green.” Concern filled Nico’s voice. The body wasn’t in good shape and not something you really wanted to open a door and find. Beneath the concern, relief and exultation flooded him. The one most responsible for his horror of a past was dead. Good riddance. Too late, he tried to rein in the emotions, too late for them not to affect Carter.

Despite feeling queasy, Carter nearly cracked a grin before casting a quick glare at Nic. "Let's save the relief till we find Dru."

“Got it. And Carter?”

"Hmm?"

“Thanks for all this.” He paused a moment, watching her. “Is there any way I can make it up to you for...you know.”

"You don't know, so let's not worry about it. C'mon, before this smell sticks to us." She led him down the corridor, passing engineers heading towards the body.

“Alright. How about lunch?” Nico actually grinned. It felt good to find his sense of humour, if only for a moment and despite the circumstances.

She was about to decline - she couldn't see eating anything while she still had that smell and that image in her senses - but her commbadge chimed and instead, she acknowledged it.

"Sir, we're picking up Drusilla's biosigns. Deck 42."

The words brought the relief running at an even higher tide in Nico. “Tell him I’m on my way!”

"We're on our way," she corrected the message and set off after Nic, who was likely setting a speed record this particular deck.

**********************

Lieutenant Carter
Heaving It Up

Nicolao
Having A Very Good Day