Oz Phone Home

Posted on Mon May 25th, 2015 @ 2:58pm by Jackson Banning V & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Jackson's Office

"You're sure?" Darwin was giving Oz a skeptical look.

"Of coursh imma shure. Phone home!" Oralia urged him, just like she'd urged him half an hour ago when she couldn't even pronounce 'phone' thanks to the painkiller/sedative in her system.

"Okay...," Darwin did so, calling Gilroy first, since Jackson had been in the brig last time they'd spoken. This time, Gilroy had gruffly informed him that he needed to contact Jackson directly, leave him out of it. Behind Gilroy, Darwin had heard a female voice ask a question. 'Just Darwin,' had been the answer. By the soft tone in Gilroy's voice when he'd said that, Darwin knew the female was Kai.

So, Darwin had done just that: left Gilroy and Kai alone and called for Jackson directly. "Good news, Oz, Jackson is no longer in the brig." He looked over at her just as someone at the Nexus answered. "Could you get Jackson, please? Thanks," he said then leaned over and woke Oralia up.

"Jashshon?" She pawed at her face with both hands and rubbed her eyes till they stayed open.

Jackson’s face appeared in the screen before her and when she spoke, he began to laugh. “I know that voice. It’s either half a bottle of our 12 year-old or somebody’s been knocked out.”

Oz pointed at Jackson's image and started to speak. Her pointing action, however, had her leaning farther and farther forward. "Careful dere! Or yule be seepin' in da bridge."

Darwin righted her before she fell flat on her face. "Sorry, Jackson, I've dosed her pretty good to keep her in bed, but she demanded we 'phone home'. I think that's a phrase from some movie."

Jackson immediately frowned. “Dosed her...why exactly, Dar?”

"Shhh! Don' you tell 'im." Oralia shook her head at Darwin.

"Ah... well, the good news is that Suresh, the old one, the one that was on Elba II, is dead," Darwin hedged around the question by completely not answering it.

“And?” Jackson drummed his fingers on his desk, not liking the way Oz sounded and especially not liking Darwin’s avoidance.

"An' I got hurted," Oralia piped up. She pulled her shirt up, enough that a large red, blue and black mark was visible on her left side.

Clearing his throat, Darwin provided better narrative: "Old Suresh got in a few hard... um... cuts before we could take him down. But Oz is fine, just... I'm sedating her to keep her from moving around too much." Yeah, that wasn't the definition of fine, he knew that. He eyed the bruise on Oz's side before pulling her shirt back down; it was bigger than it had been yesterday. He decided not to mention that right now.

"Wheel...," Oz paused, wiped a hand over her mouth and tried again, "we'll be home shoon, love. We're out of da nue... neut-ral zhone."

“And I can’t wait, sweetheart. I miss you like crazy.” Jackson flashed her a reassuring smile. “But Dar’s right, you need to rest, honey. You’ll be glad ya did.” He looked to Darwin in the monitor with a ‘I wanna talk to you’ look.

"I luff you!" Oz crowed and then was down for the count. Darwin pulled a blanket up over her shoulders then picked up the padd and went into the common area.

"The meds have been a little up and down, mostly because I'm trying to keep the sedative light, but strong enough to keep her in bed," Mike said as he took a seat and propped the padd on a table. "Captain Hawke is fine, by the way."

“That was going to be my next question after I hear why Oz looks like that.” Jackson was not a happy man. “What the hell did he do to her?”

Again, Mike cleared his throat. He disliked being the bearer of bad news, particularly to someone like Jackson. "He surprised us all. Oz told me that he had a knife to her throat. I fixed those cuts, they were just surface stuff. Then he used a disruptor and stunned her." He left out some information, skipping right to the problem: "Then he stabbed her in the side. But Suresh and I fought him, while Li took him on mentally," he shook his head, frowning, "and Suresh stabbed him, killing Su... um, the old, Elba II Suresh."

Jackson mentally ran through the narrative till he was sure he had his Sureshs straight. “He stabbed her. Excuse me for just a second.” Jackson’s face vanished from the screen and Darwin could hear noise in the background. Cursing...definite cursing, then something breaking. Then Jackson reappeared. “Alrighty then. She said you were out of the Neutral Zone. Stop back at Nelvana III and have her checked. That bruise coloration is bad news.”

"I know. It's bigger than it was yesterday," Darwin confirmed. "We're just about an hour out from Nelvana. Once she's patched up, I'll have her call you. Patched up and less drugged." He smiled tightly.

“Thanks, Dar. I don’t mean to make light of yer work. She’s alive thanks to you and the rest, but field kits only go so far.” Jackson ran his hand through his hair. “Now...tell me the rest that you skipped while she was awake.”

"The rest... There's not much more to tell. Suresh, the 'new' one, has been surprisingly good throughout all this. He's not the Elba II Suresh." He nodded.

“That’s gonna be weird, Darwin, don’tcha think?” The idea of a ‘nice’ Suresh on 900 was a little hard to swallow for Jackson, considering all that the old one had done to Oz and Li.

"Well... I saw him kill Suresh, but for those who didn't, yeah, it'll be weird." He agreed. "We have Suresh in stasis, though."

“What will you do with the body?” A smile crossed Jackson’s face. “I can think of a few things I’d like to do with it.”

Darwin laughed. "That's why I'm bringing it back to the Station, so that those who need to see proof, can." He was used to Oz's need for proof. "And who knows, maybe the Admirals will let us auction him off or something."

“I’m sure Sakkath could use a new footstool.” This was, apparently, Jackson’s night for wanting to turn assholes into home furnishings. “Is Li okay? Really?”

"She took a hit when Suresh died. She was in his head with him. But she's talking, which is better than she was doing right after the incident. Physically, she's good. I can fix bruises and cuts, not that she had any - Suresh just wanted to possess her, not hurt her."

"Ick,” was Jackson’s opinion on that. As for the rest, he didn’t much like the sound of it either. “That’s pretty heavy, Dar. But this is Li. She will….work it out and not tell a soul what’s going on in her head as usual.”

"Yeah. She and Oz had a few quiet minutes yesterday. After that is when Li started talking again. Maybe those two actually talked about it." He shrugged.

“We can hope. So how soon will you get her home to me Dar?” Dar would understand that he meant Oz, of course. “So I can see for myself she’s in one piece, then rant and rave over her gettin’ stabbed?”

"Two days, unless Nelvana detains us. You're going to rant at just her, right?"

Jackson had to laugh at the question. “I don’t rightly know. Li might get her share too. You? Yer spared, my friend.”

"Thanks. I think," Darwin laughed. "I need to make sure Suresh detours us to Nelvana."

“Then I’ll go, but be prepared to be buried in all the news when ya get home. We’ve had a real shitstorm here. An’ thanks for takin’ care of the girls.” Jackson reached out to close the channel. This conversation with Julisa went round and round in his head and he began making his mental list, even as he rose to go tell Janice that ‘the girls’ as he called them were on their way home.

******
Lt. M. Darwin

Commander Oralia Zeferino

Jackson Banning V