Oz Phones Home Redux

Posted on Sat May 30th, 2015 @ 8:39pm by Jackson Banning V & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Nelvana III - The Neutral Zone

"Not letting me contact my husband will do more harm than just letting me contact him!" An aggravated Oralia sat forward in her biobed and glared at the doctor who'd just told her she couldn't call Jackson because doing so might excite her too much. "Look! Do you see that blood pressure rate? It's going up and soon it'll be you who needs a biobed!"

"Okay, okay, Commander, just calm down," he said, though he could see he was just pissing her off more. "Orderly! Get a comms panel in here."

"Good, thank you," Oralia settled back and her readings started returning to normal.

A few minutes later, she was just waiting for Jackson to appear.

The call had reached him in Intel where he’d been meeting with Dae. What she could see behind him looked like the standard sterile office.

“OZ!” He fairly shouted her name. “How are you? Is everything all fixed up? You feel okay? An’ I should prob’ly give ya the chance to answer before I pelt you with a dozen more questions.”

She laughed, far more coherent now than she had been when they last spoke. "I feel just fine, love, though I shouldn't say that too loud or else I'll be in the brig with the others. The doctors here fixed Darwin's field work. I did have a bit of internal bleeding. And a concussion. So I'm here, being monitored."

“Good. I’m glad they got there in time. Do you recall our last conversation?” He was smiling now. “You were a little out of it. Well, a lot actually.”

"Yeah," she nodded and chuckled. "Darwin was having a tough time balancing the sedatives. I recall telling you the important things. Like that I love you. I still think we could have made home just fine, though."

Jackson shook his head. “I saw the pretty colors that wound was turning and it was bad news. You couldn’t have lasted another day, much less three. I feel much better now that you’ve been taken care of and --” He had been so focused on Oz that what she’d said had slipped right by him. Now it settled in his thoughts, neon bright. “Wait, what was that? The brig? What the hell is going on there Oz?”

"Ah... Li, Darwin and Suresh are in the brig. I'll be there when the doctors discharge me. Apparently our informant turned on us and reported Suresh as the real Suresh...," it didn't even make sense to her and she shook her head. "You know what I mean. So new Suresh is being accused of being the old Suresh and we're under arrest for aiding and abetting."

“Tell me yer bullshittin’ me Oz?” He looked back at her a moment, then shook his head. “Well hell. An’ I am three days away at high warp. Does Sakkath know yet?”

"I'm surprised Sakkath didn't tell you this already. He knows. Li said that he's sending someone with a packet of information regarding new Suresh and the alternate universe." She paused and looked a little thoughtful. "Huh. I wonder if new Suresh hates that? The term 'alternate universe'? Maybe even 'new' bothers him." She shrugged, "Oh well. I take it that you're not that messenger."

“I’ve been a little unreachable the last several hours so I’m not surprised.” He didn’t say where he’d been. “But if he’s takin’ action, I don’t doubt that things’ll get movin’ pretty fast. Still, I hate to hear they’re locked up, though that never stopped Li before if she really wanted to get out. Out there, though, she’ll behave.”

Her brain had hung up on the word 'unreachable'. "Why have you been unreachable? What have you been up to?"

“Just a few things here an’ there. Nothin’ all that interestin’ but Dae an’ I got to talkin’ and you know how that goes.” It was his way of saying ‘that’s classified’. "There mighta been food involved too.” He grinned back at her. “But no booze an’ strippers. Did you know he’s all hung up on...one of Seyla’s girls? But keep that to yerself, darlin’.”

"Darwin is too, so he's in good company. So... Yer wife is in surgery and you go off and get 'unreachable'?" Her brow furrowed. Not that she really wanted him to have waited next to a comm but... unreachable?

“Intel, Oz,” he said softly. “You note that your call got through.” He smiled once more. “How are you feelin’, really? An’ do I need to start through the wormhole?”

"Of course not. None of us are injured. Anymore. We just can't leave. I'm feeling a bit powerless." She should, since she had no pull with Nelvana's Security force. "How is Iggy?"

“Well, Chance said she was right riled up at discoverin’ her eggs and her dear mate missin’ but once the kids explained it to her, she began to settle down a little. They have a point. If they hatched, they would be in danger. The crew would either be steppin’ on ‘em or callin’ an exterminator. I suspect business for the counselors would be right brisk too.”

She leaned forward, her mouth agape. "Eggs?! She has an egg sac? Oh no. Oh no. Wegener's gonna shit when he hears this. What did Eli and Chance do with the eggs? And her mate? Is that Jerry?"

“That would be Jerry, yes. An’ as far as I know right now, the admiral doesn’t know. He’s home recoverin’ from surgery where he got shot in the ass by the admiral that was behind this investigation. She’ll be locked up a long time, but he’s still home for a coupla days. As for Iggy’s little family, they are down in the science center in some special spider habitats where they’ll be safe and won’t give everyone nightmares.” Jackson laughed for a moment. “They figured Lt. Goodshire might wanna see ‘em once he gets back on the station.”

She covered her mouth with one hand then she giggled. "Guess the Admiral has a few other things to concern him. Though let's...." She didn't know which to hope for: more little Iggys or just normal tarantulas. "Goodshire needs to get on with interviewing Iggy for her sentience application, too. Everyone else there is okay, then? I feel like we've been gone for ages."

“I feel like you’ve been gone for ages too, honey.” But Jackson nodded. “Everyone’s fine, though Kai got shot too and ended up needin’ to get stitched up. Gil was like an old woman over it, I swear.”

"Oh, that's Gil. He's always like that." She waved a hand dismissively. Frowning, she said "I can't wait to get home, J."

“Me too.” He frowned for a moment. “There is one thing you should know.”

"What, J?" His tone worried her.

“Well, Kh’ali’s been workin’ on Eli’s asylum request and some related things to try and settle this whole mess down. She’s been hammerin’ at them all this time and they finally agreed to a pardon. Which is great but…” He held up his hand to hold up her questions. “They want him to make a short trip back to Enara Prime to attend to some formalities. Naturally, he wants Chance to go with him.”

"That's wonderful! The whole pardon thing, I mean." She laughed, excited for Eli. "I can't see the harm in letting Chance go with him," not as if she had a say in the matter; she was Chance's sister, not his parole officer. "Kh'ali will be with them and she'll have a security team with her."

“Well no, not exactly. She’s got other things to take care of and it’s only about three days out through friendly space. I heard some rumblings about takin’ Iggy along.”

"I'm only three days out, J, and look how long that seems now." She frowned. Having Kh'ali along was one thing; sending Eli, Chance and Iggy alone was another. The Federation's relations with Enara Prime were still shaky. "Those three have to have security with them. Tell Gilroy to assign a team... Never mind, I'll send a message to him."

“I’d feel a little better too, even though I know Eli got himself here on his own. Just to reassure this nervous parent-figure.”

"We're both parents in this," she reminded him. "Oh, and they have to take Iggy's container. Make sure they get that from her room."

"I will. You let me know as soon as anything changes there, okay Oz?”

"If I can, yes." She glanced toward the door. "I think the nurse is back to take away my comm. I'll see you soon. Give Chance a hug and Iggs a kiss for me." She grinned, doubting he'd do the latter.

“Oz, honey, I’d do anything in the universe for you….except that. See you soon, and give the rest my best.” The channel closed.

As the nurse came in, Oz held up a hand and made one more, very quick, call to SB900. This one to Gilroy. When she was done, the nurse took the panel away and Oz was left with just her thoughts.

*********
Commander Oralia Zeferino

Jackson Banning V