Hope Down Under

Posted on Thu Jun 4th, 2015 @ 12:43am by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Lieutenant Hope Beckman & Admiral Lucius Hawke
Edited on on Wed Jul 8th, 2015 @ 12:15am

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Saturnalia - The Cherry Pit

* * * Saturnalia * * *

Now that Rick was up and around, Lucius had all sorts of news for him. He’d does as El’Shar had quietly ordered and spared him any shop talk till he was released by Dr. Crane. He knew, however, that Rick had been bored silly sitting around and so, had sent a message. Tonight they were going to kick back and enjoy….at Saturnalia. Lucius was out of uniform and so, when he entered, not too many took notice. He found a table, ordered a round and settled in to wait.

“Where are you taking us?”

“I have a meeting, of sorts,” Rick replied as the lift sped down below the equator into the depths of the station. “Will this be a problem? I can relieve you of your duties if you wish.”

Hope had been given strict orders from El’Shar to follow Rick everywhere he went, primarily because he was several days early getting back to work, against doctor’s orders. El was very convincing as well. She made sure Hope wouldn’t allow Rick to bully her into going back to her desk or leaving him alone. His health and welfare were paramount and if he was going to act this way solely out of boredom, El’Shar was going to make sure someone was on him like glue, and the only person she knew he wouldn’t kill for it was Lt. Beckman.

She narrowed her eyes at her boss. “I’m not going anywhere without you,” she replied, trying to sound much tougher than she actually felt, considering where they were headed. “Besides, El-Shar scares me more than you do.”

“Is that a fact?” Rick asked, genuinely surprised by that comment. “Well, I know how much you enjoy going to Saturnalia and I promise I won’t say a word to El’Shar about you going elsewhere to eat, or...whatever.”

She slowly turned her head to Rick and made a silly face and crossed her eyes. “Do I look stupid to you?”

He laughed quite hard at that. It felt good to be out and about again.

They walked to the entrance of Saturnalia and Rick stopped short. “Okay, kiddo, last chance.”

She hesitated a moment but groaned and took his arm, leading them in. “Let’s get it over and done.”

Lucius spotted them and then, seeing Hope at Rick’s side, bit back a laugh. El’Shar had warned him but he hadn’t actually expected her to do it. He waved them over, then ordered a third drink for Hope.

A passing waitress looked Rick up and down, then smiled as recognition dawned. “Welcome back Mr. Cobb.”

Rick nodded and smiled as he took a seat across from Lucius, surprised that anyone would have remembered his fake name. As he sat he could hear and feel stickiness under his feet. Hope had the same issue and looked Rick in the eye with a scowl to address her displeasure.

“So, Lucius, what brings you to a shithole like this? And believe me, it must be that because Hope hasn’t stopped calling it that and any other synonym she could find.”

“Hmph,” was Hope’s reply with crossed arms.

“If you’ll pardon the vernacular Hope, you’re right. This is the best shithole in the quadrant.” Lucius pushed Rick’s drink across to him and the waitress arrived, placing one before Hope.

“You need more, just give the signal, honey.” She smiled at Rick. “These are on the house.” With a wink, she turned and strolled away.

Hope looked at Rick with an arched eyebrow wondering what that was all about. “Honey?”

“She was here when I met with Suresh a while back. I kind of earned a good reputation for it.” She just kept staring at him. He pushed her drink closer. “Enjoy your free drink before I enjoy it for you.”

More of the mean mugging from Hope made Rick wonder if El hadn’t asked her to continually harass him the entire time as well. He turned to Lucius and mouthed, “Help me.”

Drink up, Hope.” He smiled. “Or he will swipe it. I Have to watch him like a...hawk. No pun intended. Besides, the regulars look better after a couple of those.” He pointed to her glass. “And then I have news.”

The glass before her appeared clean, but she was hesitant to touch it. Rick gave her one of those “get the lead out of your ass” throat clearings. With a sigh she drank, then drank some more and easily finished the entire thing. While the glass landed on the table with a solid thunk, she belched lightly.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Rick said with a chuckle. He waved for more drinks and turned to Lucius. “Okay, fill me in.”

“Sakkath heard from the girls.” Lucius grinned a moment. “Pardon me for that Hope, but they are my kids. Anyway, Li and Oz, and Darwin and Suresh, ran into a little difficulty on Nelvana III when they stopped to take Oz to the medical facility.” The drinks arrived and Lucius took a drink of the new one. “Excellent.”

Hope took hers and began chugging away. Without paying much attention, Rick pulled the glass away from her and set it out of arm’s reach, like a mother would do their child. But the damage was already done--there was less than half of it left.

“What type of difficulty?” Rick asked.

“Let’s see. Suresh was arrested as an escapee from Elba II, the rest for harboring a fugitive, and some lesser charges regarding a dead body,” Lucius answered. “The good news is that Oz is all stitched up and will be fine. And Sakkath has the matter in hand.” Lucius paused for effect, looking from Hope to Rick. “He sent all the information on both Sureshs...via his father. In person.”

Hope had been slowly working her hand back to the glass Rick had moved. He smacked her hand. “That’s not a chugging drink, Hope. Take it easy or I’ll have to carry you out of here.”

“And Sakkath is certain--” Rick stopped short, having just now really heard that it was Sakkath’s father doing the delivering. “Oh. His father. Then I won’t really need to plan a smash and grab, will I?”

“Not yet. My people there reported they arrived on a Romulan ship.” Lucius smiled again. “If that’s not making an entrance, I don’t know what is. I’m having to deal with one small issue, however. One of ours is who turned them in. He’s been taken into custody.” Lucius stopped and looked to Hope, who had held up her hand for the waitress. “Two fingers Hope.”

When she arrived, Rick put Hope’s hand down and spoke for her. “She’s tired of this drink,” he said as he handed the remaining drink to the server. “She’s asked for something a bit more light and fruity. Surprise her.”

“Light and fruity, eh?” the waitress said with a roll of her eyes and wandered off.

“Was it money or some sort of blackmail that caused him to turn?” Rick asked, back on topic, “Or have we not gotten that far?”

“I don’t know. I’m having him brought here. It’s a little out of the way but I want Dae to take a crack at him, then I will. We’ll see how he reacts to facing down his Director.” Lucius shrugged. “If he doesn’t want to cooperate, I’ll let Nick have him.”

“Oh yeah? Don’t care if he lives, huh?” Rick said with a smile. “Well, after this I’ll be heading back up to my office. I’ll keep apprised of this in case we do need to send in a steamroller to squash this ridiculousness. The authorities there should have taken Li’s word and evidence as gospel so there may be something else going on behind the scenes.”

“When I know it you’ll know it.”

The waitress returned and placed a tall glass before Hope. The liquid was a deep purple at the bottom and faded to a lovely lavender at the top. A bright yellow flower adorned the glass. “Enjoy.”

“That’s pretty!” Hope said with wide eyes.

Both Rick and Lucius fell silent as they watched with fascination at how quickly Hope attacked the new drink.

“Hope?” Rick said, as more and more of the drink disappeared, “Have you ever been diagnosed as an alcoholic?”

She stopped drinking and finally loosed the straw. “What?”

He just shook his head. “Nothing. Enjoy your drink. That’ll be your last one.”

“I bet there’s enough in there that it should be the last one for all three of us.” Lucius looked to Rick now. “Does her office chair recline?”

“Aye, it does, but I may have to send her home for a long nap.” He turned his attention back to Hope and wondered how often she was able to get out and enjoy herself. That may be something that he’d need to address. She was a fantastic aide but he needed to make sure she was a well-rounded person and not solely work focused.

As he watched, Hope spit out the straw and put both hands to her head. “Ow! Brain freeze!”

With a sigh, Rick announced, “I think that’s our cue to leave. Thanks for the news, Lucius.” He began scooting out of the booth and heard the wet ripping sound of his shoes and the tip of the cane in the sticky on the floor.

“This place is so gross,” Hope said, still holding her head.

“Planning your next trip already, then?” Rick said.

She didn’t answer. They both knew she was doing just that.

-----------------------------------------------
Lt. Hope Beckman
Secret Lush

ADM Ricky Wegener
Beckman’s Chaperone

ADM Lucius Hawke
Enjoying The Night Off