Plotter, Dreamer, Dictator

Posted on Fri Jun 12th, 2015 @ 3:29pm by Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Seyla & Marla

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Seyla's Quarters

"Yes, I am so sorry, my dearest, but from now on, one of my girls will serve you. I'm ...off the market," she smiled sweetly. A query came from the man on the screen and she frowned. "No, I am not sick. I'm simply stepping back." She and the client discussed a few more things, then Seyla closed the comm.

That had been her last paying client; she had already notified the others. Was she mad? No, she decided she wasn't. The conversation she and Will had had was the second time he'd asked her to drop her clients, to be just his. He'd asked her while Suresh was still... alive. And now he had renewed that request. Perhaps he really did mean he loved her.

And that led her to thinking about Marla. And Dae. Whom she had once threatened if he didn't leave Marla alone. Could he really love Marla? She needed to talk to the woman about it. She was sure Marla was all kinds of curious about Will's earlier visit.

"Marla, come see me when you have a moment," she sent a message to her.

=^= I can be there in five, Sey. =^=

Five minutes later on the dot, the doors opened and Marla entered. It was before hours so she was dressed in a pair of shorts and tank top. Her hair was still damp from the shower. She smiled as she settled on the sofa.

“So, how’s everything down here?” She really wanted to ask about Dr. Harding but it was better to let Seyla get there in her own time.

"They're fine," Seyla said, sounding a little tightly strung. "Are you still seeing Dae and letting Marabeth charge for him? You know your income is down, correct?"

Marla considered how to answer that. She kept an eye on the figures and while there was a dip it wasn’t that much. Then again, she was Sey’s oldest in terms of length of employment and was always booked solid. With a sigh,she slumped down into the sofa.

“Yes. How long have you known about our little system?”

"A while. Dae didn't tell you I threatened him?" She laughed, amused that he might have kept that secret.

Marla blinked back at her, obviously surprised. “No! Sey, you didn’t!” She fell silent and moments later, she began to laugh. She tried her best to stop but just couldn’t. “I’m sorry….it’s just..the idea...of you threatening...the Chief of Intel…” Finally she managed to catch her breath. “No, he never told me.”

"I didn't threaten him, I threatened to have you sent back to where you came from."

Marla sat up straight upon hearing that. “No...surely not. Is that what this is about Sey?” The sudden urge to bolt out the door hit Marla and it showed on her face. “I can’t go back there!”

"I know." Seyla made eye contact with Marla and felt a little thrill at the fear in the woman's eyes. "Imagine how your Dinaali system would treat you." She paused then smiled, "Which is why you should be grateful that I'm not sending you back there, Marla."

Marla felt, for a moment, like she was getting whiplash at the changes in this conversation. “You aren’t?” Relief began to creep in but something was up, she could see that plainly and it was too soon to relax completely. “I am grateful of course. But then...what’s this about?”

"Does Dae still claim to love you?" Seyla was being cagey and no longer looking directly at Marla.

Marla noticed and now she was on alert. Seyla never mentioned Dae without his name being attached to orders not to see him. She ran back over the past several days in her mind rapidly, starting with that weird night when Seyla had been so upset...the night she had brought the news about Harding and the Prime Minister and ending with last night when...a lightbulb went off. Slowly she nodded.


“Yes,” she answered.

"It's been a while." She sighed and, for just a moment, looked about the room as if unsure of what to say or do. "Circumstances have changed, Marl. Whether you continue seeing him is up to you. You'll soon see that I've ... distributed my own clients amongst you girls."

Marla didn’t recall ever being so surprised. She moved around to sit by Seyla and took her hands. “But why? What’s wrong?” Maybe her suspicions were way off. Maybe the doctor had come to deliver bad news. That’s it - Seyla must be dying if she was giving up her clients.

Seyla wrestled with Marla's hands, pulling hers away, pushing Marla's off hands off of her. "Nothing's wrong! Oh...," she realized Marla's concern and laughed. "I'm not dying. I'm not even sick. But a doctor has asked me to stop taking clients."

“Aha! I knew it. Will. Tell me about it?” Marla smiled, her expression soft. “Will, yes?”

"Yes, Will," Seyla smiled, she couldn't stop herself from doing so. "He's been my client for... over a year now."

“Wow. Well...that explains a lot. Huh.” Marla sat quiet as she thought about that. Finally a smile spread over her face. “And we all thought he was impossible. He was just in love. Which can make them impossible I suppose.” She studied Seyla, then hugged her tight. “I’m thrilled for you. So what does this mean for the business?”

"Nothing, other than I'm taking on only the most exclusive of clients, namely Will. My fees will price me out of the market. I'll still be here, managing the business, as I always have." She paused. "For you, it does mean that if Dae is serious, then...," she lifted a shoulder in a shrug.

“He’s never asked me to stop,Seyla.” Marla shrugged as well. “But then, we were always flying under your radar, you know? So far, he’s said he understands. Besides, we can’t afford to have both of us off the books.”

"He's a Fleetie. Why can't he afford you?"

“Oh he can. I meant since you’re retiring, for lack of a better term, this business can’t afford for you to be out of service and me too, which is why, I suppose, it’s good Dae hasn’t asked that of me. Make sense?” Marla rose and moved to the bar.

"Yes. I need another Orion to take my place - not this place," she gestured to her chair and console, meaning her place as management, "...but my place in the stable. A high-end Orion who can attract the elite." She looked at Marla, considering her options. "If we bring in someone, though, I would need to bring in a handler, which would likely make Zeferino's people take notice."

“A handler? Why?” Marla poured two drinks and carried them back over to the sofa. She passed one to Seyla, clinked their glasses together. “Congratulations.”

"Thank you," she accepted the toast and sipped the liquid before returning to the topic. "We'd need a handler to keep an Orion in line and prevent her from robbing us blind, stealing clients and setting up her own shop. But there are men who want the effect of the pheromones."

“I suppose it would depend on the Orion. What about one of our own? A man will be useless for this job but one of the girls perhaps?” Marla sipped from her glass and the warmth of the alcohol added to the glow of the good news regarding Dae. She couldn’t wait to tell him, but for now she forced herself to focus on business.

"A handler is an Orion male who is immune to a female's pheromones. We don't have that issue with Thea because she's a low-caste Orion; her pheromones aren't very strong. They barely give human females a headache," Seyla explained. "But an Orion like me... could cause trouble for us."

“But could you trust a male Orion? Even if he’s immune? Who then handles the handler when you are at home?” Marla asked. “I can’t imagine Will is going to want you out all night when he’s off duty.”

"He answers to the one who pays him," Seyla answered. She knew it was more complicated than that, but didn't want to go into the details. She fell silent for a moment, thinking. "Well, we'll figure it out soon enough."

“Any ideas where to find this high-end Orion? They aren’t exactly growing on trees out here.” Marla laughed at the mental image that called up. “She would have big shoes to fill.”

"No, that's another part of the problem. She'd likely come from my homeworld." Seyla frowned. "I know of two Orions on the station who might qualify. Both are Fleet, though."

Marla raised her eyebrows. “That might be difficult, don’t you think? The powers that be would certainly frown on that...assuming they knew.”

"Right... One is older. But the other, Reva, she's young. She could be molded to our purposes." Seyla's conniving manner was showing itself.

“I’ve seen her around, lately with one of the science guys. Oh! Also with a young woman who appears to have been Borg but was taken back. They were at the Nexus the other night when I was there with Vance.” Marla drained her glass and placed it back on the table before them.

"Good to know," she mused. "I'll approach her first, see if the direct way works."

“Good luck.” Marla hesitated, then asked the question uppermost in her mind. “Are you happy Sey? With all this? Settling down and being...normal?”

Unsurprised by the question, it was one she had asked herself already, Seyla nodded and answered slowly, "I think so. It hasn't really happened yet. Maybe in a week, I'll hate it. But maybe I'll love it, too. What will it be like, bedding down with just one man?" She shrugged. "New territory, Marla."

“With a man who loves you? I think it would be wonderful, Sey.” Marla sighed wistfully. “Especially when he’s a man like the doctor. He’s never looked down on us and even though he never spent time with us either, other than in sickbay, he always was polite and treated us like ladies. That’s a rare thing.”

Did she love Will? She couldn't answer that yet, either. She had changed everything for him, though. "That will continue. He's just... that way," she smiled easily. "You have news for Dae, Marla. I'm sure you're ready to run out of here to tell him."

“I am.” Marla rose, but her gaze remained on Seyla. “See you tonight.” Then she turned and without another word dashed out of the room.

"Mmhmm," Seyla distractedly watched her go. How was her schedule going to work with Will's? Thinking of him, she smiled happily.

The comm beeped and, as if summoned by her thought, the screen showed it was Will.

"Will, aren't you with your Prime Minister? Giving her one more night of your company?" Seyla teased him lightly.

“I am home, Sey, just off the shuttle a few minutes ago.” He paused and smiled back at her. “I told her when she arrived home from her trip. I can tell you about it later or not, but the short version is that I am home to stay….and home to you.”

"Have you left a mess for your diplomats to clean up?" She laughed.

"No, not at all,” he answered. “We reached an understanding that we want different things. No one is going to come hunt me down or declare war.” He laughed lightly. “But everything is settled except one thing.”

"Your place or mine?" She arched a brow at him, wondering if she got the 'one thing' right.

Will nodded. “Mine. Now. You can let yourself in.” With those words, the screen went dark.

Amused, Seyla asked her reflection in the black screen, "Bit of a dictator this evening, isn't he?" She moved to get ready and head to his quarters.

*****
Seyla
Plotter

Marla
Dreamer

Dr. William Harding
Dictator