Late Night Interruptions 0430

Posted on Wed Jul 22nd, 2015 @ 8:33pm by Ensign Six of Ten & Suresh & Vic & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: The Cherry Pit / Piper Medical Center

Suresh and Six had eaten a leisurely dinner at Portin, then decided to stop in at the theatre for a movie. West Side Story was showing and Six absolutely loved it. The similarity to their life together was ironic and both got a good laugh out of it. From there, they had gone on to Saturnalia where, as Six had told Vic, she was on exhibit for a bit. They had lingered over drinks and Six had sat, obediently quiet, as various men came and went to discuss business. Finally, when the time crept past 0400, Six decided to call it a night. She leaned over and whispered her intention in Suresh’s ear.

He shooed the current visitor to their table away and turned his attention to Six. “It is late, you’re right. Marat will see you home. I am meeting with Lazan shortly, then I’ll be home too.” He wanted to kiss her before she departed but since they sat in the middle of Saturnalia, such a sentimental gesture would seem out of character. Instead, he slipped his hand beneath the table and gave her thigh a gentle squeeze. “Go straight home.” His tone was firm.

Six nodded and rose from the table. Several of the regulars bid her goodnight as she passed among the tables and finally out the door. Outside in the square, she paused to let Marat catch up.

Marat did so, hiding his contempt for the Borg woman. With a gruff voice, he commented, "Let's go this way. There've been reports of a problem that way."

“Sure.” Six smiled at him as they crossed the square and went down a side corridor. It was a roundabout way of getting to the lift but this was Marat’s job.

He partly-led her, partly-herded her through a crowd and along an extension of the night market, which was winding down. A few vendors held out beaded necklaces and silks for Six, claiming the items would make her even more beautiful. One commented that his offer of a scarf could hide the "hideous Borg implants"; Marat had physically shoved that vendor away from her, growling something in his native language.

“Thank you.” Six smiled at Marat once again. “They seem to think that my association with Suresh means all I do with my time is come shopping and decorate myself for him. Well I do…..the decorating, not the shopping.” Mentally she groaned at the words but they were what would seem normal coming from Suresh’s arm candy. “The Borg insults are nothing new, though.”

He nodded, remaining silent, though a few vile thoughts about Borg percolated through his mind. "This way," he directed her, one hand on her shoulder, down a narrower corridor. This one had vendors on just one side. Along the other wall stood a variety of hawkers, waiting to pickpocket the unwary.

Marat stayed between Six and the vendors' tables. As they walked he noted a hunched figure along the wall. As they approached him, Marat bumped Six, forcing her toward the figure.

There was a hiss of a hypospray, unnoticeable unless one was listening for it.

“Hey!” she yelped as he bumped her. The hunched figure sprang to life, grabbing her and she could feel the cool metal of the hypospray. Panic rose in her mind and reflex took over. She tried to kick the closest body but already, the sedative was dragging her down, slowing time, blurring her vision. She reached down, feeling for the comm badge she kept hidden. Tonight it was strapped to her thigh. She pressed it as she crumpled towards the floor.

Marat caught her before she hit the floor and drunk-walked her to a small side door - technically an engineer's hatch - with the hunched figure following him. On the other side of it, the figure pushed his hood back and stood straight, grinning. "It worked!", Owain laughed.

Marat growled. "Get her feet. We need to get her to the transport."

"Yeah," Owain moved quickly, picking up Six's feet so that they could hurry along the confined space.

*Elsewhere*

Vic was home after a busy night at the Nexus. He’d changed into sweat pants and a t-shirt and was finishing up a snack when his comm badge began to buzz. He frowned and reached for it as it vibrated on the table’s surface. It paused, then began to buzz once more. Vic was suddenly wide awake and on his feet.

“Computer, locate the source of the transmission to my comm badge,” he ordered.

=^= The transmission originated on deck 532, sector 6 =^=

“Got it.” Vic grabbed his badge and ran out of his quarters, still in bare feet. “Vic to Security! Emergency, deck 532, sector 6. Six’s emergency signal!” He dashed down the corridor to the lift.

Hundreds of decks down, Security mobilized and officers hurried to converge on Sector 6. They burst through the night market, overturning vendor carts, and found the engineer's hatch locked from the inside. "Go," the lead officer pointed at two officers and to the right, another two and to the left. They peeled off in those directions while the lead officer worked to get the current hatch open.

The turbolift seemed to be taking forever but finally, the doors opened on 532 and Vic was out of it and dashing along the corridor. It took only a few minutes to reach the area, where he then slowed down and blended into the crowd as he approached. Two of the vendors were talking about a man and ‘the Borg’ coming this way, then someone pushing her, her yelling and the two men dragging her away. They seemed to think one of the other vendors had called Security, since they had come running and quick. A tall Cardassian, wearing a cap, stood at the edge of the crowd, but moments later, he was gone.

Security officers were already canvassing the vendors, asking who saw what, heard what, whether anyone knew the two men. Finally, the lead officer gained access to the hatch and three officers hurried through it towards the commbadge signal.

Up ahead, there was the sound of a phaser and the computer went on alert for this area of the Station, chirping about weapons' fire. When Security arrived at the location, they found Six and Marat crumpled together on the crawlway's floor. "Security to Piper, emergency medical transport for two," the officer first on the scene was checking the vital signs of the two bodies.

Hearing the officer’s order, Vic waited until he heard the transporter hum, then slipped back through the crowd. Once he was around the corner and out of sight, he was running for the turbolift. It was empty and as he began the ascent to Piper, he put through a call to Darwin.

“Vic to Darwin. I know it’s late, and I hate to interrupt but we have a situation here.”

=^= Late? It's early. And I've been up since three thanks to our troublemaker. What's your situation?=^=, Darwin replied.

Vic filled him in on what he knew so far. “I’m on my way to Piper now. I haven’t seen Suresh so I don’t know if he knows yet. I was playing curious bystander, then got the hell out of there.”

=^= I'm on my way to Piper, then. =^=

*Piper*

"Report," the night-shift doctor ordered.

"Six of Ten, former Borg, Halanan, in Biobed 1. Scans show a heavy sedative and puncture wounds. Marat, a Romulan-Cardassian, in Biobed 4. Phaser wound, stun-level," the medtech responded.

"Puncture wounds?" The doctor frowned and checked the wounds. Both had blood around them but were closing quickly. "Borg tech," he noted. "She should be fine in a few more minutes." He moved on to the other patient.

Chanella looked at the scan results on the wall monitor. “Interesting. This readout shows her blood volume is a little below normal.” She watched as the fine puncture wounds closed up completely. “That explains the punctures but why sedate her and...what? Steal her blood?”

"Why not? Think of the nanites in her blood. Valuable stuff there," the doctor commented from his position by Marat.

“Frightening,” Chanella answered. She moved around the biobed where Six lay and over to the other. “Shall I bring him around?”

"Not yet," the doctor said. "Let's get Security here."

"Ask and ye shall receive," Darwin wandered in and paused when he saw the size of Marat. "Please do keep him sedated. I'd like to hear what Six has to say first. How is she?"

The doctor nodded. “With that stun shot, he should be out at least another hour. As for Six, she had some bruising from being manhandled and a few puncture wounds here.” The doctor pointed to her throat. “As you can see, they’ve already closed up, courtesy of the nanoprobes in her blood. Her blood seemed to be the reason for this attack. Some was removed before she arrived here. Were any vials recovered at the scene?”

"Ah, the area is still being searched," Darwin said. "Her blood? Not her? Can you wake her? Maybe she saw her attackers."

When the doctor nodded, Chanella moved over to Six and pressed a hypospray to her throat. “This will counteract the sedative,” she informed Darwin. “They used a strong one, likely to account for her physiology.”

Moments later, Six’s eyes fluttered open. She was instantly in motion, the panic still flooding through her. She swung her arms as if fending off her attackers and clipped Darwin’s arm. The room around her was still a little blurry.

“Get off me!” she yelled.

His arm blazed with pain; just the one glancing blow carried more impact than Darwin was used to from a mere female. "Hey!" Darwin caught her by the biceps and shook her lightly. "Six! You're fine. Wake up!"

Darwin’s voice penetrated the fog in her brain and she recognized it. Instantly she grew still in his grasp. “Are they gone?”

The door opened and Vic hurried in. “I heard the yelling. Is everything okay?”

Darwin glanced at Vic and nodded. "Six, we don't know who did this. Do you recall what happened?"

She settled back on the biobed and rubbed her forehead. “I left Saturnalia, along with Marat. His job is to watch out for me if Suresh isn’t around. We went through the square, then took a detour. He said there had been some trouble down the corridor we’d normally take to get to the lift. We went through several corridors, and down the back alley one. You know it Darwin. I was shoved and I am sure it was him. There were quite a few people hanging out there and someone grabbed me. I felt a hypospray and almost immediately I couldn’t do anything. That is the last I remember.”

"Marat did this, then?" Darwin frowned but when Six nodded, he tapped his commbadge, stepped away and started issuing orders for Security personnel. After a few minutes, Marat disappeared in a haze of transporter lights.

The doctor looked down at Six and gave her a reassuring smile. “You’ll be fine, but I’m keeping you in here till tonight for observation. I am waiting to see if your nanoprobes take care of the blood issue or if we’ll need to correct it. Once Darwin has cleared you, we’ll get you to a regular room.” The doctor and Chanella departed, leaving Six, Vic, and Darwin.

Vic took her hand and squeezed it. He wasn’t sure what to say really. “Darwin will take care of it,” he said.

Six nodded. “Darwin? Did I say anything while I was out that I shouldn’t have?”

"Oh? Like that you love me?" He laughed. "No, you were out, Six. Marat's in the brig. We'll get a statement from you in the next day or so and then turn it over to the prosecutor."

“He was supposed to be on my side,” she said softly. “I guess you never know, huh? Welcome to my world.”

Vic nodded. “Well, I have a thought about that.” He turned to Darwin. “I think we should put one of yours in Marat’s place.”

"Soon, we'll have the whole of the Pit inhabited by Fleet persons instead of criminals." He considered that and admitted, "At least that'd make my job a bit easier. I'll talk with Oz about who to assign. Too bad we can't put Gilroy down there."

“True,” Vic answered. “He’s scary enough he could keep even Suresh away from Six. The thing is, when news of this gets out, Suresh is going to have to do some posturing. He would be expected to assign someone new so that won't be a surprise to anyone. Marat may be glad he’s in the brig after this.”

“Why not Gilroy?” Six asked. she looked up to Vic and Gilroy.

Darwin answered, "Couple of reasons: first, he's well known around the Station; second, Reva knows him. And you know, Six, as well as I do, that as soon as her punishment is up, she'll be back down there, mucking things up. She'd get down there and out him, or any Security officer she knows, as being Fleet." He fell silent, considering that.

“She hasn’t had enough of the Pit yet?” Vic asked. “An attack, two weeks stuck at home…” He shook his head. “What are you going to do about her?”

Darwin's features hardened. "Vic, I'm going to kill her. Tonight she sent a little mechanical thing into my quarters. Scared the ... scared the girl with me. So, no, I don't think she's had enough."

Vic nodded, then looked to Darwin. “I don’t envy you, Darwin. I also am not sure what to suggest, aside from banning her from the Pit entirely, which would be hard to do. Maybe the news of Six’s attack will have some impact on her.”

He grunted. "I doubt it. Hey, Six, she'll be in here in a bit, too. I talked with Doc Harding about her; there's the chance that Seyla's pheromones have been messing with her emotions and rational thinking. Maybe fixing that will keep her out of the Pit."

“Maybe.” Six thought about it a moment. “It’s getting tricky though. I think she has this rosy view of my life down there and doesn’t really see the danger. Maybe now she will.” She looked down and realized she was still holding Vic’s hand. Had Darwin noticed? Casually, she slipped her fingers out of Vic’s.

Not many things slipped by Darwin. Six's glance down certainly hadn't, but he said nothing. "Maybe another dose of reality will be needed. I'll bring her by to see you, Six. For now, you're safe here."

“Has Suresh been found?” she asked. “He was seeing someone but didn’t say who.”

"Not that I know of, yet." Darwin said. "But I'll make sure he knows, if he doesn't already. I'm surprised he's not here already, considering all the rumor vines down there." He smiled and patted Six's hand. "I'm glad this wasn't worse, Six."

“Me too. Suresh is going to be rabid when he finds out it was Marat. Did Marat say why?”

"No, he's still out. But someone took your blood, so that might be a motive," Darwin told her. "There was a second person who we haven't caught yet. Six, I doubt they'll be happy with just a vial or two. We'll have a new bodyguard for you tonight."

“Thank you, Darwin.” Her eyes started to close and she forced them back open. “I’ll be in another room but you all can find me.”

"Sure," Darwin nodded, "Sleep easy." He looked at Vic and motioned him out of the room.

Vic nodded. “One second.” When Darwin stepped through the door, Vic took Six’s hand once more. He glanced behind to make sure Suresh hadn’t appeared out of nowhere, then raised her hand to his lips. “I’ll be here. You rest.”

Six smiled. “Sure. Go get some shoes.” And instantly, she was asleep.
Vic followed Darwin outside and leaned against the wall. “What a night, huh?”

"You know half of it. Without Suresh down there, things turned into chaos - and, as you can tell, we're still untangling some vines. Then these two women get tangled up... And it's like the whole Pit population just salivates over them." He looked Vic up and down, mostly down, and commented, "You know, usually when you call Security, you can take another minute and put some shoes on. And real pants."

Vic laughed. “When her emergency call came, I just took off. I was still finishing up dinner after work and I didn’t stop to think about anything except calling you. I was planning to stay, at least until Suresh gets here. I don’t want her alone.”

"Don't let him catch you holding her hand," Darwin smiled. "I'm bringing Reva in here at 6. Do a favor: don't be here. Explaining your presence at Six's bedside isn't something I want to do. She's too unstable to trust with certain information."

Vic studied Darwin a moment and a rueful smile appeared on his face. He could see Darwin had picked up on the vibe. “Reva knows very well how I feel about Six. She's the one who really introduced us. I think she’s been trying to do a little matchmaking behind the scenes, in part because she detests Suresh so much.”

Darwin sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Boy, does she. She's such a damned brat, Vic. If I could, I'd take her over my knee."

“Is that discipline or fantasy, Dar?” Vic smiled at him.

Darwin laughed, "Both." He grinned. "Okay, I might see you again in a bit, then." He stepped away, flipping Vic a small wave as he left.

************
Lt. M. Darwin
Owain
Marat
Ensign Six of Ten
Suresh
Vic

Coming Up On Morning….Finally