Eartly Morning Roustings

Posted on Thu Jul 23rd, 2015 @ 3:01pm by Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Suresh & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Ensign Reva Madhava & Petty Officer 2nd Class Kiere DeMille

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Reva's Quarters / Piper Medical Center

*0545 Hours*

This time, Darwin was rude: he didn't knock. He simply used his security override and opened Reva's door. As he entered the quarters, he shouted, "Wakey, Wakey! Riley, Reva, get up." Noise from the bedroom let him he'd gotten someone's attention.

After a second, an angry green woman appeared before him, "What the hell are you doing just strolling in here? You can't do that!"

"Oh, but I can, little Reva." He grinned and bounced on his toes. "You're under house confinement. That makes this like a brig cell and I can come in to inspect." He had stopped and had coffee and breakfast, so he was feeling more chipper than he had earlier.

She growled and raised her hands like she was thinking of jumping Darwin and clawing his eyes out.

Riley emerged in pajama pants and pulling on a t-shirt. “Morning, Darwin.” He covered a yawn and moved over to the replicator to order coffee. When it appeared, he passed it to Reva. “Drink this and watch your mouth, sweetheart.”

"But...!" She looked from Riley to the mug and back. Finally, she sipped the brew and said, "Be glad I'm an engineer and tweaked that machine to make it give me great coffee."

"Morning, Riley. Sorry to roust you from bed so early, but Reva has a doctor's appointment today."

"I do?" She stared at Darwin.

"You do. I saw Doctor Harding last night... er, this morning?... and mentioned some of your recent shenanigans. He thinks there might be something off with your inhibitor."

Reva looked at Riley, dumbstruck.

Riley wore the same expression as Reva. “Really? Does he think he can fix it?”

"Harding can fix anything," Darwin asserted. "Plus, Reva's been getting dosed with Seyla's pheromones, even just residual stuff." He looked at Riley and wondered whether the Betazoid knew the effect that could have. "That might be part of why she's emulating our local Madame lately." To Reva, he said, "Go get dressed. We're headed to Piper."

She nearly refused, but after a look at Riley, she disappeared to do so.

Riley watched her go, then turned back to Darwin. “That would explain a lot. Including the revolving door this place has needed of late.” There was a hint of bitterness in Riley’s tone.

"Revolving door? Who else has been here?"

“She’s seen one of Seyla’s men, but not here. She also mentioned someone named Niro that she’s been seeing as well,” Riley answered. “Whether Niro was here I don't know. I was speaking in general.”

Darwin felt for Riley: having a woman like Reva... and watching, or knowing about, her bedding other men had to suck. He knew Riley was a better man than he: by now, he'd have locked Reva away in a cave where only he knew she was hidden. "Seyla's pheromones might be doing that to her. Harding said he might be able to make her immune to those effects. But we have to get her to agree."

“We’ll know in a minute, won’t we?” Riley rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up. “Will you let me know how it goes?”

"Will do," Darwin nodded. As Reva came out, he gestured toward the door, "Let's go."

She paused long enough to kiss Riley. "See you later, Rye."

*Piper*

When Darwin and Reva arrived at Piper, Kiere waved them on through. “Dr. Harding is waiting for you in room 1402. This deck, just down the main corridor and it will be on your left.”

"Come on," Darwin said, one hand on her arm. Something was bugging him... Something he was forgetting.

As they entered the room, Reva spoke, "Hi, Doctor Harding--"

"Your bracelet," Darwin blurted. By now, he should have been contacted by Security about Reva being out of her allowed areas. He looked at her as she played the innocent: "I have it on...?"

Pushing her back to the biobed, Darwin dropped to a knee and yanked her pants' leg up. He jiggled the bracelet, shocking both himself and Reva. Livid, Darwin stood and reached for her neck with both hands. "You jimmied with it! I'm...," Darwin didn't know what he was going to do, but strangling her seemed like a good start.

The vehemence of Darwin’s reaction surprised Will. “Stand down, Lieutenant!” he ordered. “Now, step back. Whatever she’s done, strangling her won’t help you at all.”

Frowning, Darwin stepped back. Even Reva reacted to the tone of authority in Harding's voice. She stayed right where she was and wisely didn't crack a smile. Darwin shook his head and said, "I'll wait outside." He left the room.

With him gone, Reva grinned at Will and said, "Oo, he's a bit tightly wound. Maybe he needs a vacation."

Will perked an eyebrow at the young woman. “What he needs is not to have to babysit someone who is supposed to be a Fleet officer.” He motioned to the biobed. “Lie down, please.”

Chastised, she did. Scooting back till her head was on the pillow and then shifting till she was comfortable. "Darwin said the inhibitor might be causing problems. Can't we just... stop the inhibitor? Seyla could teach me to control it, like she does."

Will frowned. “Seyla is part of the problem, Ensign.” Will pressed the panel and the scans started. “It’s my theory that your constant exposure to her pheromones is causing your inhibitor mix to be ineffective, resulting in your sudden erratic shift in behavior.”

"Erratic? I'm not erratic!" She protested. "I've been having a little fun; I'd be having more if Suresh hadn't interfered."

Will grunted as he watched the scan results on the wall panel. “Think what you like but most self-respecting officers don’t end up on house arrest. From what Darwin says, the various incidents all seem to have a common origin with another of your activities, which would be spending time around Seyla and in her quarters. That is not a coincidence.”

"Hmm." Reva couldn't say much else - she didn't have an argument in favor of her recent behavior. "I know what a dose of her pheromones can do... Can a residual amount do the same?" She arched back, looking up at the bioscan. "What does the computer say?"

“With constant exposure, I believe it could be affecting you and throwing off the inhibitor levels in your system. Look at this.” Will pointed to the screen. “This shows your readings at your intake physical when you arrived. This next is two months ago, and the last is the current reading. See the problem?” The graph in the last window was hovering just above zero.

"Almost zero? So the inhibitor is being used up faster than it should be? Because I've been around Seyla?" She considered that. If Darwin hadn't dragged her in here... another week and she might have been on her own. But, without her inhibitors, she'd be out of Starfleet, good behavior or not. That wasn't really what she wanted. Or was it? She hadn't been thinking about it before this. "And you think this low level, plus Seyla's pheromones, might be... making me a little crazy?"

Will nodded as he sat on the stool by the bed. “Even your reaction when I mentioned your erratic behavior is telling Ensign. Two months ago, I suspect I would have gotten a very different answer from you.” He clasped his hands and rested them on his knee. “Which is part of the problem. It’s making it impossible for you to see the change objectively. What has Lt. Darwin said? Or others who are close to you whose opinion you trust?”

"Darwin is... frustrated by me," she looked at the bracelet on her ankle. "He has reason, doesn't he?" She avoided thinking about Riley. Six was simply a lost cause: it wasn't like the Borg was thinking clearly either. "So, what do we do?"

“I have a theory about that,” Will answered. “No one is telling you not to associate with Seyla, but the concern is that if things keep on as they have, your career might be affected. What I am thinking is that I can generate a new mix that takes the effect of Seyla into account. It might keep things on a more even keel and return you to a more normal state. It will basically ward off the effects of being exposed to her pheromones. Or any others, should you come in contact with them.”

"Immune to her?" She unexpectedly liked that idea. So many people lately had been telling her that Seyla had too much influence on her. This would silence those people. "Considering what other Orions' pheromones could do to me, that'd be a good idea, Doctor Harding. Let's do that."

“We’ll give it a shot and see how it flies, then.” Will smiled for the first time since she arrived. “We’ll have to do some more detailed scans so the lab can start analyzing the results and then I can figure out exactly what’s needed in the mix. Ophelia can take care of that part, so I’ll send her in.” Will stood and moved to the door. “I’ll notify Chief Jenkins that I am keeping you here in case we make you a little late for your shift.”

"Okay. Notify Darwin, too?" She didn't want to talk to him again right now.

“I will, I think he was planning to check in on Six while he’s here,”Will answered.

Reva blurted out, "Six is here? Why? Is she okay? What happened? Can I see her?"

Will held up his hand to stop the flood of questions. “She’s sleeping right now. She was attacked down in the Pit apparently so they could get some of her blood. It goes for a high price on the black market out here. Luckily, Security has the man in custody. She just arrived about an hour ago, so perhaps later.”

"Okay," Reva settled back, disappointed and worried. Doc Harding left her alone and a theory about Suresh started percolating in her head.

*Elsewhere*

Kiere heard the running feet before she saw the man they were attached to. Moments later, Suresh appeared and zoomed right past the front counter, stopped and came back. “Where is she??”

It didn’t take much to figure out who the ‘she’ in question was. Kiere gave him directions and as quickly as he’d appeared, Suresh was gone. He dashed down the hall and rounded one corner, then another, hoping he was remembering the directions right. Just ahead, he saw Darwin, which was a good sign. Hopefully, he should know where Six was since Suresh wasn’t exactly thinking straight at the moment.

"Suresh! I see you've heard about Six," Darwin caught Suresh as he came toward him. "Come on, she's likely asleep, but we'll go in." He led Suresh to Six's room.

“Patch found me.” Suresh ran his hand through his hair as they reached the room and stepped inside. Six was asleep and he rushed over, then gently took her hand. “Just what the hell happened? And where was Marat? It was his job to keep watch.” He kept his voice down so as not to awaken Six, but the edge in his voice made it clear how upset he was.

"Marat did this, Suresh. He and one other. We've got Marat in custody. It looks like they did this for her blood - the nanites are valuable, as you know." Darwin said and prepared for the explosion.

Suresh turned slowly to face Darwin. “Marat?” Fire seemed to flicker in Suresh’s dark eyes. When he spoke, his voice was eerily calm. “You know, Darwin, there are times when being the good guy is a terrible thing indeed. It prevents us from striking back at those who bring harm to our loved ones.” He sighed aloud and shook his head. “I suppose it’s a good thing he’s locked up. It prevents me from degenerating to the level of the old Suresh and gives me a good reason publicly for not doing so.” He let go of Six’s hand and slammed his fist against the wall.

"He'll be tried and sent off. We might arrange an accident, to make it appear that Suresh has had his revenge. Something calculating, a bit like Reva's attack - out of view of anyone, yet the message gets delivered." Darwin was already planning ahead. "It's the one that got away that I'm concerned about... Whoever that is, he phasered Marat and left him behind when Security was closing in."

Suresh nodded. “I’ll see that the word is put out. Someone will find whoever it is, but this could get tricky Darwin. If he is found, I’ll be forced to act.”

"If you find who did this, let me know first. We'll take it from there. And remember, some people think I'm on your payroll," Darwin said.

“That will help. They’ll see it as a way of keeping my hands clean and letting you deal with it...as usual.” Suresh returned to Six’s bedside and took her hand once more, raising it to his lips. “And it looks like I may need to do a little tidying up, see who’s wearing a mask. I’ll need to find someone else to cover Six too.”

"I've got that covered, Surie. Well, not yet, but I'll talk to Oralia once she's awake and we'll get someone assigned to Six. I have a couple of choices in mind... Maybe we'll assign both and they can rotate." Darwin nodded as he said that, as if agreeing with his own thoughts.

“Thank you.” Suresh hooked the rolling stool with his foot and pulled it over to sit down. “This might be a dumb question but does Intel know about this?”

"About Six in general?"

“About this attack.” Suresh smiled faintly. “They likely know what we had for dinner last night even, but I know Vic is her contact. Maybe he should be called.”

"Oh, good. Then you won't kill him when you see them together," Darwin laughed. "Yes, Intel is aware of this. Vic's been here and gone. He's the one who raised the alarm. Otherwise, Marat and his friend might have gotten away with her completely."

Suresh closed his eyes and sighed with relief. “Remind me to thank him when I see him,” he whispered. “I can’t even imagine losing her, Darwin.”

Darwin knew what it was like to lose the woman you loved. "It's worse than you can ever imagine, so don't bother trying." He glanced at the clock. "Look, I have Reva here, seeing Harding. I need to go make sure she's behaving. You're okay here?"

“Yes. I’ll be here till she wakes up and we know when she can go home.” Suresh looked back to Darwin. “Thanks for everything.”

The Security officer nodded and left the room.

Suresh stood and leaned over Six, gently kissing her forehead. “We’ll take care of it,” he whispered, then settled in to wait.

**********************
Lt. M. Darwin
In Need of a Vacation

Ensign Reva Madhava
Theorizing and Theorized On

Lt. Commander William Harding, M.D.
A Man With A Theory

Suresh
Preparing To Do A Little Housecleaning

Lt. Riley Sukotav
Hopeful

PO2 Kiere DeMille
Giver Of Directions