Getting Green

Posted on Thu Jul 23rd, 2015 @ 7:28pm by Vic & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Security

"Mmm... I'll be late," Oralia whispered even as Jackson kissed and then nipped her neck. "Then again... I am the boss." She let him wordlessly convince her to stay in bed a bit longer.

Later, when she entered her office and found Darwin waiting there for her, she rolled her eyes. "The one day I decide I can be late...," she shook her head and laughed.

He frowned. "I've had an eventful morning, that's all." He filled her in, from his unfortunate finding of the mechanical spider to his conversation with Seyla and Harding to Six's attack and, finally, his discovery that Madhava had cracked the locks on her ankle monitor.

"She in the Brig?" Oz asked and sipped her coffee.

"No, she's in Piper--" He caught Oz's look and was quick to say, "I didn't hurt her! Harding is working on tweaking her inhibitor, that's all. Maybe then, she'll return to being the Starfleet officer she's supposed to be."

"Let's hope, for your sanity. Though you could turn her case over to Gilroy."

Darwin winced. "No offense to Gilroy, but you know he's... He doesn't exactly like Orions."

"No, he doesn't. Sometimes, you like them a little too much."

"Ah... well...," he shifted in his seat.

Oralia laughed at his discomfort. "No worries. You've gotten good information from Seyla in the past. What you do in your free time... I don't care." Oralia mentally sorted through what he'd told her. "Tell me more detail about Six. I hate to think that we put her in danger."

"She agreed to it. Plus, Suresh had his own man watching her; there was no way we could have known he'd turn on him." Darwin gave her more details, reiterating the information he'd already told her. "She's in Piper, recovering just fine."

"Good. You told Suresh we'd pick new guards for her? Do you have someone in mind?"

"I do. Two people, actually. One is ours, Bryce Kendrick. He's a friend of Six's, acts like a big brother to her. The biggest problem with him is that Madhava knows him. If she sees him in the Pit, she could blow up the whole thing by outing him as Fleet. But in Fleet areas, like the Nexus and Promenade, he can be around her and Reva without causing any issues."

"Okay," Oz nodded.

"The other, we'll need to talk to Nalas about."

"Nalas is off-station, headed for Charu with some of the Colony higher-ups for a tour. Let's call Vic. Who is it that you want to tap for this?" She opened a comm channel to Vic's quarters.

"Edana. An Orion in Intel." As he said it, he grinned.

So did Oz. "I should have known you'd know of her." To her console, she spoke, "Morning, Vic. Sorry to wake you, but we have a request for Intel."

Vic’s face appeared on her console and he looked a little shell-shocked. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head to wake up. “No problem Oz. I’m off tonight so I can sleep later. You need me there?”

"Not necessarily," she said. "Darwin and I were discussing Six and her situation. We're thinking of assigning two people to Six's protection detail - one is Bryce Kendrick; the other is in your department, Edana."

A hint of a smile appeared on Vic’s face, then vanished. “Edana would be a good one since she’s not really...how to put this nicely...a social butterfly? I know she prefers Saturnalia and so she wouldn’t stand out as a new face suddenly showing up there, if that makes sense.”

"It does. You'll see to it, then that she's assigned? She and Kendrick can work out their schedules. Suresh will need to meet with both of them, as if he's hiring them."

Darwin nodded. "I'll arrange that."

Vic nodded. “I’ll meet with her shortly then. I don’t foresee any problems.” He knew this was going to greatly amuse Edana. “While you two are here, I have a question. Darwin? Is Six still in Piper?”

"Harding is holding her till the drugs wear off. She should be there at least till the start of Beta shift. Are you going to visit her again?"

Confusion colored Vic’s expression. “She didn’t leave and go back by any chance?”

"Ah... No? Harding gave her a sedative. Far as I know, she's been out since then." Darwin looked at Oz and shrugged.

“Huh.” Vic frowned a moment. “I swear she was in my quarters when I got home from sickbay earlier. I walked in and I could smell her perfume. Then she was….there. As solid as you or I. She….” He decided to skip over the details. “We talked a little, she touched me and then she….vanished.”

"Uh-huh." Doubt could be heard in that simple utterance from Darwin. "Maybe you need some sleep, Vic."

Oz huffed out a breath. "Jeez, you two. You're the ones assigned to her! She's hana...Halanan, yeah, Halanan. They can do that astral, out of body thing."

“Do what?” Vic asked.

"They can project themselves, or a version of themselves, while sleeping. It's in her file, Vic." Oralia pulled that up and mirrored the information on Vic's screen so he could read what was there. "It's a species trait."

“Oh hell,” Vic commented, then looked to Darwin. “This isn’t good and you know why.” He rubbed his forehead. “Maybe it was just a result of the drugs.”

"Maybe." Darwin had to wonder about that. "Well, get Edana to call me. I can get her up to date pretty quickly." Oz coughed to hide a laugh.

“Will do. I’m going to get some sleep. I’ll send Ed your way.” Vic closed the channel and the screen in Oz’s office went dark.

"Interesting wrinkle in all of this," Oz said.

"Very, hopefully it won't bring everything down." Darwin stood and Oz dismissed him.

*************
Lt. M. Darwin
Cmdr. Oralia Zeferino
Vic (Lieutenant)