Planning Around Twilight

Posted on Sun Jul 26th, 2015 @ 1:55pm by Lieutenant Bryce Kendrick & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Senior Chief Petty Officer Edana

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Saturnalia

Twenty-four hours: Darwin was counting upward now. It had been twenty-four hours since he'd last heard anything about his pain in the ass Orion, Reva Madhava. He was starting to both like and fear the quiet: like it in that, maybe, the Orion had been fixed; feared it in that, what if she hadn't been? How much trouble was she brewing? Either way, he'd taken the afternoon off, gone back to his own quarters, checked it for random mechanical spiders and then taken a long, much-needed nap. Which made his timing perfect for going to Saturnalia that night.

Edana was already there and the gossip of the night was all centered around the latest attack, this time on Suresh’s girl. Speculation was running rampant as to who had been Marat’s assistant on that one, as well as on Marat’s eventual fate. She ordered a fresh drink and glanced to the door. Darwin and Bryce were due in at any time, which was why she’d chosen a table towards the back. One of the regulars stopped by, indicating the chair and hoping to join her. The look she gave him had him moving on and she went back to watching the door.

“There she is,” Bryce commented as he stepped into the bar. It wasn’t hard to miss her. Edana was as green as an Orion could be. “Far back, left side.”

"Yeah, yeah. I see her," Darwin muttered. He'd been able to spot her as soon as they walked in; there was something about green skin that just drew his eye. For that reason, he also noticed the rather large green man off to the right. An Orion male. A slaver?, he wondered. "Come on, let's not block the doorway." He meandered between tables, nodding to those regulars he knew, and finally took a seat next to Edana. "Green lady," he greeted her. "You know Bryce, don't you?"

“Hello boys.” She smiled as she looked up at Bryce. “I know of him. Good to meet you.” She pushed out the other chair with her foot. “Can I get you two anything?”

"What you can get me isn't appropriate in public," Darwin told her, putting a hand high on her thigh. "A whiskey to drink."

Bryce looked to Darwin, then back to Edana. “Not sure what the hell he wants, but I’ll have a stout. Two of ‘em.”

Edana laughed at Darwin and motioned to the waitress. She ordered Bryce’s stouts, plus some whiskey for Darwin. “All in good time Dar,” she replied. “How much have you told Bryce?”

"Not much. I told him to meet me here, in appropriate clothing," Darwin laughed. "Have you seen Suresh or Six tonight?"

She snorted. “Are you kidding? I doubt they will come up for air till tomorrow, now that she’s recovered.” Edana glanced to Bryce. “Sorry, I don’t mean to speak so coarsely of your friend, just stating a fact.”

Bryce remained quiet, but from the look on his face they could probably tell he wasn’t exactly keen on Six and Suresh being a ‘thing’. Of all the people on this base, or the damned universe, she had to pick him? Hell, even the big goon next to him would have been an improvement. He decided to drink the beer that had just arrived instead.

"Too bad they aren't around. It'd be good for him to meet his new boss. And his charge," Darwin said, kicking Bryce's chair leg. "You're one of Six's new bodyguards. You and Edana, here. Anything happens to her and I wouldn't want to be you."

“Kick my chair again and I wouldn’t want to be you,” Bryce replied coolly, taking another drink of his beer. Of course, putting two large men on high protein diets this close to each other was never really a good idea for any length of time. But Bryce knew Darwin would disappear soon enough and he could get on with doing his job.

"Least I didn't kick your leg," Darwin muttered, wondering what bad bug had bitten Bryce.

“Enough you two.” Edana’s voice was hard. “After her attack by her own bodyguard, it was thought a good idea to have some who won’t turn on her. I’ll be the eyes and ears and muscle down here, Bryce, and you can cover things above the equator. From what I recall, you two are pretty close, yeah? You being around up there will make sense.” She sipped her drink and under the table, ran her toes up Darwin’s leg. It would either settle him down or send him screaming for the door. The thought made her smile.

“I’ll be able to pull some shifts down here as well,” Bryce replied. “I haven’t been on station long and when I come down here I’m always in civilian attire. So just yell if you need me to fill in.”

Having kept himself from jumping out of his skin when Edana touched him, and rather proud of that fact, Darwin looked at Edana then Bryce. "That's all good, except if Madhava sees you."

“Hmm,” Bryce replied as he moved to the second bottle. “Maybe only in an emergency, then.”

“She’s become something of an issue for a few reasons.” Edana took up the tale. “Beginning with her dislike of Suresh, who she thinks has ruined Six’s life. It caused a problem down here and resulted in Darwin putting her under house arrest. If she decides to spend more time down here, it could be trouble, unless, as you say, it’s an emergency. Is Six more likely to see you at places up top? I mean, does she still frequent those areas on a regular basis?” She glanced at Darwin a moment, then went back to her drink.

"Does she? I don't know. If she is, it might be just to see Reva. Not that they're doing much of that now." Darwin shrugged.

“She does come around quite a bit,” Bryce added. “Other than visiting me, she likes several places on the Promenade, the training holodecks, the gym, places like that. She’s probably top-side as much as she is down here.”

“Good to know.” Edana nodded. “Sounds like we’ll both be busy. In fact, there’s a movie she’s planning to see, according to Suresh. Sounds like the perfect thing for her big brother to see with her.”

“As long as it’s not some chick-flick,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I accidentally wound up in one of those a week or so ago. I was seconds away from taking a spanner to the brain. Twilight, I think it was called? Ugh. Horrible."

Darwin stared at him like he was crazy - which, far as Darwin was concerned might have been the truth. "You willingly went to a chick-flick? She didn't have you tied down?"

“She who? I went on my own. I’ve been on a vampire kick lately,” Bryce said with a shrug. “This movie called Blade, was fantastic. So, another vampire flick, I went in, left about forty-five minutes into it. Seriously, I almost vomited. Epic failure. But they made, like, ten more of that one!”

“Vampires? Really? Then you have to see the Dracula with Frank Langella. Sexy, sexy man.” Edana all but swooned for a moment. “You remind me of him, Darwin. When he was young anyway.”

“Sexy men?” Bryce laughed. “I’ll...consider it. But I saw some cover art for another series called Underworld. Now that had some sex appeal in it! And apparently the Blade movies had a few more. But stay away from Twilight. Horrible.” He shook his head and drank more beer.

"If you want old Earth movies that involve humans getting eaten, you should try a series called 'Aliens'. I showed that one to Ignatius and Oz complained that Iggy insisted on being in her bedroom for four nights afterward," Darwin laughed.

Edana laughed at that. “A giant spider was afraid of an alien? That’s just wrong.” She glanced past Darwin for a moment, then spoke, her voice lowered. “Bryce, see that man at the door? The humanoid? He has on a blue shirt. He’s one of those who first started causing trouble for the girls. He sells to the slave market on Stameris in the alpha quadrant and a few places out here as well.”

Instead of just turning around to gawk at the man, Bryce turned casually to wave down a server for another beer and got a good look at him. “Do you think he still poses a problem to Six, or did Suresh put an end to that?”

Barely glancing at the man, Darwin said, "He's still a threat. Maybe even more now than before. At the moment, for all we know, he was Marat's partner in the attack."

“According to Patch, he is one of those involved in the ruckus at Iapetus with Ensign Madhava too,” Edana informed them. “Would a Cardassian’s word be enough to haul this guy in Darwin?”

"You want to rely on a Cardie's word?" Darwin sneered and shook his head.

“I wouldn’t. But we could do a little snooping around to see if we can get any reliable source to use against him,” Bryce said, turning again in his chair to get another look at him. “Or we could come up with other charges. Other than that, we’ll just have to make sure he stays away from Six.”

“Hmm….I might be able to weasel something out of him. No danger of him trying to cart me off to sell, I’d squish him like a bug.” Edana reached for her drink and had a sip. “But that will have to wait until I’m not surrounded by muscle.”

"Well, I'll take that as a cue to get out of here," Darwin said, chuckling. "You two have met, I've done my part for now." He stood. "Enjoy your evenings," he said and took his leave.

Watching him go, Bryce drained the last of his own beer. “Nice meeting you. And let me know if you need me down here. I can be down in a flash.” With a nod, he stood and headed for the entrance, making his way very close to the man in the blue shirt on the way out. It never hurt to get to know one’s enemy.

Edana ordered another drink and watched the man for a moment. Finally, she crooked her finger at him.

*******************
Lt. M. Darwin
SCPO Edana
Lt. Bryce Kendrick