Vic's Very Bad, No Good Day

Posted on Tue Aug 18th, 2015 @ 1:39am by Commander Dae Nalas & Ensign Six of Ten & Jackson Banning V & Vic & Janice Gree
Edited on on Tue Aug 18th, 2015 @ 12:26pm

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: The Nexus Club / Dae's Office

* Nexus, Before Opening Hours *

Janice frowned at Vic and said, "See? If you hadn't moved so slow, maybe she'd still be in the Fleet." She shook her head at him. "But now? Nope, too late."

Vic, working to make certain the bar was ready for business that night, pursed his lips but remained silent. Or, tried to, at least. "It is not too late, Jan. I saw her just a few days ago and we had a talk."

“About what?” Jackson stepped from the hall that ran down to his office.

"Six," Janice answered for Vic.

"Look, we talked! It's not a lost cause. I just have to be patient and play my cards right." Vic, frustrated, snapped the towel he had in his hand.

Jackson rolled his eyes as he looked at Jan. “It’s a lost cause,” he mouthed silently.

"Sounds a bit like deja vu, like you with Connor and Oralia," Janice opined.

"It is not!", Vic protested. He wasn't paying attention to what he was doing and jammed his fingers in a drawer. "Dammit! Would you two go do something productive elsewhere?"

The opening of the doors near the bar stilled the conversation and Six walked in. Three pairs of eyes turned to look at her and she stopped, suddenly a little nervous.

“I’m sorry, am I interrupting?”

"Ah, no," Janice shook her head. "Jackson, come help me pick out tonight's dress?" She motioned to him.

“Sure thing, Jan.” Jackson smiled at Six. “Heya Six. Good ta see ya.” He turned and followed as Janice hurried down the hall.

Once Vic was alone, she approached the bar. “Hi Vic.” She was glad the bar hid her lower body - Vic wouldn’t see her hands trembling. She clasped them together and smiled at him.

Nursing his hurt fingers with ice wrapped in a towel, Vic made an effort to squash his irritation. It was easy, considering how pretty Six was. "Hey there." He smiled then caught her nervousness. He moved around the bar and pulled her to a private booth along the wall. "What's wrong, love?"

“A lot has happened in the last few days,” she began. “You heard that Riley broke up with Reva?”

"He did?" Vic's jaw dropped. "No, what the hell happened there? Last I heard, Riley was missing." He chuckled, bemused. "Looks like our rumor mill failed us."

“He’s back and there’s some mystery around his disappearance. They recovered him on Archadia, and Ed said he had a hole in his memory. Nico went out this morning to see what he could do.” Six shrugged. “I saw Riley a few minutes ago and he’s still….shaken up about it all. Suresh also discovered a cargo crate that held some of Sey’s girls waiting to be shipped out. That slaver whose partner was captured, remember?”

"Yeah, that I heard 'bout. Gilroy and Oz caught that container just before the freighter departed. Reva's been off the radar lately, though. Probably because she's been on house confinement for two weeks. Jeez, Riley goes missing, comes back and breaks up with her? Didn't her confinement just end?"

“Confinement didn’t mean she couldn’t have visitors,” Six answered. She was trying to be delicate about it. “She was down in Saturnalia last night with Niro.” She sighed. She needed to update Vic but this was more a means of avoiding the subject she’d come to discuss.

He frowned; he knew of Niro and knowing a friend of his was involved worried him. "I appreciate the updates, Six, but this isn't why you're here is it?"

Telepaths. She shook her head. “There was an...incident last night in Saturnalia. With Owain. It was innocent but it was taken the wrong way and Suresh was forced to act.” She pursed her lips together. “You know the way that works.”

"Hmm. I do. At least, how the old Suresh would have resolved that. Did our current Suresh do the same?"

“Patch dealt with him for being too familiar with me.” She frowned. “Suresh and I left to make it look good and went home. There, we ended up having a long talk. About us.” She paused and decided there was little choice but to jump in. “He knew that there was nothing with Owain, it was just for appearance’s sake. But he finally admitted something that I’ve known for a little time now. He says he is in love with me and….he proposed.”

He stared at her. "And you wisely said no, right?"

“Not exactly,” she admitted.

He got up and paced, running a hand through his hair. He wanted to rail at her, yell at her for being stupid - she was too young to do this. Instead, he managed to stop pacing and calmly say, "I see." He looked at her and added, "I can't say congratulations."

“I understand.” Six swallowed as tears stung her eyes. “You have to know that this was the hardest choice I’ve ever had to make, Vic. You are an incredible man and I care so much for you. But I made the move down below for Suresh and the Fleet found a way to make it happen, and to keep me of use. I went for a reason...for him. You can accept that I hope? I’m so sorry.”

"Six, I'm disappointed, for what we could have had, but I can't .... You're young to do this. I mean, you've barely explored your options and now you're closing off any exploration."

“Despite appearances, he’s a good man, Vic. I know it’s not what you hoped to hear but --” The comm panel behind the bar beeped with Vic’s signal, interrupting her. “Do you need to get that?”

"Yeah," he reached over the bar and opened the channel. "Vic here."

Dae’s voice came from the panel. “Please report to my office. I promise I’ll have you back in time to open. Nalas out.”

If Six hadn't been right there, Vic just might have banged his head on the bar. He returned to Six. "I have to go; Dae calls. I understand your message, though. I won't carry a torch."

Six nodded once more and slipped out of the booth. Looking up at him, she looked deep into his eyes and for a moment hesitated, wondering if she’d made the right decision. Too late, she realized he’d catch it.

He stepped in towards her and kissed her. "It'll be a long time before you know for sure."

She stood still, reaching out to rest her hand on his chest as his kiss lingered. “Go, Dae’s waiting. I’ll see you soon.” She stepped back away from him, then turned and hurried out.

Vic watched her go then hurried through Jackson's office to the back door there.

* Nalas' Office *

“Phoebe, send Vic in when he gets here, he won’t have a lot of time. We’re cutting it close to opening time at the Nexus,” Dae called out. He then lifted the padd on his desk and scanned the update once more. It was an odd, tangled situation and he felt sympathy for Vic. He also hoped Vic had some idea on how to handle it. Finally he dropped the padd and grumbled. A faint chime sounded as the secure turbolift arrived. Time to get it over with.

Vic waved at Phoebe as she pointed him towards Dae's office. "Reporting as requested," he said, stopping just in front of Dae's desk.

“Have a seat, Vic.” Dae waved at the chair before the desk. “How’s the operation going? With Ensign Six? I know you and I touched on the...uhh...complication when this all started. I understand things have progressed with you and Six?”

"Progressed?" Vic laughed ruefully as he took a seat. "Hardly. She just told me she's engaged to Suresh. So if there was progress? There isn't now."

Dae sat up a little straighter. “Engaged?” He rubbed his forehead. “I see. I suppose I should offer my condolences.” His mind played over the situation and the possible problems this could cause. “I’m not sure whether to think this is a brilliant move on her part or to forbid her to do it for the good of the operation.”

"Personal feelings aside, Dae, it's a damned stupid idea! She's way too young for this and this will not help the operation at all. I can see it causing problems - how will the denizens of the Pit reconcile a married Suresh with the cutthroat Suresh?"

“I suspect they won’t know, if Suresh is as smart as we think he is. It would be a simple matter to have the ceremony done in secret and carry on as usual.” Dae sighed. “I can’t tell her she can’t, Vic. She’s involved in this for that very reason. As for her age, she’s twenty-two. Old enough to know her own mind, don’t you think?” His brows lowered. “Or does she?”

"Three years out from a hive mind? Does she know her own mind? She's had training and counseling, but has she had time to just be herself?" Vic was concerned for her, for the woman she'd grow into being. Would she regret this choice?

“Good question. Did you ask her that?” A sigh escaped Dae. “I share those same concerns as well as worry that this has happened too fast. Perhaps she’s in this position and thinks that she’s stuck there? You’d know better than I would and have the best chance of talking her out of it. Assuming you want to.”

"I want to, Dae, but I don't know that I'm the right person to do that, all things considered." He meant his feelings for Six. Another idea occurred to him, "Reva might be a good one to get in on this. So long as we keep her away from Suresh."

“Assuming we allow her to tell Reva. If want to keep this marriage, if it happens, secret, is that wise?” Dae rested his arms on the desk and leaned towards Vic. “No, if she changes her mind, Vic, it will be because of you, pure and simple. You know that, don’t you?”

"I'll send a message to Ed, tell her to pass on the message that Six can't tell her best empathic and telepathic girlfriend that she's getting married," Vic said, not tempering his sarcasm. "And then I'll turn on the charm and convince her not to go through with it." That part, he didn't mind so much and his tone showed it.

Dae laughed for a moment. “So far, that telepathic best friend hasn’t a clue what Six is really up to, so she’s blocking very well. I really hate to get tied up in the personal lives of all of you but in this case, there’s no way around it.”

"Reva's been distracted by other people lately. If she hadn't been, she might have caught on by now, so we've been lucky," Vic warned Dae. "We need a plan for when Reva puts the pieces together."

“Have Nico remove the memory?” Dae smiled. “Edana has reported that Ensign Madhava is involved with Nico’s brother and that could be a problem.”

"I know. Niro isn't someone I want around any of my friends, and that Reva is involved with him worries me. Beyond what Niro might do to Reva, do you see some other problem there?"

“From what Ed says, he’s not one to shy away from picking anyone’s brain he pleases. If so, then it’s essential that Reva not know anything that could endanger all this. I have a question for you. You are still, as of now, assigned to work with Six. Is that going to be an issue if your attempts to sway her don’t work?”

Thinking on that, Vic simply stared at Dae for a moment. "I need to work with her in order to have a reason to be near her and to stay in contact with her. If, down the road, my attempts fail, then, maybe it will be an issue. Till then, though, since my assignment is to turn her head," he smiled for what felt like the first time that day, "I can handle it."

Dae shook his head. “Man this makes me sound like such a shit, but this is mild compared to some intel ops I’ve done. You too, actually. There is one caveat here. If, in your opinion or mine or Edana’s...or Darwin’s, she really does want this with Suresh, we let it happen. I won’t be responsible for manipulating her that far. She’d never forgive us and rightly so.”

"So be it if that's the case," Vic agreed. "I should get back, unless you have more?"

“No, get going. Call her when you get back to the Nexus. I know you want to. You’re broadcasting, Vic.”

"Thanks," Vic stood and headed back to his easy job.

****************
Janice Gree
Jackson Banning V
The Peanut Gallery

Vic
Having a Bad Day

Ensign Six Of Ten
Not Helping Vic’s Day

Lt. Commander Dae Nalas
Playing Chess