One Bullet Dodged

Posted on Sun Aug 23rd, 2015 @ 6:22pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Lieutenant Commander Nicolao

*The Wormhole*

“Damn...,” Darwin swore even as he lifted his beer and took a sip. “I forgot to tell my favorite Ensign that Iggy’s egg hatched.” He grimaced and shook his head. “I’ll send her a message. Or ask Ian Bren to send it.”

Nico downed a sizeable gulp of his own beer. “The latter sounds better. You leveling out now since I saved your ass
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks. Man, those pheromones... I think she’s more potent than Seyla,” he commented. He knew how Seyla’s affected him and they’d never gotten to him the way Reva’s had. “Good thing you’re on our side.”

“I’ve heard that before,” Nico grinned. “Be glad.” He shook his head and had some more beer. “As thick in the air as they were, I’m surprised you had a mind left and didn’t attack me when I walked in the room. Looks like you’ve had some practice.”

“Yeah, with Seyla,” Darwin smiled. “Back when the original Suresh was around. Good thing, too, since I carry a phaser.” He looked around the room. “But she did get to me. And your brother is being exposed to that.”

“Scary thought, that is,” Niro conceded. “Would it worry you more if I said it likely couldn’t make him any worse?”

Laughing, Darwin shook his head. “No. Honestly? Reva’s not bad. A little lacking in self-control, but not inherently bad. If she controls Niro... that could be a good thing, actually.” He took a swig then asked, “So, how much did you remove from her? All the way back to when she came in?”

Nico nodded. “Sorry, but from what I saw, it seemed the best idea.” He motioned to the waitress for another round. “I’m not trying to play your conscience or anything, but I suspect that’s something you’d regret later.”

“Taking her to bed?” Darwin shook his head. “I wouldn’t regret that. Revealing something like Six and Suresh because I slept with her? Yeah, that I’d regret. But, thanks. This... leaves her as is for the time being. If she knew she’d used her pheromones on me, I’d have to report her, take her to the brig, which means that she’d be one step from being bounced out of the Fleet.” He looked at Niro. “You just saved her commission.”

Nico nodded. “That’s not all I saved, Dar,” he said quietly. The fresh beers arrived and he took a drink as he watched Darwin over the rim of the glass.

He nodded, wordlessly agreeing with Nico. Putting Suresh in power had seemed like an easy way to regain balance in the Pit, but now...? Darwin shook his head. “It’s all such a mess.” He was feeling a bit despairing.

“I wasn’t referring to Suresh. I meant Riley. You have no idea what it’s like seeing in both their heads. Heartbreaking, Dar.”

“Heart...? I’m not sure whether those two should be together, Nico. Riley’s a good guy, calm, duty-oriented; Reva? She’s Orion,” his words to Reva came to mind and he voiced them, “Orions don’t love.”

“Don’t they?” Nico held his gaze for a moment. “That’s not what I am seeing at all.”

Darwin backed off slightly, “She’s part Betazoid. But she’s letting her Orion side rule right now.” He cleared his throat. “Love, huh? She’s not really showing that.”

Nico nodded. “You want a mess? Look at her and Riley. She visited him in the brig the night he was brought in.” He took another sip of his beer. “As for the Pit, once Six is back home I think things will even out some. Maybe. Reva’s not the only one with a romance crisis on her hands.”

“Yeah, Six is having issues with Vic. I told those two they have to watch how they look at each other in public.”

Nico blinked. “Then you don’t know. Huh. But things have been a bit busy for you the last few days.”

Darwin paused and looked at Nico. “What don’t I know?”

Vic said Six came to see him just before the attack and told him Suresh had proposed,” Nico informed him. “Much to his dismay, she didn’t say no either. So yeah, Intel has its own issue. Like you, he’s concerned that she’s not ready, doesn’t really know what she wants yet….much of what you’ve said about Reva.”

“Holy hell,” Darwin breathed. “That ass hasn’t even bothered to try to tell me,” he said, disregarding the fact that neither he nor Suresh had really had any time lately to relay good news. “I agree with Vic - she has no idea what marriage to someone like Suresh will mean. Well, marriage to anyone, really.”

“Well, in their defense, they’ve been a little busy since it happened.” Nico smiled for a moment. “But like I said to Reva, they’re adults and it’s really not our business who they are with. Though I have to admit, I have no idea what she sees in Niro. He’s slimy.”

"He's your brother," Darwin chided him. "Can't you go in and fix him?". He shook his head and waved off that idea. "Nevermind. I think Reva sees adventure in him. A life different from what she's had. She told me she wants to see how Orions live. Problem is, the only role model she has is Seyla."

“I see your point. Seyla has few limits and can’t get booted from the Fleet if she misbehaves, but how do you get that point across to Reva? She’s done a lot to disprove the stereotype but she seems determined to reverse that for some reason.” Nico grumbled. “My guess is that Niro is doing everything he can to help that along. He sees something he wants, he doesn’t care how he gets it.”

"That's why I don't like her being around either of them, Nico. The only time she's been calm lately is when Riley...," he pulled at the label on his beer, "Before Riley broke up with her." He sighed. "I need to assign some extra personnel down here for the next few days. Females and Vulcans. With her wandering around, fully loaded, I suspect we'll have an outbreak of fights."

“I’m curious about something though.” Nico looked from his beer back to Darwin. “I know Riley’s mental command forced him to break up with her but did he say why? What reason did he give?”

"What reason did he give her or what reason did his programmers have?" He shook his head. "No idea what reason he gave her. Gilroy said that, when she visited Riley in the Brig, she told him she was toxic for him and he needed to move on. As for his programmers, I thought you knew that. They didn't want her reading him and it was an easy way to get him close to Six."

Nico nodded. “I was thinking of what he told Reva, and if maybe all this is a reaction to Riley shoving her off.“ He shrugged. “It’s possible. It’ll be interesting to see what happens now that he’s been cleared.”

"There's an old Terran saying, 'Easiest way to get over someone is to get under someone else.' After today, it strikes me that Reva doesn't necessarily like Niro. You saw how she reacted when you came in?" Darwin paused. "He might just be a bandaid. Granted, a bandaid that offers some fun and excitement." Like Nico, he shrugged.

“I agree.” A sly smile settled on Nico’s face. “We both know who she wants, so what are we going to do about it?”

"Chain her to his bed?" He laughed. "Gotta admit, that's tempting - it'd take her off my hands. But there's the whole 'toxic' thing. Where's that coming from? Surely it isn't just because she took a couple guys to bed. I thought Betazoids didn't get tied up about stuff like that."

“‘Orions don’t love’,“ Niro quoted. “Gee, where did she get that? And then she has my brother and Seyla and all her dalliances telling her ‘hey, you’re an Orion, you don’t settle down. Have fun!’ She hears it enough, she is likely starting to believe that.” Nico shook his head. “Betazoids don’t as long as there is no commitment. But think about it. Do you really think Captain Hawke would just blow it off if Sakkath started sleeping around? What about her father and his wife? Once feelings get involved, things change don’t they?”

Darwin had winced, having his own words tossed back at him. He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. "Okay, so maybe yelling at her and lecturing her to stay away from Niro and Seyla is the wrong way to go about this. Maybe we have to remind her she's Betazoid with an Orion appearance. Any suggestions on how to do that?"

“She needs to see that life down there isn’t the bed of roses she thinks it is. She seems to think Seyla leads a charmed life and that’s far from the truth. Seyla’s women...I think it’s a pretty hollow life, despite how glamorous it looks. Given her feelings for Riley, that may be what turns the tide. It’s all fun and games until someone gets beaten up or, like Bella, locked in a sheep crate.”

"I just told her about this," Darwin said, "but she won't remember any of it." He gave Nico an intent look. "Maybe I'll go 'round and re-enact parts of today's scene. The parts that don't involve her touching me."

“Good, I don’t want to get another call to redo what I just did.” Nico finished off his beer. “You know that once Niro tires of her, he’s likely to just scramble her mind till she has no clue who she is and dump her wherever he happens to be?”

The thought chilled Darwin. "Let's hope we can cut her off from him before he loses interest, then."

“Yes.” A thought occurred to Nico suddenly and he frowned. “Have you thought about assigning a discreet security detail to Riley, at least for a few days? I don’t know that he’ll have trouble but there are some down in the Pit that may think teaching him a lesson is a good idea.”

"Yup. He attacked Suresh's woman, that bit of news is all over the Station. Farco and Patch might try to curry favor by taking him out for Surie. Riley's security detail isn't a secret. That's going to be tricky... How can Suresh 'forgive' Riley without losing standing?"

“Shit,” Nico muttered. “Good question. I’ll have to think on that. You might pick Edana’s brain too. Whatever it is will have to be good and damn near heroic, like Riley saving Suresh’s life or something. We’ll come up with something.”

"Maybe we could use Suresh's partnership with Seyla here. Seyla claims Reva as hers, Reva claims Riley, putting him under Seyla's penumbra of protection. 'Course, her protection didn't keep Reva safe, but Reva's transgression was directly against Suresh." Darwin mused.

“Shaky. At least while he has a security detail, it will be easy enough for everyone to see why Suresh is waiting.” Another thought occurred to Nico then. “His absence from the Pit while Six has been in Sickbay is starting to be noticed and might make people wonder just how attached to her he really is. You and he should show your faces tonight. Ed can take Six home and get her settled in.”

"I'll round him up and take him to Saturnalia. There's a few things he and I need to discuss." Darwin pulled the label completely off his beer bottle. "You headed home to Dru now?"

“You better believe it, Dar.” Nico smiled finally. “That is the one thing I’d tell Reva. Life is short and you never know when it might be yanked away from you. Waiting till the right time gets you nowhere. That right time may never come, trust me. It almost didn’t for me. She needs to listen to what she wants, not what everyone around her wants for her.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “Enjoy Saturnalia tonight.”

Darwin nodded, wordlessly toasting Nico with his naked beer bottle. The Enaran's words had hit too close to home for him.

************
Lt. M. Darwin
Too Close for Comfort

Lt.Commander Nicolao
Getting To The Point