Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic

Posted on Fri Aug 28th, 2015 @ 7:21pm by Ensign Reva Madhava & Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Lieutenant Raj Amani

Robart checked the name and number on the plaque by the door: "Lt. R. Sukotav". He pressed the doorbell and waited.

Inside Riley’s quarters, Raj paused the movie. “Expecting anyone?” It was getting late and Raj was a little surprised, all things considered.

Riley shook his head. ”Are you kidding? I’m the station’s pariah at the moment, I don’t think a lot of people will beat a path to my door.”

“Then I’ll get it.” Raj rose and moved over to open the doors. A large Orion was the last thing he expected to see. “May I help you?”

"No, you are not Riley Sukotav," the Orion said, pushing past the smaller man to look at the one on the couch. "Lt. Sukotav, you must come with me."

Raj turned and stepped back up to the sofa and Robart. “I’m Lt. Amani, Lt. Sukotav’s counselor. If you don’t mind, he’s had a rough few days and has been home all of two hours. Now, given you pushed in here uninvited and unknown, would you prefer to leave or have me call Security?”

"Yes, I am aware of your attempt on Six of Ten," Robart spoke to Riley, though he was answering Raj's concerns, sort of. "This involves Cyllene. Lt. Darwin has notified me that she is missing from the Station and is possibly on a slave trader's ship."

“Cyllene?” Raj and Riley asked the question at the same time.

Robart looked from one to the other then said, "Your Reva Madhava is Cyllene, daughter of Europa, Shodar in the Orion Syndicate."

Riley blinked, completely dumbfounded. “I knew her mother was in prison but I didn’t know...well..that.”

Raj, however, caught the more important part. “Missing? Slave trader? How is that possible?”

Robart stared at the counselor for a moment, trying to think of how to explain how it was possible. Never a great mentalist, he came up blank. Instead, he repeated what he knew, "A slaver threatened Suresh he would take her. It seems that he has as Cyllene is not on the Station and the slaver's ship is already nearly a day away from the Station." He paused before adding, "I have a ship and am going after them. You must come with me, Lt. Sukotav."

“Why me? Why not go find Niro? She would likely be happier to see him than me.” There was no missing the bitterness in Riley’s voice.

Growling, Robart pulled Riley from the couch by his shirt. "From what I hear, it is you she wants. From what I see, it is you she needs."

Raj nodded. “That I agree with. Riley?”

Riley looked from one to the other as he forced his mind to get working. Whatever had happened, the Orion was right in his opinion. He was what Reva needed and he knew the man was right about the rest too. He’d read it in her mind while in the brig. He removed the Orion’s hands from his shirt. “Give me 5 minutes.” He stood and moved towards his bedroom, then looked back at Raj. “You coming?”

“I am. I think it’s probably a good idea. I need to make some arrangements, though.” He hurried over to Riley’s terminal and opened a channel to his assistant.

Confident that he'd make Riley look like a big damned hero in Reva's eyes, Robart waited for the two to make their arrangements. He was also making his own - ensuring that his ship was ready when they were.

* OSN Kyllini *

The ship, like so many of the Orion Syndicate's fleet, was an Orion knockoff of a Klingon B'rel design, with Orion design embellishments. Robart keyed open the hatch, ushering Raj and Riley inside before stepping in with them and closing the hatch. "There's crew rooms and bunks in the aft section. Pick one." He gestured toward the aft of the ship. As he turned toward the front, he called, "Rekkar! Status!"

A slight Orion male answered from the bridge, "Ready to depart, Sir. Waiting on Station Control to grant the okay. They said ten minutes, give or take. Vozal didn't make it back from Archadia, Boss."

"We won't need him for this trip. Lay in a course for Dendrian Space, Warp 5," Robart moved along the ship's neck to the bridge and took a seat to impatiently wait out Station Control.

Raj and Riley found the crew rooms and left their bags. Both had changed into casual, more rugged clothes and Raj was reminded, for a moment, of his days on Outpost 23 when rugged would have been a nice description for the lifestyle. Once his bag was stowed, he stepped next door to Riley’s room. This had been an evening of lightning changes and he was more than a little concerned.

“I’d ask if you got settled in okay but there’s not a lot of settling to do on this ship,” he joked.

“No kidding.“ Riley’s smile was brief. “So what happens now?”

“Now, you actually do settle in and get some sleep. You haven’t had much the past few days and there’s plenty of time before we are going to be in range.”

“Yeah.” Riley nodded and did, in fact, look exhausted. Besides, if he was asleep, he wouldn’t be worrying himself crazy over Reva. “Sounds good but you’ll call me if something happens?”

“I will.” Riley stripped off his shirt, leaving his undershirt and stretched out on his bed. In an astonishingly few seconds, he was sound asleep.
Raj waited a few more minutes, then quietly left the room. He was very familiar with Klingon ship design and so he made his way along to the bridge. The Orion modifications were interesting, but what interested him more was the man who’d dragged them off on this adventure. He found Robart seated there in the captain’s chair and stopped beside him.

Robart was looking impatient; they hadn't yet been given leave to depart. As Raj came onto the bridge, though, they did get the okay. "Have a seat, Counselor," Robart suggested. There were empty stations aft and fore of his seat. "Rekkar, let's go."

"Aye, sir," Rekkar answered and the ship broke from the Station.

As Rekkar did his job, Robart asked, "Is Lt. Sukotav comfortable?"

“I put him to bed and he was asleep before I left the room,” Raj answered. He took a seat at the station just to Robart’s left. “That’s a good thing, he certainly needs it.”

"He will have time to sleep. We have a few days ahead of us but we will catch them before the Federation does." Robart commented. He turned to look at Raj. "What answers do you want?"

“Well, first, why you settled on Riley and how you got there,” Raj answered. “I mean I know what’s in his head but what about you?”

"That is good, the loyalty you show," Robart chuckled. "I have been observing people in the Station's 'Pit' since shortly after Cyllene's beating. Observing and listening," he tapped his left ear, as if to show off his small ears. "Even when she was not there, she was a topic of discussion." He told Raj a few of the things he'd heard - conversations between Niro and Owain, Owain and Seyla; of the way Niro was disloyal when not with her - then stated, "Also, this evening, I approached Six and her guard dog, Edana. Six said that Reva needs Riley. I agree."

“Really…” That seemed to interest Raj. “What else did Six have to say on the subject of Riley?”

"Not much more, except that he needs Cyllene to stop running wild. He needs to know that that may not happen; one does not love an Orion for her ...domesticity. She spoke of Cyllene and recommended making the Lieutenant look better to her than Niro does." He shifted and leaned in toward Raj, "And so, here is an opportunity to make him her hero. He can shoot a phaser, yes?"

“He’s a lieutenant in the Fleet, of course he can,” Raj answered. He considered what Robart had said and nodded. “Six is right. With someone like Reva...Cyllene...the way to woo them is not to tear down your rival but to make her think what she is getting is far better. In this case, it won’t take much convincing. Those she’s been involved with of late leave much to be desired.”

"They do. Niro has another lover, a male." He obviously disapproved of that, though if it was the same sex nature of the affair or simply the affair wasn't clear. "Does the Lieutenant want her or has a mistake been made?

“No, she means everything to him. It’s complicated and really, I won’t get into specifics, given I’m his counselor, but yes. He does. Like a dying man on Vulcan wants water.” Raj laughed for a moment, knowing Robart would understand that.

"Good!" The Orion laughed. "Then it is settled. He will be her consort as we build a Delta Quadrant extension of Europa's empire." He settled back in his captain's chair, smiling.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Raj suggested. “Reva may have other ideas and it is her life, Robart.”

"Of course, of course. Her mother wishes her to be happy," Robart said. "I thought it interesting that when she heard the Lieutenant had attempted to kill her friend, she went to him not to her friend."

Raj shrugged. “Not so much. There could be several reasons for it - her feelings for Riley, or the certainty that Six had plenty of people around her, but who was with Riley?”

"Not many would go to the side of one who seemingly snapped and tried to kill a friend," Robart shrugged. "Do you have other concerns?”

“What do you know of this slaver? I spent several years on the Neutral Zone border and I learned a lot. Like always know the enemy better than they think you do. Also, see them before they see you.”

Rekkar answered this question, "Cardassian called Fisher. Known for providing high quality exotics, but also known to damage the product sometimes. He had a partner, Hunter, but he was recently," Rekkar glanced at Robart, "ah... dealt with. We have little information on his ship, other than it is a freighter, so limited speed, likely limited weapons."

Robart added, "We will see them before they see us."

“It should be easy enough for a scan to detect Orion life signs of any we encounter,” Raj added. “I suspect, too, that he would be watching for a Fleet ship, not this one. It’s well-known that she’s an officer down in the Pit.”

"Hmm. That's part of the draw, Counselor. A former Fleet officer? Also partly telepathic? And Orion?" Robart snorted. "If she weren't Europa's daughter, Europa might have tried to snare the girl herself. Besides, it is known that the Fleet will expend only so much effort to recover a single officer. If they can get her far enough away or hide her for long enough, they're free."

Raj had to laugh at that. “You don’t know much about the Fleet do you?”

"I know enough: rules and regulations govern you. We have none of those," he included Reva in the "we".

“Those rules and regulations require that if an officer is lost, then all possible means be used to recover them. Trust me on that one.” Raj smiled slightly. “You’ll see.”

"Forgive me if I don't trust that," Robart said. "I will show you the galley, if you'll follow me." He stood, patted Rekkar on the shoulder and nodded, then moved to the neck corridor.

Raj laughed as he followed Robart. “Is that an invitation to make myself useful?”

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Robart
Riley
Raj
The Three R’s