Run and Hide, Part 2

Posted on Tue Sep 22nd, 2015 @ 10:01pm by Lieutenant Commander Gilroy & Niro & Falasin

* EFS Korenna *

Falasin had been as good as her word and they’d both dozed in the wake of a rather riotous romp that had led through every room in his quarters. Now, however, the peace in his bedroom was disturbed by the incessant beeping of his terminal in the living room, and it was sounding the priority code.

"Ugh...," Niro roused himself and moved Fal's limbs off of him. Grabbing a pair of shorts, he opened the channel and sat down, the shorts simply bundled in his lap. "What's the urgency?"

“I had expected a report by now,” the stern voice demanded. “Have you succeeded?”

Back in the bedroom, the beeping had roused Falasin as well. As usual, when an alarm sounded during sleep, she came instantly awake. Hearing Niro’s voice, she rose, pulled on his shirt, and slipped over to the door.

Glad that the owner of the voice couldn't read his thoughts, Niro nodded. "Eli is dying and the doctors here have no idea how to save him. It's done."

“Excellent. Soon, the parents won’t be an issue either,” the man responded. “I am arranging payment now. We are pleased, Niro. Until next time.” The screen went black.

Panic immediately bloomed in Falasin. Eli? Was Niro’s doing? The room seemed to grey out for a few seconds and she gripped the door frame tight to keep from falling to the floor. From somewhere deep in her mind, bits of another, similar situation rose - of Niro talking to this same voice, planning…how could he? She sucked in a breath and then silently cursed herself. He’d know she was up and awake. So, sometimes the best place to hide is out in the open. She stepped through the door, covering a yawn and walked in the direction of the kitchen.

“Everything okay, Niro?” She kept going, hoping he’d be too focused on the call to worry about reading her.

He'd turned his thoughts inward and jumped slightly when she spoke. "Yeah, everything is fine. Just a little business I needed to respond to," he said. "Hungry?" He wondered who was handling the parents. Surely not Reed, since he'd bungled it before, he hoped.

“More thirsty.” She smiled and touched his cheek as she went by, glad to see he was distracted. “Do you want anything?”

"No thanks, babe. You going to see that little creature?"

It would be a great way to get out before….she stopped that train of thought. "I think I will shortly, yes." She flashed him a smile and hoped it looked at least somewhat natural, then ducked into the kitchen. “What do you want to do tonight?” she called out.

He sighed, thinking that Reva would have had a destination she wanted to go to instead of leaving the decision to him. "Saturnalia. We can see and be seen," he answered her.

“Sounds good.” She returned to the doorway to the living room and leaned against the frame, watching him as she sipped her water. The panic surged in her again and she felt stuck suddenly, unable to retreat to the bedroom, unwilling to go to Niro himself. She had to get a grip on herself, be cool until she was dressed and could then make her escape.

Her panic penetrated Niro's self-absorption. He looked over and asked, "What is it, pet? What are you...? You're scared of me?" He probed a little and saw her eavesdropping, again. His expression hardened and he stood. "Again, Fal? I'll have to remove this, too, and suggest you not do this again."

“Remove?” So that explained the faint bits that had resurfaced whan she had listened in only a few minutes ago. “No, Niro...I won’t….You don’t have to do that --" She was edging towards the door now and the sudden appearance of Falon surprised her so much she dropped the glass, splashing water over the carpet.

The glass broke and the timing was such that Niro stepped on a shard. He'd been reaching for Falasin, but now yelled and clutched at his foot. "Augh! Get a medkit! Falasin! Come here!"

Startled by the scene and not sure what to make of it, Falon stood staring for a moment as blood welled from his wound and dripped to the carpet. "Oh, medkit, right!" He dashed into the kitchen.

Time seemed to slow down for Falasin. She looked from Niro, who was bleeding and yelling for her, to Falon as he ran to the kitchen, to the open doors. Self-preservation got her moving and as time caught up to her, she sprinted through the doors just before they slid shut. She could hear Niro still yelling behind her but she didn’t stop. She now blessed her time alone on this ship. She’d explored it thoroughly and knew that an exit was just down the corridor. She gasped for air and kept running.

"Falon! Go after her!", Niro shouted at his engineer.

Falon stood for a moment, medkit in hand, confused and looking from Niro to the closing door. Finally, he handed the kit to Niro and took off through the door. " Falasin!", he shouted, trailing behind her.

She knew if she looked back she was lost and kept going. “No!” she yelled back. The door was just ahead and if luck was with her, she’d be able to get it open in time to get out before he reached her. When the panel was in reach, she pressed the code she’s seen Niro use and it slowly began to open. “Come on!” she cried out.

"Falasin! Stop!" Falon ran past the corridor then backtracked, sliding on the deck plating. He saw the hatch was nearly open. "Hey!"

As soon as there was enough space for her to squeeze through, she did, crawling out and hitting the deck of the umbilical. The impact nearly took her breath away but she scrambled to her feet and was once again moving.

“Shit,” Falon hit the hatch and had to wait another moment before he could fit through the opening. He did and ran after her again.

The docking bay was crowded as usual when Falasin exited the umbilical. She gathered some attention, dressed as she was only in a large shirt but the sound of Falon’s footsteps behind her kept her going. She pushed through the crowd, doing her best to get as far from Falon as she could, knowing that since she was bright blue, that was going to be hard.

He followed her, cutting through the crowd with just slightly less cooperation from the crowd - it seemed that most folks didn’t want to be touched by a wild-eyed, partly naked Andorian. “Stop her!”, he shouted, but found that only made the bystanders get in his way.

“Don’t let him get me!” she screamed. Just ahead, she saw a flash of gold uniform wrapped around a large man. He was either security (she hoped) or engineering. Either way, he was big enough to make a good shield. She flung herself in his direction.

Having a nearly naked Andorian fling herself into his arms was something Frank had never expected to have happen. But it was and he was quick on his feet - he caught her and held her. “Who? What am I doing?”

Falon caught up a moment later. “Oh good! Thanks, you caught her. Wow, what a chase! Come on, Fal,” he huffed.

“Nonononono!” She clung to Frank and did her best to keep the man between her and Falon. “Don’t let him take me, please! He’ll take me back to Niro!”

“Hold on!” Frank shouted and held Falon off with one arm. “You, Andorian, what’s happening here?”

“I can tell you the story but it will take some time.” She peered around Frank, making sure Falon couldn’t reach her.

“Just sum it up,” Frank snapped. Falon was a handful.

“He is part of Niro’s crew. I overheard something awful, then Niro was trying to get to me and then he cut his foot and sent this man to chase me and if you let him take me back something awful will happen.” She paused and drew in a breath. “Help? Call Mamu and Six. Please.” She knew she was babbling now.

“And you, friend? What’s the story?” Frank asked Falon.

“She stole.... uh... that shirt! From our ship!”, Falon was better known for his mechanical skills than his quick thinking.

“Uh-huh..., look, go back to your ship. She’s coming with me,” the security officer told Falon and shooed him off. He looked at Falasin and noted, again, that the shirt seemed to be the only thing the woman had. “Can’t blame ya if ya did steal the shirt. Looks like you don’t have much else. Come on, I’ll walk you to the Security Office on this deck.”

Falasin resisted sticking out her tongue at Falon as the officer led her away. “Thank you so much. If Niro got hold of me, he would…” she stopped and shuddered. She really didn’t want to think about that. She’d seen his face as he closed in on her.

“Yeah. It’s what we’re here for.” He walked her along. “We can replicate some pants for you, too.” It was the extent of his conversational skills and soon they were at the Security Office. He did as he promised, replicated a pair of sweatpants and gave them to her. “You wanna call someone to come get you or do you need an escort home?”

“I need to see….” She sought for a name and gave him the first one that popped into her head. “Gilroy. It’s important.”

Copping a bored look, Frank grumbled at her, “Everybody says that. What do you think is so important? Your domestic situation? We’re taking care of that. I’ve offered you a walk home... or is your home the Korenna?”

“No! I work for Mamu on the Promenade. Niro owns the Korenna. It’s important because I know what happened to Eli. Well, mostly.” Falasin grabbed his hand. “Call Gilroy! Niro knows I know and could get away!”

“Eli? Ziyad? The kid who’s dating Oz’s kid?” Frank frowned and hailed Gilroy, who came on the comm shortly. “Hey, Gil, got an Andorian female... hey, what’s yer name?”

“Oz’s brother,” she corrected. “And yes, that Eli. Falsin is my name.”

“Falasin, says she knows something about what happened to Eli,” Frank finished.

“Bring her to Main Security,” came Gilroy’s order. Frank closed the comm and said, “Okay, ready for a walk?”

“Sure, now that I have pants.” She rose and followed him out of the office. She couldn’t help looking down the corridor to make sure Niro wasn’t waiting to grab her.

For a few seconds, Frank wondered what she was being cautious about: she had him as a protector. “You think he’d try something with me right here?” He shook his head and they trudged up to Main Security, where finding the big part-Klingon was easy.

“Falasin,” Gilroy greeted her and led her into an interview room. “What is it you know about Eli?”

She sat down by his desk and gathered her thoughts. “Fair warning, it’s going to be a long story.” She took a deep breath and plunged in, skipping the private things but telling him of the call she’s just overheard, the bits of memory of another, and the night at Kaleidoscope. Finally, she stopped to take a breath. “It sounded to me as if he was responsible but I don’t know how he did it. Eli didn’t have any of his drink before he collapsed. And Niro knows I overheard. He will find me.”

“We’ll keep you safe,” Gilroy assured her. “And I’ll let the doctors know to be looking for an Enaran poison, likely something on his skin. Is there someone you’d like us to call?”

“Mamu needs to know I’m out. And please, call Six? She told me earlier today that if I got in trouble I could call her. Mamu sent her to find me, to help get me away from Niro.” The adrenaline that had kept her going suddenly evaporated and she slumped back in the chair. “Where do I go now?”

“You can stay in one of Security’s safe rooms, unless you’d rather see if either Mamu or Six or another friend would let you stay with them, Miss,” Gilroy laid out a couple of options for her.

“I’ll stay here for now,” she decided. “I want to be sure Niro can’t get me. He could be in real trouble here and I think he’d do whatever he had to, especially if he knew I told you.”

“Stay here,” Gilroy got up and went out to the main desk, where he ordered a hold on any departure by the Korenna. He also had officers take up posts by the docking hatches, with orders that if Niro or another left the ship, they were to be followed. He then returned to Falasin. “I’ll take you to a safe room, Miss.”

“Thank you.” She stood and followed Gilroy to what she hoped was truly a safe room.

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Niro
Falsin
Falon
Frank
Gilroy