Muddled

Posted on Wed Oct 7th, 2015 @ 11:13pm by Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Commander Adara Gunnar

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Cravings / Guest Quarters

Riley had settled on the patio of Cravings for his lunch. He liked the burgers and it was an entertaining spot to watch the people on the Promenade too. Since he had the rest of the day open without Reva, he contemplated just what he wanted to do. Ian had sent word that Iggy’s babies were out and about and he considered satisfying his curiosity and tracking them down. The waitress brought his lunch and a beer and he dug in, realized he’d skipped eating so far that day.

Not far away, Brother Spencer watched Riley as he ate. He was annoyed: the plans they'd set in motion through Riley hadn't panned out at all. Riley was here, fine and dandy; Six was alive, as was Julian Crane. No move had been made on any of the others involved in the artifact's discovery.... He set his glass down on the table harder than he intended, making a loud noise and drawing attention to himself.

Riley glanced over and for an instant, met Spencer’s gaze and nodded to him. Since nothing was broken or spilled, he went back to his lunch.
“What would you like to order?” The waitress was at the next table but something she’d said caught Riley’s attention.

Order...your orders…

He reached for his beer but the flash of memory stopped him. He could recall the words clearly and a dim image of a hooded man rose in his thoughts. Coincidence, surely? There were various religious types all over the station. He glanced at Spencer again, then went back to his meal.

Drop the Orion…. Riley had been reaching for his beer once more and this time the flash of memory came much stronger. His aim was off and he knocked the glass over instead.

The Brother's attention had wandered from Riley to a woman in a short skirt but the crash of Riley's beer glass on the deck plating drew him back. He watched the man as the server wiped up the spill and swept the broken glass into a dustpan. Did Riley seem flustered? Yes, he did, Spencer decided and smiled.

When the server brought another glass of beer to Riley, Spencer lifted his hand and called to her, "Miss! My brother is running late but I'll order now." She stepped closer and he added, "Six of those little ...what are they called? With the cheese and the bacon...? Oh, potato skins." The server nodded and walked away; Spencer went back to watching Riley and the other people nearby.

Riley pressed his fingers to his left temple where a headache was beginning to blossom. He could hear the monk behind him talking to the server and the sense of surreality grew.

Order….Six.....Kill the Borg…. The words echoed in his head, round and round, as the memory returned full force. He gripped the edge of the table and gasped aloud. He could see that room with perfect clarity now. It had been a small cell with two men dressed in robes like the man behind him. He felt suddenly dizzy and swayed in his seat.

He had watched the hand go to the temple and now saw him looking particularly unsteady. Should he approach Riley? Perhaps have Antonio join him so they could 'help' Riley somehow? Spencer frowned, debating with himself. He waited, wishing he could read the Betazoid's mind. Alas, he couldn't, and so could only guess why he was looking so unsteady.

The memory continued to spin in Riley’s mind, blurring his view of the Promenade as the traumatic event took over his thoughts. He was overcome with the urge to get out of Cravings, get to Raj’s office somehow. As he rose, he bumped into the table and grabbed his chair to steady himself. It seemed to help and then he began to move.

Kill the Borg… He could hear the voice repeating it over and over. Which way was out? There was a gate in the railing that separated the patio from the Promenade..where was it? He staggered once more, grabbing onto Spencer’s shoulder to right himself.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

"No worries," Spencer answered. "Brother, do you need help? I could help you get to a medical kiosk. You look ill." He stood and gripped Riley's arm.

“Piper,” Riley answered. “Deck 366. Thank you.” he whispered.

"Certainly. It's what I'd hope someone would do for me," Spencer shifted his hold on Riley and half-dragged, half-walked him to a turbolift. He made small talk as they went: "I've seen you around. Aren't you usually with some Orion? Reba? Rita? No, Reva? Where is she?"

“Away with friends,” was Riley’s succinct answer. The turbolift was ascending rapidly and as unsteady as he felt, he was glad to have the monk for support. “Have we met?”

"Oh, you'd remember if we had," he answered. "Deck -- "

Spencer’s voice seemed to resonate in Riley’s thoughts. Remember…..remember….. The floor of the turbolift seemed to fly up to meet him and then everything went black.

Seeing Riley dive into the deck plating, Spencer had an initial reaction to try to catch him, but then pulled back. "That's convenient," he muttered and changed the lift's destination.

* Later *

"Well, call them, get our telepath over here," Spencer ordered Antonio, annoyed that they were having this discussion. In his mind, Antonio should have already done so. He peered at Riley, who was out cold on their guest quarters couch. "No telling when he'll wake up."

“To what end? To reprogram him again?” Antonio shook his head. “No. Besides his little Orion girlfriend and that Borg, who do you think is the most watched person on this station at the moment?”

"So, we'll include an order to be stealthy. And he's sleeping with the Orion, so.... Could we order him to program her to off the Borg? She seems to have close access to her," Spencer was warming to this idea. "Oh, and I bet she could get close to Crane without any trouble! He seems to fancy himself a ladies' man. Or she could work on the ship they're all taking to Cha'ru, have the life support malfunction and flood the ship with a heavy gas."

Antonio sighed aloud. “The colony crew has already departed, Spencer.” Antonio stood looking down at Riley, considering their options. “Now that he’s back here, he’ll be continuing his work on the stone. It might be time to come clean, or appear to do so. Reveal what our order is and offer our expert help in his work. From what I understand, he’s not as versed in the language as that Borg. Two experts should be believed over a computer translation, don’t you think?”

"What experts?" Spencer, who was still thinking up other uses for Riley and his Orion, hadn't really been paying attention to Antonio. "We don't have experts in the Brotherhood."

Antonio rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Us, Spencer. The idea is that we assist him with a slightly off translation. We can make it appear that this thing is elsewhere, not on Cha’ru. The colony team will stop looking and we can go home.”

"Oh, us? Oh. I see," Spencer sat up. "We could do that. The JAG, Julisa, knows of us already. We could also tell them that we've moved it and it is safe, that it's not on Cha'ru." They had moved the item once in their lifetimes - which was when they met Julisa's Bajoran mother and a young Julisa.

Antonio nodded. “At this point? I think that’s the best plan. A little smoke and mirrors with the colony CO and XO, as well as with science here should do it.” He looked back down at Riley. “Otherwise, this man’s brain will be mush if we have to go back in.”

"And? You say that like it's a problem." Spencer grumbled irritatedly. "Fine, then we should get him to their Sickbay before he comes around."

No sooner has Spencer spoken than Riley moaned softly and stirred. Moments later, his eyelids fluttered open and he looked up at the two men. He was clearly confused.

“What happened?”

"You passed out, Riley," Spencer said. "We were talking and next thing I knew, you were on the floor."

“I got dizzy and weird things were flashing around in my head…” Riley mumbled.

Antonio shot Spencer a look, then rested his hand on Riley’s forehead. “You may be ill, Lieutenant. Would you care for some water before we take you to Sickbay?”

Would you care for some water…..if you cooperate….

Riley closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing as the image of a robed man with a soft voice returned. The sense of deja vu was so strong he thought he would choke. “I need to go….”

"To Sickbay, yes you do. Let us help you," Spencer stood. "I couldn't, in good conscience let you leave here alone, Lt. Sukotav."

Riley’s gaze flitted to Antonio and lingered there. Something about him tugged at the back of Riley’s mind but refused to surface. He’d felt the same thing with Spencer in the turbolift right before he’d blacked out. He hoped Ophelia was on duty, she would be able to help him.

“I...I should be fine.” He took Spencer’s hand and sat up with his help. “Thank you.”

"You don't want us helping you there? You're sure?" Spencer put on his most concerned face as Antonio brought Riley some water. "It's no trouble."

Riley drank the water and just as he finished it, a vision hit him of another glass of water being passed by a hand that wore a ring...a ring just like Antonio’s. The empty glass slipped from his fingers. He rose, somewhat unsteadily and moved to the door.

“Just call Piper. Have them inform Ophelia that I need to see her.” He felt for the panel and finally hit it, opening the door.

"We will," Spencer assured him as he left their guest quarters. Once the door was closed, he looked at Antonio and asked, "Isn't that why they wear communicators?"

“He is obviously not thinking clearly,” Antonio answered. “We have a problem, Spencer. I think he recognized my ring.”

"That shouldn't be too much of an issue - we all have a similar ring." Antonio's was larger than the other Brothers'; Spencer sometimes had to work at not being envious about the size of Antonio's.

“Prepare for some damage control.” Antonio moved to the terminal and called Sickbay, passing on Riley’s request. “Then we need to see whoever’s overseeing sciences on this station. If worse comes to worse, and it looks like Riley is going to completely remember, we’ll request that he accompany us to the colony and lose him on the way.”

"The Science Chief here is a guy with a girl's name, Tess Rutheridge. We can call him for a meeting," Spencer suggested, pointing Antonio back to the terminal.

“Very well. Let’s start there. I’ll send a message and then I need a drink. Feel like going back out?” Antonio recorded a message for Tess and sent it off before turning back to Spencer. “Oh, wasn’t Ophelia Payne the cleavage who was at Lao’s?”

"Was she? I don't recall catching her name; I was busy watching that cleavage. Do you suppose her uniform would cover that up? Maybe we should go by Sickbay to find out. We could ask after Riley, too."

Antonio sighed aloud and shook his head. “You want the nurse, put on some normal clothes and go find her.”

"Let's just go get a drink," Spencer said, moving toward the door. "No need to be snippy about it."

Now Antonio laughed. “I was being serious.” He locked the door behind them. “No one would recognize you out of that robe. That might come in handy soon, too.”

*************
Brother Spencer
Brother Antonio
Lt. Riley Sukotav