New Avenues Open Up

Posted on Sun Oct 18th, 2015 @ 9:15pm by Ensign Six of Ten & Suresh & Vic

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Suresh & Six's Quarters / Intel

* Suresh’s Quarters *

Six approached the doors with two bags hanging from her arm. She and Edana had taken their time along the Promenade and Six had picked up a few things for Suresh. She shifted the bags to her other arm and punched in the code. The doors opened and she called out as she entered.

“Suresh? I’m home finally.” She moved further into the room, then stopped and sniffed. There was an unfamiliar scent in the air and she knew it wasn’t Marabeth’s perfume either. A glance around the living room revealed some disarray that was also not normal. Reaching out, she righted the photo of her and Suresh and it then that she spotted his jacket on the floor. Beside it was a sweater that also wasn’t hers and a pair of pants had been dropped at the door to the bedroom. Now she opened up her senses a bit more and the emotions in the air were conflicting - a mix of amusement and gloating and neither felt like him.

“Suresh?” This time her voice was far less certain. She stepped over the sweater and moved slowly to the bedroom door.

Inside the bedroom, Xerena elbowed Suresh, nudging him awake. “Surie! Someone is home, my love,” she laughed and straddled him just before the door opened. She feigned shock, “You said she wouldn’t be home!”

When the door opened on the bedroom scene, Six’s mouth fell open and she dropped the bags to the floor. She felt a scream building but strangely, nothing came out. All she could do was stand and stare.

Grunting with surprise and confusion, Suresh woke and tried to figure out just what was happening here. “Six?” He touched the woman astride him and realized she was not Six. Alarmed, he shouted, “Oh gods!”, and tried to shove Xerena off of him and sit upright.

Xerena let him, taking the sheets with her, revealing to Six that Suresh was completely naked. She rolled off the bed and stood, conversationally saying, “Hello, Six. Did you have a good shopping trip?” She smiled and reached for her dress, obviously unabashed by her own partial nakedness.

Xerena might as well not have existed. Six’s attention was all on Suresh and now she could see the strategically placed lipstick the woman had left on him. Her gaze moved up to his eyes and still, she felt paralyzed. “How could…..,” were the only words that came out. She now sensed his confusion and disorientation but that couldn’t overcome what she was seeing.

Dressing, Xerena watched the two and barely kept from laughing. “It seems that I should leave you two alone to discuss who is moving out,” she slipped past Six, picking up her shoes as she went and then her sweater from the living room. “Surie, I’ll see you later, love!” She left the two, knowing that Suresh would have no way to explain himself.

Her assumption was accurate: Suresh had no clue what had happened. “Six? What the hell?” He looked around the bed, looked down at himself and all but screamed when he saw the purple-red smear on his groin. Jumping from the bed, he grabbed the sheet Xerena had left behind and covered himself. “This isn’t what it looks like, Six!”

Her gaze swept over him and she shook her head. “She was...on top of you! And that…” she pointed at his lower body, “is exactly what it looks like.” As he took a step forward, she moved back and away from him. The overwhelming betrayal was clear to see in her eyes.

“No, no, no! No it isn’t!” He was utterly confused. He remembered being in Iapetus, drinking whiskey when Xerena came in to annoy him. Then he... he left with her and he ...he recalled kissing her - or almost kissing her in their entry hall. Everything after that was a blank till just now. “I... I don’t know what happened....”

“I do,” she whispered. She shot a glance at the door, gauging whether she could reach it before he reached her. She would take her chances. It signaled her intent to Suresh however, a moment before she bolted.

He lunged for her, but ended up tripping over the sheet and managing to grab just her ankle. “Six! I swear it! I have no idea how we ended up here!” He meant it one way, but it sounded like he was making an excuse.

“Instead of ending up somewhere else?” she demanded. Six was stronger than she looked and finally managed to wrench her ankle out of his grasp. “So...sorry...I interrupted!” She lunged for the door and banged on the panel to open it.

He recovered and hurried after her, reaching her just as the door opened and she darted into the corridor. “Six!”, he hissed, realizing that he couldn’t follow her in his current state. “Shit! Six! Get back here!”, he demanded.

She didn’t answer as she dashed off down the corridor, picking up speed as she went. Everything was too muddled and chaotic for her to think straight as she entered the turbolift. Purely on autopilot now, she entered the code to take her to Intel.

* Intel Decks *

She had forced herself not to cry on the way up and had somehow managed it in spite of the storm that raged within her. When the lift doors opened, she ran out, bypassing both Leto and Phoebe without a word. The expression on her face was not to be missed however, and both women watched as she vanished inside the holodeck. Moments later, the roars and screams of a fierce battle could be heard, even though the doors were closed.

“What the hell?” Leto asked.

Phoebe shook her head. “Shall I--?”

Leto nodded. “Yes, call. And I advise not going in there.”

“Good idea,” Phoebe said as she tapped her comm badge.

* Several Minutes Later *

Approaching the holodeck, Vic slowed to a crawl and took a deep breath. The sounds coming from inside the deck were intense and, he admitted, scary. He bypassed the lock and entered anyway. “Six?”, he called and immediately ducked as a Klingon body came his way, propelled by an angry Borg. “SIX!”

She gave a feral growl as another Klingon figure lunged at her. She met him halfway and the pair went down in a tangle of long hair and curse words. Moments later, there was a sickening crack and the Klingon lay still. An ominous silence settled over the holodeck. Finally, Six turned, her hair tangled, her nose bloody and her face tear-streaked.

“What?!?”

“Computer, end program!”, Vic ordered. The familiar black and yellow grid came into sight, leaving just Six and Vic to face each other. “Six, what the hell are you doing?”

“Doesn’t concern you,” she muttered. “Working off some stress, that’s all.” Now that the Klingons were gone, he could see she was in a ripped up skirt and the remains of a sleeveless shirt, not workout clothing. She sat on the floor now, arms wrapped around her knees and avoiding his gaze. “Bad day.”

“Looks like,” he nodded. “You’ll need to replicate some new clothes before you leave here. You need to realize that what concerns you concerns me and not just because I’m your keeper.” He walked towards her, calling up a set of chairs as he did so. He sat down in one of the chairs. “So talk.”

“I don’t know if I can….” She drew a deep breath and her lip quivered. “It isn’t something you are going to want to deal with.”

“It doesn’t look like it’s something you want to deal with. Better to spill it than to let it fester.”

She sniffed and finally nodded. “Do your thing, it’ll be faster.” Then she sat, waiting for the inevitable reaction and an ‘I told you so’.

He sighed. “My thing, huh?” He reached over and took her hand to read her thoughts. After a moment, he frowned hard enough to make his brow furrow. “No way,” he said, “No way he marries you and then does that a week later. You two haven’t even had time for the honeymoon bliss to wear off, let alone let him get horny enough to betray you.” He shook his head.

“I saw it, Vic.” She closed her eyes as the image of Xerena and Suresh rose in her mind once again. “He had lipstick...there.” She pressed her free hand to her eyes. “I am so stupid.”

Vic cleared his throat and thought about going and killing Suresh. “No, you believed in what he wanted you to believe in.” He pulled his hand back. “I’m not the one who should counsel you on this, Six. I’m in love with you and everything I tell you will come from that.”

“I can’t tell Reva and you know that,” She said softly. “She already hates him, this will just prove she was right. Maybe she is. But with Suresh, everything I sensed said that it was real. How could he do this? She’s not even his real former wife.” The humor in that description of Xerena was lost on her. “I’m sorry for dropping this in your lap, too. I’m sorry for all of it. I should've listened to you.”

“Don’t be sorry, Six,” he shook his head. “I’m sorry he did this to you. Maybe Reva is a good one to tell, though. She’ll likely give you a good dose of the righteous anger you need. I mean, anger on your behalf, not at you. I have that, but... all of my righteous anger will be directed towards taking you home and easing your pain in the same way Suresh was ...doing something with Xerena.”

She nodded slowly. “What do I do now? I live there, Vic. I can’t go back there right now.”

“Kick Riley out for the night,” he shrugged. He really wanted to offer her a spot in his bed, but knew that was a bad idea. “Or take a room here in Intel.”

“I can’t go down to Reva’s, not tonight. She’ll be so angry and I don’t know if I’m ready to hear it from someone else. It’s too raw. He will be looking for me, you know that, right?” She reached for his hand once more.

“Yeah.” He took her hand. “Reva’s not in the directory, so he won’t know where you are. Same with the Intel room.”

“Here should be fine. Will you stay?” She looked somewhat hopeful. “You might want to since he’ll likely go to your place to ask if you’ve seen me.”

She was making it hard on him; he didn’t hide his desire to stay with her from her. “Six... I’ll do whatever you ask of me.”

She studied him closely and nodded. “Thank you. I don’t think you’d want to be home anyway if he did come. He sounded a little desperate when I got away from him and ran out the door.”

“Desperate? Okay. What do you say to getting you a room? You can shower and clean up while I go get us something to eat.”

“Thanks. Do we have to tell Leto and Phoebe? I think they were worried when I zoomed past them earlier.”

“Eh, let’s tell them that you were working through some rage on Reva’s behalf. Those who know what happened will get that,” he said, frowning.

“Alright.” She stood and when he did too, she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. “Thank you. I know this is such a mess but I’m glad you came anyway.”

He held her tight, “I am too. We’ll get it straight. Should we call Ray tomorrow?”

“Ray?” She tilted her face up to look at him curiously.

“Attorney? You can discuss your options with him.” This was why he was not the right person to counsel Six - he was already thinking divorce.

“I….we’ll think about that tomorrow, okay?” The thought dismayed her but she said nothing. Instead, she smiled up at him. “I got blood on your shirt.”

“No worries. It’s a Replicator Special,” he joked and led her out of the holodeck.

*****************
Ensign Six Of Ten
Suresh
Xerena
Vic (Lt.)
Desperate Times