Politics vs. Shenanigans

Posted on Tue Nov 24th, 2015 @ 3:05am by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Captain Li Hawke

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Deck 10 Corridor
Timeline: Current

* * * Deck 10 - Corridor * * *

“Li,” Rick said, “wait up.” Even with his long strides he was having a hard time catching up to her, and she wasn’t stopping. Finally, just before the turbolift, they were side by side. “C&C is not where you need to be right now,” he said as they waited for the lift doors to open.

As soon as they did, she darted inside with him right on her heels.

“Deck six,” she said.

“Computer, stop the lift,” he countered. Turning to her he let out a long sigh. “Li,” he said softly. “Eyas, look at me.”

She had her arms crossed and her expression was an unreadable blank. She stood silent, refusing to move but finally, turned slightly and looked up at Rick.

“Okay, I’m looking.” Her tone made it clear this was a family discussion and not a professional one.

His features softened, normally reserved only for El’Shar and family members, like Li or even Hope now. He put his hands on her arms gently. “I don’t know what you’re feeling, but please don’t just let this fester. Talk to me, talk to El’Shar, whoever. And I want to say that I’m sorry for my involvement in this, even though it’s completely new to me.” Pulling his hands back he continued. “I won’t make excuses for your father’s decision--well, and mine now, it seems. But you and he are so close that you must also talk to him at some point. Not now, but...when the time is right.”

Her eyes glittered with unshed tears, a rare thing for Li. “How could he just leave them?” she asked. “If Mom knew, then why not...bring them along or something?”

“I...don’t have an answer for that,” Rick replied. “Despite obtaining these memories recently, I seem to be a bit fuzzy on some parts. Maybe what’s happening back then is changing things up as it happens, like live corrections of the past. But, Li, you know just how much your father adores you. I’m sure whatever decisions he made were what he thought was right for what would be his new family.”

“I have always thought of him as this man who never screws up, who always knows what to do and has the backbone to do it no matter how hard it is. He spent five years with the Resistance! That was a terrible time and he survived and helped so many others make it too. And yet, there was Tora and a small child, left in the hills for another nine years of that horror. I just….” she stopped and shook her head, then wiped her eyes.

On impulse he pulled her in and hugged her. As he held her, he said, “I don’t know, Li. I don’t know.” He felt so helpless right now. He wanted to be able to give her a reason, something that would make sense, but now, in the current time, in this turbolift, he came up blank. And to think that he was now a part of that decision? How could he have even agreed to that kind of decision himself?

“I guess we need to wait and see what changes when our people get back,” he finally said quietly. “Who knows? Maybe none of this will have happened and, somehow, he was able to get them out of there and take them with him. We may wind up in a time where you grew up with Julisa as your sister and everything will be sorted. Right as rain.”

He knew it was a long shot, but it was worth mentioning. “If not, I’ll still be here for you and your father will always be there for you. We just need to talk it out.”

He let her go and saw she was still tearing up. Pulling his sleeve down her dabbed at her eyes, something he hadn’t done since she was a little girl.

That made her laugh finally and she hugged him again. “It’s always hard when our knights fall off their horses isn’t it?” she asked. “I don’t think time changes that drastically here in the present or it would have already. I just feel bad for Julisa, and Tora too. I knew growing up that Dad and Mom weren’t head over heels for each other but they were friends and made sure we had a stable life. I knew about Tomas before either of the boys you know? I knew there was someone else in dad’s heart too but he never saw her. In a way I think that’s kind of tragic. I don’t begrudge him his happiness if they can finally make it work but...there’s a lot to consider and it’s going to be hard going for him for a bit I think.”

“Yeah, well, all the king’s horses and all the king's’ men couldn’t put humpty-dumpty back together,” Rick said. “But humpty-dumpty didn’t have me or you.” He smiled as he dabbed another tear from her eye before it fell. “Oh, by the way, I was calling your Dad humpty-dumpty just then, in case you weren’t picking up what I was putting down.”

Her smile returned and she nodded. “I promise I won’t tell him. Why didn’t he go get her long before now? I can’t imagine loving someone as deeply as he does her and not having them. I mean...if Sakkath were on the other side of the galaxy I don’t know that I’d even be sane.”

“Politics? Sense of duty, of family? Fear? Who knows,” he said. “They might have even just lost track of each other over time. But once all of this blows over, whatever the outcome winds up being, we can figure it out then. Maybe even with some time in the Counselor’s office.”

She nodded once more. “Politics. Both families are high-ranking and there is so much baggage with that. I’ve largely escaped it you know...being out here, married to a Vulcan. I’m something of an oddity back on Betazed. They find my outward reserve and stoicism exceedingly strange too. But they are always looking and I can understand what Dad means by all the politics involved. Theirs wasn’t a marriage of two people, it was a union of about 300, when all of the families were added in. Who needs that crap? It’s too much to live with but they had to.”

“True. And I agree with you that if El’Shar and I had to split for something such as this, it would likely drive me insane. But sometimes,” he said, “you have to do things you abhor for the good of everyone else. Finding a way to live with it after...that’s the hard part.”

“Am I being selfish? In being so upset by this?” she asked. “Dad has a lot of things to deal with in the next few days...and weeks...months….”

“I can honestly say no. This is a huge revelation, finding out that you’ve had another sibling you didn’t know about. But look at it this way: you have another sibling that you didn’t know about,” he said, sounding excited. “She’s going to have to work through this as well, but I think it’s a good thing. Hell, she could be a huge dick, but Julisa’s actually rather nice. And when you guys start feeling comfortable about the whole thing, you can start learning about each other and, well, just being family.”

“Let’s hope.” A thought occurred to Li and she looked back up at Rick. “Dad still doesn't know about the rescue run to get Seren does he?”

“I’ve not said anything,” he replied. “I thought it was news that you should deliver, but now… Well, if you want me to let him know about it I will. You two have enough going on.” Without taking his eyes off of her, he said, “Computer, resume,” and the lift began moving again.

“I’ll tell him...once they have him off the planet and are on their way back here,” she replied. “I need to go check on Dae and Oz and the away team. They haven’t checked in yet according to Phoebe.”

The lift slowed and they could hear someone talking loudly in the corridor on the opposite side of the lift doors. When they opened, there were four people looking toward the lift and one with his back to Rick and Li.

“I mean, who the hell does this?” he complained loudly. “Like we don’t need to use this lift at some point today? Probably someone who thinks they’re oh-so-important, or maybe they needed a little one-on-one time with someone. But they’re not thinking about anyone else!”

Rick stepped out of the lift and towered over the man, wearing a gold uniform. He continued complaining until he saw the look on the faces of those he had been complaining to. Stopping, he jerked around to see what was going on. When his face blanched, and he swallowed hard, Rick narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to his face.

“Senior Chief…” he said.

“Uh...Davidoff, sir.”

Rick stared at him a few moments. “Senior Chief Davidoff,” he repeated slowly, putting on a show as if committing his name to memory. With a slow inhale/exhale, he stood to his full height. “You are very lucky that I am dealing with other things right now, Davidoff. But if I were you, I would make myself very small for the next day or two. Is that understood?”

Behind him, Li had waved the rest of the group onto the lift. Davidoff’s eyes glanced briefly at them as they passed and wondered if he would live beyond this point in his life, or worse, never be promoted beyond Senior Chief.

“Of course, Admiral,” he said softly. “You’re absolutely right. I apologize.”

“Disappear, Davidoff,” Rick said, his angry eyes boring into the man’s face.

Without missing a beat, the Senior Chief darted into the lift and found a hole in the back of the lift, behind those who were there waiting. The doors closed and Rick turned to Li. She was trying to hold in her laughter.

“That man is going to be looking over his shoulder for the next week, Rick.” Now that the doors were closed, she laughed and shook her head. “I think Mr. Davidoff and I are going to have a little discussion about decorum, and his upcoming shifts.”

“Good. Maybe make up a little story about how I was going to bust him down to Petty Officer but you were so brave, took up his cause and talked me out of it,” he said with a grin as they continued walking. “So. Are you good? At least for now? Because if not, I’ll follow you around all day pestering you, making an ass of myself and deploying my usual bag of tricks and shenanigans.”

“For now. I’ll call Dad soon, I promise, so he won’t worry himself to death about it. I don’t run his life and right now he needs to remember that.” Li smiled up at him. “Thanks. But I love your shenanigans so feel free.”

“Such a fun word,” Rick said. “Shenanigans.” As they walked he saw two young Ensigns turn a corner. “Ensign, stop!” he barked. They froze on the spot. When he walked up he smiled. “Good morning,” he said. “I just wanted to let you both know how happy I am to have you with us on 900. I couldn’t let you get away before telling you. Now, have a nice day,” he said with a smile.

Both relieved that they weren’t going to be flayed alive by their commanding officer, they nodded appreciatively and skedaddled rather quickly.

“I could do this all day,” he said.

“You are a bad, bad man, Rick.” Li finally laughed out loud. “Come on, let’s see if we can get a report from the away team.”

He followed along quietly, until… “You there! Stop right there!”

He really was enjoying this.

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Admiral Ricky Wegener
#1 Asshole / Caring Family Member

Captain Li Hawke
Questioning Her White Knight