A Little Something To Remember Him By - Part I
Posted on Sun Jan 10th, 2016 @ 4:18pm by Lieutenant Commander Solis & Ensign Six of Ten & Lieutenant Commander Earl Crane & Ensign Reva Madhava
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: Piper Medical Center
Men, Reva mentally grumbled. Darwin and Suresh had stayed with her right up until she was ‘safely’ confined in a medical exam room. Alone. Then they had gone back out to wherever, leaving her to sit and wonder what they were talking about that she couldn’t be a part of. She’d already poked around the various drawers but come up with nothing interesting. She sat on the exam bed and idly wondered where Niro was.
Sometime later came a beep from the door and it slid open. Ophelia escorted Six in, informed them that the doctors would be in shortly, then departed. The door beeped once more as Six turned to Reva.
“Reva!” Six hurried over to hug her friend. She hadn’t seen Reva since her unexpected trip back in time. “What’s going on? Phoebe interrupted my regeneration and they beamed me directly here. Ophelia wouldn’t say either, but she seemed unusually serious. She did say that Riley and Suresh were down in the waiting room but….” she looked at the door. “It’s locked from the outside.”
"From the outside?" Reva looked shocked and hopped off the biobed to test out the door. It wouldn't open, even when she tried a fairly standard engineering override code. "What the hell do they think we'll do?" She asked, but she didn't think Six could answer that. "They didn't tell you why we're here?"
When Six shook her head, Reva's frown deepened and she explained, "Darwin told me that Niro might have left a suggestion in our heads. He doesn't know what it might be or how it might be triggered - but something like what was left in Riley's head, so he's worried. Darwin, not Riley though I'm sure he'll be worried too. Did you hear were engaged? I forget."
“Oh my goodness no, but that’s awesome!” Six smiled but it rapidly faded. “Niro booby-trapped us?” She sunk down into a chair, shock written all over her face. “Like we’ve not had enough?” She took a few minutes to give Reva a summary of what had happened since her return. “I’d like to go straight down there and deal with him once and for all! Then he won’t be a problem anymore...for anyone.”
Reva paused, looking a little pensive. She started to say something then stopped; she did this twice more before finally saying, “I... I want to see him, but... I miss him.” Her face crunched inward as she sneered at that thought. “What the hell?”
Six’s eyes narrowed. “What were you thinking of just before you said that? It’s important Reva.”
“That I wanted to see Robart, but I knew that Darwin wouldn’t let me go down there,” Reva answered. “I was envisioning the lecture Darwin would give me about going to the Pit.”
“And then Niro popped into your head? Just like that?” Six frowned again. “Why would thoughts of Robart and Darwin make you want to see Niro?”
“I don’t know, but the desire is definitely there.” Reva got up and walked to the door then back. “I want him dead, you know.”
“Me too. He’s done his best to ruin our lives and thus Riley’s and Suresh’s too. Whatever is going on here, the second they unlock this door I am going to go down to the brig and see him...talk to him and….” she stopped and banged her fist against the wall. “Dammit!”
Reva jumped in surprise at the violence. “Six, babe, don’t hurt yourself! What’s wrong, what did you just think of?”
“Me getting hurt is not likely,” she muttered. “I was thinking how Niro twisted my mind to think I was going to run away with him and then...pow...just like that, he was in my head and I could feel the pull. I suddenly felt like I had to see him, no matter what. Now I see why the door is locked.”
“That’s how I feel! So... did his trap get set off?” Reva shook her head.
“I’m not climbing the walls yet but I’m betting Suresh is right. The full regeneration would likely have done it so it’s good they stopped it. But for you? What’s to stop it? Or me in the normal course of time?” She paused a moment as she came back to Reva, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You realize I can get through a force field, right?”
Reva nodded. “Not to be all creepy or anything, but, after we met, I did some research on the Borg and known abilities. That’s one that’s known about because of Janeway. What are you thinking? This is a solid door... I mean, I could get past it and then we could go get Niro out of the brig and to his ship.” Her eyes glittered for a moment as she smiled. “You turned his ship into a Borg vessel; we could take off and mask our ...what am I saying?”
Six sighed. “Yeah, we were going to go away from here and...what the hell?” Six sat down heavily in the chair. “I doubt we’d get far. Darwin likely has the door guarded. He knows us. And the second we were out, Suresh and Riley would be here. Suresh cannot hear me saying anything like this. He’s been through enough.”
Nodding, Reva wordlessly agreed. “Nor can Riley. How could he have done this? Wasn’t it enough that I slept with him?”
Six looked up, her expression grim as she shook her head. “No, honey. Nothing is ever enough for Niro. Not until he has everything he wants and has destroyed everything in his way. The trouble is, he’s not always sure what he wants and ends up destroying what he thinks he wants.”
“Bit of a Midas touch there,” Reva muttered. “So... are we escaping?”
Before Six could answer, the door opened once again and Solis breezed in, followed by Earl. “Hello ladies.” He smiled at them, but remained by the door. He was aware of the reasons it was locked and was making it clear they’d have to get through him to get out.
“Oh,” Reva looked a little guilty and glanced at Six, “Guess that’s a no.”
Earl smiled and directed her to the biobed, “Have a lie-down. We’re just going to run a quick scan, Ensign. Six, you’re next.” He waited a moment while Reva got herself settled then started a scan of her. “How are you feeling, Six? You’ve had a rough few days.”
“I’ve had better days,” she admitted, “but things are getting back to normal. Well, we hope they will when I get to complete regenerating.”
“That will have to wait a bit,” Solis commented. “It may be part of the problem. Which is also a problem in itself since you reached your limit some time ago. We hope to have this done as quickly as possible.” He moved over beside Earl, his attention on the scans.
“Reached her limit?” Reva looked over at the two. “What does that mean?” She saw the two wordlessly consult about something.
“Elevated temperature,” Earl noted, pointing at something on the scans that wasn’t Reva’s temperature.
“And she’s going to run out of energy soon too.” He rested his hand on Earl’s arm as they watched the scan readout. Skewed neural pattern, plain as day. Can we go kill him now? I'm betting we’re not the first ones to ask that either.
“Oh.” In theory, Reva knew that Borg didn’t run on food; they recharged. Hearing that Six still relied on recharging was more than strange for her. It made Six seem a little more alien than the implants had ever made her appear. Eyeing Six, Reva asked, “Did Suresh contact Riley?” A sudden thought occurred to her: “I’m a little tired of being in sickbay. I’ve been here way too often the past six months.”
Earl chuckled, “Should I be insulted?”
“Me too, and my second time being locked in,” Six grumbled. “No offense Doctors.”
“Riley and Suresh are down in the waiting room,” Solis answered. “They are not exactly pleased with the news.” He placed a small cortical monitor on Reva’s forehead and switched it on.
Reva sneered, disliking the feel of the thing on her forehead. “Any day now, I’m going to stop being the wonderful, complacent patient I’ve always been,” she warned the doctors.
Earl glanced at Solis and laughed shortly. “Doctor Solis might think you stopped being that wonderful, complacent patient a while back.” She was the one with the lollipop, right?
Solis snorted. “He said it not me, Reva.” He frowned once more and pointed to the new readout from the cortical scanner. He merely grunted at Earl.That was her.
Six watched the two men in silence, then glanced to the door, judging the distance between her and the doctors and her and the door.
Having raised a son, a strong, willful kid, Earl had developed a few preternatural skills. One was an uncanny ability to tell when a younger person was plotting something. He casually remarked, “Lt. Darwin is just outside the door, waiting till we’re done here. I think he and Suresh are having a lively discussion about Betazoid wedding traditions in the hopes of convincing Riley to go that way.” He paused, “Well... Darwin is arguing that way, at least. Or was, when we walked in here.”
“Darwin is discussing?” Reva blinked and frowned. “I’d rather be clothed when Niro and I get married.”
Six frowned, understanding the veiled order to sit still in Earl’s words. Reva’s statement, however, drew her attention. “He’s selfish like that. He doesn’t like other people looking at what’s his. Trust me on that one.” She rose from the seat and began to wander around the room, feeling suddenly restless.
Solis tracked her in his peripheral vision, looking utterly pissed off now. “I think, Reva, that you’re going to be here at least for tonight.” Behind a force field, he passed to Earl.
“Indeed,” Earl agreed. “Six, we’re going to move down the hall with you. Reva, you’ll stay in here for a little bit.” He nodded his head towards the door, looking at Solis. “We’ll be back in a few minutes.” He stepped back from the biobed console and took Six’s arm.
Solis nodded and turned back to Reva. “Sorry about this kid but it’s necessary so you won’t do something stupid you’ll seriously regret later.”
“Too late,” she replied before settling in. “Can I see N--Riley?”
“Are you sure you want to, considering whose name keeps coming out of your mouth?” he asked.
She gave him a hard look then relented, “Perhaps not.”
“We’ll get this fixed, I promise.” Solis took another look at the scans and frowned, not liking what he was seeing. He turned away from the biobed to retrieve a hypospray. “This is going to relax you and make dealing with the neural issues easier.”
“Is it really necessary?”
Solis nodded as he returned to the bed. “It will also dampen your empathic ability, so be prepared for that. What we’re seeing is a secondary neural pattern, basically designed to confuse your normal waking one. As Darwin put it, a time bomb that went off.” He pressed the hypospray to her neck. “Lexorin.”
“And he was the trigger,” Reva said. “Go on, tell him that. Bet he’ll be pleased. Go on, see to Six, I’ll take a nap.” She waved him, Earl and Six out of the room.
Solis waited until Reva began to relax and the neural monitor showed her activity settling down.
“Computer, erect a level five forcefield.” There was a hum and a flash of blue and it was done. “I’ll be back shortly.”
Earl keyed open the door, “Let’s go, Six,” he said and moved through the doorway.
***************
Ensign Reva Madhava
Ensign Six Of Ten
Lt. Commander Earl Crane
Lt. Solis
