A Little Something To Remember Him By - Part II
Posted on Sun Jan 10th, 2016 @ 6:45pm by Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Lieutenant Commander Solis & Ensign Six of Ten & Suresh & Lieutenant Commander Earl Crane & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: Piper Medical Center
Six stepped out beside Earl and took a quick look down the hallway. “Where are Suresh and Riley?”
The Security Officer nearest the door replied, “They’ve taken a short walk to get some coffee.”
“Good.” She relaxed just a little and looked up at Earl as they walked down the corridor. “I’m not going to drop you to the carpet and take off or anything,” she said. “I did think about it though, which horrifies me.”
“Yeah, you had the same look my son used to get when he was plotting to sneak out his window after hours. At the time, that used to get me so angry... now? geez... It’s laughable. Though, all I wanted was for him to be safe. That’s all I want for you, Six.” He stopped by a door and motioned her inside. “I assume you wanted to take off to see Niro? Not to go kill him?”
“What if I said both?” She stepped into the room before Earl. “For what he did to me, and what I heard coming from Reva. She loves Riley deeply and yet that slimeball could make her say such things…” Her brow furrowed and she looked up at Earl. “Do you think it possible that something in my head, all the hardware, could make what he tried to do backfire? I’ve never seriously wanted to go kill someone before, but I was plotting just how to get out of here and what frequency the brig forcefield would be so I could go through it.”
“Possibly. Let’s take a look,” he said and pulled out a cortical monitor. “Have a seat.” When she did, he settled the thing on her forehead then made some adjustments on the bed’s console. He grunted as Solis joined them.
“What’s up Doc?” he joked as he entered. “I see you didn’t knock him out and put him in a closet, Six.”
She gave him a faint smile. “I did think about it but he’s too cute to hit over the head.”
“Well, thank you,” Earl smiled before nudging Solis and pointing to a reading. “There are breaks in this pattern. Here, here and here, see that?”
“I do.” He crossed his arms are he studied the panel. “Reva’s were intact. What’s causing the interruption?”
“Her Borg-ness?” Earl shrugged. “Reva wasn’t on guard, either. Perhaps Six was? She’d just been dealing with him and with his meddling with her memories?” If it wasn’t that, he had nothing.
“Makes some sense,” Solis mused. “Maybe the nanites are rejecting the buried bomb, seeing it as ...as a foreign body? There’s no way to know how long it’s been there. Could be that they would have eventually attacked the memory blocks too.”
Six’s eyes narrowed as she listened. “I did see him one day at the Wormhole, some time before we left the station. He was being nice, for him. He held my hand, told me he’d dreamed we ran away together and asked what it would take to lure me away.” She closed her eyes as she brought the scene back to mind. “When I blew off that idea, he took hold of my shoulders and said that it would happen, all in good time, that he always gets what he wants. Then he left.” She opened her eyes and looked from Solis to Earl. “That may be when he did it.”
“Memories are chemical codes and traces in cells. Enarans, and some other telepaths, can alter those chemicals,” Earl said. “You might be right, Solis, the nanites might have been erasing those changes. Six, the nanites somehow have a ‘code’ or image for what’s normal in your body, right? Any changes, they’d know?”
She nodded. “They know if I breathe in a speck of dust they don’t like. So it stands to reason that something like this would trip their alarms. And if he did do it that day, they’ve had some time to work on it.” She smiled suddenly. “Which means they might be working on fixing some of his other meddling that’s left and I’ll get back the memory of my --” She stopped short, having almost said ‘wedding’.
“Favorite kiss?” Earl finished for her. “Then, that’d be it. Let’s go with that explanation.” He nodded. “It looks like you might clear this up all on your own, Six. As for Reva?” He looked at Solis. “Find an Enaran or someone else who can manipulate the chemicals?”
“I had a thought about that,” Solis answered. “I may be able to do it myself, via mind meld. I’d prefer, for Reva’s sake, to keep this between us.”
“For her sake?” Earl gave Solis a questioning look.
“Let’s put it this way,” Six interrupted. “She’s marrying Riley, and is finally happy. If you were her, would you want him hearing all about her longing to break out of sickbay and rush to Niro? He’s has enough, him and Suresh both. This is why I wanted to sneak past Earl and go deal with Niro myself.”
Solis looked at her for a moment, then nodded. “What she said.”
“Sorry, stupid old man moment.” Earl looked chastened. “Then, yes. Six, you’ll be okay? Just stay here and don’t go rushing off?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I can’t promise that, sorry. Send Darwin in.”
Earl’s brows rose then he nodded, “Okay, Darwin it is.” He turned to key open the door.
Six had been biding her time and when the door opened, she made a dash for it, slipping around Earl. She didn’t get far - a tall body appeared and she barrelled into it.
“Oof!” The breath was knocked out of her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Darwin nearly shouted at her, grabbing her shoulders. He glanced at Solis and Earl, “Thanks for the heads up. Six, turn around, in you go.” He turned her around and directed her back into the exam room.
Earl shook his head, “Tsk. Just like my son when he was a kid... telegraphed her intentions.”
A frustrated Six turned and went back in the room with Darwin and dropped in the chair. Once the door closed, she looked up at him. “It’s not like you don’t want to also.”
“I might want to kill him, sure, but I won’t. Killing a person, however justifiable, isn’t okay in the Federation. Or morally.... Anyway, we’ll let justice take its course and he’ll be sentenced to prison and out of our lives. Things will be fine.” Darwin said, sounding far more optimistic and moralizing than he normally did.
Six sighed and nodded. “Under normal circumstances, I’m not bloodthirsty either. They think his little mental booby trap is having a reverse effect since the nanites are breaking it down. I’m going to tell you something and it stays between us, okay?”
“Is it something I might have to arrest you for?” Darwin was cautious.
She shook her head slowly. “No. But with all that’s happened? I just….worry about Suresh, if you get my drift?” She didn’t want to be too specific in case they were monitored, which was likely.
“Ah, well... “ he shifted, careful to stay between her and the door. He wasn’t sure what to say, though. “I do get your drift. But Suresh will be Suresh. So what are you going to tell me?”
“Just that. I don’t want this getting out of hand and he’s reached his limit. If he asks, I’m fine, alright?”
“Right,” he nodded. “No worries on that, Six.” He was fairly sure, though, that that boat had already sailed. He wasn’t really interested in recalling it to the dock, either. “The same could be said for Riley. Oh, and don’t suggest to him that having Reva be the only one doing the Betazoid tradition at their wedding is a good idea. He didn’t see the humor in that.”
“Well..duh!” She laughed finally, though she was watching Darwin closely. What she was sensing concerned her, but she didn’t mention it. “So, you have to babysit me? Why not lock me up and go do whatever it is you have to do?”
“Because what I have to do is watch over you,” he answered. “Besides, show me a lock that can keep you from leaving here.”
“Good point. Might as well give you some good news.” She proceeded to tell him about the visit to Archadia to pass the time.
Suresh was on his feet and looking out the portal of the small waiting room. They hadn’t heard anything at all yet, aside from what little Darwin had said when he appeared at Reva’s door. It didn’t take a telepath to see how jumpy Riley was and he looked back over his shoulder.
“How’re you doing Riley?”
“I don’t know. I suppose that depends on whether the doctors appear and tell me everything is fine. You?”
“Worried. Very worried,” Suresh replied, unsuccessfully tamping down on his anger. He turned to look out the portal again, leaning against the frame. “Yet another thing to hate Niro for. I suppose they’ll just tack this on to his criminal charges.”
“One more shovelful of dirt to bury him with. But I hadn’t seen any evidence that Reva was being affected, so maybe this is just a precaution? They can find it before it gets out of hand. I hope,” Riley replied. “How’s Six? I heard you two had been down on Archadia.”
“She’s better; she was in her regen alcove, but they’ve pulled her out now. Eli was able to reset some of her memories, though she still doesn’t recall the... ah,” he glanced back at Riley. He was aware that Riley knew their real story, but one never knew who might be listening. “...this thing we did on Archadia.”
“Oh?” Riley knew exactly what Suresh meant. The man’s anger at Niro had become a palpable thing in the room, too hard to ignore. “Damn. Well, you have good reason for doing it again. The way I see it, we got them home and relatively unharmed. We’re lucky.” He hesitated a moment before asking his next question. “Have you seen him?”
“No, nor will I. If I do, I just might have to kill him; every reason not to, be damned. Have you?” Suresh doubted it, but... perhaps Riley had had a reason.
“I considered it, to be honest. But nothing I would have to say would serve any purpose other than to lower me to his level. He really doesn’t deserve my time or attention.” Riley shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t agree with you though. I think I might find it hard to stay my hand.”
Suresh was about to reply when Earl and Solis entered the room. “What’s the news?”
Solis still had Reva’s request in his head and while he didn’t like lying to these two men, he had no issues with glossing over the truth for now.
“Hello Riley, Suresh. Well, the news is that Reva’s resting and I am about to go finish up a few things with her and you can have her in the morning. Six is just down the hall. Her little nanite friends are fixing what needs fixing but we want her to stay till morning as well so we can be sure it’s all done.” He smiled, knowing full well he’d said a whole lot of nothing.
Solis had said all that rather quickly and Suresh took a moment to parse it out. He looked at Riley and said, “Looks like we’re bachelors for the night.” He was trying for humor, but it fell flat, even though he was relieved beyond words that Six’s nanites were fixing Niro’s attempts to derail everything good in life.
Earl spoke up, “They’ll both be fine is the bottom line. Darwin is in with Six; she can have other visitors if you would like to see her. Just don’t let her go anywhere.”
“What about Reva?” Riley asked as he got to his feet.
Suresh saw Earl get a little shifty and was about to try to distract Riley when Earl said, “Solis and I are about to go see her and recommend a treatment.”
“Riley, while they do that, how about we go see Six?”, Suresh suggested.
Riley frowned as he looked at the two doctors. He sensed there was something they weren’t saying but one didn’t just hop into the mind of the med team.
“Look Riley, you could see her but there’s no real point right now. I gave her something to relax her and she’s dozing, which is good,” Solis admitted. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
Finally, Riley nodded. “Okay, but you’ll call if I am needed? I have a feeling I’ll be at Suresh’s place.”
“We will.” Solis smiled. “Six is just a few doors down, room 318.” He stood aside as the two men left and after a few seconds peeked out. They had moved far enough away to be out of earshot. “That believable enough old man?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? It’s true, right? You gave her a dose of Lexorin; that would have put her in a relaxed mood. Let’s go see her,” Earl peeked out like Solis just had then stepped out and down the hall.
They reached room 314 and once Solis unlocked it, they stepped inside. Solis entered first and immediately saw they had trouble. “Dammit. That kid….better call Darwin.”
“Why?” Earl pushed in past Solis and stopped. Reva wasn’t there. “Oh. Well this is awkward.”
“No shit,” was Solis’ succinct reply. He noticed a wall panel at the back that wasn’t sitting quite flush and nodded. “There. Call Darwin, but don’t alarm Riley. I’m going in after her.”
“Think you’ll fit?” Earl looked doubtful. Solis was thin but Reva was Orion. “I’ll be back in a minute, just as soon as I figure out how to pull Darwin out without bringing Riley with him.” He went back out and hurried down the hall.
******************
Lt. Commander Earl Crane
Lt. Solis
Ensign Six Of Ten
Lt. Michael Darwin
Lt. Riley Sukotav
Suresh
