Uncertain News

Posted on Thu Jan 28th, 2016 @ 10:38pm by Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Ensign Reva Madhava
Edited on on Sat Jan 30th, 2016 @ 8:37pm

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Riley & Reva's Quarters

* Riley & Reva’s Quarters *

Riley nudged the door panel with his elbow since his arms were loaded with a large crate. “Open, dammit.” The computer beeped and he grunted. “Authorization code Sukotav delta nine six zero.”

The door finally opened and he slipped in sideways and lowered the box to the floor with a groan.

“That’s the last of it, Reva.” He looked around and only now the silence registered. “Reva?”

She got a call from the XO, Gilroy informed him.

“Oh. Huh.” He brushed his hair back as the doors opened behind him.

“Hey,” Reva called from the doorway. She hesitated a moment, caught between knowing this was now her apartment, too, and still feeling that it was Riley’s apartment. “Sorry, Rye, I got summoned to Captain Hawke’s office. Hoo..., I thought I was in trouble!” She entered and affectionately hugged him.

He hugged her tight. “I doubt that, you’ve been laying low,” he teased her. “What was it about?”

She looked around the apartment but didn’t see the spider anywhere. Gilroy is here, isn’t she?

Riley nodded. “She’s the one who was just telling me you went to Li’s office. Ariadne is off with the boys somewhere….doing something.” Riley laughed now. “I suspect they wanted to be unavailable to move boxes.”

“I bet they did, though I have to admit that Chance really stepped up when we needed him - he led the little kids through the Academy,” she smiled. I’m being sent on a mission that we can’t talk about. Darwin said you’re going to be working on a power sphere, so I can tell you where I’m going. Have you been told about this yet?

Riley shook his head. I got a call though, from Commander Leroy. I told him I’d be down as soon as I finished here and cleaned up. Shall we go for a walk?

She nodded. “Let me just change real quick,” she said and paused to look at the box. “Thank you for getting my stuff.” She flashed him a smile before flashing him as she took her top off and trotted into the bedroom.

“That’s not the way to get me out of these quarters,” he called out after her. “Gilroy, we’re going out for a few. Enjoy the palm...or whatever it is you’re doing.”

Reva is changing into a dress, came Gilroy’s answer, proving that she was somewhere in the bedroom.

“I’m glad she’s not a boy; I’d feel like I was corrupting a minor,” Reva commented when she came out a few minutes later, dressed in a flirty white dress, hair down and casual shoes on. “Okay. A walk by the lake? I heard that they’re working on routing a little stream from a pump by the grove to the lake.”

“Certainly. Later Gilroy.” Riley opened the door, then followed Reva out.

* The Arboretum *

Once they’d reached the lake, they slowed to a leisurely pace. Riley took her hand and looked down at her. “So what’s going on?”

She smiled up at him, slightly, and hesitated. “I’m not sure how to start. Um... some sphere thing, that you’re going to be working on, is a sore spot between the devorians, the krenim empire and the federation. Sore spot as in ‘might result in war’.” she frowned. “Darwin is assigning an unmarked ship to patrol the area between us and the Krenim Empire. I’m going as one of the engineers.”

Riley stopped and turned to face her. “War. The Krenim.” His brows drew together in consternation. “And they want to send you to the front line. What the fuck?” It was uncharacteristically blunt for Riley.

She stopped as well and touched his upper arm. “The unmarked ship is Niro’s Korenna. Since Six infected it with Borg tech...,” she shrugged, “it’s probably the best scout ship we could hope for. The Krenim have a history with the Borg; in theory, they should avoid the ship. Six is going, too.”

“I bet that went over well with Suresh,” Riley muttered. “As in, I’m surprised the Pit didn’t explode. I can sorta relate. I’m not happy about this, I have to say it, sweetheart. That is putting it so very mildly.”

Touching him as she was, she knew just how he was feeling; were the roles reversed, she'd feel the same way. “I know. I sort of like the idea of you carrying me off and hiding me away,” she chuckled. “It will all be fine, Rye. We’ll flit about that sector and come home... Oh,” she realized she didn't know how long this would last or whether there would be times when they could come home. It wasn't as if they could come home on the weekends. “I haven't talked to Six about this. I'm meeting her and Janus at the ship at 0800 tomorrow.”

“Not much time.” He studied her and brushing her thoughts, could see how excited she was about this mission. “I understand though, what this means for you. It doesn’t mean I won’t worry though.”

Reaching up to touch his cheek, Reva frowned. “I am excited - I’m thrilled to be going on a ship with Borg tech. Not many engineers get to see that working, let alone work on it to keep it working. But I don’t like the idea of leaving you or of possibly being in the crosshairs of a Krenim ship.” Thinking about leaving him made her tear up; it also stirred up a good amount of fear. “I don’t think we’re actually leaving tomorrow, but just meeting Six to look over the ship. At least, I hope we aren’t leaving tomorrow.”

“We’ll see,” Riley answered. “I should know what’s up once I’ve met with Commander Leroy. I’ll let you know as soon as I do.” He took her hand from his cheek and kissed her palm. “Tell Six she better keep you in one piece.”

“Darwin is sending Leela Carter as the mission CO,” Reva said. “The sphere sounds interesting, too, but probably more along your line of study than mine. I look forward to hearing about it.”

“I think so, but we’ll see.” He took her hand and they began to walk once more. “Let’s finish the walk so I can get to the science center, shall we? Not that I prefer the commander’s company to yours, but….” He grinned at her.

“Well, the sooner you’re done with him, the sooner we can have dinner and we can get to bed early.” She grinned back. “In fact, how about you go meet with him and I’ll go back and figure out dinner?”

“I’ll walk back with you. I need to get in uniform. When I get back we can deal with dinner.” He bent down a little and swung her over his shoulder. “I walk faster than you.”

Yelping in surprise, Reva laughed and held on tightly. “No argument from me!”

***********
Lt. Riley Sukotav
Ensign Reva Madhava
Moving Day!