Edana's Errands

Posted on Tue Feb 9th, 2016 @ 8:28pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Suresh & Senior Chief Petty Officer Edana

Exhausted, the current acting head of Security and newly promoted Lieutenant Commander entered his quarters, haphazardly wandered through a shower and then collapsed onto his bed. No sooner had he done so, the door chime rang. He lay there a moment, debating whether he could ignore it.

It sounded again.

And a third time.

“Oh, gods,” he griped, sitting up. “Computer, open the door,” he ordered as he pulled a towel around his hips. He wandered out to the living room to greet whomever had been at his door.

Edana wandered in and looked him over head to toe. “I like the look, though you’re a little overdressed. I see you survived your summons from Li ?”

“I did. It was a Klingon Ascension Ritual. The Admiral wanted some entertainment, so...,” he shrugged, “You know what that means.” He approached her and put his arms around her. “One of us is definitely overdressed here. Unless you intend to leave right now?”

“I could be convinced,” she answered, snuggling in close. “Was there a reason for this ritual or was it merely for amusement?” She slipped her hands down and deftly released the towel.

“Oh, promotion,” he grunted as she divested him of the towel. “Convinced to leave, you mean?”

“You’d have to pry me away to get me back out that door,” she murmured. “Congratulations, Lt. Commander Darwin. Don’t let them razz you for slumming with enlisted personnel.”

“Slumming?” He chuckled, “Is that what you call this?” Showing his impatience with just talk, he pulled at her shirt. “And thanks; care to reward me?”

“Oh absolutely,” she purred. She peeled off her shirt, then led him off to his bedroom.

* * *

Edana brushed back his hair and kissed his forehead. “So, are you happy with your reward, Commander?”

“Oh, quite. Though it might have to happen again in another few minutes. And then again after that. If I can stay awake,” he smiled and pulled her close. “And you could wake me up in the morning, remind me then about being a Commander.”

“As if you would forget?” she teased. “But I'm all yours, though we may have to stop and eat to keep our strength up.” Out in the living room, came the beep of a comm badge, the sound two short beeps but no voice came. “That’s for me. Give me a second?” She kissed him and slipped from the bed, strolling out to track down her shirt and badge.

“No worries,” he said and relaxed back into his bed and pillows.

Edana returned a few minutes later and slipped back in beside him. “Well, the away team, the one on the Kohana that is, reported in. All quiet so far and they’ve seen no one yet except a few ships coming to 900. Not that we expected them to. If we’re lucky it will stay that way.”

“They’re barely out of 900’s shadow; if they’d run into anything this close, we’d be fucked,” he mumbled.

“Indeed.” She propped up on one elbow, looking down at him. “So tell me something. Why are you so worried about this trip? There’s plenty of seasoned crew among them. Even the two ensigns have been through a lot more than most people.”

“I’m acutely aware that we’ve just sent a tiny little ship out to spy on an Empire. An Empire that has time-travel capabilities and a mean disposition. They could crush little Kohana like a bug,” he said.

“I know,” Ed whispered. “Let’s trust that it won’t come to that. You’ve seen the ship, would you want to cross it and risk assimilation? I deeply hope that things don’t get so screwy Six is forced to use that as a defense.”

“I just hope they all come home as they left,” he said. “I don’t want to have to tell Suresh or Riley that one of theirs has been injured, again.”

“So think positive thoughts. You know how often I’ve been under cover….well maybe you don’t but it’s a lot and I’m still alive and kicking.” Of course there had been that one time that things hadn’t gone in her favor but he didn’t need to hear about that.

“Yeah, you’ve had Intel’s full training, though,” he commented before yawning. “I just need to relax and sleep.”

She kissed him gently, then pulled up the blanket. ”You do that. I have something I need to do, than I’ll be back. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Okay, g’night,” he squeezed her in a one-armed hug then let her go.

* Residential Corridor *

Edana departed Darwin’s quarters and locked the door behind her. Hopefully no emergency would arise and disturb him that the current shift couldn’t handle on their own. Once in the lift, she directed it to deck 532. As she began to descend, she pulled a small Romulan communicator from her pocket and alerted Farco that she was on her way.

On deck 532, Farco met Edana as she exited the turbolift. He looked her up and down and asked, “You know you can call me for more than just Suresh’s needs, yeah? I can make it worth your while.”

She flashed him a smile and tapped him on the chest. “I’ve got someone who might have a problem with that and it’s not Suresh,” she replied. “You must like to live dangerously.”

“Eh, Darwin. He's one who don't mind if his lady friend is entertained by others. He used to see Seyla, after all. And you're another Orion like her.” She had kept walking and he'd fallen into step beside her.

“No Farco, not gonna happen, ace.” She smiled as they continued on down the corridor. “Tell me that Lazan and Frank have gone? The last thing we need is to be surprised here.”

“They’re gone. Frank said he'd comm me when he's on the way back.” They came to a door and Farco pulled out a hacking device. He attached it to the door, keyed in a command and waited a moment. The device hummed then beeped and the door slid open. “Ladies first,” he leered at Ed.

“What a gentleman.” Edana smirked at him, then stepped inside. The interior decor looked as it it could have come out of an old House Beautiful magazine. Lazan apparently loved his creature comforts and his tastes ran to the expensive. “Nice digs,” She commented, running her fingers over a silk quilt tossed over the back of the sofa.

“When its all free, replicatable, why not have the nicest things possible?” Farco followed her in and walked around the living area. He went straight for the desk at the far end of the room. “Start looking,” he said.

Edana moved on into the bedroom and started with the dresser drawers. There wasn’t much in them in the way of clothing, which made her immediately suspect that the few items were there for show. She ran her fingers along all the inside seams, the bottom, sides and back with the touch of an expert. Finally, a middle drawer yielded results. the bottom seemed to shimmer and vanish, holographic, of course. Beneath that were several padds and she pulled them out to look at once done. When the drawers were finished, she moved on to check the closets and under the mattress.

Out in the living room, Farco had ransacked Lazan’s desk, feeling the inside of drawers and the bottoms of drawers to make sure the man hadn’t attached anything there. He hadn’t. Calling out, he asked, “Anything, Ed? Or shall we test out his bed?”

“I just flipped the mattress. You want to come look at it while I see what’s on these padds I found?” she called out. She was reaching up to the top shelf of the closet and her fingers brushed a small metal case. “Ohh, what have we here?”

He went into the bedroom and appreciated the view for a moment. Finally, he stepped up behind her and reached over her to pull down the case. “Here ya go,” he said, handing it to her.

“Thanks.” She opened it and resting inside the case were several unmarked vials and a hypospray. “Interesting.” She turned back to Farco. “Did you ever see him use this?”

“No, but then I’ve never been in here, either. What do you suppose is in the vials?”

Ed shrugged. “No clue. I have a friend that can check them out though. A medic that I once was...you get the idea.” She smiled sweetly at Farco. “Let’s look at those padds. They were hidden beneath a false bottom in a drawer.”

“There’s a lesson: never hide shit. Just leave it out. Like the padd on his desk? I didn’t even bother looking at it; but these? Hidden away? Oh, these must hold something good,” he picked up the first padd and swiped across the screen to wake it up. Scrolling through a list of documents, he commented, “Oh, boy... this looks like a bunch of spreadsheets with financials.”

Edana looked up from the one she was perusing and smiled. “Oh really….anything good? You’ld know better than I if it’s relevant.”

He grunted in response then said, “Hey....,” and fell silent as he started reading something.

Edana scooted closer to Falco so she could look at the screen. “What is it? And can it be fixed?”

“Looks like a bunch of notes about meetings. Yeah, look, a date, and then names: Isha, Suresh, and topics. Another date, more names: Li....” He frowned and looked up at Edana. “Li? Who’s that?’

“How’s it spelled?” she asked. She knew exactly who that was but the person she was playing likely might not have information top of mind.

“L-I, is there some other way to spell Li? Do you think that’s a last name?” His brow furrowed as he thought about it, sorted through the people he knew, looking for a ‘Li’ amongst them. “Maybe he meant L-I, like initials?”

“We’ll see,” Edana answered. “Computer, can you check station residents with first name Li, spelled L-i?”

The computer beeped and several seconds later replied. “One resident, Captain Li Hawke, Executive Officer.” Edana blinked, obviously surprised and looked to Farco. “What does it say about her in there?”

“Ah... huh. ‘Discussed S’s involvement re: O/k-nap’. Ugh, that’s irritating, must be some kind of code.”

“Well, k-nap is easy...kidnapping. The only O I know of that he was involved in taking was the Security chief. Oz, remember?” Her eyes widened. “There are more like that? Do you know what this means?”

“There are more, yeah. You mean he’s been rattin’ out Suresh this whole time?” Farco looked shocked then angry. “The little shit! If Frank weren’t takin’ care of him, I would!”

“That explains why they had no trouble shipping him off to Elba II for a while,” Edana mused. “He has to be told about this and the financial stuff too.” She frowned a moment, then used the padd to bring up a picture of Li. “Ohh...now I know who she is. Look.” She offered Farco the padd. “He’s not gonna be happy. He still sees her now and again but he didn’t know what Lazan was up to, you know? Just a little holdover from Isha I suspect.”

“Yeah. We’ll take these to him.” Farco started collecting the padds; there weren’t many.

“I’ll get my friend to find out what’s in these vials and pass it on to Suresh as well.” She looked around the bedroom and shrugged. “Oh well, some people learn the hard way I guess. He making this known in the usual manner? It would be a great deterrent.”

“I dunno. I can ask him. He should, but, you know how he’s been lately? Sorta soft.”

Ed nodded. “But in his defense, he’s had a rough time with Niro messing up Six’s head and trying to steal her away. He even wiped out a lot of her memories with Suresh and that’s gotta suck to deal with. Things are settling down now and getting back to normal. All it needs is a few words in the right ears and you know it’ll spread like wildfire. People will realize what happens when you get stupid and try to screw over Suresh.”

“Damn right they will,” Farco grumbled. “Think there’s more than this?”

“I didn’t find anything more in the drawers or the closet but those padds could hold years’ worth of stuff. With Six down on Archadia, Suresh’ll have plenty of time to go through them and I can help out of needed.”

“Let’s get these back to him, then; I’ll tell him about Lazan meeting with Li. Unless you want that fun?”

“We’ll go together but I’ll leave that fun to you.” She patted Farco’s shoulder, then gathered up the metal case and the rest of the pads. “Let’s go find him.”

* Suresh’s Quarters *

Suresh had finally returned from the house on Archadia after giving his statement. What he wanted was to walk in and find Six at home to talk over the evening with, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, his quarters were silent and empty. He wandered from one room to the next and finally stopped to order a cup of coffee from the replicator. He intended to check in with sickbay later to get an update on Nyyar but for now, all he wanted was to sit down. He had just settled on the sofa and propped his feet on the coffee table when the door chime rang.

“Come,” he called out.

The doors parted to reveal Edana and Farco. Ed took one look at him and frowned. “What happened?”

Suresh waved them to have a seat, then related the story of his meeting with Eldren at Iapetus, the emergency call, and the events with Zikar.

“It’s been a hell of an evening.”

“We can make it worse,” Farco offered.

Suresh frowned at Farco. “Who do I need to kill?”

“Lazan. He was reporting on you to Li Hawke. It looks like for years.” Farco took a seat, utterly unconcerned about Suresh’s possible reaction to that news.

Suresh’s eyes narrowed and he had to fight back a laugh. “Reporting….how utterly ironic. I take it his reports concerned business that Isha was not privy to? Things that could be, and probably were, used to send me to Elba II?”

“Yeah, like your involvement in Oz’s kidnapping and shearing,” he nodded. He mistook Suresh’s expression as one of sheer anger; it wasn’t as if he thought Suresh might find any of this funny.

“Then it seems that I had even more reason to have him disposed of, wouldn’t you say?” Suresh’s smile was a chilly one. “Which leaves a loose end to be dealt with in the captain, but I’ll take care of that. What else did you find?”

“A case containing some vials and a hypospray,” Edana replied. “I have a friend in medical that can find out what it is.” She then turned to Farco. The last bit was the financial records and that was their business, not hers.

“And it’s not like you’ll have a hard time containing the captain now - since you’re friends with her and all,” Farco remarked. He grinned at Suresh.

“Now you see the method to my apparent madness.” Suresh’s smile widened. “However, I will have to address this Lazan issue, both with her and with his replacement. I will not have a repeat.” He paused as he looked at the two. “Once Frank has reported in that he was successful, you can put the word out. It might make anyone else think twice before being tempted to do something similar.”

“That’ll spread quickly.” Farco stood. “I have a couple things to take care of; need me around, boss?”

“Go. I have a few things to discuss with Ed then I am going to call it a night. Good work Farco.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow Far.” Edana smiled at the Orion.

He waved and was gone.

Edana waited till the doors closed, then rose and went to the bar. She poured herself some whiskey, then brought the bottle over to refill Suresh’s glass.

“You know he made me an offer I found it easy to refuse.” She settled down on the sofa by Suresh and sipped her drink.

Suresh snorted with laughter and it was easy to carry that over to the whole situation. “Contain the captain.... Can you imagine what Li would do if I tried to contain her? She’d likely hand me certain body parts. As for Farco, Darwin might have a few words with him for making you an offer.”

Ed waved that aside. “I think they are all convinced I occupy your time and energy when Six is away.” Now she began to laugh. “As for Li, you’ll need to tell her about this. Do it somewhere that you have some privacy, but she’s seen going in - for appearance’s sake.”

“Someplace she won’t be seen leaving, too.” He sobered, though his smile remained. “I found myself wishing for Six earlier; she’s been gone all of a day and already I want her here.”

“I can understand that.” She patted hand gently. “Don’t worry, she’ll call soon.” She realized now that Farco hadn’t mentioned the financial records. “There’s more on those padds. All sorts of records of what Lazan was skimming from you. I can see to getting that restored to you if you wish. There’s also something interesting - two copies of Suresh’s will.”

“Two copies?” His brow knit together. “Did Suresh write two?”

“It appears the second was Lazan’s amended copy. Tog should have a copy of the original, however. Have you seen it?” Ed asked. “If not, that’s something you should cover with Li also.”

“Hmm. I should call Tog about that,” he agreed.

Edana nodded. “He left everything to her,” she said quietly. “Though apparently that’s not really an issue.” She rose and carried her empty glass back to the bar, leaving the bottle with Suresh. “I need to get back to Darwin. You want me to send Marabeth over?”

“Yeah, we’ll keep up appearances,” he said, wondering about the old Suresh and why he would have left everything to Li. He definitely needed to change that in Six’s favor. “See you two tomorrow.”

“You will.” Edana waved and strolled out the door.

***************
Lt. Cmdr. M. Darwin
SCPO Edana
Farco
Suresh