A Few Surprises... Already

Posted on Sun Feb 14th, 2016 @ 2:18pm by Ensign Reva Madhava & Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Ensign Six of Ten & Suresh & Vic & Lieutenant Seren Hawke

Mission: Further Challenges

* EFS Kohana *

Four hours out and Vic was glad to have a break. He had wandered the four decks of the ship to stretch his legs and finally ended up in the small observation lounge. His growling stomach reminded him he’d skipped breakfast in the flurry of departure, then skipped lunch to take a turn on the bridge. He ordered a few things from the replicator, then settled down at the table to eat. Reflecting on the crew, and the nature of this mission, he decided that ‘interesting’ was a vast understatement. Complicated was much more applicable. The thought made him laugh just as the doors opened.

Just inside the doorway, Reva paused and looked around. Other than Vic, there was no one else in the room. “You okay, Vic?”, she asked as she requested a drink then flounced over to his table. With her hair down and an outfit that exposed her midriff and her legs, Reva closely resembled what many thought of as a typical Orion slave girl.

“Hungry,” he replied and took another bite, which he washed down with a tall glass of some bright-colored juice. Once he could speak clearly, he turned his attention to her. “Why do you ask?”

She frowned at him, playfully. “Ah... because you’re in here alone, laughing by yourself,” she said.

“I was just thinking how complicated this crew is,” he admitted. “The ties you and Six have to this ship, not all of them pleasant ones, and0 in her case, it’s a literal tie to all the tech...not to mention the ties some us have to each other.”

“Complicated doesn’t quite cover it, does it?” She smiled then reached into her top - which was low cut anyway - and pulled out the vial Darwin had given her. “And there are two things to make it more so: one, this, which Darwin gave me.” She uncapped it and offered it to Vic to sniff.

He took a slight smell and his brows drew together. “Oh hell, why would he do that? And what’s the other thing?”

“He said it’s just for emergencies, if we’re boarded, that sort of thing,” she assured Vic. Reva hesitated as she worried over her next topic. ”The other thing is Six and this ship. Leto told me to watch out for any odd reactions from or effects on Six because of the Borg tech.”

Vic let out an audible sigh and nodded. “You realize we’re also going to be passing along the near edge of Borg space, right?” He looked back at Reva, then scooted his chair a little closer.

“I do; I think that was part of Leto’s concerns, too - that the hive mind might be a bit seductive for her.” She’d capped the vial and replaced it in her bra. She missed how Vic’s eyes followed her fingers.

Vic was relieved to see the vial capped and put away, though that one sniff had him envisioning for a moment just where it was being stored. He shook his head to clear it and stood, carrying his dishes to the recycler.

“Is this you asking me to keep a close eye on her?”

“With me, yes, please. We’re both her friends and, on this ship, we’re the ones who are mostly likely to notice any weird stuff with her.”

“You’re right.” He looked back at her and passed the images of the tour he’d taken of the ship with Six, the hug, the reassurances. “She’s a little unsettled.”

“I think we both are, a little at least. We’ve barely stepped out of Piper from Niro’s last grand plan with us when Darwin tags us to go on this patrol. I didn’t even get to see Riley...,” she glanced away then back at him. She’d almost made herself cry. “But she might be kept off balance by this ship.”

“I hate to say it but that’s life in the Fleet. It sucks sometimes but hey….” He reached over to squeeze her shoulder. “We’ll keep you safe. Besides, you have Janus at your side about every waking moment. Have you looked at that guy? Anyone gives you trouble, he could just tuck them under his arms and carry them off.” A grin settled on his face now. “Have you called Riley since we left?”

She laughed over his description of Janus. “He is a bit of a bear. It just means that I’ll be the one squeezing into the tight areas if need be. As for Riley, I should do that.” She stood, leaned in and kissed his cheek. “No time like the present.”

“You can say that again.” He thought once more of the small vial and mentally kicked himself. “Tell Riley I said hello and ask him where he wants to have his bachelor’s party.”

“Will do,” she flashed him a smile, and more than a bit of thigh, as she turned and left the crew lounge.

Six was just approaching the lounge doors as Reva stepped out and she smiled. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Oh, hey! Nothing. Was just talking to Vic. I’m going to go call Riley,” she smiled and kept going.

“Have fun,” Six called after her. Good timing, she thought. Reva would have some privacy and Six could eat. She stepped into the lounge and greeted Vic. “So are we bored yet?”

Well, hell. Fry pan, fire, Vic sighed to himself. “Ah, not yet, actually. Reva was just here; you know things are rarely dull around her. She’s always thinking,” he made alligator motions with his hand, noting that Reva usually talked her way through her thoughts. He laughed. “What about you? Must be interesting to be on a ship that’s part of you. Or are you a part of it?”

“That’s a little hard to describe, actually. It’s been a while since I thought in these terms but the ship is...us. If that makes sense.” She addressed the replicator, then carried over a dish of chocolate ice cream and two spoons. “Here.” She passed one to Vic.

He took it, looked at it a moment, then looked at the ice cream and had a host of ideas for it, other than eating it with the spoon. Rubbing his eyes, he breathed deeply, savoring the pheromone-free air. “I suppose that does. Is that uncomfortable for you?”

She picked up a spoonful of ice cream and then, as Vic’s wave of emotion hit, stopped with it halfway to her mouth. “Vic? Everything okay?” She looked from him to the ice cream and back.

He laughed. “Oh, Reva,” he said, as if that might explain everything. Knowing it didn’t, he added, “Darwin is such an ass. He gave her a vial of pheromones.”

Six blinked back at him. “He did...what? Really?” That explained what she had picked up from Vic. It also explained why it had been such a strong wave. “Remind me to kick his ass when we get home?”

“Get in line. She didn’t tell me what it was, just had me sniff it,” he shook his head ruefully and took a scoop of the ice cream. “She said it’s for emergencies only, so she’s not walking around smelling of the stuff. Thank whatever gods or prophets for small favors. She does that and you walking around in an outfit like that....”

Six met his gaze and nodded. She took a bite and swallowed it down, then spoke. “It may be difficult enough without having to worry about pheromones.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “But if we’re boarded, it could be helpful. Although... I suppose you’d be able to just assimilate any boarders.”

Her eyes widened and she dropped her spoon. It bounced from the table to the floor but she ignored it. “I don’t want to do that, Vic.”

He startled and looked at her, wide-eyed. “Six, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said that. That was horribly racist and insensitive.”

She was silent for several seconds, then took his hand, “I know you didn’t mean it that way. The bad thing is, you're right. If things get dire, I may have to to neutralize any attackers. Then what? Kill them?” She looked utterly stricken by the thought.

“Can you neutralize them without killing them? Confine them to a section of the ship and, maybe suck the oxygen out long enough to knock them all out?”

“Yes, but eventually something permanent would have to be done or I’d have started a new colony that would grow at an exponential rate. That cannot happen. Don’t ask me to do that unless things are dire.” Her grip on his hand began to tighten. “Please.”

He shifted his chair closer, wincing as she bore down on his hand. “Ooo... hand, hand!”, he whispered till she eased up and he was able to pull her into a hug. “I won’t ask that of you, Six. Really, we’ll repel any boarders before you have to do something that drastic.”

“Good,” she whispered against his shoulder. “Doing it to this ship was enough.” She held onto him tightly. “It hasn’t been that long since I was part of it. I can’t go back.”

“We won’t let that happen,” he promised.

“Thank you.” She lifted her head enough to look into his eyes. “It means a lot that you are are watching out for me.”

He blushed furiously and stammered, “Ah... um... of-of course. Um... R-reva is too, you know. Watching out for you, I mean. Maybe you should go talk to her about this?”

“She’s talking to Riley and I don’t intend to barge in --”

The doors suddenly opened and someone did barge in - Seren. He made it three steps and seeing Six and Vic in a clinch, he stopped. “I..uh...I can go back out and come in again in about ten minutes if I need to?”

Vic got his hands off of Six so fast he gave the impression she was red-hot and he’d gotten burned. “No, no!”, he nearly shouted, “Come in. I was just comforting Six... Yeah, comforting her.”

“Uh-huh.” Seren flashed them a sunny smile. “Hey I don’t care who you...ahh...comfort. Enjoy yourselves, I just want food. I’ll be here a while if you want the room Vic.”

“Actually, I’m happy right here,” he shot Seren a glare. “I was in the middle of dessert... we were in the middle of dessert, right, Six?” He picked up Six’s spoon and the melted ice cream and took it to the recycler. “Do you want some more ice cream?”

“Dessert...I can see that,” Seren teased them.

Six shook her head. “No, I’m...fine….we should...I mean I…” She looked at Vic for some help.

“You’re going to go ask Reva about the vial?” Vic prompted her. Surely Reva’s call to Riley couldn’t last too much longer.

“Yes, that’s it. I’ll see you two gents later.” Six turned and fled the room.

Seren sat at the table across from Vic and began to eat. “Dessert...yeah. Betazoid, remember?”

“Yeah, catch this:” Vic tossed an obscene comment at Seren with his thoughts. “Really, I was comforting her. I made a stupid comment, she got upset and... well...,” he shrugged.

Seren wiped his mouth and reached for his glass. “I’m not judging. You’re both adults and I’m not your mother. Definite sparks, my friend.” He began to eat again.

“Started down that path once,” Vic commented, “...now there’s a permanent roadblock there: she’s married. Plus, I’ve discovered a different path that I like and that isn’t quite so ...problematic.”

Seren paused to look at him intently. “Uh huh.” He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. Tell yourself that…. “More ice cream?”

“Hey, I really like Desta,” Vic said defensively. “I’m good on the ice cream front, thanks.”

* Reva’s Call to Riley *

“Hey, Rye,” Reva smiled at his image on the screen. “We’re well on our way. Carter said earlier that we’re a little more than 24 hours to Valhalla. And that’s probably the last time I can tell you where we are.”

“I understand,” Riley answered. “How’s it going so far? Hopefully all quiet? Tell me that anyway so I won’t worry?” He smiled back at her.

She nodded, “No need to worry: all’s quiet here. I’m glad I brought along a few projects to work on. Too bad I couldn’t bring one of the spiders with me. Any word on Iggy?”

“Yes!” Riley exclaimed. “Word came just a few minutes ago. The away team reported in, saying they’ve recovered the ones on that planet and are coming home. I was hoping you’d call so I could tell you. They will be fine, though it may take a while.”

“I suppose Sciences will be involved in rehabbing Iggy. I mean... no one in Piper really knows spiders the way Ian does, do they? Oh, and that Goodshire guy. Could you please, please ask Ian to take some detailed scans?” She leaned forward, hands clasped together, as she begged him.

“I will, and yes, I’ve already cleared out Ian’s schedule for when they get back to the station. He’ll document everything, I promise. I have some other news too.” A big smile lit Riley’s face.

Smiling in response to his expression, Reva practically bounced in her seat, “What news?”

“Chance and Eli….they called from down on Archadia. They...well they eloped a few hours ago,” Riley informed her. “They just decided to do it after the Nexus closed for the night. They said they didn’t want to wait.”

“What!? Oh my gosh! They’re married!,” she cried with surprise. “Riley! We shouldn’t have waited, either. When I’m back, we’ll do whatever it takes to get married. Oh, and tell them congrats from me!”

“I will. I promised to take them out to dinner once they come up for air. They’re taking a few days down on Archadia to celebrate.” Finally, he nodded. “We will. I’ll whisk you away and we can face your grandmother once we’re done.”

She beamed, happy both for the boys (married men!) and for herself. “I sent a packet to my grandmother, telling her about you and our plans. I made it while you were in Sciences, before I had to be on the Kohana, so I had the excuse that I didn’t have much time, but wanted to give her all the information.”

“Are you expecting an answer?” he wanted to know. “And should I be prepared? I can always call if something comes in.”

“I do expect she’ll reply, in some way. If something comes in, let me know, though the Fleet might just forward it to me. What about you? Have you told your folks?”

“I sent word yes. They are out on some research trip and likely won't get it for a few days yet. They’ll likely be surprised that I managed to talk to a woman long enough to get a date, much less get married.” He laughed for a moment. “I miss you already.”

“I miss you, too, Rye. I should have gone to see you in Sciences before we left. This will be tough: sleeping without you.” She frowned and glanced down to pick at imaginary lint on her skirt. “Oh, hey, Darwin gave me some pheromones,” she changed the subject from that tough one.

“It will be strange without you here beside me too,” he admitted. “It’s not something I want to get used to, that’s for sure.” He considered what she’d said and nodded. “Emergency measures I take it?”

“Yup.” She nodded. “The Krenim would expect an Orion to have them, so this lets me fake it. Maybe I can hold onto them for our use when I get home.” Her grin was wicked with implications.

That got a wicked smiled out of Riley. “Let’s hope so. That reminds me, before you go. I got a message from Suresh asking if I’d heard from you and how things were. I take it Six hasn’t called yet? I’ll let him know everything’s quiet.”

“I guess she hasn’t had time just yet. She’s been in demand here, between me, Janus, Carter, N’Riss... I think everyone is a little freaked out about the Borg tech on board and want some reassurance from her that the ship won’t come alive while we sleep.” She laughed at the idea; perhaps because of her friendship with Six, or perhaps because of her interest in the tech as an engineer, Reva didn’t have that concern.

“No doubt. I have one more surprise for you.”

She frowned at him and asked, “Did you adopt a cat already?”

“No, nothing like that. Six helped me with this, actually. I’ve hidden a little surprise for you somewhere in your quarters. I’ll let you look and you can call me when you find it.”

“You did?” She automatically looked around the apartment. “If I can’t find it, I just might have to beat it out of Six, then!” She laughed and grinned. “Ooo! A treasure hunt!”

“That is is. I Hope you enjoy it.” He started to say more when the doors behind Reva opened and Six rushed in. She looked flustered. “I’ll go. I need to get back to science but I’ll call when I get home.”

“Okay. Love you, Rye,” Reva said quietly, having glanced back quickly.

“I love you too. Talk to you soon.” The screen went dark.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Six apologized.

“It’s okay,” Reva turned to look at her. “He had just told me that I have a treasure hunt... what’s wrong?” She caught Six’s flustered emotions.

“Oh, yes.” Six smiled. “Have fun. I am the one who hid it because I know how you think.” She touched Reva’s hand but it didn’t reveal the hiding place. It did, however, replay the scene in the lounge.

“Oops... I wasn’t even thinking that the pheromones might affect him by just a sniff. I’m sure he didn’t actually mean that; he knows you’re not Borg in that way.” She stood and drew Six to their little sofa. “He wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“I know. It was the rest that was a little...unnerving I guess? Seren may have done us both a favor and not know it.” Six shrugged as she sat down by Reva. “Just don’t let Vic sniff them again? Please?”

“No problem, I’ll keep the vial closely guarded and away from Vic. You know he’s into Desta now, right?”

“I do but that’s not where his mind was.” Six shook her head. “Anyway…..how’s Riley?” She decided to let the subject of Vic go for now till she had some time to think about it more.

“He’s good. What am I looking for? I didn’t have time to quiz him about this. Something big? Little?” Her eyes shone as she smiled, looking forward to the hunt.

“It’s in a box. That’s the only clue I can give you,” Six answered.

“A box?” She scanned the apartment but didn’t see anything that was likely. She got up and started to wander the space. As she looked, she said, “Oh, and Riley said that Eli and Chance eloped. They went off to Archadia and got married.”

Six squealed and clapped her hands. “That’s awesome! About time too don’t you think? I mean, we’ve seen it coming for a while, it just took them some time I guess.”

“Yeah, though I’m surprised by the timing. Why now?” She blinked and answered herself: “Why not now? Nevermind that. I guess Riley and I are just dragging our feet.”

“You’ll get there when you’re ready to get there. At least you don’t have half the station telling you you’re too young and the man you want to marry is evil.” She grinned at Reva. “Okay, he said I could give you one other hint. If you want it.”

“Not yet!” She pulled open her duffle bag to look inside. “Consider who you married, Six. Or, really who it looks like you’re dating: he’s a crime lord. You’re a Fleet officer, or, as nearly everyone else thinks, were a Fleet officer. It looks like he’s been an awful influence on you.”

“Maybe he has a little. I really wanted to kill Niro you know,” Six admitted. She watched as Reva continued to search the quarters. “Let me know if I need to get up so you can search the sofa.”

Reva paused, her shoulders slumped downward. “I went to Robart and asked him to kill Niro,” she admitted quietly. She focused on the search then spotted the air vent and reached up to pull the grate off.

As she removed the grate, a small black tube with a claw at the end hummed and lowered down. The claw held a small box.

“I told Vic that I’d wanted to. He didn’t seem surprised at all,” Six replied. She smiled as the box came within Reva’s reach.

Staring at the claw, Reva took the box away from it and turned towards Six, smiling. The smile faded as she said, “It makes sense. I think people would question our sanity if we didn’t want him dead. Think of all that he did to try to ruin what we have.”

Six nodded slowly. “If he ever escapes, I will find him and finish him. Don’t doubt that. He’s not ever coming near you again.”

“Or you,” Reva said then sucked in her breath as she opened the box and saw the contents. “Oh my gosh, Six! It’s beautiful!” She pulled out a ring that was green and shot through with a silvery swirl. She slipped it on her finger and held out her hand. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

Six actually giggled as she hopped off the sofa and hugged Reva. “I saw it when he brought it to me. It’s gorgeous. He was so nervous about whether you’d like it.”

Reva returned the hug, squealing with delight. “I love it! It’s sciency, with the way the stone and metal mix.” She held it up under the desk lamp. The green stone glowed translucently. “Oh! I can’t wait to call him back!” She looked at Six, “But first you should call Suresh and let him know you’re okay.”

“Oh! Did he call? It’s been a little hectic since we left and I haven’t stopped to do anything till the lounge. I started to have some ice cream but that didn’t go too well.


“No, Riley mentioned him, that’s all. How about I go get you something to eat from the lounge? While I’m gone, you can call Suresh. Ten, fifteen minutes?”

“Thanks. Seren may still be there. Umm...give him my apologies for running away, will you?” Six gave Reva a sheepish grin.

“Sure,” Reva grabbed a jacket and headed out.

Six hopped up and moved over to the terminal. As she waited for the channel to connect, she thought again of Chance and Eli and smiled. So it was that when Suresh’s face appeared, the smile still lingered.

“Hi,” she greeted him. “Sorry for the delay. This is the first time I’ve stopped since I left. How are things there?”

“Six! How are you?” Suresh beamed at her, he was so pleased to see her.

“Good, busy, missing you. I’ve been running from one end of the ship to the other, getting everyone used to the different controls and such and reassuring them the ship’s not going to eat them.” She smiled. “I’m so glad to see you.”

“Eat them? Haven’t any of them read about Borg tech? They should know by now that you’re not Borg and wouldn’t do that,” he said fiercely, frowning at Six. Very quickly, though, he smiled again, “I’m glad to see you, too. Will the busyness die down? Maybe you’ll have time to comm me every day?”

“I intend to, and you can count on that. Everyone here is settled in and we are humming along. We’ve begun normal rotations so I’ll have a little more time going forward. Vic said that runs like this are often more about finding things to do to keep occupied, and I am alright with that. Better than being in combat isn’t it?” she asked.

“Infinitely better. Vic is on that ship? But you’re staying with Reva, right? And... you won’t really see any combat, will you?” Both ideas bothered him.

“Yes, Reva and I are sharing quarters since it’s a smaller ship and we brought some extras.” She had mentioned Vic was going but it had been brief the night before she left and she and Suresh had had other things on their minds. “Unless the Krenim are on the move, and really stupid enough to attack a Borg ship, no we won’t,” she assured him.

“Good... if they do come along, move away from them,” he instructed. “I want you to come home safely. I love you.”

“I want to be there more than you know.” She studied him a moment, picking up on subtle signs. “Something is troubling you, what?”

“Oh, nothing important, just a bit of crime lording work that I needed to take care of,” he waved away any concerns with a hand, thinking about how Frank was taking care of his Lazan problem. “Nothing for you to be concerned about.”

“If you’re sure. Just be careful.” She reached out to touch his image on the screen. “We will arrive at the colony tomorrow and be off the ship most of the day so I’ll have plenty of time to talk. After that, our location will be unknown but I can still call.”

“Okay. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll panic,” he said; he wasn’t joking. “Anything else we can talk about right now?”

“How about you not panicking?” she teased. “We’ll be just fine. I’ve been through worse and we are on a ship that means we’ll likely out-shoot anything we come across. Does that make you feel better?”

“Okay, fine. It doesn’t, but I get the message: that little ship can hold its own. I’ll probably call Riley if I don’t hear from you,” he said.

Six nodded. “As I’m sure he’ll do with you if he doesn't hear from Reva.“ That brought a smile to her face now. “Are you two getting to be that friendly? I think it’s cool, I’m just curious.”

He shrugged, going for nonchalance. “Maybe. He’s a calm guy. I bet he grounds Reva.”

Six laughed out loud. “I wasn’t asking about his relationship with Reva, sweetheart.” She kissed her fingertips and pressed them to the screen. “I need to get to engineering soon.”

He mimicked her move, matching his fingers to hers. “Okay, love. We’ll talk again soon.”

Six nodded, refusing to say goodbye, and closed the channel. Thinking about the past hour, she suddenly had the feeling it was going to be a long trip.

A few minutes later, Reva came into the quarters bearing a tray. “I wasn’t quite sure...,” she paused, making sure Six wasn’t still talking to Suresh, “...what you might want, so I got us a couple of cheeseburgers.” She smiled and set the tray on the coffee table. “With that, I at least know your favorite toppings and all.”

“That sounds delicious.” Six dived in and after a few bites, she looked to Reva. “Was Seren still there?”

“Yeah, and Vic, who chided me for getting him to smell that vial,” Reva nodded. She was smiling, but her eyes were on her new ring.

“A pair of loaded guns, we are.” Six finished off her cheeseburger and started on the fries. “Should we take some dinner down to Janus?”

“Nah, I’m going to go relieve him in a bit. He can get dinner then.” She paused then said, “Carter said that we don’t have to have someone in Engineering all the time. This is such a small ship and we’re not taxing the engines. Proximity sensors are set for the widest possible range, so if a ship comes near us, we’ll have enough warning to get to Engineering. And... well, battle stations.”

“So...then what?” Six asked. “We catch up on our reading? Sit in the lounge and play kadis-kot?” Six thought about that, then shrugged. “Carter has a point though. If something needs attention, I’ll know.”

“I brought some projects to work on, too. Vic did say that the hardest part of this would be filling our time.”

Six nodded. “I don’t expect anything out of hte ordinary till after we leave the colony. We’ll have to track down Tobin when we get there and get the tour.” Six knew that would appeal to Reva, both because of all the colony’s inner workings and because...Tobin.

“You’ve seen his bio image too? He’s not Riley, but he is rather nice to look at. Hopefully his brains match his outsides.” Reva laughed then recalled the last time she was on the colony site. Her laugh died quickly. “Our last chance to get some fresh air for a while.”

“Indeed.” Her smile dimmed for a moment. “This time will be better, I promise.”

Reva smiled and nodded, though she wasn’t sure it would be. Riley wouldn’t be there.

***********************
Vic
Seren
Six of Ten
Reva
Riley Sukotav
Suresh