Time To Go - Part II

Posted on Sun Oct 2nd, 2016 @ 1:50am by Rafael Hernandez & Jarad & Kaeli & Isaura Panossian & Drekkar

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Saturnalia / Iapetus / Isaura's Quarters

* Saturnalia *

Kaeli checked the time as she reached the doors of Saturnalia. An hour and a half left, which wouldn’t scratch the surface, but at least she would show her face. Stepping in, it was easy to find her crewmates. They were the noisiest bunch in the place. She slipped through the tables and appeared next to them.

“Hi gang.”

“Kae!” Ronin greeted her. “Good to see you. That’s Paz and Falon. The rest you know.”

She greeted them all, Jarad last. “Welcome back.”

“To you as well. Your trip was... eventful,” Jarad said stiffly.

“Yeah, you could say that.” She shrugged slightly. “Not the safest run, I’ll admit.”

Ronin looked from Jarad to Kaeli, then motioned to the rest of the group. “Let’s give these two some room.” He rose and departed, with Rhian, Falon and Paz behind him.

Kaeli was silent until she and Jarad were alone. “I’m glad to be back. I suppose we have some things to clear up.”

“We do,” he nodded. “You could say we need to ‘patch things up’.”

His comment brought a frown to Kaeli’s face. “Not funny. I was angry and hurt that you didn’t tell me. How could you do that? And Isa’s too? Was this yours and Drekkar’s little conspiracy?”

“Yes. And no. For her, yes, it was Drekkar’s. For you..., Kaeli, I worry about you.” He reached out to take her hand.

She was tempted to snatch her hand away but resisted. “I know you do but you should also be honest with me. Who’s to say we didn’t think they were from someone else? Patch recognized the type, of course. Given what our business was on this trip, it could’ve gotten us killed if Rekar had scanned us first.”

He frowned. “You shouldn’t have been near Rekar. Or Patch.”

“I had to!” Kaeli shot back, then she leaned in to whisper at his ear. “Rekar had it coming and you know that. Halloran knows, though. I had to swear we are no longer involved for my own sake. Now he’s ordered me to kill you.”

He jerked back to look at her. “Will you try to do so?”

“Seriously?” She looked back at Jarad in disbelief. “No, but that question could tempt me to.”

“Why wouldn’t I ask? You left me here, didn’t trust me to go with you on your killing spree, slept with Patch, and now... Now you tell me that your assignment is to kill me. Reverse the roles, what would you think?”

“I might trust you a little more, had you not filled me full of tracking devices. Even so, I wouldn’t believe you’d kill me,” she answered, then her voice softened. “It’s a power grab. You can bet Drekkar is on their list too.”

“I’m not concerned about him. He’ll take care of himself; he always has.” He sipped his drink. “I didn’t really think you’d kill me. We mean more to each other than that. You mean more than that to me.”

“So why….” She didn’t finish the question. Instead, she squeezed his hand, then let it go. “We obviously have things to fix.”

“Ronin tells us that Isa is making arrangements to take us off Station for a while. We’ll get out of here, away from ...distractions, and fix what needs to be fixed. I missed you while you were gone.”

“Yeah, she wants to leave in two days, get away from undue attention and enjoy the run.” She hesitated as she looked back at him. “And get the new crew blended in. There will be...three.”

“Three? Did that little pilot, the Fleet fellow, decide to sign up anyway?” He looked surprised.

“No, they scared him back to civilization, which is a good thing I think. This life would chew him up. The other is... Patch, on loan from Suresh.”

His grip on his glass tightened. “Why? We have no need of him, Kaeli. Does Isa know this?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes. He’s gonna help out Joe and relieve Paz, the pilot, as needed. It’s not permanent, so don’t worry about that. Just this run.”

A muscle in his jaw flexed as he chewed on that thought for a moment. “You have no need of him, Kaeli.”

“I don’t? This is about a relief pilot, Jarad.” She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “And the fact that he was seen with us on Romulus. If we are taking off to avoid possible repercussions, he needs to be out of sight as well. Should we just leave him here to take the fall if anyone comes looking?”

“What’s one Cardassian to you? Again, does Isa know? Is she okay with him being on her ship?” Jarad didn’t really care if Isa was okay with the Cardassian coming aboard - he didn’t want him onboard.

Kaeli nodded. “She knows.” She stood watching Jarad in silence, then reached out to touch his cheek. “One Cardassian means the world to me,” she murmured. “I should go. I’ve interrupted your evening long enough.”

He grabbed her hand. “Stay with me, Kae. We can talk, smooth over what’s happened between us.”

She considered the question and finally nodded. “We’ll talk later. You go finish your fun with the boys. Isa and I have some things we need to do here on station, some things to get before we take off.”

“I’ll hold you to that, my love,” Jarad let go of her hand.

“I’ll see you at home late tonight then.” She chose not to go into any more detail. “Have fun.”

He watched her go then rejoined the others, troubled by the thought of Patch joining the Ning’Tao.

* Later*

“Alrighty men, I’ve had all the fun I can stand.” Ronin rose from the table and pointed a finger at Rhian. “You stay out of trouble. Paz? Better watch her if she stays down here. No poker.”

As Ronin departed, Jarad rose also. “Ditto what he said. And if you get in trouble, don’t call me. I’ll be in some deep peace talks.” He smiled and moved away from the table towards the front of Saturnalia. What he needed to do was see Drekkar and his steps took him next door to Iapetus.

Inside Iapetus, Drekkar had a hand on one of the curves of a dark-haired woman; she was giggling at some inane thing he’d just said and he was feeling very clever. When he saw Jarad approaching, his mood shifted and he frowned. “Whaddayouwant?”
.
Jarad looked at the woman and without speaking a word, had her scurrying off. He settled in the chair across from Drekkar. “Sorry about that but we need to talk.”

Drekkar watched her go then turned a glare on Jarad. “I worked hard to get her over here. What’s so important?”

“Have you talked to Isa recently? As in the last few hours?” Jarad asked. “Kaeli came with some interesting news.”

“Isa won’t take my calls,” Drekkar complained. “I was waiting till the morning before asking the computer for her location. She’s a late sleeper - it’ll be easier to track her down.” He sipped his drink. “Why? What interesting news?”

Jarad debated only briefly whether to tell Drekkar they were shipping out. Kaeli had mentioned he was being left behind but Jarad suspected that was because Drekkar didn’t know. “That Patch would be joining us...when we leave in two days.”

“Two days? Isa hasn’t told me. Isn’t Patch the one ‘tending to’ Kaeli while you were elsewhere?” He grinned ferally. “We could have fun with that one, my friend.”

Jarad nodded. “He is. Kaeli said he was being used for this one run as a relief for the new pilot, which makes me think Isa wants to put plenty of distance between us and this station for a while. Still, there are plenty of us who could spell Paz when needed. You and I both know why he is coming.”

“To replace you, Jarad. Perhaps at the first place we come to, he could meet with some misfortune.” He took a deep breath and looked around then smiled. “It’ll be good to get off this station for a while. For a while before returning to Cardassia.”

“You intend to go back there instead of operating from out here?” Jarad finally smiled. “I can understand why you would. It’s a powerful seat you’re taking over.” He paused, considering the suggestion about Patch. “It’s tempting.”

“It is. Isa will go back with me and we’ll have the life we had before,” he said. “You could come back, too. Be my right hand man, most trusted ally on Cardassia.” Drekkar had a certain vision for his future: it included wealth, power, and Isaura.

Jarad decided not to comment on Drekkar’s ideas about Isaura. “I could but Kae there would be a problem and you know it. Too many of our associates know the story and know the official line that I’ve been assigned to track her down and bring her in.”

Blind to his own hypocrisy, Drekkar said, “Eh, you could bring her in, be rewarded and then find someone else to love.”

Jarad blinked back at him. “You’re not serious.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “What if I said the same of Isaura? We were also ordered to capture her and give her to the Order. You are going to have an interesting time explaining why she’s in your bedroom and not my torture chamber.”

He shrugged and said a chilling thing: “So long as she is in my bed each night, she could be in your chair every day. It makes no difference to me. Two days? I have some things I need to wrap up here on the Station, messages to send to Cardassia for while we are gone.”

“Such as?” Jarad asked casually. What Drekkar had said made him realize he had yet another stop to make before he went home. It also made him wonder if Kaeli’s orders might not need to be carried out, at least where Drekkar was concerned.

“To ready a suite for me, for one. Also, to give them the transponder code for the Ning’Tao, so they can track us,” Drekkar said. “I’ll let them know that you’re doing your part to neutralize Kaeli.”

“Thank you. They have nothing to fear.” Jarad decided that time was wasting and rose from his seat. “I need to get back, Kaeli’s meeting me at our quarters as a matter of fact. You enjoy your entertainment.” He nodded to the woman who was lingering close by. “You have plenty of time.”

“Good night, then.” He motioned for the woman to return. “I’ll see you on the ship.”

* Isaura’s Quarters *

Jarad had his own ideas about Drekkar on the Ning’Tao and he suspected Isa might share those thoughts. A few minutes later he was at her door and rang the chime. Then he banged on the door. “Isa, let me in. It’s important.”

Inside the quarters, Rafael rolled over with a groan. “It’s for you.”

“Really? He’s not yelling for the other Isa in the room?” Isa waspishly snapped, getting up from the bed and grabbing a robe. Peeved, she pulled it on before hitting the button to open the door just a tad harder than really necessary. As the door slid open, too slow for Isa’s ire, she balefully glared at Jarad and demanded, “What in the hell do you want? What could not wait till the morning?”

Jarad hurried in and reached behind him to close the doors. “We have to discuss something. Is Rafael here?”

“Of course he is. Why?” She’d had to back off as he barged into the quarters. “Rafe?”, she called out for her lover.

“Here.” Rafael emerged from the bedroom in a pair of shorts and brushed back his hair. “What’s up Jarad?” He settled on the sofa and motioned for Isa.

Jarad dropped into a chair with a frown. “First question. Ro informed us of the two day departure window. My question is, can we be stocked and ready to go by tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Isa’s face scrunched up with confusion. “Why tomorrow? Did you kill someone, Jarad? Oh... no...,” suddenly concerned, she gasped, “Oh, you didn’t kill Patch, did you? I mean... if you did, let’s get the body to the Ning’Tao. We can recycle him once we set out. No evidence left behind.... Does Kaeli know?”

Jarad shook his head. “No, I did not kill Patch and we’ll get to him in a minute. This concerns Drekkar. Kae seems to think you are leaving him behind this trip but he thinks otherwise. He is planning to return to Cardassia once we get back from this run but there is more that you need to hear.” He related the conversation with Drekkar in Iapetus. “You see my concern now?”

Rafael tensed as Jarad related Drekkar’s intentions. “I would be happy to go finish him off right now.” he growled.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, Isa shook her head, “No, you’ll leave him alone. ... Raf, go get dressed. I need to send you on some errands. We’ll need new transponder codes. Again. Jarad, we’ll leave tomorrow. We might be a little short on supplies, but... the alternative is worse. Make sure Kaeli knows. I have some calls to make, so I’ll tell Ronin.”

“Kae and I can round up Rhian and handle the supplies tonight,” Jarad offered. “I would suggest, though, that the new crew be called last minute. I don’t think either of them will be deep into anything that can’t be dropped, but it will avoid them letting it slip to Drekkar.”

“Zarv will work with you, then. He has the list of things we need,” Isa said. She also knew that, by sending Zarv with them, she’d have an inside line to their progress. What Jarad had told her chilled her. She wanted to put some space between the Ning’Tao and Drekkar before he knew they were moving. “He’ll meet you in the corridor.”

“Good. I’ll call Kae and she can get Rhian. We’ll have it on the ship in three hours.” Jarad visibly relaxed, but only a little. “Now for the other thing. Patch. Kae said you are aware he is going on this run. Is that true?”

“Yeah,” Isa nodded carefully, watching him for clues about his thoughts on that. She didn’t want to touch him to read his thoughts. “Can’t say I’m enthused, but...,” she lifted a shoulder in a shrug.

“Nor am I. Actually, that is a vast understatement. I’m sure you can understand why. Unfortunately, I am being put in the position of looking out for him, at least for now. Drekkar suggested that the man might be the victim of an unfortunate but convenient accident. While it’s tempting, it would cause huge problems with Suresh that we don’t need.”

“Indeed. I’d rather leave him here, but... that leaves him for the Order or Tal Shiar to find. Someday, Jarad, we’ll have romantic peace on the Ning. Till then, we ladies will just have to juggle our men.” She smiled sweetly; the smile didn’t touch her eyes.

“Luckily, we’ll be leaving your problem here,” was Jarad’s comment. Finally he stood and moved to the door. “I’ll call in three hours when we are done.” He departed without another word.

When the doors closed Rafael turned to Isa. “I can actually bring Falon and Paz back now to begin prep for our two day departure. So we happen to leave early while they are still there, all the better.”

“Good. Go see Birch in the Pit. He can give us valid transponder codes that won’t get us in deeper water,” Isa said. She leaned in to kiss him. “I’ll see you on the Ning later today... well... tomorrow? Whatever, looks like our last night on the Station will be a sleepless one.”

“So it will. I’m with Jarad on this one. I think Drekkar’s turned dangerous to you, and you were the only one safe or so I thought. We’ll have the codes changed and be ready to go by 0800.”

“0800. Right,” she nodded. While he went off to dress and then find Falon and Paz, Isa made preparations to call her contact, Marcus. She’d been avoiding doing so.

*************
Isaura Panossian
Kaeli
Rafael Hernandez
Jarad
Drekkar