The Girls Get Together

Posted on Thu Oct 20th, 2011 @ 4:36pm by Ensign Kai Sarkozi & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Command Center Break Room
Tags: Beckman, Sarkozi, Iggy

* * * Command Center Break Room * * *

To say the morning had been hectic was an understatement. Between settling in, the missing Chief Diplomat, a murder, and an attack on the CMO, the news pouring into Commodore Hawke's office had been non-stop. She'd also heard several bits of gossip that she'd gone to great lengths to keep from the Commodore.

And then there were the personal calls. Several had come in from the aforementioned Marianna. As Kai had discovered, she was the Commodore's ex-wife. And while they were on friendly terms, the woman was a handful and then some. Kai had resorted to several false 'interruptions' to clear the channel. Now things had settled down and Kai had a chance to catch her breath. She made her way to the break room to stretch her legs and get some coffee. As luck would have it, Lt. Hope Beckman, the Admiral's aide was just arriving as well.

"Good evening, Lt. Beckman. Are things as crazy in your offices as they have been for us?"

Hope rolled her eyes. "Get used to it. Drama, drama, drama, not to mention appointment after appointment, all of whom think that their reasoning for seeing the Admiral is more important, no matter what he or I say." She shook her head now. "I honestly may go prematurely gray."

* * *Turbolift* * *

The spider was getting tired. And hungry. Normally, she didn't move around this much - and she certainly didn't hang from ceilings for this amount of time. With her patience wearing thin, Iggy waited for another occupant to join her in the turbolift. Finding the lift had been difficult enough; getting anyone to tell the lift to stop at Deck 6... well, that was still a challenge. The bipeds - both males - she'd asked to vocalize that for her had dashed off the lift rather than accommodate her, in her view, reasonable request. Some of the other bipeds had weapon-like instruments with them and Iggy didn't want to risk being impaled, squashed, or shot, and, hence, hadn't asked any of them to drop her off on Deck 6.

The lift stopped and a very small biped female stepped onto the turbolift. As seemed to be their custom, she turned to face the doors again. In a small voice, the child said, "Deck 31." The doors closed and the lift started moving.

Iggy had made, by her count, ten trips up and down the Starbase. So far, no one had been going farther than Deck 66. Attaching an anchor line and letting herself fall from the ceiling, she slid down to the biped's eye level. Considering the reaction everyone else had given her, she went lower then 'spoke' to the child, Excuse me, I need your help. Could you---

She was interrupted by the child's high-pitched scream.

Oh dear, Iggy lamented and dropped to the floor completely. Wisely moving out of foot stomping range (though, in this case, Iggy was slightly larger than the child's foot), she took up a spot on the wall opposite the child and tried again. Stop screaming, please, you are hurting me. Please, I just need to get to deck 6. Could you ask the lift to go there?

The child kept screaming but, after several decks' worth of reassurances from Iggy, eventually realized the monster in the turbolift wasn't there to eat her and quieted down. "Deck 6?" She asked Iggy.

Though the inquiry wasn't aimed at it, the computer answered: =^=You are not authorized to go to that level.=^=

Drat.

"I can go to Deck 12. My dad and I eat lunch there sometimes," the girl responded.

It was as close to Deck 6 as Iggy's turbolift had been since she boarded it. Deck 12, it is, then. Thank you.

"Deck 12," she told the computer.

I knew a female would understand.


* * *Command Center Break Room* * *

"...and then he just kept demanding to go in right away!" Hope said, continuing one of her stories for the young ensign. "I swear, if he hadn't been a Lieutenant Commander I would have told him where to shove his damned experiment, but...that's one of the things that you'll have to learn how to handle."

"Angry people that outrank you?" Kai asked.

"Well, yes," Hope replied, "but more specifically, being able to uphold the Commodore's directives on who and how he sees people, and when. It doesn't matter if the person in front of your desk is a Captain. He or she doesn't go in unless it is their appointed time or the Commodore authorizes it. And don't worry, you'll quickly understand who you can break into his meetings for to see about so-called 'urgent' requests."

Kai sipped her coffee and smiled. "Oh I have one of those 'he'll want to talk to me' people already. Marianna, his ex-wife. Honestly, Hope, I don't know how a man as nice as the Commodore could have ever gone there. She's like...." Kai paused, searching for the right words. "Like facing down the flight of the Valkyries. A regular whirlwind that one is. And he'd already made sure I knew that when she called that he was 'busy'. And I spent much of the morning keeping the gossips out of the office too. Being what he is, they didn't need to start asking questions about Li for him to pick up on what they were thinking. A bunch of ghouls the lot of them."

Listening to the two women, Iggy finished off the meal she'd caught moments earlier and set the carcass aside. Excited by the mention of Li, she moved to the edge of the cabinet and looked the two over before asking, Li? Has she been here?

Hope stared blankly at Kai. "What?" She squirrled her face up. "What kind of voice was that you were doing?"

Kai frowned as she looked back at Hope. "It wasn't me, and whatever it was was in here." She tapped her head. Then, seeing a faint movement at the top of the cabinets, she spotted Iggy. A scream escaped her, the coffee mug fell from her hands, and a curse followed. "Merde! Hope....l-look!" Her shaky hand pointed up.

Iggy resisted the urge to look behind her; she knew that shaking hand was pointing at her. She'd witnessed this same sort of reaction from several others in the time since she'd left Oralia's apartment. She sighed and hoped neither female got up the gumption to come after her with a weapon.

Hope watched the face of Kai, fear etched all over it, and slowly turned to see the large spider perched on a cabinet. "Oh!" she said, getting up quickly and facing it proper. "You..? You asked about Li?" She gulped. "What are you?"

I am a who not a what. I am Iggy; I am Oralia's ...pet.... The word 'pet' carried some indignation along with it. By Iggy's measurements, she was more than a simple pet. She moved a little closer to the edge, the better to look down the front of the cabinet as she decided whether to crawl down. I am seeking Li, she is in danger.

So many questions for...Iggy, raced through Hope's mind, but she had to force herself to go towards the most pressing questions. "Li...Hawke? The Intelligence chief? What type of danger?"

Kai scurried backwards till the counter pressed against her back stopped her. She was actually having a conversation with a spider. And not just any spider, but the biggest spider she'd ever seen. Yes, this was going to be good for a few nightmares she suspected. Finally she spoke up.

"Li was...on her way to see the Admiral. I saw her a few...minutes ago."

Hope could see that Kai was on the verge of a breakdown. She went to her and took her hand. "It's okay. I remember the Admiral sending me something authorizing Oz to have this--I mean, to have Iggy. I just didn't realize he, or she?" she said, looking up to the spider, but didn't wait for a reply, "was so large. And....talkative."

She; I am female, Iggy informed Hope even as she turned around, moved the short distance to the ceiling and attached an anchor line. Jumping from the ceiling, she was safely on the floor in a matter of seconds - far faster and easier than crawling down the wall. This admiral, where is it? She moved towards the open door of the break room and paused to look back at Hope and Kai. Li is in danger from someone named Rhys.

"What? Whoa--no," Hope blurted out, now moving toward Iggy. "Rhys is dead. He's been dead for a while now. He can't hurt her now." She looked intently at the spider. "Can he?"

If Iggy could have shrugged, she would have. As it was, she waved a leg in the air, the spider equivalent of 'maybe'. Physically, it does not seem so; otherwise, the way I know Li, it seems he can, the spider answered cryptically. How she knew the world was vastly different from how bipeds knew the world. For one, everyone was taller for Iggy; she shuffled sideways, away from Hope. Which way is this admiral?

Kai finally found her voice, shaky though it was. "Umm...three doors down that way." She pointed. "Who is Rhys? And should the Commodore be alerted?"

Thank you, the spider whispered and disappeared into the corridor. She didn't have answers for the other questions and, accordingly, didn't respond. Instead, at a speed that challenged them to follow her, Iggy headed down the corridor. Just outside the third door, she stopped and stayed stock still in order to breathe. Li!, she called.

"Iggy!" Hope called. "Wait! I don't think you should just bust in there. I'm not so sure how the Admiral takes to spiders."

I cannot just 'bust in' there, Iggy explained, looking up at Hope, These doors are frustrating.


Kai looked from Hope to Iggy. "I suppose we are about to find out." She followed Iggy to the set of doors and pressed the panel. Moments later, they slid open.

*********

Ensign Kai Sarkozi
Commodore's Aide
Resident Arachnophobe

Lieutenant Hope Beckman
Admiral's Aide

Iggy
Resident Bandersnatch