Two Men and a Babe

Posted on Wed Aug 29th, 2012 @ 3:17pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Admiral Lucius Hawke & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: The Nexus Club
Timeline: Current

* * * The Nexus Club * * *

Aia Rios had the best seat in the house: on one side, she had the very loving, handsome, luscious Lucius Hawke; on the other, she had the smooth, good-looking Rick Wegener. Most women wouldn’t ask for more. Most women weren’t Aia Rios. “I’ll have dessert first, just bring a sampling of each,” she said to the waiter, whom she’d just flagged down. “And I suppose these two would like drinks of some sort....” She smiled first at her husband then at Rick.

“Scotch,” Lucius added. “Jackson has a bottle he’s been saving for me that I’ve been waiting until Ricky and I managed to get here together to try.”

“Then bring two glasses,” Rick said with a smile. “Thank you, Lucius.” With a nod he turned his attention to Aia. “And how have you been, Aia? I haven’t been able to visit since the delivery.”

“Oh, I’ve been well. Lucius found a nanny for me, so I’ve had some time to myself. Little Saye is adorable, Rick. If you don’t have time to visit, perhaps I’ll just come up to you,” she smiled.

“My dear, I will make time,” he smiled. “I’m sure she’s every bit as lovely as you...and she probably has Lucius’ ears or something.” He chuckled at his little jab at the Admiral.

“Gee thanks, my friend.” Lucius smiled indulgently. “She actually has her ears, my eyes.” He paused as the drinks and Aia’s dessert arrived, then continued. “Wait, what’s wrong with my ears?”

"Why, not a thing." Rick said. "I just haven't had the opportunity to pick on you, for any reason, real or made-up, in ages. So I'm doing so now."

Lucius laughed good-naturedly. “And I have missed it. But you and I have both had our hands full with all sorts of things.”

“All sorts of good things,” Aia lightly elbowed her husband. “What about you, Rick? Are you involved with Akima still?”

"It's been hit-or-miss lately, since we've both been busy, but...yeah, I guess you could call it that. But the most exciting thing that's happened lately was the incident with the shuttle," he said, assuming Lucius had already heard about it. "Wasn't sure Iggy and I would walk away from that one, that's for sure."

“What incident with the shuttle? And who is Iggy?” Aia leaned forward and caught Rick’s forearm. Lucius might have heard, but she hadn’t.

“I would have thought that word of it had spread through the entire base by now,” Rick said, leaning back with his drink in his hand now. “First, Iggy is the pet spider that belongs to our chief of security, Lt. Cmdr. Zerefino. She used to be, oh, about this big,” he motioned with his hands, “but after becoming sentient by some crazy crystal, she’s grown by leaps and bounds, talks using some form of telepathy and is as curious and precocious as any 5 or 6 year old child would be. Wants to know about everything and anything!” He laughed, remembering some of the times he and Ig had spent together--him trying to teach her something, her tossing out random thoughts... “Well, anyway, she’s learned quite a bit and has never been off the station in her sentient form. I was going to visit my people on Archadia and thought she might like the ride, which she did until the shuttle started going ape-shit--” he stopped. “Sorry, Aia. That was uncalled for.”

Used to far worse language in her currently-former line of work, Aia shrugged off the Admiral’s colorful wording. “No worries, Rick.”

“We had been just out wandering around for about an hour when all of the controls went offline, the inertial dampeners went berserk, and finally we started spiraling towards the planet surface.” His brow furrowed as he thought back to the incident. “Luckily I have some extremely talented fighter pilots on 900. Two of them caught me in their warp bubble to slow my descent and 900 beamed us out of there.”

“I’ve looked over the reports on that Ricky.” Lucius frowned for a moment as he reached for his drink. “Something about it has been chewing at me. I don’t like it.”

"Nor I," Rick said. "Especially when I went back to the flight deck and couldn't find the new engineer that had been working on the shuttle just before I took off. It was like he'd disappeared. Apparently he was not found anywhere on the station, either."

That piqued Aia’s interest. “Really? Did you have a composite of the man created? Could I see it, if so?” Likely, if it had been someone wearing a disguise, she wouldn’t recognize him. But... maybe... one never knew. Aia realized she itched to get back to work.

"I have noticed our security and intelligence offices regarding that man. I can't say for certain that he had anything to do with it, but it is extremely odd that he would disappear right after that sort of incident."

“And what of his file? Or those overseeing him in engineering?” Lucius reached for his scotch and had a sip. “This raises a question, however. If it was sabotage, was it just general? Or do you think you were steered to that shuttle specifically?”

"I honestly don't think the deck chief would have done anything like that," Rick said. "I've known him since I came to 900. But it appears that this mysterious crewman's information has been purged from the database. But there's nought I can do until security and intel do their good deeds. As of now, I can only wait on them."

“Keep me informed then. In the meantime, care for another?” He held up the bottle.

Glancing at Lucius, Aia smiled. At another table, someone shrieked, sending a surge of adrenaline through her already-sugar-coated arteries. She jumped and looked over, taking in the people at the table involved. There was a man there... younger, but he looked familiar. Unable to place where she knew him from, Aia sat back and tried to calm her heart rate. “Woo... that’s a way to get people’s attention,” she chuckled.

“It is.” Lucius turned his attention to the group that seemed to be having the problem. “Unusual for a place like this, I wonder what has them in such an uproar?” As they watched, Jackson could be seen moving through the crowd and the noise level quieted.

“Oh, great,” Rick muttered as he saw Suresh enter the room. “Well, the class in this place has just gone down quite a bit.” He nodded across the room to where the man entered with the man that had been with him in Rick’s office. “Prime suspect for the criminal goings-on down in the Pit. Name’s Suresh, but I don’t recall the other man’s name. Li had been undercover with them just before I promoted her. Luckily, the new chief of intelligence was also already imbedded with him as a smuggling pilot and took over so we can still watch him.”

There was no outward reaction from Lucius, save a slight tightening of his jaw. He was well-aware of Li’s chosen career, it was the same one he’d taken before moving up the ladder. Still, as a father and seeing the man in question, he was glad to hear she was out of the situation. “I suspect that he slips by because there’s no real evidence? Always someone else to blame? Typical.”

“Aye,” Rick said, sipping his drink. “But, from what Li tells me, they’re piling it up against him so it shouldn’t be long before we’re able to take him into custody. And not on some piddling charges, but something that will send him away for a very long time.”

“Good, though I don’t envy your diplomatic department when they notify the Romulans, but they may be glad of an excuse to wash their hands of him.” Lucius turned his attention back to Aia now. “But since we are here with such good music, would you care to dance my darling?”

“Mmm!” Lucius had caught Aia just as she took a bite of a chocolate-laced cake. Wide-eyed, she nodded then, swallowing the cake and patting her lips with a napkin, answered, “Thought you’d never ask, old man!” Smiling, she kissed him lightly and, with a quick ‘pardon us,’ to Rick, let him lead her to the dance floor.

Rick watched the happy couple take to the floor. He smiled. They seemed to be a perfect pair. Aia was stunningly beautiful. And even Lucius was one handsome man, so it was no wonder that their baby was just as gorgeous. A little pang of regret snuck up on him, though. He’d not had time to notify Akima about this little get-together, and truly wished he had. She wasn’t normally the socialite type, but even she would have had a good time tonight, Klingon or not.

He scanned the crowd and found Suresh talking across the table to his man. Either he hadn’t noticed Rick or he had and didn’t want Rick to know. He briefly thought about sending a bottle of wine over to him, to remind him of Li/Isha and just to see how he would react. Then again, if the shuttle incident really had been sabotage, did he want to poke the bear and risk further ire?

“Fuck it,” he said under his breath. “Waiter?”

He waved over one of the staff members and pointed out Suresh from across the way. “One bottle of wine and one glass to that man there. You can tell him that it’s from Jayne Cobb with compliments.”

---------------------------------
A joint post by:

VADM Ricky Wegener
Pokin’ the Damn Bear...Right In the Heart

&

VADM Lucius Hawke
A Little Suspicious

&

Aia Rios
A Little Sweet