Bearer of Bad News... More Than Once

Posted on Fri Nov 9th, 2012 @ 7:10pm by Admiral Lucius Hawke & Jackson Banning V & Commander Oralia Zeferino
Edited on on Fri Nov 9th, 2012 @ 9:09pm

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant

* * * Oz’s Quarters * * *

Being the late sleeper he was, Jackson emerged from the bedroom just past noon and, not bothering to dress, made his way to the kitchen as he rubbed his eyes. He bypassed the appliances, even though he preferred ‘real’ coffee, and stopped at the replicator. He needed a little something to wake him up so he’d have enough sense to actually make the coffee.

“Raktajino,” he ordered. Just as the mug appeared on the replicator tray, he noticed Iggy sitting on the counter next to it. It took just about a split second for realization to hit. Iggy. Sentient spider. Naked body. The bell went off in his head. Ding, ding ding....exposed. “Shit!”

Covering himself with his hands, he turned and dashed back to the bedroom. “Warn me next time will ya?” he shouted back to her.

About what? That he was naked didn’t bother her - after all, she went about the station sans clothing most of the time, at least when she could avoid Oralia sewing her into a vest. The vest chafed and rubbed hair off of her, a look she didn’t much appreciate. Plus, it interfered with her ability to sense certain air movements and vibrations. Sitting on the counter next to Jackson’s raktajino, she dipped a pedipalp into the hot brew and tasted it. Ew. You know I live here! It is not as though I just dropped in for a beer.

“Yeah, but I thought you’d be in class or somethin’,” he called back out to her. Opening a drawer, he pulled out a pair of black sweat pants and pulled them on. He was now completely awake and alert. Flashing your private parts to a spider that could talk tended to just snap you right out of that barely-awake mental haze.

Chance has not yet come by to take me to class, she answered back then added, I would guess that you would rather I not give him a mental picture of this morning? If she’d had a normal voice, Jackson might have heard the note of humor in it.

“You wouldn’t!” Jackson returned to the kitchen and his morning brew. He took a drink then eyed Iggy. “Would you? I don’t think seein’ my junk is high on Chance’s list.”

I would not be surprised if Chance was interested. Iggy moved away from him, conveniently getting out of arm’s reach. But, no, I will not give him that image.

As she did, the doors to the quarters opened and Oralia came in. “Hey, you just waking up?”

“Yeah, and with a rather unexpected turn of events. You know how I sleep and I thought Iggy was gone to class so when I came out to get coffee....” He left it at that and smiled.

“Got all eight eyes’ worth, did you, Iggster?” Oralia laughed. The two were the high points in her life right now and it thrilled her that they got along rather well. “The red alert, J? That didn’t wake you?”

“It got worse when she suggested Chance might like to get his eyes’ worth too.” Her words, however got a curious look. “What red alert? And I suppose that answers yer question.”

“Yeah. Wow, heavy sleeper. I guess the sake and dumplings were a bit much last night.” She stroked Iggy’s back. “The Admiral and Li have disappeared, along with my beloved Suresh.”

Jackson blinked at her, it taking several moments for her words to sink in. “Disappeared? With Suresh? To where? What happened?”

“Disappeared, yes; to where, we’re not sure. Leroy is working on that,” she answered. “What happened? Well, it appears that, perhaps, Suresh was using a faulty disruptor and it ... did something unexpected. There’s a large hole in the Admiral’s desk but no Admiral and no Li.”

Jackson frowned. “What the hell would he want with those two though? They seem to be a little out of his usual circle of friends.”

“Perhaps your orders reactivating your status only included current information. There’s some background there - namely that Li was, until recently, Suresh’s ...,” she considered how to phrase what Li had been, “um... favorite... girlfriend? Darwin would say whore; since it’s Li... yeah, anyway, Li was undercover with Suresh and had herself killed when she took the Exec’s office. I’ll hazard a guess that Suresh is quite aware of who Li is now and went to take revenge on her.”

Whatever he’d expected to come out of Oz’s mouth, never in a million years would it have been that. It absolutely blew his mind and the mug slipped from his fingers to spill between them onto the carpet.

“Well, fuck me runnin’. Wait....what? You mentioned a faulty disruptor?”

“Yeah. Awful Romulan design. Looks like it might have been a late 23rd century model, which makes it nearly 100 years old, and that idiot....” She stopped and rubbed her forehead. “Anyway, at that age, it was a collector’s item, not something to be used. Records show that he had it, had declared it even, but said it was non-functioning.” If it hadn’t been non-functioning, Oralia would have had the weapon confiscated a long time ago.

“And he fired it. Anything missing besides the people?” He bent to pick up his mug and set it on the counter, then reached to pull her hand from her forehead and draw her close into his arms. The carpet would take care of itself.

Muffled against his chest, Oz shook her head and said, “No, just our people and a piece of the desk.” She leaned into him then added, “Oh, and I’m now acting Exec.” She didn’t sound happy about that.

“A piece of the desk?” Jackson pulled her back a moment, his expression worried. “You know that disruptor malfunctions can leave little tears in the time/space continuum? There was an attempt on a federation ambassador quite a few years ago and....” He stopped and frowned. “Congratulations, by the way.”

She rolled her eyes. It’d been just the night before when she’d said she hadn’t wanted the Exec job... and here she was, temporarily. “Awful way to get it. Leroy and Sakkath are working on the science behind what happened. They’ll get them back, though I hope they might leave Suresh wherever they are.”

“How is Sakkath takin’ the news that one of the low lifes vanished with his wife, and likely to someplace we can’t just hop in a ship and get to to take them all back?”

“Like a Vulcan, as usual,” Oz said. “Were it me, I’d be a wreck.... I mean. Oh, hell, you know what I mean.”

“Just because we don’t see somethin’ doesn’t mean it’s not there, Oz. Li’s much the same. The only thing she’s missin’ at times is the pointy ears.”

“Are you thinking I should go ask if he’d rather be relieved? ‘Cause that..., Jackson, that’s not something I think he’d appreciate. As close as I may be to Li, I’m not that close to Sakkath.”

“No, not at all. He’ll handle it just fine. But you can bet he misses her already.” Jackson kissed her forehead, then moved over to get a cup of coffee from the replicator. “So, Miss XO, what’s on your list for the day?”

“I need to review Li’s list of things to do, make sure that I’m on top of anything there. Beyond that,” she shrugged. “There’s some follow up to do with an arrest that was made and some things that were found in Suresh’s quarters. You?”

“Well, I was actually plannin’ to hop down to Saturnalia and see Suresh but since he took a hike, there goes that. I’ll see Nita later and check in with Lt. Smith. Other than that, my day’s pretty normal.” He gave her a grin now. “How about that. You’re second in command.” His eyes twinkled a moment, then he grew serious. “You’ll do just fine.”

“Why were you going to go see Suresh?”

“See, not necessarily talk to. I wanted to see the wild animal in its native habitat.” The fresh cup of coffee was passed on to Oz and Jackson ordered another.

“Hmm,” she blew on the coffee and sipped it. She grimaced and corrected her earlier statement: “I do have one major thing to go do: I’m meeting the Admiral when he beams up. As Exec, I get to tell him personally about Li.”

“I think he would appreciate hearing it from you. And I’ll see how Nita’s doing when I get there. Anything happens or I’m needed, you call. Jan will understand if I need to take off.”

“Ok.” She set her coffee down and touched his bare chest lightly before moving closer to kiss him. “I love you, Jackson,” Oz told him, just before Iggy chimed in, Hey! The arachnid is still in the room!

“I’m sure she loves you too Iggs.” Jackson drew Oz close and kissed her deeply. “So do I. But that only goes so far Iggy. Remember that.” He smiled down at Oz.

“Only so far as exposing yourself to her. Good thing she’s not a child,” she laughed. “I’d better head out,” she kissed him and turned toward the door. “I’ll see you for dinner?”

“You better believe it. Especially if it’s like the last time you showed at my office for dinner.” He winked at her. “Have a good day, sugar.”

Knowing the task she had ahead, Oz wasn’t so cheerful as she left. Her mood didn’t improve as she moved through the Station, heading to the main transporter facilities. Reaching them, she slowed, took a deep breath, nodded in greeting to the chief present, and waited for the Admiral’s arrival.

“Energizing.” The transporter chief pressed the panel and a few seconds later, and a swirl of blue, there stood Lucius, in uniform.

He’d returned from Archadia at Kai’s summons and seeing they were under red alert, his first instinct was to order a report. However, the Chief of Security was there, obviously to meet him and he picked up the consternation that hung around her like a dark cloud.

“Commander Zeferino. What’s the emergency?”

“Admiral Hawke,” she greeted him and hesitated a moment too long. Telling him here seemed like a bad idea, as did escorting him anywhere else before telling him. “If you’ll walk with me, Sir, I’ll fill you in,” she gestured toward the door and they fell into step together.

“As you might be aware, Admiral, we’ve been having an issue with a crime syndicate in the lower levels of the Station. During her time as Intel Chief, Comm... Li,” she dropped the formal rank and name, since she was dealing with the woman’s father, not simply an Admiral, “...was integral to the investigation into the boss of the syndicate. That boss, a man named Suresh, confronted Admiral Wegener and Li in the Admiral’s office this morning. He was armed with an antique Romulan disruptor, which apparently malfunctioned when he attempted to discharge it.”

She had led him to a private conference room and paused a moment to let him enter first. She didn’t advise him to take a seat; whether he did so was up to him, as an Admiral. “From the evidence we have gathered, we cannot tell whether anyone was injured. However, neither Admiral Wegener nor Li can be found on the Station.”

Lucius had preceded her into the room but at her last words, he froze mid-step. It took a moment, then he turned to look at Oz. His expression went from surprise to instant worry. He wasn’t a man to panic after all his years in the Fleet but this news was about to make him do just that. He closed his eyes a moment and took a deep breath.

“Tell me what happened, Oz.” He’d also dropped the formal rank. Right now, he was dealing with his daughter’s friend as her father, not the Admiral. He pulled a chair out and dropped heavily into it. “All of it.”

“Our target from the lower levels is Suresh, a Romulan who oversees various businesses on the station and in the region. We’ve been trying to tie him to certain crimes, but so far haven’t been able to. This time, though, we know Suresh did this. Commander Leroy was able to ... um... agitate the...” she wiggled her fingers in the air, “...chronitons, I think it was, and showed us Suresh threatening Wegener with a disruptor. There was a malfunction and... the three disappeared, along with a chunk of the Admiral’s desk.”

She paused and sighed. “I’m sorry, Lucius, I wish I didn’t have to tell you this or that I could tell you more, but we don’t have any more information right now.”

His black eyes as he looked back at her were unreadable, but the faint mist that left them shiny was more than clear. “Given that technology, and Commander Leroy’s excited chronitons, that leads to one obvious conclusion. Do you have any idea how difficult it will be to track them and get them home?” He rested his head in his hand for a moment. “I’ll tell Aia but I think it better to keep this from Marianna for now and hope that I don’t have to call her later with the bad news. As for you and Commander Sakkath, whatever you need to get them back, I’ll make it happen. How is he?”

“Stoic, outwardly, Sir. As you know, he’s now the acting Commander of the Station and I’m the acting Exec. We’ve mobilized every resource we can on this, Lucius.” Oz ached for the man: he’d lost Li’s twin and now... possibly Li as well.

Lucius nodded. “Please inform Brigadier Akima so she will be aware of Admiral Wegener’s whereabouts, at least as much as is known.” He sighed tiredly. “So now, I wait while my daughter is off in parts unknown with a criminal.” Suddenly his head snapped up and he pinned Oz with an intent gaze. “There’s more to him than that, isn’t there?”

Knowing he’d just read something in her head, Oralia nodded. “He’s more than the average criminal, yes. He’s the sort who never gets his own hands dirty while there’s someone else to do it for him. Then, when we’ve linked a crime to those dirty hands and those hands to him, he’ll cut off the hands, and the mouths they’re attached to, in order to silence them.”

“And he wants revenge on Li? Then why take Ricky?”

“Ah... he knows Admiral Wegener as a man named ‘Jayne Cobb,’ a man who was able to ‘purchase’ and use Suresh’s favorite ...well, to use ‘Isha’, which was Li’s undercover persona. Since Suresh wasn’t ever able to use Isha that way...,” she shrugged, “...he got jealous.”

“I see. And to think I was the one who encouraged her to take up intel. She was assigned to Jackson you know, when she was fresh out of the academy. She had a talent for the black collar activities. I wasn’t too thrilled but it’s what she excelled at and ….” He stopped and shrugged. “That was the path I chose and there was no way I could tell her no.”

“I knew about her working with Jackson, and I know that Jackson is now re-activated,” she frowned, trying to hide the anxiety that caused her. “We’ll find Li and the Admiral.”

“Thank you Oz.” He reached over to squeeze her hand. “And I know you’re worried about Jackson. I won’t tell you not to be,that would be useless. I can tell you he’s one of the best and he knows what he’s doing. Keep me posted will you?”

“Yes, sir, I will,” she nodded. “Shall I call Aia for you?”

“No need, I’m going straight home now. Thank you.” He rose and opened the door, then waited for Oz.

She left with him and they soon parted ways - him to seek comfort from Aia; her to seek comfort from a bottle of wine.

***************
Vice Admiral Lucius Hawke
Facing Echoes Of His Past

Lt.Commander Oralia Zeferino
Twice the Messenger

Jackson Banning V
Not the Model Father