Keeping Watch

Posted on Wed Dec 19th, 2012 @ 7:32pm by Jackson Banning V & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: Oz/Jackson's Quarters

* * * Oz & Jackson’s Quarters * * *

Padding about her quarters in a pair of loose pajama pants and a tank top, Oralia had a worried look on her face. "Jackson, have you seen Iggy lately?" She was looking up into the corners of the rooms.

Jackson looked up from the sofa, where he sat with a padd and a cup of coffee, his bare feet propped on the table before him. He tilted his head as he thought back over the previous day and night, then frowned. “Come ta think of it, no, I haven’t.”

She sighed irritably. "I'm going to have to give that arachnid a curfew! Of all the things we have to worry about.... Ugh." Shaking her head she touched a computer panel on the wall and asked, "Computer, determine the location of the arachnid, Ignatius Reilly."

=/\=Ignatius J. Reilly cannot be located on the Station.=/\=, came the answer a moment later.

"Dammit," Oz muttered. "She must have done something to her commbadge." It wasn't a real commbadge the spider wore, but rather just a small transceiver that opened some doors for her and that let the computer track her. Still worried, though her worry was manifesting as irritation at the moment, she flopped down on the couch next to Jackson. "Maybe she found Eli."

Jackson sipped his coffee then a thought hit him. "You ever thought about havin’ a locator chip implanted? In Iggy, not you. Though come to think of it, it’s not a bad idea for you either.”

"What? In me? Jackson!" She cast him a glare that wasn't a serious one at all. "No, on both counts. For me... Just - no! And for Iggy, breaking her exoskeleton could have other consequences. Sakkath and Leroy were looking into it, though, for more than just a locator tag, too." She shifted to look at him more fully. "Why would you say I need one?"

“Oh, I don’t know....a certain kidnappin’, and a crime boss that still hates you beyond all reason. Just for starters.” He grinned back at Oz, but then his expression sobered. “Speakin’ of which, there’s somethin’ I need to tell you.”

"I know. I'm sorry, J." Thinking of how they’d have to postpone their elopement, she looked pained then continued. "Can Woodford stay longer? Maybe... I still need to arrange for Chance to be taken home..., and I don't know if I'm going with him. If I do, will go with me, please? We could do a quick ceremony and then go."

“If you want me to, I will.” He paused a moment as he looked back at her. Getting her away from the station might not be a bad thing. “Woody can stay, no problem. I think he’s too wrapped up in Jan to be in a big hurry to go. This isn’t about the weddin’ or any of that though. It has to do with the investigation into Chance.”

"What about it? I haven't been getting into it, if that's where you're going. I know that my involvement could cause problems," she tugged on his arm lightly, a signal for him to let her in closer and hug her.

He wrapped his arms around her, settling her in against him, though he realized this put her in striking range. Maybe not the best place considering what he had to tell her.

“It’s about those flowers.”

"The flowers? You mean the weirdly dark flowers?" Other bouquets had been sent, but none were as memorable as that first set.

“Yeah. The note that was with ‘em, I gave it to Eric.”

"Why...?" She asked the obvious question but just as quickly realized why. "What did that note really say?" Her hand rested on his thigh as she twisted to look at him.

He told her, then sighed aloud. “I didn’t want to tell you then as you were overloaded as it was. But it points one direction, so he may wanna ask you about the time when Connor was stabbed. I think it’s all related. And by that theory? No, this wasn’t directed at me and Chance got in the way. It was about him all along.”

Limply, she leaned against him. The note’s language was startling all by itself (that Jackson had covered his surprise on that night so glibly was a nasty zinger she’d have to examine later), but the implication that Chance had been the target was... at once devastating and, in an odd, unpleasant way, comforting. “Just like Connor... they took him and now Chance. Or, could it be related to Eli’s situation?”

“That’s what I want to find out. God there are times I wish I was telepathic. This would all be so much easier. I need Li in the worst way. I know Eli’s strong but I could use someone not Eli to snoop around a little.”

“Isn’t Vic?”

Jackson smacked his own forehead. “Habit. I’m still not used to both of us being back in the saddle. He’d be a good one to go down below too, since he’s not associated with you.” He smiled and kissed her gently. “No offense, honey.”

Instead of being offended, she was worried. “Better him than you. This makes me want to keep you hidden, where no one can harm you.” It did not make her think about ‘backing off’ as the card had warned her to do. If anything, she was more ready than ever to go into the Cherry Pit and slash, burn and salt the earth. But that sort of thing would be frowned upon by the Admiral.

“We’ll find him, I promise you. Eric’s burning the candle at both ends. I sent him home to sleep earlier, actually.” He took a last sip of his coffee and leaned forward to leave the cup on the table. “Anything else exciting I need to know about?”

“Hmm? Oh, no,” she shook her head, momentarily caught on his phrase ‘I sent him home’. Security was her department. She dismissed the irritation that brought up, chalked it up to all that had happened recently plus Iggy’s inconsiderate decision to stay out. “Oh, yeah, there is. Eli... you know of the Hazari he chased? With the note with Chance’s words on it? I think I met him, had drinks with him earlier. He disappeared into the crowd before I could catch him, though.”

“You had drinks with him,” Jackson repeated slowly. “There has to be a good story there. What did he say?”

Oz tried to recall the whole conversation, but she hadn’t been paying close attention. “He sounded... a little fixated on Eli. We were watching Eli from across the room and the way he spoke about him.” She paused to shake her head, then added, “And... he knew one of Chance’s phrases - the one about boxes of chocolate and never knowing what you’ll get.”

“That’s odd. It’s from an old Earth movie.” He was concerned about the Eli fixation issue, however. “What does he want with Eli?”

“I don’t know,” she answered.

Jackson nodded slowly. “He’s being watched already if I know you. I’d better warn Vic though, in case he runs into that man down there. I don’t suppose it would help if I told Eli to stay out of the Pit?”

“The guy first found him in a coffee shop on the Promenade. I doubt restricting Eli from the Pit would do anything, except, perhaps, make him want to go there.” She shrugged as if to say, ‘Teenagers, right?’ “And, yes, he’s already being watched. And there’s a watch out for this Hazari, which means that, right now, any Hazari will be stopped and questioned, since neither Eli nor I could give any identifying characteristics.”

“That is about all we can do for now then. Still a Hazari’s attention to anyone is unsettling. He went to see Robin you know. Eli, not the Hazari,” Jackson informed her. “He said he spoke to the man in his thoughts and when he asked him who he was, he answered ‘Chance’. Then he ran but he wasn’t sure if it was real or imagined. Or if he’s not crackin’ up.”

“Robin called Security; he’s yet another reason for us to be tracking Eli,” she settled in his arms and mused on the matter for a long moment. “I don’t think he is, J. I think there’s something else going on here.”

“Wait, why did Robin call security? Was there a problem?” Jackson was even more concerned now. “He didn’t mention it while we were there.”

“It’s a strange story, and... it happened after Eli was there. But Security has it; it’ll all be fine. Maybe I should ask Ops to do a scan for arachnids on the Station.”

“Can they limit it to certain sizes? Otherwise, if we all know how many spiders are roamin’ this station, none of us will sleep ever again.”

“At least I know that none of those other spiders would ever come in here. Iggy would probably pounce on and eat ‘em before they got halfway in the door. For everyone else?” She shrugged, “Maybe they should get cats.”

“Tell you what. Why don’t you call Ops and I’ll get us somethin’ to eat. Security’s given the clearance to reopen the club so it’s back to work for me tonight.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her gently. “We’ll find her.”

“Will do, J.” She rose and went to call Ops.

******************
Lieutenant Commander Oralia Zeferino
At Loose Ends

Jackson Banning V
Owner & Watcher
The Nexus Club