Why Am I Here?

Posted on Tue Jan 1st, 2013 @ 5:17pm by Commander Oralia Zeferino & Cadet Senior Grade Eli Ziyad & Jackson Banning V

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: Eli's Quarters

He couldn’t figure out what he was doing. There were moments when he wasn’t sure who he was anymore, whose hands were these? Whose words had he been thinking lately? Whose footsteps was he walking in? Blinking, he felt like he was swimming up from a long, deep sleep - the kind where you’re aware that a huge amount of time has passed but you don’t feel rested. The blinking wasn’t enough: he ended up shaking his head to clear it and then he could recall things.

He knew just who he was: he was the Enforcer, a hunter who struck fear in the hearts of his prey. Certainly in the heart and bowels of his putative ‘handler’, the Rat. He sneered and then realized: he wasn’t anywhere he recognized. Where was here? He stood and wandered from the main room into a smaller room: a bedroom. There was what looked like a cobweb hanging in one corner. He grimaced then saw a holoimage on a shelf.

He knew now where he was. The question was: why was he here? He couldn’t bring himself to leave. Not yet. He wanted to see him again, wanted it with all his heart. What heart? He didn’t possess one of those, not in the way that simpering romantic fools did. So why couldn’t he leave? Why was he here? He went back to the main room, took a seat in the armchair and left the lights off.

Several minutes later the doors slid open and Eli entered. He stood still as they closed once more but he left the lights off. This was his first time back in here since....since the thing he couldn’t bear to think about had happened. He needed to be here, where they’d been so happy, hoping for a sense of Chance. Closing his eyes he leaned back against the doors and opened his mind, sensing the lingering vibes in the room. Chance was here but faint. He’d waited too long and now, even here....Chance was all but gone. A sob escaped him, soft in the silence of the room.

In the chair where he’d settled, the Enforcer found himself unable to move, unable to speak. What was happening? Instead, he heard - not with his ears but with his mind - a voice whisper, Eli, hush, love. The Enforcer choked on the overwhelmingly intense emotion that swept over him. He wanted to get up and hold Eli in his arms, comfort him.

The sob turned into a soft yelp. “Who’s here?? Answer me!” Eli felt the sudden rush of love that hit him like a hurricane but he knew Chance was gone and suddenly, he was very afraid.

Chance. I’m here, came the whisper again.

“No! You’re not here! You’re in Sickbay, dead or...something. You cannot be here.....” His voice had faded to a whisper. “No matter how much I wish you were.”

Not dead. Help me, Eli. The whisper faded just as a roar rose from the far side of the room. At first, the roar had no words but then it did: “Noooo! Not possible! Eli! I--- looove---! No, I don’t! I can’t! Nooo! This is not possible!”

Eli froze instantly. “Who’s here? Computer! Lights!” The lights came up to full brightness in an instant, revealing the Hazari sitting in the chair. “You!” Eli was already reaching for his comm badge.

In a blur of movement, the Hazari was out of his seat and across the room. Eli made contact with the commbadge, but then the Enforcer was there, ripping the damned thing from the male’s shirt and grabbing hold of Eli in an embrace that was a cross between a lover’s and a fighter’s. “Why am I here?!”, he demanded an answer from the man.

“GET...OFF..ME! I don’t even know you!!” Eli struggled like a tiger but the Hazari was far bigger and stronger. “What do you want??” He’d heard Chance but it had to be some trick. Had to be. Eli reached out, touching the Hazari’s thoughts and what he saw there made him dizzy. It was Jackson’s office, Chance in the chair and this man....oh..dear gods no....

From the Hazari’s mind came another image: Chance. His image wavered, like a hologram with a large amount of interference. Eli, help! The image and voice was erased as the Enforcer physically shook Eli, “What are you doing to me?”

“Me? I’ve never seen you before the coffee shop. I’ve done...nothing!” He caught the image and the plea for help and froze. “Chance?”

“Chance... damned kid,” the Hazari panted. “Ever since... ever since he touched me, I’ve been... You! I can’t get you out of my mind.” He twisted his fists into the front of Eli’s shirt and hauled him in close to his face. “What’s so special about you?”

“He loved me,” Eli answered in a whisper. “I know that. I belonged to him. And now I have to try and live without him.”

“Now I love you,” the Enforcer, the man who could make some Klingons quake in fear, growled. “And that’s not possible! You’re a male! It’s unnatural!” He ranted, raising his voice to a shout, and shoved Eli backward into the wall. He advanced on the smaller man.

“You....” Eli tried to wrap his brain around what this strange man had just said. Then anger spiked within him. “No, it’s not unnatural!” He tried to shove the Hazari back but the man was solid as a wall. “Why? Why did you kill him?” Even as he spoke, his was looking at the floor frantically for his comm badge.

“A contract. It was an agreement! And I honor my agreements!” He hissed, preparing to deal Eli a vicious beating... yet, he didn’t want to actually hurt him. He argued with himself - with the voice in his head, the one that wasn’t his own. Outwardly, he paused while the internal conflict rose up, blinding him to what was in front of him.

Eli took advantage of the moment’s hesitation and slammed his knee into the Hazari’s groin. Then, still in contact with his thoughts, he touched the man and began to flood him with memories of Eli and Chance together.

Yes! Eli! It was Chance’s voice, crowing and gathering in strength, while the Hazari writhed in unaccustomed pain and anguish. “No! Get away from me!”, the Enforcer attempted to scuttle backward.

“You’re gonna fucking have it all, it’s what you came here for!” Eli’s voice was pure rage now. “See what you ripped away from me!” His grip on the Hazari tightened as the memories continued.

Love, lust and loss inundated the Enforcer and his expressions ran the gamut with them. Stiffly, he growled, “Eli!”, before the message switched to a mental one: Call Oz! I’m slipping. He’s too strong, love. Get help!

Eli growled back and threw his weight against the Hazari. The flood of memories had left him off balance and he stumbled. In that moment, Eli saw the light glint off his comm badge and he dove for it. Slamming his hand on it he yelled, “Ziyad to Zeferino! My quarters! I have --”

With a loud shout, the Hazari yanked Eli back to him and, gnashing his teeth together, kissed the man.

Eli slammed his fist into the underside of the man’s chin, breaking the contact. “Get off me! Oz!” He yelled once more, hoping the channel was still open.

From the commbadge came a faint response and, within moments, the door to his quarters snapped open and a team of gold-uniformed officers entered. One grabbed Eli; the other two grabbed the Hazari. A fourth demanded, “What’s happening here?”

“It was him!” Eli grunted. “He killed Chance! Where’s Oz?”

That was all the four needed to hear: in seconds, the Hazari, shouting and mad (‘mad’, as in crazy), ranted about being in love, the unnatural state of it all, and, somewhere in the mix, claimed, “I’m Chance!”

That’s when Oralia entered the scene and stopped dead. If four of her subordinates hadn’t been right there, she might have beaten the snot out of the Hazari for that statement. Instead, she glanced at the four, saw they had the man under control (physically, at least; none of them could control his mouth), then turned to Eli, “Eli? Are you okay?” She was out of uniform, wearing a dress made of light silk in a deep purple color. Behind her, Jackson was just coming through the doorway.

“I don’t know. It was him Oz! I saw it in his head! The he...” Eli grimaced with disgust. “Kissed me. But I heard....I heard Chance in his head. I need to see Dr. Harding.”

“You...heard Chance?” Oralia was at a loss. Was Eli cracking up completely? Nodding to one of the officers, she ordered, “Get him to Doc Harding. Lock the Hazari up.” As everyone shuffled to do as ordered, she stepped deeper into Eli’s quarters - her brother’s quarters up till his death. “Jackson?” She looked at him, utterly unsure what to say.

“Ya got me, honey.” He stopped to rest a hand on Eli’s shoulder. “What’s goin’ on, son?”

Eli looked into Jackson’s eyes and decided to go the direct route. Silently, he passed to Jackson the words he’d heard Chance’s voice crying out to him and the Hazari’s reaction, along with his complete confusion and worry. Finally, Jackson nodded and hugged him tight. “Let’s hope the Doc has some ideas. You might wanna speak to Sakkath too if he has the time.”

“I will.” Eli glanced from him to Oz, then departed with Security, leaving Jackson and Oz alone in the quarters.

“It’s times like these I wish I was telepathic. Fortunately, the urge generally passes pretty fast.”

It was strange to her to see him refer to Eli as ‘son’, but she got over that quickly. “Forgive the question, J, but... is he delusional? Chance... Chance is gone,” she blinked several times as her eyes pricked with tears.

Jackson shook his head. “What I saw? It’s what he heard in that killer’s thoughts. He’s asked the same question and I don’t think so. Then add in Robin’s sudden fear for his safety...somethin’ weird's goin’ on.”

Biting back a sarcastic remark, she nodded and moved around the living room. Briefly, she looked into one bedroom, then the other. She grimaced on seeing the spiderweb in one room: that was Iggy’s calling card. “Iggy?”, she called but got no response.

“What I wonder is how that man knew Eli would be comin’ here. He stayed at Vor’s last night and hasn’t been back here at all since it happened.” Jackson followed her as she looked into the two rooms. “I’d like to know what got Robin all in a twist.”

“Um....” Realizing that she knew, had known, but hadn’t said anything to Jackson, Oralia turned, just in time to end up in his embrace. She smiled; this was a spot where she felt safe. Although ‘safe’ was all relative, considering she was about to tell him something she, maybe, should have told him prior to this moment. “After Swift met with Eli, he... well... something strange came to him. Cigarette smoke in the air, and a dream that might not have been a dream about a hooded figure threatening Eli. Since Eli had chased a man in a hood, a watch was assigned to him.”

Jackson nodded. “The Promenade incident. But a dream? Maybe it was Eli’s little telepathic force field he carries around that affected Robin?”

“Anything’s possible. Though that doesn’t explain the smell of cigarette smoke in Swift’s quarters.” She shrugged. “I had a conversation with a hooded male. He was fixated on Eli... I told you about that. That was him,” she nodded the way the security officers had taken the Hazari.

Jackson shook his head, then kissed Oz’s temple. “Ordinarily, I’d ask if it was possible for Li to see that guy, see what she could read from him. But with her gone, and Eli’s faculties in question, what about havin’ Vic see him?”

Her immediate response was out of her mouth before her brain caught up: “No! He’s a civilian!” Only Vic wasn’t a civilian anymore. “Oh... well,” she started to recant. She had Betazoids on her staff but... it was Eli. Arguably, the situation called for someone closer to home. “I suppose we could have Vic come in and take a look.”

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear from you.” He smiled down at her. “Ready to get back to dinner?”

“Yes,” she nodded and lightly kissed him. As they left Eli’s quarters, she cast a final look around.

Jackson took her hand and led her back out to the corridor. “So between us, what do you think’s happenin’?”

“I think life has gone to hell in the express handbasket. The Admiral and Li and Darwin and who knows who else are gone and no can say whether we’ll get them back or not. Chance is gone and, at some point, I need to take his body home. Eli is ...I don’t know... I don’t know what Eli is. Iggy hasn’t come home in days and I get the awful feeling that Suresh would just love all of this - whether all of this is his doing or not. And I just credited a man who isn’t even on the Station with being able to kill my brother, drive Eli crazy and make Iggy disappear!” Her stress was showing now.

“Science is working on it, Oz. As for Iggy, what do you have so far? If she’s been taken, then we need to find her.” Jackson’s tone was soft as he answered her.

“Taken?” The word startled her. She hadn’t even been thinking that someone might ‘take’ her little sentient spider - only that the annoying female had ‘disappeared’, and she wasn’t sure what she meant by that. “I have nothing on Iggy so far! Oh... no...,” she breathed, “I’ll have Ops and Engineering do a sweep for her. If she’s in a jefferies tube and hurt, it’s not like she could call for help.”

“And then if they don’t find her, we’ll make plans then. We’ll get her back, Oz. Somehow.” He tightened his hand around hers as they approached the turbolift.

In the lift, she leaned into him, glad he was there and thankful for his stable, comforting self. “Dinner or sickbay with Eli?”

“Let’s take him to dinner, then we can go see Harding. How’s that?”

“Okay,” she told the computer what deck. “We’ll catch him and maybe Lao’s can fit us in.”

Jackson’s smile returned immediately. “You know me too well, darlin’.”

“And gettin’ to know more every day,” she smiled and kissed his cheek.

**************
Cadet Eli Ziyad 4th Class
More Confused Than Ever

The Enforcer
Crazy in Love

Oralia Zeferino
On the Road to Crazy

Jackson Banning V
Owner & Sometimes Certifiable
The Nexus Club