Don't Shoot the Messenger

Posted on Sat Feb 23rd, 2013 @ 7:03am by Commander Oralia Zeferino & Jackson Banning V

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: Li's Office

Li's Office

Feeling slightly out of sorts because ...she had too many reasons to name just one, Oralia set aside a PADD and sat back in Li's chair. She stared at the ceiling a moment and wondered whether any of the visitors to this office ever had the time, or temerity, to look up. If they had, they might have noticed that the ceiling had a very subdued bas-relief depicting Betazed's Northern hemisphere's night sky. The moment Oralia had first realized that, she'd nearly laughed. Would have, too, if Aliso and Gilroy hadn't been in the office with her at that moment.

Now, she drew comfort from it, slight as that comfort might be. Chance was alive; she found that almost too strange for words. The Hammond was off, hopefully retrieving their lost commanders. She had a handle, somewhat, on Li's duties - at least when Li returned, she wouldn't face a horrible backlog of work to be done. The Exec would simply face a ton of reports that required her attention.

Standing, she stretched and cursed under her breath as her - Li's - assistant came over the intercom: "You have a visitor, Commander Zeferino."

Her shoulders slumped and she debated not admitting the visitor. No sense hiding from whomever it was, though: "Send the visitor in."

The office doors parted and Jackson appeared. As the door closed behind him, he closed the distance between them, seeming to fill the space simply by his presence.

“Commander.” He nodded but didn’t smile.

"Ah... Jackson...?" She looked up at him and smiled, showing a small edge of playfulness. "You're not a visitor. You're my fiancé. The one I'll eventually get around to marrying. Once Li and Rick are back. It'll be us, a white sand beach, sun, surf...," she started to pull him close for a kiss.

“It will, and I’ve already told Gilroy that I’m takin’ you out of here the second they get home, so you might as well pack when you get home and be ready.” He kissed her, then hugged her tight. "But first we have somethin’ to talk about.”

"We do?" She had picked up on the slight tension coming off of him - she didn't need to be a telepath to read the signs of it. "Wait, why were you talking with Gilroy? Was he paying you a social visit? I didn't think he had time for that right now."

“Not exactly.” He led her over to the sofa against the wall and sat down with her. “He called me first as we had someone to see, then he stopped in at the Nexus. It’s important and it concerns Iggy.”

"He found... No, he didn't find her. He'd have told me that himself." She knew this was bad news now. "Is she hurt? ...Dead?" Her fingers curled into his jacket sleeve.

“No, at least I don’t think so. A man came to Security asking for you, his name’s Elijah Samuels. I got called because this guy said he had personal business and gave the impression it was ‘personal’ if you get my drift.” Jackson frowned as he relayed that bit of information. “So Gil called me in, not liking the sound of that.”

"Obviously this isn't someone who knows us," she, too, frowned at what Jackson was telling her. "What else did he say?"

“That he’d been hired by a man named Eldren Tohr to take him to the Beta Quadrant. It seems this Tohr was transporting something to a collector there - one large and very talkative spider.”

"She's off the Station?" Oz blinked, stunned. It wasn't just that Iggy was off-Station; it was also that Chance had known she was. "A collector?" Anger moved in and burned away her shock, "Samuels damned well better be able to tell me where in the Beta Quadrant he took her!" She made to stand and head for the door.

Quick as a wink Jackson pulled her back down to the sofa. “Hold up there, sugar, we got the info on that. Gil and I can be nice and persuasive when we wanna be.” Jackson grinned at her. “An’ we have a plan.”

"You do?" She still wasn't used to him being more than a club owner and her fiancé; she had to remind herself of his, and Vic's, status as secret agent men. "Right. Gil's handled it and you and Vic will take care of it. I'm just up here, pretending to be XO. Okay."

“Vic’s volunteered to go get her back. Well, he’ll need a wingman, which is where you come in. You need to decide who’s going to go with him.” He settled Oz back down at his side, wrapping an arm around her. “They gotta know, though, it’s a dangerous game.”

“You’re not going,” was her first answer, the one she didn’t think about. A half-second later, she said, “I’ll go.”

“No,” Jackson replied. He knew she wasn’t going to like that at all. “You have a department to oversee here, and a station to help run until Li is back. They need to go now, not wait till the Hammond returns if there’s any hope of catching them.”

“Dammit, I knew you’d say that.” She huffed out a breath and thought about her department. Gilroy couldn’t go; she needed him helping Aliso. “Edwards. This would count as a special investigation and he’s done with the Chance investigation. I’ll authorize the mission.”

“Thanks, I’ll let Vic know and he can get together with Edwards, once you’ve sent his orders down. And then, I know it’s useless to say, but try not to worry?” A smile finally appeared on Jackson’s face.

“Iggy! My little Iggy is off-Station, part of a “collector’s” collection,” she shook her head, letting herself react to the news on a personal level and leaned against him. “She must be scared. Hopefully they feed her the right food.”

“Well, if not, you can bet she’ll speak up. If that collector values her the way Samuels says, all she’d have to do is threaten a hunger strike and he’d be stepping in line.” Jackson gently rubbed her back. “They’ll get her back, even if Vic has to mow down everyone in his path. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Good. He should bring back more than just Iggy. A souvenir from this collector. Maybe the collector himself so I can...,” she paused, still leaning against Jackson, and realized she didn’t have any clue what she’d do to the collector for taking Iggy. A quiet rage settled in her chest, one that had started with Connor’s death, added to with Chance’s and now... now Iggy. The gentle kiss she planted on Jackson’s cheek belied her desire to beat someone senseless.

“Let them handle it and when Li and the Admiral are home, we’re out of here for a few days. Things will turn around. Chance’s return is a good sign I think.” He kissed the top of her head.

“Perhaps,” she muttered. A moment passed before she wrapped her hands in his lapels; pleadingly, she asked, “Don’t leave me.”

“Well, I need to get back to the club, but I’ll be home right after.”

“I mean like Chance..., Connor...,” she made a one-handed gesture that incorporated all the others, “Going to work doesn’t count.” She managed to smile up at him.

“I won’t,” he answered, his voice soft. “I have a little something extra to help out with that too, you know.”

“You do?”

“You know that whole not aging thing?”

“Yeah,” she barely breathed a laugh, “The one that’ll mean you’ll outlive me, unless someone gets you like they did Connor.”

“No offense to Connor but I’m far more prepared, Oz, and you know it.” His smile returned as he looked back at her. “So, you need to take your mind off things when you go off-duty. Come to the club, bring Chance. Eli’s back for his regular early set. You could both use a night out.”

"I'll ask if he's up for it. Without Iggy at home, it'd be a good idea to be out." She shifted and kissed him. "I could use a week alone with you, and no bad news."

“And a wedding too, come hell or high water, as my daddy always says.” He kissed her once more then stood up. “And it will happen. Now you need to call Chance, and I need to get back and pretend to work.”

She nodded and stood with him, hugging him tightly. "I'll see you later then, J."

“I’m countin’ on it. Wear somethin’ that’ll make me count the minutes till closin’ time.” He held her close another minute, then stepped away to the door. “An’ try not to worry.” With those words, he turned and strolled through the doors.

**************

Jackson Banning V
Owner & Bearer Of Bad News
The Nexus Club

Lieutenant Commander Oralia Zeferino
Taking It Rather Well, Actually