Help Me To Help You

Posted on Mon Apr 1st, 2013 @ 7:34pm by Captain Li Hawke & Suresh & Seyla & Tog
Edited on on Tue Sep 22nd, 2015 @ 10:34pm

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: The Brig

* * * The Brig * * *

Thirty-nine steps. Back and forth. And again. Suresh paced the breadth of the cell for the....he’d lost count of how many times. After Seyla’s brief visit two days ago, he’d been alone. And there was something she was hiding from him. He didn’t know what but he could tell when she hid something from him. Her left eyebrow peaked up just a tiny bit higher than her right when she did so. He’d never mentioned it, it was a useful tell for him that broadcast the need to watch her more closely.

That thought made him grumble. Had he been reduced to this? Wondering what Seyla was doing that might betray him? As Li had betrayed him? He didn’t want to think of her but she refused to leave his thoughts. The anger and hurt that came brought a low growl and he slammed his fist into the wall. The officer on duty yelled over at him to simmer down, which led to a colorful insult tossed back by Suresh. He turned and resumed his pacing once more, now utterly focused on his thoughts.

“Hey, doofus!” This time it wasn’t the officer on duty calling him; it was Tog. “C’mon, pay attention here...,” he stopped and considered his words then shrugged. “Or not. I’m on your clock now, so, go ahead, take your time to acknowledge me.” He fell silent and watched Suresh, mentally counting the credits as they ticked by.

Suresh stopped finally and turned his head to observe Suresh. “Tog. Good to see my defense counsel finally appear. I thought you’d forgotten me in favor of saving yourself instead.”

“Eh, that’ll come later, if things look really bleak,” Tog assured Suresh. “Don’t get me wrong, things look bleak now, but I’ve possibly found a light at the end of the tunnel. Or something like that. What’s with human sayings?” He waved away the question. “Anyway, I need to know something, Suresh, and I have to know everything, in detail. Do you understand that? No matter what I ask, you have to tell me every detail, every little thing.” He pinned his gaze on Suresh. “Okay?”

“Nice to know I mean so much to you.” Suresh’s tone was droll. He nodded, however, and sat down on the end of the bunk closest to the force field. “What do you need to know?”

“Everything about anything Li... erm... Isha... did to you or with you, for starters. Now, don’t leave out any details.” Tog pulled a chair over, noticing as he did so that the officer on duty had stepped out, as required for attorney-client privilege. As he sat, he leaned forward and grinned, eager to hear the dirt.

Suresh raised his eyebrow. “That’s awfully personal don’t you think?” He took the defensive stance first, not wanting to admit that the true answer was ‘not much’.

“Do you want to go to prison for a very, very long time? If so, go ahead, be all gentlemanly and keep your trap shut. If you’d rather have some hope of getting out of prison during your lifetime, then you’d better spill the details.”

Suresh sighed deeply and lowered his head into his hands. He spoke softly, forcing Tog to move closer. “As Isha? I was never allowed to touch her unless she gave permission, and that was very rare. When she did, it never got as personal as you like to think. A touch of the hand, an embrace...I kissed her exactly twice, neither with her permission. I knew so little about her...” His voice had taken on a dreamy tone as he recalled his time with her. “The night she and I were arrested and they cut my hair....something was very wrong that night. She came to me and I could sense it. She was so sad, so...lonely. Whatever had happened worried her deeply and that night, I held her in my arms, hoping to comfort her. She finally relaxed a little and sent me on into the bedroom, saying she would be ready in a moment and stepped into the bathroom. Security showed and interrupted us.”

“They... interr... oh, that’s terrible. And, otherwise? After all that waiting and expense on your part? She never gave you... anything?” Tog looked more stricken than Suresh likely felt. “That night was a set up, though?” He sat back and started thinking out loud. “So was she mournful over turning you in? We could work with-- oh, hey, you said ‘as Isha’! did she let you do something with her as Li?” He sounded unduly hopeful.

“At the time I had no idea it was a set-up but given her faked death, we see which way the wind was blowing.” Suresh frowned. “I loved her, Tog, to the point that when she died, there was a time I wanted to as well. My feelings didn’t change when I found out who she really was. As Li? Over in that other universe? She was...different...than here.”

“Hmm... insanity plea. That could explain some of the stupidity, too. Any other charges, we could claim entrapment,” Tog spoke more to himself than to his client. “She went into your head, right? Muddled around in there?”

“Only to help me relax. Imagine that, some people think I am too intense.” Suresh’s smile was ironic. “I hate to break it to you but I think she kept me sane instead of messing me up.” He raised his hand to run through his hair and as he did so, the scar that spelled out Isha on his forearm was visible to Tog. “But they have me on the kidnapping, and I admit I did it. I had to have her back. I never expected to be shot to another universe, I had a stocked ship to take her wherever we decided to go.”

“Okay, couple of things here, Suresh. First, never, ever, ever tell anyone that again. She didn’t keep you sane. She drove you insane. Not many sane folks go around carving names into their skin,” he nodded towards Suresh’s arm, frowning. “Second, don’t admit to anything so readily. You were going to her to ask her to come along. You weren’t going to force her into something. Third, what was with going to Wegener’s office?”

“Tog, she will testify that I jumped out of her closet and restrained her, threatened her if she didn’t come along peacefully. As for that asshole? I wanted to kill him, pure and simple. And once we got to the other universe, if it hadn’t been for Li, he and I would’ve finished this little feud.” Suresh rubbed his eyes. “I was so close, Tog. You know the Admiral offered to let me stay there? I tried to get Li to stay but she couldn’t give up hope of her dear Vulcan coming to her rescue.” His voice dripped with sarcasm, then softened. “If they hadn’t come? She would have been mine you know. She was so close to giving in to me and that kiss....it was incredible. As good as I’d ever imagined.”

The thing that Tog focused on there was: “She kissed you or did you force her? Did anyone see thi... oh, well, I suppose any witnesses other than the Admiral or Darwin, would be over there still,” he sighed. An idea was starting to form in his head, one that he’d wait to tell Suresh till after it was done.

“The Promenade was deserted. This was after I’d saved her life. I found her on the Promenade and we talked for a while. I begged her to stay there with me. The possibility of rescue was remote, at least we thought so then, and I did my best to convince her that there, with me, was where she needed to be. And you know what? She was tempted, I could feel it in her. She very nearly gave in, then that ice cold Vulcan reappeared in her head and she closed up.”

“Interesting. You said you could feel it in her?” Tog was chasing his idea, interrogating his client now. “Tell me about that.”

“I don’t know how many women you’ve had in your life Tog but even you can tell when a woman wants you? I kissed her, held her close and I could see it in her, her expression, her eyes, her breathing. She was so very tempted and was teetering, and then she pulled away.”

For the Ferengi, having a woman hadn’t ever happened that way; in his experience, getting a woman in bed was less about emotion and her passion than it was about his money and his pleasure. What Suresh was saying sounded crazy. Very crazy. Tog nearly smiled. “So she wanted you. You could see it. Anything else you can tell me? Something that she wouldn’t want known?”

Suresh shrugged. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Tog. Over there, it was all different. Here she’s distant and aloof, repressed by her overly logical husband as I see it. There? She was more free, more...Li. Strong, sensual, less restrained. It was because of her that the Admiral kept his hands and his weapons away from me. It was strange, it was like...she ran the show you know? Whatever Li wanted, Li got.”

“That shouldn’t surprise you. Here, he’s such a ...snivelly little bootlicker. Sucking up to those under him and letting females have such positions of power. He probably begs them to let him lick their boots.”

Suresh raised his head and eyed Tog. The Ferengi had no idea what the Admiral was really like, but whatever. He nodded slowly. “They’ve got me don’t they?”

“Yes. You’re going to go to prison. Most likely, that prison won’t be here in the Delta Quadrant. I’ve talked with the prosecutor about a plea bargain. Give me full authority to bargain for that, and we’ll see how short your sentence can be.”

“Not here?” Suresh was instantly on his feet and he rushed up to the forcefield that separated him from Tog. “That’s too far away, I can’t go there!” His voice had turned to a growl. “You have to fix this. Do whatever you can, Tog I can’t be that far from her!” He slammed his fist against the force field and it sizzled blue. Suresh yelped and jerked his hand away.

“I’ll do everything I can,” Tog answered. “Just sit tight.” He grinned at his own attorney humor.

“Not funny.” He almost added ‘asshole’, but decided that Tog held him in his hands and it was best not to insult the attorney. “You have full authority, just get me out of this mess. Find a way to keep me here.” He ran a hand over his face as he looked past Tog, and froze.

Standing behind the Ferengi was Captain Li Hawke. She stood, quietly watching, clearly having just entered, but remained silent.

Following Suresh’s gaze, Tog jumped from his chair with a start. “Damned Betazoid. Sneaking up on us to see what our defense will be?”

“I have no desire to know what your defense will be. Tog, isn’t it?”

He nodded, looking her up and down. With or without clothing (the latter being his preferred state for females), she was beautiful; he could see why Suresh wanted her so much. “Yes, Tog. I am Suresh’s attorney.”

“Nice to meet you.” Li’s gaze shifted to Suresh, who still hadn’t moved, then back to Tog. “You were finishing up I take it? Suresh has requested to see the XO. Unless he wants you to remain?”

“We were just about to finish up,” he confirmed. “Suresh, I’ll stay while you talk to Ms. Hawke.”

Tog’s voice seemed to pull Suresh from his mental fog. “Um sure, Tog.” He still hadn’t removed his eyes from Li and his expression was one of pure desire.

The Ferengi sighed heavily and wished there was no force field between them; if it weren’t there, he’d slap Suresh. “Suresh!”, he shouted, “Snap out of it!”

“What?? Oh.” He glanced at Tog, eyes blazing. “Step aside please?” And lower, in a whisper, added, “but stay close enough to hear.”

“Hmmph,” Tog stepped aside and leaned against the wall by the forcefield, letting him see both Suresh’s and Li’s faces as they talked. He smiled placidly at Li, showing off the points of his teeth.

Li only glanced at Tog, then ignored him as she stepped up to the force field. “Suresh, what can I do for you?”

Suresh’s gaze shifted to her collar. “I see you got promoted. Job well done in the alternate universe? Or perhaps in getting the horrid criminal Suresh run to ground finally?” Before she could speak, he raised his hand to stop her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. Congratulations, Li.”

Her only response to his accusations was a twitch of muscle in her jaw, but then she relaxed. “Thank you. It was a surprise for me. What can I do for you?”

“Get this force field lowered. Let me touch you one last time before I’m gone. You and I both know they have me by the balls and they won’t let me stay here.”

“One never knows, Suresh,” Tog said, watching Li instead of Suresh. “A deal could be worked out.”

“Good luck with that Tog.” She shook her head gently. “I cannot lower this force field. You will remain here until trial or any plea bargain meetings, at which I will be present as station representative, unless I am required to testify, then Commander Sakkath will be in attendance.” She knew that wouldn’t thrill Suresh in the least.

Suresh cursed aloud and turned away for a moment until he’d regained his calm. The mention of Sakkath always lit his fuse in an instant. “I never thought I’d look forward to a trial then.”

Li glanced to Tog, meeting his gaze, her own speculative. She couldn’t read a thing coming from Tog. Finally, she turned back to Suresh, leaning closer to the force field. “I have to tell you something. There have been odd sightings on the station since we returned, of people from the past and the future. I tell you this to warn you, as no one seems immune, and the one who appeared to Kh’ali sliced her with a knife. If you see anything strange, call security immediately.”

That piqued Suresh’s curiosity. He could read Li well enough to know that she had been affected. “Who did you see?”

She licked her lips and closed her eyes for a moment. “I saw...you. But it was you one hundred and thirty years from now. You were old, Suresh, your hair was long and white. You didn’t realize that it was still now, 2387, not the future it was for you.”

“You saw Suresh, in his old age? Where was this? In your quarters?” Tog’s eyes gleamed with a particularly evil gleam.

“Yes and when I had the computer announce the year, since this version of you didn’t believe it was 2387, the old you vanished.” Li sighed aloud and this close, Suresh could see a faint blush in her cheeks. There was something she was definitely not telling him. “Just be careful, Kh’ali saw that alien that tried to kill her and he tried again.”

Suresh’s eyes narrowed. “What are you not telling me, arr’hae?”

Li shook her head and stepped back. “Nothing.”

Neither Suresh nor Tog believed that one. Tog watched her carefully. “Did you kiss him the way you kissed our current Suresh?”

Her head whipped around and her eyes narrowed at Tog. “He simply appeared in my quarters out of thin air, insisting it had been one hundred and thirty years since he’d seen me and wondering how I could look so young. I tried to tell him he was still here in the brig and he didn’t believe me. When the computer announced the year, he was gone. I left, leaving it to Science to investigate. That’s it. Is there anything else, Suresh?”

“Right now, no. Thank you for coming.” He held Li’s gaze a moment, then dropped his eyes.

“Very well. Suresh. Tog.” She turned and hurried out, really needing to get away from the pair of them.

Once she was gone, Suresh looked back to Tog. “Well?”

“Interesting,” he muttered, watching Li as she left. Turning back towards Suresh, he said, “Well, like I said, sit tight. We’ll see if we can’t get a plea bargain worked out.”

“Thank you.” Suresh managed a smile. “I wonder what she wasn’t saying. You noticed.”

“Yes, I did. I’ll see if I can’t get a report from Science about her sighting. The mental state of a material witness is in question,” he smiled and turned to go. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Take care.” Suresh turned away and stretched out on his bunk, his mind already circling back to Li and that blush on her cheeks.

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

Suresh
Dreaming Of The Future

Tog
Spotting Crazy When He Sees It

Captain Li Hawke
Sparing The Details