Beach Shark

Posted on Sat Jul 6th, 2013 @ 5:43pm by Suresh & Seyla

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Archadia III

* * * Planet side * * *

Running her fingers through her red hair, Seyla looked out over the water and sighed, happily. She was alone, with no one around to make any demands upon her. The silence around her, the sort broken only by non-sentient animals, birds, and the surf breaking on the sand, was delicious to her. The sun paired with the slight tightness from the salt water drying on her skin was better than any lover's caress. Mindful of letting the sun dry her out too much, she had donned a caftan before heading off on a walk down the beach. Jackson had told her there was a little market not far from the hut; with no replicator in the hut, this would be a supplies run.

The crash of the surf was effective cover for for the footsteps behind Seyla. He’d watched the hut that stood out over the water for the last few hours as she swam and relaxed in the sun. It had been a long time, or so it seemed. Actual time amounted to only a few weeks but even so, it was too long. Her pace was casual and so he soon caught up, taking care not to make too m much noise until he was ready. With a look around the cove to make sure they were alone, he finally called her, his voice low, just above the splash of the waves.

“Seyla.”

Caught up in her own thoughts, Seyla at first thought the sound was a figment of her imagination. She was about to chalk it up to simply missing her favorite men, but she glanced to her left and let out a sharp cry of alarm. Feeling silly, she looked again, blinking hard. "How... are you here?"

“It’s a long story, one that I can tell you once I have you back at your little vacation house. I know you have questions. I have a few of my own as well.”

She stumbled back from him and shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

“Seyla...” his voice was a low rumble. “This is not what you think. There’s something you have to know. And I need your help.”

"Is Zeferino right behind you?" Her emotions rocked from fear to anger. "What the hell are you thinking, dragging me into whatever problem you have?"

“Zeferino? Hell no!” He cursed softly and shook his head. “Look, Sey, this is important.” He held out his hand to her. “Please.”

She nearly took his hand, till she looked at it. Then, she recoiled and glared at his face. "You look like him, but you aren't him." She latched onto his wrist and viciously twisted it, demanding, "Who are you?"

“What are you looking for?” he demanded. “Stop that.”

"I'm looking for the scar! The one that you carved there, the one that said Isha!"

He looked at Seyla as if she’d gone mental. “Why in the hell would I carve the name of that lunatic, who tried to kill me by the way, in my arm?”

Seyla returned his look with a narrow-eyed glare of her own. "What game is this?"

He crossed his arms and met her gaze without wavering. “He’s taking a nice long vacation at Elba II. I watched him leave myself, with a nice big escort. I’ve stayed out of sight since I arrived, and now that he is gone, there’s no need for me to do that anymore.”

"Arrived?" Seyla stupidly parroted his word. She, though, was far from stupid and as she stood staring at the man before her, whose face she knew so well, and whom she'd expected to never see again, she pieced the puzzle together. "You're from that other place. You're that place's version of him, aren't you?"

Slowly he nodded. “Yes. I slipped onboard when they returned. There was nothing to stay there for, and given what I picked up from your Admiral and XO, he was not long for this station. Which is a good thing for her, I might add. He was nuts. Crazy obsessed.”

"For her...?" Who he meant came to her and it was an unpleasant shock. This man's double had sworn he loved her and demanded she give up Darwin..., "I thought he was getting over that." She stared at him, hard, and the idea of killing him now floated through her head. He'd come 'back' to the station and take Suresh's place.... "Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you right here," she growled.

“Because I’m not him. And if you’re anything like the Seyla in my universe, you may be smart and wily and underhanded, but you are no murderer. Besides, you’re free and clear now. The nutcase isn’t around to bother you anymore, you can do whatever you like. Do you know he tried to talk her into staying over there...with him?”

Growling and baring her teeth, Seyla launched herself at him. Here he was, the bastard, spoiling her idyllic beach vacation, taunting her by rubbing salt in the one wound she wouldn't admit to having, and threatening to spoil all of her plans to snatch the reins of Suresh's empire from Lazan. Wrapping her fingers around his throat, she let out a feral snarl and said, "Darwin told me that people over there were different. For all you know, I'll gladly kill you here."

He went down to the sand and flipped her over easily, pulling her hands from his throat. His weight pressed her down into the sand and as the surf rolled in, the salt water slid beneath and around them.

“You could but I doubt it. You need me.” He paused a moment and realized how that statement sounded. “Not for that, you’re too busy with the good doctor. What you need me for is Lazan. Tread carefully, dear Seyla. Take the wrong path and you’ll be out on your ass.”

"Ha!", she barked. "One call and you'll be locked up like my Suresh."

“For what reason? It’s easy enough to prove I’m not him. And I am stuck here, it took way too much to open the portal back to this universe. They won’t risk it again. Besides, I know you. You’re curious.”

She glared at him then brought a knee and came very close to damaging his family jewels before shoving him off of her and sitting up. "Perhaps I am," and, truth told, she was: how the hell did he know about Harding? What did he know about Lazan? Of what use could he be to her? "Just how well did you know me in your universe?"

This version of Suresh studied her face for a moment, then finally smiled, despite the blow to his upper thigh. It softened his features considerably. “You miss him. Otherwise you would not be so angry. I am doing my best to make sense of all this. It’s far more complicated here with you and him and your XO than it was in my world. Granted, Isha was a real person where I come from, and insane at that. Even so....” He stopped and shook his head. “Lazan has been running things since your Suresh disappeared to my world. You can leave it that way or work with me and benefit when I step back into my rightful place.”

"Rightful place?" Snarling again, she slapped him across the cheek. "You have no rightful place here. It's you who need me, otherwise Lazan will have you tossed out an airlock before anyone else knows of you. I'll benefit, all right, but I'll be the one running things."

His hand snaked out in a second to take her by the throat. “Don’t count on it. He is far smarter and more dangerous than you give him credit for. To be honest, I’m surprised you still breathe, Seyla. What do you think will happen to all of your Suresh’s lackeys when they see me? Uninformed of fleet events as they are?”

"Uninformed?" His grip was loose enough that she could easily taunt him verbally. "You think Suresh's arrest and imprisonment went unnoticed?" Digging her claws into his otherwise unmarked arm, she grinned. "Besides, Lazan and I have no quarrel with each other. Yet."

“You will soon.” He smiled, but it was a chilly one, as he released her throat. His voice softened when he spoke again. “I’m sorry about Suresh, for your sake. I gather he meant a lot to you.”
"He was nothing," she spat, vehemently lying through her teeth. "Nothing but one problem after another. Honestly, how he - you - got to where he was, as stupid as he was, is beyond me." She gathered herself and moved away from him in the sand.

“Don’t kid yourself and don’t try lying to me. You are too easy to read sometimes, Seyla. His problem, though, was that he lost his grip on reality and what is important. He lost himself to a dream he had no way of achieving and he let it ruin him. I don’t intend to follow his example.”

"Good, then you'll listen to me. If you - he - hadn't been so stupid, if he'd just listened to me, he might still be in power instead of in Elba II." She watched him warily and worked at hating him. It wasn't too difficult.
“His loss.” Suresh shrugged. “All of it, especially you. I hope he realizes it.”

She scoffed, "More than likely, he's just missing his Isha."

“That just proves how far gone he is.” His dark eyes held hers, the look so very familiar. “Perhaps I can make it up to you someday.”

Meeting his gaze, she openly assessed him. "Perhaps you can. For right now, though, you can go to the market and bring back dinner. I'll be at the hut."

His smile lingered. “Sure. Then maybe a swim? You are on vacation after all.”

"I'll swim. You'll be cleaning up from dinner." She smiled.

“We’ll see about that one.” He stood and helped her to her feet, then smacked her backside. “See you soon.”

Frowning at his overly-familiar gesture and touch, Seyla watched him then hurried back to her hut.

Suresh watched her go and his smile returned. So far...so good.

************
Seyla
Just When She Thought It Was Safe to Go Back In The Water

Suresh II
Not What The Doctor Ordered