A Bit Of A Mind Flip

Posted on Mon Aug 12th, 2013 @ 11:48am by Lieutenant Raymond Benson & Lieutenant Bajun Julisa & Senior Chief Petty Officer Chelsea May

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Ray's Office / The Arboretum

* * * Ray’s Office * * *

“Alright, Chel, I’m out.” Ray turned off his terminal and stepped out from behind his desk. “Time to go meet the fresh meat, if you’ll pardon the pun. And you are a chicken you know, for begging off. I’ll remember this.”

"Yeah, you do that. Just be careful, I have it on good authority that this 'fresh meat' still has teeth," Chelsea laughed as Ray stepped past her desk. "Sharp ones."

“Rawr.” He grinned at Chelsea, gave her a salute, then strolled out through the doors. He had agreed to meet her at the arboretum. It seemed like a good place to start, at least. He glanced at the time and picked up his pace just a bit. That last call had taken longer than expected and he’d just make it on time if he hurried.

* * * Arboretum * * *

Pacing, Julisa frowned at the lovely, pale pink flowers hanging from the trees. She wasn't appreciative of being made to wait. Ray had said to meet here on the hour and... she checked her watch, it was two minutes past. Typical human, she thought then turned as that human's thoughts intruded. "Good of you to arrive, Mr Benson."

Ray, in a rare moment of affability, apologized for being just slightly late. “I had a last minute call and they just would not shut up. And please, call me Ray. Did you get settled in okay?”

"Yes, it's easy to settle in when one doesn't have much to settle," she said, smiling blandly. She didn't offer to let him call her Julisa or Jules or any other friendly, familiar name. "Shall we get started?"

“We shall.” He began to move along one of the paths that led between tall foliage, the greenery studded with brilliant and unusual flowers. “Do you want the fifty cent tour complete with witty and knowledgeable commentary? Or would you prefer to discuss the nature of things on 900 as they are at the moment?”

She doubted she'd find his banter either witty or knowledgeable. Sourly, she shrugged off his first offer. "I know why there was an opening here. Is this 'base really so overrun by corruption?"

“No, believe it or not. One bad apple stinking up the place and taking one of ours down with him. If ever you lack for entertainment, read that file sometime. It would make a great movie version.” He paused to study her a moment and resisted the urge to check his fingertips for frostbite.

"We're attorneys, nothing we do should ever be movie-worthy," she intoned as they passed a sprawling bush. The nearest vines curled away from Julisa, as if avoiding a chill breeze. She stopped and regarded the bush, "A Betazedian fern. Interesting." She started to walk again and asked, "This 'bad apple', was that Suresh?"

Ray also leaned in to examine the fern and snorted when several of its fronds waved at him. “That’s damn freaky.” The image of Li flashed through his mind, the scene that of Suresh’s last meeting with them. “Yes, it was. He made the devil incarnate look like child’s play, Lieutenant. With one really weird quirk.”

"Weird quirk?" She quirked a brow at Ray, speaking eloquently despite the few words she uttered.

“More like an obsession, with our first officer. He’d kill anything that crossed him without a thought but her? He was putty. And to all new levels of weirdness.” Ray shrugged. “But we are fortunate that Suresh the asshole is gone. Saves me having to make him disappear.” He grinned at Julisa, making it clear he was joking.

She didn't return the smile, though she could clearly tell he wanted her to do so. Julisa had read the file, though, and followed up with another question, "That leaves a powerful position empty. Who do you anticipate will take it?"

“His right hand man, Lazan, most likely. That’s one who likes to keep a low profile and for the most part is successful, aside from me and Commander Zeferino’s crew.” He’d be willing to bet Li knew a lot about that but wasn’t saying. She seemed to know a lot about everything else. “You curious?”

"Professionally," she answered with a nod. "Might be good if we were to influence who takes the spot. If we can, of course."

“It would be. And as an unknown, you might be a good one to look into it. There’s someone you will need to meet who should be of some help too.” Ray batted away a frond of the fern that was now rubbing his cheek.

"Who would that be?" The fern wasn’t bothering her, but then... she was part Betazoid and was projecting a prickly state of mind at the moment.

“The owner of the Nexus, Jackson Banning. Also Commander Zeferino and some of her security staff. They have a lot of experience with Suresh and his crew. The Cherry Pit area’s where most of the action goes down - a bar called Saturnalia.”

The Nexus, the Cherry Pit, Saturnalia, Jackson; all were names that rolled off of Julisa’s awareness like water off a duck’s back. Zeferino, though: “I have no doubt that Commander Zeferino will be useful to meet and get to know, since she’s the Chief of Security here,” she said, giving Ray a once-over that could only be read as, ‘I thought you were smart but you’re not.’ “Admiral Ch’lis sent me a file on Zeferino; she thought it wise that I know something about the Chief before meeting her.” She didn’t mention that Ch’lis had also admonished her to be nice; it was an admonishment she’d not taken to heart.

Ray’s eyes met hers and held them, his own expression one of amusement. She’d learn the lay of the land on 900 soon enough. Without a word he stepped past her and the fern, which drooped a little, and ran right into a small figure in command red, who immediately toppled over to the ground.

There was a wet-sounding splat as the amphibian-based officer's hand slapped the ground. Julisa winced, not because she could sense the irritation, embarrassment and pain but because she knew who the officer was: "Admiral Ch'lis, I wasn't expecting to see you."

"No one expects the Ch'lis," the Admiral grumbled and accepted a hand in getting back to her feet. Automatically, she wiped her brow with a pale gray handkerchief.

Familiar with Ch'lis' personality, Julisa smirked and asked, "Are you here for an inquisition, then?"

The Admiral glared at Julisa then smiled bemusedly. "I'm glad you two have met and are still talking to each other."

Ray looked down at Ch’lis, obviously surprised. “Admiral Ch’lis. It’s good to see you again, but if you’ll pardon my asking, we weren’t informed you’d be arriving on 900.”

"900? No, no, this is Starbase McAlister. What are you two doing here?"

Ray glanced at Julisa and muttered softly. It was another of those visions. “McAlister. Tell me Admiral, what time is it? We had some reservations for lunch and I don’t want to be late.”

Shooting a look at Ray, Julisa wondered just what he was up to. It was past any hour that would be considered 'lunch'. So she was even more befuddled when Ch'lis spoke up, "I just finished elevenses before... Hey, I was just in my office. Which is not near the arboretum."

Ray nodded slowly. “Perhaps you’ll join us?” He offered the tiny amphibian his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. “There’s some things you should see.”

"Admiral, are you feeling well?" Julisa looked her over as she took Ray's proffered arm.

The Admiral nodded, "I'm fine. I should be asking you whether you are feeling well. Siri told me you and that Vulcan are...." She waggled a hand in an ambiguous motion.

"Ah...," both had Julisa dumbfounded. What did Siri know about her and the Vulcan? How much of that had Siri passed on to the Admiral?

Ray looked from one to the other, puzzled. “Vulcan? What Vulcan?”

A rosy blush rose on Julisa's cheeks. "No one, no Vulcan," she was quick to blurt.

Ch'lis, though, was just as quick: "Sackmate. Bedmate. Mate-mate. You know, spouse! That's the word!" This was why the Admiral no longer practiced in court: she sometimes had to play the synonym game with her words before getting the right one. "And soon-to-be father, are the rumors I'm hearing."

Julisa's jaw dropped.

Ray raised an eyebrow and a moment of ominous silence hung between them. His laughter started soft, the faintest snicker, then grew until he was wiping his eyes and leaning on Julisa’s shoulder for support.

“Admiral,” he managed to gasp aloud, “you have..no idea..how glad I am...that you appeared, even though...you’re not real.”

“Not real?” Julisa and Ch’lis parroted his words; Julisa doing so while glaring at the man. “Explain that, Lieutenant,” the admiral said, a note of warning in her tone. From somewhere back along the path Julisa and Ray had taken, someone coughed, drawing Julisa’s attention. When she looked back to Ch’lis, the Admiral was gone. “What just happened?”, she asked.

“Welcome to 900, Lieutenant, where ‘normal’ is all relative. Ever since Admiral Wegener, Captain Hawke, Lt. Darwin, and Suresh fell through a hole to an alternate universe, we’ve been seeing odd things here. Mostly people we know who are far away and drop in for weird visits that are out of time and place. We’ll need to report this one to Commander Winter.”

“So she wasn’t real? And what she said?” Julisa was still dumbfounded by the idea of Solis being a father; did it follow that she was a mother, then? That thought, her brain refused to consider as a possible reality.

“No.” Ray shook his head and finally caught his breath. “You note she thought she was on McAlister. There’s also the possibility that she was speaking based on information from the future or a different reality altogether, so don’t let what she said rattle you. One of our investigators had a vision...a beautiful young woman approached him in a bar and cozied up with him. Several minutes later, he realized she was his great grandmother from her former fleet days and she had no idea they were related. Weird huh?”

“Very,” she said, frowning. She could still feel his amusement and it annoyed her. “I trust someone is working to resolve that?”

“They are. Temporal affairs has an office out here and science is hammering away at it as well. I leave the tech stuff to the scientists and Commander Winter is definitely one who believes in ‘need to know’. I don’t need to know.” Ray studied Julisa for a moment. “She will want to hear from you about this, however.”

“Then I’ll tell her about this when we’re done with the tour.” Julisa had recovered some of her iciness. “Where were we headed next?”

“Up to the promenade for dinner and so you can see the heart of the station. Ready?”

“Indeed, I am,” the brunette nodded and they headed off. She glanced back just once, as if to make sure that Ch’lis really wasn’t there. All she saw was the Betazed fern, whose fronds had completely closed up.

**************
Lt. Raymond Benson
Vegetation Heart Throb

Lt. Bajun Julisa
An Icy Breath of Fresh Air

Admiral Ch’lis
Not Actually There

CPO Chelsea May
Just Barely There