A Story

Posted on Fri Dec 20th, 2013 @ 6:07pm by Captain Li Hawke & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Sakkath/Hawke Quarters

* * * Li’s Quarters * * *

Li left Suresh’s quarters, her thoughts occupied with the events in the alternate universe. So occupied had she been that as she passed through the Promenade, she had bumped into a monk, nearly knocking him of balance. After a hasty apology, she moved on, finally arriving in her quarters. It was unlike her to be so tied to her thoughts as to be oblivious and she did her best to shake it off.

Moving off to the bedroom, she changed to casual clothes and let her hair down. It had certainly been a long, and interesting day. Already the quarters felt empty without Sakkath’s presence. With a sign, she returned to the living room. Oz was approaching the door, she sensed, and so she requested two hot toddies. As they appeared on the replicator padd, the door chime rang.

“Come in Oz,” she called.

Entering the quarters, Oz glanced first at Li then around the room - as if expecting Seyla to jump out at her. “Look at that, you read my mind. Thanks,” she accepted one of the drinks.

“Have a seat, get comfortable.” Li smiled a moment as she sat down in her usual chair and reached for the other drink. “Don’t worry, we’ve cured this place of people jumping out of closets.”

“Good,” Oz picked a seat close to Li. “I just had an interesting conversation with Seyla,” she started, and tried not to think about Seyla’s offer to teach her things. “I’ve already told Darwin, but, according to Seyla, the Suresh from the alternate universe is here.”

The news did not seem to surprise Li. She sipped her drink, then nodded. “I was wondering about that. I suspect the logs will provide the rest of that story when they arrive. He’s managed to keep a surprisingly low profile, however. Tell me what she said.”

“What, besides telling me she’d gladly teach me some tricks for Jackson?” Oz shook her head, grinning with humor. “Not much. She said she’d been in the quarters with this other Suresh, but nothing more than that.”

“I see.” Li was quiet for a moment, then looked back to Oz. “So the next question is - what has he been up to since he arrived? There’s been no gossip about him, which is surprising.”

“I’ll guess that he’s been laying very, very low, and biding his time. We’ll find him and figure it out.”

“Good. And we have a little green mouse that can lead us to the cheese.” Li grinned. “But this brings up other questions. How much did Darwin tell you about his time over there? I mean the things that wouldn’t find their way into official reports.”

“Nothing. With all that’s been going on, I haven’t had time to sit down with him. But you have a story, don’t you?” Oz sipped her drink and watched Li’s face.

Li considered her drink in silence, then finally nodded. “Each of us faced what I can only describe as our lives but with a twist. It was hard, Oz.”

Not quite getting it yet, Oz nodded. “Darwin came back with some... stress... that he didn’t have before.”

“We all faced some rather unusual choices. In his case, something he lost and still wanted. But it wasn’t…” Li paused and frowned. “It wasn’t the same I suppose? Maybe wouldn’t feel real?”

She sat back, thinking about it. She knew a bit about Darwin’s past. “Something he lost and still wants?” She wondered just what that was: a woman? A position? “I don’t see how it wouldn’t have felt real.”

“In a strange way, I was dealing with the same thing. Sort of.” Li finished her drink, then rose to make two more. “The same people were there but were not the same, you know?”

“I suppose...,” Oz hedged. She knew a majority of the Command chain had been killed - the Admiral, Li, Darwin and her own doppelganger included. “I might not get this, Li. I mean, I understand, intellectually, that the people were the same, visually, but different in personality.”

“Yes, but it was different when faced with them you know?” Returning to the sofa, she passed a fresh drink to Oz. “Logic and emotions don’t always see eye to eye.” She laughed a moment, knowing that was ironic coming from her.

“No, they don’t.” She watched Li intently for a moment then asked, “Where are you going here, Li? That the alternate Suresh was the same and yet different, somehow more....” With a leap of intuition, she finished, “More intriguing or tempting?”

“I never saw him. He was believed to be dead. There was a woman there, an actual Isha. In their timeline, she’d gone insane and swore she’d murdered him. I suppose, with our Suresh there, he stayed out of sight, or perhaps stayed hidden from her.” Li shrugged. “For Darwin, it was a woman named Amber.”

Oh. “An Admiral?” Oz knew about this one, in this world.

“Yes. Amber. He decided against it, for his own reasons but I know it was not easy for him.” Li toyed with her glass as she answered the question.

"Sorry? Decided against what?"

“Staying there or bringing her back here. He gave up a lot for us and this station.” Li now lifted her mug to sip the toddy. “There’s more.”

That Darwin could have stayed there gave Oz pause. "How much more?"

“We had to think about the possibility that we might not get back. For the Admiral, that would mean a new existence. For me, it would mean living in close proximity to a man who looked exactly like my husband but was not, and who could barely stand the sight of me because I reminded him of the wife he’d lost.”

"While also being in the company of a man obsessed with you," Oz added, while trying to put herself in Li's shoes: what would that have felt like? She wasn't exactly certain, but was sure it wouldn't have been good.

“Exactly. Suresh had the option to stay over there instead of coming back here for certain imprisonment but he refused” Li shook her head slowly. “I will never understand that man. The question is, why is the other Suresh here? The obvious conclusion is that he learned of our Suresh’s predicament and wanted to step into his shoes. Money and power are a big lure after all.”

"That and that the Station over there was in shambles, under attack from the Archadians, and possibly facing no future beyond packing up and going back to the Alpha or Beta Quadrants." She, too, shook her head. "Still. How did he get aboard the Hammond?"

Li clinked her mug to the one in Oz’s hand. “That, my friend, is the million dollar question. That is the correct slang, yes?”

"It is." She nodded. "Would someone on the Hammond have helped him? We know our Suresh had his hand up a prosecutor's ass."

“No. That core crew is new to the station. Really, I should have picked up on his presence but we were all exhausted and preoccupied and just ready to get home.”

"I'm glad you returned. All of you." Oralia smiled. "And tomorrow, I'll contact Elba II to have them run a scan on Suresh, make sure he's really the Suresh we think he is. Darwin is working through the night to find... let's call him something besides Suresh."

“Good idea. I want to know the right one is in prison, since they were both here at the same time.” A shiver ran over Li. “I really don’t want to consider the implications of that unless we have to.”

A wave of rage caught Oralia unawares and she blinked back tears. After what Suresh had cost her, the idea that he wasn't being punished rankled her. Clearing her throat, she nodded, "Yeah. If this person is the Suresh from that universe, then... What will we do with him? We don't know of any crimes he might have committed over there and the worst we could get him on here is stowing aboard and breaking and entering. Not exactly awful crimes."

Li reached over to take Oz’s hand, needing to comfort her friend and ease the anger. “Don’t worry, I suspect things are as they should be. And no, that’s the thing. For now, the most we can do is keep an eye on him. Perhaps it’s time to put Jackson to work.”

Oralia's protective streak kicked in. "What? No, there's no need for that. Why would he need to be involved in this? Security can handle this, we don't need to bring him in on it."

“Because he’s not usually in uniform. Or better might be to use Vic. Just to wander and watch.” Li shrugged. “Especially with Seyla.”

"Darwin has an 'in' with Seyla, trust me." Oz laughed lightly. "He can get information from her. Involving Vic would ...," she paused and sighed, knowing that her objections were based on Jackson, her husband, versus Jackson, the capable part-time Intel officer. "I'll discuss it with Darwin and Jackson."

“Good. I suspect this version of Suresh will do his best to remain out of sight for a while, and if Seyla warns him, that means more work for you. My sympathies.”

"Let's hope she likes Darwin more than this Suresh." Oz went silent for a moment. "Two-resh?", she tried out a nickname for this one.

“Blue fish.” Li smiled, finally. “What a hell of a night it’s been.”

"It has been. Our dinner at Lao's seems ages ago," Oz agreed. "You should hear what Seyla tried when I interviewed her."

“Oh? That sounds like it needs another round….”

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

Commander Oralia Zeferino
Listenin' to and Tellin' Tales

Captain Li Hawke
Storyteller