Reprimand
Friday, 01 Aug 2521
Kuiper II class, Summer’s Gift
Mystic, New Canaan
Blue Sun (Qing Long) system
1030hrs, local time
Kiera had me on the exam bed in med bay and I was sucking down another dose of meds via the inhaler. I’d be doing this every six hours for the next forty-eight, Kiera told me over the hum of the nebulizer and I nodded to show her I understood. Had I just breathed in pure sea water I wouldn’t have bothered showing up on Kiera’s orders, but what had crawled inside me yesterday was anything but pure. The engine compartment had flooded, scouring every last drop of fuel, lubricant, and God knew what else off the deck and jumping down my windpipe. I woke that morning with my chest feeling sluggish and cottony and though it didn’t hurt to breathe I refrained from my usual morning routine and practically goldbricked through my duties. So I lay there and breathed the meds in and felt the tightness recede. Kiera kept her mask on and kept an eagle eye on the read-outs. When the numbers and lines were to her liking, she flipped the switch and patted my arm and told me I could go. I gingerly rose and thanked her and left.
Kiera had tested the waters with me over ident forgery a month ago. Collings might be in need of Kiera’s services with the scalpel if we were unable to clear his name with the Core and should he, I knew a request from Kiera as to a new set of papers wouldn’t be far behind. I had expected her to approach me again with her proposition while we were both alone in med bay but she hadn’t and it had given me extra time to think. Over the months since her arrival, I’d had the opportunity to observe how Kiera always looked to turn a profit. That she wasn’t above making money off our passenger didn’t surprise me and since Collings might very well turn her proposition from an academic exercise to a practical one, I felt it was time I told Nika. I was aware of the standing injunction against Kiera sharking our passengers and though I had no proof she intended to soak the man for a face job and papers, that alone wasn’t sufficient reason to let this slide any longer. Given the hour, I knew exactly where the Captain would be and I went forward to the bridge and closed the hatch behind me. Kiera was just one door down the corridor and I didn’t want her to eavesdrop on the coming conversation.
“Captain, do you have a minute?”
---
Nika was, as always, sitting in the cockpit with the ubiquitous cup of coffee. Though in this instance she was not propped back with her feet up -- instead, she was working on something on the screen in front of her. Rina's entry and query had her saving whatever it was she was up to before turning off the monitor and pivoting in her seat to face the engineer. "It's always ominous, to my mind, when you come in and call me that. What's up?" she asked mildly.
---
“Nothing yet,” I said as I settled in the copilot’s chair. “But it could turn into something soon. It’s Kiera. She came to me the night Mike—,” I faltered. Twelve years of history and its loss stabbed and I breathed against the ache and plowed on. “The night Mike left for Miranda she knocked on my door with a sleep aid and a business proposition. She let me know that she does work for people who need more than a new face, but papers to go with. And that’s where I was supposed to come in.”
I sighed and said to the bridge windows.
“She didn’t ask me for an answer and I haven’t given her one. It’s been years since I’ve forged an ident. I’m not too keen on doing it. There’s always a security risk involved and that’s why I’ve come to you and not Joshua over this.” I looked back at Nika. “I can take it to him next, but as my Captain, you need to know about any security risk first.”
---
Wow.... now that hadn't been what Nika expected to hear. A number of thoughts passed through the blonde's head, some of them practical concerns and some of them more personal ones. "I'm..... not sure I'm likin' this thought," she finally said. There's a moment where she's considering the matter and then she asks drily, "Are you askin' my blessing? Just informing me for informational purposes, or... some third option that I'm absolutely terrified to ask about?"
---
"Not your blessing, no." I shook my head. "I would rather not get involved in the forgery business and with Kiera, you can bet your last credit it would be a business. Anything to put money in her pocket and that's the part that worries me. Motive and intent. I have no problem with running up new papers and an identity for Collings if we can't clear his name with the Feds, but I wouldn't do it for the money. I'd do it because it was the right thing to do--never mind the legalities. The Feds, however, would take exception to that and that would put our heads on the block. That is the security risk I'd meant. And as Captain, I felt you should know what Kiera proposed carried that risk."
---
As she listened, Nika pursed her lips. "Well, I'm thinking the Collings situation should be counted a one-time good deal. As to going into forgery as a side business? I'm with you -- seems like a bad plan. Lemme think on the situation for a bit here." She leaned back in her chair, her expression thoughtful. "On the one hand, seems to me that we could all use some false papers for if or when we get to be a big enough thorn in someone's side that they decide to start seriously gunnin' for us and we gotta split up. Buuuuut... All in all, I don't think that's really for me to start with. I'd rather just go down fighting. And I don't think I trust Kiera not to eventually sell us out to end with -- and if she built such identities for us and that were to be the case, well... just seems like a waste of money, don't it?" she asked with a faint grin.
"If you want me to actually do something about the situation I'm going to need a little time to consider it."
---
"And that's why I came to you first," I quirked a grin at her. "What should I do about telling Joshua? Leave it to you or have me take this to him?"
---
As she sits on the bridge considering the information that Rina has put before her, Nika sighs to herself. This was the kind of crap that she was not particularly thrilled to deal with. "Yeah," she finally says to the engineer, shoving herself out of the pilot's chair. "Let's speak with Joshua. The fact that she's approached you about creating such a set of documents pretty much torques my jaw, and I think we're going to need to come to a decision as to how to deal with our intrepid passenger. Arden's been pretty damn sure she's going to stab us in the back," she says as she pulls open the hatch. "Guess it's time to take his concerns about her activities seriously." She gestures for Rina to precede her down the hall to find Joshua.
---
I hauled out and preceded my captain off the bridge and waited for her in the corridor.
"He may be in Botany Bay. He usually is this time of day."
---
Joshua leaned over the strawberry plants, tending them carefully, looking for bugs or signs of disease. They were just beginning to produce regularly the last week or so. If they produced well enough, the crew could have a share alongside their first class contingent. He started humming a little melody, nothing specific, just plant music as he referred to it. Tending the plants that provided the food made him almost as happy as cooking the food itself.
Joshua's smile, however, faded slightly when he saw Nika and Rina stride in his general direction. Not a casual, hey, how are the plants doing sort of call by the look on Nika's face. Back on duty, he told himself.
"Nika." He nodded to her. "Rina." And then to her. "What service can I provide for you today?"
---
As she steps into the wilderness that is Botany Bay, Nika catches sight of the peaceful expression on Joshua's face just as he turns. And she grimaces briefly over the fact that she was about to ruin that mood. "Well, darlin," she drawled mildly. "I'm thinkin' we've got a bit of a situation that may need some confab."
---
"I see." The drawl was out, which meant that it was serious, but it was not so thick as to be life and crew threatening. Always good to know. He reached across his face with his right hand and scratched his cheek lightly as he considered the options."So, since Rina is along, I'm assuming she's involved in this," he said, turning his head towards her. "Enlighten me?"
---
I leaned against one of the tanks and checked the door over my shoulder before turning back to him.
"Last month Kiera asked if I would consider running false idents for her clients. I didn't tell her definitively yes or no. Now we have Collings and it's a toss-up whether he'll need her services and if he does, Kiera's going to ask me again.” I crossed my arms and frowned. “I'm not too keen on the idea of saying yes."
---
"Soooo..." he looked at both women. "Am I being asked for advice or being asked to handle her? The idents would be dangerous but profitable. The two of us," he motioned over to Rina, "could probably make some decent ones. It depends on the Captain's risk threshold. And as far as doing it again, that's why you set all your rules up front." He shrugged. "If you want me to handle her, that's a different story. And you," and he looked at Rina again, this time with a raised eyebrow, "should have come to me a month ago. Even if we weren't going to do anything, that's the kind of information I should be kept in the loop on. Unless, of course, we want to turn passenger detail into an all hands on deck endeavor.
---
Nika leaned one hip on the table holding the strawberries, glancing over the plants thoughtfully. Her fingertips brushed leaves. "All in all, I'm thinkin' it's not a good plan to let it be known that we even can put such a thing into play, honestly. A one-time thing for Collings, I'm willing to consider. But ... this is one of those things where we need to decide what we'll allow aboard and what we won't. Arden's opinion has been to let her do what she wants so long as we get a cut."
The blonde looks at Joshua. "As to the 'come to someone a month ago,' well.... that part we ain't covered yet," Nika drawls milldy.
---
Duly rebuked by Joshua, I bit my lip and nodded, saying,"I'll keep that in mind. But that was a month ago. What do we do with Kiera now? For all we know, she's already approached Collings with the offer."
---
"You know what I find works really well? Asking straight up." Listening to himself talk, he realized that maybe his snark factor had gotten a little high. He wasn't sure exactly why, but if he was honest with himself, it was probably a combination of having his quiet time interrupted and finding that yet another crew member had ignored him in favor of taking a passenger issue directly to the captain. Well, he thought, nothing for it but to say something at a later date. Meanwhile, he should probably ease up a little now.
"Sorry, didn't mean it that way. If we want to set up Collings, let's ask Kiera if she's done it already, and regardless of the answer, make sure that he's the first and only."
---
Nika wasn't blind to Joshua's dilemma on this, hence why she brought the issue immediately to his attention. Some things, the XO is supposed to handle so the captain has plausible deniability.... this wasn't one of them. "Frankly, I don't know as I have an issue with whatever she wants to offer. The issue here is where we stand," Nika says. "Rina's already shown a modicum of good sense by not answering on the matter until she at least spoke to one of us. Now she's speaking to both of us. I know where Arden stands on the matter of 'illegal' activities... and I do use that term VERY loosely because well, quite bluntly folks, we ain't legal most of the time anyway." The blonde quirks a faint smile. "But I am of the mindset that running false IDs off our boat isn't a good long-term plan for income."
---
Joshua shook his head a little. "What she does is what we do. Other people aren't going to draw the fine dividing line that we do."
---
"No. What she does is nothing like what we do." I pushed off the tank and came forward. "We don't shark people for money. I don't care if what she does in that container helps people or not, she doesn't do it because it's the right thing to do. She does it because it's the profitable thing to do. Money is amoral, as amoral as anything comes. I, for one, am not comfortable knowing that we're going to be held hostage to her wallet. Sooner or later, the money's going to be too good and she'll turn on us."
---
"Aaaaaaand now you're reaching the point Arden reached when she first came aboard," Nika replies, adding quietly, "But since when have we operated on the assumption that we're going to get turned on?" She looks between the engineer and the XO, her blue eyes steady on the latter. "So.... Joshua, your thoughts on handling it?" Because at the bottom of it, this is what Joshua does on this ship. If Nika has to handle it, she's not always the tactful person.
---
Joshua smiled a little at Rina. She had taken him a little too literally. He should know by now, but yet...
"I just meant that we cannot keep our reputation separate from hers while she travels aboard this ship. I'm not going to judge her on her desire for money. Not having had much of my own, it is not a subject I feel qualified to talk on."
He looked at Nika thoughtfully. "I think we take the practical approach. Tell her that while we don't have any moral judgments on false IDs, we're not prepared or willing right now to deal with the consequences if one of them goes wrong."
---
I nodded again and stayed out of it. I'd brought the matter to the Captain and her XO, stated the case and my position in it. I resolved to keep an eye on Kiera, noting overt, but keep an eye on her.
---
Nika simply nods. "Let me know if you run into any problems, Joshua," she says easily. Her blue eyes slip to Rina and a single brow perks upward. "And if a passenger approaches you in a fashion you're not comfortable with, Marina -- whether for professional or personal reasons -- I expect something to be said immediately. Da?"
---
"Absolutna."
---
And Joshua raised his hands to the sky. "And let there be peace. And plants." He smiled at Nika. "I'll talk to Kiera later."
He turned to Rina. "Can we talk later? Nothing bad, I promise. Maybe after dinner?"
---
"Sure," I said softly, still smarting over getting reamed a new one by my Captain. Not undeserved, which added to the sting. "Come find me when you're free."
---
Nika nudges Rina with her shoulder companionably as she turns to go. "Have fun you two," she comments as she leaves.
---
He nodded. "Fresh peppers tonight." And he pointed proudly to the green peppers growing towards the top left corner of the room as Nika leaves.
---
I closed the distance between us and joined him at the strawberries. "Need any help in the galley? I could stand to chop something up." It was that or do something percussive in my workshop.
---
"Pick and chop them, dear. Get 2 or 3 peppers, depending on the size. Then dice them. We're going to do a hash tonight. If you really need to take it out on some more poor vegetables after you're done with the peppers, grab some potatoes and dice those."
He put his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it softly in reassurance. "Sorry, didn't mean to be so harsh earlier. Just hit a sore spot."
---
"You know me too well," I said with a breath of a laugh. "I'll get it done. As for the other, please don't apologize. I had it coming. I should have gone to you and Nika sooner."
---
"Yes, you should have." Joshua acknowledged her apology with the honest truth. "My job as the steward means being informed about passenger details. But still, I could have handled it better. I owe you an apology kiss now that Nika is no longer around." And he stepped in and leaned down for the kiss. He stretched it out, savoring the taste of her lips. It had to last him for a few hours, after all. While they kissed, he reached down with his free hand and plucked a strawberry. As he broke off the kiss, he promptly popped it in her mouth. "And that's your apology strawberry. Now get chopping." And he grinned at her.
---
I let him drive the kiss where he wanted it and when we came up for air, I said, "You handle things just fine." More than that I didn't have a chance to say before he popped that strawberry in my mouth. It was small but incredibly sweet and made me remember the other night on Lagniappe. I kissed him, the berry's juice still on my lips, and whispered, "Thank you."
Go to Joshua's Crew Page or to Rina's Crew Page or to Nika's Crew Page
Go back to: Timeline Season Four, April 2521 to -- Dec 2521
Go to Peripatetica - Rina's Journal entry and RP log
Go to Rina's Russian Glossary
Go to Rina's Crew Page
Go to EPISODES or TIMELINE
