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You say "Hey, Clara? Niko here." He sounds reasonably exhausted. "Were there any injuries from the Denners, other than the Chief?" into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "Not to my knowledge," she replies,
sounding about equally far gone. "They seem to adore just about everyone
universally but him. You okay? You sound about out on your feet." in Clara's
voice.
You say "Good. Thank goodness. That'll help. And I'm.... okay, yeah. How about
you?" into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and says "I'm here. Niko...did you sleep last
night?" in Clara's voice.
You say "No, can't say that I did. I tried, Clara, but it was pointless." into
the communit.
Clara arrives from the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.
Clara has arrived.
Clara weaves her way into security about the early shift of officers toting Denners here and there or getting ready for duty, and scans the room rapidly for a certain tall form, muttering about men in general.
Security is still pretty active, with people bringing in the occasional Denner
or the occasional stack of paper. Niko, in the seat he usually occupies, is
dealing with some of the latter, looking reasonably alert but tired
nonetheless. Catching sight of you, he blinks a few times, then grimaces.
"Stupid," he mutters. "Should've known."
Clara ducks around a pair of guards discussing netting tactics and heads
towards the appropriate desk to drop into a chair next to it and lean an
elbow on the edge. "Niko, you're no good to anyone if you can't think
straight from exhaustion. You can't tell me field training didn't drill 'Do
it right, or don't do it at all' into your head."
Niko shoves aside a paper, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I
can think straight, Clara. I'm fine. I -have- to be here. Besides," he adds,
with a gesture towards the paperwork, "Thinking straight isn't exactly
required for this."
Clara actually doesn't argue this point, but does exhale a long sigh with a glance over at Anya's desk. "When did she finally leave? I got Riley upstairs when she got here, and hopefully he's still out cold."
Niko says dryly, "Don't count on it. Not unless you drugged him. And Anya
left..." He frowns for a moment. "I'm not sure when it was. After I came back
the second time. I didn't look at my chrono."
Clara doesn't make much of a comment on that, letting it slide by. She did give
him several hypos, though. Her eyes glide off to one side as she shrugs.
"Okay, you have a point," she concedes with a faint sigh, rubbing at the
bridge of her nose vaguely. "Someone has to be here until he rega-...wakes
up."
Niko, for all his protestations, is tired enough not to notice any evasions.
"So here I am. It's only right." He eyes a stack of paper on Anya's desk,
then shakes his head, expression rather grim. Reaching for a drink, one that
smells strongly of spices, he adds, "It's slowed down. As long as the
sprinklers don't go off again, it shouldn't be too bad. I hope. Unless
they're hiding."
Clara sighs heavily, leaning back in the chair and pulling a leg in to rest her
heel on the edge of the seat, arms about the drawn in knee. "They are," she
confirms heavily. "I've already had a dozen calls this morning about the care
and feeding of folk's new 'pets'. They're not real pleased to find out a) I'm
not a vet, and b) the things have to be impounded."
Niko groans very quietly at that. "Lovely," he mutters. "That'll likely be more complaints." He adds a short string of words in his native language as well, shaking his head very slowly. "This," he adds, "Is bad."
You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.
Clara glances over wistfully, then leans over to one side to free a hand and
squeeze your forearm. "Hey, it'll be okay," she reassures. "This isn't your
fault," she adds earnestly, then pulls away again and peers over at the mug.
"New type of coffee?"
Niko doesn't look at all reassured. "No," he says slowly. "Actually, it -is- my
fault. I brought the first one in here, I didn't make sure it was secured..."
He takes a deep breath, then quite happily moves with the segue. "It's tea,
actually, with spices and milk. Tastes better than coffee--better for mass
consumption." Of course, he has to drink three times as much to get the same
amount of caffiene as coffee, so he's basically living on the stuff, but he
doesn't seem to mind.
Clara stares down at the surface of the desk for a moment, then gives a single nod. "I was wondering if it was something like that," she murmurs. "But you didn't know, and it's not like you imported the first one to the planet, eh?" She lifts both hands to rub her temples, grimacing before letting out a small laugh. "I'd have to drink more than my body could hold, then. I think it's a requirement for military physicians to drink coffee in its most brutal state."
Niko says quietly, "Clara, it doesn't matter that I didn't know. I still did
it. Ignorance is no excuse. Besides," he adds, with a gesture towards that
small stack on Anya's desk that he's been avoiding, "It doesn't matter what I
think." He swallows a mouthful of the chai, then cups his hands around the
mug. "You should try this," he adds. "Not the stuff from the machines; it's
just nasty."
"No, it doesn't matter," Clara agrees just as quietly, then ventures a small,
rueful smile. "Thanks, but maybe sometime when I'm not facing another twenty
hour day. You -are- gonna try to get some sleep when Addison comes tooling
in, right?"
Niko nods. He'll try. He's positive he won't succeed, so he likely won't, but
he'll try. "Sure, Clara. When he gets down here, yeah. I'm surprised he isn't
already, though."
Clara makes another noncommittal shrug, absently watching another guard hurry
by with a trio of furballs. "He was really tired," she allows. "He wouldn't
leave until Anya got here, and then only if I went upstairs too to catch a
few hours."
Niko offers a faint smile at that. "Bargaining. That's the way to do it." Shaking his head, he adds, "Wish I could've gotten back more quickly."
Clara smirks faintly, quirking her brows and noting to her knee, "Yeah,
bargaining. Works every time." She glances back over as if remembering.
"That's right...you find that Denner fellow?"
Niko nods, rubbing briefly at his forehead. "Yeah. Eventually. He wasn't home. I managed to get the security folk at his building to tell me where he might be, once I convinced them that I wasn't trying to impersonate the Chief." His expression is one of wry amusement. "Like I'd do that."
Clara snorts in brief amusement, shaking her head. "Like anyone -could-. Man's one of a kind," she notes succinctly, then grins up. "Although I imagine the jacket didn't help. How'd the instant mass promotion feel?"
Niko shakes his head very slowly. "Confusing. I didn't actually realize what
was happening til I -got- to Denner's building. The Chief's got an odd sense
of humor."
"Mm-hmm. I think it's a prerequisite for service here," Clara agrees. "It's odd, y'know? I mean, his rank's in his med files, but I never really thought about it until he mentioned it. Blasted youngest admiral I've ever met."
Niko nods his agreement. "Only admiral I've ever met," he quips. "But, yes,
he's very young for it. That's why he wouldn't let the others call me 'kid',"
he adds, taking his paperwork up once more. "Wouldn't really bother me, but I
can see his point."
Clara looks vaguely troubled for some reason, then shakes it off with a brisk headshake as she catches sight of the paperwork. "I'll let you get back to work," she murmurs, pushing to her feet and stuffing her hands in her pant, coat pushed backwards. "Holler if I can help, okay?"
Niko's brows lift. "Sure. But is something wrong? Did I say something? I'm
sorry... I'm kind of out of it, whatever it is..."
Clara flashes a quick grin, nose wrinkling up cheerily. "No worries, soldier.
Drink more of that stuff, stay awake until the Chief gets here, and go crash
out. I'll catch you later," she prescribes airily and turns to wind her way
around the milling folk.
Clara heads towards the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.
Clara has left.
MEDIC> Clara arrives from the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.
MEDIC> Clara has arrived.
Niko looks after Clara with a small frown and a slight shake of his head. "Soldier," he murmurs. "Yeah. I can just -feel- the interest." With another shake of his head, he turns his attention to the paperwork.
MEDIC> Clara strides in rapidly, Kramer rising from his desk immediately to dog her heels with a clipboard. "We need to order another incubator from Supply, plus get Colonel Enrich on the comm for me, will you?" she asks, the nurse fairly well echoing her as she speaks and earning a grin. "Don't know how you do that," she mutters, signing the clipboard and heading for a desk and sliding into it before muttering at the terminal, "Blew -that- one, Aleron."