About last night...

Posted on Tue Sep 22nd, 2020 @ 3:46am by Alliance Oksanna Petrovich & Security Johannah "Mack" Shepard

Mission: This Week's Special
Location: Oskanna's Apartment
Timeline: The next evening after the disaster date

Mack hesitated before knocking on Oskanna's door. The poor kid was probably embarrassed, possibly mortified. Big first night out and she gets herself drugged and Mack had to beat two guys up and then get called on the carpet by Sasha Petrovich. At twenty-four, Oskanna was young, inexperienced for her age. At twenty-four, Mack was fighting in a war. So it was sometimes difficult to remember that Sasha had be sheltering the kid her whole life, which is really what led to this mess in the first place. If he'd loosened the reins a bit, Oskanna would have known by now to be more careful. Still... Mack smiled. It was nice dancing with the kid, even if she was stoned out of her gourd, though Mack was fairly certain in the light of day, without booze goggles, Oskanna would take one look at her, tell her this was all a terrible mistake, and move on. Mack sighed. Why couldn't anything ever be easy? Taking a deep breath, Mack knocked on Oskanna's door.

"Oksanna? It's Mackensie," she said. "Can I come in for just a minute? Just so I can see for myself how you're doing?"

The door cracked open, Mack could see Oksanna's icy blue eyes looking out at her. "Oh, hi. Sure." The door closed then slid open allowing Mack to enter. Oksanna looked tired. Still annoyingly perfect, but tired. It was fairly apparent that Oksanna was avoiding eye contact as the two faced each other. "Can you do me a favor, and tell me what on earth I did last night. You were the only one there, and I don't think I just passed out like my family keeps telling me."

"Someone slipped something in your drink," Mack said. "Axe Tong, I think. They targeted you. Don't worry. It took me a minute, but I figured out what happened. You didn't do anything embarrassing. I called the med center, and I dealt with the húndàn who did it. At least, I beat them down and handed them over to your father." Mack looked at the floor, embarrassed. "I'm really sorry, Oskanna. I'm the one who told you it was okay to go out and have fun. When you asked me to go with you, I should have had you meet me outside the club and then we could have gone in together and I might have stopped you from accepting a drink from those guys. I was just... I guess I was just caught off guard when you asked me to go out for drinks with you. It was a dumb mistake. If I hadn't gotten there when I did, something really bad could have happened to you. I am so sorry."

Oksanna held a hand to her temples. "I wish I could just forget it, but I don't remember anything. Did we at least have fun?"

"Uh... well," Mack started to say. Then she sighed. "I mean, I liked dancing with you, but you were a few drinks in when I got there and the Axe Tong guys had already sent you the Mickey Finn. You, ah, tried to flirt, I think, but pretty soon you just said the same things over and over, even when they didn't make any sense. At first I thought you just needed to move around and lay off the booze, so I suggested that we dance a bit. But then I got a good look at your eyes and that clinched it. So I got you out of there and got you some help."

Oksanna stood there looking blankly at Mack. "Well, at least I had you to keep me from doing anything too stupid. I am so sorry. I don't know how you can look at me. Rule one, don't accept drinks from guys you don't know. Rule two Don't except drinks from guys that you don't know where they live. I am such an idiot. I can't recall most of yesterday. Anything else I should know about?"

"You're not an idiot," Mack said. "You're just inexperienced. And no, that's all you need to know. Oh, there's no record of this. I had you put in the system as a Jane Doe and my people made sure everyone knew to make like this never happened. I don't think your bosses and your colleagues at Customs will ever hear about this, even if they were at the bar, and if they know who you are, they probably know not to make anything of it. Speaking from experience, sometimes being the daughter of a powerful family really sucks, but now and then it comes in really handy." Mack hesitated, the went to Oskanna and gently touched her cheek. "This wasn't your fault. It could have happened to anyone. Those hundan targeted you. If you hadn't taken the drink, they'd have tried to make a play for you without the drugs. It's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I suppose coming out with just my injured pride is a blessing." Oksanna shrugged. "I am more worried what will happen because of this. My father will not take a member of the family being targeted by the Tong. He means well, but he can get over excited."

"I talked to him," Mack said. "We agreed that this needed a measured response. He's dealt with the guys who drugged you. We're hoping that will discourage Axe Tong enough that we can avoid more bloodshed. If not, your father and I will do our best to find a way to deal with this that doesn't involve a shooting war." A soft smile formed on Mack's face. "I'm not going to insult your intelligence by telling you not to worry about these things. You'd had enough of being sheltered to last a life time. Some of the concerns you have are very real." Mack hesitated. "Oskanna... if you're willing, I can help you learn to handle yourself. You know, one daughter of a powerful father to another."

Oksanna smiled, taking a sip of water from a purple metallic bottle laying nearby. "I'm not completely inexperienced in dealing with trouble, contrary to what my father thinks. I scored second highest in my class at the academy in marksmanship. It's just when you live under your parent's roof, you feel like a helpless adolescent. Whatever I do effects him and his business. Gotta keep up the perfect daughter routine, since Natalya can't seem to figure it out."

"Yeah," Mack said. "Unfortunatly, there are troubles a gun won't get you out of. Best to avoid it altogether. But that doesn't mean that you can't have a full life, with friends and lovers and even a family of your own."

"That all sounds lovely. I'm not sure my father is ever going to let me out of his sight again." Oksanna remarked with a frown. "I'm glad at least you didn't just disappear on me. That's the usual outcome of me dating."

"I think you'll find that your father is willing to give you at least a little more freedom," Mack said. "And I what kind of person would I be if I just disappeared in a situation like this? Not one I'd like to be, as far as I'm concerned."

Oksanna smiled and winked at Mack. "You hold on to that thought, cause I have plans for you." she stated in a voice that was youthful, innocent, yet seductive. She placed the water bottle down on the dresser. "So when does your next shift begin? We could maybe try something that doesn't end with one of us in the hospital?"

"Not until tomorrow morning," Mack replied, a happy expression on her face. "Should we try dinner? Someplace that the only people ordering your drinks will be you and me? Or should we stay in? Eat here. Listen to music or watch a vid or something relaxing? Or did you have something else in mind?"

"I think with all the events of the last day, a quiet evening at home sounds lovely, besides, I doubt my father is going to let me out anywhere so soon at least not without a couple uncles in attendance." she said with a gentle smile. "We have a great holosystem for playing waves on."

Mack smiled. "That sounds really nice," she said. "It's been a while since I was able to just kick back like that."

Oksanna picked up the remote control and hit play on the wave. Pirouetting with an enormously wide grin, she skipped over tot he couch.

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