Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Interludes – Scene 36

Scene Notes: Reno missed out on Elena’s first evaluation for her ultimate promotion to rookie status in the Turks. Apparently, it’s an event she’d rather forget.

From Chapter 38: Restoration:

“I see.” The Turk leader regarded his lieutenant thoughtfully for a moment. It was certainly a good sign that the younger man was improving… and that the improvement seemed to be accelerating. He smiled slightly. “Incidentally… you actually were not at Elena’s first evaluation. You were supposed to be, of course, but you and Rude were held up on a small assignment that rather unexpectedly turned into a much larger one.”

“Heh… Guess I won’t be rememberin’ that, then…” the redhead laughed.

“Thank goodness…” Elena replied, cringing as her face reddened, “That’s something I’d kind of like to forget…”

Tseng chuckled. “Yes, I rather imagine you would…”

Reno glanced back at Elena, and then over towards Tseng, staring at him expectantly. After a few moments passed in silence, he gave an irritated groan. “Come on, boss… ya can’t just say shit like that and then not tell me!”

---

“How long have they been at it?” Tseng asked immediately upon entering the darkened room. He peered through the mirrored window that separated him from the seven candidates presently making the attempt at extracting themselves from the locked chamber below. Virdiria Nacelle snorted softly.

“If you’d shown up on time, you’d already know the answer to that…”

“I did apologize for my tardiness when I called you to let you know I was running behind schedule. Twice, in fact,” the Turk leader replied with a faint smile. “I had hoped Reno would ultimately be able to make it for this… so I waited as long as I possibly could.”

He’d put off his departure to Junon for nearly an hour. In the end, though, he’d had to either leave or miss the evaluation entirely.

“Oh, now there’s a great plan. That lieutenant of yours is always late,” the lieutenant commander chuckled.

“Fair point… but this time it wasn’t his fault. He and Rude are busy dealing with an unexpected issue in Wall Market. But you still haven’t answered my question.”

Viridia glanced down at her watch. “Coming up on ten minutes. The record’s seventeen, so I’d wager we still have a bit of a wait. Got any favorites?”

“Mmm… I was exceptionally impressed with Iverson in the training sessions I’ve observed. Warner as well.”

“Which of the two does Reno prefer?”

Tseng awkwardly cleared his throat. “… Neither, actually.”

Viridia’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Oh, really? So who does he want.”

“Brewer,” the Turk answered, a note of skepticism in his voice. “Though to be honest… I have a few reservations about her, myself. We’ll see how she does in the evaluation.”

Almost on cue, there was a muted shout of victory as a young blonde woman keyed in the correct sequence for the lock on the gate separating her from her goal, and set to work on the last obstacle… the exit door itself… while the other six were still busy at their own tasks. Tseng frowned and shook his head.

“Think she’ll go back and help the others once she gets it open?” Viridia asked. The evaluation, as presented to those being tested, was simply to get out of the room as quickly as they could. It was specifically engineered so that the fastest way to do so was to work together… but it was perfectly possible for a single recruit to escape on their own. Doing so, however, was considered an immediate fail… because what was really being evaluated was the potential Turks’ ability and willingness to work as a team, not their individual skills.

Before Tseng could answer, the door swung open, and the young woman stepped outside in triumph, leaving the remaining recruits behind as she grinned widely. Viridia looked at her watch again.

“Fifteen minutes, twenty-one seconds. She beat the group record,” she said, impressed.

“And utterly missed the point of the exercise.”

“Are you going to drop her?”

Tseng was silent for a moment. Were it up to him… he would absolutely drop her from consideration. At least for the current promotion. She simply wasn’t ready, in his opinion. Skilled, certainly, with a great deal of potential… but lacking in some very important areas.

As it stood, however… he wasn’t the deciding vote this time around.

“It’s Reno’s decision, not mine… Whomever he picks is going to be his first. It’s as much a test for him as it is for the recruit, and I can’t choose for him. But I do plan to strongly suggest that he focus his attention on one of the others,” he replied as the others at last opted to work together to free themselves and exit the room behind their overachieving cohort.

“… Do you want to tell her she failed, or shall I?” Viridia asked with smirk. Tseng chuckled and turned to the door.

“I’ve seen all I need to. You can tell her.  You seem far more eager than I to impress upon her where she went wrong.  And then, if you’re not too busy… perhaps you’d be good enough to join me for dinner tonight?”

“Just dinner?” the lieutenant commander teased.

“Dinner… and dessert?” he offered, smiling.

“Is that your way of telling me you plan on waking up in my quarters tomorrow morning, or do you actually intend to buy me dessert?”

“… Both?” he responded, caught slight off-guard by the question. Tseng sighed softly, and flashed her a self-deprecating smile. “Nearly ten years of being around Reno, and it seems I still haven’t quite mastered the proper inflection for decent innuendo.”

Viridia laughed.

“I wouldn’t have you any other way, Tseng,” she replied, heading for the door that would take her down to the evaluation floor, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some spirits to crush. I’ll see you as soon as I’m off duty… for ‘dessert’.”

~fin~