Judgement – Introspection, Reflection and Deception
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
Isha gazed out of the window, deep into space to a point beyond that claimed by the Federation and beyond that claimed by the Stelam Shiar. She knew what was out there. She knew why Rh'vaurek was so interested in this sector. She knew why her government were so insistent on keeping a peaceful presence here on Deep Space Five. She knew why she had been chosen for this role.
Isha and her beautiful mind.
She had not known until her husband turned her over to the Tal’Shiar and they had tried everything in their not inconsiderable arsenal to find her story a lie. Artificial means, drugs, mind probes, had limited traction, telepaths and empaths barely touched the surface of her mind and found nothing but spongy darkness if they pushed deeper, beyond what she wanted them to sense. More primitive methods of questioning applied without finesse merely made her retreat into herself and in a catatonic state she was oblivious to any threat; they had no option but to conclude that she was telling the truth.
Isha became a unique asset to the Stelam Shiar, someone who could be entirely trusted. The only way anyone could learn what Isha knew was if she told them, but there was no-one alive who had enough leverage on Isha to turn her into a traitor; But oh, how hard they had tried!
Her Government needed someone here to keep the game under control, to make sure those individual pieces moved where and when they were supposed to; they needed someone who knew the desired outcome of the game, someone who could keep it in motion, adapt and amend the strategy if a new player joined, someone who knew it all. So here she was, a unique servant of the empire, playing by instinct a game that her opponents had been trained to play.
Isha turned back from the window and slunk back on the chaise beneath the window. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly through her nose.
She had not had to resist so hard and had she been less stubborn Getal would never have had to go so far, and now he had established what he needed to do to control her when she got out of line. It meant that she could not afford to be seen to be out of line again.
It was different with Rh'vaurek, with him it was almost a flirtation - he invaded her personal space, he made exaggerated threats and she pushed back and it went on until they had established who wanted their way the most. Then one of them backed down and let the other win. Confrontation had become such a habit with them that Isha found it normal, so normal that she had missed all the warning signs when it came to Getal.
It disturbed Isha just how much power Getal had over her, but she could not spend every day literally scared sick and so she had to do something to bring her fear of him under control, the alternative was to passively accept that she was at the mercy of a man who had none. Something that Isha could and would not do.
Her eyes still closed Isha began to pick her way back through recent events.
With the clarity of hindsight Isha could see precisely where she had gone wrong - she was the one who had thrown away the rule book when she shot Getal. Up until that point his efforts to intimidate her were relatively mild; if she had not struck back so strongly Getal would never had had to go as far as he did. She had only made things worse for herself. This was the basis of the perverse sophistry that Isha used to convince herself that she was in control of the situation, and that she could keep Getal under control by simply doing as he wished. It was similar to the convenient illogic that she had used to rationalise how she dealt with her husband's brother.
Getal, Isha reflected, was very like Nniol in many respects, they both possessed violent tempers, a dangerous sense of entitlement, a deficient ethical code. They both possessed an overweening belief in their own superiority over practically everyone else, and they both derived a somewhat sadistic satisfaction from exercising the power they held over others. And she knew from direct experience that if one found oneself in his way the only way to deal with Nniol had been to appear to agree to what he wanted, otherwise Nniol would make one's life a misery until one finally acquiesced.
If she had made the connection sooner Isha would never have made the mistake of directly confronting Getal; he required an altogether more subtle approach. She had been blind to have missed the parallel and so only had herself to blame for what had happened.
In truth though, she simply had not been able to admit it to herself. Nniol had come very close to beating her, so close that she had faced allegations of treason and escaped execution only by doing something so wholly out of character that no-one had been able to predict and plan for her action.
And then, having removed one menace from her life, the reality of him being so quickly replaced with another every bit as vicious and implacable had been one that Isha simply had not been able to face.
But of course, Isha reminded herself, Nniol was now dead, because Isha was nothing if not patient and through her quiet tenacity she had found a way to turn Nniol's actions against him and though it came very close, she had outlasted him. In the same way she just had to go along with Getal until her plans had time to come into effect, then, by one hand or another the Cardassian would cease to be a nuisance to her or to anyone else.
Isha thought Getal quite arrogant enough to believe that she had reassessed her position and concluded that it was preferable to submit to him rather than to oppose him, in his world view such a decision would be the only one that made sense - she would co-operate with his wishes but if he expected subservience he was going to be disappointed.
For now, she had a case to prepare. One that would confuse the defendant through her own indifference to him, one that would confuse the Federation by her Empire's willingness to pander to their sensibilties, and one that would confuse her own friends by her apparant abililty to overlook the acts of a monster against herself.
Eyes still closed and nothing but the low thrum of the station's energy conduits in the air Isha turned her mind to the case, reviewing the evidence, and planning her attack.
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
| Title | Introspection, Reflection and Deception | |
| Mission | Judgement | |
| Author(s) | Commander Isha t'Vaurek | |
| Posted | Thu Oct 21, 2010 @ 8:31pm | |
| Location | Romulan Consulate, Ambassador's Suite | |
| Timeline | SD35. 19:00 |
Isha and her beautiful mind.
She had not known until her husband turned her over to the Tal’Shiar and they had tried everything in their not inconsiderable arsenal to find her story a lie. Artificial means, drugs, mind probes, had limited traction, telepaths and empaths barely touched the surface of her mind and found nothing but spongy darkness if they pushed deeper, beyond what she wanted them to sense. More primitive methods of questioning applied without finesse merely made her retreat into herself and in a catatonic state she was oblivious to any threat; they had no option but to conclude that she was telling the truth.
Isha became a unique asset to the Stelam Shiar, someone who could be entirely trusted. The only way anyone could learn what Isha knew was if she told them, but there was no-one alive who had enough leverage on Isha to turn her into a traitor; But oh, how hard they had tried!
Her Government needed someone here to keep the game under control, to make sure those individual pieces moved where and when they were supposed to; they needed someone who knew the desired outcome of the game, someone who could keep it in motion, adapt and amend the strategy if a new player joined, someone who knew it all. So here she was, a unique servant of the empire, playing by instinct a game that her opponents had been trained to play.
Isha turned back from the window and slunk back on the chaise beneath the window. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly through her nose.
She had not had to resist so hard and had she been less stubborn Getal would never have had to go so far, and now he had established what he needed to do to control her when she got out of line. It meant that she could not afford to be seen to be out of line again.
It was different with Rh'vaurek, with him it was almost a flirtation - he invaded her personal space, he made exaggerated threats and she pushed back and it went on until they had established who wanted their way the most. Then one of them backed down and let the other win. Confrontation had become such a habit with them that Isha found it normal, so normal that she had missed all the warning signs when it came to Getal.
It disturbed Isha just how much power Getal had over her, but she could not spend every day literally scared sick and so she had to do something to bring her fear of him under control, the alternative was to passively accept that she was at the mercy of a man who had none. Something that Isha could and would not do.
Her eyes still closed Isha began to pick her way back through recent events.
With the clarity of hindsight Isha could see precisely where she had gone wrong - she was the one who had thrown away the rule book when she shot Getal. Up until that point his efforts to intimidate her were relatively mild; if she had not struck back so strongly Getal would never had had to go as far as he did. She had only made things worse for herself. This was the basis of the perverse sophistry that Isha used to convince herself that she was in control of the situation, and that she could keep Getal under control by simply doing as he wished. It was similar to the convenient illogic that she had used to rationalise how she dealt with her husband's brother.
Getal, Isha reflected, was very like Nniol in many respects, they both possessed violent tempers, a dangerous sense of entitlement, a deficient ethical code. They both possessed an overweening belief in their own superiority over practically everyone else, and they both derived a somewhat sadistic satisfaction from exercising the power they held over others. And she knew from direct experience that if one found oneself in his way the only way to deal with Nniol had been to appear to agree to what he wanted, otherwise Nniol would make one's life a misery until one finally acquiesced.
If she had made the connection sooner Isha would never have made the mistake of directly confronting Getal; he required an altogether more subtle approach. She had been blind to have missed the parallel and so only had herself to blame for what had happened.
In truth though, she simply had not been able to admit it to herself. Nniol had come very close to beating her, so close that she had faced allegations of treason and escaped execution only by doing something so wholly out of character that no-one had been able to predict and plan for her action.
And then, having removed one menace from her life, the reality of him being so quickly replaced with another every bit as vicious and implacable had been one that Isha simply had not been able to face.
But of course, Isha reminded herself, Nniol was now dead, because Isha was nothing if not patient and through her quiet tenacity she had found a way to turn Nniol's actions against him and though it came very close, she had outlasted him. In the same way she just had to go along with Getal until her plans had time to come into effect, then, by one hand or another the Cardassian would cease to be a nuisance to her or to anyone else.
Isha thought Getal quite arrogant enough to believe that she had reassessed her position and concluded that it was preferable to submit to him rather than to oppose him, in his world view such a decision would be the only one that made sense - she would co-operate with his wishes but if he expected subservience he was going to be disappointed.
For now, she had a case to prepare. One that would confuse the defendant through her own indifference to him, one that would confuse the Federation by her Empire's willingness to pander to their sensibilties, and one that would confuse her own friends by her apparant abililty to overlook the acts of a monster against herself.
Eyes still closed and nothing but the low thrum of the station's energy conduits in the air Isha turned her mind to the case, reviewing the evidence, and planning her attack.