Judgement – Seeking Counsel and Courting Danger
by Captain Tasha Tahir (NPC) & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
Tasha mulled over which course she would take. Visit Isha personally, or just speak to her.
She closed her eyes, listening to the drone of the station that stood on the edge of this part of the galaxy and wondered just who was in charge.
She sat there for a few minutes, before finally opening her eyes and reached forward, bringing up her desk console and tapped the screen.
"Computer, open a channel to Starfleet. Encrypted channel, Captains frequency. Advise when connected." She ordered and the computer chirped its acknowledgement.
Tasha waited in silence as the screen kept its vigilance with the Starfleet emblem and she watched it like a kettle on the boil.
Her comm chirped, but she chose to ignore it. A few moments later, to Tashas annoyance it chirped again and she chose to ignore as her eyes remained fixed to the screen.
Nearly ten minutes later, the screen flickered and the Captain knew that the connection was ready.
"Admiral Hardy?" She questioned as her old friends face appeared on the screen.
"Tasha, what's wrong?" He questioned, his face full of concern for his protege.
"Maybe nothing, but that is not likely. I need advice Robert, good advice." She hardly paused before leaping into her fears. "Have you heard about the case concerning one of my officers, Lieutenant Commander Dorian Gabriel?"
Robert half closed his eyes and gave a solemn single nod. "I have and it gives us all here at Starfleet a bit of a headache. You have what we ominously call a hot potato in your hands Tash, let him go." He urged leaning into the screen. "Your commander is being utilised as leverage against the Fleet by the Romulans and they have a strong case built up against him and our hands have been firmly tied by their concord of agreement. They want either him, or Starfleet and in this instance dear," He paused as his clasped hands parted and he shrugged his shoulders, "your best course of action is to allow the wolves to feast." His eyes dropped from the screen.
Tasha heard her friend, loud and clear but despite what was obvious, she didn't want to roll over and beg for her tummy to be tickled.
"Robert, I cannot do that, I will not do that." She said as tears came to her eye. "He is a officer on my station. Not the best officer I admit but still an integral member of my team." She practically begged.
Hardy watched her and he knew that this was something she had to do, despite her feelings of servitude.
"Tash, I know it's a lot to ask, but the arrangements have been set, Admirals here have been silenced by their peers and you must follow orders, it is not a request and for all our sakes, do as you have been ordered." He turned away and Tasha knew that Robert was being ushered and she wondered by whom.
"Sorry Captain Tahir, but that is all I can say for the moment but you must comply with Commander Villiers. For all intents and purposes, she has jurisdiction in the matter, full control." He smiled, the familiar smile she loved and had cherished and despite the feeling that he was being coerced, Tasha knew she had to trust him and for that matter, she had to trust Karen.
She resigned with a nod. "Thank you Admiral for taking the time to talk with me." She said copying his smile.
"Anytime Captain. If you need to talk with anyone else, I would recommend Admiral Brailsford, he is very close on this case. Goodnight Captain and take very good care of yourself." He said and severed the connection.
After closing the channel at her end and despite her reservations, she knew she had to talk to Isha.
She glanced at the clock. It was already past the 30 minutes she had commanded Trellis to give Gabriel as the clock read 18:12 and now she knew what the comm chirps were.
"Computer, locate Ambassador t'Khellian." She said as she rose from her seat and made for the replicator and ordered a cold Egyptian pomegranate wine.
'The Ambassador is on deck 56.' The computer responded.
Tasha sighed as she too a large mouthful of the sweet wine.
"And Commander Villiers?" She enquired.
'Commander Villiers is on Deck 56'
Tasha was not surprised. "Is Commander Villiers and Ambassador t'Khellian together?" She asked.
'Negative' The computer responded.
Tashas hand paused at her chest before with a soft touch, tapped her comm.
=^= "Captain Tahir to Commander Villiers." She said, swallowing her pride.
"Captain Tahir," Karen said as she leaned back in her chair; the Romulan Ambassador had left only moments before and and she rubbed the back of her neck Karen thought that this conversation was going to be on exactly the same topic.
"What may I do for you?" she asked.
"Firstly, I want to apologise. I have just spoken to Starfleet and I have been" She chose her word carefully, "informed that I am to give you full control in all matters pertaining to Commander Gabriel." She admitted and though it gave her a sense of relief, it didn't give her any pleasure as it meant that Karen was not only the judge in the line of fire, but she was also in the worst possible position and Tasha had not helped.
"You don't need to apologise for doing your job, Captain," Karen replied, "any more than I will apologise for doing mine. You gave your order and ..." Karen paused, she heard of it. She was in this office as soon as I had sat down she thought.
"... I put my foot in it." She finished the sentence, not knowing that Isha had already been there. "I think the Ambassador is already on her way to you. Give her my apology and tell her I will talk to her later and that you will personally see to Gabriels reinstatement into the brig." She said, hoping that the situation was not already beyond resolve.
"She's already been, Captain," Karen told her, "and gone. The Ambassador was not impressed with the turn of events. She's already made her assessment of me. If she'll speak to you about it, make a point of telling her you had to make a show," Karen advised her, "Case wise, the damage is done but a display of reason will do no harm."
Tasha closed her eyes as her hand came to her face and the other released the grip on the wine filled glass and brought that to her face.
"Shoot!" She said aloud as her hands slid down her cheeks. "Karen, I'm sorry. I'll head down to the Romulan embassy now, see if I can smooth things over." Came her reply as she looked at the half empty glass that sat on the desk in front of her and recalled the terran saying about optimism and pessimism in relation to that half empty glass.
~ Make a show ~, she thought. She had never made any attempt to do that with Isha and now would not be the best time to start. Above all else, Isha admired honesty, even if it came at the cost of something later.
"Can you get down to Gabriels quarters and escort him back to the Brig with Trellis and Commander," She paused, again choosing her words with care, "Pass a message, tell him he will have to walk on his own for a while." She said with regret in her voice as she made for the door with one final glance at the clock. It read 18:18.
"OK, Captain," Karen agreed. She did sympathise with Tahir's position and if it been a contained matter, one that could be dealt with without outside involvement then she would have agreed with her but a shaky scaffold of interstellar politics surrounded this whole affair and she was not going to be the one to make it fall down.
----
Tasha took the long way, via the turbolift to the Romulan domain on DS5. She didn't want to rush to the Embassy, she wanted Isha to have item to get back herself so it was a good ten minutes before she found herself in the outside chamber of the Romulan Embassy and announced herself to the guard, whom she had met on several occasions and still could not pronounce her name.
"Captain Tah..." She began to be stopped mid announcement.
"This is an unexpected visit," Isha said as Tahir was being directed to step through the scanner. "As I'm on my way to the conference room you may as well accompany me," she said.
The room in question lay at the opposite end of the long corridor off which the doors to both her office and her apartment opened. Quite why Isha was on her way there was unclear as the room appeared to be empty.
"Dead space," Isha said looking out of the window, "Nobody ever uses it. I think I shall have its function changed," she said thoughtfully. "Was there something you wished to talk to me about?" the Ambassador asked turning back to the room.
Isha was quite sure this visit was not a coincidence.
Tasha followed Isha, knowing she would be making some arrangement or other to facilitate the change she spoke of. She folded her hands behind her back, deciding to be forthright or succumb to the inevitable.
"Isha, I need your help to contain a situation that I have inadvertently created and as you already know, it's to do with Gabriel."
She looked at the single chair that occupied the room and stood behind it. "I released him from the brig earlier, before I was made fully aware of the agreement made between your government and mine and to be honest, I know the damage has been done, but between you and I, I am sure we can keep it between us, as friends."
She practically begged, knowing that she had given the upper hand to Isha and hoped that what they had been through together would carry a small amount of weight.
"Captain Tahir, a person in your position, or mine cannot afford to misunderstand, or to misread," Isha began, "Whatever you now say to me the agreement that I made via ... what's it's name ... Villiers, and through her your government is void. I can mitigate, of course, but I do not see why I should yield to Federation strong arm tactics to right your wrong."
It was a suggestion that Isha was making, a suggestion that if Tasha had something to offer she should offer it now.
Tasha shook her head. It was not the response she had expected or hoped for, but the curious smile on Isha's lips told her that there was more to her statement. She decided to be direct.
"Neither misread or misunderstood but purely a lack of information." She shrugged her shoulders. "What will it take to mitigate favourably for me?" She stated a forced smile of her own appearing.
Isha linked her fingers together in from of her and paced towards the Starfleet Captain, "I require access to a particular security log. I will provide a specific date, time, even the cell number I want to see," she referred of course to the official record that would also have captured footage of Gabriel's attack on the Cardassian prisoner.
Turvan's recording may have come from that record or may have been made another way entirely but with the official version ... Isha halted about an arm's length from Tahir. "If the log in question is classified I want its classification revoked," she said, "If that cannot be done I will have no option but to assume that you personally condone the use of torture by your officers and take the appropriate steps to escalate the issue."
The decision was hers, access and bring back on track her disastrous error, or charges against Gabriel for torture.
She wrangled over the decision for barely a few seconds, the choice was made for her. For murder, the penalty was death. For torture, if proven, was dismissal from Starfleet at worst.
Tashas hand wiped across her lips and her smile replaced with a frown.
She turned to the only console on the wall and entered her own security code and brought up the security file listing, even though she knew that Gabriel had already deleted any deeply incriminating evidence and perfectly altered the timestamp, if she was correct in her thinking of the log she was looking for. Then another struck her, when Gabriel had tortured another and one she full knowledge of and prayed that she was thinking of the right one
She dipped her head, as if in submission.
"Give me the date, time and cell number and I will open the file for complete access." Her voice wavered a little as she spoke and turned to Isha, feigning her best pathetic expression.
Isha watched Tahir very closely; very few people could keep the ripples of indecision from showing and the Captain was no exception. Isha empathised with the woman, she liked her even, and she was putting her in a very difficult situation - coercion was never pleasant, no matter how light the pressure applied.
"Holding cell three," Isha said followed by the date and the time.
Tasha gave the computer instruction and the file she required was Isha could see what was on the log and heard her approach.
The Ambassador came to stand by Tahir so that she could watch the footage. "Oh dear," Isha said with just a hint of malice beneath her tone, as she stared at silent blackness, "the recording devices would appear to have been disabled. Show me on whose authorisation," she instructed.
She gave a short sigh and cleared her throat as she brought up the file access logs and stepped aside.
This made her even more curious as to how Turvan had got his recording, and more certain that it was indeed genuine.
Isha paused and stared at Tahir for a moment - that fleeting hesitation she had made a few moments earlier, "You authorised him to use illegal force," she said making a leap to the correct conclusion. Isha chuckled softly, "Oh, don't worry, Tasha," she said in a tone that was anything but reassuring, "I will keep your secret."
Her head dipped, but her eye didn't leave Isha. ~ As I keep yours. ~ She thought with a wry smile on her face.
"Thank you Ambassador." She said in a plaintive tone wondering what her next move would be and realised that now she had just lost an ally in Isha and she would have to be more guarded than she had ever been before.
"Tt, Tt, Tt," Isha said as she sent the file into her own databank. "This really does not look good," she observed, though did not explain why. "I have what I require," she said, "the trial will go ahead under the originally agreed terms," she continued.
"We remain quite committed to our intention of co-operating in this and all other matters," Isha explained, "but what am I supposed to think if I receive a promise and then in an instant the terms are changed without a word of consultation? You Lloann'su sometimes make the preservation of trust most difficult."
Tasha nodded her thanks and understanding at Ishas help and counsel.
She brought her head up.
"It was not Starfleet that broke the agreement, it was I and I alone. I was looking after my own, as would you Ambassador t'Khellian." Her head dropped a little in guilt more than shame. "Commander Villiers was more angry than you are now that I had released Commander Gabriel. It was her reaction that made me question why she would risk the wrath of a superior officer for what I would call an act of humanity. It was my fault." She admitted. "It was my ignorance." She added in the final admittance of her own guilt and she straightened herself.
"Ambassador, Commander Villiers is now responsible for Commander Gabriel. I have been ordered not to interfere and you have my word that I will follow hers and your instruction to the letter concerning him." She had other thoughts on her mind but she would keep them to herself. She had to look back now, to find her own leverage as she watched Isha with indubious eyes.
Isha took Tahir's hand between hers, "But you are Starfleet in this place, how else could you command? Just as I am the Stelam Shiar," she said, though as an explanation it seemed more a grandiose statement than a reason. "Are we still friends?" she asked with what seemed like astonishing naivety.
Tashas other hand came to rest atop of Isha's. Although she would be more careful, Tasha had hoped that they would still be friends and the coolness of Isha's hands could not hide the darker tinge of green on the Ambassadors face and had she been human, it would have looked like a blush and she felt her own cheeks redden and she struggled to find the words.
She smiled.
"Of course." She said honestly and though there was a sense of betrayal, Isha had to do what she felt necessary to secure information that she needed and Tasha would have done the same. Had they not been, Tasha would have left with her captaincy on the line of the future of DS5 in the balance.
"Then I shall see you out," Isha said gesturing towards the door of the empty function room. "I do hope that I never have cause to speak to you in this manner again," she added before the doors opened, "It brings me no pleasure."
Tasha felt relief as the doors opened and she stepped out from the conference room.
"Agreed. Until next time Isha." Tasha said as she turned to watch Isha close the door behind them. "It was not a pleasure but it certainly was necessary."
"Its all necessary," Isha said, but that did not mean that it did not hurt. "Next time we will talk on better terms," she said with a nod as the Captain departed her embassy.
OFF
Captain Tasha Tahir
CO: DS5
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
by Captain Tasha Tahir (NPC) & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
| Title | Seeking Counsel and Courting Danger | |
| Mission | Judgement | |
| Author(s) | Captain Tasha Tahir (NPC) & Commander Karen Villiers | |
| Posted | Mon Nov 22, 2010 @ 10:10pm | |
| Location | Captains Office / Romulan Embassy | |
| Timeline | SD35 17:50 |
She closed her eyes, listening to the drone of the station that stood on the edge of this part of the galaxy and wondered just who was in charge.
She sat there for a few minutes, before finally opening her eyes and reached forward, bringing up her desk console and tapped the screen.
"Computer, open a channel to Starfleet. Encrypted channel, Captains frequency. Advise when connected." She ordered and the computer chirped its acknowledgement.
Tasha waited in silence as the screen kept its vigilance with the Starfleet emblem and she watched it like a kettle on the boil.
Her comm chirped, but she chose to ignore it. A few moments later, to Tashas annoyance it chirped again and she chose to ignore as her eyes remained fixed to the screen.
Nearly ten minutes later, the screen flickered and the Captain knew that the connection was ready.
"Admiral Hardy?" She questioned as her old friends face appeared on the screen.
"Tasha, what's wrong?" He questioned, his face full of concern for his protege.
"Maybe nothing, but that is not likely. I need advice Robert, good advice." She hardly paused before leaping into her fears. "Have you heard about the case concerning one of my officers, Lieutenant Commander Dorian Gabriel?"
Robert half closed his eyes and gave a solemn single nod. "I have and it gives us all here at Starfleet a bit of a headache. You have what we ominously call a hot potato in your hands Tash, let him go." He urged leaning into the screen. "Your commander is being utilised as leverage against the Fleet by the Romulans and they have a strong case built up against him and our hands have been firmly tied by their concord of agreement. They want either him, or Starfleet and in this instance dear," He paused as his clasped hands parted and he shrugged his shoulders, "your best course of action is to allow the wolves to feast." His eyes dropped from the screen.
Tasha heard her friend, loud and clear but despite what was obvious, she didn't want to roll over and beg for her tummy to be tickled.
"Robert, I cannot do that, I will not do that." She said as tears came to her eye. "He is a officer on my station. Not the best officer I admit but still an integral member of my team." She practically begged.
Hardy watched her and he knew that this was something she had to do, despite her feelings of servitude.
"Tash, I know it's a lot to ask, but the arrangements have been set, Admirals here have been silenced by their peers and you must follow orders, it is not a request and for all our sakes, do as you have been ordered." He turned away and Tasha knew that Robert was being ushered and she wondered by whom.
"Sorry Captain Tahir, but that is all I can say for the moment but you must comply with Commander Villiers. For all intents and purposes, she has jurisdiction in the matter, full control." He smiled, the familiar smile she loved and had cherished and despite the feeling that he was being coerced, Tasha knew she had to trust him and for that matter, she had to trust Karen.
She resigned with a nod. "Thank you Admiral for taking the time to talk with me." She said copying his smile.
"Anytime Captain. If you need to talk with anyone else, I would recommend Admiral Brailsford, he is very close on this case. Goodnight Captain and take very good care of yourself." He said and severed the connection.
After closing the channel at her end and despite her reservations, she knew she had to talk to Isha.
She glanced at the clock. It was already past the 30 minutes she had commanded Trellis to give Gabriel as the clock read 18:12 and now she knew what the comm chirps were.
"Computer, locate Ambassador t'Khellian." She said as she rose from her seat and made for the replicator and ordered a cold Egyptian pomegranate wine.
'The Ambassador is on deck 56.' The computer responded.
Tasha sighed as she too a large mouthful of the sweet wine.
"And Commander Villiers?" She enquired.
'Commander Villiers is on Deck 56'
Tasha was not surprised. "Is Commander Villiers and Ambassador t'Khellian together?" She asked.
'Negative' The computer responded.
Tashas hand paused at her chest before with a soft touch, tapped her comm.
=^= "Captain Tahir to Commander Villiers." She said, swallowing her pride.
"Captain Tahir," Karen said as she leaned back in her chair; the Romulan Ambassador had left only moments before and and she rubbed the back of her neck Karen thought that this conversation was going to be on exactly the same topic.
"What may I do for you?" she asked.
"Firstly, I want to apologise. I have just spoken to Starfleet and I have been" She chose her word carefully, "informed that I am to give you full control in all matters pertaining to Commander Gabriel." She admitted and though it gave her a sense of relief, it didn't give her any pleasure as it meant that Karen was not only the judge in the line of fire, but she was also in the worst possible position and Tasha had not helped.
"You don't need to apologise for doing your job, Captain," Karen replied, "any more than I will apologise for doing mine. You gave your order and ..." Karen paused, she heard of it. She was in this office as soon as I had sat down she thought.
"... I put my foot in it." She finished the sentence, not knowing that Isha had already been there. "I think the Ambassador is already on her way to you. Give her my apology and tell her I will talk to her later and that you will personally see to Gabriels reinstatement into the brig." She said, hoping that the situation was not already beyond resolve.
"She's already been, Captain," Karen told her, "and gone. The Ambassador was not impressed with the turn of events. She's already made her assessment of me. If she'll speak to you about it, make a point of telling her you had to make a show," Karen advised her, "Case wise, the damage is done but a display of reason will do no harm."
Tasha closed her eyes as her hand came to her face and the other released the grip on the wine filled glass and brought that to her face.
"Shoot!" She said aloud as her hands slid down her cheeks. "Karen, I'm sorry. I'll head down to the Romulan embassy now, see if I can smooth things over." Came her reply as she looked at the half empty glass that sat on the desk in front of her and recalled the terran saying about optimism and pessimism in relation to that half empty glass.
~ Make a show ~, she thought. She had never made any attempt to do that with Isha and now would not be the best time to start. Above all else, Isha admired honesty, even if it came at the cost of something later.
"Can you get down to Gabriels quarters and escort him back to the Brig with Trellis and Commander," She paused, again choosing her words with care, "Pass a message, tell him he will have to walk on his own for a while." She said with regret in her voice as she made for the door with one final glance at the clock. It read 18:18.
"OK, Captain," Karen agreed. She did sympathise with Tahir's position and if it been a contained matter, one that could be dealt with without outside involvement then she would have agreed with her but a shaky scaffold of interstellar politics surrounded this whole affair and she was not going to be the one to make it fall down.
----
Tasha took the long way, via the turbolift to the Romulan domain on DS5. She didn't want to rush to the Embassy, she wanted Isha to have item to get back herself so it was a good ten minutes before she found herself in the outside chamber of the Romulan Embassy and announced herself to the guard, whom she had met on several occasions and still could not pronounce her name.
"Captain Tah..." She began to be stopped mid announcement.
"This is an unexpected visit," Isha said as Tahir was being directed to step through the scanner. "As I'm on my way to the conference room you may as well accompany me," she said.
The room in question lay at the opposite end of the long corridor off which the doors to both her office and her apartment opened. Quite why Isha was on her way there was unclear as the room appeared to be empty.
"Dead space," Isha said looking out of the window, "Nobody ever uses it. I think I shall have its function changed," she said thoughtfully. "Was there something you wished to talk to me about?" the Ambassador asked turning back to the room.
Isha was quite sure this visit was not a coincidence.
Tasha followed Isha, knowing she would be making some arrangement or other to facilitate the change she spoke of. She folded her hands behind her back, deciding to be forthright or succumb to the inevitable.
"Isha, I need your help to contain a situation that I have inadvertently created and as you already know, it's to do with Gabriel."
She looked at the single chair that occupied the room and stood behind it. "I released him from the brig earlier, before I was made fully aware of the agreement made between your government and mine and to be honest, I know the damage has been done, but between you and I, I am sure we can keep it between us, as friends."
She practically begged, knowing that she had given the upper hand to Isha and hoped that what they had been through together would carry a small amount of weight.
"Captain Tahir, a person in your position, or mine cannot afford to misunderstand, or to misread," Isha began, "Whatever you now say to me the agreement that I made via ... what's it's name ... Villiers, and through her your government is void. I can mitigate, of course, but I do not see why I should yield to Federation strong arm tactics to right your wrong."
It was a suggestion that Isha was making, a suggestion that if Tasha had something to offer she should offer it now.
Tasha shook her head. It was not the response she had expected or hoped for, but the curious smile on Isha's lips told her that there was more to her statement. She decided to be direct.
"Neither misread or misunderstood but purely a lack of information." She shrugged her shoulders. "What will it take to mitigate favourably for me?" She stated a forced smile of her own appearing.
Isha linked her fingers together in from of her and paced towards the Starfleet Captain, "I require access to a particular security log. I will provide a specific date, time, even the cell number I want to see," she referred of course to the official record that would also have captured footage of Gabriel's attack on the Cardassian prisoner.
Turvan's recording may have come from that record or may have been made another way entirely but with the official version ... Isha halted about an arm's length from Tahir. "If the log in question is classified I want its classification revoked," she said, "If that cannot be done I will have no option but to assume that you personally condone the use of torture by your officers and take the appropriate steps to escalate the issue."
The decision was hers, access and bring back on track her disastrous error, or charges against Gabriel for torture.
She wrangled over the decision for barely a few seconds, the choice was made for her. For murder, the penalty was death. For torture, if proven, was dismissal from Starfleet at worst.
Tashas hand wiped across her lips and her smile replaced with a frown.
She turned to the only console on the wall and entered her own security code and brought up the security file listing, even though she knew that Gabriel had already deleted any deeply incriminating evidence and perfectly altered the timestamp, if she was correct in her thinking of the log she was looking for. Then another struck her, when Gabriel had tortured another and one she full knowledge of and prayed that she was thinking of the right one
She dipped her head, as if in submission.
"Give me the date, time and cell number and I will open the file for complete access." Her voice wavered a little as she spoke and turned to Isha, feigning her best pathetic expression.
Isha watched Tahir very closely; very few people could keep the ripples of indecision from showing and the Captain was no exception. Isha empathised with the woman, she liked her even, and she was putting her in a very difficult situation - coercion was never pleasant, no matter how light the pressure applied.
"Holding cell three," Isha said followed by the date and the time.
Tasha gave the computer instruction and the file she required was Isha could see what was on the log and heard her approach.
The Ambassador came to stand by Tahir so that she could watch the footage. "Oh dear," Isha said with just a hint of malice beneath her tone, as she stared at silent blackness, "the recording devices would appear to have been disabled. Show me on whose authorisation," she instructed.
She gave a short sigh and cleared her throat as she brought up the file access logs and stepped aside.
This made her even more curious as to how Turvan had got his recording, and more certain that it was indeed genuine.
Isha paused and stared at Tahir for a moment - that fleeting hesitation she had made a few moments earlier, "You authorised him to use illegal force," she said making a leap to the correct conclusion. Isha chuckled softly, "Oh, don't worry, Tasha," she said in a tone that was anything but reassuring, "I will keep your secret."
Her head dipped, but her eye didn't leave Isha. ~ As I keep yours. ~ She thought with a wry smile on her face.
"Thank you Ambassador." She said in a plaintive tone wondering what her next move would be and realised that now she had just lost an ally in Isha and she would have to be more guarded than she had ever been before.
"Tt, Tt, Tt," Isha said as she sent the file into her own databank. "This really does not look good," she observed, though did not explain why. "I have what I require," she said, "the trial will go ahead under the originally agreed terms," she continued.
"We remain quite committed to our intention of co-operating in this and all other matters," Isha explained, "but what am I supposed to think if I receive a promise and then in an instant the terms are changed without a word of consultation? You Lloann'su sometimes make the preservation of trust most difficult."
Tasha nodded her thanks and understanding at Ishas help and counsel.
She brought her head up.
"It was not Starfleet that broke the agreement, it was I and I alone. I was looking after my own, as would you Ambassador t'Khellian." Her head dropped a little in guilt more than shame. "Commander Villiers was more angry than you are now that I had released Commander Gabriel. It was her reaction that made me question why she would risk the wrath of a superior officer for what I would call an act of humanity. It was my fault." She admitted. "It was my ignorance." She added in the final admittance of her own guilt and she straightened herself.
"Ambassador, Commander Villiers is now responsible for Commander Gabriel. I have been ordered not to interfere and you have my word that I will follow hers and your instruction to the letter concerning him." She had other thoughts on her mind but she would keep them to herself. She had to look back now, to find her own leverage as she watched Isha with indubious eyes.
Isha took Tahir's hand between hers, "But you are Starfleet in this place, how else could you command? Just as I am the Stelam Shiar," she said, though as an explanation it seemed more a grandiose statement than a reason. "Are we still friends?" she asked with what seemed like astonishing naivety.
Tashas other hand came to rest atop of Isha's. Although she would be more careful, Tasha had hoped that they would still be friends and the coolness of Isha's hands could not hide the darker tinge of green on the Ambassadors face and had she been human, it would have looked like a blush and she felt her own cheeks redden and she struggled to find the words.
She smiled.
"Of course." She said honestly and though there was a sense of betrayal, Isha had to do what she felt necessary to secure information that she needed and Tasha would have done the same. Had they not been, Tasha would have left with her captaincy on the line of the future of DS5 in the balance.
"Then I shall see you out," Isha said gesturing towards the door of the empty function room. "I do hope that I never have cause to speak to you in this manner again," she added before the doors opened, "It brings me no pleasure."
Tasha felt relief as the doors opened and she stepped out from the conference room.
"Agreed. Until next time Isha." Tasha said as she turned to watch Isha close the door behind them. "It was not a pleasure but it certainly was necessary."
"Its all necessary," Isha said, but that did not mean that it did not hurt. "Next time we will talk on better terms," she said with a nod as the Captain departed her embassy.
OFF
Captain Tasha Tahir
CO: DS5
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian