Unity – Aftershock
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
“So how do you feel, Isha?”
The bands of metal that held the jewels on her rings tightened as her fingers curled as he slurred the last letter of her name into a long blur, ending eventually with his breath.
Isha knew he could not be there.
Resisting the impulsive muscle tension she pressed her palms against the top of her dressing table, moisture outlining her straightening fingers as they contacted the surface. She raised her gaze and though she knew he could not be there, she saw his image staring back at her from the looking glass, the knowing arrogance as certain as it had always been.
He spoke again. “You got everything you wanted. No-one is left who is capable of standing in your way … so why are you sitting here in the dark and not lauding your hard-won glory around the halls and Houses of ch’Rihan?"
“I go where I’m sent,” Isha said her green gaze fixed on the image.
The reflection crumpled into derisive laughter, “You never went anywhere you were sent!” he chortled, “oh, you’d appear to, but – your mother, your husband, Latasalaem, the Praetor – the list is endless! Not one of them ever commanded your obedience unless their interests matched yours. I’m at a loss to see why you want to be here in this shoddy artificial alien mixing-pot floating on the edge of nowhere.”
“I had no choice,” Isha asserted, her tome rising.
“Is that what you tell yourself about me?” the reflection asked.
“You’re dead … and I’m hallucinating,” Isha said. “Why you?”
“Perhaps when you can answer that question, you’ll understand what it is you are doing here. Wouldn’t you rather feel the soft light of Eisn on your skin, damp dew on the grass clinging to your shoes as you walk in the morning, knowing, that at long last you have become what you should be.”
As he spoke Isha felt his fingers caress her cheek, she turned her head towards him and saw nothing. Her head snapped back to the looking glass. He was there, his hands resting lightly on her shoulders, not the man she had sent to his death, but the one who had introduced her to the political world so many, many decades ago.
“You’re dead, Nniol,” she gulped.
“You saw to that,” his tone was accusing, bitter.
“The Senate would have had us both executed, in public – the House would have been destroyed … I gave them our son, and the conspirators that worked against us so that the Senate could make them their example – a sacrifice that the House could bear and recover from, I gave them my word that you would die, and they promised that your name and mine would not be disgraced.”
“Yes, yes, yes, Isha, I know all that! Who could have done more to preserve the integrity of our House? Not even your husband could have made such a decision … you could have done it yourself but that was never expected was it? Isha e-Khellian i-Ramnau t’Ilialhlae does not get blood on her own pure hands, why should she when there are so many willing to carry out her wishes?”
“You admit that I was right and accuse me at the same time! What else could I do?”
“Isha, you could have offered me my sword, but you didn’t do that, did you? You didn’t have your Rianov slit my throat in the garden, but you – you brought a Klingon, one who in your position as the head of your House is your sworn enemy, you freed one of my slaves then stood back and watched them eviscerate me
“I had no choice,” she protested, her hands covering her face. “They would have killed me.”
“What a liar you are. You could have sent Da’nal back to his family in pieces, you could have had his own pathetic dishonoured brother deliver Da’nal’s head to their stinking father – that’s what you should have done. Its what I would have done and what your husband would have done.”
She could feel the tears seeping through her fingers and the stare of the reflection that stood there judging her.
“You know what they’ll think. You made a strong gesture and now every time someone tries to stand against you you’ll have to take stronger and stronger action. I may be dead, but I won. You’ll rule the House my way.”
“It had to be done. He saved my life when he could have let an assassin take it and he could have walked away blameless – he could have arranged an accident for you when you were on that ship. I had to allow it, I had to have you killed.”
“Yes, conspiring with aliens is necessary, humans, bajorans, klingons and now Cardassians … I don’t know what to make of that.”
“It doesn’t matter. Why should I work with anyone who means anything to me when I know that in the end I’ll have to betray them? You told me once that a leader cannot afford to have friends, you were right about that. Why not gloat a little?”
“I’m dead, Isha. The only part of me that exists is what you carry with you. Your actions against me, those ‘necessary’ actions are though cause of your guilt.”
“Go away,” she shrieked, the words stretched.
“I can no more do that than you can send your hands away. If you’re so alone and dangerous why come back to a place you know is packed with friends who love and respect you? Don’t tell me you had no choice – you’re too valuable to terminate, that is why they let you live and why you could have ignored the Praetor’s orders. You could have stayed on our estates, you could have gone anywhere in the Empire but you came here. Why?”
Her hands fell into her lap and slowly she drew them over her abdomen, the flesh taut beneath her gown. Nothing was visible yet.
“I could not stay on ch’Rihan - the last place I can be is my estates.”
“You make less sense every minute,” the reflection said as Isha reached for the glass of clear liquid and sipped, “If you still cannot sleep after all these years you should find something other than that medication.”
“Nothing works, at least nothing that allows me to wake if there is a threat in the room.”
“If I really were Nniol then that might be a valid shard, however there is nobody here but you. There is nothing and nobody to protect you here.”
“There is,” Isha protested weakly though the name of her saviour was lost to her reflection as Isha pushed her folded arms forward on table and rested her head hoping that soon tears and sleep would merge.
---
Ambassador Isha e-Khellian i-Ramnau t'Illialhlae
Hallucinating.
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
| Title | Aftershock | |
| Mission | Unity | |
| Author(s) | Commander Isha t'Vaurek | |
| Posted | Sat Feb 06, 2010 @ 7:33pm | |
| Location | Ambassadorial Suite. Romulan Embassy | |
| Timeline | Before the explosions |
The bands of metal that held the jewels on her rings tightened as her fingers curled as he slurred the last letter of her name into a long blur, ending eventually with his breath.
Isha knew he could not be there.
Resisting the impulsive muscle tension she pressed her palms against the top of her dressing table, moisture outlining her straightening fingers as they contacted the surface. She raised her gaze and though she knew he could not be there, she saw his image staring back at her from the looking glass, the knowing arrogance as certain as it had always been.
He spoke again. “You got everything you wanted. No-one is left who is capable of standing in your way … so why are you sitting here in the dark and not lauding your hard-won glory around the halls and Houses of ch’Rihan?"
“I go where I’m sent,” Isha said her green gaze fixed on the image.
The reflection crumpled into derisive laughter, “You never went anywhere you were sent!” he chortled, “oh, you’d appear to, but – your mother, your husband, Latasalaem, the Praetor – the list is endless! Not one of them ever commanded your obedience unless their interests matched yours. I’m at a loss to see why you want to be here in this shoddy artificial alien mixing-pot floating on the edge of nowhere.”
“I had no choice,” Isha asserted, her tome rising.
“Is that what you tell yourself about me?” the reflection asked.
“You’re dead … and I’m hallucinating,” Isha said. “Why you?”
“Perhaps when you can answer that question, you’ll understand what it is you are doing here. Wouldn’t you rather feel the soft light of Eisn on your skin, damp dew on the grass clinging to your shoes as you walk in the morning, knowing, that at long last you have become what you should be.”
As he spoke Isha felt his fingers caress her cheek, she turned her head towards him and saw nothing. Her head snapped back to the looking glass. He was there, his hands resting lightly on her shoulders, not the man she had sent to his death, but the one who had introduced her to the political world so many, many decades ago.
“You’re dead, Nniol,” she gulped.
“You saw to that,” his tone was accusing, bitter.
“The Senate would have had us both executed, in public – the House would have been destroyed … I gave them our son, and the conspirators that worked against us so that the Senate could make them their example – a sacrifice that the House could bear and recover from, I gave them my word that you would die, and they promised that your name and mine would not be disgraced.”
“Yes, yes, yes, Isha, I know all that! Who could have done more to preserve the integrity of our House? Not even your husband could have made such a decision … you could have done it yourself but that was never expected was it? Isha e-Khellian i-Ramnau t’Ilialhlae does not get blood on her own pure hands, why should she when there are so many willing to carry out her wishes?”
“You admit that I was right and accuse me at the same time! What else could I do?”
“Isha, you could have offered me my sword, but you didn’t do that, did you? You didn’t have your Rianov slit my throat in the garden, but you – you brought a Klingon, one who in your position as the head of your House is your sworn enemy, you freed one of my slaves then stood back and watched them eviscerate me
“I had no choice,” she protested, her hands covering her face. “They would have killed me.”
“What a liar you are. You could have sent Da’nal back to his family in pieces, you could have had his own pathetic dishonoured brother deliver Da’nal’s head to their stinking father – that’s what you should have done. Its what I would have done and what your husband would have done.”
She could feel the tears seeping through her fingers and the stare of the reflection that stood there judging her.
“You know what they’ll think. You made a strong gesture and now every time someone tries to stand against you you’ll have to take stronger and stronger action. I may be dead, but I won. You’ll rule the House my way.”
“It had to be done. He saved my life when he could have let an assassin take it and he could have walked away blameless – he could have arranged an accident for you when you were on that ship. I had to allow it, I had to have you killed.”
“Yes, conspiring with aliens is necessary, humans, bajorans, klingons and now Cardassians … I don’t know what to make of that.”
“It doesn’t matter. Why should I work with anyone who means anything to me when I know that in the end I’ll have to betray them? You told me once that a leader cannot afford to have friends, you were right about that. Why not gloat a little?”
“I’m dead, Isha. The only part of me that exists is what you carry with you. Your actions against me, those ‘necessary’ actions are though cause of your guilt.”
“Go away,” she shrieked, the words stretched.
“I can no more do that than you can send your hands away. If you’re so alone and dangerous why come back to a place you know is packed with friends who love and respect you? Don’t tell me you had no choice – you’re too valuable to terminate, that is why they let you live and why you could have ignored the Praetor’s orders. You could have stayed on our estates, you could have gone anywhere in the Empire but you came here. Why?”
Her hands fell into her lap and slowly she drew them over her abdomen, the flesh taut beneath her gown. Nothing was visible yet.
“I could not stay on ch’Rihan - the last place I can be is my estates.”
“You make less sense every minute,” the reflection said as Isha reached for the glass of clear liquid and sipped, “If you still cannot sleep after all these years you should find something other than that medication.”
“Nothing works, at least nothing that allows me to wake if there is a threat in the room.”
“If I really were Nniol then that might be a valid shard, however there is nobody here but you. There is nothing and nobody to protect you here.”
“There is,” Isha protested weakly though the name of her saviour was lost to her reflection as Isha pushed her folded arms forward on table and rested her head hoping that soon tears and sleep would merge.
---
Ambassador Isha e-Khellian i-Ramnau t'Illialhlae
Hallucinating.