Interlude – ... Secrecy (part 1)
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
::ON::
Much as she knew the Ambassador would hate this, Arrienye had to check on her. After having caught her (or having *not* caught her) not long ago, she had activated some security procedures to make sure she was safe. And one of them included Arrienye personally having to check up on her ever four hours. The actual number had to be bartered with the Ambassador. Personally, Arrienye would've made it every hour, but you couldn't win everything.
Sighing, she pressed the chime. "Ambassador, it's t'Merek," she announced herself through the intercom. Waiting, Arrienye started to feel a bit tense at the lack of response. She pressed the chime again, a few times, refusing to believe a woman like her could sleep so deeply. Now alarmed, Arrienye pulled out her disruptor and overrode the locking sequence of t'Khellian's quarters. As the doors opened she was ready, pointing it straight inside. "Computer, increase lighting by thirty percent," she said and looked around as the room light up. Walking cautiously inside, she stopped in her tracks, her breath getting caught in her throat.
The Ambassador was lying there, her dress obviously ruffled up, blood spatter around her. Getting over the split-second hesitation, the Rihannsu quickly made her way over to her. Looking intently at the woman, she noticed her shallow breathing before taking her comm out. "This is t'Merek to the Consulate Infirmary, requesting emergency medical assistance in the Ambassador's office." Cutting the connection, she moved quickly to secure the rest of the apartment before going to the Ambassador's side, kneeling down by her.
Isha recoiled, avoiding her touch. "Please, they can't see me ... I won't see them." Isha insisted relief evident in her tone as she saw that it was not who she had feared. "Help me up, t'Merek," she insisted, "I fell I ... " all Isha could smell was the tang of her own blood that clogged her nostils and the mettallic Cardassian taint that rose from her hair. "I need to wash. Help me!" she damanded, knowing that her right knee would not support her weight and unwilling to test it again.
Arrienye looked down at her, her aqua eyes meeting her greens with a look of disbelief. She finally nodded after a moment of hesitation, grabbing her comm. "This is t'Merek. Cancel the medical team. False alarm," she told them firmly before looking over the Ambassador, checking for the right way to help her up. Finally taking her arm and pulling it around her own shoulders, she grabbed the Ambassador by the waist and, with pretty good strength for a woman of her size, hauled her up.
"You didn't fall," she just told her, meeting her eyes again, telling Isha that she was far from stupid.
Isha blinked giving t’Merek what assistance she could. "I ... did you see anyone? He ..." she said as her eyes flickered over the room that had been familiar to her, a haven. It was filled with strange shadows. "There," Isha pointed to the armchair against which she had first tried to support herself. She had never used it before so now was as good a time as any ... "t'Merek," she added as though she thought the system would not hear her command, "Would you please terminate the piece of music that is playing and erase it," she requested, it had been Isha's favourite but she did not think that she could ever hear the piece again without horror. Though the scene had moved on Isha was still stuck in the forest glade and she had no idea how to leave.
"Please contact Doctor Adams," she told t'Merek in a dead tone as she passed her hand into her hair and withdrew it to gaze at the bloody shards of glass that clung to her fingers. "I have not known you for long enough to trust you," she added apologetically.
Arrienye nodded. "I understand," she assured her, helping her over to the armchair and gently settling her there. She absentmindedly adjusted one of the straps of her gown before taking her comm again.
"No one is here anymore," she then told her, remembering her first question. She activated the comm, then deactivated it. "Computer, stop music and delete The Lament of Shiarrael permanently from the database," she instructed first. Then she turned her comm on again. "This is t'Merek to Doctor Adams. Please report to the quarters of Ambassador t'Khellian for a medical intervention," she instructed before breaking off the connection and turning to the Ambassador.
"What happened, and who was it?" she asked directly, taking her disruptor from the floor and holstering it.
“An intruder,” Isha said slowly looking down at her hands as she rubbed the sticky congealing blood between her fingers, it was not hers. He hated her so much, Isha thought, and all because she refused resolutely to bend to his will. “Cardassia bleeds,” she said clutching her good leg up towards her chest. Unable to articulate her ordeal Isha resorted to allegory, “And the Star Empire …” Isha choked back a sob, forcing herself to continue. “… well you can see how the empire fared.”
Arrienye watched her silently. The woman before her was obviously in shock. Knowing she wouldn't get anything direct and honest from her at this time, she walked over to the lavatory, and then came back with a wet towel. Kneeling in front of Isha, she gently took her right hand in hers, beginning to wipe the blood from between her fingers, leaving her smooth skin clean.
"You should not be so kind to me, t'Merek," Isha said, her head still bowed as she watched her bloodied hand tranform into a more recognizable appendage. "From you of all people, I would have expected castigation," she told her in a voice barely louder than her breath.
Arrienye looked up. "Castigation? This is not something you are to be blamed for. If anyone should be castigated and blamed, it's me," she told her, finishing cleaning Isha's hands and putting the bloody towel aside but not standing up. "I'm sorry," she told her sincerely. The blue-eyed woman was furious with herself. The woman in front of her was supposed to rely on her for security and protection, not wiping an intruders blood off her hands after being attacked.
Isha shook her head very slightly, still not raising it. "I cannot accept your apology," she said. "I charged you with responsibility for my security, but I did not tell you everything. You accused me of having a habit of bypassing legitimate security measures, and I do, or I did. The fault is mine," Isha admitted. "There is another way in and out of these apartments. I did not inform you of it. The fault is mine."
Arrienye looked up, then let out a frustrated sigh. She reached up, rubbing her temple. "The damage is already done. It's not your fault. It's the intruder's," she decided. "And when I find him, he's dead," she said, standing up finally. "Where's the other passage?"
"A route from my office, by the window on the same wall as the door that leads in here. It emerges in the corridor near the Betazoid facility. It was meant as an escape route, I ... the plans were supposed to have been destroyed when our facility was remodeled," she said using the topic to distract herself from the ache in her leg and the bruised and damp sensation between her legs; even if it was only her own blood she could not think about that right now. "It became my back-door," she said.
At that moment Dr Adams arrived at the Consulate and was denied admittance. She began insisting to the receptionist that she had been summoned and the Ambassador should be called to verify this.
Looking to the Ambassador, Arrienye took the initiative when the call came through. "This is Arrain t'Merek. Let the doctor through," she said in an even tone.
She prevaricated until the clearance came through. "This way." she said tightly as she led the visitor to the ambassador's door. "Please enter," she said as she stepped back.
"Thank you" Chelsea ground out between clenched teeth. She knew the woman had stalled her and she also knew that Isha would only have sent for her if it were serious. The combination of deliberate delay and Isha in need was not one that Chelsea could tolerate.
She swept passed dismissively angry and descended into the room in a hurry.
On finding Isha perched awkwardly, clearly in considerable pain and covered visibly in blood, glass and rising contusions and swellings, Chelsea did something quite out of character. She swore an unrepeatable oath and clenched her fist as if she were going to hit someone or something.
Chelsea knew Isha too well to believe that her sure-footed, dainty, lady-like manner and lightness on her feet would not have led to the kind of damage that was apparent even without proper examination. The CMO could recognise an attack victim from the doorway and she wanted to know who could have done this. She saved her questions for later, however, and administered a painkiller immediately.
"Which wound seems to hurt most? She asked as she tore her med-scan out of her med-kit and began to scan Isha to get the full picture. As she did so, her scowl deepened.
"I doubt that even you can heal my pride," Isha said staring at her hands again. "You may speak freely in front of t'Merek, Doctor Adams," she added. Isha had decided that she might as well trust her head of security, she had already caused enough unintentional insult to the woman and to send her from the room now would be a terrible slur.
"You're probably right there, I don't have a regenerator for that." Chelsea replied, nodding acknowledgment to t'Merek. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'd shake your hand if I had one free, sorry" she apologised for not stopping as she was holding medical instruments and scanners and working intently on Isha's injuries.
Isha told them, slowly, painfully and with tears how he had come upon her in her suite, how she had tried to raise an alarm, to leave the room and how the computer had ignored her, of how he had attacked her, how he had feared that he was going to cut her throat. How he had forced her to the floor and how he had then raised her before throwing her on her couch and violating her.
Not once did Isha say who he was. She saw the outrage and intent in the expressions of the two supremely kind women who attended her but Isha could not allow either of them to risk finding themselves in her position, she could not live with that.
Arrienye steadily grew more angry and frustrated as the Ambassador's story went on. Near the end when the lowest and most vile part of the intruder's brutal attack came, it took all her willpower to not storm out and get to work on finding the bastard. She took a deep, audible breath to calm herself at least a fraction of the amount needed to stick around and rubbed her temple again, her eyes closed. Unable to keep them that way for long due to the images forming in her head, she looked on as the doctor examined Isha.
Once she had made Isha as comfortable as possible, Chelsea did what she could for her knee. "It needs to be operated on" she concluded, knowing better than to do more that just make the statement and allow Isha to come to terms with the idea. Sitting softly beside her friend who she had gently put into a reclining position to look at the knee, Chelsea took Isha's hand in hers. "My friend, you trust me, don't you? I'm sorry but as you've been raped I must attend to your injuries in that part too. I have no wish to intrude on your personal privacy but as your doctor, I must examine the damage and repair what I can. Do I have your permission to do this?" Chelsea waited for an answer, turning the green-stoned ring that Isha had given her denoting her as a personal friend.
Isha's moist eyes swivelled to Chelsea's. "I would trust no-one else," she told her as she squeezed her fingers. "I'm so very sorry that I have to ask this of you, Chelsea." Isha was speaking to the woman, to the dear friend who had entered her world through a mishap, not to the attending doctor.
Staying there a few moment longer, looking on as the examination began, Arrienye then pulled out her comm and distanced herself to the far corner of the room, giving the women some privacy. Activating the comm, she spoke as calmly as she could which, given her level of control and discipline, made her distress impossible to read.
"t'Merek to tr'Tahn. Bring me the forensic kit from my office and leave it outside Ambassador t'Khellian's quarters." Before Maiell could reply, she cut off the connection.
Chelsea's med kit contained swabs and tubes to put them into but they were intended for medical tests rather than forensic analysis or evidence. Besides she was more intent of he treatment that Isha clearly needed rather than the crime angle.
"At least we know that there is no risk of impregnation," Isha observed dryly as she closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the cushion.
TBC
OFF:
A JP Between:
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Lt Cmdr Chelsea Adams
CMO
and
Arrain Arrienye t'Merek
Head of Security of Romulan Consulate
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
| Title | ... Secrecy (part 1) | |
| Mission | Interlude | |
| Author(s) | (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Commander Chelsea Dunham | |
| Posted | Fri Jun 04, 2010 @ 1:17pm | |
| Location | Romulan Consulate / Isha's quarters | |
| Timeline | Immediately after 'Tea and ...' |
Much as she knew the Ambassador would hate this, Arrienye had to check on her. After having caught her (or having *not* caught her) not long ago, she had activated some security procedures to make sure she was safe. And one of them included Arrienye personally having to check up on her ever four hours. The actual number had to be bartered with the Ambassador. Personally, Arrienye would've made it every hour, but you couldn't win everything.
Sighing, she pressed the chime. "Ambassador, it's t'Merek," she announced herself through the intercom. Waiting, Arrienye started to feel a bit tense at the lack of response. She pressed the chime again, a few times, refusing to believe a woman like her could sleep so deeply. Now alarmed, Arrienye pulled out her disruptor and overrode the locking sequence of t'Khellian's quarters. As the doors opened she was ready, pointing it straight inside. "Computer, increase lighting by thirty percent," she said and looked around as the room light up. Walking cautiously inside, she stopped in her tracks, her breath getting caught in her throat.
The Ambassador was lying there, her dress obviously ruffled up, blood spatter around her. Getting over the split-second hesitation, the Rihannsu quickly made her way over to her. Looking intently at the woman, she noticed her shallow breathing before taking her comm out. "This is t'Merek to the Consulate Infirmary, requesting emergency medical assistance in the Ambassador's office." Cutting the connection, she moved quickly to secure the rest of the apartment before going to the Ambassador's side, kneeling down by her.
Isha recoiled, avoiding her touch. "Please, they can't see me ... I won't see them." Isha insisted relief evident in her tone as she saw that it was not who she had feared. "Help me up, t'Merek," she insisted, "I fell I ... " all Isha could smell was the tang of her own blood that clogged her nostils and the mettallic Cardassian taint that rose from her hair. "I need to wash. Help me!" she damanded, knowing that her right knee would not support her weight and unwilling to test it again.
Arrienye looked down at her, her aqua eyes meeting her greens with a look of disbelief. She finally nodded after a moment of hesitation, grabbing her comm. "This is t'Merek. Cancel the medical team. False alarm," she told them firmly before looking over the Ambassador, checking for the right way to help her up. Finally taking her arm and pulling it around her own shoulders, she grabbed the Ambassador by the waist and, with pretty good strength for a woman of her size, hauled her up.
"You didn't fall," she just told her, meeting her eyes again, telling Isha that she was far from stupid.
Isha blinked giving t’Merek what assistance she could. "I ... did you see anyone? He ..." she said as her eyes flickered over the room that had been familiar to her, a haven. It was filled with strange shadows. "There," Isha pointed to the armchair against which she had first tried to support herself. She had never used it before so now was as good a time as any ... "t'Merek," she added as though she thought the system would not hear her command, "Would you please terminate the piece of music that is playing and erase it," she requested, it had been Isha's favourite but she did not think that she could ever hear the piece again without horror. Though the scene had moved on Isha was still stuck in the forest glade and she had no idea how to leave.
"Please contact Doctor Adams," she told t'Merek in a dead tone as she passed her hand into her hair and withdrew it to gaze at the bloody shards of glass that clung to her fingers. "I have not known you for long enough to trust you," she added apologetically.
Arrienye nodded. "I understand," she assured her, helping her over to the armchair and gently settling her there. She absentmindedly adjusted one of the straps of her gown before taking her comm again.
"No one is here anymore," she then told her, remembering her first question. She activated the comm, then deactivated it. "Computer, stop music and delete The Lament of Shiarrael permanently from the database," she instructed first. Then she turned her comm on again. "This is t'Merek to Doctor Adams. Please report to the quarters of Ambassador t'Khellian for a medical intervention," she instructed before breaking off the connection and turning to the Ambassador.
"What happened, and who was it?" she asked directly, taking her disruptor from the floor and holstering it.
“An intruder,” Isha said slowly looking down at her hands as she rubbed the sticky congealing blood between her fingers, it was not hers. He hated her so much, Isha thought, and all because she refused resolutely to bend to his will. “Cardassia bleeds,” she said clutching her good leg up towards her chest. Unable to articulate her ordeal Isha resorted to allegory, “And the Star Empire …” Isha choked back a sob, forcing herself to continue. “… well you can see how the empire fared.”
Arrienye watched her silently. The woman before her was obviously in shock. Knowing she wouldn't get anything direct and honest from her at this time, she walked over to the lavatory, and then came back with a wet towel. Kneeling in front of Isha, she gently took her right hand in hers, beginning to wipe the blood from between her fingers, leaving her smooth skin clean.
"You should not be so kind to me, t'Merek," Isha said, her head still bowed as she watched her bloodied hand tranform into a more recognizable appendage. "From you of all people, I would have expected castigation," she told her in a voice barely louder than her breath.
Arrienye looked up. "Castigation? This is not something you are to be blamed for. If anyone should be castigated and blamed, it's me," she told her, finishing cleaning Isha's hands and putting the bloody towel aside but not standing up. "I'm sorry," she told her sincerely. The blue-eyed woman was furious with herself. The woman in front of her was supposed to rely on her for security and protection, not wiping an intruders blood off her hands after being attacked.
Isha shook her head very slightly, still not raising it. "I cannot accept your apology," she said. "I charged you with responsibility for my security, but I did not tell you everything. You accused me of having a habit of bypassing legitimate security measures, and I do, or I did. The fault is mine," Isha admitted. "There is another way in and out of these apartments. I did not inform you of it. The fault is mine."
Arrienye looked up, then let out a frustrated sigh. She reached up, rubbing her temple. "The damage is already done. It's not your fault. It's the intruder's," she decided. "And when I find him, he's dead," she said, standing up finally. "Where's the other passage?"
"A route from my office, by the window on the same wall as the door that leads in here. It emerges in the corridor near the Betazoid facility. It was meant as an escape route, I ... the plans were supposed to have been destroyed when our facility was remodeled," she said using the topic to distract herself from the ache in her leg and the bruised and damp sensation between her legs; even if it was only her own blood she could not think about that right now. "It became my back-door," she said.
At that moment Dr Adams arrived at the Consulate and was denied admittance. She began insisting to the receptionist that she had been summoned and the Ambassador should be called to verify this.
Looking to the Ambassador, Arrienye took the initiative when the call came through. "This is Arrain t'Merek. Let the doctor through," she said in an even tone.
She prevaricated until the clearance came through. "This way." she said tightly as she led the visitor to the ambassador's door. "Please enter," she said as she stepped back.
"Thank you" Chelsea ground out between clenched teeth. She knew the woman had stalled her and she also knew that Isha would only have sent for her if it were serious. The combination of deliberate delay and Isha in need was not one that Chelsea could tolerate.
She swept passed dismissively angry and descended into the room in a hurry.
On finding Isha perched awkwardly, clearly in considerable pain and covered visibly in blood, glass and rising contusions and swellings, Chelsea did something quite out of character. She swore an unrepeatable oath and clenched her fist as if she were going to hit someone or something.
Chelsea knew Isha too well to believe that her sure-footed, dainty, lady-like manner and lightness on her feet would not have led to the kind of damage that was apparent even without proper examination. The CMO could recognise an attack victim from the doorway and she wanted to know who could have done this. She saved her questions for later, however, and administered a painkiller immediately.
"Which wound seems to hurt most? She asked as she tore her med-scan out of her med-kit and began to scan Isha to get the full picture. As she did so, her scowl deepened.
"I doubt that even you can heal my pride," Isha said staring at her hands again. "You may speak freely in front of t'Merek, Doctor Adams," she added. Isha had decided that she might as well trust her head of security, she had already caused enough unintentional insult to the woman and to send her from the room now would be a terrible slur.
"You're probably right there, I don't have a regenerator for that." Chelsea replied, nodding acknowledgment to t'Merek. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'd shake your hand if I had one free, sorry" she apologised for not stopping as she was holding medical instruments and scanners and working intently on Isha's injuries.
Isha told them, slowly, painfully and with tears how he had come upon her in her suite, how she had tried to raise an alarm, to leave the room and how the computer had ignored her, of how he had attacked her, how he had feared that he was going to cut her throat. How he had forced her to the floor and how he had then raised her before throwing her on her couch and violating her.
Not once did Isha say who he was. She saw the outrage and intent in the expressions of the two supremely kind women who attended her but Isha could not allow either of them to risk finding themselves in her position, she could not live with that.
Arrienye steadily grew more angry and frustrated as the Ambassador's story went on. Near the end when the lowest and most vile part of the intruder's brutal attack came, it took all her willpower to not storm out and get to work on finding the bastard. She took a deep, audible breath to calm herself at least a fraction of the amount needed to stick around and rubbed her temple again, her eyes closed. Unable to keep them that way for long due to the images forming in her head, she looked on as the doctor examined Isha.
Once she had made Isha as comfortable as possible, Chelsea did what she could for her knee. "It needs to be operated on" she concluded, knowing better than to do more that just make the statement and allow Isha to come to terms with the idea. Sitting softly beside her friend who she had gently put into a reclining position to look at the knee, Chelsea took Isha's hand in hers. "My friend, you trust me, don't you? I'm sorry but as you've been raped I must attend to your injuries in that part too. I have no wish to intrude on your personal privacy but as your doctor, I must examine the damage and repair what I can. Do I have your permission to do this?" Chelsea waited for an answer, turning the green-stoned ring that Isha had given her denoting her as a personal friend.
Isha's moist eyes swivelled to Chelsea's. "I would trust no-one else," she told her as she squeezed her fingers. "I'm so very sorry that I have to ask this of you, Chelsea." Isha was speaking to the woman, to the dear friend who had entered her world through a mishap, not to the attending doctor.
Staying there a few moment longer, looking on as the examination began, Arrienye then pulled out her comm and distanced herself to the far corner of the room, giving the women some privacy. Activating the comm, she spoke as calmly as she could which, given her level of control and discipline, made her distress impossible to read.
"t'Merek to tr'Tahn. Bring me the forensic kit from my office and leave it outside Ambassador t'Khellian's quarters." Before Maiell could reply, she cut off the connection.
Chelsea's med kit contained swabs and tubes to put them into but they were intended for medical tests rather than forensic analysis or evidence. Besides she was more intent of he treatment that Isha clearly needed rather than the crime angle.
"At least we know that there is no risk of impregnation," Isha observed dryly as she closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the cushion.
TBC
OFF:
A JP Between:
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Lt Cmdr Chelsea Adams
CMO
and
Arrain Arrienye t'Merek
Head of Security of Romulan Consulate