Beg, Steal or Borrow – The Waiting...
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Lieutenant JG Opaka Jo'el
Post Details
ON:
The time since the ships had decloaked felt stretched. Of course she had not shared the knowledge that one of the ships carried the colours of her own House, Isha did not understand that herself. That ship was not even finished, yet here it was outside her window, threatening her life and the life of eveyone within the station.
"This is unbearable!" Isha grumbled, "Why don't they just get on with it?"
Jo'el started at her outburst. "Do you think an attack is a foregone conclusion? Isn't there still room for diplomacy?"
"There was never room for diplomacy," Isha glanced again at the Norexan before angling her gaze to meet Opaka's. "If somebody wants to start a fight, they'll find a way, you should know that, as a bodyguard."
Jo'el ran his tongue along the ridges of his teeth, carefully weighing his response. "If someone is looking for a fight regardless of the motive, then I suppose you're correct. Diplomacy does not apply." He stepped into the outer office to check the exit and returned. There was excessive foot traffic in the corridors as civilians rushed to fortified shelters.
That irked him, Isha saw that, the fact that there was no chance of a peaceful resolution, her indifferent acceptance of the fact and, she thought, her implied criticsm of his knowledge.
Pretending to be unaware that he had returned, Isha turned her attention to a newly received message. Softly, she began to chuckle, "and what would you do if I accepted your terms, Faelirh ch'susse-thrai vang'radam," she muttered.
Jo'el's ears perked at the sound of "terms." Was Isha the key to this entire conflict? He seemed to have heard something about missing artifacts, but since they were believed to be either a fabrication by the Romulan government, Jo'el hadn't been briefed as to their significance or their possible whereabouts.
Part of her, the part that Isha’s friends and admirers described as mischievous and her detractors described as reckless was tempted to agree just to see what her husband’s brother would do. He could not call off the attack, she was sure of that, the arrangement was much too complex to be the result of a power struggle endemic to a single House, and if they had wanted that result then the message would have been transmitted more widely. Still, this was one piece of information she was not going to share with the Federation; somehow she did not think that any of them would understand how she could put greater weight on the wishes of a dead man than on the lives of tens of thousands pf living beings, but that was the way things were.
Isha sent a curt reply and folded the screen closed. “Opaka,” she said, “you recall that you requested that I keep you informed of anything that I might notice before you?”
Jo'el returned to Isha's desk. "Yes, ma'am?"
“Do you promise not to overreact if I tell you this?” she asked quite unsure how he would accommodate the knowledge of her relationship with one of the attacking vessels.
He cleared his throat. "There was a film I saw at the Academy in which a woman clearly states that it is impossible to make such a vow without knowing what is to come, but I'll do my best not to shoot anyone."
“Such admirable restraint," Isha smirked. "You're quite as bad as my good friend, Rh'vaurek ... well maybe not quite that bad, though he will never promise me anything either but he does it because it amuses him to frustrate me. Well then, I'd better trust that your restraint holds." Isha dropped her hands into her lap, "I have reason to believe that if this station is boarded, the consulate will be a particular target. You see that warbird out there - the one that looks grey in this light, well it seems that my estranged brother in law has decided to use this opportunity to escalate a family squabble.”
Jo'el sighed. Family and squabble did not belong in the same sentence for him. It was a sacred unit not to be upset with or taken for granted. "I'm afraid I'll need a little more information before I can commence overreacting."
"If I were not present on this station, that warbird would not be there," Isha said. "That ship, and it is quite a beauty, is scheduled to be delivered in about a month during my next trip to ch'Rihan actually - I had it commissioned to commemorate my husband's loss, a loss that the man currently in command of that ship caused ... his own brother, nephew and fifteen hundred others, just to try and get control of a House that he had no idea had already been bequeathed to me to ensure that it never fell into such hands."
~Maybe war orphans don't have it so bad...~ Jo'el thought to himself. "And how did that turn out, Isha?" He was not quite comfortable with the informality of her first name, but now seemed as apt a time to try it out. He turned his back and studied the panels opposite Isha's desk.
"He failed. Deep within my husband's files I later discovered a document that outlined his suspicions, he never spoke of them to me when he was alive - how could he? That would mean accepting that his own brother may have killed his first wife and their unborn child, certainly, Nveid, my husband was a remarkably sentimental man at times - he should have had his brother executed and that would have been the end of it but as you can see that did not happen - he just could not bring himself to condemn him. Let's say, shall we that the security regime which surrounded me for thirty years of my marriage was not against any outside threat. Anyway, that's all rather ancient history. He is here, and if at all possible, Nniol, my husband's brother would rather see me acknowledge his victory and publicly cede my authority over the Illialhlae to him before he kills me too."
He turned back around with a bit of an ironic smirk. "Excuse me for saying this, Madam Ambassador, but you aren't nearly as scary as I thought when we first met. Be that as it may, you still don't strike me as the type to just turn over the keys to a new tenant without a formal eviction or something better to move into. This consulate doesn't exactly overflow with luxury and prestige. Ma'am."
“A consulate is a government building like any other, Opaka, and my predecessor thought that excessive austerity was a virtue, he was wrong about that, like so many other things. As it is, I have had barely time to get my feet under my desk. Our society is still largely feudal, you know, wealth and loyalty are concentrated around Houses and loaned out to the central authority who uses our strength to bolster its own, places like this do rather come to reflect their occupants ... in time.” Isha got to her feet and joined Opaka on the other side of the desk as she spoke, stopping only when she was so close that he had no option but to step back, “If it comes down to it I’ll find a way on to that ship and to destroy it, and me with it before I see Nniol depose me,” she said, her eyes burning into his, “Is that scary enough for you?”
Jo'el stepped back, feeling his sheath scrap against the duranium wall. "I've played full-contact baseball with Gorn, there isn't much left to surprise me. But yes, the prospect of blowing up along with a warbird is a pretty terrifying one."
Isha smiled thinly, “Thlhom veherr'a,” she said, a brief but formal apology. “I have an excessive fondness for drama. It is so much easier to talk of doing things than to actually take action, especially when circumstances conspire to ensure that events are well beyond one’s control,” Isha stepped away and for a moment looked somewhat deflated, “besides, if I go anywhere I’ll have Darson’s little tin soldiers taking pot-shots at me.” Isha forced a chuckle through her throat, this waiting made her powerless, an unfamiliar feeling that put her on edge.
Jo'el smirked wryly. "And then I'll have to get in the way of the bullets, and you'll be covered in so much Bajoran blood people will think you're Cardas--"
It was then that the floor shuddered, unbalancing Isha and throwing her into Opaka and them both against the wall. “What the hell was that?” she asked, using Opaka for support and for the first time a note of concern infecting her tone.
He shook his head. "I don't know..." Jo'el regained his balance and picked up the phaser that popped out of his hoster. He tucked it back in place and tapped his comm badge.
"Ops, this is Ensign Opaka." Static answered him.
"They must have hit something critical," Isha said, clutching his arm, "Can't you do something?"
"Ops?" he repeated.
By the time she realised that the sudden shift in atmosphere was a transporter beam it was too late for Isha to do anything about it, "Not like this," she hissed.
Jo'el heard a slight whine and noticed a green aura growing around himself and Isha. "Prophets forgive us..." He pulled his phaser and set his left hand over his head to reach the hilt of his sword. He would be ready when his molecules reassembled.
OFF:
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Ensign Opaka Jo'el
VIP Bodyguard
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Lieutenant JG Opaka Jo'el
Post Details
| Title | The Waiting... | |
| Mission | Beg, Steal or Borrow | |
| Author(s) | Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Lieutenant JG Opaka Jo'el | |
| Posted | Thu Apr 16, 2009 @ 6:42am | |
| Location | Romulan Consulate. Deck 60 | |
| Timeline | 14:00 |
The time since the ships had decloaked felt stretched. Of course she had not shared the knowledge that one of the ships carried the colours of her own House, Isha did not understand that herself. That ship was not even finished, yet here it was outside her window, threatening her life and the life of eveyone within the station.
"This is unbearable!" Isha grumbled, "Why don't they just get on with it?"
Jo'el started at her outburst. "Do you think an attack is a foregone conclusion? Isn't there still room for diplomacy?"
"There was never room for diplomacy," Isha glanced again at the Norexan before angling her gaze to meet Opaka's. "If somebody wants to start a fight, they'll find a way, you should know that, as a bodyguard."
Jo'el ran his tongue along the ridges of his teeth, carefully weighing his response. "If someone is looking for a fight regardless of the motive, then I suppose you're correct. Diplomacy does not apply." He stepped into the outer office to check the exit and returned. There was excessive foot traffic in the corridors as civilians rushed to fortified shelters.
That irked him, Isha saw that, the fact that there was no chance of a peaceful resolution, her indifferent acceptance of the fact and, she thought, her implied criticsm of his knowledge.
Pretending to be unaware that he had returned, Isha turned her attention to a newly received message. Softly, she began to chuckle, "and what would you do if I accepted your terms, Faelirh ch'susse-thrai vang'radam," she muttered.
Jo'el's ears perked at the sound of "terms." Was Isha the key to this entire conflict? He seemed to have heard something about missing artifacts, but since they were believed to be either a fabrication by the Romulan government, Jo'el hadn't been briefed as to their significance or their possible whereabouts.
Part of her, the part that Isha’s friends and admirers described as mischievous and her detractors described as reckless was tempted to agree just to see what her husband’s brother would do. He could not call off the attack, she was sure of that, the arrangement was much too complex to be the result of a power struggle endemic to a single House, and if they had wanted that result then the message would have been transmitted more widely. Still, this was one piece of information she was not going to share with the Federation; somehow she did not think that any of them would understand how she could put greater weight on the wishes of a dead man than on the lives of tens of thousands pf living beings, but that was the way things were.
Isha sent a curt reply and folded the screen closed. “Opaka,” she said, “you recall that you requested that I keep you informed of anything that I might notice before you?”
Jo'el returned to Isha's desk. "Yes, ma'am?"
“Do you promise not to overreact if I tell you this?” she asked quite unsure how he would accommodate the knowledge of her relationship with one of the attacking vessels.
He cleared his throat. "There was a film I saw at the Academy in which a woman clearly states that it is impossible to make such a vow without knowing what is to come, but I'll do my best not to shoot anyone."
“Such admirable restraint," Isha smirked. "You're quite as bad as my good friend, Rh'vaurek ... well maybe not quite that bad, though he will never promise me anything either but he does it because it amuses him to frustrate me. Well then, I'd better trust that your restraint holds." Isha dropped her hands into her lap, "I have reason to believe that if this station is boarded, the consulate will be a particular target. You see that warbird out there - the one that looks grey in this light, well it seems that my estranged brother in law has decided to use this opportunity to escalate a family squabble.”
Jo'el sighed. Family and squabble did not belong in the same sentence for him. It was a sacred unit not to be upset with or taken for granted. "I'm afraid I'll need a little more information before I can commence overreacting."
"If I were not present on this station, that warbird would not be there," Isha said. "That ship, and it is quite a beauty, is scheduled to be delivered in about a month during my next trip to ch'Rihan actually - I had it commissioned to commemorate my husband's loss, a loss that the man currently in command of that ship caused ... his own brother, nephew and fifteen hundred others, just to try and get control of a House that he had no idea had already been bequeathed to me to ensure that it never fell into such hands."
~Maybe war orphans don't have it so bad...~ Jo'el thought to himself. "And how did that turn out, Isha?" He was not quite comfortable with the informality of her first name, but now seemed as apt a time to try it out. He turned his back and studied the panels opposite Isha's desk.
"He failed. Deep within my husband's files I later discovered a document that outlined his suspicions, he never spoke of them to me when he was alive - how could he? That would mean accepting that his own brother may have killed his first wife and their unborn child, certainly, Nveid, my husband was a remarkably sentimental man at times - he should have had his brother executed and that would have been the end of it but as you can see that did not happen - he just could not bring himself to condemn him. Let's say, shall we that the security regime which surrounded me for thirty years of my marriage was not against any outside threat. Anyway, that's all rather ancient history. He is here, and if at all possible, Nniol, my husband's brother would rather see me acknowledge his victory and publicly cede my authority over the Illialhlae to him before he kills me too."
He turned back around with a bit of an ironic smirk. "Excuse me for saying this, Madam Ambassador, but you aren't nearly as scary as I thought when we first met. Be that as it may, you still don't strike me as the type to just turn over the keys to a new tenant without a formal eviction or something better to move into. This consulate doesn't exactly overflow with luxury and prestige. Ma'am."
“A consulate is a government building like any other, Opaka, and my predecessor thought that excessive austerity was a virtue, he was wrong about that, like so many other things. As it is, I have had barely time to get my feet under my desk. Our society is still largely feudal, you know, wealth and loyalty are concentrated around Houses and loaned out to the central authority who uses our strength to bolster its own, places like this do rather come to reflect their occupants ... in time.” Isha got to her feet and joined Opaka on the other side of the desk as she spoke, stopping only when she was so close that he had no option but to step back, “If it comes down to it I’ll find a way on to that ship and to destroy it, and me with it before I see Nniol depose me,” she said, her eyes burning into his, “Is that scary enough for you?”
Jo'el stepped back, feeling his sheath scrap against the duranium wall. "I've played full-contact baseball with Gorn, there isn't much left to surprise me. But yes, the prospect of blowing up along with a warbird is a pretty terrifying one."
Isha smiled thinly, “Thlhom veherr'a,” she said, a brief but formal apology. “I have an excessive fondness for drama. It is so much easier to talk of doing things than to actually take action, especially when circumstances conspire to ensure that events are well beyond one’s control,” Isha stepped away and for a moment looked somewhat deflated, “besides, if I go anywhere I’ll have Darson’s little tin soldiers taking pot-shots at me.” Isha forced a chuckle through her throat, this waiting made her powerless, an unfamiliar feeling that put her on edge.
Jo'el smirked wryly. "And then I'll have to get in the way of the bullets, and you'll be covered in so much Bajoran blood people will think you're Cardas--"
It was then that the floor shuddered, unbalancing Isha and throwing her into Opaka and them both against the wall. “What the hell was that?” she asked, using Opaka for support and for the first time a note of concern infecting her tone.
He shook his head. "I don't know..." Jo'el regained his balance and picked up the phaser that popped out of his hoster. He tucked it back in place and tapped his comm badge.
"Ops, this is Ensign Opaka." Static answered him.
"They must have hit something critical," Isha said, clutching his arm, "Can't you do something?"
"Ops?" he repeated.
By the time she realised that the sudden shift in atmosphere was a transporter beam it was too late for Isha to do anything about it, "Not like this," she hissed.
Jo'el heard a slight whine and noticed a green aura growing around himself and Isha. "Prophets forgive us..." He pulled his phaser and set his left hand over his head to reach the hilt of his sword. He would be ready when his molecules reassembled.
OFF:
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Ensign Opaka Jo'el
VIP Bodyguard