Incommunicado – Legends
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & (G) erie'Riov - Sub Commander Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian
Post Details
::ON::
Rianni, fresh off of talking to Getal and dealing with that bitch t'Merek, made her way to what she hoped was a friendly area, Ai'lani's quarters. She needed information about this Draylin Tal if she planned to kill him, and she could think of nobody better to provide it than her personal newsman. Reaching his quarters in what would be record time, if records of such things were kept, she rang the chime and waited.
After a few moments the doors slid apart. Instead of Ai'lani, in front of the door stood a little girl, no more than 3 years old, staring up at Rianni with wide, curious blue eyes.
"Hi." Rianni smiled, a little surprised to see a small child in Ai'lani's quarters, "Is Ai'lani home?"
"Here I am!" Ai'lani suddenly came into view, half running from the other room. "Rianni! Hi!" He walked up to her, scooping up the little girl on his way before planting a warm kiss on Rianni's cheek in greeting.
"Hi." Rianni smiled, feeling a slight buzz from the physical contact with Ai'lani, "So, hope I didn't interrupt anything."
"Oh, no, of course not, come on in. We'd just finished lunch. Sorry the place is a mess, we're kind of in the process of moving and Dominic is paranoid about teleporting his stuff from one place to the other," Ai'lani explained, settling the little girl on his hip. "And then alongside all of this chaos, I get a message from my social worker to tell me she's bringing A'ala early." He motioned to the child. "On that note, Rianni, this is my new daughter, A'ala. She doesn't speak Federation Standard yet, though."
"She's beautiful." Rianni smiled, turning back to A'ala and pointing to herself, "A'ala, I am Rianni." She hoped the little girl got that, ~How cute would that be if her first word of standard was Rianni.~
"Anyway, A'lani, I need a favor." She began, "I need to know anything you can tell me about Draylin Tal."
"Draylin Tal?" Ai'lani asked in confusion. "Why?"
"I've got it on good authority he killed Klia." Rianni answered in a hushed tone, she knew the little girl didn't speak standard, but she still didn't want these awful things in her little ears. She smiled at the little girl then continued, "And I've also got it on good authority that there's a hit on him. I want to take him into custody before Getal can kill him." ~And see if Getal's hand is in this after all.~
Ai'lani frowned. "Rianni, I...give me a minute," he said, lowering the little girl back onto the ground. He told her something in Deltan and pointed to a play table that was set up near the other end of the room. She looked over and gave Ai'lani a kiss on the cheek before going there. As he stood up again, Ai'lani motioned for Rianni to the couch. "Come on, let's sit."
Once they were comfortable, Ai'lani turned to the half-Romulan. "Rianni, if Draylin Tal did kill Klia then I seriously doubt anyone will catch him. The man is...a legend. There's even rumors circulating that he never even existed. That he's just the embodiment of crime and injustice as a whole. When people can't find someone's killer, they just say he did it. Which, in and of itself makes actually trailing him impossible. I, for one, have seen enough evidence and spoke to enough people to tell you that he is a live. And he's out there, somewhere, but I'm not sure if I can tell you anything that can help catch him."
"Okay, duly noted." Rianni nodded, "But, believe me when I tell you that nobody has gone after him yet with my resources. And I don't care if this guy is Keyser frackin' Soze, I'm going to take him down. Please, let me see any information you have, and when I have him in custody I'll give you a story for the ages."
She leaned closer and whispered into his ear, "Ai'lani, he's coming here."
"Rianni, if Klia's dead, then Draylin's gone. He doesn't stick around."
"He's coming back, Ai'lani." Rianni stated, steadfast in her belief. Her face turned pale as she realized what that meant, "Which means he's got another target..."
"Who?" Ai'lani asked. His other question was why Draylin would go to the same place twice. "Where did you hear all of this?"
"If the person I think hired him in the first place did it, it's my Aunt." Rianni answered, "And that's also the same person who gave me my information. Look, I know this is crazy, but I know it's all true. Ai'lani, I feel it."
Ai'lani sighed, glancing over at A'ala coloring something that required a lot of attention. He turned back to Rianni. "Alright, I believe you. I'm a little skeptical, but I'm willing to help in whatever way I can. So, I'm gonna go get a PADD for you and we'll look it over." He stood up and walked to another room. He was gone barely a minute before he appeared again, PADD in hand. "Okay, here's some basics," he announced, sitting back down next to Rianni. "Now, his history should probably just be largely ignored. It's all hear say. The things we do know is that he is roughly 180 years old. That's at least when the name pops up. But before that, there have been rumors, so it's hard to tell. He's a pureblood El Aurian. And this is the best picture there is. It was taken about 80 years ago, but it's....well, you'll just have to see." He scrolled through some text on the PADD before settling on a picture. Blowing it up, he handed the PADD to Rianni.
The source of Ai'lani's comment was clear the minute she saw it. The image was obviously taken by a security system. The camera itself was obviously set up high on a wall, looking down on a reception area. The area was well lit, but empty save for a lone figure in the middle, looking up at the camera.
The man was tall with a lean build, not intimidating in the least. He wore a gray suit, stylish but not expensive. But that was all that looked common on him. His hair was snowy white, too white to be seen as platinum blonde or any variation of it. His skin was pale and he had a handsome face that was smiling up almost knowingly at the camera. But what stood out most were his eyes. Under the artificial lighting of the room, they shone like jewels, reflecting it.
"Wow." Rianni said, "He knows he's on camera and he doesn't give a frack. This guy definitely has balls."
"Yeah. Not to mention most people seem to think he's disguised. Or unnatural, or....something."
"Or something?" Rianni repeated, raising a manicured eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean, babe?"
"Like I said, a lot of rumors go around about this guy," Ai'lani explained. "From him being some mutant, to being a ghost, to being a man hired and groomed by some government, with the government changing depending on who is telling you about it. For a long time, it was just general knowledge that he isn't real. But that passed when he was almost caught about three years ago."
"Okay, that's useful!" Rianni grinned, "Who almost caught him and where?"
"It was on..." Ai'lani looked through the files. "Altair Four. They'd found a doctor murdered and a witness had seen a man matching Draylin's description with him before he died. They tracked him down outside of an apartment a few decks down. Unfortunately, a woman coming by provided an alibi by saying they were involved and had been together all day. By the way, this is an unofficial report. But the official one has a lot more 'how were we supposed to know' cop talk despite being the same story. Anyway, they didn't know it was Tal until the next day. There were reports of a man missing from the apartment Draylin left. Inside, they found the beheaded body of a black market merchant. The weapon was there with no evidence. The dead man was one of Tal's suspected contacts. The special forces had arrested him the year before for dealing in illegal merchandise. In his apartment they found equipment for a job Draylin was confirmed to be hired for two months later. A job that never got done, despite the confirmation from reliable but unrevealed sources that it would. After that, Draylin disappeared and wasn't heard from again."
"Translation, the contact sold Tal out to his captors in exchange for his freedom." Rianni sighed, she'd heard of these sort of deals happening all the time. "Which means Draylin Tal will be even more careful now. That's not good for us."
"Yeah, I know. I remember this doctor's case pretty well. It was...gruesome. Here, take a look." Ai'lani himself couldn't scroll down because he didn't want that image in his head anymore than it had to be.
Under the article he'd told Rianni about, there was a crime scene photo with the mutilated remains of what barely looked like a humanoid. The report said he was stabbed over a hundred times with a blunt surgical instrument, which, on the picture, looked like it was sticking out of what could be said was the body's eyesocket.
The images were gruesome to say the least, they even made the hardened war veteran shiver a little, "This is someone he has history with, it was personal." She said, as much to herself as to Ai'lani, "You don't do that on business."
"That's the thing. This guy was some underground organ dealer. He was complete scum, more likely to hire Draylin than to be a target. And its way too messy to be the usual torture someone might ask for for a job. You're probably right, he must've known him. I hardly believe Draylin is playing righteous vigilante."
"No." Rianni shook her head, "This wasn't vigilante justice, this was a vendetta. This guy touched Draylin Tal's life somehow and paid for it."
"Maybe." Ai'lani shrugged. "I don't know. I've never understood how people could hurt each other, but I'm Deltan, we're just wired to be pacifists," he said with a smile as he watched A'ala stand up from her place on the floor and make her way over to him and Rianni before crawling up onto the couch to lodge herself between them. Once settled in a position that didn't look too comfortable, she looked up at the two adults, looking quite please with herself.
Seeing the little girl between them, Rianni turned the PADD with the gruesome pictures upside down and set it on the other side of them, "Well, I wonder why she's so smiley?" Rianni asked happily, she wouldn't deny the child's smile was infectious.
"She's always smiley," Ai'lani replied, caressing A'ala's head lovingly. Her smile widened slightly at the attention and she rested her head tentatively on Rianni's chest. Ai'lani grinned. "She likes you."
"That's good." Rianni smiled, placing an arm gently around the little girl, "I like her, too."
Snuggling lightly under Rianni's arm, A'ala looked back at her father and asked him something that made Ai'lani chuckle, shaking his head lightly when he replied. "She wanted to know if you're her parent too," he told Rianni as A'ala pulled away a bit and stared up at her for a few moments before reaching up to touch her hair, a look of fascination on her face.
Rianni giggled and smiled, the little girl was so fascinated by something as ordinary as hair, ~Of course, it's less ordinary where she's from I guess.~ "I wish I was." She replied, "I'm tempted to ask if I can keep her."
"You'd bring her back after a few hours," Ai'lani joked, watching A'ala run her chubby fingers through Rianni's hair. After a second of that, she grabbed it and pulled on it a bit too hard. Ai'lani reached over, disentangling her hand and telling her something, his tone a bit more serious despite the soft natural tone of the language spoken. A'ala took her hand back and settled both of them in her lap. "Sorry," she said, focusing on making the sounds right.
"That's okay, honey." Rianni smiled, letting A'ala see she wasn't hurt, "I'm fine."
A'ala looked up at her and smiled, mostly at the soft tone. "She kept pulling Dominic's hair. He went to get a haircut because she likes it when he carries her on his shoulders but she kept pulling at his hair too hard," Ai'lani explained as he watched A'ala moved to plant herself in Rianni's lap.
"How is Dommy?" Rianni asked, stroking the little girl's back as she asked about her far from secret admirer, "Haven't seen a lot of him lately."
"He's okay. Lots of teenage angst," Ai'lani said. "Asking and complaining about everything. You know, everyday teenage business. Hopefully he'll come home before you leave and get all flushed and adorable while trying to act as cool and confident as possible." He laughed.
That image caused Rianni to laugh also as she thought back to Dommy trying to act all cool on the Dhelan. "He halfway succeeded." She remarked, holding A'ala close to her chest, "It was sort of a mixed 007 and the nutty professor. It was cute."
"Yeah, he tries hard to fit in. I'm cutting him some slack, since he hasn't really been fitting in well at school, so..." Ai'lani shrugged, unsure how to really finish his thought. "He was homeschooled for the past eight years, but he really wanted to go to a normal high school now."
"He'll be fine, it'll just take some adjustment." Rianni smiled encouragingly, hoping Dominick's high school years were far better than her own, ~Least he's not half Romulan in a private school full of rich humans.....~
"He just needs to relearn where the line is. I think it's mostly my fault, since I raised him mostly Deltan. I mean, I know he's human, but I don't know anything about raising a kid to be human," Ai'lani explained. "I've been called to PTA meetings where parents have told me to teach my child manners because he's apparently been a little too 'forward' with their children. The poor boy hasn't done anything except flatter and complement them."
"Well, if there's one thing I've learned in my life about full humans it's that they are far from understanding and accepting of other cultures." Rianni sighed, adding, "There are some exceptions, but they are few and far between."
"Tell me about it," Ai'lani said. "I nearly broke up a marriage the other day," he revealed. "I made a friend from Medical. She was Kaelin's friend first, and he introduced us. She's great - funny, nice to look at, sweet, a little argumentative, but I like that. Anyway, she's also married, and he husband didn't like me hanging around her. Not to mention he was also mildly attracted to me because of my pheromones which just frustrated him more. So the two of them were fighting constantly about her friendship with me, with him thinking she's having an affair. And they were doing all of this as if I wasn't even involved in any of it. Like I'm some prop, some obstacle for them to overcome in their long journey as a married couple. As if the rumors of me sleeping with a human wouldn't hurt me. And I was just in the process of adopting A'ala. I did not need that kind of crap. So, I let them go. I'm not talking to either of them anymore. Screw them and sexually repressed, insecure crap."
"Wow." Rianni sighed, gently stroking A'ala's little head, "Some of the shit people come up with around here."
"Yeah," Ai'lani said with a nod as A'ala snuggled up against Rianni's chest. "I think you're her new favorite. And here I was thinking I'd last longer than a few hours," he told her, resting his head on the back of the couch and looking lovingly at his daughter.
"Well, she probably hasn't seen a lot of women is all." Rianni smiled, "Trust me, you'll be number one again as soon as I leave."
"She just likes you because you have breasts she can uses as pillows."
Rianni couldn't stop from laughing hard at that, shaking her head at Ai'lani, "Really?"
"Of course. Why else would she be snuggled up like that? Hell, I'd wanna lay there if she wasn't hogging you all to yourself," he teased, laughing as well.
Rianni just shook her head and laughed, having forgotten the ugliness on the PADD beside her as she enjoyed the beauty of the child.
"I think she's falling asleep," Ai'lani whispered, seeing A'ala's eyelids drooping. "By the way, I'll send you all of my information on Tal tonight, okay? I also have the contact information of a man on Betazed who is working on Draylin's case. He's supposed to be an expert." He kept his voice low, not wanting to disturb the child.
Rianni smiled and nodded, then placed a finger to her lips as she snuggled A'ala against her chest; the child would be in dreamland in a moment. Once she fell asleep Rianni picked her up and whispered, "Looks like naptime has arrived. Where does she sleep?"
"I put a cot in my bedroom for her. We're moving to bigger quarters by the end of the week. I'll give you an address so you can find me," Ai'lani replied quietly, leading Rianni to his room. Unlike the rest of the apartment, which look relatively clean, the master bedroom was spotless, not a thing out of place. Against the wall opposite the king size bed was a small but comfy looking cot covered with colorful sheets. "That's hers," he pointed it out needlessly, watching Rianni put the toddler to bed.
"You're good with her," he said after a moment of quiet observation from his place by the door.
"Well, I was a baby girl once myself." Rianni giggled quietly, "So it comes from experience."
"Yeah. I wonder how I'll do," he replied, walking back into the living room with Rianni again. "Do you want children?"
"Sure, I mean, I did." Rianni sighed, "I tried once, with my first husband, but things just didn't work out for us. My second husband, I didn't want to make any copies of him, motherfracker used to beat the hell out of me every time he got drunk, worst part about him is he was a lawyer, so I wound up having to pay him to go away. Third husband, he was a lot more interested in picking up combat assignments on every backwater world in the galaxy to have kids, so, yeah, that wasn't going to happen. So, yeah, I figure by this point it's a little late for all that."
"It's never too late to raise a child if you really want to. I mean, I understand if you're too busy, or if your job is too dangerous so you don't want to risk it, but not having a partner is really no excuse to not have a child if you really want one," Ai'lani said. "I mean, I don't have a partner, but I love children, so I adopted A'ala. I don't want to wait. I mean, I could find a partner and bond, but who knows when that could be. And trying to conceive takes years for my species, so I don't want to wait."
"Well, that's good for you." Rianni smiled, "And I'm glad things have worked out for you, but I just think if it was going to happen for me it would have by now. I'm glad my sister is here to carry on the family name for my father, but I just don't see it for me."
"Well, don't give up. I'm just saying it could still happen. There's no such thing as fate, but that's just my opinion," Ai'lani told her with a smile. "I could always knock you up right here, if you want to," he said after a pause, grinning teasingly at her.
"Yeah, Maiell would love that." She giggled, referring to her friend turned hemorrhoid political officer.
"Why? Does he want to do it?" Ai'lani asked.
"No, he's got his eyes on Amalia." Rianni smiled, happy for her former clerk, "Plus I think if he had it all to do over again he would've left me to my fate the day he found me."
"I think he's kind of nice. I get a nice vibe from him. Plus, he's gorgeous so..." He shrugged. "You should give him a chance. I mean, you're not going to change the Romulan way of thinking all at once, so maybe it would be good to have someone to bridge things over for you. He seems reasonable that way; not as stuck up as some of the others."
"None of the others tried to fight me at every turn, or drug you." Rianni replied, getting angry just thinking of tr'Than, "Anyway, this has been such a happy visit, let's not ruin it by talking about him."
"Okay, I'll shut up," Ai'lani said apologetically. "I'm sorry for bringing him up," he said, leaning back against the wall. the mood was a big ruined, judging by the low hum of anger emanating from Rianni that Ai'lani could feel across the room. Giving her big puppy dog eyes, the Deltan smiled mischievously at her. "Love you. Forgive me?"
"I can't be mad at you." Rianni sighed, "Especially since I brought it up. You just defended him, I'll never understand why, but you do and always have."
"I'm a good judge of character," he told her, pushing himself off the wall and walking up to Rianni to put his hands around her waist. "I just worry about you."
"Me?" Rianni asked, raising an eyebrow but not even thinking to move his hands from her waist, "Okay, why?"
"Because, and don't take this as an insult or whatever, you're a bit impulsive and judgmental. You jump to conclusions. And you're stubborn. You're heart is in the right place. And you're kind and you stand up against injustice wherever you see it. And, while I love all of these things about you, not many others do. And you can get into trouble because of them, so I worry about you," Ai'lani explained kindly, making sure to gently caress her side as he spoke.
"Others can..." She desperately wanted to say they could all kiss her ass, but she realized in some ways Ai'lani was right, and even if he was wrong his heart was in the very right place, "I don't know, maybe, but I still got to be me, Ai'lani."
"I'm the last person to tell you to change, Rianni. I won't change for anyone either. Look at what happened on your ship. Your crew wanted me medicated, I said no because I don't change. I actually tried changing by taking those damn injections, and I hated it, so I stopped taking them and cut Bridget and her husband off. I don't want you to be anything but yourself. I never said that. I just worry. Okay?" he asked softly, hoping he'd managed to get his point across.
"Yeah." Rianni nodded, then laughingly added, "You worry too damn much."
"It's in my nature." Ai'lani shrugged. "Kaelin says it's because I get attached to everyone I meet, which is true, I guess."
"Nah, I'm just fabulous." Rianni joked.
"Yeah, I had no chance but to fall under your spell the minute I saw you." Ai'lani nodded seriously before smiling.
"I have that effect on men." Rianni snickered, "Who knows? In a few short months you and I can be divorced."
"Nah. You'd never get rid of me. I'm an all or nothing kind of guy."
"So were husbands one and three." Rianni sighed and laughed, ~Well, you know what they say, Rianni? Tragedy+time=comedy.~
"Aww...." Ai'lani frowned, pulling her close to wrap his arms around her and kiss the top of her head. "We should go out again. See what DS5 has to offer in terms of dating material. Just because I can't date doesn't mean I can't help you."
"Actually, I had a little interlude the other night with an old friend." Rianni replied coyly, "Can't say it wasn't illuminating."
Ai'lani's eyes widened and he gently moved Rianni away from him to look into her eyes. "Oh really?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Do tell. And I mean everything."
"Well, she's an old friend." Rianni smiled, "Just came back to the station and we had dinner together, a few drinks, then we went back to my place."
"Ooooh....Is she pretty?"
"Yeah." Rianni nodded, "And adventurous, too. Good qualities."
"Yeah, sounds like it. What species?"
"Well, she's not Romulan." Rianni giggled, thinking she might be the only Romulan in the galaxy interested in her own gender instead or reproducing for the good of the Empire.
"Oh now you're just teasing," Ai'lani replied with a small, playful pout. "So....does this mean no more kisses for me?" he asked with wide, blue eyes.
Rianni playfully kissed Ai'lani, rolled her eyes and sighed, "You are such a diva."
"So that's a....no to cutting off my kissing privileges?" Ai'lani asked, narrowing his eyes in mock consideration.
Rianni could only roll her eyes and laugh at him, he was definitely one of a kind.
Ai'lani smiled, tilting his head curiously at her. "What? I'm serious! Am I going to have to be the other man?" His tone was light, playful even, but there was an undertone of genuine concern there as well. As much as Ai'lani loved being as naturally affectionate towards his alien friends as he was with his Deltan friends, he was used to being pushed away once they paired off with someone else. He had gotten used to it, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
Rianni sighed, "Okay, one, you're the only man, since I've banned the rest of your gender regardless of species. Two, I really don't think anything much is going to come of this, I mean, it's me after all, the forever alone girl."
"Ugh! Stop saying that! You're not alone! You have me! And you are going to find someone and the two of you will fall desperately in love and spend every day together!"
"If you say so." Rianni giggled, "And don't wake the baby, huh?"
Ai'lani smiled, giving Rianni an affectionate squeeze. "Now you're thinking like a Deltan."
Rianni could only giggle, Ai'lani was infectious with his good nature.
"You know I love you, right?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.
"I know." She smiled, adding, "Me, too."
-OFF
Rianni
Now got babies on the brain
Ai'lani
New Dad
and
A'ala
Too cute for words
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & (G) erie'Riov - Sub Commander Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian
Post Details
| Title | Legends | |
| Mission | Incommunicado | |
| Author(s) | (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & (G) erie'Riov - Sub Commander Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian | |
| Posted | Wed Jun 27, 2012 @ 3:50pm | |
| Location | Ai'lani's place | |
| Timeline | after "Geckos and Hobgoblins" |
Rianni, fresh off of talking to Getal and dealing with that bitch t'Merek, made her way to what she hoped was a friendly area, Ai'lani's quarters. She needed information about this Draylin Tal if she planned to kill him, and she could think of nobody better to provide it than her personal newsman. Reaching his quarters in what would be record time, if records of such things were kept, she rang the chime and waited.
After a few moments the doors slid apart. Instead of Ai'lani, in front of the door stood a little girl, no more than 3 years old, staring up at Rianni with wide, curious blue eyes.
"Hi." Rianni smiled, a little surprised to see a small child in Ai'lani's quarters, "Is Ai'lani home?"
"Here I am!" Ai'lani suddenly came into view, half running from the other room. "Rianni! Hi!" He walked up to her, scooping up the little girl on his way before planting a warm kiss on Rianni's cheek in greeting.
"Hi." Rianni smiled, feeling a slight buzz from the physical contact with Ai'lani, "So, hope I didn't interrupt anything."
"Oh, no, of course not, come on in. We'd just finished lunch. Sorry the place is a mess, we're kind of in the process of moving and Dominic is paranoid about teleporting his stuff from one place to the other," Ai'lani explained, settling the little girl on his hip. "And then alongside all of this chaos, I get a message from my social worker to tell me she's bringing A'ala early." He motioned to the child. "On that note, Rianni, this is my new daughter, A'ala. She doesn't speak Federation Standard yet, though."
"She's beautiful." Rianni smiled, turning back to A'ala and pointing to herself, "A'ala, I am Rianni." She hoped the little girl got that, ~How cute would that be if her first word of standard was Rianni.~
"Anyway, A'lani, I need a favor." She began, "I need to know anything you can tell me about Draylin Tal."
"Draylin Tal?" Ai'lani asked in confusion. "Why?"
"I've got it on good authority he killed Klia." Rianni answered in a hushed tone, she knew the little girl didn't speak standard, but she still didn't want these awful things in her little ears. She smiled at the little girl then continued, "And I've also got it on good authority that there's a hit on him. I want to take him into custody before Getal can kill him." ~And see if Getal's hand is in this after all.~
Ai'lani frowned. "Rianni, I...give me a minute," he said, lowering the little girl back onto the ground. He told her something in Deltan and pointed to a play table that was set up near the other end of the room. She looked over and gave Ai'lani a kiss on the cheek before going there. As he stood up again, Ai'lani motioned for Rianni to the couch. "Come on, let's sit."
Once they were comfortable, Ai'lani turned to the half-Romulan. "Rianni, if Draylin Tal did kill Klia then I seriously doubt anyone will catch him. The man is...a legend. There's even rumors circulating that he never even existed. That he's just the embodiment of crime and injustice as a whole. When people can't find someone's killer, they just say he did it. Which, in and of itself makes actually trailing him impossible. I, for one, have seen enough evidence and spoke to enough people to tell you that he is a live. And he's out there, somewhere, but I'm not sure if I can tell you anything that can help catch him."
"Okay, duly noted." Rianni nodded, "But, believe me when I tell you that nobody has gone after him yet with my resources. And I don't care if this guy is Keyser frackin' Soze, I'm going to take him down. Please, let me see any information you have, and when I have him in custody I'll give you a story for the ages."
She leaned closer and whispered into his ear, "Ai'lani, he's coming here."
"Rianni, if Klia's dead, then Draylin's gone. He doesn't stick around."
"He's coming back, Ai'lani." Rianni stated, steadfast in her belief. Her face turned pale as she realized what that meant, "Which means he's got another target..."
"Who?" Ai'lani asked. His other question was why Draylin would go to the same place twice. "Where did you hear all of this?"
"If the person I think hired him in the first place did it, it's my Aunt." Rianni answered, "And that's also the same person who gave me my information. Look, I know this is crazy, but I know it's all true. Ai'lani, I feel it."
Ai'lani sighed, glancing over at A'ala coloring something that required a lot of attention. He turned back to Rianni. "Alright, I believe you. I'm a little skeptical, but I'm willing to help in whatever way I can. So, I'm gonna go get a PADD for you and we'll look it over." He stood up and walked to another room. He was gone barely a minute before he appeared again, PADD in hand. "Okay, here's some basics," he announced, sitting back down next to Rianni. "Now, his history should probably just be largely ignored. It's all hear say. The things we do know is that he is roughly 180 years old. That's at least when the name pops up. But before that, there have been rumors, so it's hard to tell. He's a pureblood El Aurian. And this is the best picture there is. It was taken about 80 years ago, but it's....well, you'll just have to see." He scrolled through some text on the PADD before settling on a picture. Blowing it up, he handed the PADD to Rianni.
The source of Ai'lani's comment was clear the minute she saw it. The image was obviously taken by a security system. The camera itself was obviously set up high on a wall, looking down on a reception area. The area was well lit, but empty save for a lone figure in the middle, looking up at the camera.
The man was tall with a lean build, not intimidating in the least. He wore a gray suit, stylish but not expensive. But that was all that looked common on him. His hair was snowy white, too white to be seen as platinum blonde or any variation of it. His skin was pale and he had a handsome face that was smiling up almost knowingly at the camera. But what stood out most were his eyes. Under the artificial lighting of the room, they shone like jewels, reflecting it.
"Wow." Rianni said, "He knows he's on camera and he doesn't give a frack. This guy definitely has balls."
"Yeah. Not to mention most people seem to think he's disguised. Or unnatural, or....something."
"Or something?" Rianni repeated, raising a manicured eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean, babe?"
"Like I said, a lot of rumors go around about this guy," Ai'lani explained. "From him being some mutant, to being a ghost, to being a man hired and groomed by some government, with the government changing depending on who is telling you about it. For a long time, it was just general knowledge that he isn't real. But that passed when he was almost caught about three years ago."
"Okay, that's useful!" Rianni grinned, "Who almost caught him and where?"
"It was on..." Ai'lani looked through the files. "Altair Four. They'd found a doctor murdered and a witness had seen a man matching Draylin's description with him before he died. They tracked him down outside of an apartment a few decks down. Unfortunately, a woman coming by provided an alibi by saying they were involved and had been together all day. By the way, this is an unofficial report. But the official one has a lot more 'how were we supposed to know' cop talk despite being the same story. Anyway, they didn't know it was Tal until the next day. There were reports of a man missing from the apartment Draylin left. Inside, they found the beheaded body of a black market merchant. The weapon was there with no evidence. The dead man was one of Tal's suspected contacts. The special forces had arrested him the year before for dealing in illegal merchandise. In his apartment they found equipment for a job Draylin was confirmed to be hired for two months later. A job that never got done, despite the confirmation from reliable but unrevealed sources that it would. After that, Draylin disappeared and wasn't heard from again."
"Translation, the contact sold Tal out to his captors in exchange for his freedom." Rianni sighed, she'd heard of these sort of deals happening all the time. "Which means Draylin Tal will be even more careful now. That's not good for us."
"Yeah, I know. I remember this doctor's case pretty well. It was...gruesome. Here, take a look." Ai'lani himself couldn't scroll down because he didn't want that image in his head anymore than it had to be.
Under the article he'd told Rianni about, there was a crime scene photo with the mutilated remains of what barely looked like a humanoid. The report said he was stabbed over a hundred times with a blunt surgical instrument, which, on the picture, looked like it was sticking out of what could be said was the body's eyesocket.
The images were gruesome to say the least, they even made the hardened war veteran shiver a little, "This is someone he has history with, it was personal." She said, as much to herself as to Ai'lani, "You don't do that on business."
"That's the thing. This guy was some underground organ dealer. He was complete scum, more likely to hire Draylin than to be a target. And its way too messy to be the usual torture someone might ask for for a job. You're probably right, he must've known him. I hardly believe Draylin is playing righteous vigilante."
"No." Rianni shook her head, "This wasn't vigilante justice, this was a vendetta. This guy touched Draylin Tal's life somehow and paid for it."
"Maybe." Ai'lani shrugged. "I don't know. I've never understood how people could hurt each other, but I'm Deltan, we're just wired to be pacifists," he said with a smile as he watched A'ala stand up from her place on the floor and make her way over to him and Rianni before crawling up onto the couch to lodge herself between them. Once settled in a position that didn't look too comfortable, she looked up at the two adults, looking quite please with herself.
Seeing the little girl between them, Rianni turned the PADD with the gruesome pictures upside down and set it on the other side of them, "Well, I wonder why she's so smiley?" Rianni asked happily, she wouldn't deny the child's smile was infectious.
"She's always smiley," Ai'lani replied, caressing A'ala's head lovingly. Her smile widened slightly at the attention and she rested her head tentatively on Rianni's chest. Ai'lani grinned. "She likes you."
"That's good." Rianni smiled, placing an arm gently around the little girl, "I like her, too."
Snuggling lightly under Rianni's arm, A'ala looked back at her father and asked him something that made Ai'lani chuckle, shaking his head lightly when he replied. "She wanted to know if you're her parent too," he told Rianni as A'ala pulled away a bit and stared up at her for a few moments before reaching up to touch her hair, a look of fascination on her face.
Rianni giggled and smiled, the little girl was so fascinated by something as ordinary as hair, ~Of course, it's less ordinary where she's from I guess.~ "I wish I was." She replied, "I'm tempted to ask if I can keep her."
"You'd bring her back after a few hours," Ai'lani joked, watching A'ala run her chubby fingers through Rianni's hair. After a second of that, she grabbed it and pulled on it a bit too hard. Ai'lani reached over, disentangling her hand and telling her something, his tone a bit more serious despite the soft natural tone of the language spoken. A'ala took her hand back and settled both of them in her lap. "Sorry," she said, focusing on making the sounds right.
"That's okay, honey." Rianni smiled, letting A'ala see she wasn't hurt, "I'm fine."
A'ala looked up at her and smiled, mostly at the soft tone. "She kept pulling Dominic's hair. He went to get a haircut because she likes it when he carries her on his shoulders but she kept pulling at his hair too hard," Ai'lani explained as he watched A'ala moved to plant herself in Rianni's lap.
"How is Dommy?" Rianni asked, stroking the little girl's back as she asked about her far from secret admirer, "Haven't seen a lot of him lately."
"He's okay. Lots of teenage angst," Ai'lani said. "Asking and complaining about everything. You know, everyday teenage business. Hopefully he'll come home before you leave and get all flushed and adorable while trying to act as cool and confident as possible." He laughed.
That image caused Rianni to laugh also as she thought back to Dommy trying to act all cool on the Dhelan. "He halfway succeeded." She remarked, holding A'ala close to her chest, "It was sort of a mixed 007 and the nutty professor. It was cute."
"Yeah, he tries hard to fit in. I'm cutting him some slack, since he hasn't really been fitting in well at school, so..." Ai'lani shrugged, unsure how to really finish his thought. "He was homeschooled for the past eight years, but he really wanted to go to a normal high school now."
"He'll be fine, it'll just take some adjustment." Rianni smiled encouragingly, hoping Dominick's high school years were far better than her own, ~Least he's not half Romulan in a private school full of rich humans.....~
"He just needs to relearn where the line is. I think it's mostly my fault, since I raised him mostly Deltan. I mean, I know he's human, but I don't know anything about raising a kid to be human," Ai'lani explained. "I've been called to PTA meetings where parents have told me to teach my child manners because he's apparently been a little too 'forward' with their children. The poor boy hasn't done anything except flatter and complement them."
"Well, if there's one thing I've learned in my life about full humans it's that they are far from understanding and accepting of other cultures." Rianni sighed, adding, "There are some exceptions, but they are few and far between."
"Tell me about it," Ai'lani said. "I nearly broke up a marriage the other day," he revealed. "I made a friend from Medical. She was Kaelin's friend first, and he introduced us. She's great - funny, nice to look at, sweet, a little argumentative, but I like that. Anyway, she's also married, and he husband didn't like me hanging around her. Not to mention he was also mildly attracted to me because of my pheromones which just frustrated him more. So the two of them were fighting constantly about her friendship with me, with him thinking she's having an affair. And they were doing all of this as if I wasn't even involved in any of it. Like I'm some prop, some obstacle for them to overcome in their long journey as a married couple. As if the rumors of me sleeping with a human wouldn't hurt me. And I was just in the process of adopting A'ala. I did not need that kind of crap. So, I let them go. I'm not talking to either of them anymore. Screw them and sexually repressed, insecure crap."
"Wow." Rianni sighed, gently stroking A'ala's little head, "Some of the shit people come up with around here."
"Yeah," Ai'lani said with a nod as A'ala snuggled up against Rianni's chest. "I think you're her new favorite. And here I was thinking I'd last longer than a few hours," he told her, resting his head on the back of the couch and looking lovingly at his daughter.
"Well, she probably hasn't seen a lot of women is all." Rianni smiled, "Trust me, you'll be number one again as soon as I leave."
"She just likes you because you have breasts she can uses as pillows."
Rianni couldn't stop from laughing hard at that, shaking her head at Ai'lani, "Really?"
"Of course. Why else would she be snuggled up like that? Hell, I'd wanna lay there if she wasn't hogging you all to yourself," he teased, laughing as well.
Rianni just shook her head and laughed, having forgotten the ugliness on the PADD beside her as she enjoyed the beauty of the child.
"I think she's falling asleep," Ai'lani whispered, seeing A'ala's eyelids drooping. "By the way, I'll send you all of my information on Tal tonight, okay? I also have the contact information of a man on Betazed who is working on Draylin's case. He's supposed to be an expert." He kept his voice low, not wanting to disturb the child.
Rianni smiled and nodded, then placed a finger to her lips as she snuggled A'ala against her chest; the child would be in dreamland in a moment. Once she fell asleep Rianni picked her up and whispered, "Looks like naptime has arrived. Where does she sleep?"
"I put a cot in my bedroom for her. We're moving to bigger quarters by the end of the week. I'll give you an address so you can find me," Ai'lani replied quietly, leading Rianni to his room. Unlike the rest of the apartment, which look relatively clean, the master bedroom was spotless, not a thing out of place. Against the wall opposite the king size bed was a small but comfy looking cot covered with colorful sheets. "That's hers," he pointed it out needlessly, watching Rianni put the toddler to bed.
"You're good with her," he said after a moment of quiet observation from his place by the door.
"Well, I was a baby girl once myself." Rianni giggled quietly, "So it comes from experience."
"Yeah. I wonder how I'll do," he replied, walking back into the living room with Rianni again. "Do you want children?"
"Sure, I mean, I did." Rianni sighed, "I tried once, with my first husband, but things just didn't work out for us. My second husband, I didn't want to make any copies of him, motherfracker used to beat the hell out of me every time he got drunk, worst part about him is he was a lawyer, so I wound up having to pay him to go away. Third husband, he was a lot more interested in picking up combat assignments on every backwater world in the galaxy to have kids, so, yeah, that wasn't going to happen. So, yeah, I figure by this point it's a little late for all that."
"It's never too late to raise a child if you really want to. I mean, I understand if you're too busy, or if your job is too dangerous so you don't want to risk it, but not having a partner is really no excuse to not have a child if you really want one," Ai'lani said. "I mean, I don't have a partner, but I love children, so I adopted A'ala. I don't want to wait. I mean, I could find a partner and bond, but who knows when that could be. And trying to conceive takes years for my species, so I don't want to wait."
"Well, that's good for you." Rianni smiled, "And I'm glad things have worked out for you, but I just think if it was going to happen for me it would have by now. I'm glad my sister is here to carry on the family name for my father, but I just don't see it for me."
"Well, don't give up. I'm just saying it could still happen. There's no such thing as fate, but that's just my opinion," Ai'lani told her with a smile. "I could always knock you up right here, if you want to," he said after a pause, grinning teasingly at her.
"Yeah, Maiell would love that." She giggled, referring to her friend turned hemorrhoid political officer.
"Why? Does he want to do it?" Ai'lani asked.
"No, he's got his eyes on Amalia." Rianni smiled, happy for her former clerk, "Plus I think if he had it all to do over again he would've left me to my fate the day he found me."
"I think he's kind of nice. I get a nice vibe from him. Plus, he's gorgeous so..." He shrugged. "You should give him a chance. I mean, you're not going to change the Romulan way of thinking all at once, so maybe it would be good to have someone to bridge things over for you. He seems reasonable that way; not as stuck up as some of the others."
"None of the others tried to fight me at every turn, or drug you." Rianni replied, getting angry just thinking of tr'Than, "Anyway, this has been such a happy visit, let's not ruin it by talking about him."
"Okay, I'll shut up," Ai'lani said apologetically. "I'm sorry for bringing him up," he said, leaning back against the wall. the mood was a big ruined, judging by the low hum of anger emanating from Rianni that Ai'lani could feel across the room. Giving her big puppy dog eyes, the Deltan smiled mischievously at her. "Love you. Forgive me?"
"I can't be mad at you." Rianni sighed, "Especially since I brought it up. You just defended him, I'll never understand why, but you do and always have."
"I'm a good judge of character," he told her, pushing himself off the wall and walking up to Rianni to put his hands around her waist. "I just worry about you."
"Me?" Rianni asked, raising an eyebrow but not even thinking to move his hands from her waist, "Okay, why?"
"Because, and don't take this as an insult or whatever, you're a bit impulsive and judgmental. You jump to conclusions. And you're stubborn. You're heart is in the right place. And you're kind and you stand up against injustice wherever you see it. And, while I love all of these things about you, not many others do. And you can get into trouble because of them, so I worry about you," Ai'lani explained kindly, making sure to gently caress her side as he spoke.
"Others can..." She desperately wanted to say they could all kiss her ass, but she realized in some ways Ai'lani was right, and even if he was wrong his heart was in the very right place, "I don't know, maybe, but I still got to be me, Ai'lani."
"I'm the last person to tell you to change, Rianni. I won't change for anyone either. Look at what happened on your ship. Your crew wanted me medicated, I said no because I don't change. I actually tried changing by taking those damn injections, and I hated it, so I stopped taking them and cut Bridget and her husband off. I don't want you to be anything but yourself. I never said that. I just worry. Okay?" he asked softly, hoping he'd managed to get his point across.
"Yeah." Rianni nodded, then laughingly added, "You worry too damn much."
"It's in my nature." Ai'lani shrugged. "Kaelin says it's because I get attached to everyone I meet, which is true, I guess."
"Nah, I'm just fabulous." Rianni joked.
"Yeah, I had no chance but to fall under your spell the minute I saw you." Ai'lani nodded seriously before smiling.
"I have that effect on men." Rianni snickered, "Who knows? In a few short months you and I can be divorced."
"Nah. You'd never get rid of me. I'm an all or nothing kind of guy."
"So were husbands one and three." Rianni sighed and laughed, ~Well, you know what they say, Rianni? Tragedy+time=comedy.~
"Aww...." Ai'lani frowned, pulling her close to wrap his arms around her and kiss the top of her head. "We should go out again. See what DS5 has to offer in terms of dating material. Just because I can't date doesn't mean I can't help you."
"Actually, I had a little interlude the other night with an old friend." Rianni replied coyly, "Can't say it wasn't illuminating."
Ai'lani's eyes widened and he gently moved Rianni away from him to look into her eyes. "Oh really?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Do tell. And I mean everything."
"Well, she's an old friend." Rianni smiled, "Just came back to the station and we had dinner together, a few drinks, then we went back to my place."
"Ooooh....Is she pretty?"
"Yeah." Rianni nodded, "And adventurous, too. Good qualities."
"Yeah, sounds like it. What species?"
"Well, she's not Romulan." Rianni giggled, thinking she might be the only Romulan in the galaxy interested in her own gender instead or reproducing for the good of the Empire.
"Oh now you're just teasing," Ai'lani replied with a small, playful pout. "So....does this mean no more kisses for me?" he asked with wide, blue eyes.
Rianni playfully kissed Ai'lani, rolled her eyes and sighed, "You are such a diva."
"So that's a....no to cutting off my kissing privileges?" Ai'lani asked, narrowing his eyes in mock consideration.
Rianni could only roll her eyes and laugh at him, he was definitely one of a kind.
Ai'lani smiled, tilting his head curiously at her. "What? I'm serious! Am I going to have to be the other man?" His tone was light, playful even, but there was an undertone of genuine concern there as well. As much as Ai'lani loved being as naturally affectionate towards his alien friends as he was with his Deltan friends, he was used to being pushed away once they paired off with someone else. He had gotten used to it, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
Rianni sighed, "Okay, one, you're the only man, since I've banned the rest of your gender regardless of species. Two, I really don't think anything much is going to come of this, I mean, it's me after all, the forever alone girl."
"Ugh! Stop saying that! You're not alone! You have me! And you are going to find someone and the two of you will fall desperately in love and spend every day together!"
"If you say so." Rianni giggled, "And don't wake the baby, huh?"
Ai'lani smiled, giving Rianni an affectionate squeeze. "Now you're thinking like a Deltan."
Rianni could only giggle, Ai'lani was infectious with his good nature.
"You know I love you, right?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.
"I know." She smiled, adding, "Me, too."
-OFF
Rianni
Now got babies on the brain
Ai'lani
New Dad
and
A'ala
Too cute for words