Judgement – Jaeih
by Lieutenant JG Taleria von Alesk & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
ON:
The view from Shiarael's office was near perfect. You could see the sea from her vantage point within the Senate Offices, it was a almost paradise like vista, from the near glowing seas that reflected ch'Havran's light in the night sky, to the fantastical views of the city at night. Near perfect for a woman of her tastes...
She stood in silence, simply admiring the views that her political power came with, she would like to see what her cousin was staring at now a days. Perhaps the brute and ugly faces of a Rihannsu guard on ch'Harvan? The price she paid for her failure and the burden she had put on Shiarael, Mirek's last act of spite.
The doors behind her silently opened, though Shiarael sensed the company of another. This life had taught her to listen carefully, for the steps of a former friend might now be those of a new enemy. She had dismissed her receptionist for the rest of the day, not wanting anyone beyond her visitor to know of the meeting at hand. She worked better in the shadows, and so did most Romulan senators of the Upper Senate, which she now almost controlled. Being her party's leader was enough at the moment, but not for long...
"You must be feeling very proud of yourself, Shiarael." He moved on silent feet as was best recommended in these halls. As Vice Proconsul of the el'Deihuih Kharik ir-Mhiessan tr’Tei did not have to stand on ceremony, even with those who had just acheived prominence among the members of their own coalition; he was, however polite, and had known the woman quite long enough to be on first name terms in private.
Shiarael twisted her head slightly to see the face of Kharik through the corner of her eye. "Indeed Kharik," She said as she returned her gaze to her view. "It's not often a Jourani comes to such power in the el'Deihuih in these times. And I suspect you think it's taken me too long to get to this point old friend? If I can call you that out of nostalgia." She added with the most stoic of tones.
Kharik chuckled softly. "Of course you may," he said joining her by the window. "The esteemed Hru’Deihu is very careful as to who he allows to rise and when. tr'Vainlli's influence has tendrils that run through the hearts of half of the Senate. It is said that they stretch so far that they wrap a thousand times around the Praetor's throat," he said in a soft, even tone. "Malicious gossip, I am sure," he was careful to add. He had given her an invitation to speak of what she planned now that she was in a position to begin extending her own fingers, it was up to her to acceot or to reject that invitation.
"I'm sure." She said with a huff. "The Praetor and I hadn't spoken in years till today, it's nice to know he remembers me. And I'm sure the Hru'Deihu knows that my influence, while concentrated, has earned me my own power without him, why should I need him? I doubt he wanted me in power, an ambitious woman who wants his job." She said in the utmost confidence in her friend.
"The Praetor's, or tr'Vainlli's?" Kharik asked, this was important as his own next design was moving into both of the chairs that tr'Vainlli now occupied - that of the hru'Deihu and the Continuing Committee. If she wanted the Preator's seat, then that was neither here nor there, and he would help her.
"Neither..... for now." Shiarael said with a slight smile even though Kharik could not see it. "The Continuing Committee and the Senate are power enough for the moment, two of three are respectable, and in a few years when the Praetor dies and I have solidified my position I'll make a move, for one of the two."
"Daise Fvillha Vrih tr’Avilh is a rightly paranoid man. His closest advisors are tr'Vainlli and Hasmek tr’’Liun - two men renowned for their astonishing proclivity to put themselves first. If the Praetor has a hope of clinging on he will outlive us all."
Shiarael nodded. "Yes, but I still have two hundred years to live out the praetor and everyone else, and any good Senator knows that Praetors never live to be three hundred and fifty." She near laughed.
"Shiarael, those who are too confident in their abilities to outlive all others also tend to live truncated lives. I ought not to need to advise you to be circumspect about your ambitions, even among friends." He coughed then and jerked his thunb towards the wall.
Dipping his other hand into a pocket in his robes Kharik activated a white noise generator. At the same time it emitted an electomagnetic pulse of sufficient power to erase any recording that the Listener had made. Without hard verification what was heard by the ears of a spy could have no more status than rumour.
"There is no privacy here," Kharik said laying a hand on her shoulder.
Shiarael nodded, unnerved by the encounter. "Where do you suggest we go then?" She asked in the most subtle of tones. "If they wanted to spy on me then they have certainly gone farther then this room." She added. "My apartments in the city must have been bugged as well, though I doubt they are looking for anything then to just make me nervous and deter me from my goals."
"There is nowhere where complete privacy is guaranteed," Kharik said with a twist of his lip. Then he drew his device from his pocket and pressed it into her hand. "It will suffice until you acquire your own. Verbal evidence does not count," he told her, "this is strong enough to disable any listening devices in a fifty meter area. Beyond that the degree of uncertainty as to who said what is too great for words alone to count."
Shiarael looked over the device, she wasn't exactly tech savvy now a days and her days in the Galae were almost a century behind her. "What else do you want to discuss with me? I trust my ambitions are not similar to yours Kharik." She said as she slipped the device into her sleeve pocket.
"I do not aspire to rule the Empire," Kharik said, "My family already prospers, I am a younger son and will not inherit, so my ambitions are confined to those that will help my own division of hte House. You always looked for greater things, I recall that from back when we served Serona, but I was, and always will be content."
"I'm content... from time to time, but the thing is I was like you once, the youngest daughter but fate handed me a branch after Serona, by brother was dead in the war, my sister an outcast in her involvement in a scandal. But still I was unimportant to my house after my Ambassadorial time on Earth, and the fact that most of the other female heirs were either disgraced or still in the Galae. Still even then, only a marriage to the ever rising and power hungry Jay house solidified my position as head of the great house Rllaillieu and later my father's house. And you know the rest, three children, two grand-children, two dead children, and a dead husband later I'm on top of the political world!" She replied with a bit of sarcasm.
"Given how bleak a location it is one cannot help but wonder why so many aspire to be there," was Kharik's bland observation.
"A rather black and white observation as the Humans put it." Shiarael stated. "I attended University for economics remember? I never really wanted to be a politician until I realized how much can be done within these great halls."
"My dear, you also never understood when others were being ironic," Kharik said with a twist of his lip. "The Senate house has always been the goal of those who aspire to power, it is a natural destination once one has grown tired of the weight of military honours."
"I never liked dishonesty and misleading tones, you should know better then to spring such... pedantic notions of humor on me. And yes, I do see more and more militant Senators with no taste for our art coming into the Senate, more and more instability to the natural order of things. I never went beyond Serona, as should all tactical politicians, though some would call me tactless in my opinions, with open distaste of the praetor and his lapdogs." She said in a near whisper.
"Its a very risky route, Shiarael," Kharik reminded her, "I can name those who have tried it in living memory, and succeeded on the fingers of my right hand," he added raising the appendage and waving it before the woman's eyes. The outer half of his hand was missing, gnarled scar tissue spreading across his palm, the result of an ancient wound and field surgery. Only two fingers and his thumb remained, the latter he curled in to emphasise the rarity.
"I never said anything about succeeding." Shiarael said with the most serious of tones. "Only laying the ground work is enough, I can never ascend to power with Mirek and my dreadful sister Jaeih still alive. And I can tell you they will both be alive for many years to come, Mirek more then Jaeih if she keeps going on the path she's on." She said as she raised her chin to move her eyesight away from Kharik's hand.
"One can never be certain what will happen," he said, "unless one desgins events."
"I'm not going to kill Jaeih until I'm sure she's a threat, she's no politician and merely some militant activist in the Senate. And as for Mirek, she'll live the rest of her exile on ch'Havran, and who know's, the elements work in mysterious ways, she may be of use to me provided my first plan fails." She said with a subtle laugh at the irony of her statement.
Kharik did not remark on that. "I think I've spent enough time congratulating you on your new position," he said, "any longer, and our peers might begin to imagine that we are conspiring. I will take my leave and allow others to take the opportunity to offer their congratulations. Do wander by my office at some point," he added lightly.
"Yes..." Shiarael said with a slight laugh. "Wander."
Shiarael gave a slight nod to her friend and continued her unobstructed viewing of the city, basking in it's beauty and wonder which she had come to know so well. "And I do believe half the Senate know we're conspiring, after so many years, they might wonder how far our merely 'political' relationship goes." She said with a slight cackle that could make that half of the Senate shake in their seats.
"Half the Senate suspects, the other half have their own concerns. Let's not confirm anyone's suspicions right now."
"Because I do not censor my self, well most of the time anyway, let it be known I like being seen as a threat and a partisan. And now with the coalition in the majority, I think I'm entitled to be a little free in speech, it's not exactly a slim majority that we hold no?" Shiarael asked as she moved her hand along the glass, as if to touch the city with her hand.
"It never pays to push one's advantage too soon," Kharik replied, a majority one day could fracture the next and it never did to alienate those who might turn enemy or ally.
"I'm tired of playing those games Kharik." Shiarael sighed in a weakened tone. “I’m tired of watching and waiting, tired of playing by the rules of someone else’s game. I’m just so tired of it Kharik.” Shiarael said as she turned around, this was a dramatic shift from the fiery tone she had taken a moment ago.
“I want to be able to sleep at night knowing everything might be alright in the morning, be able to look at my grandchildren as family and not as political pawns. I want to stop carrying my sisters shame on my shoulders as I have done for twenty years!” She said sternly and decisively. “And I want to be able to spit on the Praetor’s grave when he’s been dead for a century and I’m still alive, and my last son can be left alive because he has lost his ambition.” Shiarael said as she trailed off.
“But at the moment…” She started. “My son needs to die before I do, the praetor might be dead but his spirit will live far longer then mine, and my granddaughter… my one granddaughter will never sit behind this desk as long as she hates who she is meant to be. But she’s all too willing to play into whatever Isha t’Khellian has in mind, to think… my own granddaughter trusts a near traitor over me.” She said with a humbled look at Kharik. “Amazing.” She said with a sip of the ale on her desk.
"Isha t'Khellian proved her innocence before a tribunal," Kharik reminded her, "and over time I cannot think of one opponent who has successfully stood againt her. They all either come round to her way of thinking, or else they find themselves irreperably discredited, or else dead. Yet t'Khellian's hands remain as clean as they would if they were the source of the spring of Ihhuein herself. If anything, it shows that your granddaughter is not a fool - out in that place she could not hope to choose a better ally."
"She does not think in those terms Kharik, Kreallia doesn't know what she wants at the moment, she is as varied as the stars and even more unpredictable, I blame it on her human upbringing. She switches moods and tones quickly, just like her mother, unpredictable and a loose cannon. Maybe Isha will knock some sense into her, she and I might not have known each other the way I would like to but I hope she can find something Romulan in Kreallia still." Shiarael sighed as she rested a hand against her desk.
"Not exactly the ideal choice for the next Lady Jay correct?" Taking another sip from her glass. "Maybe I should just see how my sister's great-granddaughter turns out. Who knows? Maybe she'll be more like my mother and I then her ... disgraceful lineage. And maybe the three houses that fall at least partially under my tenure will be forged into one. One of political, one of military, one of true Imperial Might." She said with a trailing voice.
Kharik chuckled, covering his mouth with his half hand because he knew she hated the sight of it. "Did you ever stop to ask why t'Khellian was put on trial? It wasn't because her son failed to take a Federation Space Station. It was because she has Imperial ambitions and she is not afraid to assert her authority. She received a swift backhand from the Republic and survived by presenting them her own son and brother in law in her place.
"Shiareal, now is not the time to make such an ambition public, there is no appetite for the grandeur of ancient Houses among the populace, not any more. tr'Vainlli saw to that."
"It has never been public Kharik, I doubt it will ever happen, especially under Kreallia, not to mention the Senate would not allow it. However one can dream of a day where my family is united again. Not to mention everyone has forgot who my mother was, who her family was... what power we once had." Shiarael laughed softly. "Imperial might was something to be marveled at, something to be appreciated, and now, like so many others, it fell when the people decided that change was needed and backed elements of my own family. Progress for the sake of progress." She scoffed with another sip of ale, which she continued to keep doing so long as she was still able to form a thought.
Returning to her friend Shiarael sighed as she forgot the purpose of her meeting. "I'm sorry Kharik, with all this talk of my would be goals and contradictory statements at times I'm afraid I've forgot to ask you how your life has progressed." She said as she brushed a few strands of chocolate brown hair out of her eyes.
If she kept at the ale at this pace and intensity those two hundred years she thought she had were going to be somewhat foreshortened. "My life progresses according to plan," he shrugged. "The el'Deihuih are generally careful of their vested interests to cause any real unrest, it is the lower house to which we should look. Its increasingly full of reformers and self made men," he added with distaste, "the sort who could usefully be persuaded to take up a 'worthy' cause."
"Reform was needed a hundred years ago when we had a brutal dictator in control, when we were ripping each other apart over our petty differences. And while I can't say the latter has changed, I don't believe it will ever change even with 'reform' sweeping the lower house. They should already know who controls the Empire, the Upper Senate, the Military, and the Continuing Committee and the sooner they find that out, the better." Shiarael said with a final sip of the glass and set it down on her desk.
Kharik laughed, "The same applies to every upstart generation, and most of them fall. Those which don't come to understand and quickly cull their ranks of dissenters."
"Which reminds me that my son is among their ranks. And I do believe his death might put to an end the fantasy they have about getting either my support or my disgraced Sister's. If only he had married that Bnuar girl like I had asked him too he would have all the political support he would need for some reform to take place. What is it about my children and grandchildren that stir an emotional need to rebel? Uni, Kreallia, Tal, and then Kreallia's cousin Aidoann is an open defector! What is it about this generation that fuels their rebellious activities?" Shiarael almost yelled.
"Enough, Shiarael. We will talk again, but for now I have to be elsewhere. I will leave you to ponder on that question."
OFF:
Kharik ir-Mhiessan tr’Tei
Vice Procunsul of the Upper Senate
Shiarael i-Ramnau t'Rllailleu-Jay
Leader of the Main Upper Senate Coalition
by Lieutenant JG Taleria von Alesk & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
| Title | Jaeih | |
| Mission | Judgement | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant JG Taleria von Alesk & Commander Isha t'Vaurek | |
| Posted | Sat May 21, 2011 @ 7:00pm | |
| Location | ch'Rihan. Senate Buildings | |
| Timeline | SD37. 04:00 time equivelant on DS5 |
The view from Shiarael's office was near perfect. You could see the sea from her vantage point within the Senate Offices, it was a almost paradise like vista, from the near glowing seas that reflected ch'Havran's light in the night sky, to the fantastical views of the city at night. Near perfect for a woman of her tastes...
She stood in silence, simply admiring the views that her political power came with, she would like to see what her cousin was staring at now a days. Perhaps the brute and ugly faces of a Rihannsu guard on ch'Harvan? The price she paid for her failure and the burden she had put on Shiarael, Mirek's last act of spite.
The doors behind her silently opened, though Shiarael sensed the company of another. This life had taught her to listen carefully, for the steps of a former friend might now be those of a new enemy. She had dismissed her receptionist for the rest of the day, not wanting anyone beyond her visitor to know of the meeting at hand. She worked better in the shadows, and so did most Romulan senators of the Upper Senate, which she now almost controlled. Being her party's leader was enough at the moment, but not for long...
"You must be feeling very proud of yourself, Shiarael." He moved on silent feet as was best recommended in these halls. As Vice Proconsul of the el'Deihuih Kharik ir-Mhiessan tr’Tei did not have to stand on ceremony, even with those who had just acheived prominence among the members of their own coalition; he was, however polite, and had known the woman quite long enough to be on first name terms in private.
Shiarael twisted her head slightly to see the face of Kharik through the corner of her eye. "Indeed Kharik," She said as she returned her gaze to her view. "It's not often a Jourani comes to such power in the el'Deihuih in these times. And I suspect you think it's taken me too long to get to this point old friend? If I can call you that out of nostalgia." She added with the most stoic of tones.
Kharik chuckled softly. "Of course you may," he said joining her by the window. "The esteemed Hru’Deihu is very careful as to who he allows to rise and when. tr'Vainlli's influence has tendrils that run through the hearts of half of the Senate. It is said that they stretch so far that they wrap a thousand times around the Praetor's throat," he said in a soft, even tone. "Malicious gossip, I am sure," he was careful to add. He had given her an invitation to speak of what she planned now that she was in a position to begin extending her own fingers, it was up to her to acceot or to reject that invitation.
"I'm sure." She said with a huff. "The Praetor and I hadn't spoken in years till today, it's nice to know he remembers me. And I'm sure the Hru'Deihu knows that my influence, while concentrated, has earned me my own power without him, why should I need him? I doubt he wanted me in power, an ambitious woman who wants his job." She said in the utmost confidence in her friend.
"The Praetor's, or tr'Vainlli's?" Kharik asked, this was important as his own next design was moving into both of the chairs that tr'Vainlli now occupied - that of the hru'Deihu and the Continuing Committee. If she wanted the Preator's seat, then that was neither here nor there, and he would help her.
"Neither..... for now." Shiarael said with a slight smile even though Kharik could not see it. "The Continuing Committee and the Senate are power enough for the moment, two of three are respectable, and in a few years when the Praetor dies and I have solidified my position I'll make a move, for one of the two."
"Daise Fvillha Vrih tr’Avilh is a rightly paranoid man. His closest advisors are tr'Vainlli and Hasmek tr’’Liun - two men renowned for their astonishing proclivity to put themselves first. If the Praetor has a hope of clinging on he will outlive us all."
Shiarael nodded. "Yes, but I still have two hundred years to live out the praetor and everyone else, and any good Senator knows that Praetors never live to be three hundred and fifty." She near laughed.
"Shiarael, those who are too confident in their abilities to outlive all others also tend to live truncated lives. I ought not to need to advise you to be circumspect about your ambitions, even among friends." He coughed then and jerked his thunb towards the wall.
Dipping his other hand into a pocket in his robes Kharik activated a white noise generator. At the same time it emitted an electomagnetic pulse of sufficient power to erase any recording that the Listener had made. Without hard verification what was heard by the ears of a spy could have no more status than rumour.
"There is no privacy here," Kharik said laying a hand on her shoulder.
Shiarael nodded, unnerved by the encounter. "Where do you suggest we go then?" She asked in the most subtle of tones. "If they wanted to spy on me then they have certainly gone farther then this room." She added. "My apartments in the city must have been bugged as well, though I doubt they are looking for anything then to just make me nervous and deter me from my goals."
"There is nowhere where complete privacy is guaranteed," Kharik said with a twist of his lip. Then he drew his device from his pocket and pressed it into her hand. "It will suffice until you acquire your own. Verbal evidence does not count," he told her, "this is strong enough to disable any listening devices in a fifty meter area. Beyond that the degree of uncertainty as to who said what is too great for words alone to count."
Shiarael looked over the device, she wasn't exactly tech savvy now a days and her days in the Galae were almost a century behind her. "What else do you want to discuss with me? I trust my ambitions are not similar to yours Kharik." She said as she slipped the device into her sleeve pocket.
"I do not aspire to rule the Empire," Kharik said, "My family already prospers, I am a younger son and will not inherit, so my ambitions are confined to those that will help my own division of hte House. You always looked for greater things, I recall that from back when we served Serona, but I was, and always will be content."
"I'm content... from time to time, but the thing is I was like you once, the youngest daughter but fate handed me a branch after Serona, by brother was dead in the war, my sister an outcast in her involvement in a scandal. But still I was unimportant to my house after my Ambassadorial time on Earth, and the fact that most of the other female heirs were either disgraced or still in the Galae. Still even then, only a marriage to the ever rising and power hungry Jay house solidified my position as head of the great house Rllaillieu and later my father's house. And you know the rest, three children, two grand-children, two dead children, and a dead husband later I'm on top of the political world!" She replied with a bit of sarcasm.
"Given how bleak a location it is one cannot help but wonder why so many aspire to be there," was Kharik's bland observation.
"A rather black and white observation as the Humans put it." Shiarael stated. "I attended University for economics remember? I never really wanted to be a politician until I realized how much can be done within these great halls."
"My dear, you also never understood when others were being ironic," Kharik said with a twist of his lip. "The Senate house has always been the goal of those who aspire to power, it is a natural destination once one has grown tired of the weight of military honours."
"I never liked dishonesty and misleading tones, you should know better then to spring such... pedantic notions of humor on me. And yes, I do see more and more militant Senators with no taste for our art coming into the Senate, more and more instability to the natural order of things. I never went beyond Serona, as should all tactical politicians, though some would call me tactless in my opinions, with open distaste of the praetor and his lapdogs." She said in a near whisper.
"Its a very risky route, Shiarael," Kharik reminded her, "I can name those who have tried it in living memory, and succeeded on the fingers of my right hand," he added raising the appendage and waving it before the woman's eyes. The outer half of his hand was missing, gnarled scar tissue spreading across his palm, the result of an ancient wound and field surgery. Only two fingers and his thumb remained, the latter he curled in to emphasise the rarity.
"I never said anything about succeeding." Shiarael said with the most serious of tones. "Only laying the ground work is enough, I can never ascend to power with Mirek and my dreadful sister Jaeih still alive. And I can tell you they will both be alive for many years to come, Mirek more then Jaeih if she keeps going on the path she's on." She said as she raised her chin to move her eyesight away from Kharik's hand.
"One can never be certain what will happen," he said, "unless one desgins events."
"I'm not going to kill Jaeih until I'm sure she's a threat, she's no politician and merely some militant activist in the Senate. And as for Mirek, she'll live the rest of her exile on ch'Havran, and who know's, the elements work in mysterious ways, she may be of use to me provided my first plan fails." She said with a subtle laugh at the irony of her statement.
Kharik did not remark on that. "I think I've spent enough time congratulating you on your new position," he said, "any longer, and our peers might begin to imagine that we are conspiring. I will take my leave and allow others to take the opportunity to offer their congratulations. Do wander by my office at some point," he added lightly.
"Yes..." Shiarael said with a slight laugh. "Wander."
Shiarael gave a slight nod to her friend and continued her unobstructed viewing of the city, basking in it's beauty and wonder which she had come to know so well. "And I do believe half the Senate know we're conspiring, after so many years, they might wonder how far our merely 'political' relationship goes." She said with a slight cackle that could make that half of the Senate shake in their seats.
"Half the Senate suspects, the other half have their own concerns. Let's not confirm anyone's suspicions right now."
"Because I do not censor my self, well most of the time anyway, let it be known I like being seen as a threat and a partisan. And now with the coalition in the majority, I think I'm entitled to be a little free in speech, it's not exactly a slim majority that we hold no?" Shiarael asked as she moved her hand along the glass, as if to touch the city with her hand.
"It never pays to push one's advantage too soon," Kharik replied, a majority one day could fracture the next and it never did to alienate those who might turn enemy or ally.
"I'm tired of playing those games Kharik." Shiarael sighed in a weakened tone. “I’m tired of watching and waiting, tired of playing by the rules of someone else’s game. I’m just so tired of it Kharik.” Shiarael said as she turned around, this was a dramatic shift from the fiery tone she had taken a moment ago.
“I want to be able to sleep at night knowing everything might be alright in the morning, be able to look at my grandchildren as family and not as political pawns. I want to stop carrying my sisters shame on my shoulders as I have done for twenty years!” She said sternly and decisively. “And I want to be able to spit on the Praetor’s grave when he’s been dead for a century and I’m still alive, and my last son can be left alive because he has lost his ambition.” Shiarael said as she trailed off.
“But at the moment…” She started. “My son needs to die before I do, the praetor might be dead but his spirit will live far longer then mine, and my granddaughter… my one granddaughter will never sit behind this desk as long as she hates who she is meant to be. But she’s all too willing to play into whatever Isha t’Khellian has in mind, to think… my own granddaughter trusts a near traitor over me.” She said with a humbled look at Kharik. “Amazing.” She said with a sip of the ale on her desk.
"Isha t'Khellian proved her innocence before a tribunal," Kharik reminded her, "and over time I cannot think of one opponent who has successfully stood againt her. They all either come round to her way of thinking, or else they find themselves irreperably discredited, or else dead. Yet t'Khellian's hands remain as clean as they would if they were the source of the spring of Ihhuein herself. If anything, it shows that your granddaughter is not a fool - out in that place she could not hope to choose a better ally."
"She does not think in those terms Kharik, Kreallia doesn't know what she wants at the moment, she is as varied as the stars and even more unpredictable, I blame it on her human upbringing. She switches moods and tones quickly, just like her mother, unpredictable and a loose cannon. Maybe Isha will knock some sense into her, she and I might not have known each other the way I would like to but I hope she can find something Romulan in Kreallia still." Shiarael sighed as she rested a hand against her desk.
"Not exactly the ideal choice for the next Lady Jay correct?" Taking another sip from her glass. "Maybe I should just see how my sister's great-granddaughter turns out. Who knows? Maybe she'll be more like my mother and I then her ... disgraceful lineage. And maybe the three houses that fall at least partially under my tenure will be forged into one. One of political, one of military, one of true Imperial Might." She said with a trailing voice.
Kharik chuckled, covering his mouth with his half hand because he knew she hated the sight of it. "Did you ever stop to ask why t'Khellian was put on trial? It wasn't because her son failed to take a Federation Space Station. It was because she has Imperial ambitions and she is not afraid to assert her authority. She received a swift backhand from the Republic and survived by presenting them her own son and brother in law in her place.
"Shiareal, now is not the time to make such an ambition public, there is no appetite for the grandeur of ancient Houses among the populace, not any more. tr'Vainlli saw to that."
"It has never been public Kharik, I doubt it will ever happen, especially under Kreallia, not to mention the Senate would not allow it. However one can dream of a day where my family is united again. Not to mention everyone has forgot who my mother was, who her family was... what power we once had." Shiarael laughed softly. "Imperial might was something to be marveled at, something to be appreciated, and now, like so many others, it fell when the people decided that change was needed and backed elements of my own family. Progress for the sake of progress." She scoffed with another sip of ale, which she continued to keep doing so long as she was still able to form a thought.
Returning to her friend Shiarael sighed as she forgot the purpose of her meeting. "I'm sorry Kharik, with all this talk of my would be goals and contradictory statements at times I'm afraid I've forgot to ask you how your life has progressed." She said as she brushed a few strands of chocolate brown hair out of her eyes.
If she kept at the ale at this pace and intensity those two hundred years she thought she had were going to be somewhat foreshortened. "My life progresses according to plan," he shrugged. "The el'Deihuih are generally careful of their vested interests to cause any real unrest, it is the lower house to which we should look. Its increasingly full of reformers and self made men," he added with distaste, "the sort who could usefully be persuaded to take up a 'worthy' cause."
"Reform was needed a hundred years ago when we had a brutal dictator in control, when we were ripping each other apart over our petty differences. And while I can't say the latter has changed, I don't believe it will ever change even with 'reform' sweeping the lower house. They should already know who controls the Empire, the Upper Senate, the Military, and the Continuing Committee and the sooner they find that out, the better." Shiarael said with a final sip of the glass and set it down on her desk.
Kharik laughed, "The same applies to every upstart generation, and most of them fall. Those which don't come to understand and quickly cull their ranks of dissenters."
"Which reminds me that my son is among their ranks. And I do believe his death might put to an end the fantasy they have about getting either my support or my disgraced Sister's. If only he had married that Bnuar girl like I had asked him too he would have all the political support he would need for some reform to take place. What is it about my children and grandchildren that stir an emotional need to rebel? Uni, Kreallia, Tal, and then Kreallia's cousin Aidoann is an open defector! What is it about this generation that fuels their rebellious activities?" Shiarael almost yelled.
"Enough, Shiarael. We will talk again, but for now I have to be elsewhere. I will leave you to ponder on that question."
OFF:
Kharik ir-Mhiessan tr’Tei
Vice Procunsul of the Upper Senate
Shiarael i-Ramnau t'Rllailleu-Jay
Leader of the Main Upper Senate Coalition