Things Past – The Beginning of Always
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal
Post Details
Few people remained at the Institute after lectures were over, people had places to be, families to go home to but Imanil often lingered after hours. It was one time of day she actually had a chance to get some work done without disturbance.
That was not why she stayed tonight – he had said he would come back so that they could return to the topic of Terok Nor, something that they had somehow quite failed to cover the previous evening.
As she watched the chronometer Imanil tapped her foot against the edge of her desk, the only indication that she was anything less than calm – what if he had had second thoughts?
Luckily for her, he didn't. Tharek Getal, in all of his Cardassian self, strode into the office of Imanil with as much power as a live torpedo. His eyes quickly and with intent locked onto Imanil, and smiled. His smile was warm and charming. And for once, he didn't have to fake it, or pretend. She made Tharek Getal of the Obsidian Order smile, with nothing more than just sitting there.
Imanil drew a breath as she waited for her heartrate to slow then she rose and came to meet him.
"You came," she said unable to contain the grin that lit her face and made her eyes glow with warmth. Imanil grasped one of his hands between hers and touched his fingers to her lips as she looked up at him. "Tharek, there's something I would like to show you," she said.
"What is it?" He asked, as he stared long and hard into her eyes.
"My work," she said, "I think at the very least you should know that I do a little more than point out to coming generations what ought to be obvious about their built environment, but which for some reason most of them fail to observe without prompting."
Tharek laughed, she was funny as well as beautiful. "I'd be happy to."
"Wonderful," Imanil said releasing his hand and inviting him to move into the corridor, "This way, please," she said. Every word she spoke was accompanied by instinctive little touches, a hand on his arm, an admiring glance.
Imanil happened to be very proud of her work, though she knew that the more progressive elements that somehow emerged in government from time to time would like to see her funding stopped. She believed it to be quite necessary, and she hoped that Tharek would believe the same. She wanted him to take pride in it too.
They stopped a few doors down. This one looked little different to the door to Imanil's office, but she knew what lay behind was quite other. With flying fingers she tapped her code into the panel, then after a moment the panel slid back.
Imanil raised herself of her toes and presented her eye to the scanner. "Unfortunately this device was not positioned specifically for either of us, but for my predecessor," she said apologetically. Indeed it was a good four inches higher than she could comfortably use, and a good five inches lower than Tharek could. "I do apologise for the necessity, but access to this room is not possible without a retinal scan. I hope you will understand."
"It's protocol, I expected nothing less." Getal confirmed, as he lent down to scan his own eye.
“Again, I apologise for all these precautions, but this is a classified area,” she said as the door slid closed behind them.
The room they entered appeared to be a cross between a holodeck and a laboratory, compact, not more than eight meters square. The area just to the right of the door housed a bank of consoles which lit beneath Imanil’s palm. It was also linked to the central database and would filter what data was available according to the security clearance of the persons in the room.
As a Gul Imanil was certain that Tharek had a high enough clearance to be admitted to her lab, but she could not yet be sure exactly what she could show him. “If you wouldn’t mind inputting your security clearance code into this panel,” she said.
He smiled and obliged, tapping his codes into the glowing panel. "There." Tharek said as he finished.
"Thank you. Not many people know about this room. I was first given access about six months after I arrived here as one of three analysts working for my predecessor," she spoke as she accessed the right set of files. "I needed to model the effect of a certain frequency sound wave on common building materials and at that point I couldn't come up with a way to do it on a purely mathematical basis. The combination of holographic and transporter technology in here allows me to simulate almost any environment and that entire CPU is dedicated to processing the results." Imanil paused as the response from the Central Database began to compile.
She smiled, and turned back to Tharek, "I could bore you to tears with detailed verbal descriptions or even give you a virtual tour of Terek Nor using any old holodeck, but it would be just that, a surface recreation. This room is a little different. For my work I need exact recreations down to to the smallest component, anything else introduces too much scope for error."
The room darkened as a blue-green planet grew in the centre of the room, and above it the dark suggestion of a second sphere, "Terok Nor in minature," Imanil said taking Tharek's hand and leading him towards the simulation, "The outer design was heavily influenced by Tavor Kell’s terrestrial architecture, the three pylons, viewing both the upper and lower sections as a single unit form the spherical structure, the pattern is repeated in the plane of rings the outer docking ring, which supports the pylons, the inner habitat ring and the central core, all of which are linked by three main struts, the habitat ring and the core being further joined by these three connectors. You can touch it," she said, it wasn't often that anyone got to hold a space station in their hands, one that was perfect in every internal and external detail.
Getal held out his hand, his other still grasping Imanil's. He cupped Terok Nor, and brought it towards himself. "It's a thing of beauty." He said, turning to meet Imanil's eyes.
"Its one of my favourite designs," she said gazing up at him. She couldn't help but smile at the expression of fascinated wonder that her little model had caused. "If I wanted to test the defence systems I could configure an attacking vessel and simply stand here and watch."
"Your willpower must be incredible. I would never leave this room if I had the choice. All of Cardassia's beauty, grace and might at your fingertips. It's awe-inspiring."
"I confess that I have on more than one occaision wasted an hour or two in here playing god when I should have been doing something more productive," she said resting her head against his arm.
"The Nor design is special to me," she told him. "A tragedy was caused by a design flaw in one of the earlier models. Tallis Nor in the Amarath sector. The system was uninhabited, but resource rich, so the workers there were shipped in from other areas. They were able to tamper with the counter insurgency systems on the lower levels, then they caused a riot. A massive release of chloraxine gas throughout the station killed every Cardassian in that place, three hundred and seventy two souls ... with an intelligent iterative algorithm I proved that the event was both predictable and preventable. Its not just space-born systems I design, in fact its the civil defence work that is most controversial, if the cardassian underground were to find out about this place," Imanil shrugged, "you understand of course why its all very secret."
Tharek made no other movement in his face, besides his widening smile. Did the Order know of this place? Getal stopped his train of thought. No, the Order didn't know, nor will they find out. Imanil was special. This place was special to her. Getal wanted to protect what is special to him, to Imanil. "Of course."
"I knew you would," Imanil beamed up at him. There was something so solid and reassuring about Tharek that It never occurred to her for even the briefest fraction of a second not to trust him, "Would you like to go inside?" she asked him, "I can show you any part of Terok Nor you wish to see."
"I might as well find out where I'll be working. I'll be overseeing a small Bajoran sector of land, the Kendra province I believe it was. I'd like to see where I'll be staying when I'm not making sure Bajoran's aren't killing themselves.
That was the first thing that Tharek had actually told Imanil about why he was going to Terok Nor. It was because she wasn't interested just that it was not her place to pry into military matters. Imanil simply assumed that If he wished to tell her, then he would.
"just a moment then." Imanil went back over to the control area and made a few adjustments leaving Tharek alone in the middle of the room. This was not just an ordinary holodeck and though she fully understood the physics of it, she didn't know quite how to explain to him that when she said 'go inside' she meant it literally. "Ready?" she asked returning to his side and clutching his arm as she turned towards him.
"As I'll ever be." He said, planting his free arm around Imanil's.
As he pressed her close to him Imanil let go of his arm and wrapped her arms around him. True, the fact that he wore uniform made this slightly uncomfortable but she didn't really mind that. Raising herself on her toes as she kissed him lightly on the lips breathing in the the scent of spice and soap that rose from his skin.
"I've never shared this with anyone else," she told Tharek as she pulled very slightly away, "and even if they did know it was possible there are very few people who would appreciate just how amazing it is," she continued waiting for him to notice that they were now standing very close together on one of the fifteen transporter padds that served the habitat ring. "Its all yours, Tharek, sole possession of Terok Nor for the next hour or two."
He smiled. "I couldn't have pictured anywhere better to be, or who to spend it with, Imanil."
She let go of him and took his hand again as they stepped down into the hallway, "Well, you did ask me how our designs surpass that of all other races in the Beta and Alpha quadrants," she reminded him, repeating his earlier request verbatim. "I thought that you'd prefer to see it," she added.
It didn't really matter where he would have access to when he was on the actual station, Imanil took him everywhere that she found interesting, and everywhere else he requested then as they returned to the promenade she paused by one of the windows. "That's my lab out there,"she said referring to the darkness beyond the projected image of Bajor to which her model held its synchronous orbit.
"I've never actually left Cardassia Prime," she told him, as she eyed his reflection in the glass. "There's one last thing I want to show you, so that you can remember me here when you are -" she was about to say alone but she doubted that he would be unless he wanted to be and anyway, she didn't really want to fix that thought in words. "-away."
Getal was contemplating her words. How she felt. How he felt. "Come with me." He finally spoke.
Her mind reached the obvious answer but she was almost afraid to voice it in case she had misinterpreted his meaning. "Come where?" she asked hoping that his clarification would confirm her conclusion, not break it, "Terok Nor?"
He nodded. "Terok Nor has many labs, I will make sure that your scientific needs are seen to, but it won't be as fancy as this lab. Come with me Imanil... "
"You can make that happen?" she asked - could he? Imanil had never had either cause or inclination to leave Cardassia, but her desire to stay close to this man far outweighed that. "Of course I will come with you," she told him grasping his face between her palms, "I'd follow you anywhere, Tharek."
He smiled, almost tearfully, and placed a single hand on Imanil's cheek. "Imanil... " Tharek started, the sound of his voice croaky with the strain of holding back tears. Tharek still had an image to retain. Imanil, was the first Cardassian woman, or any woman for that matter, that had managed to take Getal's heart from him.
Imanil gazed into his deep dark eyes, "You don't have to say anything," she said, an echo of words he had spoken to her in her office what seemed like a very long time ago. Though she kept her gaze on his she turned her head slightly, into his palm and kissed it, his skin warm and salty on her lips.
He smiled, and spoke words that never should have left Getal's lips. Words that break empires, shatter worlds and break the balance of good and evil.
"I love you."
Slowly Imanil twisted her head back again. "I love you too," she said, "from the second we touched, all that I am was yours, Tharek," she said her words almost a breath, "my Love."
Tharek knew what had to be done now. Imanil must've known too. They had proclaimed their love. Not only that, their love since the moment they met. Getal didn't want to scare her off though. Thoughts of him losing her now, would destroy him. So, he let the question in his mind pass, momentarily. He knew this woman would be the one for him. The question would come in good time.
"I took the liberty of finding where your quarters were to be in case you should wish to see them," she told him.
"Yes, please." He said, coming back to the situation and moment at hand.
It was not far, and not far from the transporter pad through which they had originally arrived. "Here we are," Imanil said as they arrived at the door, "Given the amount of detail in the Central Database I could almost give credence to the urban myth that there is a secret order watching over us, almost."
Getal smiled. Hiding the Obsidian image beneath. "Let's not speak. I only wish to bask," he said, as he moved her gently to the luxurious looking bed Getal would have posession of, once he, and Imanil, moved onto Terok Nor.
Imanil followed Tharek's guidance and sat on the edge of the bed. "I meant every word I said, Tharek," she said as she noticed that that burning look of savage, greedy lust had returned to his eyes, it made her tremble for his touch.
"As did I," he said, manouvering her onto the bed fully.
"We'd be a lot more comfortable without this," she said running one hand over the armoured carapace of his uniform while the fingertips of her other hand trailed down the ridge that edged his neck as if to emphasize the difference in sensation.
Very few people of Getal's status would have removed their armour for anybody, let alone a woman. But, Getal trusted this woman. Strangely, she made him feel at ease. He obeyed her will, and removed his chest plate.
"You're much too kind to me," Imanil said in thanks as she nuzzled against his shoulder, close enough for her warm breath to tickle his ear as she spoke. The fabric of the shirt he wore underneath was soft and didn't prod her as she tried to get close. Imanil fancied that she could feel every ridge, scale and muscle beneath as she slipped her arms around him.
"Nonsense. Theres no limit of how kind I could be," he said, smiling cheekily as he embraced Imanil.
Imanil wanted this extraordinary man more and more every second she spent with him. She brushed his cheek with her fingertips as their clothed bodies pressed closer together, "nor is there to the devotion that I could give to you," she said, she wasn't sure why, it just seemed appropriate to Imanil to tell him so.
Getal was caught in Imanil's look. He couldn't tear away, not that he wanted to anyway. She was all he wanted to live for. All he wanted to be there for. He had retained the question up until now, but he couldn't bear it any longer.
"Marry me."
Imanil blinked, indeed her heart almost stopped beating at such a frank request. She pulled away and turned onto her knees on the bed before she took his hands in hers. "There is no-one else to whom I could aspire," she said, "of course I will marry you if you will consent to take me as your wife," she said.
He smiled, finally releasing a single tear. "Nothing in this life would make me happier."
"Then perhaps you ought to allow me to introduce you to my parents," she said.
"As is custom, I will have to meet them, why not sooner? I'm sure they are great and respectable people of the highest calibre."
With a diplomat for a mother, and the retired commander of the Fifth Order for a father Imanil had no doubt of her parent's calibre, "My mother had already expressed a wish to meet you," she said, "My father ... well, my mother suggested that we break the news to him more gently. He has four sons and only one daughter, he is quite protective of me," Imanil added.
"He understands family. It is understandable for him to be protective my love. Don't worry, I will only structure and fortify your father's wishes. No harm will ever come to you whilst you bear my name and my heart."
"I have never had cause to question their guidance," Imanil said, "If you cannot impress him, Tharek, no one ever will."
"Then I'll impress him." Getal stated softly. He was adament to do right by her family. A Cardassian marriage was never in place, unless blessing was passed down from the head of the family.
Imanil curled against the pillows and as she did drew him close to her. "I spoke with my mother at length last night, she said that she would speak with him." As far as Imanil could tell the only person alive or dead that could sway her father's opinion was her mother, certainly, neither she nor any of her brothers had achieved it.
"I'll tell her how grateful I am, when I meet her in person." Getal smiled yet again. She was making out his father to be an unbreakable wall of Cardassian embodiment, but he had one flaw; Tharek was also one of these walls. The only person that had broken into this wall so far, was Imanil.
"Should I arrange for you to visit them tomorrow evening?" Imanil asked, her fingertips idly massaging his shoulders.
He relaxed completely at her touch. Tharek let out a relaxed and heavy sigh. In a lower, quieter tone he responded. "You know I can't say no when you do that."
"I would be devastated if you said that you would not visit," she said, moving her fingers in small circular movements up the back of his neck, either side of his spine.
Tharek's neck arched forward. "Alright, I'll go. I'll clear my schedule at Central Command," he said, almost hypnotized by her movements.
"I think they'll love you every bit as much as I do," she whispered in his ear as she looped her arms around him from behind clutching him tight around the waist. She pressed her body against his back. Then gently she kissed him down the back of the neck, exactly where her fingers had just been.
"One can only hope." He said, his eyes closing. Gently he held his arms around Imanil and smiled. She was definitely the woman for him to spend his entire life with.
"They will. My mother is already intrigued, and my father is not nearly as much of a monster as he likes to pretend. You'll see - His study is stuffed with holographs of us all." Imanil paused then shifted a little, snuggling up against Tharek between his arm and his chest - she was so very happy that he had taken off that rigid plate - so that she could comfortably be so close to him.
"Come Imanil. No more talk of fathers and mothers." He said, the warm smile still showing on his face. "Let us bask in each other. We have a long day tomorrow."
"Of course," she agreed, "I'm talking too much again, aren't I?"
"No my dear. No. I love your voice, it's just, we have a big day tomorrow, a very big day, and I think from what you've said, I'm going to need my energy to win your father's affection." Getal smiled again, pecking her on the forehead gently.
If Imanil found it contradictory that he had just told her to stop talking about parents before he went straight back to the same subject she did not comment on it. "I'm sure you have all the energy you need," she said.
"Trust me," Getal began. "Even a Gul has trouble winning the love of a beautiful woman's parents."
"But you're not just any Gul, you're my Gul and that has to count for something," she said, "you'll be charming, and witty and interesting, and they'll find it impossible to ignore or discount how much I adore you."
He smiled, rubbing her right cheek with his palm. "You never cease to make me feel loved, Imanil. I only hope I can return the feeling for our lives."
Imanil kissed the inside of his wrist, she loved his touch on her skin. "I'm sure that there is nothing that you cannot do," she said.
Gul Tharek Getal
Fifth Order Gul and Obsidian Order Agent
Lost in love
&
Professor Imanil Lemarrev
Lecturer on Aesthetics and the Built Environment
Genius, and custodian of a top secret experimental research lab
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal
Post Details
| Title | The Beginning of Always | |
| Mission | Things Past | |
| Author(s) | Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal | |
| Posted | Sun May 22, 2011 @ 10:52pm | |
| Location | University of Culat. Cardassia Prime. | |
| Timeline | Vague |
That was not why she stayed tonight – he had said he would come back so that they could return to the topic of Terok Nor, something that they had somehow quite failed to cover the previous evening.
As she watched the chronometer Imanil tapped her foot against the edge of her desk, the only indication that she was anything less than calm – what if he had had second thoughts?
Luckily for her, he didn't. Tharek Getal, in all of his Cardassian self, strode into the office of Imanil with as much power as a live torpedo. His eyes quickly and with intent locked onto Imanil, and smiled. His smile was warm and charming. And for once, he didn't have to fake it, or pretend. She made Tharek Getal of the Obsidian Order smile, with nothing more than just sitting there.
Imanil drew a breath as she waited for her heartrate to slow then she rose and came to meet him.
"You came," she said unable to contain the grin that lit her face and made her eyes glow with warmth. Imanil grasped one of his hands between hers and touched his fingers to her lips as she looked up at him. "Tharek, there's something I would like to show you," she said.
"What is it?" He asked, as he stared long and hard into her eyes.
"My work," she said, "I think at the very least you should know that I do a little more than point out to coming generations what ought to be obvious about their built environment, but which for some reason most of them fail to observe without prompting."
Tharek laughed, she was funny as well as beautiful. "I'd be happy to."
"Wonderful," Imanil said releasing his hand and inviting him to move into the corridor, "This way, please," she said. Every word she spoke was accompanied by instinctive little touches, a hand on his arm, an admiring glance.
Imanil happened to be very proud of her work, though she knew that the more progressive elements that somehow emerged in government from time to time would like to see her funding stopped. She believed it to be quite necessary, and she hoped that Tharek would believe the same. She wanted him to take pride in it too.
They stopped a few doors down. This one looked little different to the door to Imanil's office, but she knew what lay behind was quite other. With flying fingers she tapped her code into the panel, then after a moment the panel slid back.
Imanil raised herself of her toes and presented her eye to the scanner. "Unfortunately this device was not positioned specifically for either of us, but for my predecessor," she said apologetically. Indeed it was a good four inches higher than she could comfortably use, and a good five inches lower than Tharek could. "I do apologise for the necessity, but access to this room is not possible without a retinal scan. I hope you will understand."
"It's protocol, I expected nothing less." Getal confirmed, as he lent down to scan his own eye.
“Again, I apologise for all these precautions, but this is a classified area,” she said as the door slid closed behind them.
The room they entered appeared to be a cross between a holodeck and a laboratory, compact, not more than eight meters square. The area just to the right of the door housed a bank of consoles which lit beneath Imanil’s palm. It was also linked to the central database and would filter what data was available according to the security clearance of the persons in the room.
As a Gul Imanil was certain that Tharek had a high enough clearance to be admitted to her lab, but she could not yet be sure exactly what she could show him. “If you wouldn’t mind inputting your security clearance code into this panel,” she said.
He smiled and obliged, tapping his codes into the glowing panel. "There." Tharek said as he finished.
"Thank you. Not many people know about this room. I was first given access about six months after I arrived here as one of three analysts working for my predecessor," she spoke as she accessed the right set of files. "I needed to model the effect of a certain frequency sound wave on common building materials and at that point I couldn't come up with a way to do it on a purely mathematical basis. The combination of holographic and transporter technology in here allows me to simulate almost any environment and that entire CPU is dedicated to processing the results." Imanil paused as the response from the Central Database began to compile.
She smiled, and turned back to Tharek, "I could bore you to tears with detailed verbal descriptions or even give you a virtual tour of Terek Nor using any old holodeck, but it would be just that, a surface recreation. This room is a little different. For my work I need exact recreations down to to the smallest component, anything else introduces too much scope for error."
The room darkened as a blue-green planet grew in the centre of the room, and above it the dark suggestion of a second sphere, "Terok Nor in minature," Imanil said taking Tharek's hand and leading him towards the simulation, "The outer design was heavily influenced by Tavor Kell’s terrestrial architecture, the three pylons, viewing both the upper and lower sections as a single unit form the spherical structure, the pattern is repeated in the plane of rings the outer docking ring, which supports the pylons, the inner habitat ring and the central core, all of which are linked by three main struts, the habitat ring and the core being further joined by these three connectors. You can touch it," she said, it wasn't often that anyone got to hold a space station in their hands, one that was perfect in every internal and external detail.
Getal held out his hand, his other still grasping Imanil's. He cupped Terok Nor, and brought it towards himself. "It's a thing of beauty." He said, turning to meet Imanil's eyes.
"Its one of my favourite designs," she said gazing up at him. She couldn't help but smile at the expression of fascinated wonder that her little model had caused. "If I wanted to test the defence systems I could configure an attacking vessel and simply stand here and watch."
"Your willpower must be incredible. I would never leave this room if I had the choice. All of Cardassia's beauty, grace and might at your fingertips. It's awe-inspiring."
"I confess that I have on more than one occaision wasted an hour or two in here playing god when I should have been doing something more productive," she said resting her head against his arm.
"The Nor design is special to me," she told him. "A tragedy was caused by a design flaw in one of the earlier models. Tallis Nor in the Amarath sector. The system was uninhabited, but resource rich, so the workers there were shipped in from other areas. They were able to tamper with the counter insurgency systems on the lower levels, then they caused a riot. A massive release of chloraxine gas throughout the station killed every Cardassian in that place, three hundred and seventy two souls ... with an intelligent iterative algorithm I proved that the event was both predictable and preventable. Its not just space-born systems I design, in fact its the civil defence work that is most controversial, if the cardassian underground were to find out about this place," Imanil shrugged, "you understand of course why its all very secret."
Tharek made no other movement in his face, besides his widening smile. Did the Order know of this place? Getal stopped his train of thought. No, the Order didn't know, nor will they find out. Imanil was special. This place was special to her. Getal wanted to protect what is special to him, to Imanil. "Of course."
"I knew you would," Imanil beamed up at him. There was something so solid and reassuring about Tharek that It never occurred to her for even the briefest fraction of a second not to trust him, "Would you like to go inside?" she asked him, "I can show you any part of Terok Nor you wish to see."
"I might as well find out where I'll be working. I'll be overseeing a small Bajoran sector of land, the Kendra province I believe it was. I'd like to see where I'll be staying when I'm not making sure Bajoran's aren't killing themselves.
That was the first thing that Tharek had actually told Imanil about why he was going to Terok Nor. It was because she wasn't interested just that it was not her place to pry into military matters. Imanil simply assumed that If he wished to tell her, then he would.
"just a moment then." Imanil went back over to the control area and made a few adjustments leaving Tharek alone in the middle of the room. This was not just an ordinary holodeck and though she fully understood the physics of it, she didn't know quite how to explain to him that when she said 'go inside' she meant it literally. "Ready?" she asked returning to his side and clutching his arm as she turned towards him.
"As I'll ever be." He said, planting his free arm around Imanil's.
As he pressed her close to him Imanil let go of his arm and wrapped her arms around him. True, the fact that he wore uniform made this slightly uncomfortable but she didn't really mind that. Raising herself on her toes as she kissed him lightly on the lips breathing in the the scent of spice and soap that rose from his skin.
"I've never shared this with anyone else," she told Tharek as she pulled very slightly away, "and even if they did know it was possible there are very few people who would appreciate just how amazing it is," she continued waiting for him to notice that they were now standing very close together on one of the fifteen transporter padds that served the habitat ring. "Its all yours, Tharek, sole possession of Terok Nor for the next hour or two."
He smiled. "I couldn't have pictured anywhere better to be, or who to spend it with, Imanil."
She let go of him and took his hand again as they stepped down into the hallway, "Well, you did ask me how our designs surpass that of all other races in the Beta and Alpha quadrants," she reminded him, repeating his earlier request verbatim. "I thought that you'd prefer to see it," she added.
It didn't really matter where he would have access to when he was on the actual station, Imanil took him everywhere that she found interesting, and everywhere else he requested then as they returned to the promenade she paused by one of the windows. "That's my lab out there,"she said referring to the darkness beyond the projected image of Bajor to which her model held its synchronous orbit.
"I've never actually left Cardassia Prime," she told him, as she eyed his reflection in the glass. "There's one last thing I want to show you, so that you can remember me here when you are -" she was about to say alone but she doubted that he would be unless he wanted to be and anyway, she didn't really want to fix that thought in words. "-away."
Getal was contemplating her words. How she felt. How he felt. "Come with me." He finally spoke.
Her mind reached the obvious answer but she was almost afraid to voice it in case she had misinterpreted his meaning. "Come where?" she asked hoping that his clarification would confirm her conclusion, not break it, "Terok Nor?"
He nodded. "Terok Nor has many labs, I will make sure that your scientific needs are seen to, but it won't be as fancy as this lab. Come with me Imanil... "
"You can make that happen?" she asked - could he? Imanil had never had either cause or inclination to leave Cardassia, but her desire to stay close to this man far outweighed that. "Of course I will come with you," she told him grasping his face between her palms, "I'd follow you anywhere, Tharek."
He smiled, almost tearfully, and placed a single hand on Imanil's cheek. "Imanil... " Tharek started, the sound of his voice croaky with the strain of holding back tears. Tharek still had an image to retain. Imanil, was the first Cardassian woman, or any woman for that matter, that had managed to take Getal's heart from him.
Imanil gazed into his deep dark eyes, "You don't have to say anything," she said, an echo of words he had spoken to her in her office what seemed like a very long time ago. Though she kept her gaze on his she turned her head slightly, into his palm and kissed it, his skin warm and salty on her lips.
He smiled, and spoke words that never should have left Getal's lips. Words that break empires, shatter worlds and break the balance of good and evil.
"I love you."
Slowly Imanil twisted her head back again. "I love you too," she said, "from the second we touched, all that I am was yours, Tharek," she said her words almost a breath, "my Love."
Tharek knew what had to be done now. Imanil must've known too. They had proclaimed their love. Not only that, their love since the moment they met. Getal didn't want to scare her off though. Thoughts of him losing her now, would destroy him. So, he let the question in his mind pass, momentarily. He knew this woman would be the one for him. The question would come in good time.
"I took the liberty of finding where your quarters were to be in case you should wish to see them," she told him.
"Yes, please." He said, coming back to the situation and moment at hand.
It was not far, and not far from the transporter pad through which they had originally arrived. "Here we are," Imanil said as they arrived at the door, "Given the amount of detail in the Central Database I could almost give credence to the urban myth that there is a secret order watching over us, almost."
Getal smiled. Hiding the Obsidian image beneath. "Let's not speak. I only wish to bask," he said, as he moved her gently to the luxurious looking bed Getal would have posession of, once he, and Imanil, moved onto Terok Nor.
Imanil followed Tharek's guidance and sat on the edge of the bed. "I meant every word I said, Tharek," she said as she noticed that that burning look of savage, greedy lust had returned to his eyes, it made her tremble for his touch.
"As did I," he said, manouvering her onto the bed fully.
"We'd be a lot more comfortable without this," she said running one hand over the armoured carapace of his uniform while the fingertips of her other hand trailed down the ridge that edged his neck as if to emphasize the difference in sensation.
Very few people of Getal's status would have removed their armour for anybody, let alone a woman. But, Getal trusted this woman. Strangely, she made him feel at ease. He obeyed her will, and removed his chest plate.
"You're much too kind to me," Imanil said in thanks as she nuzzled against his shoulder, close enough for her warm breath to tickle his ear as she spoke. The fabric of the shirt he wore underneath was soft and didn't prod her as she tried to get close. Imanil fancied that she could feel every ridge, scale and muscle beneath as she slipped her arms around him.
"Nonsense. Theres no limit of how kind I could be," he said, smiling cheekily as he embraced Imanil.
Imanil wanted this extraordinary man more and more every second she spent with him. She brushed his cheek with her fingertips as their clothed bodies pressed closer together, "nor is there to the devotion that I could give to you," she said, she wasn't sure why, it just seemed appropriate to Imanil to tell him so.
Getal was caught in Imanil's look. He couldn't tear away, not that he wanted to anyway. She was all he wanted to live for. All he wanted to be there for. He had retained the question up until now, but he couldn't bear it any longer.
"Marry me."
Imanil blinked, indeed her heart almost stopped beating at such a frank request. She pulled away and turned onto her knees on the bed before she took his hands in hers. "There is no-one else to whom I could aspire," she said, "of course I will marry you if you will consent to take me as your wife," she said.
He smiled, finally releasing a single tear. "Nothing in this life would make me happier."
"Then perhaps you ought to allow me to introduce you to my parents," she said.
"As is custom, I will have to meet them, why not sooner? I'm sure they are great and respectable people of the highest calibre."
With a diplomat for a mother, and the retired commander of the Fifth Order for a father Imanil had no doubt of her parent's calibre, "My mother had already expressed a wish to meet you," she said, "My father ... well, my mother suggested that we break the news to him more gently. He has four sons and only one daughter, he is quite protective of me," Imanil added.
"He understands family. It is understandable for him to be protective my love. Don't worry, I will only structure and fortify your father's wishes. No harm will ever come to you whilst you bear my name and my heart."
"I have never had cause to question their guidance," Imanil said, "If you cannot impress him, Tharek, no one ever will."
"Then I'll impress him." Getal stated softly. He was adament to do right by her family. A Cardassian marriage was never in place, unless blessing was passed down from the head of the family.
Imanil curled against the pillows and as she did drew him close to her. "I spoke with my mother at length last night, she said that she would speak with him." As far as Imanil could tell the only person alive or dead that could sway her father's opinion was her mother, certainly, neither she nor any of her brothers had achieved it.
"I'll tell her how grateful I am, when I meet her in person." Getal smiled yet again. She was making out his father to be an unbreakable wall of Cardassian embodiment, but he had one flaw; Tharek was also one of these walls. The only person that had broken into this wall so far, was Imanil.
"Should I arrange for you to visit them tomorrow evening?" Imanil asked, her fingertips idly massaging his shoulders.
He relaxed completely at her touch. Tharek let out a relaxed and heavy sigh. In a lower, quieter tone he responded. "You know I can't say no when you do that."
"I would be devastated if you said that you would not visit," she said, moving her fingers in small circular movements up the back of his neck, either side of his spine.
Tharek's neck arched forward. "Alright, I'll go. I'll clear my schedule at Central Command," he said, almost hypnotized by her movements.
"I think they'll love you every bit as much as I do," she whispered in his ear as she looped her arms around him from behind clutching him tight around the waist. She pressed her body against his back. Then gently she kissed him down the back of the neck, exactly where her fingers had just been.
"One can only hope." He said, his eyes closing. Gently he held his arms around Imanil and smiled. She was definitely the woman for him to spend his entire life with.
"They will. My mother is already intrigued, and my father is not nearly as much of a monster as he likes to pretend. You'll see - His study is stuffed with holographs of us all." Imanil paused then shifted a little, snuggling up against Tharek between his arm and his chest - she was so very happy that he had taken off that rigid plate - so that she could comfortably be so close to him.
"Come Imanil. No more talk of fathers and mothers." He said, the warm smile still showing on his face. "Let us bask in each other. We have a long day tomorrow."
"Of course," she agreed, "I'm talking too much again, aren't I?"
"No my dear. No. I love your voice, it's just, we have a big day tomorrow, a very big day, and I think from what you've said, I'm going to need my energy to win your father's affection." Getal smiled again, pecking her on the forehead gently.
If Imanil found it contradictory that he had just told her to stop talking about parents before he went straight back to the same subject she did not comment on it. "I'm sure you have all the energy you need," she said.
"Trust me," Getal began. "Even a Gul has trouble winning the love of a beautiful woman's parents."
"But you're not just any Gul, you're my Gul and that has to count for something," she said, "you'll be charming, and witty and interesting, and they'll find it impossible to ignore or discount how much I adore you."
He smiled, rubbing her right cheek with his palm. "You never cease to make me feel loved, Imanil. I only hope I can return the feeling for our lives."
Imanil kissed the inside of his wrist, she loved his touch on her skin. "I'm sure that there is nothing that you cannot do," she said.
Gul Tharek Getal
Fifth Order Gul and Obsidian Order Agent
Lost in love
&
Professor Imanil Lemarrev
Lecturer on Aesthetics and the Built Environment
Genius, and custodian of a top secret experimental research lab