Beg, Steal or Borrow – The one where Rh'vaurek comes back - part 1
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
By the time the diplomatic shuttle Liorae eased down into shuttlebay thirty-seven Rh’vaurek had finally run out of expletives and started inventing new ones. He stalked away from the craft oblivious to the looks he was attracting.
He did not give a damn if the station’s populace were wary of Romulans right now, he was not going to skulk until they got over themselves; he had been sent back, sooner than expected to keep the Consulate running until the Ambassador returned, or until a replacement was appointed.
What angered him so much was that someone had managed to get him temporarily exiled from ch’Rihan while Isha was there, someone who did not want him interfering and removing her should the Senate’s decision go against her - someone powerful enough to secure him a promotion he had not expected for at least fifty years in an attempt to mollify him - and the thing that annoyed Rh’vaurek the most was that he did not know who that someone was.
He stalked into the infirmary in search of the one person in this shit-hole that he could rely on to listen as he vented his frustrations, he also wanted to ask her about Isha.
Rh’vaurek laid a hand on her shoulder, indifferent as to whether or not she was in the middle of something. “Doctor Adams. Your office. Now,” he said. She had never seen him wearing a uniform, he rarely did, because Isha hated Tal’Shiar uniforms, but that, like a number of other things was changing.
Chelsea looked startled. "Arrain?" she didn't recognise that Raedheol's rank had changed because she didn't understand the markings on a Tal'Shiar uniform. She only knew that seeing him in any form of uniform was so unusual that the formality of what she had *thought* was his rank, was appropriate to address him by.
His apparent dark mood worried her and her thoughts immediately flew to Isha. Almost hurling the padd she was using into the hands of a medic and hurriedly instructing her to *carry on with this please*, Chelsea complied with Rh'vaurek's request quickly and without argument until they were inside the office with the door shut behind them.
"Is Isha alright?" Chelsea was obviously very worried indeed and had taken it into her head that this visit was to bring her bad news of her friend. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide, anxious and imploring as she gazed into Raedhoel's face, searching for clues.
He took her arm just above the elbow and half guided, half propelled her into a chair, “I spoke with her. She was on a Federation ship and she looked like the walking dead on that screen. You must have seen her before she left this place. Tell me what happened. Your own words, not the official report,” he demanded as he hooked an ankle around the leg of a second chair and pulled it beneath him. When he was seated, Rh’vaurek released her arm.
Chelsea had been manhandled by Raedheol before and she was getting accustomed to his lack of patience and bluntness, nonetheless, she rubbed her elbow, scowling at him as she began to answer his questions.
"You really *should* refine your method of asking for assistance!" she complained to begin with. "I'll be black and blue by the time we've been friends five minutes!"
Being pinned to the wall behind her by the look from his dark, brooding, eyes was sufficient incentive for Chelsea to abandon any attempts to remonstrate with him and obey his insistence for co-operation.
"I'm worried to hear she looked so bad." she went on. "She left here with broken ribs, strapped in an electro-magnetic-brace. She'd been badly beaten, Rh'vaurek. But let me start at the beginning."
Chelsea sat back in her chair and took a deep breath. "The first I knew of what was going on was a meeting of the Senior Staff where we were told there were Romulan ships threatening the station and that we were likely to be attacked. I wasn't party to the reasons why nor the details of how many ships and so on.
Once we'd prepared for any casualties, I spoke to Isha by comm badge to see how she was. She was in the Embassy and she said she had a Federation Officer looking after her and a squad of Marines to protect the Embassy. She assured me she was fine.
The next I heard she'd apparently left the station but when she returned and it was all over, she sent for me to visit her quarters and to bring a med-kit. She was in a bad way with broken and fractured ribs, a fractured collar bone, fractured cheek, other extensive facial injuries from a fierce blow, a badly bruised arm which had been kicked heavily, as had her ribs."
Taking another breath and stopping to look up at Raedheol, Chelsea paused before continuing.
As Chelsea spoke, Rh’vaurek leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his fingers linked loosely together between them. His breathing grew a little heavier as his fingers tightened together. “Who was meant to be looking after her? I’m going to break his fucking neck,” he said. “I told her over and over again to leave – I was going to take her with me but she wouldn’t answer the bloody door, I should’ve broken it down,” he continued without waiting for an answer. He looked at Chelsea again, “You fixed her, right?”
"To be honest, she's not easy to look after!" Chelsea admitted, having tried to get her to come to Sickbay for protection but failed to convince her. "Yes. I fixed up her breaks and bruises but she needed some follow up care which of course I couldn't give her as she was gone again so soon. She hadn't even eaten properly so we shared a meal and a drink. She said she had to get back to ch'Rihan because her son had betrayed her and accused her of something terrible. I think it was that which had hurt her more than any of the injuries inflicted on her by her brother-in-law. It had broken her heart...."
Chelsea's eyes misted over and her voice trembled a little but she fought to stop herself getting choked with emotion. "Sorry.... "
"Come here," Rh'vaurek muttered, taking her arm and rising to his feet. "I've been sent back here to prevent me from interfering ... they might execute her, did she tell you that? Probably not. I was told that if I did not leave and stay away she'd not have the benefit of a trial." He swallowed, as he drew her towards him, "She's bigger than both of us ... "
Chelsea had initially been moved by Isha's broken heart over her son's betrayal but this news was more devastating than anything that had gone before. "But why did she go back?" she cried out in alarm. "She could have sought asylum...... " as she said it, Chelsea knew it wouldn't have done any good.
"Bloody Romulans! All that holier-than-thou. Is she really the only noble one in existence?" The sob in her throat rose and choked her incoherent protests and in desperation she pounded on Raedheol's shoulders with her little fists making no impression whatsoever on his broad strong muscular frame, but her distress at the thought of her lovely Isha defenceless, was intense.
He withstood the pummelling as Chelsea's mixed anger, despair and fear for their mutual loved-one spent itself. Collapsing against him she finally realised what she was doing and more importantly to whom! Taking in deep breaths that were more like sobs at first but which in turn calmed too, she finally became still and quiet.
"She's too lovely to die" she whispered at last, pulling herself upright and attempting in vain to brush her tears from the front of his uniform with the flat of her hand. "I'm sorry, that was unfair, I didn't mean to take it out on you." her voice was barely audible.
He caught her fingers in his and looked at her with a serious expression, “Well, you now have the dubious honour of being the only person other than Isha that I’ll take that from,” he said as he released her hand and sank back into his chair, "Did Isha ever tell you how we met?" he asked as if talking about her might be of some use.
To be continued ...
A JP between:
erie'Khrein Rh'vaurek Raedheol
and
Lt. Cmdr. Chelsea Adams
ACMO - DS5
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
| Title | The one where Rh'vaurek comes back - part 1 | |
| Mission | Beg, Steal or Borrow | |
| Author(s) | Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Commander Chelsea Dunham | |
| Posted | Mon Jul 27, 2009 @ 8:47am | |
| Location | Infirmary | |
| Timeline | SD 9 - Afternoon |
He did not give a damn if the station’s populace were wary of Romulans right now, he was not going to skulk until they got over themselves; he had been sent back, sooner than expected to keep the Consulate running until the Ambassador returned, or until a replacement was appointed.
What angered him so much was that someone had managed to get him temporarily exiled from ch’Rihan while Isha was there, someone who did not want him interfering and removing her should the Senate’s decision go against her - someone powerful enough to secure him a promotion he had not expected for at least fifty years in an attempt to mollify him - and the thing that annoyed Rh’vaurek the most was that he did not know who that someone was.
He stalked into the infirmary in search of the one person in this shit-hole that he could rely on to listen as he vented his frustrations, he also wanted to ask her about Isha.
Rh’vaurek laid a hand on her shoulder, indifferent as to whether or not she was in the middle of something. “Doctor Adams. Your office. Now,” he said. She had never seen him wearing a uniform, he rarely did, because Isha hated Tal’Shiar uniforms, but that, like a number of other things was changing.
Chelsea looked startled. "Arrain?" she didn't recognise that Raedheol's rank had changed because she didn't understand the markings on a Tal'Shiar uniform. She only knew that seeing him in any form of uniform was so unusual that the formality of what she had *thought* was his rank, was appropriate to address him by.
His apparent dark mood worried her and her thoughts immediately flew to Isha. Almost hurling the padd she was using into the hands of a medic and hurriedly instructing her to *carry on with this please*, Chelsea complied with Rh'vaurek's request quickly and without argument until they were inside the office with the door shut behind them.
"Is Isha alright?" Chelsea was obviously very worried indeed and had taken it into her head that this visit was to bring her bad news of her friend. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide, anxious and imploring as she gazed into Raedhoel's face, searching for clues.
He took her arm just above the elbow and half guided, half propelled her into a chair, “I spoke with her. She was on a Federation ship and she looked like the walking dead on that screen. You must have seen her before she left this place. Tell me what happened. Your own words, not the official report,” he demanded as he hooked an ankle around the leg of a second chair and pulled it beneath him. When he was seated, Rh’vaurek released her arm.
Chelsea had been manhandled by Raedheol before and she was getting accustomed to his lack of patience and bluntness, nonetheless, she rubbed her elbow, scowling at him as she began to answer his questions.
"You really *should* refine your method of asking for assistance!" she complained to begin with. "I'll be black and blue by the time we've been friends five minutes!"
Being pinned to the wall behind her by the look from his dark, brooding, eyes was sufficient incentive for Chelsea to abandon any attempts to remonstrate with him and obey his insistence for co-operation.
"I'm worried to hear she looked so bad." she went on. "She left here with broken ribs, strapped in an electro-magnetic-brace. She'd been badly beaten, Rh'vaurek. But let me start at the beginning."
Chelsea sat back in her chair and took a deep breath. "The first I knew of what was going on was a meeting of the Senior Staff where we were told there were Romulan ships threatening the station and that we were likely to be attacked. I wasn't party to the reasons why nor the details of how many ships and so on.
Once we'd prepared for any casualties, I spoke to Isha by comm badge to see how she was. She was in the Embassy and she said she had a Federation Officer looking after her and a squad of Marines to protect the Embassy. She assured me she was fine.
The next I heard she'd apparently left the station but when she returned and it was all over, she sent for me to visit her quarters and to bring a med-kit. She was in a bad way with broken and fractured ribs, a fractured collar bone, fractured cheek, other extensive facial injuries from a fierce blow, a badly bruised arm which had been kicked heavily, as had her ribs."
Taking another breath and stopping to look up at Raedheol, Chelsea paused before continuing.
As Chelsea spoke, Rh’vaurek leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his fingers linked loosely together between them. His breathing grew a little heavier as his fingers tightened together. “Who was meant to be looking after her? I’m going to break his fucking neck,” he said. “I told her over and over again to leave – I was going to take her with me but she wouldn’t answer the bloody door, I should’ve broken it down,” he continued without waiting for an answer. He looked at Chelsea again, “You fixed her, right?”
"To be honest, she's not easy to look after!" Chelsea admitted, having tried to get her to come to Sickbay for protection but failed to convince her. "Yes. I fixed up her breaks and bruises but she needed some follow up care which of course I couldn't give her as she was gone again so soon. She hadn't even eaten properly so we shared a meal and a drink. She said she had to get back to ch'Rihan because her son had betrayed her and accused her of something terrible. I think it was that which had hurt her more than any of the injuries inflicted on her by her brother-in-law. It had broken her heart...."
Chelsea's eyes misted over and her voice trembled a little but she fought to stop herself getting choked with emotion. "Sorry.... "
"Come here," Rh'vaurek muttered, taking her arm and rising to his feet. "I've been sent back here to prevent me from interfering ... they might execute her, did she tell you that? Probably not. I was told that if I did not leave and stay away she'd not have the benefit of a trial." He swallowed, as he drew her towards him, "She's bigger than both of us ... "
Chelsea had initially been moved by Isha's broken heart over her son's betrayal but this news was more devastating than anything that had gone before. "But why did she go back?" she cried out in alarm. "She could have sought asylum...... " as she said it, Chelsea knew it wouldn't have done any good.
"Bloody Romulans! All that holier-than-thou. Is she really the only noble one in existence?" The sob in her throat rose and choked her incoherent protests and in desperation she pounded on Raedheol's shoulders with her little fists making no impression whatsoever on his broad strong muscular frame, but her distress at the thought of her lovely Isha defenceless, was intense.
He withstood the pummelling as Chelsea's mixed anger, despair and fear for their mutual loved-one spent itself. Collapsing against him she finally realised what she was doing and more importantly to whom! Taking in deep breaths that were more like sobs at first but which in turn calmed too, she finally became still and quiet.
"She's too lovely to die" she whispered at last, pulling herself upright and attempting in vain to brush her tears from the front of his uniform with the flat of her hand. "I'm sorry, that was unfair, I didn't mean to take it out on you." her voice was barely audible.
He caught her fingers in his and looked at her with a serious expression, “Well, you now have the dubious honour of being the only person other than Isha that I’ll take that from,” he said as he released her hand and sank back into his chair, "Did Isha ever tell you how we met?" he asked as if talking about her might be of some use.
To be continued ...
A JP between:
erie'Khrein Rh'vaurek Raedheol
and
Lt. Cmdr. Chelsea Adams
ACMO - DS5