Another Day, Another Problem
Posted on Mon Feb 27th, 2023 @ 4:23am by Subcommander Kaiae t'Lien & Lieutenant Lihran N'Vek
2,965 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Chapter VI: Racing the Storm
Location: Drozana Station
Their main mission nonwithstanding; or for that matter the side one that Hatham and Freya and T'Ango were embarking on; Kaiae still had to concern herself with the remaining presence of the Amelia and Roger's damnable Terran double in their absence, and whether they would use the opportunity to try anything. Not to mention the recent addition Mila had brought aboard. Apparently the universe was of the opinion that this was not quite enough to dole out to her, however, because she was staring at the message passed onto her from her mother, as she had stared at it for a long stretch now.
As a risk, it was in many ways even more so than the completely unknown quantity Ashix presented. In any other circumstance, she would have refused. But there was no refusing this and still maintain their main objectives: They needed travel permits, for the family and friends everyone aboard hoped to extract from the projected disaster zone. Real ones, entered into the proper central records as well; which were hard to come by, limited in who could issue them, and even more limited still in anyone willing to risk issuing them for various people connected to other various people currently charged with treason. But they could get them from Jaelin, her mother's second cousin; with his Internal Affairs Ministry job. Kaiae was all too aware that the odds were better than not that even if they succeeded however, he would probably, eventually, be discovered to have done so, and so meet a highly unpleasant execution even before the death of the homeworld. Which effectively meant that given what he was willing to risk for it, and the lack of alternatives to him, Jaelin had them, as she'd heard humans say, 'over a barrel' (bizarre saying, that; someday she'd have to look up how it came about): He could name his price, and they could take it, or they could fail. And apparently he had now decided what he wished to spend his remaining favors on, aside from saving his children: To secure a place and safety for a similarly tangential relative of his wife's.
This was not, on the surface, a problem. No, it was the exact nature of that man he was asking them to take on that was the problem; and why Kaiae had spent the last ten plus minutes staring - glaring, really - at the message again. It had been no small risk or feat for her mother to have gotten it to them; and now it was no small headache that it was giving her. Still. There was not, in the end, really much of a choice. Unlike the lecture she had given Freya earlier though, Kaiae was wearily aware that if things went badly later on account of her acceptance of this demand and this addition to their number, no one would have to demand of her the price she had pointed out she would demand from Freya or Mila if issues arose with the new addition they brought aboard. She would demand it of herself at that point; as the proper price for such.
Finally, Kaiae sighed and secured the message; and stood and brushed her hands down her tunic. There was no putting it off anymore: The man would be aboard Drozana by this point, and she had best get to meeting and assessing him as soon as possible. Nothing was to be gained here by further delay in this case than further risks.
Lihran stood in a rather empty segment between two strips of shops in Drozana station. He wanted to meet somewhere in public yet not too open. The Romulan male stood with his back to the wall, an old habit of his to prevent anyone from sneaking up on him. He had his arms folded over his chest, green eyes darting around and following every figure that walked past him with scrutiny. He could be described as intimidating by the small scowl on his face. He didn't want anyone who wasn't who he was meant to speak with to stop and socialise with him as he waited.
Kaiae had wandered around the regrettable - if for the moment useful - station, making a few random purchases here and there to cover her presence, until she spotted him: A man who fit the description she'd been provided, and one of the few other Romulans on the station who was not a member of her own personnel. She kept watching, for a time, and finally made the approach: Coming close, but not too close, noticing his eyes on her like hers were on him, then carefully moving her hands in the signal her mother's message had indicated...waiting to see if this man would move his own in the predetermined reply, or not, before she got any closer.
Lihran watched Kaiae approach him, inclining his head ever so slightly in greeting. He studied her closely, pleased she kept her distance at first. He watched her give the hand signal he was to watch out for. He gave her the appropriate reply signal and nodded once, "You...are younger than I anticipated." He truthfully was expecting someone around his age or older.
"I am younger than I anticipated." Kaiae replied dryly; it wasn't quite an admission of weakness so much as of the rather unavoidable fact that a set of subcommander's bars on someone under 70 was a bit ridiculous. She quirked one eyebrow at him slightly after that, though, as she started to walk more slowly through the station, expecting him to follow; if you didn't have a secure space for a conversation, the next best thing was to not stay in only one place for it. "Though one could also say you are older than I would have anticipated." He wasn't old by any means; but he was definitely middle-aged; more like her aunt's age than her own and not the age of a man she'd have expected to implode his own life in a blaze of reconsidering every decision he'd ever made; but while he mother's messages had been short on too much detail; there had been enough to give that general sort of impression.
Lihran emitted a soft snort at her dry remark of her being younger than she anticipated. He had to admit to himself it was odd. Something must have happened for her to achieve such a rank at such a young, tender age. He raised a brow at her in turn, nearly mirroring her look in an almost comical way. The corners of his lips twitching upwards slightly were his only visible signs of his amusement. He followed her, closely but not too closely. He was alert, partially keeping an eye on her in case she tried anything and also keep an eye on their surroundings.
Lihran emitted a soft snort at her second statement, "I'm older than I anticipated as well. I wish I was a bit younger, but it is what it is." He sent a quick glance in her direction, "Strange how fates dump us in these situations."
Clearly I did something to offend, the number of 'these situations' I've gotten into lately, Kaiae thought, the corner of her vision still watching Lihran in case this was all some trick to get someone close enough to her to strike. Though, with what little had been passed on to her (or that she'd found in what brief research she'd had time to do afterwards) of his history; half the threat potential wasn't even just 'stab her in the back on the station' but 'actually come aboard and be in a position to sabotage the ship'. She briefly entertained the idea that maybe she could just stuff him in the brig: It would, technically, still be honoring the deal her mother had made with Jaelin and his wife. The man would be aboard, and alive. But the odds seemed at least even to Kaiae that if she tried it, then given the exact same issues, skills, and past allegiance (or perhaps his current allegiance, her mind whispered unbidden; that to the best of her knowledge the only way to truly leave Tal'Shiar service generally was death) that made her nervous, he'd quite possibly just find a way to get out of it at that point.
"How much do you know, then, about the situation you're about to jump into?" Kaiae asked quietly: He'd given her an opening for the inquiry with his last statement, and she'd rather at least try to get him to admit what he did or did not know of her, the ship, or the general sort of activities they were in the process of engaging in, rather than volunteer any of it.
Lihran was equally watching his surroundings and the station and keeping an eye on Kaiae. He was worried about her being a threat to himself. Anything was perceived as a threat after his past, really.
He looked over in her direction at her question. He shook his head, locking eyes with her, "I don't know a whole lot. My contact was sparse with details due to the nature of communications and how easy they are to intercept." There was sincerity to his words and he was being truthful.
To a degree it was the answer she'd expected; both because almost anyone (well, any other Romulans; she had no predictions on the crazy things some humans seemed to fail to grasp) knew that to a degree; and because as a former comms officer, Kaiae knew it to a greater degree than most. Still, either he was being cagey with his answers (which would be unsurprising); or he hadn't read the news in months (which would be very surprising). She couldn't help but tense slightly because this next bit, even in vague terms, was both perilous to convey, even more perilous to be in; and the complete opposite of where she'd have expected her life to go, in so many ways.
"Let's just say we aren't exactly in favor with the Senate." It was a huge understatement; given the published treason charges against her and all the RSE officers and crew who had originally followed Areinnye and Dorvaela in the cause of trying to save as many of their people as possible from the coming disaster, and who after that pair's respective disappearance and death, had since followed her in what pale imitation of it she'd been trying to enact since to at least rescue their own families. And it was a dangerous thing to say to a senator's daughter or son, even one who seemingly was in some type of disgrace themselves.
Lihran nodded slowly as he listened. He wasn't in favour with the Senate either, to be honest. Considering both of his parents had seats and he walked out on not only them, but his own marriage they set up for him and defected from the position that his father had pulled a lot of strings for him to get. He shook his head slowly and gave a faint chuckle, "I can't say I am in any good favour myself." Not including the fact that his now ex husband wanted him back and was livid he left. Having a Tal Shiar Commander angry at you personally was never a good thing.
Kaiae reached slowly - with the sort of choreographed, careful intention that let another party track the motion and be sure it wasn't going for a concealed weapon - and pulled out a little datapad and offered it over, screen on to display the charge sheet that had been published several months ago: Treason. Conspiracy. Theft. A variety of other associated crimes. The names listed (and the likenesses published to encourage anyone who saw them in the Empire's space to kill, capture, or report on them) were those of basically every Romulan among the Ourainavassa crew, except for Hatham (who they seemingly hadn't figured out was there, since he hadn't come aboard with the rest of them, but rather as part of Raven's multi-species mercenary crew), and except for Seira and the small collection of others who'd come aboard via the Sianna fleeing the attack that had killed Dorvaela and so were still officially listed as dead.
But while the list had a long string of names, photos, and information, it was undeniably and unfortunately Kaiae's own at the head of it. Areinnye had vanished and Dorvaela was dead; and the promotion they had seen fit for some reason to arrange for her right beforehand had left her squarely in the crossfire - and the brunt of the Empire's blame - as the remaining ranking survivor. And now, Kaiae was careful to keep ready to draw if need be after passing the information over for Lihran to study, because if the man had somehow - ships running under cloak and personnel who'd been on them did miss a good deal of information sometimes because of the associated comms silence - avoided seeing this information until now, this might very well be the moment he drew on her after now learning of it.
"The actual story is a lot more complicated than the charge sheet." Kaiae got the words out even though her throat and mouth felt dry with the tension of speaking them openly in any way and resisted her doing so; and to a man with this sort of history in particular. Still. It wasn't like this list wasn't only publicly available but frequently published information unfortunately; and if she was even going to entertain the possibility of bringing him on board the ship, he had to know at least that much, because otherwise when he did find out, he'd hold any blame against her for the fact that having joined them, those in power would very likely add him to the list, too.
Kaiae did not, however, yet tell him exactly what that story or those complications were; because the moment anyone knew about the impending efforts to extract and save the close kin of those who followed her from the homeworld and the other core worlds in the projected disaster zone, they could be a threat to that plan or share the information and in so doing doom everyone she hoped to save. One hand stayed carefully but subtly in position to grab a concealed weapon as they kept walking at a slow enough pace for reading the information, just in case his reaction to learning all of this about his theoretical ride off Drozana was to decide to attack her or to simply bail out of his side of the deal and try to leave with what he'd now learned here.
Lihran tracked her motions with his eyes carefully and keenly. While he trusted her not to outright shoot him right then and there, it was a carefully guarded trust. At the slightest hint of betrayal, he won't hesitate to defend himself.
He took the datapad with an open handed grab, showing to her he had no concealed weapons up his sleeves at least. He took the datapad and started to look it over, one brow furrowed slowly. A wry smirk twisted on his lips, "I see you are about as well liked as I am. Usually the story is far more complicated that it appears. Always is. Must've ticked off someone with big guns."
Lihran moved to hand the datapad back, eyes drifting towards where her hand was and perked a brow, murmuring softly, "This information has not changed my mind. If it eases your comfort, I will allow you to search my belongings and connections." He paused, adding dryly, "I'll take teensy bit of privacy invasion over being shot any day."
"I wasn't going to shoot you." Kaiae said briskly as took the datapad back. "That attracts attention." What wasn't said was nearly as clearly implied as what was; namely, that while she wasn't planning to shoot him, she was absolutely ready to stab him if she felt it was justified. It had been one of the things she was having to learn to do differently around aliens for that matter now: With humans, she'd found she actually had to say the quiet part of things blatantly to them most of the time, which was exhausting. "And yes. Gather them and I will escort you to the ship." As usual she couldn't wait to get off Drozana; the place was a mixture of chaos, creeps, and petty thugs that was an affront to the very concept of good order and discipline.
Lihran lofts a brow, "A knife is far more subtle, I agree." While it wasn't spoken, it was unspoken and that was something he picked up on. The Tal Shiar taught one to be painfully paranoid about the unspoken implications in between spoken words.
He adjusted the grip on the bag slung over his shoulder, "I have all my personal artifacts on my person. I travel light and small. I am ready to follow you." He had very little personal belongings after his divorce, leaving most of it behind with his ex to start fresh.
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