A Pleasant Evening

Posted on Tue Apr 21st, 2020 @ 12:19am by Subcommander Kaiae t'Lien & Colonel Sehan t'Varis

2,434 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Chapter I: Resurgam
Location: The Raven's Claw
Timeline: In Transit

It had been a long day, Raven mused, as she sat down in the corner of the mess hall with her dinner. The cook had managed to make a big pot of a stew from Earth - something he called "chili con carne" - that would feed all the extra mouths on board, too. After her meeting with Areinnye, Raven had dropped Eavy off in her quarters and fed her some fruit, before returning to the bridge to relieve Gedak on the helm for a few hours. But now, it was time to eat.

Raven looked around as she tasted the food, which she found to be surprisingly aromatic and pleasantly spicy. The military discipline of Areinnye's crew had shown when they had boarded the Claw, with some even offering to help out the crew during the journey to Haakona. She was surprised at how well the crews seemed to get along - despite the fact that the majority of her mercenaries were not Romulans, and held no high opinion of the Empire. Around Raven, the mess hall was almost completely full. To ensure capacity, a schedule had been issued, with every crew member and every passenger having been given a set time slot to take their meals; otherwise, this operation would have ended in complete chaos. Raven chuckled to herself. Gedak really had outdone himself with this job. She would have to give him a pay rise.

Kaiae quietly slid the tiny scanner she had just used to check her bowl of stew, and the glass of Saurian brandy she'd procured to drink, back inside her uniform. Given the amount they were paying for this job, and the fact that the Claw's crew were eating out of the same pot, it was probably unlikely that the stew was poisoned, but still, there would be ways, and better safe than sorry under the circumstances. She's developed a taste for Saurian brandy, and a few other galactic drinks, during her time on DS9 during the war...where she'd also developed an "appreciation" for exactly how slyly most Ferengi would attempt to overcharge you, as well. Hopefully they wouldn't find themselves getting billed separately for the food and drinks, but she wouldn't put it past a Ferengi, honestly. Scanning the room for a place to sit, she finally settled down near the Claw's commander, who had already snagged the sort of place Kaiae would prefer in a new environment--a potentially defensible spot also allowing for a view of the space overall.

Raven looked up when the Romulan officer sat down just across from her, and quickly looked her over. Her uniform was impeccable, as with all of them, and she wore a Lieutenant's rank insignia - a stark contrast to Raven, in her simple white button-down blouse, leather skirt and tall boots. A rather distinctive scar marred her otherwise very attractive face, and Raven was immediately intrigued by this new arrival. "Jolan tru," she said, in what she hoped was a friendly, welcoming tone. "I hope you are finding your accommodation adequate, Lieutenant," she added. "I do apologise for the lack of space, but this is a small ship. We did not expect to be taking on quite so many passengers."

"The living arrangements aboard a warbird are nothing luxurious even in modern models; it is fine." It had been one of the more interesting facets of life on a Federation base, in fact - Cardassian layout nonwithstanding, it had seemed to be Federation policy to assign no more than two crewmen or junior officers to an entire suite of rooms. Kaiae would have thought it an impediment to discipline - aboard a warbird, she had shared space until she had become the senior comms officer aboard - if not for how hard their Federation allies still seemed able to fight against the Dominion. She took a generous spoonful of the stew, pleasantly spiced and with a decent quantity of meat. "Compliments to the chef, in fact."

"He is good, isn't he," Raven replied with a chuckle. "Gedak found him, one of his contacts has a bar on Deep Space Nine." She took another spoonful of the food. "This is apparently an old Earth recipe, often cooked for large gatherings of people." She looked over at the Romulan. "I don't think we were ever introduced. This is my ship, they call me Raven."

"Kaiae." She dipped her head ever-so-slightly in greeting. "This contact would not happen to be named Quark, would he?"

"Pleasure to meet you, Kaiae." Raven scratched her chin in thought. "The name does ring a bell, yes, but you would need to ask Gedak. Those Ferengi names are all far too similar. Why, you know him?"

"If by 'know him' you mean 'he was enriched by most of my salary for a time', yes. I handled communications for our delegation on DS9 for a time during the war against the Dominion...Quark's was one of the few places to get a drink containing actual alcohol aboard, given the Federation's obsession with their replicators only producing their "healthier" replacements." She made a slight face of exasperation and briefly rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Unfortunately Quark was well aware of this fact in setting his prices."

Raven laughed. "Ah, yes, the famous Ferengi opportunism. I'm lucky to have one in charge of making money for me, rather than off me. He's also very good at acquiring hard to find things. Berries to feed my pet, drinks - you name it. I have a few lovely bottles of rum in my cabin, most acquired thanks to Gedak's contacts."

"Human rum? Good tasting drink for when you need to stay mostly sober." That had been one of the other interesting parts of Kaiae's time at Quark's, honestly - watching many other species with less tolerance than her own become extremely inebriated from those same drinks that only provided her with a pleasant buzz. And most certainly, watching the effects of their ale on those same species. "I believe there is a recipe the Earthlings have to make a cake with it that I was interested to try; but was reassigned before I could attempt it."

"Ah, yes, the fabled Romulan resistance to intoxication. Luckily I did not inherit that weakness from my part-human side. I love the nuanced flavours of rum, to be honest. Especially the spiced variety." Raven smiled. "I'd be happy to share a glass or two, if we have the time."

"I would enjoy that." For that matter, it would provide not only the rum itself, but perhaps a chance to get a better read on the Claw's commander, before all their lives depended on it, and many lives beyond as well. Her origins alone were probably a fascinating story - halfbreeds were more common, Kaiae knew, on the fringes of the Empire relative to the core worlds; but she noted Raven had used the phrase "part" human, not "half", leaving her to wonder if there was a third species in the mix as well - or instead perhaps if the woman was a second-generation hybrid; more human than Romulan. Either might explain why she had chosen a life apart rather than one in the Empire. Though the supposed past association with the Tal Shiar (hopefully not current, or all their lives were likely forfeit) might indicate she had attempted one first...Which, given the nature of the Tal Shiar, simply then surprised Kaiae that Raven had survived severing that association; even among pureblooded Romulans, the only way to quit the Tal Shiar was generally, as the humans would say, feet first. "I assume we will be holding further sessions to coordinate our plans for our actions at the shipyard." It was half a question, half a statement.

Raven smiled "Yes, indeed. I had a meeting earlier today with your Commander. We will be spending all of tomorrow at warp, so that will provide ample time for that. You will actually be playing an important part in the operation, for that matter." Her spoon scraped the bottom of her now empty bowl. "If you would like, we could head to my ready room and discuss the details over a glass of that rum?"

Well. That was one mark in favor of enough Romulan blood to count - conducting business with the appropriate niceties of an offering of a drink, but in such a form that it left the participants able to conduct it. "Certainly." Kaiae finished off the last of her stew, looking about to see where the Claw's crew was taking their empty dishware.

After pointing Kaiae to the tray dropoff, Raven arranged to meet her outside her ready room by the bridge in 15 minutes, and quickly made her way to her quarters. There, she retrieved a bottle of a spiced black rum named "the Kraken", after a mythological old Earth sea monster - one of her personal favourites. As she turned to leave again, Eavy caught her attention with a sad squeal and nudged Raven's leg incessantly, until she finally picked the little creature up and took her with her.

Carrying the bottle in one hand and Eavy in the other, she made her way to her office, arriving there just before Kaiae. Luckily, the Raven's Claw was equipped with some components of a Federation computer core, enabling voice recognition and voice commands, and using this technology, Raven quickly unlocked the door and set Eavy down on the floor. She placed the bottle on her desk along with two glasses from her drawer, and sat in her leather chair, briefly looking up at the tattered Tal Shiar banner and the battered klingon bat'leth - which she used as a hook for her long leather coat - on the wall behind her. She was looking forward to her new friend's reaction to her choice of office decor.

Though she judged the odds again unlikely, Kaiae kept a hand carefully near where she had her blade stashed, as she entered the room, eyes flicking quickly over the scene and then relaxing slightly at no immediate threat. She did, however, note the tattered banner - and fixed Raven with a bloodthirsty grin as the door closed behind her. "...I've wanted to rip one of those apart like that for years" It was a statement she would never have dared make in life before this; but there was more than enough now against her to make permissible now - if they were caught in their current endeavor, they were already marked for agonizing deaths; she might as well have the satisfaction of such sentiments now that there was little to lose by making them.

Raven laughed as she offered Kaiae a glass of rum. "We found that draped over the Commander's chair when we found the ship. She was Tal Shiar, decommissioned about 160 years ago. Took us over a year to get her back into action. But I think we managed to improve on the original - oh!" She was interrupted when Eavy squealed and nuzzled up against her. "Meet Eavy," she added, with a chuckle. "She's been with me for a few months now. She's a delightful little creature, really." She pointed at the chair on the other side of the desk. "Take a seat."

Kaiae sat in the indicated place and took a sip of the rum, holding out the other hand tentatively towards the adorable creature. "Will she allow others to pet her?"

Before Raven could answer, Eavy jumped up onto the desk and sniffed Kaiae's hand, before nuzzling up against her. Raven chuckled. "Looks like she likes you, Lieutenant. How are you finding the rum?"

"Very nice." She scritched behind Eavy's ears as she had done with her childhood pet long ago and took another sip. "So; you were saying you had information as to a particular task for me at the shipyard?"

Raven nodded. "Indeed. You see, we will once again be using the Raven's Claw's old Tal Shiar credentials, as the IRW Nova - same as what we did at Verelan-Hdrael. My Rihannsu is pretty much accent-free, but I was a little worried that it would not hold up to close muster. Now that we have a trained Imperial fleet communications officer on board, I believe it would be far more effective if you played that role."

"By all means." The corner's of Kaiae's mouth hugged up in an amused smile; one of the few amusements available during the war aboard ship had been listening to the attempts of a few Federation comm officers try their hands at speaking to their allies in their own tongue - and almost inevitably butchering the pronunciation of at least half of it, on the simple factors of lacking the appropriate vocal chords. Though the one time she had encountered a ship with a Vulcan communications officer who did so, it had been a different sort of eerie, with the lack of such errors. She noted the statement though - "pretty much accent free" seemed to indicate Raven had not been raised speaking the language; which in turn indicated her Romulan parent was likely not present in her life. "Are there any further details as to our cover which I should be aware of for the role?"

"This is my ship - I am Subcommander Sehan t'Varis of the Tal Shiar. I am working with Commander Areinnye of the Tal Prai'ex, and we are visiting Haakona to investigate reports of piracy. I will go over all the relevant details with you and the Commander tomorrow." She took another sip from her rum. "I do love this stuff. I trust you are confident you will be able to do the job?"

"Yes." Kaiae looked down at the amount of downy fur that seemed to be transferring itself from Eavy to her uniform. "I may need to borrow some sort of....fur removal device, however."

Raven chuckled and reached into one of the drawers of her desk, pulling out a rod-shaped device. "I am familiar with that issue. This device uses an electrostatic effect to remove fur and lint from clothing. It works, I have used it many times." She looked at the clock on her console. "Oh, it does seem to be getting rather late." With a smile, she stood, and Eavy jumped into her arms. "This was an enjoyable evening, Lieutenant. Maybe we will get the opportunity to repeat it some time?"

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