An Interesting Meeting: Part 2

Posted on 08 Jun 2009 @ 6:52am by

2,246 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: M2: Aggressive Negotiations
Location: Brig

Elek laughed. "Not at all, Wing Commander. I'm a great believer in Federation law - I'm a diplomat, after all, I represent Starfleet. I'm merely trying to get to the bottom of this, and feel that there are some things about this situation that you're not telling me." His face remained one of steady innocence as he let out a sigh. "I wonder what your High Command will have to say about this situation."

Nniol lips twisted into a half smile, “Very little, they don’t interfere in family matters of this magnitude – can’t be seen to be showing any partiality,†he said, which was quite true. He straightened and sat on the bench once again, “Why don’t you run along and fetch my brother’s wife and we can all sit down and have a nice chat about honour, she knows that she should do the right thing, mnhei'sahe demands it, and the longer she denies that, the more she’ll hurt herself. I can put right the damage that has already been done.â€

Elek didn't move. He wouldn't allow himself to be ordered around by this ... this prisoner, who seemed to warp all sense of what it meant to be an honourable Romulan, just by his attitude and demeanour. The El-Aurian was struggling to contain his anger - his beloved wife would never have acted in this manner, and his son would never, until the day he died.

He sent out a mental signal to Isha, all the while keeping eye contact with Nniol. *It is time, Ambassador.*

Isha closed her eyes, the muscles tension in her shoulders increasing. She did not want to go in, not least because Nniol had a point; if she agreed to do what he wanted everything would be settled, all the splintering conflicts that radiated from the point of her husband Nveid’s death would end and all it would cost was the acquiescence and the conscience of one woman.

She smoothed her hands over her hips resisting the urge to knot her fingers in the fabric and sweep off the ship back to the haven of DS5. She had made a promise to Nveid, and she would continue to keep it; the House would fall before she delivered it to Nniol.

“Do you want me to come in?†she asked out loud, which was probably foolish, but then Isha was not used to conversing with telepaths, as she waited for Elek to respond one way or another she rolled her lower lip between her teeth.

"Yes, please, Madam Ambassador," Elek replied. *Be strong, Madam,* he added mentally, for what it was worth. *I stand beside you the whole way. You will not be alone.*

He eyed Nniol carefully, suspecting what his response would be.

Nniol’s body shook as his chuckle grew louder and deeper, “Lieutenant Elek, you are a fool. I thought you had some potential,†he shook his head as his laughter subsided into a humourless sneer. “She’ll betray you just as easily as she smiles at you.â€

Isha paused by the door watching the tips of her shoes pointing out from beneath her skirt and ignoring the odd look that the duty officer was giving her. You’re related to half of the Senate in one way or another, you have the backing of two Tal’Shiar Generals and the heart of another and your action is sanctioned with the authority of the Continuing Committee, Isha reminded herself as she waited for her breath to stop catching in her throat. Nniol is one man, and you have survived everything he has thrown at you over the last thirty years. One more time d’Ishaal, and soon you will have won.

Isha raised her head and nodded for the duty officer to admit her and entered the room quite a different woman from the one Elek had seen into the observation room.

Elek turned at the sound of the doors, and rose as he saw Isha enter. "Madam Ambassador," he said formally.

He turned to Nniol. "Wing Commander, I cannot order you to behave in a certain way. But my opinion of you would drop drastically if you addressed the ambassador rudely during your time in our custody." He smiled. "And I'm sure my opinion of you matters greatly to yourself."

Nniol rolled his eyes, “I doubt you could order a whore in a brothel,†he said, his gaze swivelling to the new arrival, “speaking of which, you’re looking very sprightly today, Isha. Headache clear up?â€

The nails on the hand obscured by Isha’s body dug into her palm, “Lieutenant Elek,†she said with a nod of greeting, “What can I help you with?â€

Elek turned to Isha. "Madam Ambassador, you have been observing our conversation from the next room." There was no point in keeping up the pretence any longer. "I would understand if you decline, but the Wing Commander here seems to feel that being ... less than fully truthfully to a half-Betazoid is a clever idea. I can feel some of his emotions, but my question is this: How far would he go to save his own skin? Would he continue his deceit and half-truths in front of the Continuing Committee in order to get control of your House?"

Isha linked her fingers in front of her, "I believe that he will say what he must," she said, a statement that could be taken two ways.

Nniol’s jaw tightened as Isha turned her bright green gaze on him. He placed his hands on his knees watching her, as calm as an ice-carved Vulcan; it had been one thing for her to make her accusation on the Vrelnec but quite another to make it here; she wouldn’t commit herself here and reduce her options. I can change her mind, he thought, knowing that if he had not been trapped by a slight difference in technology she would have agreed to everything by now.

“Leave us, Elek. I want to talk to her alone,†he said.

"No," said Elek in a voice that brooked no argument. "I will stay."

“You can corrupt my son, steal my property and beat me until every bone breaks – you are no longer a member of my House,†Isha flared, “and nothing will change my mind.â€

Pushing to his feet Nniol cast a brief and cryptic glance at Elek; there was a lot that Isha hadn’t shared with her new allies, he concluded. Slowly he approached the front of the cell and peered down at Isha, “Your son?â€

Feeling the heat rise in her cheeks Isha lowered her gaze and turned away from him, "Of course it is no longer a matter for the Continuing Committee,†she said. “I have accused Nniol i-Ihhliae of the murder of his brother, Nveid i-Ihhliae tr’Illialhlae and our son Hexce at Chin’toka and of treason on a monumental scale in relation to the same event as well as being the origin of the embarrassing attack on Deep Space Five.

“We are both required to attend the tribunal; once they have heard the case it may be necessary for the Continuing Committee to get involved. I simply don’t know. It would not have been my first choice of action, but my decision was forced knowing that my surviving son is on his way to ch’Rihan to denounce me for the same crimes. I got my accusation in first, Nniol, we will both face the judgement of our peers and abide by the decision,†Isha said.

“Wait, wait, wait, we’re BOTH accused of treason and of orchestrating this fiasco and being yet you are free to roam around and I am here? Explain that, Elek,†he demanded.

Elek raised a single eyebrow in a movement that a Vulcan would have been impressed with. "I didn't realise that I answered to you, Wing Commander. You are a staunch supporter of Romulus, and its traditions - surely there's nothing you'd want more than to stand in front of the tribunal and speak your mind?"

He silently added, *And if you have to go in front of the Continuing Committee, my son will get the truth if no-one else can.*

If Nniol’s confidence was dented there was nothing to indicate it, “I already know how they’ll find because I am not the one lying through my teeth, unlike your newest friend over there. Ask her why she looks as though she’s about to bolt from the room,†he said, his dark eyes glittering over her. “It could be that her inevitable execution is weighing on her mind.â€

*Remain calm,* Elek thought to her. *Do not allow his words to weigh upon you.*

"If that were true, Nniol," he said out loud, dispensing with the title as the Romulan had done with him, "then you should prepare for yours as well."

He turned to Isha. "Ambassador, would you please step outside for a moment?"

"Of course," Isha said feeling both their gazes burning into her back as she left.

Elek turned back to Nniol. "I'm an empath, Nniol," he said. "I feel peoples' emotions, their states of mind. You're keeping something back, something important - important to you, at least. You're not telling me the whole story, which is why I came back here - to give you that opportunity before you appear before the tribunal." He sighed. "I regret that you're being the way you are. You could have made this a lot easier on yourself."

Elek turned and walked toward the exit. Outside, he saw Isha, standing quietly, as if she was trying to draw herself in and not be noticed. He felt the powerful, conflicting emotions emanating from her, and swallowed, raising the first line of his mental defences against them.

"Ambassador, I realise how difficult that must have been, and I thank you for doing it," he said. "And, please, forgive my bluntness for this next question, but I sincerely hope you understand the reason I'm asking it. Is there anything, anything at all, that is relevant to this investigation that you're not telling me?"

“Nothing directly relevant,†Isha said pushing her hair back behind her ears. “I think I’ve spoiled your investigation. He trusted you a little, Lieutenant, and now he thinks you’re my creature. He might have told you more if you could have tolerated his somewhat overbearing manner.â€

Elek shrugged a little, then sighed. "That's something I'll have to live with." He fixed Isha with a steely gaze. "Ambassador, I must speak freely here. I want to get to the truth of this matter - that's all I'm interested in. I would hate to get to Romulus and be blindsided by something that I could have tackled here and now. There's been something that's been bothering me for a while now - your son. How did he become so pro-Nniol?"

“How am I supposed to know what his uncle has promised him?†Isha said, reaching for the wall to steady herself against the burn of nausea that flooded her stomach. “You’re the most personable interrogator I’ve ever met, Elek, but for all you argue that you’re a diplomat, you’re an interrogator all the same,†Isha said, lowering her eyes.

Elek hesitated. She didn't know the half of it. Back in his youth - merely fifty years old - he had had to undertake an interrogation of a very different sort, and the person had almost died as a result. Later, it had turned out she had been innocent of all charges. He couldn't - wouldn't be that person again.

"I ... cannot deny it," he said. "But diplomacy is my first love, Ambassador, and I would resolve a problem by negotiation than by ... this. Nniol won't give us anything more today, Madam ... well, certainly not me, and I very much doubt you." He recovered himself and gave the Romulan a steely gaze. "Madam, despite my better instincts, I find myself beginning to trust you. I do not trust Nniol. I would deeply hope that that trust might, in time, be reciprocated - when you eventually allow yourself to understand that I have as much desire to ensure Romulus is strong and independent, for my wife's memory." He was quiet now, as he spoke. "I don't know what more I can do today. I will return to my office and consider my options."

Elek turned and began walking down the corridor.

Isha wrapped her arms around her body as she watched Elek go.

Had she not been so emotionally fractured by the storm of recent events she might have been more open to giving that trust Elek wished her to show him but Nniol had dug his nails in hard, deep beneath her skin and pulled, daring her to reveal secrets that she did not have the strength to expose to scrutiny.

That thread of events wound through the last forty years of Isha’s life - it had taken fifteen years and an ultimatum to make her tell her own husband; what chance did a well meaning El-Aurian have of picking his way through that weave?

Still, Isha thought, if it became necessary she would sooner reveal her frailty to Elek than T’Pal.

Lt (JG) Termin Elek
CDO / Counselor

 

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