On Denial and Disassociation

Posted on 22 Jun 2009 @ 3:37am by

1,299 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M2: Aggressive Negotiations
Location: Isha's Quarters
Timeline: Some hours after T'Pal left

How long had she even been here? The fact that she woke with a jerk huddled in the corner beneath the window implied that she had at least managed to snatch a little sleep, but how much?

What does one do when time ceases to have meaning to you? It was not the first time Isha had asked herself that question.

Before she could even think she had to regain some form of composure; she saw how T’Pal scorned her, Elek pitied her and Da’nal was simply confused by her, and those were the only people apart from Nveid’s brother she had contact with since leaving DS5 … there were the security escorts too, she supposed but such people tended to be unnoticed by her.

Isha had only herself to rely on, and right now she was letting herself down.

Stiff, she clambered to her feet and as she padded across the room Isha peeled off the dress she had worn the previous day dropping it to the floor as she plodded into the shower. She was beginning to hate the rasp of sonic showers, yearning for the kiss of moisture over her skin, but it was all she had so she made the most of it splashing water over her face in the sink once she was done.

She dug deep in one of the trunks and found a stiff boned gown in self-patterned green silk; it was more formal than anything she had had cause to wear since leaving Romulus but she was looking to absorb whatever psychological advantage she could from the stiff structured bodice and the colour made her eyes shine. Isha drew the line at make-up, there was no point in hiding it from a group of people who already knew that she was cracking up.

What she wanted to demonstrate both to them and to herself was that regardless of the weight she was carrying she was not going to allow it to break her.

As she twisted her hair up into a large knot and pinned it up with heavy beaded jade clips Isha turned to the room. She had not properly unpacked, nor it seemed had she eaten anything, though she had managed to demolish an impressive quantity of kal`iFhou she thought as she lifted the almost empty bottle from the side table.

As Isha tried to get the room into some form of order she also addressed her disordered thoughts. What did she know …

Despite repeated threats and claims that he wanted her dead, Nniol seemed to be going to great lengths to take and keep her alive – that meant that he feared that his claim on the House would not be seen as legitimate unless endorsed by Isha.

The attack on Deep Space Five had been extraordinary both for its audacity and its apparent lack of planning. Two ships were lost and the Vrelnec, her own ship had fled. Both Nniol and her son had been on the Vrelnec during the attack.

The fact that she was on board when it left made it look as though Isha was involved and that would have been the conclusion that everyone had drawn had they not taken Opaka on board at the same time they had abducted her – anything she then said would be greeted with scepticism at best by those outside the Empire, and inside … well they had concocted a story which ‘proved’ her involvement – she would have been bound to silence or else to condemning herself.

One of the ships lost in the attack had been commanded by H’daen tr’Rehu – additionally, one of the vessels had been carrying a delegation from a monastery based on the Ainleth colony … she would have to check, but Isha thought that that planet housed one of the few extant sets of commemorative statues cast to mark the signing of the treaty of Algeron … could they be the artefacts that everyone was searching for? If so, and if they had been lost, the planetary governor Senator Rhiu ir- Ainleth would be not only in a financial pit but at odds with the senate if she had loaned them.

Isha had sent the Vrelnec to Rh’vaurek, and she would pretend that she did not know the methods he would use to question the crew about their activities prior to her most recent abduction. Rh’vaurek, or course had left DS5 only hours before the attack after repeatedly warning her to leave … but then Rh’vaurek always tried to make her go home and leave the business of ‘diplomacy’ to those who were trained for it.

The enquiries she and Rh’vaurek had made had been noted by those in the Empire who they most threatened – Rhiu ir- Ainleth, Arrhae i-Nn'Verih t’Rehu,†and H’daen tr’Rehu. They were all ‘new’ people apart from Arrhae i-Nn'Verih t’Rehu and her House was small and lacking influence.

Without the backing of a significant senate faction Rhiu ir- Ainleth and her brother H’daen could not hope to win the popular support they required in the senate, they had only become known since the Shinzon incident left so many gaps in government and so few competent candidates willing to step up that on a good day a Ferengi with a set of robes, a pair of stilts and corrective ear surgery might have been elected … yet they had also been involved in some level with Chin’toka.

Nniol was linked to this cabal by a former involvement with Arrhae i-Nn'Verih t’Rehu, but then so was Rh’vaurek.

Who were the schemers on the Federation and Klingon sides? All she knew of them was that they were still prominent citizens and that like those in the Empire they had probably been alerted to the enquiries that she and Rh’vaurek had been making. If they had been alerted they would surely take steps if they feared it could be proved that they had been willing to sell the Alpha and Beta quadrant to the Dominion.

Isha had no idea how Darson had acquired his version of the communications, but they checked and verified against her own – perhaps that is what had alerted the involved party on the Federation side.

When she asked for a Federation ship to take her home why had they chosen one commanded by a declared enemy of her House? Were they testing Da’nal’s loyalty to Starfleet over the Klingon Empire or was there more than that – did someone involved with the selection hope that Da’nal would snap and remove both she and Nniol before any trial could be held?

If so, the only real beneficiary would be her son Fveirrolh, which would mean that he had to have a connection with the massacre at Chin’toka. But he was so young then … twenty five … had Nniol told him all the way back then that he was his father and …

Isha wiped her hands on a cloth and pulled back the chair at the head of the dining table, her eyes scanning the shining surface … there were three entirely separate sets of interests being served here, at least, and that was before she even got into the details.

Still, it was not as though Isha had anything better to do with her time … she could fall apart when she reached … for once Isha did not have an end to that sentence … once the Freedom was on its way home … she could keep herself together until then, even if she had to do it with dress-hooks and hairpins and she would do it whether she was going back with them or not.

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Isha e-Khellian i-Ramnau t’Illialhlae

 

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