Family Ties

[Rhean t'Valae 0]

Rhean glanced over at N'Dak again, as she had been doing periodically since he rejoined them. This time, however, she made no attempt to disguise the look. Coming to a decision, she scooted over to sit beside him, handing him a ration bar. "Eat something," she said conversationally.

 

After a few moments, N'Dak begrudgingly took the ration bar with a grunt. "Hann'yyo."

 

She dropped her voice slightly; under Khev's singing it was unlikely any of the others would hear her. "Au know, au're going to have to come up with better answers eventually."

 

"I already have them," he said scathingly

 

"Produce, then," t'Valae amended, rolling her eyes slightly. "Questions are going to be asked." She glanced sidelong at him. "Aur loyalty is under question."

 

The look in his eyes hardened. "I do na serve the Tal'Shiar." His voice was unshaken, "That opportunity has passed..."

 

"Au do na have to serve the Tal'Shiar," replied Rhean, filing the second part of his reply away for future reference. "The question is whether au serve the ship and the khre'Riov."

 

"If my loyalty were elsewhere, she'd be yy'a and I would be in command of the Talon." Ice and fire simmered around N'Dak, ice on his voice and fire in his soul. Ever since he'd disappeared and reappeared, there had been a bubbling tension about him. He cast a glance to the female officer next to him. "My loyalty is to the Empire, the Galae, my commander, and my ship."

 

Rhean rested her chin on a fist and regarded him thoughtfully. "Save aur ire, daise'erei'Riov. I only say what everyio is thinking: 'Where has he been? Has he betrayed us after all?'" Her eyes flicked to the others, sitting wearily and warily, listening to Khev while they waited to hear from Talon. "They wonder when they will feel aur blade in their backs."

 

He grunted lowly. "If I were going to stab them in the backs, I would have already done it....besides it's na me they need to be worried about."

 

She slanted another glance at him. "I've heard au tried. But who should they worry about?"

 

N'Dak smirked slightly but it quickly vanished beneath his displeasure. "Tr'Psichore."

 

One hand lifted in a graceful gesture that encompassed their small group. "Na here."

 

"I was following him," he said lowly. "I believe he's playing both sides."

 

She leaned forward slightly. "Oh? Why save the khre'Riov, then, when we all thought he was dead anyway?"

 

"There is much au do na know." N'Dak looked around for a moment, checking his surroundings. "How much do au know of my family's involvement with the Tal'Shiar?"

 

"Truth or rumor?" t'Valae replied, laughing slightly. "Aur sister is io of them, na?"

 

"Ie," he said with a sigh. "But it is deeper than that... what do au know, rumor wise?"

 

She shrugged slightly. "Aur di'ranov is a deihu; there will always be rumors. Ie, and he was io of them as well, is it na so?" Rhean dropped her voice still further. "Of course, there are some who say that au are io as well. And that au, and aur family, merely bide aur time -- that au will take the ship, and someday the Empire. But," and she sat back again, speaking in a more normal tone, "that is merely gossip."

 

"Some of it na far off the mark," Destorie made an effort to keep his voice low. "My father was once a member, ie. When he became deihu, he left them. Though he kept his ties with them... when... the matter with t'Rexan came up it was the Tal'Shiar and certain members of the Senate offered my mother and my father an opportunity to regain some of the status we lost as a result of that... incident."

 

"So au family would have au destroy the khre'Riov... ie, I begin to see." Rhean was silent for a moment. "Why did au try to refuse aur father... when..."

 

"Na, that is na it."

 

Distracted from the question she was trying to frame, t'Valae took a moment to form words. "Na? Then what is it?"

 

Destorie took a deep breath before replying. "At the time I was barely aware of the details, I only knew my mother had been reassigned to a new base in the Gamma Quadrant. Apparently, they were planning some... plot with the Shelliak and a faction of the Dominion to plunge the entire quadrant into war again."

 

"Apparently, my mother, being the person she is... decided to blow the cover on the operation and ruined it... making more than her fair share of enemies of the Tal'Shiar."

 

Her interest piqued, Rhean edged a little closer, so that they sat knee-to-knee. "And aur family survived this?"

 

"They can't act on my mother... she's too far away, and my father... he knows too much about what's going on here... or so I suspect... and that's why they're trying to kill me."

 

She blinked. "Au... appear remarkably healthy for a man who has the Tal Shiar after him. Especially considering that --" t'Valae broke off, looking away.

 

"Considering what?"

 

Carefully, she said, "Considering how many others are... less healthy."

 

"And there lies another piece of information au didn't know," he said even lower than the rest of the conversation. "They don't have to kill me, if t'Rexan dies. It will only be a matter of time before the Galae comes for me."

 

Rhean turned that over in her mind a few times. "I had heard," she said slowly, "that tr'Vatrix might have said something of the sort to au... but I had na credited it."

 

"Well I heard it from the mans lips... and he meant it." N'Dak looked around a second time checking the others, and seeing if the Talon had made contact. "In any case we need to find out why they're sending money, weapons, equipment and supplies to the Shelliak. If we can find that out... we may have a bit of... leverage."

 

She made a face. "We were trying to when au showed up out of nowhere."

 

"As I said, I was following tr'Psichore..." He paused again before speaking. "Something is na right here... whatever they're up to, it is bigger than any of us."

 

"And what do au think it is?" Her tone said that she was reserving judgement on the validity of his opinions, but she watched him with an intense curiosity all the same.

 

"And therein lies the problem," Destorie looked off into the sky, his eyes far more distant than his voice. "What could it be... my gut tells me they're planning something... a coup?"

 

The expression on her face might be politely described as skeptical. "With the Shelliak?"

 

"That's why we need to know more..."

 

In frustration, she exclaimed, "Well, what do au expect to learn out here?"

 

"Nothing," he said finally. "But we have to make contact with the Talon or t'Rexan will assume we're dead."

 

T'Valae sighed, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the dimming sky. "This entire situation is far too strange for my liking."

 

"Me too...me too."