Variation on a Theme by t'Rexan

[Guest Sar'vek t'Jhiin]

The kaleh was still there.

 

It would continue to remain there, Sar'vek suspected, until t'Rexan herself retrieved it. Na a io of the senior staff would dare touch the woman's trophy, and, well, the janitorial staff probably wasn't paid enough to clean up after t'Rexan's sadism.

 

Sar'vek, for her part, was somewhere torn among revulsion, wondering if the cloned thrai had truly lost all reason, and sheer admiration. That the woman had no qualms about cutting out the traitor's tongue -- and then bringing it to the Oira -- was commendable; in general Sar'vek liked a bloodthirsty streak, though more often she preferred it on a woman whose wrath did na tend to flare in her own direction.

 

Frowning, her hands passed over the console idly, though her attentions were far from the sensor readings. Sar'vek wasn't sure that removing the tongue of a man who was being kept alive for the sole purpose of feeding them information was the best idea that t'Rexan had ever had, but them, even she had had times when a little dose of physical violence seemed like an excellent idea. And really, well... Sar'vek didn't have much room to critique her. The crew of the Talon hadn't exactly been through an easy time of it lately; frustrations were running high, and, well, if a few traitors ended up vivisected because of it, there were worse things that could happen.

 

Sar'vek knew that even she was suffering from the same kinds of strain that the rest of the crew was -- at least, if one counted an increase in paranoia, resentment towards her current lack of career movement, and an irritating propensity towards speaking her mind in front of people who would be better off seeing her dead. Ie, those were three things that she really could do without for her own well-being. A little bit more frustration, and she might actually end up y'ya, na just on the fast-track.

 

Io thing was for certain -- getting some time off of this ship would help. Galae inquisitions weren't going to be particularly pleasant once she got home, but home had other amenities besides the bright lights and a glaring crowd of other Riovs whom t'Rexan had swayed to her side. Assuming, of course, that she could... but that was sheer speculation. And it wasn't like Sar'vek was particularly planning on speaking out against the clone once the inquiries began. Assuming her own, less public concerns didn't eat too much of her time, Sar'vek could see herself destressing a bit at home -- even relaxing.

 

But first they had to get there, and she had to keep herself from having a blade put in her heart by t'Rexan or io of her watchdogs first. Unfortunately, that was a plan easier said than implemented.