Resistance is Futile

[Kelton tr'Radaik 0]

Low watch on a Rihan ship was a quiet affair, and Kelton was alright with that at the moment; it made for a convenient window in which to eat without having to speak too much. It wasn't that he was averse to conversation -- indeed, his chat with t'Ksa earlier probably qualified as the most sane moment of his day thus far -- but he wasn't sure he felt up to to it; his mind was too jumbled with concerns about the sudden reappearance of defloxso in his quarters. A little food would help to get things into perspective, though, and help him decide what in Arreinye to do about it.

 

He sat in the mess hall, his back against one wall, staring at his plate of hlai with a distracted sort of air, barely noticing as a pair of footsteps stopped next to him.

 

tr'Usten knew his superiors would be furious with him if he did na get this minor maenak under control shortly. They had plans for him, and he had already undone much of the groundwork that they had set. However, in doing so, another avenue opened the way for them. Perhaps they could use him, control him to get access to the t'Ksa woman. He was already discredited, but now she was working closely to not only assist him, but she was also hiding from what she suspected. Fvadting new Daise'Erei'Riov..coming on board and getting her all paranoid. Now they would never end up getting her alone, unless they somehow did it through this tr'Radaik. They would use him to get to know her more, her activities, her family, her friends, her lovers, and they would use that, in turn, to lure her to where they could make a grab for her. But for now...tr'Radaik had to be gotten back under control.

 

tr'Usten had followed him towards the mess hall, and seeing him taking a seat alone, had gone and grabbed a pair of ales before walking over towards him. "A siuren of au time if I may? Were au na the maenak that was inadvertently doused with paint during the security drill the other day?" he asked.

 

Kelton looked up, startled at the abrupt address, and his eyes narrowed in a bemused expression at the dheno officer standing in front of him with drinks. "Ie..." he said cautiously.

 

"An apology then. We did na intend to catch you in that mess. It was to demonstrate the debris pattern of an explosion, and we had, as a joke, only intended to get the Daise Dheno. However, we got au instead. For that, several of us wanted to make amends. It's always a menkha thing to na be on the bad side of the maenak that may have to put us back together some day. If I may." He gestured to the table as he set an ale down before Kelton and pulled out the other chair across from him.

 

Kelton stared at him for a moment, and then smiled faintly. "Ie...sit down, rekkhai," he answered, gesturing to the empty seat before picking up the ale and eyeing it. It was, he thought, a nice gesture -- the paint incident had been a blow to his already sensitive pride, of course, but...it would pass. He felt his mood lightening just a bit and he added, "Hann'yyo," taking a sip.

 

tr'Usten made a noise of near-disgust,"Pfft...na rekkhai, fahd. I'm just a working grunt. tr'Usten, stand guard fahd. tr'Usten, stand over fahd. tr'Usten, go stand out there and try na to get shot. Oh, and au will be first in. So...just a few ales between us low-level grunts, ie?"

 

He held up his ale in a mock salute then downed it all, motioning for more to be brought to the table, but knowing he had already laced that first one himself. Once he got Kelton to relax, then it would be easy to get him to have a few too many, and then take him back to his quarters.

 

Kelton wasn't sure how he felt about being called a low-level grunt, and his smile faded slightly, but he nodded agreeably anyway. "Ie...whatever au rank, I appreciate it." He took a long pull of the ale, then another, noting that tr'Usten had already finished his first, and he felt the ale sting on his tongue in a way he didn't remember before. He set the empty glass down heavily, and rubbed distractedly at the bridge of his nose, looking back towards his drinking partner. "So did au...ah..." he began, then paused, as if trying to remember what question he had meant to ask. "Did au joke go over well with the Daise Dheno?" he asked after a slightly-too-long silence, his back suddenly feeling heavy against his chair.

 

"Pfft...na, na it did na," tr'Usten answered casually. "In fact, the woman was so crazed, she even incarcerated the poor dheno that the Daise'Erei'Riov ordered to do the deed. She's still enraged and has been stalking him ever since, her eyes like kalehs hrrau his back. If it were na for the Daise'Erei'Riov intervening, poor tr'Mikels would still be hrrau the br'tehh. And then, she's still na dealing well with her anger, and during the next drill, she goes in and starts shooting up the new science labs. I hear tell that there was quite a bit of damage." The new ales arrived at the table; tr'Usten took them and set one in front of Kelton. Taking a pull on his fresh bottle, he motioned to the server to bring them a few more on ice.

 

"Ie..." Kelton mumbled, nodding, and the motion seemed to topple him off-balance slightly; he put a hand against the table to steady himself and blinked rapidly a few times. He must be tired; the ale was hitting him with more than its usual force. And why na? I have had a long day of it. The second bottle at his elbow suddenly seemed tremendously inviting, and he picked it up and took a long swallow, sagging back. "Au have a potent store," he commented absently to the server as the man went past.

 

Nodding at he server, to whom he had already given a few strips of latinum to keep the ale flowing, tr'Usten turned back to Kelton, "Ie, if au have had little to eat, it can pack a certain punch. But I'm sure au can handle it, being a maenak has it's advantages I'd assume?"

 

"Normally, ie..." Kelton said, his voice a little thick, letting tr'Ulsten push a third bottle towards him. "Ie.. I am na lightweight, I can handle..."

 

His voice trailed off and the bottle fell from his hand as a sudden wave of fuzzy dizziness went through him. "What...?" he mumbled. This was na right. He was tired, ie, but na this tired, and the blur which he had attributed to the alcohol was starting to take on a distinctly familiar tinge. Oh, na...na, na, na... "What did au do...?" he asked roughly, pressing a hand to his forehead and struggling to focus. It had kicked in so fast the first time too...

 

"Ah my friend, na used to this stronger variety of ale I see. It's the brand that the Khre'Riov favors from ch'Havran, a bit thicker on taste, and..." tr'Usten smirked, lowering his voice a bit, "...thick enough to help hide other unwanted tastes, until it's too late. Perhaps au should have something to eat with that, or perhaps I should see au to au room, before au embarrass yourself? It would na do for au Daise to see au like this, or any one else for that matter, would it now? They might go tell her, or that snooping other one Aife. Or even worse...what about that cute little botanist au have had au eye on? Au seemed to be getting along with that one recently well, ie?"

 

"Au...au drugged me-- au faelirh ch'susse-thrai!" Kelton said, the tone emerging in little more than a harsh, rasping whisper, and he shoved himself forward against the table, trying to reach the man's collar and slamming his own ribs against the wood instead. The fuzziness and tingly warmth of the drug was already moving through him now and he felt thick and heavy. "Na..." he shook his head sharply, as much to try to clear it as to negate the comments from the other man -- because he was right. A feeling of panic settled heavily in Kelton's stomach and he tried unsteadily to push himself from his chair.

 

He could na fall into this again, na again, he had found the strength na to...he had left the vials alone...and they had found him anyway, and the cravings that were cramping with release in his stomach would return -- stronger than before. And na io would believe that he had na gone back to it by choice. "Na..." he rasped again, his movement curtailing itself abortively as he stumbled against his seat.

 

"Fahd, let me help au, my friend." tr'Usten stood and walked around to Kelton, noting a few eyes straying their way. "Do na worry, of course she'll say ie if au ask her to bond with au," he said, deliberately a little too loud, loud enough to throw the others off in the room, so they would go back to their own business and stop paying attention to the maenek. Reaching around to slap the man on the shoulder to encourage him, he stuck Kelton hrrau the neck with a small hypospray, injecting yet another dose of the drug into him, and quickly pocketing the device. "Now, now...before you fall asleep and become dead weight, let's get au back to au room and find a bit more of what makes a lovesick heart heal." They began to move towards the door slowly, and he added in a lower whisper, "Come, come, now, back to au room, before everyone on the ship knows what au are doing. And remember, if au say a word, I'll tell them all I've been investigating au and will tell them where all of au vials are hidden. I'll lock au in the br'tehh and au will na ever see the light of day."

 

The fog spread through Kelton's brain with astonishing quickness with the sting of the hypo and he sagged against his assailant's shoulder, feeling even the anger begin to recede, mercifully, behind the static. "Na," he slurred at the threat. "Na..." He couldn't form the words. Au will na tell, and au will na beat me. Au will na take me down like this. I will na give up my respect again... But all that emerged was the plaintive negation which sounded more like a whine than anything else.

 

"Who are au?" he muttered, trying hard to think, to get a grasp of the situation as he allowed himself to be half-carried out of the mess.

 

"Too much ale," tr'Usten made apologies to several of the others as he removed Kelton from the mess and walked him towards his quarters. "Me? I am just au friend Kelton, and when this is over, do na worry, my superiors will reward au for work well done. But work it will be. If au want to not be in pain, au will do what we ask. We will make sure, that au are well taken care of, if au understand what I mean, ie? And, if au wish to see that pretty Daise Maenak remain in a condition where she is actually breathing, au will do exactly what we tell au to."

 

"Ai'Okhala, Jaeih, u'Avilh..." Kelton said, almost too low to be heard, as the two of them stumbled into the turbolift. "V'rhaen-ao'au..." But he had no strength to back up the invective. He was entirely in the throes of the drug now. And he was terrified. Clearly whoever this man worked for, they were the same ones who had left the defloxso in his quarters, and they meant to have him addicted whether he resisted or na. And they meant to use him. What did they want? What was the purpose of this treachery?

 

What in Arreinye was he going to do now?

[m_k_tksa 0]

What in Arreinye was he going to do now?

 

 

Hope that the Daise'Maenak doesn't catch you? You'll be so y'ya if she does.