"Suspicions of Conspiracy"

[Guest Sar'vek t'Jhiin]

If she had set the ISD down with any more "gentleness", it might have chipped the casing. Or the edge of the desk which she was currently occupying. Then Sar'vek snatched it back into her hand, standing suddenly. If she had not been irate enough when she had first been bothered by the scheming... condescending message, she was h'nah.

 

In the time since she had first received the message attempting to coax her into sabotaging her own sensors, Sar'vek's mind had been working overtime. Paranoid? Ie, but when that ever stopped (or hurt) her before? At first she had thought that it was the same, faceless group that had targeted her as a... free agent or whatever au might call it... previously. But Sar'vek was na so sure. And in fact, she had a definite suspicion that she was being played for an idiot.

 

Stalking out of the labs, she paused in the corridor, getting the location she required from the et'rehh in passing. Sar'vek had na been so livid in... well, since she had showed up at a "meeting" and gotten sucked into a bonding ceremony. After waiting in the lift for what seemed like an eternity, she headed down the row of senior officers' quarters, stopping in front of io door and pressing the chime firmly. Crossing her arms, she waited, na bothering to force the fury out of her features.

 

Pause recording," Destorie said, looking towards the door. "Come."

 

Sar'vek stepped inside, glaring for a full three seconds before addressing him. "We need to talk. H'nah. Is au brother here?"

 

For a long moment, Destorie simply said nothing. This was a most unusual visitor, with a most unusual request. Even before the incident he couldn't recall Sar'vek t'Jhiin darkening his doorway, and the prospect of such visit after their last ... meeting made the fact that she was now standing in his door way all the more unusual. After a few contemplative motives he motioned her inside.

 

"Please," he said, standing and heading towards a carafe of water. "Can I get you something to drink?"

 

"Na. Hanny'yo," she added, then scowled even more at her own, unnecessary politeness. "Tell me something. Rekkhai. Of all the things au think of me, do au think me particularly... unperceptive? Idiotic, perhaps?"

 

His tunic still unbuttoned, he poured a glass of water and returned to the couch with a lifted eye brow of near Vulcan precison. He had no idea what the woman was off about now. "Excuse me?"

 

Uncrossing her arms and shaking the ISD for emphasis, she stared. "Do au really think I would na be on to au? For the sake of the Elements, N'Dak, this is the second time au have tried this cloak-and-kaleh nonsense with me," she snapped off. "I would think au might be a little more subtle if au intended to destroy me any further." She snapped on the ISD again, looking over its contents, then started gesturing with it again. "Do au think I would be too stupid to see au fingerprints all over this... scheme of au's? Really? The deed to tr'Crahn's lands? Fhaen, do I look that greedy?"

 

He blinked, rather taken aback. "What are you even talking about?"

 

"This," she said, waving the ISD again as a prop. "Bribing me to sabotage my own department. Fhaen, spare me the innocence." f

 

A giggle escaped his lips, despite himself. Trying to keep a straight face, he cleared his throat. "I have na idea what is on that ISD, but if au think I have had time to 'sabotage' au..."

 

"Or maybe au put au brother up to it. I'm sure it is na beneath au to have him be au little... henchman. I do na care. If au do this again, I will go to whatever authorities it takes to end this... insult. I doubt t'Aehjae would be very quick to support au if she knew au were compromising the safety of this ship to play au games."

 

Growing more serious in tone and expression, Destorie's focus sharpened. "That is a very serious accusation au are making, Erein t'Jhiin, io I would hope au have the proof to support."

 

"I have more than enough proof -- and copies of proof," she bluffed, "to put a stop to this ridiculous situation. As if demoting me, and disgracing me, and generally destroying everything to do with me was na enough for au, h'nah au want me to commit treason, just for... what? To make au victory a little sweeter? To get me to incriminate myself so au do na have to be bothered by my continued existence?"

 

"Rha, Rha..." he said, the absurdity of the insinuation overriding his annoyance. "Because, au know, I have the time between everything else I am dealing with... to deal with a lowly erein who can't figure out how to just keep her mouth shut and do her what she is assigned. Au'e, top of the list."

 

"Am I supposed to believe that?" she asked, arching an eyebrow in perfect imitation of his earlier expression. "Really, bottom of au list. I find that hard to believe with everything au have done to keep me as miserable as possible, for as long as possible. So pardon me if, Rekkhai, I do na believe au io bit."

 

"Believe whatever au want," he said with a dismissive wave of the hand. "If qu'ii au came here for was to accuse me of I don't even know what au are accusing me of... "

 

"Fine," she replied, turning back towards the door. "I'll go to Dheno and let them know that au attempted to bribe me to have me wreak havoc on the sensors to cloak anomalies. As au wish, Rekkhai."

 

He started laughing out loud.

 

"Oh go ahead and tell them. I mean this is all my doing. All part of a big scheme, ie? What in Elements name is wrong with au."

 

She turned back. "Who else would bother to set me up, Rekkhai? It is na as if anyio else on the ship has anything to gain out of making me look even worse."

 

"And I do?" He leaned back on the couch, taking a drink of water and giving her a look. "I mean really Sar'vek, do au think I care so much about au as to 'set au up?' And to what ends?"

 

"Why would I want au to mess with the sensor arrays during the detection of..." He paused mid-sentence, the bemused smirk on his face fading rapidly. Setting down the glass with a thud, his glance once more sharpened on Sar'vek.

 

"Give me the ISD," he said firmly.

 

She snorted indelicately. "As if I would let au destroy evidence against au. And ie, I think someio who ignores transfer request after transfer request for the singular reason of keeping her somewhere she is virtually in hell... ie, I think he cares enough to set me up."

 

"Give me the ISD," he said definitively. "I have na ignored any such request, h'nah the ISD."

 

"I've sent them," she replied, through gritted teeth, ignoring his demands. "Daily."

 

"As if such frivolities as a mere erein aboard a ship of thousands would make it to my desk. H'nah, give me the ISD; that is an order."

 

Fury flashed over her face again. "I will na. And there is little au could do to force my hand; I think I have a right to protect myself from this sort of thing happening again."

 

Standing, eyes blazing with fury. "If I have to throw au in the br'tehh and force it from au hands, I will. I did not send you the message, now stop acting like a veruul and hand me the ISD."

 

She set her jaw for a moment, a little bit of her old defiance in her eyes. Then it faded, and she held it out to him. "As au wish, Rekkhai."

 

His eyes softened little as they flew over the information on the ISD. "Where did this come from," he said, his voice still cracking against the walls in deep, thunderous waves.

 

"Au," she said, the word breaking in a shaky, humorless laugh. "Really, I do na know anything else. It showed up at my console."

 

Dangerously, his eyes shifted to her. "Just... showed up?"

 

She nodded. "I swear it by my --" a pause "-- former rank. I was in the middle of some fairly involved work. Ask Issaha if au do na believe me."

 

He waved a hand. "I want a full, detailed report from au on this incident."

 

"Permission to omit the part where I accused au."

 

"I care little."

 

"As au like, Rekkhai," she agreed, turning once more to leave.

 

"Hann'yyo," he said, softening. "This is very useful. It tells me that there is more going on here than appears to be the case."

 

She managed -- barely -- enough of a smile to be something close to polite. "So glad I could help, Rekkhai." She snorted again, giving him a dark smirk. "I do na suppose au are grateful enough to take time out of au busy schedule to allow a... mere erein's transfer request?"

 

He rolled his eyes. "I said it hasn't came to my desk. Perhaps au should speak to au Daise, ie?"

 

"Maybe I have the wrong N'Dak behind the schemes. The little veruul," she started, the words slipping out of her mouth before she could think better of it (the story of her life), "would do it to spite me."

 

"Issaha? Scheming?" He almost started laughing again. "Na at all. He wouldn't bother trying to set up for continued failure; if he wanted rid of au... he's had plenty of opportunties."

 

"Oh fhaen. The boy is more disloyal than io of my lizards. If he thought he could be rid of me, he'd do it in a heartbeat. Na, he enjoys watching me suffer." This time, she was able to stop herself before she added Destorie onto that statement.

 

Shaking his head at her, he sat back down and took his water to his lips. "Au think to highly of auself, and too little of Issaha. If Issaha wanted rid of au, he has had plenty of chances to do it. From the reports I heard, he could have left au in the br'tehh to rot for insubordination. And it's not as if he's ever desired the title of Daise. He could have had it anytime he wanted. Na, for qu'ii his faults, he is not particularly malicious, nor disloyal."

 

"Oh, he always coveted my position. I could see it. Always treacherous, that one. He would have put a kaleh in my back if he thought I did na have eyes everywhere -- and more than a few pair on him."

 

"And h'nah he has it. I hope he enjoys it, regardless of what price I had to pay for his... ascension."

 

"If he wanted au position he merely had to ask it, and it would have done," Destorie said seriously. "His father is a senator and his brother was Daise'Erei'Riov, if au think that it wouldn't have been easy enough to... remove au from his path... I do na think au have been paying enough attention to the ways of those with power. As for his ambitions, he has little. It is a wonder he continues to protect au."

 

"Protect me?" She laughed aloud, reaching for the decanter of water and pouring herself a glass. It was na as if Destorie knew she were coming so he could plan to poison her, and if he had, then it was io of the more merciful things he had done. "Au must be joking. Ie, ie, he is so kind for na having me put in the br'tehh when he considers me out of line. But fhaen, he could na handle things on his own if I were imprisoned. That is hardly protection, N'Dak."

 

Ignoring the quip about his brother's competency he leveled his glance at her. "He did not file an official reprimand in your file, a reprimand that would have perhaps possible prevented au from ever transferring off this ship. Not only that, but he never once filed a complaint against you, despite your treatment of him while you were Daise. Elements, au are only alive because him. I have no idea why, but au owe him au life. Au could at least be a little grateful."

 

"Grateful?" she asked incredulously. "And the boy has never saved my life. I do na know what au are even talking about."

 

"Oh ie," he said. "It was Issaha who advocated for mercy. It was Issaha who begged me to spare au life, knowing the considerable capital I had to pay to secure au release. So na, if au wish to discuss au transfer, I suggest you speak first with au Daise. Clearly if the request has not made it to my desk, it is being denied somewhere else along the chain of command. Perhaps you can also begin showing au daise a modicum of the respect au would have like to have been shown as well."

 

"Au? Au paid for my release?" she said, quietly, barely hearing the rest. "But then," she pointed out, colder, "au essentially bought an opportunity to curry favor with that th-- t'Rexan. I scarcely think Issaha was motivated by pity."

 

"What else would he have been motivated by? I have known Issaha his entire life, Sar'vek. The boy is not malicious. Misguided perhaps, but not malicious. If he were malicious, au would have been gone long ago. But I see au are still blinded by au own self-importance, too blind to see anything else. Au had at au beck and call io of the most loyal disheren anyio could ask for, and au treated him as if he were an impotent child. H'nah au have someone who genuinely cares what happens to au as au Daise, despite au giving him every reason to cast au aside and au treat him as an unruly teenager treats a parent trying to give them advice."

 

She swallowed hard, looking away, setting her glass down as she sank into a seat. "That is the past anyway. Issaha is Daise h'nah," she managed, quietly.

 

"And it is long since time au begin treating him as au would treat any daise," he said sternly.

 

She gave him a halfway petulent look for that, and shrugged. "I do na even mean to be so... contrary with him," she confessed. "By the time I even reach my science shift, I can think of little else but sleep, much less a menkha performance in my duties or respect. I've been so tired from the extra work. And sick. But it doesn't matter, because by the time I finally am even back in my quarters I barely have three hours to sleep. But..." She shrugged, looking abjectly defeated. "I suppose I will eventually get used to it. Maybe Issaha understands, until then."

 

He tipped his head. "Perhaps," he said, "if you can exercise better behavior Issaha could recommend that your work load be changed to better serve the department?"

 

Sar'vek actually seemed to brighten at that. "Ie," she agreed, eagerly. "I think it would be better -- for both of us -- if he would." f

 

"As I said, if au can show some improvement, you would give him room to work, ie?"

 

"Na promises," she said quickly, "but I can try. Fhaen, do... mention it to him." She finished off her water then stood, gazing steadily at Destorie for a moment in silence. "Hanny'yo, Rekkhai. I am sorry that I..."

 

He waved another hand. "H'nah, au have duties to attend to, do au na?"

 

"Of course, Rekkhai." She smiled faintly at him before departing. "Hanny'yo, truly," she said softly.

Edited July 28, 2011 by Sar'vek t'Jhiin

[Lerak trPexil 0]

Very good read. Thanks.

[DervtRahks 0]

Hann'yyo to au both, menkha log. I enjoyed reading this!

[DervtRahks 0]

Hann'yyo to au both, menkha log. I enjoyed reading this!