Chance Meetings

[NDak 0]

A Joint Log Between Enarrain Destorie Ma’lyn N’Dak and Khre’Riov L’haiy ira-Rexan t’Vatrix

 

As Destorie left medical and headed toward his quarters, he considered the conversation with his father. Their relationship had never been easy, but such was to be expected. Yet, for the first time, he actually felt somewhat closer to the man he’d always looked up to, but had been always somehow separated by an unbreakable wall. It was a strange feeling and with everything else that had happened, Destorie was even less sure of his footing than he had been when he’d walked in the door. Still, that his father had been supportive was something to be glad of, and he was na going to simply ignore that.

 

So here he was, back on the Talon as her perspective long-term master. It was somehow an even stranger feeling than the one he felt towards his father after their talk. Lloann’na, he’d heard, often developed a strange attachment to their vessels and he supposed that Rihannsu did as well. Talon had been his home for over seven years. It had been the forge that had tempered him from boy to man. Yet there always seemed to be some distance between himself and the ship, and though he was now it’s master he couldn’t help but shake the feeling that the only true master of the Talon was below him, sitting along the ocean contemplating her future.

 

Turning a corner after exiting the lift he headed for his quarters. He was playing a very dangerous game. The woman t’Rahks had informed him that his sister had been involved in dealings with the entire mess. Somehow she was involved not only with the Defloxo trade, which had cost him the life of a disheren; was apparently connected to the attempted kidnapping of Morgana; and was for some reason, tangled in the middle of the scuffle with the Othan and Klingon fleets in orbit of Dumok’azen. His contacts rhae the homeworld had confirmed that the Tal’Shiar were quietly supporting the Defloxo trade and were using their influence to keep law enforcement from interfering with the operations. He also knew that there had been some dealings with a network of weapons smugglers which had caused a small incident with the Federation, and that t’Rahks had been involved in it somehow. The woman had admitted that they had been moving Defloxo and other drugs along with arms shipments, to help raise funds for the weapons.

 

That however, was about all he had been able to turn up using the usual sources. That was why he had brought t’Aehjae and her assistant into the mess. Normally, Talon D’heno could na be trusted with sensitive matters (for example, he had na intention of telling them he knew his sister was involved), but the time for sensitivity had passed. Na, he had needed to shake things up, and if t’Aehjae and her goons could be counted on io thing, it was to make just big enough of a mess of the situation that he might be able to draw out whoever was pulling the strings, be it his sister or perhaps someio above her.

 

If he could do that, then perhaps he could get some clarification on just what the hell was going on with the whole sordid affair. He could understand the Tal’Shiar being involved in the trade of illicit drugs, especially one such as Defloxo. The ability to use it to control channels of power was fairly straight forward. He also understood why they’d be involved in various arms trading deals. Even their possible involvement with the Othan made a relative amount of sense. What did na make sense to him, was what did the disheren medic or t’Ksa have to do with any of this?

 

They had captured the disheren, drugged him and then apparently infiltrated this vessel, but to what end? Had t’Ksa simply been in the way, h’nah whatever purpose the disheren was supposed to serve and … but no that did na make any sense. She had been drugged and they had clearly tried to take her with them. Elements none of this made any sense.

 

N’Dak rounded the corner and almost did na notice the doors to the Enarrain’s Quarters were ajar. Almost. His instincts kicked in before good sense as he spun on heel to see who had broken into her quarters. Much to his surprise, he found the Khre’Riov finishing packing the last of her belongings into a bag.

 

“Oh... it is au,” he said without much thought.

 

L’haiy felt her blood pressure rise at the tone of voice used towards her and slowly glanced up from what she had been doing. She had heard boots approach, but had assumed it was tr’Shalor returning from the cargo bay, but this was obviously na the case. She had still not entirely decided how she felt about her last meeting with N’Dak, nor had she been prepared to see the boy again so soon. “Ie,” she replied in a dark tone, “These quarters are still mine. Though, I do na remember inviting au hrrau to invade my privacy yet again -- though I imagine au have already inspected my things while I was away.” She stuffed io more thing into the case before closing it. “Do na worry, I just came to collect some of my things, the large items I’ll have transported from the cargobay shortly. It will be au ship soon enough.”

 

Destorie realized how he must have sounded by her response, and was also more than a little shocked to see her again so soon, and fahd rhae the ship, he blushed deeply. “Forgive me,” he said. “I just did na expect to see au again so soon.”

 

“Mhmm,” L’haiy said, a look of deep disapproval upon her face. “I do na expect that au did. Though admittedly, I am rather surprised to see au aboard as well. I would have thought au would be deep in revelry, rhae au family’s estate. Did au go grow tired of au festivities?”

 

“Festivities?”

 

“Ie,” she said. “Na doubt that au father has planned a celebration for au, to mark au victory over his hated rival.”

 

Destorie could feel the antipathy emanating from t’Rexan, yet, he was na entirely sure what do, either. It seemed as if his every word only stoked the embers of her hatred. Still, he could na help himself. “Na,” he replied. “There will be na ‘victory’ celebration hrrau the House S’NDak. My father is, I think, proud of me for my accomplishments, but there will be na celebration. I told au when I was at au villa that I did na wish to gain this position in such a way. H’nah, I had returned to Talon to attend to an issue, hrrau D’heno and was going to get somethings from quarters before returning. I apologize for the interruption. If au will excuse me, I will leave au to gather au things.”

 

A mixture of emotions, L’haiy mentally went through the exercises tr’Aieme had given her to keep her temper hrrau check, attempting to na let him upset her once again. “Of course, au are dismissed.” She turned away from him to finish packing, but what irked her more than anything, was his continued attitude towards her. So much for his tearful, ‘I’d do anything to make it up to you’ speech yesterday at her home.” Na, instead what he gave her instead was, ‘Oh, it’s is au’”, na salute, na Rekkhai. Plain and simply, still na respect. She had na even left the ship yet, and he treated her as if she were only a common laborer or someone sent to make his bed, and na a Galae Khre’Riov. She would remember this. His continued disrespect shamed her, and she truly hoped tr’Shalor had been out of range of the small security listening device he had hidden rhae her sash. She was sure that if he had heard the conversation, that he’d report it to Var’lon as a potential threat to his bondmate. She should have listened to Var’lon. How many times had he warned her na to trust this io? How could she have been so very wrong about the boy? She was a verrul, to think she could change someone. Nothing but a verrul.

 

Destorie nodded his head respectfully and left without another word. It occurred to him that he would almost certainly run into her again at the S’Rdoz ceremony and he felt himself becoming even more wary of attending.