Recriminations in a Key of Pexil

[NDak 0]

A joint log with Aethal tr'Hjan (as played by Destorie N'Dak) and El'Riov Lerak tr'Pexil

 

Aethal looked over the... El’Riov and wondered just how desperate the Galae had gotten. Frowning, he took a deep breath and spoke. “So tell me again,” he said, “Au had been looking for the Enarrain to ask him about some crewmember?

 

“And how do we know that au did na find him, na like the response he had, and stabbed him?”

 

Pexil twisted his expression for a moment, a bit of anger rose. “How do au suppose any of that? But na, I did not get any response as I arrived after he had been stabbed. Though au won’t believe me on another point either I don’t carry a knife...and have not for a long time.” He finished thinking he’s answer might not have been the best move.

 

Lifting a brow, Aethal wondered if he’d struck a nerve. “Au could have taken it off N’Dak himself.”

 

Pexil gave a nervous smile, “I couldn’t have gotten around the cape he wears. Come to think of it I never did see the knife up close. But..if au ask someone like t’Shia you’d find out my hand-to-hand skills are less than stellar. I doubt I could have gotten a knife off of N’Dak if I tried.”

 

With a dismissive look, Aethal considered the response. It was true that he doubted this Pexil could get a weapon off a trained D’Heno like the N’Dak-brat, but that didn’t mean that Pexil hadn’t been lying about carrying a knife.

 

He put his hands behind his back and walked behind Pexil, his boots clicking against the floor. “So, who do au think would want to hurt the Enarrain then?”

 

This was a question he had not considered before. io perk of working in the bowels of the Talon is isolation from the ship politics. Pexil really had na idea, but took some guesses. “Could have been any number of people I suppose. He’s from a well-known and powerful family. He’s commanded many missions, in fact our last mission to that dreadful mining world. To be honest I rarely spoke to N’Dak, nor have I been invited to tea at his family home.”

 

As he stopped speaking he considered some of his own engineering people and the whispers in the corridors.

 

“So au did na know him then after all? Yet au felt compelled to track him down at a formal event to ask him a trivial question about someone?”

 

“She is not trivial to me,” he said with a look toward Aethal. “Besides, before returning to ch’Rihan he had already bypassed communication security to read subspace correspondence and told me classified information. The proverbial door had already been cracked open.”

 

Just who was this person? “So au were asking about someone of importance to au and were angry that he had read au subspace communications?” Aethal stopped behind Pexil as he finished asking the question. To say he was intrigued would have been a bit of an understatement. It was hardly unheard of for an Enarrain to monitor communications from senior officers, nor was it unheard of for said senior officers to be annoyed by it.

 

Relaxing a bit, “I believe io other may have been more angry than myself. While I was angry at N’Dak then I will simply be more careful with my communications in the future. The information he gave me was worth my fleeting personal grudge. My attempts to contact my fellow engineer met with failure. He was the only person who could tell me more. The last thing I would do is make an attempt on his life.” Pexil stared at the table in front of him for a moment, then at the pitcher of water.

 

For a moment Aethal wondered if he’d wandered into the middle of a love triangle or rhae a bad HIC romance program. “I see. Who was this other person au believe to have been more angry than au?”

 

“Khre’Riov t’Rexan, or t’Vatrix now, his former commander. She contacted me herself on a much more secure channel. Actually a refreshing surprise to hear back from her.” He wondered if she ever arrived at the bonding. Better that she had not arrived to see the carnage he tried to stop.

 

Aethal blinked for a moment. “Khre'Riov L'haiy t'Vatrix?” He asked out of sheer surprise.

 

“Ie. I don’t know what became of it, if she had spoken to him. Na io tells me these things.”

 

“And au think she could have … could have planned this attack?”

 

Aethal was genuinely shocked at this revelation. He had na served personally under the Khre’Riov, but he knew of her and knew of her reputation from the War, and despite what rumors he’d heard about her and her new found youth, he was having trouble pretending she could be a suspect, even though she was going to be in attendance with her bondmate.

 

“She could plan my demise if she so chose,” he answered with a head shake. “I don’t think this incident of the communication would deserve such a response as N’Dak’s death. From what I do know of her after all of these years is she’d not disrupt a bonding.”

 

“Oh? Was there other difficulties between them then?”

 

“Elements if I know. Up until her subspace comm she and I rarely spoke. There were a few times I caught a glimpse of disagreement on the oria, but they seemed to keep it under check. This would be a question better suited for her.” After saying those words it struck the engineer t’Vatrix may be questioned as well, and perhaps learn of what Pexil had told Aehtal. He felt himself wanting to crawl into a very large hole and place a very large rock on top of it.

 

Aehtal took a deep breath. H’nah he was sure there was something to this. He could tell from the way Pexil squirmed. He had seen the look before many times when he was in the Galae and served at a prison in the War. After Pexil had finished, Aethal came back around to face him.

“I think that is it for h’nah,” he said. “However, au must stay rhae the homeworld so that if we require further information from au, that we can. I am obliged to warn au h’nah that if au have played any part in this plot, this is au final chance to come forward with relative impunity.”

 

“I played na role other than an attempt to keep N’Dak alive. Remaining on the surface will be na problem. I plan to remain at my home or that of my parents. I’m sure the authorities know both locations.” He did not mention he wanted to get out his cycle and ride it as fast as he could.

 

Aethal took a very somber tone and looked directly into the eyes of the El’Riov. “I will ask au only io more time, did au or do au know the identity of the attacker? If au are lying, we will find out and au will surely be yy’a for it. The House N’Dak will surely want the blood of the io who murdered their kin.”

 

“Is he yy’a? The first I’ve heard of this news.” Pexil wondered if Aethal slipped up. “To answer your question, na, I do not know the identity of the io who struck N’Dak.” If N’Dak indeed had yy’a, Pexil’s situation is grave. Very grave..

 

Aethal demurred. “I do na know for certain, though with the rather crude medical attention au gave it will not be surprising if he is.”

 

“Very well then. Au may go.”