"It's Complicated."

Posted on Wed Dec 9th, 2015 @ 9:56pm by Lieutenant Commander Gilroy & IKS Ning'Tao

The Ning'Tao's docking with Starbase 900 had gone smoothly and easily. Isaura Panossian, the ship's Captain, should have known to take that as a bad sign. A worse and more obvious sign came as Isa disembarked from the ship: she was greeted by a team of Security officers. "Aw, crap! I haven't done anything wrong!", she whined.

The officer in charge merely shrugged and directed her to come with them. She wasn't under arrest, so, she reasoned, they didn't know about the Ning'Tao's theft of construction materials and equipment at the Cha'ru Colony site. Isa relaxed a tiny bit on the walk from the docks to Main Security - and then got very concerned about why she was being taken all the way to Main Security and not one of the smaller posts closer to the docks. She got nervous and asked, “Hey, I thought Victor wasn’t... alive anymore? He’s not still around here somewhere, is he? ‘Cause I’d really appreciate knowing what I’m walking into here....” She looked at the four men, smiling as prettily as she could.

Again, the officer in charge merely shrugged. They were in the Main Security offices before any of the officers spoke. Even then, he wasn’t speaking to Isaura; he spoke into an intercom, “Sir, we have Isaura Panossian here.”

The door slid open and Isaura, feeling a twinge of fear, entered the office. Immediately, her fear disappeared and she shrieked, “Gilroy!” She ran around the desk as he stood up and jumped into his arms, “Oh my gosh! You had me going there! You’re Chief here?”

Waving his junior officers away, Gilroy hugged her hard. “Issi, how have you been? No, I’m not Chief, but the Chief is off-station, so I’m filling in.”

“That’s fabulous! Let’s have dinner and you can tell me all about where you’ve been.”

“I can’t. I’m leaving soon, too. But I should be back in a week or so. We can have dinner then,” he finally set her down and made sure the door was closed. “You? A pirate, huh?”

“Long story,” she said, laughing.

“How long have you been in the Delta Quadrant?”

“Eh...,” she hedged, shrugging, “A while. Um. You weren’t here when Victor was Chief, were you?” When Gilroy shook his head, she nodded, “I was. He was a bit of a nightmare. So was the Station. Suresh still here?”

He looked at her sharply. “You know him?” It worried him that she did. She was the adopted daughter of one of his parents’ friends; she’d been just a pre-teen when he’d gone off to the Academy. A gawky, shy kid who never quite fit in. He had been like a big brother to her, and might have been her only friend back then. He still felt that way towards her.

“Ah, he is still here. He must still be up to his usual tricks, then.” She met gaze and sighed. “I’m still just as awkward.”

“I beg to differ, Issi,” he looked her up and down, “There’s nothing gawky about you now.” As they laughed over that, there was a commotion in the outer office that drew Gilroy’s attention because of its volume. He started to move around the desk when something hit his office door with a loud thud.

There was a roar and suddenly Isa shouted, “Oh crap! Stop!” She was past Gilroy and to the door before Gilroy could take another step. She slapped the door control, making it open; Zarv fell into the room, catching hold of Isaura as he fell. Somehow, as if he had a spine like a cat, he twisted so that he landed on his back; Isa landed on his chest, sitting pretty as if they’d choreographed the move. “Don’t shoot him!”, Isa cried, covering the man with her arms and torso. "He's with me!"

Gilroy had a phaser out, as did several officers in the outer office, trained on the creature before them. No one took a shot because Isaura was in the way now. “Isa?”

Dusting herself off, she stood. By her expression, Gilroy knew that she was mentally talking to the man; he took a moment to look the guy over. His skin was smooth and pale grey; his arms were far longer than the average human’s - which, Gilroy realized, this man wasn’t human.

“He’s a t’garev, a slave race from deep into the Delta Quadrant,” Isaura said, having caught his curiosity. The man blinked up at Gilroy; he had no ears, Gilroy noted. He also saw another curious thing: a puppet on the man’s left hand. “A puppet?”

“Oh... yes. That’s how he communicates. Don’t ask. Long story.” She gestured and the man rose. “Zarv, this is Gilroy; Gilroy, Zarv. He’s my friend.” It wasn’t clear who she meant.

Zarv faced Gilroy and bowed. Behind him, officers in the outer office looked at Gilroy, who waved them off again then said, “Maybe next time, you could just call and ask to join us?”

Noisily drawing in and letting out a deep breath, Zarv shot a glare at Isaura and she winced before saying, “Ah... well, he sort of tried that. But we were busy and I didn’t respond, so he got worried. Look, it’s long, complicated, etc., etc. You’ll be gone a week? I’ll make sure that we’re still here so that we can catch up.”

“Seems like you have lots of long stories to tell, Issi.”

“I do,” she smiled. Finding a friend in the Security Offices made her gleeful; she just might need his help.

**************
Isaura Panossian
Lt. Gilroy
Zarv