Laying Low

Posted on Mon Dec 14th, 2015 @ 10:12pm by Lieutenant Commander Kh'ali & Indra Nyyar & Lieutenant JG Quentin Dobry

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: VIP Quarters

* VIP Quarters - Ambassadorial Suite Four *

Nyyar looked around the large living room, then peeked into the kitchen and the bedrooms. The quarters were far larger than the first ones she'd been taken to and she wondered why the change. Dobry had returned, along with a Security escort to show her to her new home. All this space just for her? On the upper decks? She supposed that it might be due to her status back on Cardassia, which would make her an ambassadorial visitor of sorts. She was the wife of a member of the Central Command. She moved over to the portal to look out over the shipping lanes. Several of the docking arms were visible and what she saw there took her breath away. A large Cardassian ship was anchored.

"Oh...no ...no no no....." Her words started as a whisper but got louder with each repetition. "No....how?"

Dobry hurried into the bedroom, worry evident on his face. "Nyyar? What is it?"

"He's here, isn't he?? That's why you brought me here, where it would be easier to guard me! Tell me! I can see the ship!"

He took hold of her shoulders and turned her around to face him. "Listen to me. Commander Kh'ali ordered me to bring you up here, to better quarters. Admiral Wegener agreed that a security detail be assigned to watch as a protective measure. It will be easier up here since there's little traffic and anyone moving about will stand out. Even if he is here, he can't get in." Dobry kept his voice low and soothing. "I promise. "

"But he --"

"He will have to get through us first," came Kh'ali's voice from the door to the living room. "Easy Nyyar. Yes, Legate Zikar is here. Strangely, he managed to get here before you did. He'd already met with Admiral Wegener when I got there. But Lt. Dobry is right. You'll be safe up here. I want you to lay low, stay in for now. Anything you need we can get for you."

Nyyar looked from Dobry to Kh'ali and finally nodded. "I understand."

"I know that you came here envisioning your freedom and this might seem like a gilded cage, but it's temporary until I can get an idea of what's going on and what he's likely to do. I need a full statement from you though, to file with the asylum request. It will also help Security." Kh'ali smiled gently. "Are you up to that now?"

"I...yes. I can." Nyyar turned to follow Kh'ali out to the living room with Dobry at her side.

"Can I get you something?" he asked the two women.

"Deka tea please," Nyyar requested.

Kh'ali nodded. "Make it two." Once Dobry had carried over the tea and sat down, she continued. "Computer, begin recording. Please state your name and origin."

"Indra Nyyar. Bajoran, now a Cardassian citizen," she answered.

"Thank you," Kh'ali answered. "Now, I'd like you to tell me as much as you can, mainly about why you are requesting asylum. I've already filed a temporary order that takes effect immediately, so you are safe here. No one can take you away. Do you understand that?"

Nyyar nodded, then spoke aloud for the computer. "Yes. Shall I begin?" When Kh'ali nodded, she shared her story, starting with her removal from her village. She related how she came to be with Zikar, all the happy years...until a year ago. As she spoke, tears began to fall and Dobry jumped up to pass her a box of tissues.

"What happened a year ago?" Kh'ali asked.

"Zikar asked me that morning to come into the city, to his office, and meet him, then we would spend the afternoon enjoying the sights since it was was a lovely, warm day. He went off and around 1300 hours I arrived at the CIB compound - that's the Cardassian Intelligence Bureau. I was escorted to Zikar's office but the door was closed. I could hear his voice, speaking sharply and a man screaming." Nyyar's hands tightened into fists. "I didn't want to go in. I was frightened. But my escort insisted Zikar wanted me brought right in when I arrived so in I went. And there...on the floor..." her voice broke.

"What was it?" Kh'ali asked softly.

"A man, younger man. In his twenties I would guess. He seemed to be unconscious and his breathing was shallow. He looked very pale. He had small red dots along his temples. Zikar jumped up from his desk, so happy to see me. Then he....he just stepped right over the man and we left to go to lunch."

At Nyyar's description of the man, Kh'ali exchanged glances with Dobry. The description Nyyar gave was obviously an Enaran.

"I'm sorry you had to see such a thing," Dobry said. "I'm also sorry it was your husband in the middle of it."

"All the years on Cardassia, I never heard anything, not even rumours, that Zikar was anything like that." Nyyar paused to take a deep breath and calm herself. "Looking back, I suppose I was blinded by his care and attention. My social circle was limited to associates of his and their wives. I suspect now that they had all been carefully coached to keep any hints of such activities away from me. But that day, I saw a man I didn't know, a man who terrified me. He'd always been so gentle and loving, you know? You hear stories about the Cardassians' deep love of family and it's true. But since that day, I couldn't get that scene out of my mind. I knew I had to get away."

Kh'ali raised her cup to drink some of the tea. Sorrow for this woman and revulsion for what she had witnessed hit hard and Kh'ali did her best to keep her expression neutral. "Tell me about this last year. How did you finally get off Cardassia Prime?" Kh'ali asked. "I'm sorry to have to drag you back through all this but it's important. I've already received a stern request from Cardassia Prime to turn you over to Legate Zikar, which I've ignored. You're establishing air-tight grounds for our refusal to send you home."

Nyyar visibly relaxed at the news. She finished off her tea and placed the cup back on the table before her. "How I got off Cardassia is an interesting story of luck. A few weeks after the incident, I had gone into the city to visit the museum. Obviously, after all these years, I wasn't watched when I went out alone. He ceased that a year after we were married - four years after I came to him that would be. I spent some time that day wandering around, then sat to relax on a bench in one of the wings. It was a very quiet day there. Before long, a man wandered in and I took note because he was Bajoran. Something you almost never see on Cardassia unless they were brought back like me."

She rose and began to roam around the living room as she continued the story. "He stood looking at a painting on the wall. It was a crude bit of artwork, as most of theirs is, in my opinion, all hard lines and dark, heavy colors. Anyway, he finally turned and noticed me and he was obviously surprised to see another Bajoran there and said so. I invited him to sit and we talked for a while.

"Are you willing to give me his name?" Kh'ali asked.

"He said his name was Amoja Paz," Nyyar answered. "Don't worry, it won't put him in danger. It's an assumed name. I don't know his real name. He was very nice, however, and gave me his contact information. It was a reaching out to a fellow Bajoran, a kindred spirit, you know?" Nyyar drifted over to the window as she continued the story. "I didn't call him for three weeks. It wasn't a romantic interest at all. I loved Zikar and that's just the way it was. I met Paz again at the museum. There it could seem accidental, in case any of my husband's associates or friends happened to see us. It began to be a regular thing and finally, I told him the story of that day in Zikar's office. It was then that he offered to get me back home to Bajor. We began to make plans. He would take me to Bajor, then I was on my own. I insisted on that arrangement because if he were caught, he'd be a dead man."

"That makes perfect sense," Dobry commented. "And I see the plan worked?"

"Yes, but with a wrinkle." Nyyar turned and leaned back against the window seat. "We decided on the day - it was the morning that Zikar and I were leaving for a week-long holiday. He went to his office at the usual time and wasn't due home to pick me up for several hours. An hour after he left, I took my bag, went out the back door, and Paz's ship was just landing. As I ran towards it, I heard....I heard Zikar's voice behind me. Just as I reached the hatch, he came running across the lawn towards us, begging me not to go, then warning me not to do it. I closed the hatch and we took off."

She looked down at her hands and rubbed her finger where, until three weeks ago, her wedding ring had been. She still felt naked without it. "He took me to Bajor and left. I couldn't stay there. Zikar would find me immediately and the people there despised me for what I had become. A councilman in my old village was kind enough to get me on a transport coming here. As soon as I arrived, I came to your office Commander, and that brings us to now."

Kh'ali nodded. "Computer, end recording. Send copies to the Diplomatic officers, Admiral Wegener, and Captain Hawke." The computer beeped. "That does being us to now. I think we have what we need. I'll have dinner sent up and Dobry has offered to stay for the evening."

"Again, I have to say thank you, though the words sound inadequate. I'm sorry to be so much trouble." Nyyar smiled at the two officers. "I know you are being cautious but Zikar is too smart to cause trouble in a public place on a Federation station. Is it possible to go out tomorrow, if Security comes along?"

"Let me see how things are going and we'll talk about that tomorrow. I can appreciate wanting to after being cooped up on a transport so long." Kh'ali stood. "I need to get along and see how many angry messages I have waiting. Lt. Dobry, I'll be in touch later tonight." She smiled at Nyyar, then hurried out.

Dobry watched the doors close, then turned to Nyyar. "If Kh'ali tells you not to worry, then you shouldn't worry. She's faced down far worse than your husband. Dinner will be here in an hour or so, would you like to go kick back and relax til then?"

"Yes, I think a nap would be wonderful." Nyyar crossed the room to offer her hand. "Thank you for babysitting, lieutenant."

"Quentin. No need to stand on ranks. I'll wake you when dinner's here." He waited until Nyyar had entered her bedroom and closed the door, then crossed to open the main door. He checked in with the security detail, then locked up and went to the kitchen. He would be on duty for a while and needed something more than deka tea to deal with this mess.

**************
Indra Nyyar
Lt. (jg) Quentin Dobry
Lt. Commander Kh'ali
Keeping Up With The Cardassians