Strange Bedfellows

Posted on Fri Mar 4th, 2016 @ 8:31pm by Captain Li Hawke & Ensign Reva Madhava & IKS Ning'Tao

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Nyyar's Quarters / CIS Intira

* Upper Quarters *

Eldren exited the turbolift and made his way down the corridor. Nyyar’s new quarters weren’t far but still his stride was brisk for at least two good reasons. He wanted to see her and he disliked being in the ‘small number’ decks of the station, way too many Security and Starfleet personnel around for his tastes.

Turning the bend he spotted Nyyar’s quarters door at the end of the corridor and while he covered the last distance he thought again, with satisfaction, to the last hours where Suresh had left him in control of things in Saturnalia. It had been an interesting thing and amusing too. Especially the part regarding him bossing around Patch and Farco…

With a grin still lingering on his lips he sounded the chime preparing himself to embrace Nyyar again.

No answer.

Surely she was busy doing those female things, making herself even more beautiful and stuff like that. Just to avoid to appear pushing he waited some instants more and then sounded again.

No answer.

A hint of anxiety surged from deep within and he sounded again. Twice

No answer.

Stifling a curse he typed the code to unlock the door that Nyyar had, fortunately, given him. The door swished open to reveal the room bathed in darkness only partially diminished by the light coming from the corridor. He stepped in his eyes scanning the locale for any possible threat.

“Nyyar?”

Something was definitely wrong as all the rooms were deserted and he felt a grip on his stomach. Where the hell had she gone without telling him? He wondered... Until his eye caught a flicker coming from the terminal on the desk.

When he pressed the panel, a message popped up from Nyyar that read:

Dearest Tohr, I’ve gone down to the Promenade to do some shopping. I shouldn’t be gone long, so make yourself comfortable and wait for me here. Be back soon…

He wondered what fancy could have stricken her for feeling the need to shop shortly before their meeting, but for sure he couldn’t feel eased by the words that glittered on the screen.

Pacing the quarters like a caged tiger was, at the moment, the best of ‘comfortable’ he could get.

* Two Hours Later *

Two hours had come and gone and still no sign of Nyyar. Suddenly, the beep of her terminal pierced the silence with notice of an incoming message.

Eldren, his concern growing by the second now, moved closer to the desk and looked at the screen tapping on the incoming message

The face of a Cardassian male appeared on the screen. He looked back at Eldren a moment, his expression stern.

“You are Eldren Tohr?”

Containing the rage that was mounting in him at the sight of the umpteenth Cardassian slithering around Nyyar’s affairs and life he just spat the words: “That would be me. And who are you, by the way?”

“Jarad,” he answered. “I understand you were part of the Resistance so my name may ring a bell. But before you blow up, sit down and listen.”

Eldren slowly sat down regarding intently the Cardassian’s face on the other side of the screen and waiting for the sound of the bell to lead him to a particular place or activity he could have heard about him. In any case he wasn’t liking any single instant of the situation, a sense of urgency building inside him.

“So... spit it out, and quick.”

“It’s about Nyyar,” Jarad answered. “First, I’m not the one who took her, but she is on this ship. I actually wanted to leave her on 900 but Farak wouldn’t hear of it. So, given I once again outrank his puny ass and will likely kill him when we reach Cardassia, I’ve declared Nyyar my business. It’s thanks to me that she’s not going to end up where they planned for her to be.”

“And what would be the place you have thought for her?” Eldren asked in a growl “Release her at once,” He snapped then without waiting for the Cardassian’s answer. “Or I’m going to find the whole bunch of you, one by one. No matter how much time it will take… Think of Zikar and Gul Markat and many others...”

“Frankly I want her back on 900 and away from the snakes on Cardassia. I give you my word, if it means anything to you.” He regarded Eldren for a moment and shrugged. “Whatever. I am only here to get Kaeli back from Romulus. Once that is done, we will get Nyyar safely to you. It may be a little tricky, since she is apparently still a Cardassian citizen and the director of the CIB has ordered her recalled. But I’ve made people disappear from Cardassia before, including myself.”

“It seems I’m not in the position to stop any of you at the moment. So I’m forced to have to trust you on this. I’ll take my precautions though…” Eldren replied already making a mental inventory of what had to be done about his raider ship. It had been a while from the last time she’d taken a ride.

Jarad smiled finally, and nodded. “I see. How soon can you get here?”

“In a few.”

“Very well. Use this channel to communicate with me once you enter the wormhole. It's secure. I'll be able to let you speak to Nyyar then.” Jarad looked aside for a moment as if listening to someone, then turned back to Eldren. “Any questions?”

“None at the moment. See you in a while.” Eldren sneered.

“Very well. Watch your back,” Jarad ordered. The channel closed and the screen went dark.

A thought flashed through his mind as he stood from the seat... That all of this could have been a setup to get him. Perhaps a vengeance for all he’d done from the times of Occupation to this day.

Reason would have normally advised him to avoid involvement but Nyyar’s life was in the balance and he could not forget that. Hell be damned, the easiest choices to take in one’s life are those where you don’t have a choice at all.

Tohr hurried out of the room and the locale plunged into darkness again when the doors swished close behind him.

* CIS Intira *

Jarad closed the channel and leaned back in the chair that had been Zikar’s not so long ago. He looked around the room and shook his head in amazement at all the images of Nyyar. Finally, he looked to Drekkar over on the sofa.

“Can you say obsessed?” He kept his voice low since Nyyar was asleep in the bedroom. Whatever Farak had dosed her with had left her completely suggestible, and had finally knocked her out altogether.

Drekkar had walked around the room, looking closer at each photo. Some were strange - taken from farther away than a normal photo or at an angle that suggested she wasn’t entirely aware of being the subject of a photo. Most, though, were normal images, including one of the woman smiling and waving at the viewer. “Just a little, Jarad. If you ever do this with that Romulan, I’ll have you checked into a mental ward.”

“And you would be right,” Jarad agreed. “But like that one,” he pointed to one of the photos Drekkar had examined. “Who follows his own wife taking secret pictures of her? It’s not like she wasn’t noticed walking around Cardassia and if she was doing something she shouldn’t word would have reached him immediately.”

Drekkar shook his head slightly. “I don’t think he was following her, necessarily. This one,” he picked up a framed shot, “Look, that building behind her? It’s the old Armory. This angle... I’d say this was a frame from the security feed. So, okay, he was following her through security feeds.” Drekkar didn’t mention that he’d done the same with Isaura once upon a time.

“That’s fucked up. He had her since she was barely legal by our laws. If she hadn’t run off by then…” He stopped and began to laugh. He continued till he had to wipe his eyes. “Well scratch what I was about to say, since she managed to do just that. I think I am beginning to like her.”

“Is she emitting some pheromone like an Orion?” Drekkar sounded mildly disgusted. “Zikar, Boroca, that Bajoran and now the other Bajoran and now you... all sniffing after her. Pathetic.”

“Not me. I just like anyone who can put one over on Zikar. That man was a gigantic pain in my ass. Boroca is no better and seems to think he’s inherited her as well as the sole directorship. People aren’t property to be passed around like baggage and treated as such.” He turned an intent stare on Drekkar. “You might want to remember that.”

Drekkar adopted an innocent expression. “There’s no need for that.”

“Just saying.” Jarad crossed his arms and frowned. “Tell me something Drekkar. What exactly do you want to happen with Isaura if we manage to get her back?”

“Eh... If we work this Order business correctly, we could move back to Cardassia Prime, where I can keep her in the manner I used to. Or, maybe we’ll dump Rafe on a garbage scow and we can keep house on the Ning.”

Jarad looked at Drekkar as if he were delusional. “Force isn’t going to solve your Rafael problem, whether it’s force against him or your temper with her.”

“Force against him will work just fine. And once we’re settled, Isa won’t need to be corrected so often.”

“No she won’t because she will kill you in your sleep and call me to dispose of the body.” Jarad grinned back at Drekkar. “Besides, you know as well as I do that you don’t want to stay on Cardassia. We may have to lie to them however, in order to get out.”

“Who says we’ll be lying?” Drekkar showed his irritation with Jarad then turned and headed for the door. “I’m going to the lounge; perhaps I’ll find better conversation there.”

Jarad watched him go and wondered if, this time, he was going to have to give in and kill Boroca to get them out of this.

***************
Jarad
Eldren Tohr
Drekkar
Strange Bedfellows