Cramped Spaces

Posted on Tue Apr 19th, 2016 @ 10:54pm by Indra Nyyar & Jarad & Kaeli & Isaura Panossian & Drekkar
Edited on on Mon Apr 25th, 2016 @ 10:29pm

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Cardassia

* Cardassia *

Boroca was pacing in his office as he waited for Drekkar and Jarad to arrive, muttering nonstop, every other word a harsh curse. He growled and swept a lamp off the corner of his desk as he passed and it shattered when it hit the floor.

“Where the hell are they?!?” he fumed. He tapped the control panel on his desk, opening the screen that was set to track the microchip that now resided beneath the skin of Nyyar’s lower back. When the computer informed him it was out of range, he cursed again and banged his fist on the desk. “Dammit, Nyyar, don’t worry, I’ll get you back. Romulus is no place --”

“For what?” The voice was Jarad’s. The doors had opened and he and Drekkar stood, watching Boroca lose his mind.

“Romulus? Who is taking her there?” Drekkar stepped into Boroca’s office.

“Your old girlfriend.” Boroca pointed at Jarad. “Come in and close the door. Now!” He stepped over the remains of the lamp and continued to pace.”The only good thing in all this is that she confirmed what you said Jarad, about you two having parted ways.”

Jarad shot Drekkar a quizzical look, then sat down.

“You talked to her? Or, rather... she spoke to you?” Drekkar gave Boroca a doubtful look. “Have you already had a torturer pull that from her?”

“No, dammit! I had her in my hands! She was at Zikar’s house. I got there to see Nyyar and when I came around the corner she was standing on the lawn. We drew weapons and I convinced her to come have a few words or I’d shoot her. I had her pressed to the wall with my disruptor against her chest. When I asked if you knew she was here, Jarad, she actually looked frightened and assured me you didn’t. She swore you’d kill her if you did know.”

“Well, she’s right as far as she knows,” he agreed. “Our new plan changes that but she doesn’t know it yet.”

“Yes.” Boroca nodded. “When I asked if she was there for Nyyar, and told her that my wife was well-guarded, she asked if I was sure about that, then transported right out of my hands.” He ran his hand over his face. “Nyyar was gone from inside. The bag she was packing was laying at the bottom of the stairs, as if she had been snatched right out from beneath it.”

“Really? No sign of who else might have been there? Kaeli must have had someone helping her. Didn’t you have men watching over her?” Drekkar put a slight sneer in his words.

“I did. Two outside and two in. Of the outside men, one was tasered, the other dead from a collapsed lung due to a stab wound. Inside men, one was dead of a knife wound on the lawn, the other dead from a disruptor blast inside the house. One person couldn’t possibly have done it all unless they could fly, so she obviously had help. Why Nyyar?” Boroca’s voice broke, showing an uncharacteristic abundance of emotion.

“Simple,” Jarad answered. “First she was associated with Zikar, now you. What this tells me is that Kaeli’s people have someone on the inside.”

“You will need to ferret out that inside person. Perhaps it was one of those guarding her on the way here? Who piloted the captain’s yacht?” Drekkar didn’t want to point Boroca at them, but then, he needed to be pointed somewhere. “Did the tasered one wake up and tell you who attacked him? Did he see his attacker?”

“He will be questioned once he regains consciousness, which should be anytime now. The doctor thinks he took more than one blast,” Boroca informed them. “I think it likely that he saw whoever it was if they had to hit him more than once. Once we know, that should point us in the right direction.”

Jarad nodded. “That will give us a place to start. Once we know who, I can get anything I want from them.”

“He’s kept his skills sharp,” Drekkar assured Boroca. “He’s even found new skills, I believe. Haven’t you, friend?” He chuckled. “Whomever is behind taking Nyyar, we’ll find them and he can ply their secrets from them.”

“That is exactly what I intend for you to do.” Boroca sighed aloud. “This one is personal, gentlemen. If she is harmed, I will blow Romulus to bits.”

“Let’s hope there’s no need for that. They’ve only been gone an hour at most. We should be able to track them down and bring her home to where she belongs.” Jarad’s voice was surprisingly soothing. A beep from Boroca’s desk interrupted him.

“Boroca here, what is it?”

“Kotkin is awake and has some...interesting news.”

“Let’s hear it then,” Boroca answered.

“He has identified a Bajoran woman. A voice in her comm badge addressed her as Isa. That’s all he heard before she blasted him.”

“Thank you.” Boroca’s voice was tight. He stabbed at the panel with his fingers and closed the channel. “Well?”

Managing to not turn a paler shade of gray, Drekkar breathed, “Isaura.” Slightly louder, he said, “Looks like she and Kaeli are traveling together still. This should be fun, Jarad, since you can kill her on your table and it won’t be a waste.”

“Which one?’ Jarad laughed.

“Both! They took Nyyar, they are going to pay for it. Given that it’s those two, and you two know how they operate, it appears you will get your chance sooner than expected. You wanted to lure her in Jarad, do it. Then find my wife and kill them both.”

Drekkar cast a look at Jarad then said, “We’d better get going then. We’ll need to quick-provision a ship and get after them.”

“Yes you will. Take the Pumulu. It should still be good for a few weeks. That can get you to the Delta Quadrant if they are going that far. The point is to get to Nyyar before they harm her. Once you have Nyyarr, I don’t care what you do to those two little urchins.” Boroca opened another channel and ordered the Pumulu to be readied for immediate departure.

“Count on it,” Jarad answered. “This is going to be fun.” He stood and waited for Drekkar.

“We’ll send you updates,” Drekkar stood and joined Jarad before they headed out. In the hallway, he carefully and quietly said, “Urchins? Kaeli and Isa as urchins? There’s an off-the-mark descriptor.”

“He’s emotional, did you notice?” Jarad asked. “I thought he wanted her only because she was Zikar’s and likely knows more than any Bajoran in the universe about Cardassian Intel but now I’m not so sure. It gives us a lot of leeway don’t you think?”

“I suppose. Though he did just tell us to kill the two women in the known universe that we’re probably not capable of killing.” Drekkar made a face, “Well... you might be able to kill Isa and I could easily kill Kaeli.”

“It will not come to that, trust me. But, we can easily tie this into our other orders. Oversee the DQ, and hunt for Nyyar at the same time. Simple. We need to contact them anyway,” he said, his voice a whisper. “Now might be a good time.”

“I’d rather wait. Let us get out of Cardassian space, then we’ll contact them.”

The Pumulu was several hours out when Drekkar was finally able to retreat to his quarters. He called Jarad to join him then, after routing the call through several channels, placed a call to Isa.

A few minutes later, the channel opened and Kaeli’s face appeared. She smiled immediately. “Well hello boys. What’s up?”

“Drekkar? Why are you calling?” Isa butted in to share the screen with Kaeli.

Drekkar smiled. “Isa, my dear, I’m calling to see how you are. Were either of you injured?”

“Well, that depends on your definition. Boroca got a little handsy with me but I transported out before things got interesting. Isa got tasered, and Eldren is hanging on by a thread.” Kaeli shrugged. “That’s the short version.”

“Isa?” Drekkar sat forward, looking at her, “You were tasered? Nothing more than that, though?”

She laughed. “I’m fine, and I’m so glad you’re taking an interest in the others’ well being as well. I have you to blame for me getting tasered - you called at the exact wrong moment.”

“Hmm, I won’t apologize for that. I was warning you that Boroca was on his way. So long as you’re all accounted for, we’re good. Jarad and I have been sent after you to bring back Nyyar.”

“Is that so?” Kaeli asked. “Does that mean we shouldn’t tell you where we’re going?” She grinned at Drekkar, hoping her attitude might annoy him. “But she is fine, thanks for asking.”

“I was certain you would have said something if she weren’t. Isa? You’ve checked her for a tracker?” Drekkar ignored Kaeli’s taunting.

Isa’s eyes went wide and she gasped, “You’re not the only one who does that?” She caught Kaeli’s curiosity and muttered, “Tell you later.” To Drekkar, she said, “Soon as we’re done here, I’ll check.”

“Good, don’t stop at just one,” he said. “Where are you heading?”

“DS9,” Kaeli answered, more serious this time. “Eldren took a shot to the thigh that dinged an artery and…” She looked back over her shoulder a moment, then turned back to whisper, “he’s not looking good.”

“We’ll meet you there, then,” Drekkar said.

Jarad appeared next to Drekkar, and it seemed he’d been listening. “Will he make it to DS9?” he asked. “You patched him up Isa?”

“I did,” she nodded, proud of herself, “Used a cauterizing gel and bandage to stop the bleeding and seal the wound. It’s likely that the gel missed a spot and he’s bleeding into his leg, but he’s self-contained for now. It’s just a day or so to DS9. We’ll get a doctor there to fix him right.”

“We’ll be there about the time you arrive so I can handle it. We are, after all, in a much faster ship, courtesy of the Order and we’ll be taking this one back to 900. How is Nyyar?”

“She’s fine,” Isa waved that concern aside; she had a more pressing concern: “You’re taking a Cardassian ship to SB900? What about the Cardassian crew on board her? Do you think the Station is going to let you just swoop in and dock?”

“It’s the crossroads, Isa, and the Delta Quadrant is open. As long as they mind their manners, and they will or they’ll regret it, there should be no problem. What is a problem is you two. Boroca has decided the Tal Shiar kidnapped his wife and you are responsible. I’ve been ordered to..ah…” Jarad paused and smirked at Drekkar. “To find you and convince you to get back together solely so I can spy on you. That you includes you too, Isa.”

“Me? I’m just an innocent starship Captain, taking cargo to and from. I don’t do anything worthy of being spied on,” Isaura said

“Except that the man you tasered identified you,” Jarad informed her. “So, Boroca assumed you were there with Kaeli.” He addressed Kaeli next. “However, he believed you when you swore I’d kill you so he thinks we are at odds. Thus the order to find you and seduce you back into my life.”

“Well that won’t be hard.” Kaeli laughed aloud. “But he will expect reports on the two of us.”


“Hmm... those’ll be boring. ‘Delivered one hundred head of t’blu hogs; ship smells like pigshit’,” Isaura joked. “And Nyyar? What will you do about her? Say she got away?”

“I have an idea about that.” The voice was Nyyar’s and she drew near. “I gave Tohr some more pain medication and he’s asleep. I have an idea on how to deal with my part of it. Once we’ve reached SB900, I’d like to sit down with all of you, and Suresh, and see what you think. I have a few kinks to work out but if it goes well, it might solve our problem permanently.”

“Suresh, too?” Isa looked a little doubtful. “Um... okay. We can talk about it on the way.”

Drekkar cleared his throat and said, “Yes, after Isa checks you over.”

“Eldren is Suresh’s second in command now, so he needs to know what’s going on. I gather there was someone else in that position until recently?” Drekkar’s words caught her attention. ”Checks me over? For what?”

“Ah... for a tracker. Subdermal. Cardies tend to like using them on property, like slaves, wives, Bajorans.” Isaura shrugged. Later, she’d tell Nyyar how she knew: Drekkar had tagged her that way a very long time ago, which had led to Boroca finding her before she could leave the planet.

“A tracker,” Nyyar repeated slowly. As she looked from Isa to Kaeli, her face went pale. “Surely you don’t think….oh no….what if I have more than one? And I’m leading them right to us?” There was an edge of panic in her voice now.

Kaeli glanced at Isa and shrugged. I’m no good with the comforting thing. You do it.

“Uh...,” Isa paled a little and looked at the two men on the screen. “Bye. DS9, we’ll find you.” She closed the comm before turning to Nyyar. “No, you aren’t leading them to us. Calm down,” she projected calm at Nyyar, hoping she’d pick it up. “We’re going to remove the trackers; they’re powered by bioelectricity, so once out of the body, they’re inert.”

“But if I do have them, they’ve had plenty of time to track us with them. Have any ships come up in the sensors yet?” she asked. “If they get close, they can pinpoint us and simply transport me off here.”

“Well, we had a good head start,” Kaeli reminded her. “And Tindam is keeping sensors on wide sweep just in case. But the sooner we find out, the better.”

“Plus, Jarad and Drekkar were put on our tail. Boroca won’t send anyone else out. Let’s get to finding the tracker... trackers.” Isa gestured her over to a seat then picked up a tricorder. “Hey, Tindam, keep your eyes forward,” she called and began scanning Nyyar.

“I have had two Cardassian husbands after all.” Nyyar sighed aloud. “Neither mentioned this, which surprises me. As long as I lived there I never heard it mentioned by anyone. Then again, there’s a lot that never reached my ears because of Zikar’s orders.”

Kaeli frowned. “Two? I thought Zikar...that’s one and you’ve only been away for what? A couple of weeks?” Suddenly it all made sense. “Boroca called you...Ohhhhh.”

“It’s complicated,” Nyyar murmured.

“Yeah, funny how those Cardassians do things without telling you, like being a torturer during the day and your husband at night, or incarcerating and enslaving Bajorans while coming home to a Bajoran lover at night,” Isa muttered while going over Nyyar. She was thinking of Drekkar and his position so many years ago. The tricorder beeped as Isa scanned Nyyar’s back. “Ah, here’s one.”

“Or filing a marriage certificate, then telling you after it’s official,” Nyyar grumbled. The beep brought a frown. “Can we not talk about that last thing when Tohr’s awake? He’s not too happy about it.”

“Mum’s the word,” Kaeli assured her. “Anymore in there Isa?”

Isa marked the spot then continued the scan. “We can likely leave it till Jarad comes and pulls it out.” She moved down Nyyar’s legs and arms. “Looks like the one is all.”

“So the question I have to ask now is, which one did it? Is there any way to know how long it’s been in me?” Nyyar asked.

“Once we remove it, we can tell,” Isa said. “If Zikar did it... could explain how he tracked you. But then, did he really ever think you’d skip out on him? I think it’s more likely Boroca did it.”

Nyyar pursed her lips. “No, Zikar assumed that after so long, I would never leave. To be honest, I never thought I would either until….” She let out a low breath. “Boroca on the other hand always wanted...it makes sense.”

“It does. Possessive bastards are possessive.” Isa sat across from her and looked at her. “So, couple more days with it. Jarad can handle it.”

“Thank you.” Nyyar nodded. “Can I ask you two something? Why are they helping me? Why are you two doing it for that matter?”

“Drekkar is likely helping you because Jarad is making him help you. Either that, or he’s paying Boroca, Farak and Zikar back for having helped strip him of everything that mattered to him,” Isa said. “As for me and Kaeli?” She laughed. “Without us, those two can’t find their asses.”

Kaeli laughed out loud, then covered her mouth, not wanting to wake Eldren. “That is so true. I know it looks strange, but Jarad and I ...well that’s also one of those ‘it’s complicated’ things. He saved my life once when your former husband wanted me crushed into tiny pieces. After that? I’d do anything to help you. Your life, Nyyar...Zikar stole it from you. I’ll be damned if I let another one do the same thing to you. And your current husband isn’t my favorite person either because of Isa.”

“What did he do to you?” Nyyar turned her attention to Isa.

Isa shot a look at Kaeli. “Ah... Boroca made me tell him about Drekkar. Then he turned Drekkar on me.”

Nyyar sucked in her breath and closed her eyes. “So he is no better than Zikar was. I suspected, but now I have proof. When we get home, we have some plans to make.” She pressed her hands to her eyes a moment, then rose and hurried to the back where Eldren lay asleep.

“You think those plans include shooting him out an airlock?” Kaeli asked.

“Mine would,” Isa whispered. “Hopefully, for their sakes, those plans are just an annulment of the Cardassian union and a proper Bajoran one. You know Drekkar doesn’t know about that, right?”

“About you and Boroca? No way! Really? You haven’t told him?” Kaeli glanced to the back where Nyyar sat on the floor by Eldren. “I’ll be glad to take him out, now that we’re off Cardassia and make it look like self defense.”

“Drekkar or Boroca?” Isa laughed. “I never told Drekkar; after leaving Cardassia, the next time I saw him, he tried to kill me. And the time after that. And then... again... and then I found the tracker. By the time we crossed paths again, the moment to tell him about Boroca had passed.”

“What if it came up with Boroca? What would Drekkar do?”

“What does it matter? Boroca likely thinks that Drekkar still wants to kill me, so... if Drekkar doesn’t know, it would make sense.” Typical Isa: she often failed to think things through and how they affected others. “Anyway. Dinner and then a nap? I need to spell Tindam later.”

“Yeah. I need to call Ro and Rafael. No one’s mentioned Rhian and I want to make sure they are keeping an eye on her. Pity Drekkar’s not there, I’d send him to find her.” Kaeli moved over to the one small replicator.

“What did she do to piss you off? Are you trying to frighten her?” Isaura gave Kaeli a worried look. “I’ll have mac’n’cheese.”

Kaeli ordered two servings of mac’n’cheese and passed one bowl to Isa. “She would be a good distraction.” She took a bite and swallowed it down. “Admit it. Besides, she’s getting that ‘look’ around Ro.”

“And you’d rather not have her give Ro that ‘look’? Instead, you’d wish Drekkar upon her? You’re meaner than I thought,” Isa said around a mouthful of mac’n’cheese.

“I don’t wanna sound prejudiced, but she’s three already. She has about 3 more years before she starts to get so old she forgets who she is. I don’t think Ro could handle that - such a short run, then watching her die of old age.”

“I think she needs to be with one of her own; any other species will have that issue. Can you imagine having children with with one of them? The kids would likely die before you did.” Isa frowned. “But Ro could have a dalliance without falling for her.”

Kaeli shrugged. “He has other interests. I don’t know who but ten strips of latinum says she has red hair.”

“Seyla? The Station’s madam?” Isa looked amazed.

“I don’t think so, but he’s being awfully cagey.” Kaeli took another bite and smiled. “This is good. No wonder you eat it so much.”

“Mmmm... I would eat this for every meal if I could. Well, with the replicators doing what they do, I could, but I’d probably get bored of it. I wouldn’t blame Ro if it was Seyla he was into; she’s pretty savvy about love and all that sort of thing. He liked Olivia, too, as I recall. Too bad she left us.”

“Olivia is still the hangup. You see why he still wants redheads?” Kaeli finished her dinner and sighed. “You ever want something normal Isa? Because admit it, so far, we are not.”

“I don’t know what normal is, Kaeli. To me, what I had with Drekkar on Cardassia was normal - and I was there as a spy, feeding secrets back to ...well, back to others. Now, what I have with Zarv is ‘normal’ - at least for his species and the one that enslaves them. Kinda scary, isn’t it?” She laughed and swiped a finger through the cheese in the bowl then licked her finger.

“And Rafael? He seems the most normal of the bunch.” Kaeli leaned back and propped her bare feet against the bulkhead. “Maybe you two could end up like them.” She nodded towards Eldren and Nyyar.

“At times, I wonder whether I should cut him loose. But I like him too much. I just fear that life with me is rather chaotic and frustrating for him.”

“Only because of one thing...three guesses what that is.” She reached over with her finger, swiping a last glob of cheese from Isa’s bowl.

“Drekkar?”

“Bingo, as Joe would say. I’ll tell you this though.” Kaeli’s voice lowered. “Jarad has told him point blank that if there is another incident, I will be the last thing Drekkar sees.”

“Drekkar shouldn’t give us a problem anymore. I’ve told him we’re done, that we’re never, ever getting back together again.”

Kaeli began to laugh aloud. “I’ve said that before to Jarad. On that planet where Jarad found him...the day he joined the crew. We see how well that went.”

“Yes. Well. I would have been happy to have Drekkar left on Cardassia. Now that he fancies himself a Legate again, his ego will know no bounds. We don’t have to take him on the Ning again. We could leave him at 900.”

“We could and just make use of him when we need him,” Kaeli agreed. “But, that means keeping him out of the loop on most things we do.”

“For me, that’s easy. Would it be easy for Jarad?” Isa watched Kaeli for a moment.

That got a nod from Kaeli. “There is so much he never tells Drekkar. No worries. But if we separate him, we may have to be careful to keep up with how much he’s sending back to Boroca.”

“I’ll leave that to you and Jarad.” Isa stood and took their bowls to the recycler. She yawned and said, “Naptime. If you’re up, wake me in about twenty minutes.” She opened a hatch and started down.

Kaeli tracked down the flask of whiskey and carried to the back, offering it to Nyyar. “Here, you need some of this. Hopefully it will knock you out for a bit because if you don’t sleep, you’ll drop. I’ll keep an eye on Eldren.”

Nyyar debated, then took the flask. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing. Sweet dreams.


*************
Capt’n Isaura Panossian
Kaeli
Nyyar
Legate Drekkar
Jarad