A Secret Proposition - Part I

Posted on Mon May 16th, 2016 @ 3:29pm by Rafael Hernandez & Jarad & Kaeli & Isaura Panossian & Zarv & Drekkar

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Ning'Tao / The Cherry Pit

* Isaura’s Quarters - Ning’Tao *

“I’m so glad to be off that ship,” Isa said, stretching out on her bunk on the Ning’Tao. “Another day on Eldren’s ship and... ugh... I would have gone crazy. I didn’t want to sleep in the hold any longer. It smelled like that Bajoran spice... you know, the hot one? Anyway, I’m glad to be home.”

“Me too.” Kaeli flopped in a chair and draped her legs over the arm of it. “That was one hell of a trip wasn’t it? But, we got home without any of us in little pieces. Eldren is fine, Nyyar is home and Drekkar didn’t kill Tindam. I’d say a good time was had by all.”

“Drekkar didn’t kill Tindam...,” Isaura mused, “Though I thought he was going to try. Did Tinman say where he was going?”

“No. He...ah….let’s just say he wasn’t exactly aware he was leaving, shall we? He likely knows by now though. Garak turned him over to a friend of a friend...you get the idea.” Kaeli shrugged. “Or he will in another day or two. Do you really want to know?”

Isa frowned. She had liked him, to a degree. If she overlooked the fact that he actually hated her and would have liked nothing better than to throttle her. “No, I don’t, thanks,” she said sadly. “Too bad. He coulda been a nice guy. But I had to keep refreshing my touch.”

Kaeli nodded slowly. “Maybe. I think he has too much of Rekar’s training in him and thus only thinks of the mission, under normal circumstances that is. Let’s just say that Tinman is far from here and Rekar has reason to view him with suspicion if he ever turns up on Romulus.”

“Oh.” Isa nodded. “Did Jarad say when he and Drekkar are due to get here?”

“Jarad wanted to stop by Piper to give his report on Eldren to the docs there to add to his file, assuming he has one,” Kaeli answered. “Then they needed to report in to Boroca and tell him they are tracking us and Nyyar.” She winked at Isa. “They are, officially, searching for you and I who dared to kidnap his new wife.”

“Oh, right. That. Slightly inconvenient. But that means we can leave Drekkar with their ship - Inara of whatever the name is and Jarad can come with us.” Isaura paused and looked around her quarters. “I’m surprised neither Zarv nor Rafe are here, demanding attention.”

“I am surprised Drekkar isn’t here demanding attention,” Kaeli quipped. “Or Ronin demanding a report.” She fell silent a moment as a thought occurred to her. “You know Boroca will be expecting results. On top of that, Rekar thinks I am working for him again, and Boroca’s probably already ordered you killed. Just saying…”

“Well, crap, I’m just on everyone’s list, aren’t I? When I came to the DQ, I came here looking for anonymity--”

The door opened, making her stop. She grinned, tossed her hands out in an invitation for a hug and shouted, “Zarv!”

The t’garev winced but moved forward and hugged her briefly before turning her this way and that, looking her over for injuries. Finding none, he grunted and glanced at Kaeli.

She waggled her fingers at him in a wave. “Hiya Zarv. Did you miss us?”

“Her, yes; you,” he shrugged.

Isaura laughed. “Z, be nice.”

“It’s okay, Isa, I scare him. Well….I scare a lot of people I guess.” Kaeli shrugged. “Anything fun happen while we were gone?”

Zarv shook his head, but he was grinning slightly; it sat strangely on his face. Isaura stared at him a moment, not trusting that smile. She tried to read what was amusing him, but got nowhere.

“That boring with Rafe and Ronin, huh? I suppose it would be, since Drekkar wasn’t along, stirring up the shit,” Isaura said.

“Which means they all have to make up for lost time. Where are Ro and Rafael anyhow?” Kaeli reached out with her foot and nudged Zarv, just to see if he would jump.

He growled at her before answering, “He’s on the way here.”

“Which he?”, Isa asked.

“Both hes.” Zarv busied himself straightening her room. She’d been home all of ten minutes and had managed to cause disarray in the room.

“Yay, let the grilling begin.” The door opened, cutting off anything else Kaeli might have said and Rafael hurried in.

He looked from one to the other, then settled on Isa, his black-eyed gaze intense. They held a mix of reproach and the clear sense that he wished Kaeli and Zarv would disappear.

“So, where is he?”

“Rafe!” Isa hopped up and started to move towards him. Zarv took her arm and kept her back. Isa looked from him to Rafe and asked, “Wait... you’re asking about Drekkar?” She was obviously confused. “Why would you care where he is? He’s not here, that should be enough.”

Rafael waved the idea of Drekkar aside. “No, I couldn’t care less about him. I meant the other one...the one you picked up on Romulus. Even Drekkar seemed unhappy about him, which on one hand makes me happy but…..” He stopped to give an expressive shrug.

Isa’s eyes went wide. Beside her, Zarv snickered. “This is what you were just smiling about,” she hissed at Zarv and pointed at the door. Zarv slunk out, still snickering. She looked at Rafe and asked, “Drekkar told you about the Romulus guy?”

“He made a point to call me and gloat about that one just to annoy me.” He crossed his arms now. “So?”

“Umm...shall I…?” Kaeli pointed at herself, then the door.

Isa nodded and waggled her fingers at her as she headed out the door. “See you later, K.” She smiled at Rafe. “The Romulus guy was... necessary; he wasn’t someone..., um..., am I helping my case here at all?”

“You might if you tell me it mightily pissed off Drekkar, and that this man was necessary to save your asses or you’d both be dead.You especially. Kae’s frightening but I don’t want her dead. So tell me the story.” Rafael hadn’t moved yet.

“Oh, he pissed off Drekkar all right, all the way from Romulus to Cardassia. He was necessary, too, otherwise Kaeli and I would have been killed on Romulus or Cardassia. I didn’t really like him, but... I had to keep him close to me,” Isa stepped forward and smiled at him. “You can forgive me, right?”

“Maybe.” A hint of a smile appeared on Rafael’s face. “Where is he now, hmm?” He hooked his finger in the neck of her shirt and pulled her a little closer.

“I don’t know. We left him on Cardassia. Good thing, too, since Eldren’s ship isn’t meant for four, let alone five. It was a cramped trip back,” she edged closer, testing the waters to see if he was going to kiss her.

“You left him? Or Kaeli did?” He tugged her slightly closer.

“We did. I think he was supposed to stay with Kaeli, but the particulars there are fuzzy,” she shrugged, “But I didn’t want to bring him along. He’d get in the way here.” Mostly, she knew, because Tindam would have recalled how much he disliked her.

“He would and I’d have to tell Kae to get rid of him.” The slight smile became a real one now and he wrapped her in his arms. “I missed you. Keeping up with that little Ocampa is tricky. I farmed her off on Joe for the day since you were arriving.” His lips brushed her ear as he murmured. “I knew I’d have better things to do.”

SB900 - The Pit *

Leaving Isa and Rafael to hash out ‘things’ didn’t bother her at all. Those two always puzzled her and she had given up trying to figure them out. Even so, she had promised Rafael long ago that should he need her services, he just had to ask. As things looked now, with Isa’s distancing herself from Drekkar, that might not be necessary. It would certainly be simpler if so. She wandered her way through the pit and noticed she was given a wide berth. Apparently word had spread that she was associated with Suresh. It took all her self-control not to laugh out loud about that. Finally she entered the square outside Saturnalia and discovered the object of her thoughts standing there in conversation. She motioned the man away and looked up at Drekkar.

“Having fun?”

He glowered at her. “Up until this moment, yes, I had been, but you just had to show up. Why are you in my view?”

“It touches my heart to see how glad you are to see me.” Kaeli’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “What have I done to you? Lately, I mean.”

“Let me count the ways,” he said dramatically, rolling his eyes. “Ways one through four hundred ninety-nine all involve you standing here. So, go on, do tell me why you’re here.”

She shrugged lightly. “I’m just wandering, enjoying being back on the station. You’re part of the crew so let’s have a drink. I thought you might like some company while Isa is...occupied.”

“Occupied? Already?” He frowned and sighed. “I feel the need for something wet. I suppose you can come with me.” He stepped towards Saturnalia.

Kaeli fell in step beside him as they entered the bar. “Besides, Jarad will be here before long I suspect.” Once they were seated, she continued. “Did you think our homecoming would be any different?”

“Actually, yes. He was supposed to be angry with her, kick her aside, and she’d come back to me,” he paused while they ordered their drinks. “But I’ll guess that he just caved in and went straight to her bed.”

Kaeli shrugged. “No clue. I skipped out as soon as he arrived. They didn’t need an audience for the negotiations, but no, he wasn’t happy. That much I can tell you.” She studied Drekkar a moment, then continued. “So when are you going to let this go?”

“Why should I let it go? Isa has a history of vacillating, particularly where men are concerned. I can just wait for her to come back around.” He eyed her as the server brought their drinks. When Shelly had stepped away, he asked Kaeli, “Unless you’re offering to take her place?”

“I’m sure that would just thrill Jarad.” She sipped her drink and smiled. “Besides, you and I? It wouldn’t go well. I’d sass you, you’d get rough and I’d stab you.”

“We’d have fun right up to that point, though.” He laughed.

“Maybe, but it seems awfully nihilistic. Besides, you don’t really care for me and don’t deny it. I can read you like a book. Still,” Kaeli set her drink down and rested her hand on his arm, “you are crew and I’d back you up if you needed it.”

“I’m still crew? Really? Have you run that past Isa? Besides, I have my own ship now. A respected position. Money,” he said. “I don’t really need a position on Isa’s crew.”

“You are also lying to Boroca, conducting a fake search, and hiding his wife from him,” Kaeli reminded him. “Seems to me that your position and money is depending on a lot of people keeping yours and Jarad’s secret. Oh, I almost forgot. You’re also hiding and sleeping with the two women he thinks kidnapped that wife.”

“Hmm... yes, you would do well to remember all of that,” he sneered. “I could take you two to him at any time.”

“And risk my telling him all I know?” Kaeli smiled. “So it looks like an impasse. We’re holding a sword over each other’s head, huh?” She winked at Drekkar. “What fun!”

He grunted. “I suppose.”

“So what do we do about that? I’m curious, too, if you’re going to keep working with us. You come in handy pretty often.” Kaeli drained her glass and held up two fingers for Shelly. “After all, you and Jarad have the run of the quadrant now.”

He grinned slyly and eyed her again. “So we do. Come with us; leave Isa’s little ship,” he put a hand on her thigh, “Jarad and I can give you a fantastic quality of life.”

“Jarad already does.” Kaeli had grown still as a statue. “Now you might wanna move your hand before I break your fingers. You know how he is about me.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Go on, scurry back to him.”

She reached beneath the table and wrapped her hand around his fingers...and squeezed tight. “I’m not the one you want and I’m not a bargaining chip either. I made a promise that I will keep. Do you remember it?”

“A promise? Other than the one you just made about any harm to Isa resulting in harm to me?”

“That would be it. Besides, I don’t want to come between you and Jarad. Bad idea...very bad.” She stood and rested her hand on his shoulder. “But don’t worry, I’m not using the sword unless you force me to.”

“How very kind of you,” he sneered. “Now go on, leave me alone,” he made a shooing gesture with his hand.

“See you soon.” Kaeli left him and hurried out of the bar.

It was only a few minutes later that Jarad slipped into her empty seat. “All my running around is done for now.” He ordered his drink, then turned back to Drekkar. “Have you seen Kaeli? She wasn’t in our quarters or the ship.”

“Because she was here, hitting on me,” Drekkar lied. “She left in a huff just a few minutes ago because I turned her down. I’d rather wait for Isa to come to her senses.”

Jarad had been surveying the room but Drekkar’s words reclaimed his attention in an instant. “She was….what? You didn’t just say that she was hitting on you, did you? Because we both know…..nah...she wouldn’t…” But then, she had. On Romulus with Rekar. She hadn’t said so but he could read her like a book.

Shrugging, Drekkar said, “Sure she wouldn’t. Keep believing her. Sometimes, people change, Jarad. Maybe being back on Romulus triggered something for her. I mean, it isn’t usual for her to hit on me.”

“No, it isn’t,” Jarad agreed. He decided to leave it at that. Drekkar wasn’t the most trustworthy soul but he intended to clear the matter with Kaeli as soon as they both were home. For now, they had business to discuss. “Have you spoken with Boroca yet?”

He nodded slightly. “Told him that we’ve tracked Nyyar here and are searching for a lead for where she went from here. That should keep him off our backs for a week or so.”

“Here as in 900 or here as in the Delta Quadrant?” Jarad asked. “Either way it means he thinks we are on the trail of the girls too.”

“Here, as in SB900. I told him we’d base our search from here,” Drekkar said. “We can take the occasional trip deeper into the Delta Quadrant.”

“Wait, he knows Nyyar is here on the station?” Jarad frowned deeply. “What’s to stop him from hopping on his ship and coming out to get her himself?”

“That we’re on the task. Also, I didn’t say she was here on the station, just that we were. Give me some credit.”

“My apologies.” Jarad sighed. “A little tension I suppose. This whole situation is really tricky. But as you say, you have bought us some time. So,” Jarad smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Next round is on me. Then how do you feel about dropping into Palaxia’s? We can hit the dabo tables for a bit till Kaeli shows up.”

“Let’s go. You can buy the next round there.” Drekkar finished off his drink and stood.

****************
Cap’n Isaura Panossian
Kaeli
Rafael Hernandez
Zarv
Drekkar
Jarad