Suresh Becomes The Harbinger Of Change

Posted on Wed Jun 15th, 2016 @ 1:11pm by Suresh & Indra Nyyar & Eldren Tohr

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: The Cherry Pit / Nyyar's Quarters

* The Cherry Pit *

Suresh rose from his terminal where he had just finished his conversation with Isaura and Kaeli. He was relieved to hear that there had been no complications with their mission and he needed to go tell Nyyar and Eldren. That raised the big question, however. How much to tell Nyyar? Eldren knew, at least somewhat, what his plans were so that was the likely place to start. Tell him and let him decide how much Nyyar should know. He realized, with some amusement, that he was essentially passing the buck but so be it. Nyyar was Eldren’s responsibility so he could handle the details.

He decided to go now, since it was too quiet here without Six. There had been no word and now Darwin and Li, his links to Six, were off the station as well. He needed to get moving anyway. A message had come from Sickbay that Edana was there after being attacked on Archadia. He wanted to go check on her too, but first, he had to deliver the news. With one last check of his terminal, he saw a message from Patch but decided to let it wait. He departed his quarters and after a short conversation with Farco, he arrived at Eldren’s door a few minutes later and rang the chime.

The door opened just an inch, as usual, showing just one of Eldren’s eyes darting around assessing for threats.

“Ah, Suresh. Come in.” Eldren said as the door swished open fully, motioning him in while with the other hand he put back the disruptor on the shelf.

“Expecting trouble?” Suresh asked. “Who did you piss off?” He smiled a moment, then looked around the living area. “Is Nyyar home?”

“I could give you a list for that and no… Nyyar’s not here at the moment but should come around in a few. What’s up?”

“Good. I have some news for you.” Suresh moved on into the room and sat down. “How much you tell her I will leave up to you.”

“Bad news?” Eldren asked tentatively trying to gauge Suresh’s expression.

He gave Eldren a reassuring smile. “Good news actually. Have a seat, relax. I just spoke to Isaura and Kaeli, who had left Cardassia.”

“I’m all ears then.” Eldren responded visibly relieved while sitting on the sofa “If you’re thirsty help yourself with the replicator, anything you want.” he added waving a hand to the kitchen.

“I’m good. They found Edana and she’s in sickbay, so I’m going there when I leave here. That’s the first good news. As for Cardassia, it is done. Boroca is dead and there wasn’t really enough of him left to try and revive from what I understand. The official reports state that he was at his remote vacation home and was attacked by some sort of wild animal who ripped him to shreds. I gather it was an ugly scene.” Suresh shrugged. “It has hit the public news there, which means Nyyar will likely be hearing from Cardassia soon regarding inheritance and her wishes as to what to do with him.”

A fleeting thought flashed through Eldren’s mind about taking his padd and erase another name from the list, but it was quickly trashed. That could have waited a later moment.

“So… She’s free at last.” Eldren muttered mostly to himself “I think Nyyar will be glad at the news. I would be happier if she just trashed all that Cardassian crap coming from that cursed bond they imposed on her. But she’ll decide.”

Suresh nodded. “And you need to decide just how much you want to tell her. Will you reveal the part you and I played? What about the girls, as she calls them?”

“Only truth can stem a free choice. The freedom each one of us deserves… Still I don’t think I’m ready. Everything’s been done for her sake for what concerns me but I’m not sure she would understand.”

“I get that. It’s a deep conflict for her I would think - what had been her whole life and then all these sudden changes. She despises what’s been done to her but don’t be surprised if there is some grief as well. I understand that she and Boroca were always close...well, before this mess.” Suresh paused as he considered the situation. “What about you? What do you intend to do with her now that it’s all over? I know that’s a little personal, but we run a tightly knit business here. How much about you does she know?”

“Really? Nothing.” Eldren snorted with a smile born of bitter irony “A warrior. One who fought Cardassians for the freedom of our people, that has been part of the Resistance. That she knows.” Eldren shook slowly his head “And I think she only sees the romantic side that comes with these things. The tales recounted about great heroism the propaganda and all that stuff…” Eldren’s words trailed off as he himself was afraid to hear how far Nyyar was from the truth.

“She survived being taken to Cardassia, tossed into a legal union with Boroca, then an escape with you and some pirates, and nearly lost you in the process. I am suggesting that perhaps she is not as delicate as you might think.” Suresh shrugged. “Even so, could she withstand hearing that her...you...and I ordered him killed and sent the people who did it?”

“That I do not know but I’m bent to believe she would not accept this. The bastard should have died of an accident or heart attack and made a favor to all of us…”

“Well as far as anyone else knows, it was an accident. You should tell her, though, before she sees it on the news out here. Better coming from you I think.” Suresh rose with a sigh. “Good luck.”

“Yeah…” Eldren sneered “As if I happened to have vatloads of that in my life.”

“Hey, you found Nyyar after what? Almost thirty years? That counts.” He crossed to the door and it opened just as he arrived.

Nyyar blew in like a fresh summer breeze. Seeing Suresh standing right there, she smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “What a pleasant surprise. I’m not interrupting I hope?”

Suresh smiled and shook his head. “Not at all. I am on my way out actually. Edana was attacked down on Archadia and I am on my way to Sickbay to see her.”

“Oh, I hope it’s not serious? Give her my best and I’ll come see her later.”

“I will. She’ll like that. You take care and I’ll see you both soon.” Suresh glanced back at Eldren, then departed.

Once the doors closed, she hurried over and dropped down onto the sofa beside Eldren. “Everything alright?”

“Um… Yes.” Tohr assented “There are news coming from Cardassia. Boroca is no more it seems.” Then he glanced to her for the reaction.

She was reaching for his cheek but her hand faltered and dropped back to her lap. “No more what?”

“He’s dead.”

“Dead,” Nyyar repeated. It was taking a few beats to settle in and make sense. “He’s dead? But...how? I mean, I wanted to be done with him but I never wished him dead. What happened?” Her mind was already moving in a dozen different directions.

“He was by far too deep in intrigue and all that stuff Cardassians cherish so much. He threatened a wide number of people, one of whom is you. Someone had to take care of that… And that is exactly what has been done. He was no better than Zikar in this and even more devious.”

“I see,” she said quietly. “Who did this? Tell me this wasn’t solely on my account? Who there would have the courage to strike against him with the new Order standing behind him?”

“The Order is an inefficient machine at the moment, consumed by internal strife and that greatly helps those fighting for freedom and to shed the Cardassian yoke. You’re the most important account to answer your question. And the people who had the courage to do this were the ones he threatened the most for some past beef he had with them. So I would say this has been a self-defense action. You know them well ‘cause they helped us greatly recently… And I mean Kaeli and Isaura if that wasn’t already clear by now.”

He paused an instant then debating if it was proper to delve even deeper into the matter. In a second he decided that, yes, what more damage could have done by now? With a weary sigh he stood and walked over to a cabinet from which he retrieved something.

Walking back to the sofa he sat and laid his worn-out padd on her lap.

“Take a look at this if you wish, so that the truth will be clearly displayed to your eyes.”

She gave Eldren a curious look, then picked up the padd and turned it on. What she saw there didn’t make sense at first, She was looking at a list of names, all familiar ones to her, men she had known all her life. There was a notation next to about half of them, ones she knew had died, and suddenly she understood exactly what it meant. Zikar’s name was there, also noted. Boroca’s was, as yet, unmarked. Her hand shook as she looked at it and finally, she drew in a deep breath.

“All you?”

“Mostly.”

“Did you order Boroca killed?” she asked. Finally she met his gaze squarely. “Tell me.”

“I would have done that myself. I lacked the occasion when we saved you from his clutches last time.”

“So, is that a yes or no? I wouldn’t have thought twice about it had it been in my defense. Zikar’s death was and you had no choice there. But to send the girls all the way to Cardassia to do it….” She had no idea what to think. She could understand why he would want to and she would have liked too as well. She had not, even though Boroca had made decisions about her life and then informed her after the fact. She rose from the sofa and moved a few paces away. “Tell me all of it.”

“He was a snake, like all of them. He meant no good to you save for the fact to set you in another cage to show you on formal occasions and keep you stowed away for his darkest desires. Are you sure you want to go all the way down this road? To know all of it?”

“I...look, Tohr, I need....” She wasn’t sure what she needed. It was all too similar, too many people deciding what needed to be done about and for her. “I have to know everything if this...us... is going to go forward. I can’t be sweet little clueless Nyyar any more.” She paused at the door and reached out, pressing the panel to open it.

Tohr watched her go, conflicting emotions rising in his heart. Sadness for having broken the enchantment and relief for having lifted the weight of lies, no matter for the outcome…

Everything would have turned out as per the Prophets’ will.

* Nyyar’s Quarters *

It had been several days since she had been in her quarters above the equator. Following her return from Cardassia, she has taken up residence full time with Eldren, only returning here to pick up a few needed things. Now, she sat in the window seat in the dark living room, looking out through the portal. What she saw was not the passing ships but the past, replaying in her thoughts, bring two men who were now dead back to life.

She had lost the sentimental lens and now viewed her past through the eyes of a woman whose life had been taken from her and turned into what they had wanted that life to be. Two men whose own selfish motives had been all they cared about. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, she admitted. They had loved her, deeply enough to go to great lengths to possess her and keep the truth of who they were from her. Twenty-eight years of lies and what was, essentially, captivity. Tohr was right, she had lived in a gilded cage with Zikar and Boroca had intended the same, accomplishing it even more forcefully.

She sighed, the sound loud in the silence of her quarters. Now there was Tohr, who was the heart of the matter. He had been part of the last twenty-eight years, even though she hadn’t known it. She knew he loved her. He had put himself at great risk to rescue her from Cardassia and she understood his motives in removing Boroca from her life. He had proven he would do anything to protect her. What tripped her up was, that like Zikar and Boroca, he had made a momentous decision on her behalf without consulting her. She couldn’t live like that any longer. Neither could she live without Tohr, she knew. What she had said was true - she could not go through life continuing to be clueless while everything around her was decided without her input or knowledge.

Tohr’s question had also been a warning. Did she really want to go down the road of full knowledge of his life? She knew his association with Suresh wasn’t exactly on the right sight of legality but she hadn’t questioned it and neither of them had offered any explanations. She had been so caught up in her new life and Tohr that she hadn’t bothered to ask, either. Now, the way with Tohr was clear and living life in ignorance wasn’t something she could endure anymore. She had to know, all of it, and only then could she decide what was best for her. She could hear footsteps approaching and with them came the certainty that things were about to be resolved, one way or another.

Stepping through the archway Tohr observed Nyyar’s figure sitting on the armchair her face turned to look outside the portal.

She did not seem to take notice of his presence and, at last, he moved one more step inside the ample locale.

“It’s been a while you’ve been away.” He said in his husky tone not really expecting a response. “Was wondering if you had made up your mind these last days until I grew tired of uncertainty and thought to seek you out.”

As no response was coming from her he moved closer taking a chair to sit close to her. The both of them watching the stars in silence for a while.

“I’ve spent last two decades with a thorn in my side thinking of a girl I could not save from the clutches of the cardassians... until the day I found her alive and well, thousands of light years from home in a place, this starbase, I would have never imagined possible. And I thought all of this must have a reason to be.”

He paused then, recollecting thoughts, his eyes lost onto the stars glittering coldly outside the portal.

“I’ve done what I’ve done.” He said then in a soft tone “There’s no way around it… I do not regret anything, though, for we are at war.”

She turned to face him finally, uncertainty in her eyes. “Are we? Or are you?”

He started with her remark. It wasn’t new to him and it stung just like the first time he’d heard that.

“They’ll never let us in peace.” he almost growled the blood rushing to his head “The blood of our brothers and sisters calls us from afar prompting us to action…”

“I know what they did and I understand why you cannot let them rest. It is who you are,” she said gently. “You will always be the Resistance fighter and I admire that, especially knowing what I do now of the two men I was closest to.” She paused as she watched him, the shadows of the room playing over the hard lines of his face. “But you are also something else...you are the man who first saw me so long ago and finally found me...found what you desired. Do you love me Tohr?”

“I would have been there to save you back in Tahlàl if Dolen Vral hadn’t prevented me. I came to save you from Zikar and flung myself without a thought to Cardassia when Boroca’s minions abducted you… I would walk the Pah-Wraiths Hell to have you back. If this is not enough to be called love by you I don’t know what else to do.”

Nyyar nodded, then slipped from her seat and knelt by him, resting her hands on his knees. “Then promise me one thing,” she whispered. “Don’t do what the rest have done to me. Don’t hide things from me or try to determine how my life is going to be without including me in such things. I lived too long in the dark. I can deal with whatever it is you do but I cannot live with not knowing. They did that to me but I can’t have you do it too. Please.”

He regarded her for some instant taking in her plea, then with his fingers he gently stroked her cheek. “I promise.” He said with a serene smile that seemed so odd on his scarred face.

Nyyar turned her head to kiss his fingers, then pressed his hand to her cheek once more. “I appreciate what you did for me. That past is done finally. There’s nothing in our way anymore.” She smiled up at him, her expression now happy and unclouded. “You asked me before if I was sure I wanted to go down that road, to hear the whole story. I do. Then you and I can decide together where I fit into that.”

Tohr exhaled lowering his head and nodded “I’ll tell you all.”

********************************
Indra Nyyar
Demanding The Truth

Eldren Tohr
Lifting The Fog

Suresh
Delivering The News