Pulling The Strings

Posted on Wed Sep 7th, 2016 @ 3:43pm by Indra Nyyar & Eldren Tohr

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Bajoran Transport / Ha’Dara Bajoran Restaurant

* Bajoran Transport *

The opening of the wormhole on the Delta Quadrant end had been nothing short of spectacular. Dolen Vral was right. No matter how often they saw it on Bajor, each time was beautiful. This one was even more so and Daren was glad they’d been there to observe. Following the spectacle, he had escorted Vral back to his quarters. That has been a day ago, but Daren had slept little since then. The report of the deaths of the commanders of both the Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar had him more than a little concerned. Dolen was right about that too - it was just too coincidental, too close to all the other questions that surrounded Eldren Tohr. And Indra Nyyar, who had suddenly reappeared after all these years.

He turned back to his screen, once more examining the images taken on Cardassia. Nyyar stood clearly visible in the doorway, motioning to someone off camera. He shifted to the next image, one that was slightly blurry. He refined the picture and now he could see a young woman on her belly in the tall grass. He couldn’t see her face clearly, but she was turned towards another small woman, standing nearby and dressed all in black. This one was easily identified as a Romulan. None of it made any sense at all. He flipped to the next one, a close-up of Nyyar’s face. His gaze lingered there, but finally he closed the file. No answers were forthcoming. As he did so, the arrival announcement came and he rose, lifted his bag and departed to meet Vral.

* * *

Shouldering his small luggage Vral still wondered what was about to come from this venture. The young one seemed determined into finding what happened to the Cardassian leader of the new Obsidian order but Vral had walked this path far too long to avoid noticing that the boy had some personal agenda too, one that he kept well for himself.

He had to admit to himself that he was also curious to see how Nyyar was faring after her hasty flight from Cardassia and Bajor and on the other side he wasn’t anticipating an encounter with Tohr, though. There was no way to foresee his reaction in meeting his old tutor and superior from the Occupation time.

Breathing deeply he took his stick and walked out of the room right as Daren showed up from the bend down the corridor.

Vral smiled taking in the hint of weariness in his eyes. “There’s no way to solve the enigma by guessing alone.” He greeted him. “Some hour of sleep more would have done you well. But I’ve to admit that I was much like you once.”

Daren’s smile was a little sheepish. “Does it show that much? I suppose I can always sleep later, once we’re settled in. That is assuming the lure of this station doesn’t get to me first. I knew it was big but I wasn’t really prepared for the reality of its size when I looked out my portal. We may be looking for needle in a haystack here.”

“If you refer to Eldren that could be quite the case.“ Vral responded slowly shaking the head “If he doesn’t want to be found you can rest assured you won’t find him. But we have a hook with Nyyar… She should be registered in official lists of resident people or visitors… after all she has been the wife of a high-ranking cardassian official. Still married when she came here and, for what we know, I think that where Nyyar is… Eldren can’t be too far.”

“I suspect you’re right,” Daren agreed, “as strange as it seems that their paths have crossed. I cannot imagine yet how that occurred. One of the many questions, I suppose.” He held out his hand to take Vral’s bag.

“Aah… What a nice thought. I consider myself on vacation so… Here you go.” Vral nodded handing his luggage over, then observed Daren intently “You seem to be a good boy. If we come to meet Eldren let me lead the game. In the case we find ourselves alone in a out-of-the-way place do not provoke him.”

Then he patted Daren softly on the shoulder nodding to the end of the corridor “Shall we?”

“Very well.”

* Later - Ha’Dara Bajoran Restaurant *

Daren had secured a table and now they sat, dinner spread before them. Once the server departed, Daren pulled his gaze back to Vral.

“I was surprised to find this restaurant in the station’s directory,” he observed. “But, it seemed a good place to start perhaps. My thought was that given so long on Cardassia, she might frequent it to have a little taste of home.”

“I think so. But finding her here right this evening would be really a lucky strike. In any case it’s a good place for starting our search.” Vral looked around at the furniture with an appraising eye “And it seems to me they made a good job at that. At my age I’ve become conservative liking more of my home than of foreign places and customs. We can come here often in our stay… I find this place to my liking.”

Vral’s approval brought a smile to Daren’s face. “Good, I was hoping you would. As I understand it, a Bajoran family operates this place so it is authentic.” He took a bite and was silent as he savored the flavor, then nodded. “Excellent. Dig in, then I’ll tell you something else I found.”

“You don’t have to ask twice.” Vral responded taking his fork “And feel free to update me as I delight myself.”

“Indra Nyyar is listed as a resident here, though the database shows her as the wife of Boroca, now deceased.” Daren sat back and crossed his arms, waiting for that nugget of information to sink in. It had been a shock to him and he suspected it would be to Vral as well.

A candle in a storm… Vral frowned the fork half-way to his mouth. “I see.” he said then keeping in check his emotions “Nyyar’s life has become chaotic from the moment she fled Cardassia and not of her own volition I can bet.”

“You really think she had no choice in any of this? To be the wife of two such men?” Daren’s tone was harsher than he intended. He cleared his throat and took a drink of water. “All I mean is that it’s just strange, don’t you think? Dead husbands seem to follow in her wake.”

“Have you ever known a Cardassian giving you a choice?” Vral asked quietly a bit surprised by Daren’s reaction “She’s quite good-looking and many a Cardassian developed a passion for Bajoran women early in their occupation of our home. Zikar and Boroca were close in their business. It is plausible to think that Boroca knew her as Zikar’s wife and tried to exploit an opportunity after his death.” He munched thoughtfully on his morsel for some instants then reprised “Besides, those two were marked for death long before her flight from Cardassia.” He ended with a shrug.

“By Eldren Tohr you mean?”

“Exactly” Vral nodded taking another bit of food from the plate.

Daren reached for his fork but stopped halfway there, his gaze intent. “You think he used her to reach them?”

“It’s a possibility we can’t exclude and it would be just like him… Seizing any advantage to reach the objective.” Vral breathed deeply with some discomfort at the memories, after all it had been him to train Eldren like that.

“Are you alright?” Concern for Vral pushed aside his other thoughts at the moment. When the older man seemed to relax, he settled back down. “What do you intend to do when you find him?”

“Me? I’m only curious to see through all that has been happening and know if he’s really involved and how much. The real question is… What he will intend to do. We did not part exactly on the best of terms. I expect this to be for him kind of a… Festering wound.”

“Will you tell me what happened between you? Should I know?” Daren asked. “What about Nyyar? What happens to her?” He had his own reasons for his curiosity, and Vral’s plans would determine how he set about his objective.

“Eldren never accepted the Federation induced end of hostilities between Bajor and Cardassia, he was obsessed with vengeance and wouldn’t listen to any reason. The same day I brought him the news, in our Kohn-Ma hideout, he went in a rage, ransacked from the base all the equipment and materiel he could carry and vanished from Bajor and the quadrant. I thought better than stand in his way.”

Vral stood silent a little recollecting his thought then looked up to Daren again “Never seen or heard of him since but, with time, Cardassians began disappearing, One here, one there… Always high-ranking officials who had been involved with Bajor during the occupation. And I knew that it must have been his doing.”

Casting a glance to Daren Vral saw that the young Bajoran still expected something “Ah… You want to know of Nyyar, don’t you?” A bitter smile lined his lips “I’m sorry but I know so little of her. Even if we met her when she was but a girl, me and Eldren that is. We were posted close to her village observing for Cardassian forces movement in the area. Eldren had taken a fancy on the girl, always trying to spot her while observing the village. I thought of that as a distraction back then, but it helped him to pass the time and ease the tension… Then one day the Cardassians arrived and with the smallest of pretexts they sacked the village and rounded up people for the labour camps. She was between them. Eldren went mad wanting to attack the cardassians in a suicidal attempt to free the people of the village… But we were under strict orders to avoid any contact and report back... So I forced him to renounce and scuttle away through the woods. That was the last we saw of Nyyar until, with my great surprise, a few months ago when she appeared at my doorstep asking for help. And if I have to think of a day where something cracked between Eldren and me that is the day.”

“And despite her years on Cardassia, suddenly she reappears and he finds her? In a universe this large?” Daren shook his head in disbelief. “What are the chances of that? Surely if he can find her in all the universe, we can find him on this station.”

“I have no explanation for that. Not a rational one at least and yes, I think we’ll find them both here.” Vral responded pushing away the plate and leaning back.

“I have one more question.” Daren took one last bite, then pushed his plate aside as well. “What of the two women seen with him on Cardassia? A Romulan and a Bajoran, according to the reports. I cannot imagine there are many Romulans out this way yet.”

“These two women are a mystery to me. They’re outside the field of my connections, I’m afraid we’ll have to garner informations about them from Eldren. Provided he will be willing to share or I don’t how we could force him if he don’t. Perhaps… No, for sure Nyyar will be more reasonable in this regard.”

“Maybe so.” Daren smiled finally. “Given your position on Bajor, you could always put in an official ambassadorial request to see her and let the Fleet see to finding her.”

“If we have to, I will. But indeed I would prefer to keep our presence here discreet and cause the least ruckus possible about our mission. Perhaps we could try first by letting her know we’re here, in an informal way.”

“Like finding her sitting having breakfast somewhere?” Deren laughed. “We’ll give it a day or two and perhaps in our wanderings, she will appear. Ready to go?”

“I’m ready.”

************
Daren Reim
Getting Closer

Dolen Vral
Closing The Loop