PLOT - JL | Cmdr Neyes, Mei'Zha Ilex - "A Few of My Favorite Things"

Posted on Mon Sep 28th, 2015 @ 5:54pm by Commander Tristan Neyes PhD.

1,819 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Agua Mala

Sat across from the Trill, Mei'zha studied him in much the same way he studied her. Days had passed with him gingerly treating the very last of her injuries. It had been touch and go, her own biology fighting him in some of the cruelest fashions possible; he'd accidentally stopped her heart at least twice by administering medications that didn't quite agree with her alien system. It seemed only fair after she'd threatened to kill him, at least to her. The Trill, however, had grimaced and been more than apologetic, worried, and disturbed by the sick game of trial and error he'd been forced to play with a living, breathing patient. Now? Infection and injury free, the Stenellis watched him with amused, intrigued, and boredom laced eyes.

"I read your reports." She finally broke the silence, clearing her throat, "You know... The ones your brother feeds you since you've been busy up here while they're all running around like ants down there." Her fingers, long and elegant, mimiced the movement she spoke of as they ruswhed across the top of the man's coffee table. "You should really sleep a little lighter. Once I figured out they required a thumb print to activate..." She chuckled, letting the man figure out the rest of her sentence. It didn't need to be finished, he was clever enough to put two and two together, afterall. "Your people are close and yet so cold, Federation. They've figured out the basics... But the rest?" The chuckle rolled again as she shook her head and uncrossed her pajama clad legs. He'd been kind enough to introduce her to the world of flannel, probably the only thing she'd come to value of Federation society so far.

Tristan held his post across the table from her, keeping himself at arm's length, but always nearby to keep an eye on her. The mug of coffee in his hand kept him alert enough to manage the schedule of keeping up with his duties, and her. Mei'zha wasn't wrong about his sleep, and he knew there were precious few hours of escape to rejuvenate himself.
She was usually quiet, he'd noticed, taken to absorbing her surroundings with intense purpose. He could hardly wiggle his toes without her seeming to adjust herself to take notice. Now she had chosen to spew more of the oddly hateful sounding things, and he was already well past the point of being disenchanted with the notion of saving the young and helpless native. From what he'd learned about her so far, she was either a survivor hell bent on making every second of her life about getting to the next; a casualty of a wicked and unfair world trying to tear her down all her life. Or, she was simply a devious and angry opportunist. In either case he wasn't entirely sure what to do about it.

"I'm sure you have a point." He took the bait.

"Romulans, Federation, Romulans are what you aren't getting. The Princess and the one Rhiannsu noble? A coincidence and stupidity that she'd ever entertain such danji (garbage) after discarding so many Stenellis men without a second look. That's just luck that the Empress has, though, to have you eyeballing the Princess and the Arrain with suspicion and not looking her way, because the real threat is lurking in the hammas (dark)." The sea-creature's head tilted in revelation as she spoke, passing the information to the Trill with a sweeping motion of an arm and open hand. "Your precious family, Federation, is here because the Empress is the puppet of a madman looking to seize universal power and the only way to do that is to lure your people into a false sense of security, gain power, technology, advance, and then," Her hand closed into a fist, swiftly falling from where it passed information until it crashed violently into the table below. Their lunch dishes clattered and combined with the sound of impact, but Mei'zha failed to flinch. Instead her eyes remained locked on the brilliant blue of the Trill's, "they crush you and this has been timed perfectly. They waited for your family specifically to be available before they showed their faces." She continued, moving her hand to check for damage and, finding none, reached to take up her beverage.

"So while your Commodore, brother, and the rest of them prepare to dance the night away, the Empress and her madman laugh knowing that they're getting what they wanted and are angling to achieve domination. Now what I don't get, and maybe you can help with this, is why the madman has repeatedly insisted on waiting until this group. Why not any other? You're all the same." She sighed, folding her legs back up in her seat and settling in to enjoy her tea.

"You think I know? You seem to relish the thought my people and I are naive little lambs strolling the stars. Happily making friends everywhere we go." He took a drink from his mug, "Are you suggesting you don't know your people as well as you claim?"

Mei'zha titled her head at his question, analyzing the lilt of his words and the cadence of his breath. "I'm suggesting that the Empress is insane and that the good Ael'Riov tr'Bak is using her to his own gain. I don't know Romulan politics well enough to make a guess at whether or not the Romulans stand to gain or lose from this, but I do know that the Ascendancy is about to take a terrible plunge into turmoil and that your life, and the lives of your great big giant family, complete with their pretty smiles and gracious attitudes, is about to come crashing to a stop." She blinked after her mouth finally stopped moving as if absorbing the meaning of her own words. "I owe you a life debt, Federation, but I count this as a freebie considering me leaving the Ascendancy is key to my survival and you," She pointed one slender finger his way, "hold those keys. Just... Know that tonight's dinner is going to ruffle more feathers than soothe them and my words will seem very prophetic soon enough."

The madman. Tristan had been barely listening to her, honestly. While her rants were few and far between, they held very few details other than random threats on his safety. He'd become accustomed to her fidgeting and mumbling. "While I am certain anything I tell you will somehow turn up later to agitate my li-. Wait. Who?" His heart started to beat a bit faster.

The rapid shift in the Trill's direction of thought caused the Stenellis to sit up a little straighter. Her head immediately tilted to one side in query, an action that seemed more canine than humanoid, while she tried to follow? "Ael'Riov tr'Bak? Ael'Riov Vrith tr'Bak?" She answered in question.

Tristan stood up, trying his best to maintain a calm composure. "Computer. Locate Captain Neyes."

The Computer beeped in acknowledgement, "Captain Neyes is not aboard the USS Vindicator or at this time. Last known coordinates are in the city of Aleine on planet Apsha within Stenellian Ascendancy space."

"You know the Ael'Riov!" Mei exclaimed, practically cutting the computer's ridiculously cheerful voice off and practically clapping in excitement.

Tristan's eyes darted around the room as his mind swam. "Not personally. Why? Do you? Why do you know he's here?"

"I've seen him many times, escorted him around the damned planet more times than I care to count." She replied, watching him with earnest interest. This time, she wasn't just content to sit and watch, instead she pushed away from the comfort of the couch cushions and found her feet with the intent of approaching the Trill. His discomfort was palpable. She could hear his heart racing in his chest out of... Fear? It seemed fitting... But why? Eyeing him sidelong she neared him with slow, careful steps. "Tell me what you know of the Ael'Riov?" Mei requested in a voice so soft and smooth it was most unfitting of her character in general, but she couldn't risk spooking the Trill any further, not when she was so close to knowing her theories were more than sound.

"About as much as I know about you," his voice was edgier, harsher. "The man is what someone in my position would call, ...troubled. He is a lunatic in the employ of the Star Empire, at least on the surface. Something my brother can attest to with more than a passing measure of experience." His eyes turned to her, bearing down on her from his small frame. "What do you know? Why would you say those things about my family."

Definitely fear, she decided, and fell to rest a shorty distance away from him. The Trill had become more of a cornered animal tainted by desperation in small, but gradually increasing, measures and she knew well the ticking bomb she'd landed upon. "I know that he has the Empress convinced of her immortality based on the old prophecies of our people, that he has want to obtain the power the Ascendancy holds. I truly don't know if the Romulans stand to gain from this or if he acts alone, but I know that he's a madman that has signed the death warrants of many including the Princess and any that may stand to gain the power of the people." She offered, showing him the open and empty palms of her hands, a sign of peace and faith, "He's wanted the Federation to become involved for awhile now, but made the push for it only recently. I lost intel once my brother was pulled off the Princess' guard detail shortly before your arrival. He seems obsessed and fascinated by some part of your people, Federation, greatly obsessed and I do not know what part precisely or why."

Tristan turned to a replicator while she spoke, entering a few commands, then adjusting a few other things. Once he turned to look her up and down. By the time she was finished he pulled a blue box out the panel and held it out for her. "Put this on."

"What? Why?" Mei questioned, eyeing the box with suspicion.

He shook his head. "We're going down to say hi."

"Should have said so in the first place." The Stenellis woman grumbled as she plucked the item from his fingers and opened it to reveal the dress within. It wasn't Stenellis fashion, but it was lovely enough that she muttered something about the Trill having good taste as she shed the comfort of her pajamas in favor of the gown.

Fortune often favored the bold, and this time the bold came clad in spots of an entirely different flavor.

---

Commander Tristan Neyes
Chief Counselor
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

&

Mei'Zha Ilex
Former Makta leader
Stenellian Ascendancy Defector

 

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