PLOT - JL | Com Ivanova, Cmdr Dahe'el - "The Frying Pan"

Posted on Thu Sep 10th, 2015 @ 10:09pm by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Commander Almar Dahe'el

2,869 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Agua Mala

“I think I’m over the heat.” Rochelle grumbled for what felt like the sixth or seventh time in as many minutes. In reality had been hours spent pouring over reports and intel coming in from both Vindicator and Enterprise crew members. Everything seemed perfect… Too perfect – aside from the boiling heat that threatened to suffocate the young Commodore while her Cardassian counterpart seemed perfectly at home to bask. The thought made her eye him in contempt. Somehow the building’s cooling system had been taken off line by a well-placed bolt of lightning the night before, a miracle among miracles that out of everything else in the city that I could have hit, it chose to destroy part of the redhead’s sanity. Out of everything else that the ritzy beach planet could have thrown at her to make her feel positively sickly, only the heat and humidity seemed to be having any success… And it was success that came in spades.

Her chair creaked back as she heavily rested her menial weight into it, tipped her skull in the same direction, and closed her eyes in an attempt to alleviate both her frustrations and a passing wave of nausea. “Yeah… Over it.”

It was glorious to the Cardassian, everything about this planet seemed to agree with him and he could tell why his race had managed to become firm friends with the Stenellian Ascendancy, the climate, even the very terrain seemed to have been formed with the reptilian species in mind, "The heat is... not conductive to the human anatomy," Almar replied with a slight smile as he looked up from his stack of reports, "I am forced to admit that I am enjoying it though."

A PADD sailed through the heavy, humid air towards him in response. "Lucky you." The source of such an awkward offense glowered and used the back of her throwing hand to wipe her brow. "As soon as the climate controls are fixed, you're going to need a parka." She threatened and forced her chair back forward. In a setting like this, nothing was going to be accomplished any time particularly fast. That, too, irritated Rochelle to no end. "I'm starting to think that we're being dazzled with bullshit, Almar... That maybe we're so caught up with the beach and the food and the smiles that we're not seeing something being hidden right under our noses."

"I'm tempted to agree," Almar replied softly as he leant back in the chair and smoothed his hair down with one hand, absentmindedly collecting the PADD from the air as it sailed towards his face, "When that time comes, Captain, I am sure I am quite capable of working outside in the sun too." he added with a light chuckle before going back to the stacks before him, "It just seems... wrong, its the same feeling I get when something on the Vindicator is misaligned, I cannot quite put my finger on it... but there is something beneath the surface and I'd put money on the Princess being involved." he sifted through the PADDs and bought up one from an intelligence report from the Enterprise, "It would seem there has been some time spent between her and a Romulan officer serving onboard Enterprise, their Intelligence asset deemed it worth adding into her reports," he slid one of the PADDs he had selected across the desk to the overheating redhead, "Maec tr'Verelan, the Praetor's nephew."

“Oh now that is interesting.” Rochelle replied, dragging the PADD across the desk the rest of the way towards her. “Everything I’ve seen of the Princess so far points to stuck up, but the Empress seems to be the ring leader.” She drolled on, slowly thumb through the compiled intelligence reports. “Romulans are highly xenophobic and elitist, I don’t think the Stenellis are far off that themselves… “ She added with a shake of her head as she spoke and stole a glance at her friend, “One would think that romance would be off the books… And why call us out here if they’re just going to align with the RSE?” A slow, devilish sort of smile began to paint itself across the heat fatigued woman’s face. “One way, we’re pissed. The other way, the RSE and the royal house of the Ascendancy both go completely nuts… This…” She waggled the PADD through the stagnant air, “is very interesting indeed. I’d like to hear your take on it.”

"As I said, there is something about the whole situation that just feels... wrong and I cannot seem to explain it, but I have a feeling that the Princess is involved," Almar replied with an arced brow as he noted the smile that crossed her face, "The Ascendancy have proven themselves willing to accept alien races quite openly, if such an alliance proves to be fruitful for them, their work with the Cardassian Union has proven this, however I think that the Princess' dealings with Maec are just a coincidence, she was sent to Enterprise as an ambassador to the Federation afterall." the Cardassian continued as he took a sip from a drink he had stashed between stacks of PADDs, "There does not seem to be any love lost between the Empress and her daughter though, it's subtle in our company but their relationship reeks of tension."

“This is true… But we have to ask is the relationship genuine or is it something that would benefit a manipulative race? The next question we have to ask is what exactly did they gain by aligning themselves with a race that was under threat by the RSE? The Praetor did have Merket executed right around the same time the Ascendancy took them in.” The plot, at least to the ever suspicious little woman, was growing thicker by the second. “I wonder if we’re mistaking their hospitality for openness.” She shrugged, toying with the PADD again. “I also wonder how much of the Commander’s reporting can be taken at face value. She’s half Stenellis from what I understand. There could be nothing between the Princess and tr’Verelan and every other report about her dealings with him point that there’s more unrest than anything else.” Rochelle dug through her own stack, flicking through PADDs until she found the jewel she’d been hunting for, “This is another report from her just a month or so ago stating that there’d been a diplomatic incident where the Praetor’s nephew threw the Princess in the brig after some sort of assault. Everything seems pretty convoluted, but there’s… something. Brady Bunch this race is not.”

"When has a Romulan ever done anything that wasn't beneficial to themselves or their race?" the Cardassian replied with a derisive snort as he thumbed through the reports, "Every move they make is dripping with subtext and underhand motives, even when they are forming alliances." He spent a few minutes to read the file on halfbreed Intelligence Officer too, drinking in her history, "For all intents and purposes, Miss Rinehart had never heard the name of her race before this mission, she was bought up as mostly Human, I trust her judgement."

"You're far more trusting than I." Rochelle scoffed lightly, "I don't know her from a hole in the ground aside from meeting her on the beach the other day, and that's not much time to form a professional opinion." She added, popping the latch of her collar in hopes the additional freedom would yield cooler results. A bead of sweat rolling down to the hollow of her throat, however, laughed at her hopes entirely. The heat was ridiculously oppressive. "The only thing that's going to give us any information is time and reminding ourselves to remain astute. Keep an eye on the Princess, keep an eye on tr'Verelan, and somewhere in the middle? The Empress. They'll slip up and show their hands eventually."

"She's a Starfleet Officer, has been for a significant portion of her life and has never given a substantial reason for us to doubt her, I might not trust in Human nature when it comes to my race, but I implicitly trust the uniform. To exist in this universe I have to have something to trust in." Almar replied with a soft smile towards Rochelle, noting how much trouble she was having with the heat he pushed himself to his feet and moved over to the assortment of drinks and refreshments that had been provided for them, plucking some ice and placing it into a hand towel. "Her record is cleaner than most, especially considering she's an intelligence asset." he added as he moved over to Rochelle and offered her the iced cloth.

“There are plenty you don’t trust.” The redhead countered as she took the offered cloth from him. Just touching it was a relief, but the sigh and closed eyes of sheer pleasure would come after she tucked it beneath the back of her opened collar and allowed it to rest against the delicate nape of her neck. “Archer may be the universe’s biggest asshole, but I know in a pinch that I can trust him. Intelligence assets are…” She shrugged as she fought to find the correct words, “Well… They’re an entirely different breed. You can’t just box them all up under the same stereotypes. Waterhouse and Archer are loose cannons, Rinehart seems too doe eyed. I’ve never really had much use for them.” She shrugged again, settling under the temporary relief of the ice. “Thank you, by the way.”

"You looked like you needed it," Almar replied as he made his way back to the seat and thumbed through another PADD, yet more reports on their current mission and everyone involved, "Theoretically, if the Ascendancy and the Romulan Star Empire did form an alliance, what would be the reason? Trade or Conquer?"

"I did." She agreed, drumming her fingers against the desk. They paused their soft staccato when he posed his next question; one that made her head tilt slightly as she considered the options. "The Empress seems insane enough to think she could conquer the Romulans, but for the Romulans? The bigger picture of what they could stand to gain really has to come into focus. Surely they wouldn't go through so much trouble just to obtain waterfront property."

"I was thinking of something more... external," the Cardassian replied with a slight frown as he ran through several scenarios in his mind, "The Klingon Empire is far too powerful for a challenge by either race, even combined they would struggle, however the Federation is still recovering from a rather brutal civil war, the Romulans would see it as an ideal chance."

In response, a thin russet brow rose. "And here we are playing the role of sitting ducks getting fat off good food and made lazy by the sun. I hate to say it, but it makes sense..."

"I'm not sure how strong our alliance still is with the Empire, but if punch comes to punch, the Federation cannot afford a war against Romulus or Apsha, let alone their strength combined, which makes our job here quite important. If we are indeed here to broker an alliance then we may find that we have to out bid the Romulans." the Cardassian replied with an audible sigh as he placed the PADD back onto the stack, "This is all theoretical, of course."

"Theoretical, but not improbable." Rochelle nodded with a furrowed brow and concern openly rife within her voice. "We need closer eyes on the Romulan. Quietly, but closer eyes. If this is going to turn into a bidding war, there's a high chance that there's more than just one exchange officer lurking somewhere." She sighed, "And yet... Nothing but less than a handful of reports concerning the Praetor's nephew and the Princess who may or may not in cahoots."

"Perhaps Archer can supplement the reports with his own?" Almar replied as he crossed his arms before him, "Any chance of Romulan involvement is something we need to know as soon as possible."

"Given that Archer has been off dealing with a pet project of his own?" Rochelle's head shook, "if he knows something, he'll come running back with that information... Or I'll just magically find a PADD on my pillow." She sighed. The man was a gigantic pain in her ass, but valuable all the same.

"What impressions do you get from the Empress?" Almar asked quickly, his mind pacing repeatedly at the thought of a possible conflict rising from their failure here, "I've not spoken to her much, but she seems to be hiding something, her words always feel like they have a double meaning."

"Honestly?" Rochelle asked, looking up at the Cardassian, "I have no doubt that she's hiding something, that she's underhanded, condescending and... You remember Kyym?" With the iced cloth quickly heating up and losing it's potent chilly bite, the Commodore paused for a short moment to remove her stifling tunic. Freed from its confined and left in an un-restricting black tank-shell, the relief was almost instant. It too would be short lived. "She reminds me of Kyym. Maybe a tiny bit less willing to kill us all, but same personality type." She added as she pushed away from the table and stood up to hunt for additional ice.

"She does, Kyym was a piece of work that I would care not to come across again." Almar replied as he gestured over towards the bar and the bucket of ice that hid behind it, "There is plenty of ice back there."

"My sentiments exactly." The redhead hummed in response, following his gesture to the land of all things cold and frosty. Even the vat of ice seemed wet and screaming for mercy, and, staring at it briefly, she almost felt sorry for the tubular shaped orbs of frozen water. They were being sacrificed for the greater good... She'd go with that. "We're just going to have to be less enchanted with resort life and more astute when it comes to dealing with these people. I want more intel about the Princess and the Praetor's nephew and from there we figure out what's viable and what isn't."

"With Archer busy, perhaps you should get in touch with Rinehart? She might be able to provide a little more depth, it'll also give you a chance to explore her connections to this place too." Almar replied with a slight smile.

Again ice soothed the back of the overheated Commodore's neck, forcing her eyes to close under the pleasure of such relief, "I could do that." She replied with a slight nod. If had been anyone else, any other soul - aside from maybe Landon - the idea of sharing such vulnerability would have been incomprehensibly embarrassing for her. Almar, no matter how she tried to hide her short comings, was never blinded by the bravado of her 'I'm fine's - nor did he let them rest. Allowing herself that brief moment of 'feel good' was simply her way of acknowledging the problem and tending to it under his ever watchful eyes. "I'll arrange a sit down with her after lunch." She nodded, palming a cup full of ice and making her way back to the desk. "Hopefully they'll have the climate controls fixed by then or else there won't be much left of me aside from a puddle."

"I think when we're done here, I'm going to head back out to the beach, I hear the rocks calling my name," Almar replied with a soft smile at her relief, for everything that had happened between them, he still cared deeply for her and wished her to be comfortable, "You should join me once you've cooled down a bit, I'm sure we can have drinks and ice delivered."

"Sounds like a good plan." Rochelle nodded, all too happy to gather up her offending tunic and prepare to step out into the early afternoon breezes. It may have been hot out, but the wind off the water made life so much more bearable.

"Is there anything you'd like me to do before I jet off for the beach?" Almar replied with a light chuckle.

"Nope." Her head shook to affirm her answer. "If I think of anything, I'll be sure to ruin your sun worship." She grinned brightly. It was the kind of grin that spoke volumes about the grinner being a smart ass, and perhaps worse, being ridiculously honest and unafraid of following through with the statement previous. "Off you go. I'll see you shortly."

"So be it," Almar replied with a laugh, not needing a second to dismiss himself as he grabbed one of the padds for a bit of light reading while he relaxed.

With a small sigh, and a second wistful glance towards her discarded cup of ice, Rochelle too made her way out of the sauna-office and out into the cooler breezes of Aleine.
---

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Executive Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

 

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