S-Plot - JL | Sseibb Tr'Bak, Aendeh Tr'Esun, Rochelle Ivanova (MU) - "Shades of Blue"

Posted on Wed Jul 12th, 2017 @ 11:03pm by Rochelle Ivanova & Fleet Admiral Dar'an Tr'Esun
Edited on on Sun Sep 3rd, 2017 @ 5:17pm

1,973 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Ebbtide

A couple hours had been well spent pouring over the details of the Vindicator's command suite. The teak wood floors weren't the high polish one would expect, instead they'd been left rustic and raw - simply sealed against spills and splinters. Everything seemed to hold an old world charm by way of decoration and spoke of a whimsical being holding power over such a domain. It was a stark difference when compared to the crime-world slum apartment and the tiny scavenger vessel quarters Rochelle called home over the years. Tr'Esun had sat back, relaxed for the first time in what appeared to be a long time, as his masterpiece walked the expanse as if she were in a museum studying relics. The contents of the bedroom, or rather the gown laid out across the foot of the bed, reminded her that there were other matters of business to attend to and any further exploration would need to wait until she was on her own time . Her own time. It was still a strange sentiment given how her entire life had been micromanaged in one form or another... And then she was quick to chastise herself with the reminder that 'freedom' was still just a guise for a new form of slavery. She was still a pawn in a highly primed game of cat and mouse where the mouse was more of a mythical beast that thumbed its nose in the face of the Romulan Star Empire. With the softness of undignified snorts, Rochelle tucked a wayward lock of hair back behind her ear and lifted the gown from its resting place, working quickly to don the garb.

Blue. Her fingers ran along and weighed the fabric between them as it came to rest across her nubile curves, clinging delicately to her femininity just enough to praise her physique without being lewd or lascivious. The royal tone only seemed to set her skin alight, highlighting the porcelain fairness of it while setting her russet mane aflame and bringing new life to the icy blue of her eyes. Tr'Esun had chosen well. Even the heavily rhinestoned and beaded gold embellishments that lined the deep 'V' of the neckline and plunged along the contour of the nearly non-existent back, framed and accentuated the finest of her physical assets. Peering in the mirror she saw elegance and class that still harbored the right amount of zest. It left her showcased, but failed to give away all of her secrets. The mystery was complete. "Does it please you?" She asked the quiet, open air. Rochelle didn't need to look to know that Tr'Esun had made his way to check on his prize, the air had changed the moment he'd neared, "Though I suppose it doesn't matter if it pleases you, so much as it pleases your master." Turning, she brought her eyes to the madman that had restored her to the grandeur that had been stripped by hardship and sad circumstance. It wasn't a slight against him, but rather a truth that simply bubbled from her lips, "And let's be frank, I've never worn anything like this in my life. Not sure how it's supposed to fit or if I'm right in thinking it's aces." She shrugged, leaning back against her vanity.

"I doubt very greatly that the sight of you will please Tr'Bak at all, so great is the hatred for the woman you are representing." Tr'Esun said as he stepped fully into the room. "You do, however, please me." He added with admiration almost too soft to hear. After a few moments of reflection, Tr'Esun said, "The dress fits as it is supposed to, my dear. Are you ready?" He asked with a bit of a resigned air.

Having poured the last week of his life into the medical procedures that had reshaped this woman into the Goddess she now appeared to be, Tr'Esun found it somewhat hard to give her over to the plans that he knew would bring her to her end. He held out his arm in a fatherly gesture meant to engender trust. It was a strange thought and feeling, the scientist finding himself oddly longing for her trust and afraid that she might not give it.

"Oh joy of all joys, rapture and all that." Rochelle sighed heavily with a shake of her well coiffed little head. Shoving off from the vanity, she found herself drifting towards the Romulan, drawn to him by the gentle gravitation his familiarity dictated be present. "If I say no, I have to go anyway. We've been over this," She nodded, looping her dainty hand through Tr'Esun's offered arm and resting there almost comfortably. If Tr'Bak were to come about and shift focus from acceptance and gentle graces to an air of anger and contempt, the scientist would prove to her her only ally... If one could consider him as such given the very nature of the beast. "so we may as well just get it over with, rip it off like a band aid, yeah?"

Tr'Esun raised an eyebrow at her, as usual, baffling analogies. "Well I suppose we should not keep him waiting. He is expecting us." His eyebrow dropped and he sunk into his role as the Tal'Shiar's premier surgeon with what he hoped would not be a noticeable hint of depression.

The remainder of the walk to Tr'Bak's ready room was conducted in morbid silence on Tr'Esun's behalf. He was growing more and more worried for the woman he had developed feelings for. His feelings weren't those of a lover as such, more like those of parent perhaps. He hoped to consider himself a mentor or even father figure to her, or so he told himself over and over as they neared deck one in the lift. "He is a great man, a true Romulan through and through for all that entails." Tr'Esun looked down having said this more for his own benefit than for Miss Ivanova's. The door to the lift hissed open and the two walked the last few steps standing between them and the ready room. "Your old life is gone. You are now and forever more Rochelle Ivanova, a Commodore in Starfleet. Inwardly as much as outwardly... Remember that and you may survive all of this." Tr'Esun pressed the door chime and waited.


All Rochelle could do was nod and hope he was correct, though she couldn't help but doubt that she'd survive it at all... And if she did, her life would be forever altered by a series of events that left her as more a puppet than ever before. Her cage, however gilded, was still a cage.

----

Silence pervaded, hanging heavy between the three as they sat at Vrith Tr'Bak's private dining table. The man held a glass of sangria in his hand, idly swirling the dark mulberry colored liquid as he looked over the two creatures sitting before him. The work, at least what was visible, pleased him greatly - though his face remained emotionless, if not a little bored. "Tr'Esun," the Sseibb spoke, breaking the silence, "it would seem you've done well. Show me." he invited, motioning towards the darling young redhead perched by the other man's side. "You know how much I enjoy your art."

Rochelle, who had been studying her own glass of wine, perked up at the sound of the Romulan's voice and gingerly looked between the two men. A lot was riding on Tr'Esun's success, this much she knew to be concrete and true, but more rode on her ability to pull off the little parlor trick that was expected of her.

Tr'Esun raised one eyebrow in an almost Vulcan fashion and then placed a small disc shaped device on the table. With a deft press of a button, a holographic model of what the woman had been at the start of the project appeared next to the current iteration of Rochelle Ivanova in the flesh. Tr'Esun spent the next several minutes pointing out the corrections he had made and then switched the holographic model to the true Rochelle Ivanova, inviting Tr'Bak to look over the two side by side. The holographic image had been dressed in identical fashion to his magnum opus in the flesh. "Sseibb, she is perfection, is she not?"

"Splendid work, Doctor. Splendid, indeed," Vrith replied while studying the woman perched beside Tr'Esun. "We still have a lot of work to do. Like, teaching her how to hold a wine glass correctly and various other minuscule nuances that only her closest of friends would notice."

"I have some ideas on how we might reprogram her. I have developed a method using proto-neutron stimulation which we may be able to utilize, Sseibb Tr'Bak." Tr'Esun smiled outwardly but to himself as he thought about sculpting Rochelle's mind as he had her body. His method was risky but could yield nearly instant results as opposed to the elongated methods of brainwashing employed currently by the Tal'Shiar. Tr'Esun looked at the hologram and the flesh and blood before him again admiring not just his work but the intrinsic beauty she embodied. "That isn't to say it wouldn't be without some risk. Worst case, she might end up irreparably damaged should something go wrong." Tr'Esun shrugged as if leaving the choice up to Tr'Bak though the opportunity was really too good to pass up regardless of the order Tr'Bak would give.

A single autumn-hued eyebrow rose as the sound of the words 'risk' and 'irreparably damaged'. 'Reprogramming' was another one of those buzz words that set the hair on the back of her neck on end, but in the end, she knew she had little choice... Or did she. Another quick glance towards the hologram and Rochelle gently drummed her fingers across the table towards the stem of the glass before her. "Listen, boys... I haven't survived as long as I have by being stupid," she began with a slow drawl, "I've had to learn how to adapt and blend in, play chameleon more or less. If you have the intel on this woman and enough footage of her, then I can pull it off. You teach, I play sponge, we all go home happy in the end. No damage or mind numbing required. Besides... If you do it that way, who's to say I won't lose myself and the plot completely? Hmm?" The redhead concluded as she drew the crystal rim of her wineglass to her lips. It was an unfamiliar vintage, but it made Tr'Bak happy and that was enough to convince her that she needed to get used to it... Quickly.

Tr'Esun looked at the woman as she spoke. "Leaving you fully in control of this infiltration may be just as risky to us. Still, if you can convince the Sseibb the benefits may outweigh the risk..." Tr'Esun drifted off as he turned to Tr'Bak, "How would you like us to proceed Sseibb?"

A wry smile pulled at the corners of the Sseibb's mouth as he watched his grand scheme begin to take shape, "We'll go the traditional route first and use... Other means, if necessary." He stated calmly, giving a quick wink in Rochelle's direction, "There's no immediate need to further damage her peculiar little brain." She had moxie, was essentially fearless, and that was something Tr'Bak prized and wanted to continue to cultivate as they set forth on such a grand adventure. She'd need it, that quick sharp bite, if she were to succeed in obtaining a checkmate in this little game they played.

---

To Be Continued...

---

erie'Ssiebb V'rith Tr'Bak
Senator
Commander, 3rd Tal'Shiar Task Force
Commanding Officer, Anima Venator
Romulan Star Empire

Aendeh Dr. Tr'Esun
Surgeon, 3rd Tal'Shiar Task Force
Chief Medical Officer, Anima Venator

&

Rochelle Ivanova
Mercenary
Mirror Universe

 

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