Logic and Liquor - Love on the Rocks Part 14

Posted on Tue Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:57am by Charghwl'IH of the House of Soval & Captain Maritza Soran

2,011 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Klingon Embassy - DS5
Timeline: MD 9: 1830

[ON]

Charghwl'IH had seen his family off the station. It was good to have seen them an their next visit was already being planned. He had to admit; despite all the paperwork he was actually enjoying his post. It definitely wasn't boring.

He had been tempted to offer Maritza a few of his warriors to help with the final cleanup of the, what were they calling them...cordyceps. However he figured they were more interested in a cleaner operation than what his people would have done while on a "hunt".

At any rate he picked up the next padd as he drank from his goblet, but only got a few sentences before the gate sentry announced that Captain Soran was approaching the embassy doors.

He had anticipated this particular visit and upon word that she was on her way to see him he was about to pour her a glass but stopped. No need to risk wearing good bloodwine. He had heard of the events of last night, by now there were few that hadn't. While no one knew exactly what had happened after they had been beamed from the lounge, there was word that a certain Bajoran had been seen on the promenade with a hand print on his face.

The door opened with the typical clank of a Klingon door and he rose to greet her. The sentry moved to follow her in and he waved him off. Once alone he spoke, "you look like you could use a drink."

"Tell me you have Bloodwine; even if it’s the watered down stuff for a weedy trill."

He huffed laughingly, knowing she knew better. "You know I do but here." Opening up a cabinet he set two heavy over-sized shot glasses on the table filling each with chechtlhutlh.

She collapsed down in the chair opposite his desk. "You might be a big nasty Klingon. But you are also an angel." She took the smoking cup he put in front of her. "Qa'pla!" It went down in one shot. "Latlh!"

Their glasses hit the table at the same time and he watched her reaction. "Well?" Pouring them another.

"I should date Klingons." She said flatly, her voice a little rough from the burn of alcohol. "At least then I have permission to throw things."

He raised an eyebrow downing his second round, "Yes but we ‘throw’ back. So are you going to tell me what happened or do I have to depend on the station's rumor mill and FNS gossip broadcasts?"

She gave him a sour look. "If I ever catch that reporter, I'll string him up by the balls. Why can't they ever report on positive things?"

Laughing at her statement; "Now there's an image..." Slamming down the 2nd round of chechtlhutlh the glass hit the table. "...but you are still avoiding the question."

"I ended things with Lasuma. If you want to follow through on the dire consequences you threatened him with, then it’s open season." She left her second glass alone for a bit. She was already fuzzy round the edges from just the first one. Chectlhutlh was borderline poison.

The meeting between the two was supposed to have been to patch things up but by now the whole station knew about the blow up in the lounge. Though the rumor mill was in overdrive about what happened afterward. He chuckled at the permission "If need be I'll hang him by his balls.
But I'm going to need more than that...X'ae was certain you two would be back together. What happened last night?"

"I agreed to speak to him. He fed me a story about how it was all a misunderstanding and he'd been trying to bullshit an associate. And I almost bought it. I did buy it." She closed her eyes. "And after, I was reading my briefings, and there was one in there on him. Turns out he has made a career out of seducing women in influential positions to get what he wants." She sighed and put her head in her hands. "I'm just the latest conquest. And I was too ... stupid and desperate to see it."

Putting the bottle down in mid pour his anger held in check only by what his beloved had told him and that things just didn’t add up. "Wait a minute. X'ae told me herself that she senced genuine feeling in him for you...not deception. Not only that but he told me as such..." Charg prided himself on being able to tell when people where lying, ...if he had been lied to... But how had he been able to fool X'ae?

"When did he do this? How did you find this out?"

"I asked intel to do me a background check." She admitted, "There were efficient. Apparently this was one of his known MO's in the occupation of Bajor." She gave him a sharp look. "When did X'ae talk to him?

He looked at her, shaking his head in honest surprise and disappointed "Let me get this straight. You used your position as Captain to dig into his past only to hold against him what happened while his people we fighting for their freedom and that took place over 25 years ago!?"

She bristled. But she wasn't sure it was anger, or guilt. "I can ask for a background check on anyone who sets foot on this station. Privileges of command. There weren't any illegal wire taps, or hacks. And if it was thorough then that's because my people are good."

Nodding as he accepted her argument on the first point, and he purposefully failed to bring up the obvious conflict of interest in digging up dirt on your boyfriend. Sitting back with a yielding gesture, "Fine, that aside. Still, you said that his seductions took place during Bajor's occupation.

"Mar, they were at war. You know as well as anyone that when at war sometimes you have to do things, things that you would normally never do, to achieve victory."

She stared at the table between them. "I dangled one of my own people out as bait for a psychopath two days ago. So you don't have to lecture me on strategic pragmatism."

Leaning forward, elbows on the desk, lacing his fingers together, the same way we did when they had served together. "That's not the point and you know it. You ordered one of you crew up as bait, which comes as one of the burdens of command. But should someone, 25 years from now, hold the bait responsible for what they had to do, in order to lure the prey into the trap?"

"No," she said sullenly. "No." Her shoulders slumped. "I was just so...I recognized everything he'd said, everything he'd done, in that report. He'd used every move. I felt like one of those women..." Lonely, affection starved, a dark little voice in her mind said. "I felt so stupid....Damn, i need to hit something."

His smile returned. "Well we know how that ended up last time." Pour another round.

"You said you felt like one of them; but were you? Has his success here been based on his manipulation of you? Has he asked for anything? Gained an advantage in anyway by using your position? By the time she looked up at him he was back in his old position with a questioning brow raised.

Maritza lifted her glass, but put it down without drinking. She thought about it. "I don't know. He may have been able to argue to others that he had an edge. But...no he never asked me for anything. But he didn't have to. I told him plenty. He was just so damn easy to talk to."

"And is that a bad thing? To be able to confide in someone?"

"No." Another long pause, "But now I know that was how he got to those others. He found women who needed to confide."

"I do not know the details of how he made contact with whoever he interacted with during the occupation but it's logical to assume he was either aided or directed to those targets by the resistance. Yes?"

Maritza thought about it. "I don't know. But probably. I do get the impression he was making those sorts of decisions."

"Ok so we have established that he didn't go looking for them out of some personal motivation but to aid the resistance to try and free his people. Let’s see why he is here.

"From my discussions with him he was basically retired living a life of luxury on Bajor. So did he really need to come out here? Does he really need to stay here? No. He could easily appoint any number of employees to manage his company's operations on the station. The other side of your dilemma is your belief he came here to target you for personal gain. Why? Sound a bit narcissistic or did your digging turn up something that showed he came her looking for you?

Maritza laughed, short and bitter. "No one looks for me."

Looking across the table at his old comrade as she stared into her glass; "And there you have it. By your own admission not only are the actions of his past a thing of the past, but his being here is not some plot to exploit you. If anyone is guilty of manipulating anyone it would seem to be that Yridian."

"Maybe." Her chechtlhutlh had almost completely stopped smoking. "There's just this little voice in my head that says there has to be something, an ulterior motive. I mean. I'm not an easy person to get to know. I know what the general scuttlebutt says about me. It’s not complementary. I get on better with Klingons for a reason."

He laughed. "Suspicious as always...but you know what they say, opposites attract. Look at the two of you; he’s easy going and you are a guided by regulation and procedure, he is laid back and you are regimented, his goal is profit where as you are a Starfleet officer.

"Then again, perhaps he just enjoys a challenge. Regardless of whoever you are with, are you seriously expecting it to be easy? Relations, especially in the beginning, are hard as well as exciting." Waving an arm with a gesture, "hell I nearly kill X'ae before we...well, you know."

"You know, she tells that story the other way round." She raised her drink again. It burnt all the way down and made the room sway. "I am not a challenge." She wheezed. Then she sighed. "I am a nightmare."

He laughed again as he poured each of them another, "I'm sure she does. But she would agree with me when I say that you've always been your worse critic."

Putting the bottle down he had a revelation, he slapped the desk then began wagging his finger. "You are exactly how Worf was during most of the time he was in Starfleet. He was so determined to act Klingon that that missed what it was to BE Klingon. However he had had no other Klingons to learn from until later in his life. But....In your case. In your case. Only you can answer the why you are as guarded as you are.

"My advice to you is to this. Don't use those pips as an excuse to close yourself off from those around you. You have responsibilities...yes. But you also have a responsibility to yourself." He reached across his desk taking her shoulder firmly. "Live your life my friend...and never forget that the greatest victory, whether on the battlefield or in life, requires the greatest risk."

Falling back into his chair he slapped the panel on his desk. "But enough of that." Glancing over Maritza as an aid appeared, "Bring us food!"


[OFF]

Captain Maritza Soran
CO
DS5

Charghwl'IH of the House of Soval
Klingon Ambassador

 

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