Mud, Part 1

Posted on Tue Feb 28, 2017 @ 6:44am by Lieutenant JG Noelle Bennett M.D. & Lieutenant Liam Reynolds & Qinee

2,021 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: Ferengi Embassy
Timeline: MD 5, 1000 hrs.

Liam waited for Noelle to join him on the Diplomacy deck. He was just wondering if it was the first time she had been here or just the first time she had visited while he had been here when she appeared in the waiting area. He waved the receptionist down and got up off the chair he had been sitting on to personally greet her.

"I'm not sure if this is too soon. We already had the security chief come see the ambassador. Things are a little bit raw," he admitted.

As she approached, Noelle nodded. "I'll tread lightly. Thanks for meeting me here." Bennett looked around. "These are pretty nice digs. I don't think I've ever been here before."

Liam smiled. "Some areas are more exotic than others," he admitted, thinking back to his recent visit to the Tholian Embassy. But today it was the Ferengi one again. He held his arm out in the direction of reception. "Jess," he told his receptionist. "Sign the Counselor in. We are going to visit Ambassador Qinee.”

She nodded. "No problem, Liam. Welcome to the Diplomatic Corps, Counselor."

It was a short walk, one that seemed to be getting very familiar to Liam. He wondered if this would go better than his visit with Caleb. Walking in, he was met by the same female Ferengi that had greeted them last time. This time she was in a different coloured and gaudily patterned tracksuit. "Nedra," he recalled the name. "Lovely to see you again. I don't have an official appointment, but wondered if we might have a word with the ambassadors"

Nedra grinned at Liam, looking him up and down. “I will see if she is available,” she said, pressing a comm unit and speaking in Ferengi.

“The ambassador will see you,” Nedra said, pressing a button and opening the doors.

Inside the Ambassador’s office, as out in the reception area, it was a bit more warm and humid than most Humans were comfortable with, and there was the slight scent of fetid swamp in the air. But everything was immaculate. Qinee was just coming around the desk, and she put down a bag on one of the chairs along the side of the room.

“What can I do for you now, Lieutenant?” Qinee asked. “I was just about to head down for a mud bath. Care to join me? We can talk there.” She looked to the other Starfleet officer. “Bring your girlfriend, too, or whoever she is. Whatever happened to that buxom Bajoran you were chasing?”

Liam cracked a smile. "I didn't realise you found my love life so intriguing. Ambassador. Tera is fine. thank you. We have had a couple of dates. but it's very early days. This," he turned to Noelle, "is Lieutenant Noelle Bennett, the station's Chief Counsellor."

He looked Noelle straight in the eyes and challenged, "So a mud bath. That's quite an offer. I'm game if you are. What say you, Lieutenant?"

It seemed Qinee was in a mischievous mood and not going for the tread lightly route.

“Oh, I like to know everything about my adversaries, Lieutenant Reynolds,” Qinee said with a snaggle-toothed smile. She likely knew exactly who Noelle was, too. “You should find yourself a female with good lobes,” she told Liam, picking up her bag and passing him for the door. “Why don’t you ask Nedra out?” she suggested. “For some reason, she finds Hoo-man males enticing.” She paused. “Or Betazoids, in your case, I guess.” She opened the door and walked out of the office, leaving them the choice to follow her or not if they wanted to talk to her.

"Well, Betazoids are the best lovers in the galaxy. Every woman knows that," he said loudly after her giving Noelle a wink.

"Well, she's laid down the gauntlet well and truly. If you want to talk to her, that is."

He thought about it for a moment then lowered his voice again. Liam activated his combadge. "Reynolds to Diplomatics reception. Jess, can you do me a favour? I need some long male swimming shorts, size waist thirty-six. And a large towel brought to the Ferengi Embassy."

The response was giggling. "Have they installed a swimming pool I don't know about?" she asked amused.

"Not quite,"

"Anything else, boss?"

Liam looked at Noelle questioning.

Noelle couldn't believe what she was about to do, or how the conversation had suddenly turned so awkward, but she realized she didn't have much of a choice. "Please replicate a one piece bathing suit, size six, and another large towel. Thank you." Despite her surprise and discomfort, she smirked at Liam.

Liam shot Noelle an impressed look. None of the other officers really had an idea of the games some of the ambassadors played and what his staff had to endure to try keep face. He wondered if Chief Ryan would have been so brave had he got Qinee as mischievous when he had visited. He also wondered in doing this to get Qinee to even entertain talking to them a this point was he likely to end up back in front of an angry Maritza Soran at some point being yelled at for potentially improper conduct in her eyes. Well, if it happened, it happened. They were certainly going to be clothed, that much he was making sure of.

"You catch that, Jess?" he asked.

"Yes, Liam. And might I add Sir Mortimer is looking very perplexed out here,"

Liam grinned. "Tell him I will brief him later. As quick as you can. Thanks, Jess. Reynolds out."

"Ambassador," he yelled in the direction Qinee had disappeared. "We will be five minutes."

Liam left Noelle for a moment and went back into the reception area. He endured Nedra drooling over him once more, and her suggestion that really he hadn't needed a bathing suit just as Jess arrived incredibly quickly. "Oh, but I do. I wouldn't want you Ferengi ladies getting too excited about things now," he stated with a smile, thanking his receptionist and assistant before walking back into the inner office and handing Noelle a blue one-piece and towel.

They each found a quiet corner in the absence, it seemed, of changing rooms. To Liam, being Betazoid, it wouldn't have bothered him. Half his race had no issues with nudity. Memories of weddings he had attended over the years came flooding back to him for a moment. Humans, however, it was completely different. Once suitably attired, he found the room with the large mud bath and got in, making sure to sit a respectful distance away from the ambassador and leaving plenty of room that hopefully Noelle would not feel he was crowding her either.

"So this in nice. My mother has a holo-programme for the mud caves of Plendra back home. I should lend it you some time," he stated, setting down.

In the meantime, Noelle emerged, thankful her requested suit fit and covered all the right areas. Still, she felt more exposed than she liked, mostly because she hadn't expected to be doing this in the middle of the workday just to have a conversation, but she recognized to truly demonstrate a sense of caring and concern she had to be willing to meet people where they were. In this case, that just happened to be in a mud bath. She hoped she wouldn't regret it.

"I've never done this before," Noelle remarked as she approached and gently lowered herself into the bath. "Thank you for inviting me, Ambassador."

Qinee waved off the thanks. “I frankly didn’t think you would accept,” the Ferengi woman admitted. “Too much hair.” She gestured to their heads. “Though it defeats the whole purpose if you are clothed.” It was clear the ambassador was naked beneath the mud, and equally clear that beneath her colorful robes she was actually a fairly voluptuous and beautiful female. She lounged back and enjoyed the mud. It was very hot, to the point of toleration, and bubbled occasionally. It didn’t smell bad, however, and pleasant insect and birdsong was piped into the room from the computer.

“So what questions did you have for me?” Qinee asked.

"I have some questions concerning Nazl's behavior and overall history," Noelle offered. "I apologize for having to bring up his loss again, but we truly believe before going to apprehend the person or persons responsible for his murder, we need to have a better understanding of the person he was into might have wanted him dead. Other than the basic boarding evaluation to ensure he didn't present an immediate threat to himself for the station's crew, I don't have much of a history on him, psychological or otherwise. I would appreciate whatever insight you can provide into who he was, his habits, etc."

“Well, you don’t have much on him because he was embassy staff,” Qinee pointed out. “Nazl was an ambitious, greedy, conniving little cunt.” She gave a laugh. “He was a Ferengi!” she pointed out. “If he couldn’t wheedle it out of you, he would swindle. If that didn’t work, he would steal. Anything to turn a profit. I’m fairly certain he had some side activities that were...less than legal. I also have some suspicions -- unprovable -- that he might have had something to do with the untimely demise of my predecessor. He was scheduled to get the top job here before I was chosen. He didn’t like me very much, and I rubbed it in his lobes.” She gave a snaggle-toothed grin.

Liam raised his an eyebrows in Noelle's direction curious as to her reaction as Qinee answered in her usual colourful fashion. The counselor suited the blue bathing suit he noted, then forced his eyes up to ensure he only looked at her head. Embarrassingly he remembered fantasizing about this women in a bathing suit in discussion with Cade and it was a dangerous thought path to allow himself to go down again.

"I don't think he liked me much either Ambassador, or many who work on this deck," Liam added in agreement.

Noelle nodded and took a moment to relax in the warm and surprisingly soothing substance as she thought. "That matches what others have said about him perfectly, and unfortunately, it means any number of people could have intense enough rage to have killed him. Revenge, money and lust were the most common and likely motives for murder, and from what she had gathered so far, any and all of those motives could have applied in this situation. "Thinking back to the crime scene, I can't help but recall how intensely personal his death seemed to be for the perpetrator. If revenge was the motive, it would make more sense to me the perpetrator would try to attain it by messing with his business dealings, and if money were the motive, ending his life, at least on the surface, doesn't seem to make sense."

Bennett knew she had to tread carefully with her next words, but she knew the third motive had to be addressed. "I'm not here to rehash old arguments, Ambassador, but I know you're aware that what happened between Nazl and the daughter of our security chief is considered a crime in our culture. Considering the way he was killed, with stabbing often being a surrogate for a sexual act in our culture, I can't help but wonder if you are aware of anyone he may have interacted with sexually who may have also had a cultural objection to the nature of the interaction?" Noelle couldn't remember the last time she had done such verbal tap dancing, but she was trying to be diplomatic.

Liam blinked several times and shot his head back to Noelle. Sure, she had worded her last point in a way that he would quite happily offer her a job in terms of diplomatic tact but this was rehashing bad ground .... again.

***

Lieutenant Liam Reynolds
Chief Diplomatic Officer

Ambassador Qinee
Ferengi Ambassador

Lieutenant JG Noelle Bennett, M.D.
Chief Counselor

 

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