Old Lies and Misperceptions (part 1)

Posted on Mon Oct 19th, 2015 @ 7:14am by Commander Raven Adams & Khiy Tal'ehrihn & N'alae t’K’manatran

1,296 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Ghosts of Mirror's Past
Location: TGT Office, Typhon Station
Timeline: Before away team to investigate mirror ship

ON

Raven wasted no time looking up N'alae's record -- or what she could find of it. Most of her time was spent in places the Federation didn't track. It wasn't enough to assuage her fears about the other woman and the damage she could do if she put two and two together.

The one person Raven could trust was Khiy. So, she set up an appointment to make sure he'd be in and headed to his office.

She barely paused at the receptionist's desk "He's expecting me," she said.

The receptionist opened her mouth to say something when she noticed who it was. "He is just finishing up with a meeting, but you can...." She said to the figure moving past her. She would have more, except the Commander had already reached the door. Instead of protesting, she simply pressed the chime and sent a quick message that Commander Adams was on her way in.

Khiy looked over the file in front of him and shook his head, clearly confused. "Really? Him? You want him to run the engineering department on the Morning's Wake?."

"I know what you are going to say, I've said it all to myself many times over." N'alae sat across the desk from him, looking at a copy of the same file she had just given to Khiy. "But it comes down to the simple fact that he is the only one who can do the type of 'remodeling' you're talking about, outside of the Empire of course."

She paused and made a face. "Just don't ever tell him that. His ego is already big enough to fill the ship." N'alae shuddered inwardly at the thought of Winkel hearing such a compliment. Then continuing her earlier thought she said, "Given his history I can guarantee that he'll keep his mouth shut." She raised an eyebrow for emphasis. "There is always an empty airlock..." she trailed off when the ping came in from the receptionist.

Khiy took his eyes off the file and looked at the incoming message. He frowned for a moment before looking at the clock on the far wall. "Well, I'll have to trust you on this one." He was about to dismiss N'alae when he had a thought. "Commander Adams is on her way in. Feel like sticking around for a few more minutes?"

"Alright." N'alae said, getting up from the chair at the desk so that she could be facing the door as the Commander entered. This should be interesting she thought.

As Khiy had already been informed of her arrival, Raven knocked on the door and walked in. "Hi, Khiy," she paused and looked at N'alae and nodded. "How are both of you?"

"Just fine." N'alae gave her a reasonably friendly smile, although she intended to reserve real affection until she'd heard the other woman's story. Seeing 'Raven' here on a Federation Starbase in an official capacity gave her pause.

"Doing well, Raven." Khiy smiled. "Please pull up a chair and join us. I hope you don't mind N'alae remaining here."

"Not at all," she replied quietly. In fact, the meeting needed to take place sooner rather than later and with Khiy here, now was the perfect time. "How do you like your new ship?"

"It's everything a girl could wish for." N'alae responded, purposefully vague. She doubted that Khiy had given Raven the particulars about the Mourning's Wake.

Khiy smiled and looked back to Raven. "The new ship is a real beauty. Going to cost a fortune to run, though. Staffing it isn't going to be cheap. Not too many people familiar with Romulan technology in these parts. Fewer yet that are willing to work on a D'deridex behind the Empire's back." He was sure that N'alae would get the not-so-subtle hint that Raven was in the know.

"From the reports I've seen, as long as you don't flaunt it in front of the Empire, you should be okay," Raven replied. "You appear to have have a mysterious ship that came out of nowhere. I think it's pretty impressive."

N'alae raised an eyebrow at Khiy in surprise, but years of military training kept it off her face. "It will be even more so once all the 'renovations' are complete." She added.

"Will it bear the TGT logo?" Raven asked.

Khiy looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. "That is difficult to answer. We want the ship to generate interest in our corporation, however, too much interest is an issue as well." He shook his head. "No, I think not. Seems a shame that the fleet's flag ship should go unrecognized."

"This will be your fleet's flagship?" Raven asked, her curiosity piqued. "Why choose this one for the flagship? Not that I think it's a bad idea. It's rather impressive, but I am curious."

"It sends the right message in terms of the kind of work Grey Star Securities is capable of now. Strong, capable and efficient."

"You left out intimidating," she added with a smile. "There won't be many people who want to face one of your ships in a firefight."

"The primary operation of most Romulan vessels is military." N'alae added. "Therefor as a top-of-the-line ship of the fleet, the D'deridix class warbirds were always intended to be intimidating. They should strike fear into the enemy." She smiled back at Raven, "We may have it now, but how could it really be anything other than what it was designed for?"

"Romulans have some very good science vessels," Raven countered. "So, while their primary task was and is military intimidation, they do have multiple uses. As now. Khiy just has to be careful that his ship isn't mistaken for a Romulan warbird. A good paint job and some careful editing of the IFF go a long way towards ameliorating that particular problem."

Khiy nodded. "I agree. That program I asked you to make some time ago was designed for the Morning's Wake. As far as Starfleet is concerned, I hope to leave this ship in the realm of rumor and hearsay. I suspect most of the ship's new life will be spent under cloak. It isn't a permanent solution, but I'm hoping some angle will eventually be available to exploit.'

"What you really need is to find a planet you can use as a second base and keep your less-public ships there," Raven suggested.

"It is an interesting notion." N'alae said. "A dry dock would be more useful at this point however."

Moving to lean on the wall, N'alae looked at Raven critically. "How would a Federation Intelligence Officer suggest such a thing be accomplished?" She looked casually at her nails, "Parking a D'deridex in orbit around a planet isn't exactly inconspicuous, and docking a one in Federation space is bound to get noticed. Dry docks aren't widely available." She looked back up at her old acquaintance.

Raven glanced at Khiy, then back to N'alae. "There are places." Khiy apparently trusted her, but Raven wasn't so sure. Not yet, anyway.

"This dance feels familiar." N'alae said sarcastically, "I don't really trust you, you don't really trust me. Things haven't changed much have they?"

Khiy shook his head. This wasn't going well. "Both of you need to relax." He found his choice of words strange suddenly and he frowned to himself. He just asked one woman who would likely now live the rest of her life in secret because of the warbird, and another woman whose life *was* a secret because of Starfleet intelligence, to "relax".

(To be continued...)

Khiy Tal'ehrihn
Owner, TGT

N'alae t’K’manatran
TGTV Morning's Wake Commander

Commander Raven Adams
Chief Intelligence Officer

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