by -=/\=- Zanh Liis
80525.15
Following Regrets Only Part Two
-=The Captain's Dining Hall, USS Serendipity=-
80525.15
Following Regrets Only Part Two
-=The Captain's Dining Hall, USS Serendipity=-
Zanh Liis had officially hit the limit of her patience with the Strasa leader. She gestured for her fellow officers to join her in sitting back down, while she took a moment to regain her composure.
Lank's people were suffering, without the basic needs for survival. One of her officers had just fallen gravely and inexplicably ill, and here he was raising his glass and demanding more wine as if he were celebrating New Years Eve in Times Square back on Earth.
Everything was one big party to this man, never-ending and self-indulgent.
Fleur LeMarc quickly moved to get another bottle of wine and as she did so, Trick London hurried back in from the adjoining galley. It was the first time he'd been seen since his uncharacteristic, clumsy accident a few moments before, in which he had dropped a tray full of dishes.
He rushed up to Fleur and whispered in her ear. She misunderstood his remark and tried to wrestle the bottle of wine between them, intent on carrying out the request of their guest herself to refill his glass.
"No, no, dearie, let me do that. We need fresh glasses," Trick growled to her through gritted teeth, and still dragging Fleur along behind him as she refused to let go of the bottle, he pulled both her and the beverage container forcefully along with him, back through the doors. He called back over his shoulder in a sing-song tone that Zanh had never heard him use before.
"My most humble apologies. Be riiiight baaa-ack!"
Lank sighed, visibly annoyed, setting down his glass at last as he reluctantly returned for the moment to his food.
Zanh and Blane were both growing more uneasy by the moment, waiting anxiously for some sort of sign from Sickbay that Vol was going to be all right. Some sign from the surface that the Away Teams were safe. Some sign of anything. . .
"So sorry about that. I wanted to fresh stemware and a clean corkscrew," Trick chattered, much more excessively than was normal for him. Zanh Liis, though no empath herself, immediately picked up on the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice and knew him well enough to know something was amiss.
As she contemplated what that might be, London did something so akin to pulling out a flare gun and shooting the moon to get her attention that her lips parted in surprise.
He set a small paper napkin down before her, placed a wine glass on top of it, and then filled the glass to the brim.
Trick knew full well that she drank nothing stronger than coffee. He was trying to tell her something without tipping his hand, and if he was picking up on something so sinister that he felt he needed to act this way, the situation was indeed as serious now as she had feared.
Jariel's eyes widened as he watched Liis casually nod to London, thanking him. *She isn't actually going to drink that, is she?* He asked himself, worried by the thought.
Zanh waited until Trick had distributed the glasses of wine to everyone. Then she lifted her glass, prepared to make a toast of some sort to set Lank on edge before she dismissed everyone else from the room and went for the throat.
It was only when she looked down at the cocktail napkin below her glass that she finally received London's intended message.
He'd scrawled, in tiny letters on the napkin, just below the Starfleet insignia, "Blik- Tryst."
Zanh's stomach began to burn. So, they did have something to do with the Counselor's illness- at least one of them did. She'd need proof, and she only hoped that London could help her find it, otherwise. . .still, she knew she had no choice but to trust him.
London, who was watching her from around the corner, sighed with relief.
Message received.
Liis rose slowly from her chair. A quick glance Blane told him that he should stand as well, and be ready for anything. Jariel rose as soon as he saw Blane push away from the table. He noticed that Blane's hand instinctively reached for his hip. . .
"To our friends, the population of Stra II." Zanh began, glass aloft. "May the Federation enjoy a long and fruitful relationship with you for all time." She finished with a flourish, and then she turned to Blik, who was seated just down the table to her left. "Except for you. You are under arrest."
"What?" Blik was so stunned, he barely reacted, but the other Strasa were much faster to understand what was about to happen.
Zanh dropped her glass and leapt forward and grabbed the man by the collar, lifting him up out of the chair. Blane and Jariel set themselves up as a barrier between Zanh and the other Strasa politicians, and the security detail that had been standing by at the doors rushed forward to assist.
Lank and his cohorts immediately raised their arms in a gesture of surrender, clearly more worried about their own safety than that of their apprehended colleague, Blik.
"What is the meaning of this, Zanh Liis?" Lank shouted, as Liis turned to the security detail and asked for a pair of cuffs. She placed them onto Blik's wrists and then turned him over to the guards. "Put him in the brig. I'll be along to question him myself shortly."
"I demand to know the charges!" Blik cried, futilely straining to free his hands from the cuffs.
As Zanh was about to open her mouth to answer, her combadge chirped.
[Sickbay to the Captain,]
"How is he, Dalton?"
[We nearly lost him, but I believe he's stable for now. You should come down here, Sir, soon as you can.]
"Soon as I can." Liis assured him. "Zanh out." Liis turned toward London, her eyes asking him if he was certain of the accusation he'd made. He nodded to her slowly. "The charge, Junior Overseer Blik, is the attempted murder of a Starfleet Officer. Get him out of my sight." Zanh barked, "And clear the room. I want to speak with Overseer Lank," she glared at the Strasa leader, "alone."
"I. . .I. . .I. . .object!" Lank sputtered. He moved behind the rest of his men the way a frightened child would hide behind the apron of his mother.
"Fine. Ambassador Jariel can stay." Liis was so angry, that her mind leaped back to the time when Jariel carried that official title, perhaps her mind's way of stressing to the cowering Lank that the Vedek could be trusted to prevent her from ripping him limb from limb, even though at the moment that was what she dearly wanted to do.
"Orders for the rest of the group, Captain? Should I put them into a holding cell?" Blane inquired.
"Unless and until we can charge them all with conspiracy, which is highly likely," Zanh relented a little, "Take them back to guest quarters and hold them there under your own watch, Commander. Don't let one of them out of your sight for a moment, not even to go to the lavatory."
"Understood. Let's go." TC and the remaining security officers rounded up the Strasa delegation and herded them out the door, leaving only Jariel, Liis, and Lank before the table still spread with enough food and wine to fill the bellies and quench the thirst of a small village.
"Captain Zanh, I will have your commission for this," Lank threatened. "Do you not know who you're dealing with here?"
"I think it's you," Zanh's voice lowered in volume as she choked the words out through barely controlled rage, "who does not yet comprehend who they are dealing with."
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-=/\=-Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
-=/\=-Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012