Secret Meetings

Posted on Thu Jul 20th, 2017 @ 10:02pm by Commander Mal Xustos & Captain Enalia Telvan & Lieutenant Commander Eneas Clio
Edited on on Sat Jul 22nd, 2017 @ 8:30pm

Mission: Death is in the Details
Location: Orbital Fortress - Enalia's Private Library
Timeline: 5 days into shore leave

It was currently the night cycle for Enalia's orbital fortress and while some of her crew were still enjoying themselves, she knew many would be asleep. She just hoped Mal and Clio would not be asleep... or too busy... She had a guest and some news that both of them needed to hear about a soon as possible. Hence she was now sitting before a rather large fireplace snuggling with her wife in silence after only hearing part of it while her guest sat in an armchair to her left and enjoyed a stiff drink. Two identical chairs sat across from theirs on the other side of the low table stretched out before the fireplace awaiting their arrival. That is, if her holo-servants could locate them both and escort them here.

As the light from the fireplace cast shadows about the six story library, it made the millions of books seem as if they were alive, the chandeliers and now tinted windows refracted the yellow light just enough to make every curved spine dance as 'Nia sighed and sipped from her glass. "Enalia... you have an orbital fortress with limitless holo-servants, a beautiful wife, the option of taking over the family privateer business, and more luxury than even the last ten Grand Naguses. Why are you in Starfleet and why do you normally hide all this from people?"

"Because when you live like this, you have no idea how real people live their lives," Enalia replied softly. "You don't know what a callous is. You don't know the look in a child's eyes as a beloved pet passes on or even realize that that pet was a full family member. You don't know what it's like to have to eat replicated food or rations or go hungry or sleep in the rain because you're homeless. Refugees and colonists are just a distant statistic. Even to my own mother, the number of Syndicate her people have killed is just a number. She hasn't led a crew since I was born, and even back then, it was rare. I swore to learn how to care after I visited the Artan Privateers mining colony on my ninth birthday and saw how they... our own workers... lived and were treated. What were once built up and amazing accommodations and working conditions thanks to the hard work of my great grandmother and grandmother, my mother all but ignored the maintenance of. They were overcrowded, broken down, and unfit for vermin."

"It took me some time, but eventually, my mother retired with some... persuasion... and I've been funneling my personal wealth into the company. I just hope it's enough to save what's left of it so at least they can carry on carrying on." Enalia's words drifted off as one of the holo-servants walked up from behind them and cleared her throat.

"Princess, We have located your companions and they are being escorted to this location now. Shall I fetch refreshments for them?" Asked the catgirl Trill maid.

Since there were no replicators on the entire fortress, it was best to have the drinks prepared now since the kitchens were nearly twenty decks away and the cellars over two hundred. But what would they prefer? Enalia would just have to guess. "Please prepare four mugs of hot chocolate liqueur for myself and my guests this evening. And please check the library's bar and make sure it has a bottle of 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon in the wine chiller just in case."

"Very good, Princess." As the holo-servant went about her duties, 'Nia couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm sorry Princess, but that was quite the little display of power after such a noble speech." Still chuckling, 'Nia finished off her glass of brandy and headed to the library's bar to refresh her own drink, having refused help with that earlier. "And what's with the black and white catgirl maid outfits? The tails and ears even wiggle."

"One of the perks of owning your own home, I suppose..." Enalia replied somewhat smugly. "Commodore..."

Mal strapped his black leather belt around the waist of his Greco-Roman style tunic as he looked at himself in the mirror. The belt had gold studs on it and a gold buckle. The tunic had gold around at the hem of the skirt, the neck, and at the openings of the sleeves. Satisfied with how his clothing looked, he picked up a brush and began to work on his long, dark hair. It was still damp from the shower, but had been toweled dry. He brushed it until it was nice and shiny and tangle free, settled it with a shake of his head, and then turned around to find that Clio had been sitting on the bed watching him. He smiled at her.

"Don't you look lovely," he said. "How long have you been watching me?"

"Long enough to know what you're wearing under that tunic." Clio smirked at him, getting up from the bed. She didn't own anything quite so fancy as Mal's tunics and hadn't wanted to replicate anything new just to visit Enalia's fortress. Now she was wondering if she should have. Her black slacks would match anything, but the slight shimmer to the sky blue sweater she'd found didn't quite match up to the luster of gold trim. "You're making me feel a little under dressed."

Mal smiled and walked over to Clio. He pulled her close and kissed her gently.

"As I said, you look lovely," he said. "And you know that when I wear the plain tunics most people say I look like I'm wearing a burlap sack. Actually, I have several that don't have such fancy trim. Would you like me to change into one of those? I think I even have one that matches your outfit, if you want to be like one of those couples."

Mal winked to show that he was kidding about the matching outfits...sort of. He actually did have something that might match!

"No, I like the gold. Brings out the lighter colors in your hair." Clio kissed him and smiled a bit. "We should get going. Enalia will be wondering where we are."

The Trill catgirl maid holo-servant waiting outside their expansive chambers to escort them could wait quite awhile for them to get ready, but their hostess and her guest likely could not. Thus she knocked on the door and opened it ever so slightly. "A thousand pardons for the intrusion, honored guests, but are you prepared to depart? The Princess should not be kept waiting much longer. Also, if we do not depart soon, the refreshments she has ordered may grow cold."

"We are ready, Mistress Cat," Mal said, showing the holographic cat girl the same respect that he would have if she were flesh and blood. "Please, lead the way."

"Please follow me, honored guests," replied the catgirl maid as she led them through the labyrinthine maze of a castle to the main turbolift system into the Grand Lift - an all transparent and platinum gilded monstrosity of a turbolift that ran along a corridor on the outside of the castle and was reserved for the family's use only. It was a room unto it's own, with transparent chairs for passengers to await their floor in style, if not extreme luxury.

"We will be arriving at the Princess's private library shortly." The holo-servant then busied herself with programming the turbolift for the destination and it set off moving upwards, the only signs of this being the fact that everything outside was in motion.

Mal surveyed his surrounding, taking in the vastness of it all. It wasn't clear to him if Enalia was showing off or if it was just that there was no way to invite her friends here without awing them with the grandeur of her home.

"This place is fancier than my mother's worldship..." Somewhat awed by their surroundings, Clio couldn't help but stare at it all. Enalia hadn't let on that she was heir to such an expansive place, let alone such a luxurious home. She also couldn't tell if this was showing off or just... how things were at the fortress.

Near the top of the castle, the turbolift slowed and came to a halt, the double doors opening. "Honored guests, I welcome you to the Princess's private library." As the holo-servant spoke, she curtseyed and motioned for them to exit the Grand Lift into a library so big it looked like you could fit the entire pod section of the Hera in it with a lot of room to spare. Enalia (snuggling with Maica) and Farenia were over by a massive lit fireplace that looked like it had been pulled straight out of Valhalla waiting for Mal and Clio to join them in some of the most posh chairs they had yet seen in this palace of wonders.

Mal looked around, impressed. Not even Daytona could read all of the books Mal saw in the library in one lifetime. He took a seat across from Enalia and Farenia.

"So," Mal said. "If the Commodore is here, should I assume this evening is not all about pleasure?"

Another maid offered Mal and Clio their refreshments on silver platters. "Idanian spiced cocoa with Earth marshmallows topped with shaved Betazoid chocolate."

"Yes, unfortunately we have much to discuss before the orgy," Enalia replied with a grin.

Farenia just playfully slapped her on the shoulder and shook her head. "No, there's no orgy scheduled. Not that I know of anyway... I'm here to apprise you of a few things you should be aware of."

Mal accepted the drink.

"No orgy, eh?" he said, grinning wickedly. "Oh well, I'll just have to wait until my next trip home."

Mal took a sip of his cocoa.

"This is fantastic!" he said. "Clio, my dear, you have to try this!"

"If you want me to maintain any sense of dignity or decorum, that is not a good idea." Clio hadn't shared that interesting quirk of her biology with Mal yet, and she didn't remember if she'd told 'Nia or not. "Especially not with both you and 'Nia here..." Farenia's presence hadn't gone unnoticed, but it felt ever so slightly awkward to have both her and Mal in the same room. She didn't think either Rigelians or Pomtoli placed much stock in monogamy, but she didn't want to explain this situation either!

"Perhaps you should mention his planet first..." Enalia mumbled mysteriously.

Farenia sipped her own drink before beginning. "First off, I want to thank you for your hard work on your recent mission. Your crew obtained a lot of important information that we'll no doubt be analyzing for years to come. We've identified your next target already, but I'll get to that a bit later. Enalia's right that I should mention Pomtol. It may be nothing, but we have a courier that we occasionally contract work out to code named Hermes and he's reported sightings of a creature called a... mini-taur? He also mentioned Hera and Pomtol. The message may have originated from Nimpella three, near here, but it was so garbled, that's all we could make out though all the cross encoding and fade-checking. We've dispatched the USS Amaterasu, a Miranda class ship, to check on Pomtol just in case and Commander Yurika Misumaru would like a cultural reference from you before their arrival."

Mal looked stunned. His eyes glazed over as he remembered some older kids trying to frighten him when he was young.

If you're not careful we'll take you out in the dark forest and leave you there for the Minotaur to eat! Some of them got away, you know! And now they live in the forest and eat little kids who wander to far into their territory!

Mal shuddered.

"To Humans," Mal said. "A Minotaur is a myth. A creature of legend. Half man, half bull. They find him in their mythology textbooks and holovids. But to the Pomtoli...to us, Terran mythology is history. Yes, there is a great deal of legend in our history, but there's a great deal of fact there as well. Minotaur are part of that fact. The angry goddess Hera uses them as foot soldiers. Some of them stumbled on Pomtol early on in our history. Their leader, a vile harpy...I mean that literally, she was an actual harpy...anyway, she knew how much Hera despised Pan. Hera hated him because of the way she perceived that his satyrs treated the nymphs, not to mention any other woman they managed to seduce, and also because he was the son of Hermes. Hermes was one of Zeus's illegitimate children. My people fought a great battle. The Minotaur are larger and stronger than our satyrs and definitely so with our nymphs, but they are not as high functioning intellectually. In other words, they're big, dumb, brutes. They lift heavy objects, break things, hit people, and try to skewer people with their horns. They can be outmaneuvered, but they are as tough or tougher than a Pomtol satyr, and we can take a great deal of punishment. We fought a prolonged battle, but were able to drive them off. Hera and her harpies and Minotaur are the stuff of nightmares to us. There existence is used to frighten the young. 'Watch out! if you don't behave, we'll feed you to the Minotaur!' But..."

Mal hesitated.

"We all train for the day that they might return," he said. "We practice with weapons developed by Pan, frictionless blades that can slice cleanly through anything they can cut into like I hot knife through butter. If this Hermes has seen Minotaur, then Hera may be up to something. Hera is very dangerous, Commodore. Unlike the Greco-Romans, I know she is not a god. But she is a highly intelligent, long lived, alien with access to highly advanced technology and weapons. We need to find this...Hermes and discover what he knows."

"He has a habit of slipping past the people I send to find him... Even knowing where this message came from, which is rare, won't help." Farenia replied morosely as she finished her drink and headed to the bar and began refilling it with ice and amber booze older than dirt.

"If this really is the same Hera, she's not to be tangled with. Even my people know that, and we think of war as the most beautiful art that can be created. Hera is on another level entirely." While Clio may not have ever met a minotaur, the legends about Hera were all very clear. You did not trifle with the woman and survive.

Turning from the bar, 'Nia headed over to Mal and Clio and slipped in between them and hooked an arm around each of theirs, her cheeks slightly more flush than normal - a sign that she might be on the verge of getting drunk. "Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing if he means Hera the ship or Hera the entity. With the lack of any proof of sightings of the latter, I'm hoping it was a reference to the ship and to inform the three of you. If so, my job is complete."

Mal shook his arm free from Farenia's.

"With all due respect, Commodore," he said icily. "There is absolutely no reason to believe that this Hermes, whoever he is, even knows that this ship exists, let alone who any of the three of us are. There's absolutely no reason for him to be sending us a message. The only logical conclusion is that he is talking about the 'goddess' Hera. I'm sorry, but you can't seriously expect me to sit here in this Mad Hatter's tea party and do nothing about the information you just shared with me. If you aren't going to do something about this, I am. If I have to resign my commission to do so, so be it."

"I'm fairly certain he knows who you are , but fair enough. As for me doing something, this is where the Artan family Privateers come into play," Farenia replied as she took the hint and left the two of them alone and heading back to the bar, but not before slipping her full glass into Clio's hand. "Enalia, you should know better than serving a Cervan chocolate. Shame on you."

"Right... Forgot about that..." Enalia replied sheepishly. "Anyway, I have a small ship you can use at dock nineteen if you want to go investigate. It's Romulan built but registered to the Artan Privateers so you should be fine. Just try not to scratch the paint. I recommend taking a few people with you though, just in case you run into trouble."

Mal still looked angry, but he thought about what Enalia said.

"Daytona, Nexi, and Cato, and maybe T'Pral," he said. "But only if they volunteer when I ask them. Otherwise, just me and whoever you can get to volunteer to crew the ship. Weapons, Engineering, Helm, Operations, and at least one of the Independent Duty Hospital Corpsman for medical support. This is going to be a short, quick, trip."

Mal turned to Farenia.

"Commodore," he said. "If you know something that connects this Hermes person to any of us, I would appreciate knowing...now. If you choose to withhold this information, you risk endangering everyone on this little side mission and in doing so you will lose my respect. At the moment, I assume that means nothing to you. Prove me wrong. Who is Hermes, Commodore? And why would he know any member of this command team."

"I transmitted a sterilized report about the Master to him just before your last mission asking for his help and he saw your signature. He claims to be your great grandfather or something." Farenia admitted before turning back around, her fresh glass still empty. "As for your respect, you're right. At this moment it does mean nothing to me because I'm too worried to care. Tomorrow I get to go to a six hour meeting with a Vulcanoid Rigellian named Kyrios Topnic... Supposedly one of my own people... from my own tribe... He's the Chief Manager for the main branch of the iConsortium Medical Group. Take one guess who we think he is."

That's impossible! It couldn't be...could it? Hermes is...Hermes? Ridiculous! Mal thought.

"You know," he said. "We keep having these meetings in the absence of the oldest Rigelian in Starfleet, one who worked the Rigel System for about half of his life. Just saying. Anyway, I assume you are implying that you believe this person to be our friend the Master? Clio? How does that fit with what Daytona was able to dig up so far on Maas Teranja?"

"Fits his modus operandi." Though she wasn't sure what the liquid Farenia had handed her was, Clio took a sip of it and found it to be a warming liquor with a hint of spice to it. "I can't say for certain that it's him, but it certainly seems to fit."

"On top of that, I don't remember growing up with him so his public bio is obviously fake," Farenia added as she filled her new glass with the same amber liquid as before, draining the expensive looking decanter. "Enalia, I'm sorry. It seems I owe you a bottle of... What was this?"

"Nine hundred year old spiced Tellarian ale," Enalia clarified as she craned her neck to check the bottle Farenia was dangling.

"Well fuck..." 'Nia muttered as she set the bottle back down and sipped at her glass. "At least they have shorter years..."

"Well of course his bio is bogus. None of his other identities panned out correctly either." Clio gave the empty bottle and then her own glass a sheepish look. She'd had no idea how expensive the ale was.

Enalia saw the look on Clio's face and grinned knowingly. "If you prefer, there's a bottle of cheap Earth wine chilling under the bar. It's only around four hundred years old and only slightly less irreplaceable."

Mal's mind was on the next day already. He wasn't in the mood for social pleasantries. On the other hand, he didn't want to ruin anyone's evening. He sighed and decided that he, and whoever he could get to go with him, would leave later than dawn. He would give them the rest of the evening to themselves. He'd leave messages for them that they would receive in the morning. Nexi probably wouldn't check hers, but Cato was Starfleet and used to checking in regularly, even on shore leave. He'd let her know what the deal was. He'd gather them as early as was reasonable in the morning, explain the mission, and ask for volunteers.

"So," Mal said. "What is our next step with our mysterious mad scientist?"

Farenia sipped her drink a bit more before replying. "I and every member of my team will be doing everything we can to plant a tracker on his ship and on him. I'll also be transferring a dermal tracker to him when I make contact. Even if I die, you should at least still have that much. Admiral T'narp also promised me a posthumous two rank promotion, but I'm not sure if that was a form of encouragement or his calculations for my survivability. Also, as much as I'd love to borrow Aewia..."

"No." Enalia didn't even let Farenia finish the thought before she had the words out. "The resources of my entire crew are at your disposal, not the civilians that are aboard the Hera. Aewia is still considered a civilian, even if her security clearance has been reestablished and she's doing limited duty in our Intel offices."

"Yes..." Farenia scowled and sipped her drink as the fireplace crackled. "Out of respect for all the help the Arton family has been lately, I won't press the matter. Her profiles on the Master are sufficient. For now."

"I doubt Enalia's going to let you have her in the future either, 'Nia. Aewia's been through enough trauma to last anyone a few lifetimes, and the last thing she needs is to be forced into the field. Let it go." Clio wasn't really sure whether Farenia was trying to cause trouble or not, but with both Mal and Enalia angry at her, things could go south really fast.

'Nia shook her head. "It's not field work I want her for, but a a support and monitor role on a remote station. Either way, it's a moot point, so let's not worry about it. For now let's adhere to an ancient Earth philosophy - tonight we drink for tomorrow we die."

"Now that's a policy I can agree with." Clio grinned a bit, clearly a fan of drinking heavily before possibly facing one's death.