Face Off

Posted on Tue Nov 10th, 2020 @ 8:39pm by Executive Officer Jake Ford & Liha t'Ehhelih

Mission: Mission 12 - Railway
Location: SS Mary Rose - Midships
2079 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Jake was doing his best to avoid people. Maybe it was a combination of fear over being humiliated at his predicament mixed with the natural suspicion most people likely had for the Romulan he was now inhabiting. He'd managed a brief conversation with Eden-as-Gregnol, and was on his way to catch Gregnol-as-Eden somewhere else.

It was then that he crossed his own path. Or rather - the path of his mirror-image. It figured that even without her own body Liha would be able to hunt him down just as effectively. After all, her skills would have remained intact.

"Oh boy..." he grumbled a little, seeing his own body coming steadily towards him.

Liha stalked toward her body, or as close as she could come to stalking in this weird lumbering male body. It was off balance and hairy and that terrible shade of pasty white everywhere, as she'd learned when having to finally give in to basic bodily necessities. The experience had not helped her mood at all. Worse, it had made her wonder how the person in her body was treating it.

"You're Jake, right?" she demanded. It wasn't quite as much as question as an accusation.

"Yeah." He was momentarily taken-aback, having not quite realised that at a solid 6-2, his own body could fill a hallway quite so much. It was startlingly intimidating, despite the subconscious knowledge that his new body might have more of a physical edge. "I didn't want this, you know. To be stuck as...you."

Liha's eyes narrowed - she wasn't quite sure whether to take that as an apology or an insult. "I sure didn't want to be stuck in your body either."

"Glad we got that cleared-up," he retorted. They'd not necessarily seen eye-to-eye in the last few days running up to this, and it felt a little like some sort of cosmic irony that they were now reversed as they were. "We're going to need to make the best of it; try to make sure we don't do anything wildly out of character. Just so we're clear and all."

After moment she nodded. "I don't like it, but I can play a role if I have to. You don't survive being watched by the Tal'Shiar if you can't. Besides, you mostly stay quiet and let Eden push you around. Annoying, but I can manage it. The question is, can you play me?"

Jake wanted to make a joke about how nobody could 'play' a Romulan, but it was doubtful she'd appreciate humour at a time like this. "She doesn't push me around..." he frowned, not sure how he was going to explain the concept of human relationships to this woman. It was a losing battle. "Surely all I have to do to be you is be suspicious of everyone and everything...make snarky comments...be all prickly around people..."

"It's called 'situational awareness'," she smirked. "With attitude. Comes in handy when you're not a big lumbering giant who can bluff being tough just by standing there." She eyed the stance her body was taking, which was not nearly alert and ready enough. "But I think it's a problem of mindset. You're an optimist with a delusional notion that there's good in most people. I'm a realist."

Big lumbering giant? he thought to himself. Was that what she thought of him? Big - sure. Lumbering? Hardly. He thought of himself as reasonably capable. Shoving the thought to the side, he found himself standing with his hands on his hips. "I'm not delusional. Besides, there is good in most people. Even you. Hey, maybe you'll learn something useful through this whole process."

Liha cocked a skeptical eyebrow. "Maybe, but there's also a lot of bad in people. And all I'm learning so far is that you'll never pass as me, let alone any Romulan old enough to hold a knife ...speaking of which, you do know how to throw a knife, don't you?"

"I can throw," Jake offered. "And I can box a little." He looked at his hands. "Well, I used to be able to. Whether I can do that as you is another matter."

"I get that," she admitted almost sympathetically, or at least sympathy-adjacent. "I'm not sure I could throw in your body either. I'm sure I throw some kind of punch or just tackle someone, but all the techniques I'm trained in use balance, agility, strength, speed, hand-eye coordination..." she looked at the big meaty hands she was somehow stuck with, "...and I don't feel any of that now."

"Likewise," he gestured frustratedly. "Just...try to relax, yeah? I don't want to get back into my body and find it all tense because you've been so uptight the whole time. And try not to go crazy with stashed weapons and all that stuff you do; you're supposed to be me."

"You should be grateful for extra stowed weapons. How you've stayed alive this long is a complete mystery," Liha said, with an exasperated huff. "So don't go being yourself in my body. If I'm not wearing at least half a dozen concealed knives, people on the Thrai will think I've gone soft."

"Probably not a bad thing..." he murmured with a sigh. She was, at least, trying to be accommodating, even if her tone was still patronising. Well, it was his tone but her inflection. It was difficult to fully correlate. "Maybe...maybe it would be worth going over some specifics later? Before your friends the Rangers show up, I mean. Help me figure out how to be...you." The latter part of that was difficult to express, especially admitting that he needed her help.

Liha nodded. "Yes. They've never met you, so we don't need to worry about that side of it - if anything a properly sharp wary XO will make them feel better about working with us. But for you to be me..." she pursed her lips ...which were Jake's so it felt strange, "First of all, don't relax. If I come across as all 'no worries' mellow, Taev will think I'm brain damaged. Or drugged."

"Taev," Jake repeated with a little nod. "Some colleague, or...ex-boyfriend?" he asked inquisitively.

"You think those are the only choices?" She an eyebrow. "He's a friend, partner for some tough jobs ...occasional fun, but certainly not a 'boyfriend'." Liha rolled eyes as if asking the universe how this species had survived leaving their homeworld. "Whatever you humans mean by that silly term."

Occasional fun just about covers what I meant, Jake thought to himself, but kept it silent. "So basically I need to be as intense and passive-aggressive as possible. With everyone."

"You think I'm intense?" Liha snorted a laugh. "You really have not met many Romulans, have you? I have a temper, but none of my own people have ever called me intense. Though speaking of temper, if I decide to be aggressive, there is nothing passive about it."

Jake found himself crossing his arms - a motion that itself was very Liha-esque, probably from some subconscious muscle-memory. "No. I haven't met many Romulans. The ones I have weren't really my sort of people. Now I need to try to act like one, or at the very least try not to look completely stupid." Admittedly he was trying, but he was also frustrated with how she expected all of this to be somehow easy or natural. That damned superiority complex she had that was so typical of her people was infuriating, to the point where his new body was having a physiological response and making him even more annoyed by it. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

"I suppose we aren't 'your sort of people'." Liha hmphed - and humans thought Romulans were arrogant. "You wouldn't last two minutes with a Tal Shiar breathing down your neck, or in any of the sociopolitical survival contests we are taught to navigate from childhood. You're soft because you had the privilege to be so, and you think you can look down your nose at us for having no choice but to learn to be hard. If you don't want to look stupid, then learn to project some level of confidence, some sense of 'do not not try me, you will not win'."

"I don't want to 'survive' any 'contests'," Jake sighed. He felt helpless. Trapped, in this body. Emotions flaring, most likely the physiological response to the emotions he was feeling. Emotions that weren't natural to his body. He felt like punching a wall, but figured she wouldn't appreciate that. Strange that such outbursts would have normally been so unlike him - perhaps another by-product of being in her body. "I'm a stranger to your culture. I can try not to look like a complete idiot. And I was asking for your help but it feels like you and I will never really see eye-to-eye on anything, so let's just agree that whatever happens I'll try not to get your body killed and leave it at that."

"No one should try to kill you, well, as long as they don't think you're an imposter. I'm trying to help by getting a mindset across that will help you play the part." Liha shook her head. "I just don't know how to make you see it and it's so hard to think clearly in your body ...it's like it's trying to be incautious, unaware." She threw hands up. "Are humans built for only short bursts of survival instinct?"

"We're not constantly trying to kill one another for personal gain," Jake replied bitterly. "Well...not anymore, at least." He started to sense that she was feeling equally frustrated being him as he was being her. "I need to speak to the Captain. This whole thing might make matters with the Rangers completely impossible, and we should be prepared for that."

Liha glared at him. He really did not get it. "We don't constantly try to kill each other for personal gain either. We have values of honor and loyalty that far transcend the personal - a Romulan will die to protect their comrades or their mission far more readily than a human. But we do understand that not everyone is to be trusted, and that the unwary are not only least likely to survive but the greatest threat to others." Her lips compressed in a thin line. "We do agree on one thing though: this might not work and we need a back up plan."

"I could sit in your quarters and tell everyone you're sick," he shrugged. The idea wasn't that terrible, even if he would have had to just sit around for several days. Self-isolation wasn't that bad, right? Another thought crossed his mind. "The alternative is to spend more time around one another. It might help us cover each others blind spots if we're in close proximity while the Rangers are around."

Spending more time together was not an appealing prospect, but Liha had to admit it was a logical suggestion. There were limited things anyone would believe would make her too ill to work, and any of those would make the Rangers treat the whole ship like a quarantine ward. "We can try it. You should know a few things about engineering to pass as me, especially the hands-on parts. Speaking of which, I should show you a few moves so you know how fight." She held up a hand. "I know, you think you know already. You don't, and even if you did, extra techniques are always worth knowing."

"Fine. Whatever." He just sighed wearily. Her need for precision and exact outcomes was never going to fit with his more laid-back style, but they had to meet somewhere in the middle. "Maybe it's time we go see the Captain, figure out what he wants to do next."

Liha frowned - 'fine whatever' was the exact opposite of the attitude anyone wanted or expected from an engineer and the distinct lack of intense focus wouldn't pass even with people who had only known her in her a fighter pilot days. But it couldn't be much worse than the personality mismatch between Gregnol and Eden. "Yes. Let's see the Captain. Maybe he's hit on a work around for him and Eden that might help us."