Regretful Rangers

Posted on Fri May 10th, 2024 @ 7:53am by Indigo (*) & Taev Mirok & Dodai Yaari & Captain Kaylin Jaal

Mission: Fractures
Location: Freecloud
Timeline: Jan 2398
2490 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

Indigo had left Dodai at her apartment to speak to Kaylin alone but as she walked onto the Bridge she had not expected Taev to be there as well. She was sure the woman would have noticed her mood shift and how she seemed to just not be with it as much as she used to be but she needed to discuss Dodai joining the crew. There was a spare berth and the man was handy but it was the implications of her not having told them about her 300-year marriage that would most likely annoy both of the Romulans now. She wandered to her console not looking at either though she knew they would be watching her almost as much as they would be looking at their own chores.

"Hey... I know you 2 have not come back to the apartment for a few days but I currently have a guest." She started.

Taev shrugged his eyebrows. "As long as they're not a security issue, I honestly don't care who you shack up with."

Indigo offered a slight smile to the man before she sobered and shook her head. “If only it was that easy.” She murmured playing with a few communication settings before she sat defeated. “He is my husband of centuries and is here because something is going to happen to me.”

A slanted eyebrow cocked. He hadn't known she was married, but he'd been outside the Empire long enough to know humanoids had some very different ideas about marriage. That was none of his business and not his concern. The other part of statement, however, caught his attention. "He knows this because..?"

The woman shifted uncomfortably in her chair and winced wishing he did not ask the question but she glanced to Kaylin before averting Taev. “He is a lot more in touch with his listener abilities.” She hated that he was so much more in touch with his perceptive abilities that extended beyond the normal space-time continuum.

Slowly rotating a data rod between her fingertips, Kaylin finally turned to give Indigo her full attention. "You know the rules, Indigo; we vet everyone before we let them within stabbing distance. Too many of us have felt the knife at our backs to be so trusting." Her hard expression softened a fraction. "Especially with long-lost lovers." She shot Taev a knowing look; he knew as well as she did that the intricacies of Romulan marriage weren't as straightforward as the more idealistic young woman in front of her would understand.

"Well we have been married for centuries but I understand." She said saying that she was not quite as young as they both assumed sometimes. It was one of the things they did not ask so she did not tell. She looked young but she was not in any shape of the word. "And my marriage is not typical but he came looking for me to help but he would love to speak to you both."

Taev tipped a fractional lift of brow at Kaylin. In his opinion, 'not typical' should describe nearly everything about Indigo, but the woman had proved herself loyal, and useful on many occasions. "It would be preferable to meet him so we can properly evaluate the situation," he said dryly.

"You want to meet him now?" Indigo offered quietly stopping the playing with the communication console to offer them the chance to meet the man properly.

Kaylin's eyebrow flicked up. Taev, she knew, would be more inclined to run a deep background check before setting foot in the same room as the man. She, on the other hand, had a preference for personal insight; her judge of character was usually quite impressive. "Have Krynn escort him here." It was a subtle way of ensuring that her Reman muscle was visible and present for the encounter. Three-versus-one was a more favourable balance.

Indigo nodded and quickly pulled out her comms unit and sent the man instruction hoping that he would be available. She wanted to include him cause he would find a way either way. “Let’s hope they both behave.” She whispered sitting down waiting for confirmation.

As the same sentiment had been conveyed in her summons, the return agreement had included glib reassurance of a lack of a desire to 'be too naughty'. Despite the fact that a return to civilisation had prompted a certain amount of 'tidying up', there was still an aptness to Dodai's arrival behind guarded escort that could have fooled the outsider into thinking he'd just been dragged from the fighting pit to answer awkward questions. Gregarious only when the occasion called for it, the man's introspection filled the space around him, which he was openly examining with a mixture of curiosity and underlying shrewdness.

He had not, as it turned out, deigned to put a shirt on. This was his best behaviour, at least when hustled from the shower he'd been ordered to take by another set of instructions.

Taev felt he should be surprised by the man's appearance, but somehow he wasn't. He'd long noted that 'behaving' had very different meanings to non-Romulans, and as Indigo fell well outside Romulan norm, it was almost to be expected that so would her husband (no matter how atypical their marriage). It was the fact of a husband that was the surprise, and one that the former security officer did not care for; but as there had been no opportunity to garner any sort of background on the man (not an easy thing with El-Aurian's, even with plenty of warning) he decided there was no reason not be blunt. "We're told you are here to give warning. How much detail can you provide on the potential threat?"

Whatever clairvoyance he was being accused of, Dodai made a remarkably proficient effort at concealing it. His gaze travelled between the faces, lingering just a little longer on the features of what he predicted to be the blue-haired culprit, before settling back on his interrogator with protracted consideration. If outward appearances were to be believed, Dodai appeared to be just as interested in the answer to the question as the rest of them. "Well," he started, buying himself time to weigh up the wisdom of his intended approach, "the sonic resonator in the shower could do with some adjustment." An open mouth hesitated as he caught Indigo's expression and then closed again for another brief pause. "But somehow I don't think that's what you meant." Looking behind him, the El Aurian found a perch to lean back against and tucked his hands beneath him to maintain an open stance. "Very likely you've been given the wrong impression, if tactical predictions are your preference."

Indigo raised an eyebrow and shook her head. She had not given anyone the impression of anything but maybe that had been what they had hoped for. She had never met anyone of her species that intuned. “I said he is a lot more in touch with his listener abilities." The blue-haired woman stated simply as she returned to twirling the data rod around her fingers as she let everyone have their pissing competition for a moment and suss each other out.

"For a listener, he certainly talks a great deal," Kaylin observed, watching the interaction between husband-and-wife partners with interest. "But he still hasn't spoken an answer to the question he was asked." She angled her head slightly. "If he has one?"

Taev crossed his arms, regarding the man. "Tactical predictions are the most useful, but he lacks those, at least some insight into what brought him here," he smirked slightly, "other than an opportunity to annoy his wife."

A look of warm amusement tugged the El Aurian's lips into a faint smirk, which did less to convey a sense of arrogance than it did genuine fondness. "Then let him put it a little more clearly." Dodai centred his gaze on Taev, since the query had been the man's, and dipped his head as if to apologise. "I am no prophet, nor time traveller, nor have I acquired the ability to read the fate of strangers in tea leaves. Whatever season my wife is about to enter, there is no immediate need to suppose that you will have any relevance whatsoever." For all it was offered as a gracious pardon, there was just the hint of a jocular lilt that suggested Dodai's amusement was veering towards the 'at the expense' variety. "She just seems less keen to leave me unsupervised on Freecloud."

"But I am not planning to leave our group or anything," Indigo added quickly. They needed to know that despite them maybe not having any relevance to whatever was coming her way she was not leaving or venturing off on her own adventure. "But he has never been wrong yet in 200 years." She added darkly as she made a face and sat down fiddling with the data chip again.

The slight hitch of faintly disbelieving eyebrows counted as a hesitation before the shirtless recipient of the unprecedented accolade added, lest anyone get any further ideas about his ability to track the movement of directly imminent treachery, "But is yet to have shown up for anything that has taken less than a few years to eventuate. It makes it a little difficult to accuse you all of being the reason."

But you still came here at the trot faster than any other time… Indigo thought to herself as she glanced at the two Romulans. She had not seen them that quiet in a long time but you never knew with them what they were thinking.

Kaylin touched her temple, slightly weary of the husband-and-wife tete-a-tete. She glanced at Taev again, an unspoken notion between the two of them that had this couple been of Romulan heritage it was highly likely one would have been unceremoniously murdered by the other. "I am yet to hear a 'why', Indigo..." she said, the thinning of her patience evident in her tone.

“Why to what?” Indigo challenge. Her own weariness and impatient to get this all over with. “Why am I asking? He won’t stay behind easily. Why will I get into trouble? Not a clue probably pissed someone off seriously over the last 300 years. Why have a never told you about him or my species? Well I assumed you knew.” They were as closed as she could ever get to Romulans she thought and it had never been something that had come up. “Is that everything?”

A brief of Taev's eyes conveyed, at least to the other Romulan present that if those two wanted to murder each other, he'd be willing to provide a knife. "Quite a bit," he remarked dryly. "Starting with why his willingness to stay behind, or lack thereof, should be a problem this crew takes on. He seems to be of little use beyond delivering vague warnings and causing friction. Also, while we do in fact know of your species, this idea that he can predict - however very imperfectly," a brow lifted, cocked in the man's directions, "that something is going to happen to you is of concern to us as you are among our number." He straightened slightly, and loathe to be the subject of 'oh you do care' type observation, added, "Some hacked off past enemy or new 'season' you might be about to enter will necessarily affect us and our operation."

Kaylin nodded. "Not to mention why someone with minimal motivation to do so would willingly associate with the Fenris Rangers. We've made some enemies along the way."

Indigo sighed and looked at the pair intently. “Have I ever been wrong about anyone joining?” She demanded quickly. “Winslow and Zahn? Cassidy? Sela? Higgdke? Guppy? Lady? I am the one who makes friends to make sure we have crew.” She said listening off people present before she mentioned people who had come and gone over the last couple of years. “Yes I do not want to leave him on Freecloud because he came all this way to face whatever it is coming with me but also I know the type of man he is and whilst you two see the world in black and white, he sees it in way more grey tones than I do which you both need sometimes.” Romulans were some of her most favourite people in the universe but when they got snipping like that she could feel herself wanting to toss them out of an airlock.

The Romulan captain sighed, staring back at the tall man standing near Indigo. "At least he's quieter than your usual recruits." She shot Taev another glance, one that could have been misread as resignation. "An El Aurian, aren't you? That implies you have knowledge, and contacts. Both of which can be useful." She paused, a faint smile crossing her lips. "I assume you will bunk together. Rack space is limited."

Taev returned the glance. A decision had been made and he would support it, though with reservation - the manner of introducing the man and conflict between Indigo's story and her spouse's were concerning. Moreover, Dodai struck him as evasive, which was not necessarily a strike against - Indigo might think Romulans dealt in black and white, but that only showed how little she understood them even now; to be Romulan was to navigate shades of grey. However, the impression that not all was what it appeared meant the man bore watching.

“That is totally up to Dodai. If he is not happy about it I am sure Theo would be willing to swap.” The former security chief was laid back enough and used to changes in room mates that he would not mind.

"He is perfectly happy about it." Continuing the trend of referring to himself in third person was perhaps an element of misplaced humour, but Dodai had yet to find his footing in this rather bizarre conversation and was wise enough to know that his worth would be measured in actions rather than vague platitudes anyway. It had been a while since he'd been investigated, at the very least, and the prospect seemed somehow more worthy of anticipation than dread. Perhaps they'd uncover something he'd forgotten, there was always a first time for everything. "He wouldn't dare argue, in any case."

Indigo glanced to him and her gaze softened for a moment before she looked back at the pair. “So we’re all settled then. The ship has a full amount of crew again.” She declared grabbing Dodai’s hand and tugged him across the bridge before anyone could argue.

Kaylin glanced over at Taev, a slight eyeroll already forming. "I'm going to regret allowing this," she remarked. "Keep an eye on them. And make sure you go deep with the background checks; El Aurians tend to have long histories."