Seeking Answers [Archangel/Jiseth]

[Captain's Ready Room]

The shimmering clouds of the nebula beyond the transparasteel of the viewport were calm now, no longer hiding dark ships threatening to destroy. A Klingon ship had quickly arrived to retrieve the survivors of its ship, and Major Rhian had taken the surviving Romulans back to Romulus, leaving her with her crew once more, and she had to have words with a certain member of her crew.

Now that everything had calmed down, she had taken to her ready room and ordered Jiseth to report to her there. She stood by the viewport, her arms folded as she glared out. Yes, Jiseth had some questions to answer.

Hearing her door chime, she told the computer to admit her visitor and, seeing that it was indeed her Romulan pilot, barked out a single word to her:

"Sit."

Jiseth stepped in and stood beside the chair. Looking down upon it, the bit of furniture drew nothing but contempt from the Lieutenant. To sit there and scolded like a school girl who had upset some of the other children on the playground. At least being swatted she could understand. There were several times when she was struck by a superior during her years in the Romulan fleet.

She turned her attention to the reflection of the Captain. One moment she thought less of her than the Tal Shiar Major who had just departed. Another, she would be her captain and friend, someone to look up to. The next would be the traitor commander who failed her and the Chief Medical Officer. There was no short supply of ill will.

Regardless, she looked back to the seat and sat down in it. Her hands were on her knees and her poster rigidly proper. Something she learned from Zero. Though she would not fire the opening salvo, she was eager to return a shot or two toward T'Koris.

Watching Jiseth in the reflection of the viewport, Archangel waited until the other Romulan had sat down, then waited another minute or so before turning to face her. The anger she felt threatened to boil up in her chest, but she worked hard to keep it buried. After everything that they had

She crossed the room to the desk in a few rapid strides, leaning her hands on the desk as she glowered at Jiseth. After the effort she had gone to to try to help the Romulan and her mate in recent times, including trading favours with powers that she always tried her best to avoid.

Without a word, she slammed a hand on the desk in front of Jiseth and, as she lifted it again to place it back on the edge in a mirror of her other hand, it became apparent that she had left the two broken pieces of a Tal'Shiar rank insignia in front of her.

"I whole-heartedly agree. Squash them all! That Major was the smuggest tub of slime-ridden filth since Vice Chairman Vreenak. Though, I should tell you, if the Tal Shiar had any agents keeping an eye on the Praetor's wife I would be the last to know."

With th flick of her wrist she removed her commbadge and it spun through the air and on to the desk. After a brief skid, it stood still and Jiseth looked to her Captain, almost dating to be struck down.

"I'm sorry... Did you forget what we are, T'Koris?"

Archangel's expression was decidedly unamused as she listened to Jiseth's little speech, still working hard to keep her temper under control, a control that was rapidly fraying. Jiseth taking off her commbadge and flinging it with apparently little regard for its symbolism certainly didn't help matters.

"I am well aware of what we are, Jiseth, and that there's nothing that's going to change that. What I can change and that I refuse to tolerate on this crew are Tal Shiar agents. I vouched for you to Starfleet Command to get you a commission when you came back from the Empire and stuck my neck out for you in other ways as well, so tell me: Have I made one of the biggest mistakes of my career, or is there something else I should know?"

Jiseth slouched back in her chair and crossed her arms. There was a look of equal disbelief and disgust on her face. One Romulan was allowed to have everything while the other allowed to have nothing, at least it seemed so to the Lieutenant. Her face was darking as green blood flushed her cheeks.

"Your mistake? I apologize. I guess me killing 25 of our countrymen to save 177, to save all of us, was completely out of line. Could your Second Officer do the same? She seemed quite content for us to hop, skip, and jump into oblivion without a single doubt. I've stuck my neck out for you plenty today. My crews too. All of us! I still see their burnt and tortured faces, T'Koris..."

Archangel's eyes narrowed significantly at the Lieutenant in front of her. She was starting to lose patience with this other Romulan, especially with her bordering on insubordination.

"I'm not talking about the losses, Jiseth. I'm talking about that," she snarled, jabbing a finger at the broken Tal Shiar rank. "I've got enough cloak and dagger bullshit going on on this side of the Neutral Zone, I don't need to be starting to look out for the same coming from the Star Empire, and I certainly don't want to be seeing it in my senior staff!"

Rising from her seat, Jiseth leaned over the desk and swatted the pieces of rank insignia toward the wall. They chimed with the impact and hopped on the floor before coming to rest. Fearful children suddenly gone quiet.

"At least their commander didn't veil his attempt to call me a traitor! No one is going to put a disruptor to the Praetor's wife. How I would love to have such privilege! I don't have you luxuries for protection, so do find that Centurion and make your displeasure known for interfering."

"Oh, you'd be surprised how many Romulans would like to put a disruptor to my head, whether or not they approve of my marriage to the Praetor!" Archangel snapped back. "You may not have the protection I do, but nor do you have the weight of responsibility and baggage that goes with it." Leaning a little further forward over the desk, she glared at the other Romulan. "If you'd rather I was direct, then I will be. Are you or are you not a member of the Tal Shiar?"

"If I were an operative, why use the replicator on the Monongahela to fashion a rank I should already have? Their commander tried to kill me. I wanted to remove the temptation from others of his crew."

Standing upright, Jiseth returned her Captain's glare.

"Check the logs if you don't believe me. The voice recorders on the runabout, even. They'll all say the same thing. Now here I am... So say it. Look me in the eyes and just try to be truthful in saying you wouldn't have preferred an outcome where I'd be bits of subatomic residue on the floor! It was only by accident that their commander died and not me!"

"I wouldn't expect you to carry your rank point with you at all times for fear of being discovered, hence the need to replicate it," Archangel growled. "No intelligence agent is that stupid." Sitting back down in her chair, she pressed her fingertips together, continuing to glare at her helmsman over the top of them. "I've looked through the logs, and listened to the voice recordings. You replicated that rank after the immediate threat had passed. Their commander was dead and they looked to the centurion for guidance, a man who had just passed out without continuing the thread that his commander had posed. Your job was to get them back to the ship, which you did, and not to proceed to bring the Tal Shiar interrogation chambers to my shuttlebays!"

"As I said, I don't have your privileges. I wanted their immediate cooperation, so I showed something that would get their attention. Something they'd recognize with a sense of urgency, even in their battered condition. I was never going to torture them. My presence would be assumed to be as a guard for you and no one would question that. At least that was the plan until you entered the hangar..."

The Lieutenant crossed her arms. The fiery anger beginning to diminish as her face began to lighten. There was no denying to position she was in. Uncomfortably close to the gallows.

"Believe what you want, T'Koris, but I acted in the best interests of myself and my personnel. Operatives don't really care about lost numbers, do they, or is Section 31 a bit more considerate?"

Ignoring the jab at Section 31, an organisation she knew very well didn't care about any of its operatives unless they happened to be in a particularly useful position, Archangel continued her glare at the other Romulan.

"You continue to evade my question, Jiseth. Are you or are you not a Tal Shiar agent?"

"I am not. Isn't that obvious? I wouldn't blow my cover over a group of survivors, hell, I would imagine to keep this whole debacle a secret they'll execute what remains of that crew."

Looking over to the broken pieces of rank, Jiseth clenched her teeth as her lips knotted.

"I hated that thing the moment I saw it. The fear it commanded in their eyes as well as the revolting disgust. The Tal Shiar is public and Section 31 is a myth. That's why you let Ayora publish that report."

The young captain continued to observe Jiseth in silence for a moment as she contemplated the verity of what she had said. As far as her instincts were telling her, the other Romulan was being truthful so she allowed herself to set that topic aside for the moment.

"I consulted with Ayora about the report she submitted. Had she included Section 31's involvement, the report would have gone unsurprisingly missing from all of our computers. Instead, we stayed as close to the truth as possible in order to keep Ensign Kaz, Zero and yourself out of trouble."

"And yet... Trouble is exactly where I see myself right now, but tell me..."

Her arms were crossed, but she stepped around behind the chair and leaned against it. Her forearms went along the top of the back cushion and she stared at the floor between it and the desk before looking up to T'Koris.

"Kaz was to deliver Zero, why did you interfere? She was scared senseless, afraid of the repercussions from shooting you and it didn't help that I removed what we knew from the Monongahela's flight recorder. I think though, everything that goes on her, if I were a spy I'd probably want to just blow the whole ship up rather than try some silly attempt solely on you. It is interesting though because if I were a spy and so much could be altered to safeguard your secret, they really aren't looking out for your well-being. I'd would probably have done them a favor... If I were a spy."

Archangel sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose. Jiseth really seemed to know just how to dig in and ask for answers that she wasn't sure she wanted to give the other Romulan.

"There would have been no repercussions from her shooting me, Jiseth," she replied in a bored tone of voice. "The damned thing was set to stun and there wouldn't have been any record of me even being there."

With another faint sigh, she moved her hand to rub her brow ridges. "I can't really say much more about what happened on the shuttle. All I can say is that the situation is over, the reports have been filed and Zero is where you want her to be."

"So that's it? No kickboxing each other?"

There was a drawn out and tired stare from Jiseth. Not from the day's events, but at hearing a similar attitude from her Captain as many others. The chaotic and treacherous Lieutenant with the equally unpleasant medical officer who even she at times needed to be away from her partner. There was a certain irony that was not lost on the presence of another Romulan with rather similar traits.

"The question really... Isn't one you're asking of me, Captain. It's to be asked of you. Not whether or not I'm a traitor, but whether or not you think I am."

Kickboxing each other? Is that what Jiseth had really expected to come from this meeting? Just how did the other Romulan think she dealt with her crew conflicts? The young captain sighed again, sitting back in her chair, resting her elbows on the arms as she pressed her fingertips together again and surveyed Jiseth over the top of them.

"I'd like to think not, Jiseth, but even you have to admit that your behaviour has been questionable, and I've found no record of you working with any of the Starfleet Intelligence divisions since your return from Romulus. The question still had to be asked."

"There's no life outside of this ship. Not for me. No home address or family to return to. Everything I have fits into a handful of travel containers and my legacy a short data pad entry that I might harbor some political agenda because I have pointy ears, but had emotional responses."

For a moment her only desire was the throw the chair across the room and tear the office apart. Control. That was everything to a pilot. To a Romulan. Maintain an even composure. Do not let them see anything in your heart.

"It's so simple for you... You could wave your hand and I'd have a pardon. I wouldn't be banished. Tortured. They didn't even want to know anything about you. Half the time it was just for fun. Why haven't you?"

The Romulan on the captain's side of the desk simply blinked for a moment as she listened to her Chief Flight Officer. Just as control over composure was necessary for a pilot, a good poker face was an indispensable element in a captain's toolbox. An element that she was currently employing.

"If you're referring to my not using my position on Romulus, you could say that it's because the only role I truly hold there is as an actress."

There was a tsh sound escaping from between Jiseth's teeth as she looked away from her Captain. She shook her head in disgust as if the other woman had just spat an insult at her. It certainly felt like it. There was little hiding the hurt expression in her eyes when she brought her gaze back across the desk.

"You saw the way they revered you. That Tal Shiar Major too. Even Sheridan noticed and your marriage might be a fraud, but the people don't see it that way. You have power of influence. My name doesn't hold a candle to your own, yet my family was always loyal to the Empire. I was too... How am I to even have a glimmer of hope of redeeming myself?"

Archangel groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose again. Obviously, Jiseth had bought in to the elaborate façade that Alidar had been careful to cultivate for them: that they were equal partners in the relationship and in their governance, just as one would expect of the Praetor and his wife.

"They may revere me, or more likely fear me since they believe that I can ruin their careers with a single, well-placed sentence, but I hold no power over Alidar, Jiseth, or anyone else on Romulus. It's all an image. If I step out of line, I get tossed to the Tal Shiar, just like anyone else."

Jiseth was ready to walk out. It felt as if the usefulness of each had been inadequate to the other. They has made little progress so far, however, which was unacceptable. She gripped the cushion of the chair tightly in her hand before moving around and sitting once more.

"What do you want me to do then?"

She was starting to feel so very tired with this conversation. Eventually, they were going to have an encounter that they wouldn't be able to walk away from on friendly terms, and she got the impression that that encounter was going to be sooner rather than later. As much as she didn't want that to come to pass, her Chief Flight Officer's attitude was frankly not acceptable.

"Do your duty, as a Starfleet officer is expected to," she replied simply.