The Centre Cannot Hold

Posted on Mon May 28th, 2018 @ 9:33pm by Captain Charybdis MacGregor

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Operation: Risa!
Location: Risa, Aestus Province Receiving Station
Timeline: 2265

"It is all right. You do not have to turn around or acknowledge me if you wish. I know that you can hear me, and no one else nearby can thanks to the sound dampener I am currently employing. We may simply have a conversation in which you listen... but according to your dossier that is not your strongest suit."

The voice was precise and erudite, with just that subtle undertone of smugness that would ordinarily mean Vulcan... but Charybdis knew that the speaker was another just like herself- a deep cover agent for the subversive directorate of the Tal Shiar, under the direction of General Rikal. She turned slowly to regard the individual, who appeared to all the galaxy as a typical Vulcan.

His robes were long and beige with some brown symbols adorning them indicating his quest for Kolinahr- very impressive for a Romulan. His hair was straight and flat, cut in the simple bowl cut that the natives of Vulcan preferred, for sheer functionality. It was, after all, logical. He was slender and tall, actually a good four centimeters taller than she stood in her duty boots, and his face wore a neutral expression. His hands unfolded as he spoke once more.

"There is concern. You have not checked in nor made a report in over a month and a half. This is highly irregular and unacceptable. Since you were kind enough to appear in the mass media your whereabouts are now known, thus I was dispatched to make contact." He switched to Romulan, and his next words banished any concern that this might be a trick "Tau alpha tau one nine six seven, debrief, report."

The reaction was not what either of them expected... as he did not get the report he expected, and she did not betray her uniform in a helpless tumble of words. Both raised an eyebrow... but hers had a crooked grin that accompanied it.

"You have gone rogue," he stated simply. "You have betrayed the Empire. You have somehow found a way to resist your programming. You know that the penalty for this is worse than death. Do not be foolish- it is illogical. Simply report and do your duty, Major."

"You seek the Kolinahr?" she asked simply.

"Obviously."

"Tell me wherein lies the logic of serving the Empire."

"Because it is folly to oppose the Empire. By craft and cunning and guile they will have their revenge and destroy all who oppose them," he replied, answering by rote.

"Yet the Federation perseveres as it has for decades now, not destroyed, even as their craft and cunning and guile work their wiles. If anything it prospers while the Empire scrambles to catch up."

"Patience, for the slow blade may yet penetrate." More formulary from the great Star Empire.

"May, but will it? Science Academy?" she inquired.

"Of course."

"Enhanced recall?"

"No... just an apt pupil." His face darkened a bit at that... apparently he had not known that Charybdis was an augment, but the seeds of jealousy were certainly there.

"Compendious knowledge by this point may I assume?"

"Some would say," he said self-effacingly

"Yet you are not called home to craft new wonders for the Empire. Instead you are kept in harm's way so that should they need a puppet they can pull your strings. Do you not see? It is just the game, the great game of manipulation that serves nothing but itself wherein the Empire tries to convince itself of its superiority... but we are all just chasing shadows and our lives are less than pawns upon the chessboard."

Smiling gently at him, Charybdis knew that as a Vulcan he would object to the show of emotion... but she would be true to who she was, and not pretend to one of the few who truly understood that. "I have no logic, so they say... yet I can see outside of the box they crafted for me, and see them for what they are. Is your logic so self-supporting that you cannot see the truth in my words, the logic from one who is sans logic?"

Vulcans had very specific ways of dealing with internal turmoil- they changed the subject.

"I will report your desertion to the Empire. I suspect I shall not see you again, Scylla Charvanek." He left off her rank intentionally, intended as an insult, a condemnation of her as a traitor to the Empire. But as he turned as if to leave, she caught his sleeve.

"The universe is a surprising place... you may yet see me again. I am Lieutenant Commander Charybdis of the Starship Bonne Chance... who are you, kolinahr to be?"

Slowly he turned back, and his brown eyes searched her own. After a long moment he spoke, carefully and deliberately, with what some might interpret as a touch of fear in his voice.

"I am T'gon." His hand raised slowly in the vulcan salute. She returned the salute with a smile.

"Do what you must, T'gon. But I bid you live long, and prosper."

He did not repy, torn by indecision, and Charybdis sashayed away from her past, both literally and figuratively. Boldly going where no Romulan had gone before...

 

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