[ussbansheec] Warmth and the Cold War
- From: Andy Maluhia <CaptainAndy@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:47:26 -0400
_Warmth and the Cold War
_by Torvan & Tavor Kell; Eislin Taline &Rissa; Elizabeth Carter Eislin,
and Xid Sllih
/"I don't know why you use a fancy French word like detente when
there's a good English phrase for it-cold war."--Golda Meir /
Torvan stopped short when the smell hit him. "This is..." The scales
around his mouth paled slightly. "I cannot sit still in this.
Disorganization is one thing but...I need to clean this up. Is there a
program or at least real supplies?"
"I have no clue..." Taline gagged and put a hand over her mouth.
"Prophets... it's disgusting... I'm... I'm gonna try and set a
course... then" She gagged again, coughing violently. "Call your Dad,"
she wheezed.
"I wish I had Doctor Tain's surgical gloves," Torvan muttered as he
picked his way to what seemed to be the Ops panel.
"Disgusting...utterly disgusting..." he continued even as he gingerly
tapped in that well known code.
The Ops officer aboard Legate Kell's ship cringed. Another incoming
message and the legate was not in a good mood. "Legate, there's a hail
from an unknown source."
"What do you mean 'unknown'?" Kell asked. "Is it that damned bizarre
looking Federation captain again?"
"No, Legate, it's..." The man looked up in consternation. "Sir,
they're using your personal code."
"What?! And you're wasting my time babbling? On screen: now!" Kell
demanded.
Torvan's revulsion was completely forgotten when the angry visage of his
father appeared on the Orion's admittedly filthy screen. "Father!"
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Taline groaned from behind Torvan as she
plucked at the navigation controls. She glanced over and offered the
legate a weak smile before starting to plot their course.
"Torvan Kell, what sort of sty are you in?" the legate demanded after a
perfunctory nod to the Bajoran girl. His nose wrinkled in disgust just
looking at the screen. "It obviously isn't a cell any longer."
Torvan sketched a brief bow. "Because your son and his former cell
mates are tactical geniuses and we escaped," he said with a small grin.
"The Orion is disgusting. Taline is plotting a course ...ah from
wherever we are to some place else."
"Deep Space Vega Prime," she said from over his shoulder. "I can send
you the coordinates of where we are but this comm system is so old, I
think the last person to use it was Ohura. It might short out." She
finished setting the course and felt the ship move off, heading where
she wanted, so she padded over to peer over Torvan's shoulder at his
father. "From what I've seen of the system, the smelly guy in the brig
rigged it to work through that cell when it's not meant to. I don't
know how to fix it. If Joban was here..."
Kell's eyes blinked in thought. The girl was standing quite
closely...he dismissed that as he recognized the name. "Yes, I imagine
Rea Joban would know," he mused. "It matters not, though. My navigator
has your coordinates." He shot the man a look that said he damned well
better have them. "We will rendezvous with you shortly. Torvan, if
you're unharmed, do try to clean that mess up. It's appalling."
Taline blinked only once. How did the legate know who Joban was?
Surely they weren't that well known? "We're going to call my Mum next.
She's probably going mad."
Kell inclined his head. "No doubt though where is your captor, young lady?"
"In the cell he kept us in," she told him with a wicked grin. "Torvan
knocked him out and we locked him in. We even knocked out his comm panel."
"Brute force is occasionally a wonderful tool," Torvan smirked as he
held up his hand. He frowned as lines of static began to appear on the
screen.
"Oh crap," Taline sighed as she jumped to another console to try to fix
the static but the moment she did a loud pop resounded around them and
the comms went down. "Shit!!"
"Maybe hitting the system wasn't such a good move after all," Torvan
mused. "Hopefully, Father won't assume there's a problem. The
condition of this ship would indicate it's poor maintenance."
"I think it's more like that stupid green bastard rerouted the comm to
an older interface and it damaged the system," Taline groaned. "I can
maybe get it working again but it'll take me a few hours."
"Can I go kill him once I'm done cleaning?" Torvan asked dead pan. "If
you work on the systems, I'll clean up. I would hate to be hosed down
simply to say hello to my father."
"Go ahead," she said with a deep sigh. "I guess we won't get that chat,
will we?"
"I want to but..." He waved a hand at their surroundings. "This is
making us both sick and I really don't think it's fair to want to enjoy
ourselves in such a sty. It's certainly isn't fair to you."
"It's making my skin itch," she said with a shudder. "I don't even
wanna know what kinds of things are living in the inner workings of all
this. Yuck..." She gave another shake and hugged her arms around her.
"I'm about to find out though."
Torvan laughed. "From the smell, I'd say it was all dead, not that
that's any better." He gave her a quick hug. "I hope your skin won't
itch too much. It's fine the way it is now."
"I swear I'm gonna scrub and scrub and scrub when I get back," she
snorted as she dropped to her knees in front of the comm panel, sliding
off the casing. It was grime filled and as she peered inside, she swore
she saw something scuttle away. "I think this place needs to be blown
up when we're off it."
"Now that idea I like a great deal," Torvan began as he stared at the
Ops panel. He tapped a few keys, frowning as he did. Finally, he
hmmphed out loud. "On Federation machines, do the least or never used
programs get hidden in compressed files?"
"I think so, I know they are on my parents' machines," she said as she
pulled at the cabling and sighed at how badly gnawed it all was.
"Just what I thought," he said with a nod as gray scaled fingers flew
over the screen. "You know, I have no idea what the ship looks like on
the outside but on the inside, it's a conglomeration of too many
things. It has to be why it's in such bad repair. This is a Ferengi
computer system and...heh, he has a Cardassian transporter set up..."
He continued poring over files until he hit paydirt. "Ah ha!
Excellent, I found the maintenance subroutine. Dare I trust it?"
"It's probably so old it doesn't remember what maintenance is," she snorted.
"Better than stench, rot, and filth," he chuckled as he activated the
program, though he did cringe slightly as he did. "Fresh air. I would
settle for that. I'll clean surfaces by hand if I have to. Bad enough
we were in a cell. There's no reason to be uncomfortable now that we're
free."
Something cranked deep inside the ship and suddenly they were engulfed
with less foul smelling air. "Prophets, that's better already," she
sighed out.
Torvan knelt next to her, a relieved smile on his face. "Ferengi are
usually quite well dressed. I can't imagine they'd like stench," he
chuckled. "Do you want a hand or shall I give this place a good going
over with whatever cleaning fluid I find?"
"Clean," she laughed as she picked up an isolinear chip and plugged it
into a tricorder she'd found. "Unless you know magic and can unfuse
these chips."
When Torvan frowned he looked even more like his father. One gray
finger tapped the offending chip. "Spares which I doubt that Orion
has." He shook his head and headed for where most other species would
keep a utility closet, muttering under his breath about stupidity the
whole time.
"If you find those mythical spares in there, let me know," she called
over, grinning as she watched him from behind. When she realised what
she was doing, she flushed scarlet and studiously went back to the
chips, checking each one.
Torvan shook his head at the display in the closet then slowly backed
out. Wondering at Taline's color, he shrugged and said, "I have no idea
what any of the stuff is and it just isn't wise to sniff unknown
substances. However, we do know the replicator works. Naani, my
maternal grandmother, always said that what Humans call vinegar, when
mixed with water, cleans anything." He peered at her closely. "Are you
alright?"
Coughing lightly, she turned to smile at him and blushed a little
brighter when she met his eyes. "Um... Kinda..."
"Your face is very flushed," he stated, his eyes growing deeper with
concern. "Maybe the fresh air is getting to you."
"Um... no... it's not the fresh air... it's..." She bit her lip as she
climbed to her feet, the useless chips forgotten on the floor as she
approached him. "It's you. You're getting to me in a way I never
expected."
"Oh." He peered down at her, a crooked smile on his face. "Is that
such a bad thing? How Cardassians indicate attraction is completely
different than how other species do but I have quite thought the same
about you. I wasn't joking when I told the Orion that you were pretty."
"Not so bad," she said with a tiny grin. "Just... a little scary.
You're not anything like I expected and if we do really get out of this,
I'd like to spend some time... just being with you."
"If your parents don't shoot me on sight, I'd like that. Otherwise," he
said with a snort as he carefully snaked an arm around her, "you'll have
to visit me in sick bay. Or home. Outworlders are more welcome these
days."
She actually found herself leaning against him, her head on his chest
and her eyes closed. "I'll protect you from the mean Eislins," she
teased as she grinned happily to herself,
"They aren't mean," he mused. "I am a living embodiment of many
nightmares. I am, fortunately, patient." He wondered if all females
had such soft hair or if it was just her. "I like you, Taline. You are
worthy of effort."
"So're you," she said with a bright smile, reaching to kiss his cheek.
"I want to learn everything about you."
"You did that before," he said softly. "This would be exactly the
second time anyone's ever done that."
"I like doing that," she murmured, her fingers reaching to touch his
cheek where she'd kissed him. "Your skin is smooth and soft, it doesn't
feel like any I've ever touched before."
"I've heard the theory before that we descend more from a reptilian
brain than a mammalian one. It extends to the skin..." He sighed
happily. She had nice hands. "Yours is softer."
"Yeah but I bet you don't use moisturizer," she teased as she raised to
touch her cheek to his, her arms draping around his shoulders. "This is
nice. Like, a little softness when we're so scared."
He sniffed in amusement. "But we do shed skin like reptiles." he told
her. It felt good just holding her. "I agree, you know. I
could...well, I could get used to this."
"You do?" she said with a blink. "How often do you shed?"
"Every few months." He tapped his forehead. "Especially here and on
the neck ridges."
"Is it gross?" The moment she said it, she flushed scarlet and
cringed. "Prophets, that was so rude, I'm sorry!"
Torvan laughed loudly, letting her go so that he could grab his
midsection. "It's funny! Believe me, I'm not offended. My youngest
brother giggled so hard when he read the Terran book Father brought
home. He decided he was going to be a...I hope I remember this
properly... tyrannosaurus rex...when he grows up." He straightened up
and held out a hand. "It simply like dried skin. It does itch somewhat."
She took his hand and grinned, deciding she liked the sound of his
laughter. Stepping right up to him, she snaked a hand around his
waist. "Me and my brother Som had little plastic toys made to look like
dinosaurs. I liked the flying ones."
"Heh, that's cute. Enarban would like that. He's only eight years
old," Torvan explained. "Father rolls his eyes because he still plays
with toys."
"Eight's not too old for toys!" Taline protested with a grin. "My
sister Disir still played with her lamb toy when she was twelve and
thirteen. But then she's kinda different from most kids, I think... My
Dad saved her from being a slave, took her in and then him and Mum
brought her up."
"I appreciate sentiment along with drama," Torvan said as his fingers
combed through her hair. "I let him have all of the rest of my things
except my miniature of Father's ship. I had it with me on the
freighter. Probably lost now."
She frowned a little on his behalf. "That's awful," she said in a small
voice. "I think Disir would be really upset if she lost her sheep. She
said it was the first oft thing she'd had when she left the Mines."
"Until now, I think my life has been rather sheltered for one of my
species. My parents are insane that way but I appreciate it. I've not
had a hard day in nineteen years until this. A spoiled legate's son."
Nineteen? Taline peered up at him and really looking at his face. Of
course, she had no way of telling with a Cardassian, having only just
been exposed to them as a species, but if she based it all on the way he
behaved, she'd have pegged him closer to her own age of 25. "Wow..."
she murmured with a blush over her cheeks. "Wow and wow, you're still a
teenager?"
"Enarban is eight as I said, and my eldest brother is thirty," he
explained. He tapped her nose lightly. "A problem?"
"Only if you don't have a problem with older women," she said with a
bright smile at how cute he was being.
"Why would that matter?" he asked curiously.
"Well I don't know but I think I read in a novel that most men are older
than the women they... um..." She blushed again and grinned sweetly.
"Oh." Dark eyes blinked as he realize what she was talking about. "I,
ah, have absolutely no idea," he admitted.
"Sorry," she said with a blush. "I didn't mean anything, it was just an
example. Maybe a bit of fantasy too but mostly an example."
"I wasn't objecting to the notion," he said softly. "I just have no
idea. If neither of us get shot at..."
"Maybe we can... y'know..." she grinned up at him.
He brushed her cheek with the back of one finger. "I somehow doubt any
place on this ship is clean enough to touch your skin."
"Only you," she whispered as she almost purred at his touch. With the
lightest of touches, she reached to her tip toes and kissed his lips so
gently.
Instinct. He'd never kissed anyone before and he couldn't imagine
anyone else's lisp would be so soft. She smelled good, tasted good.
"I smell horrible. You deserve better."
"You smell just fine to me," she sighed as she held onto him. "Mmm and
you taste so good."
Torvan smiled against her lips. It felt ridiculously self indulgent to
be thinking what he was when they were really still in some peril but,
he told himself, so be it. She's right. We deserve some sweetness. He
bent his neck, ignoring the ache in the left side, to kiss her fully,
wrapping his arms around her.
Her hands slid up his hand as she clung to him, her lips pushed as
tightly to his as she could. He tasted and felt so good, like nothing
she'd imagined. Not that she'd had much exposure to men before but he
seemed so perfect to her. As they parted, they kept close enough that
their lips were barely touching and she breathed deeply. "That... that
was very nice..."
Legate Kell had no idea what to expect. He'd been talking to his son
and the girl when the communication was cut short. Neither nor any of
the others aboard could speculate as to what had gone wrong so he was,
as ever, fit to be tied when the Galor class ship approached the pirate
ship the two young people had taken over. He and a squad of armed
security officers beamed over to what had to be the bridge of the vole
trap, their fingers ready to fire.
Kell blinked. His son had that blue haired Bajoran girl in a close and,
it seemed to him, a very friendly embrace. "Should I have knocked
first?" the legate asked dryly.
Taline instantly flushed scarlet as she peered over at the legate and
grinned. "Don't shoot, we come in peace," she offered with sparkling
eyes even as she kept her arms around his son.
Torvan absolutely grinned with relief when he saw his father though he
kept his arms around Taline. That many Cardassians, especially armed to
the ridges, could be overwhelming. "It might have been nice if you did,
sir" he said deadpan. "I would have made the Orion serve tea."
Kell snorted in amusement then subtly gestured for the others to lower
the weapons. "I'd rather choke, thank you, son. Your comm went dead."
"The chips fused, and we can't find any spares," Taline said, her eyes
glancing at each gun in turn, but she knew they weren't for her. "We
didn't even get a chance to call my Mum."
"That can be arranged." Kell said easily. His engineer could either fix
the damned things or scuttle the ship. "Are you unharmed, either of you?"
"My left ridge still aches, even after Taline massaged it," Torvan
admitted, feeling a bit silly complaining to his father like a child yet
also immensely relieved at being able to do so. "He wanted her, not me."
"I don't think he hurt me, I don't know what happened really after he
captured me," she admitted shyly. "He just wanted my Dad. The guy
really hates him."
Kell hmmphed softly. "Who is he that he angered the Orion?"
"Eislin Rissa, sir," Taline said softly, feeling a little edgy about
giving her father's name out so easily. "Ex-Maquis, a freedom fighter
for Bajor and a good man."
"Would it offend you, child, if I said I've never heard of him?" Kell
asked. "I'm not quite old enough to have been there at the time of the
Occupation. I have nothing against Bajorans myself nor you." He gave
an indulgent smirk and reached to pat his son's cheek. "Obviously my
boy doesn't either. As to the Orion..."
"Can I kill him?" Torvan asked.
Taline blushed again but smiled at Kell then she elbowed Torvan. "I
think my Mum might have something to say about that. She probably wants
to take him apart." Turning back to Kell, she shrugged. "You might not
know my Dad but you might know her, since you knew who Rea Joban is.
Her name..."
There was a sound of a transporter and three people, all armed,
materialised. The moment she did, Elizabeth grabbed the legate, her
phaser pressed up against his temple. "Elizabeth Carter, fuckers," she
growled. "Get the fuck away from my little girl." she watched as her
husband and Philip, who they'd picked on quickly en-route, covered the
other Cardassians. "That your little boy, Butcher?" she whispered.
"Because if he doesn't let her go, I'm going to skin him slowly."
Kell's eyes narrowed. "I think, Sergeant Major, that you have no idea
what you've walked into," he said coldly. He eyed his men. "Do nothing
or you will all hear and feel it later."
"Mrs. Eislin," Torvan said carefully.
"Mum," Taline said softly as she carefully let Torvan go but made sure
to keep herself between the others and him. "He saved me from the
Orion. They're not bad people."
"They're Cardassians," Elizabeth spat. "They're monsters."
"My son is no monster," Kell said tightly.
"What is it going take?" Torvan asked, taking a step forward toward
Taline, his hands out. "I happen to actually like--"
For a man of his age, Rissa was in more than good shape. Without
warning, he whipped around, his fist flying. It struck Torvan squarely
on the jaw, knocking the boy flat. "Stay away from my daughter, you
scaly bastard," he hissed, one strong hand reaching to grab Torvan by
the shirt. "My wife won't be able to skin you alive before I do."
"DADDY!" Taline yelled, her hand holding onto where Rissa held Torvan.
"He saved me! It's not him who took me, it's an Orion called Xid! He
hates you so much he wanted to lure you here." It was all said in a
fast stream, trying to say it as quickly as she could before her father
hurt Torvan any more.
Rissa dropped Torvan, who dropped with a thunk and a heartfelt 'ow'.
Still keeping an eye on the boy, he asked, "Xid? Xid Sllih? Big, fat
slimy SOB with jeweled teeth?"
"That's him," Taline shuddered. "Really smelly too. Said he hated you
and wanted me to call you. But he wasn't smart enough to trace the call
so we called Torvan's Dad instead."
"Taline didn't want to endanger you, sir," Torvan muttered, rubbing at
his jaw. "The Orion has a serious grudge against you for some reason."
Rissa make a rude noise. "That bastard and I have been at each other's
throats for longer than you've been alive, boy. Elizabeth, how did he
know she's mine?"
"Look at her, baby," Elizabeth said with a sigh as she lowered her
phaser and stepped back from the legate. "There's no one else's
daughter she could be."
"She's very pretty, Mr. Eislin," Torvan said as he carefully climbed to
his feet. He edged over to his father and offered Elizabeth a careful
smile. "She looks like you both."
"Boy, you listen to too much of your grandfather's routine," Kell
snorted with some amusement. "My father has become a ladies' man in his
old age."
"Hmph," Elizabeth snorted. So she wasn't actually aiming weapons at
them any more but there was no way she was going to trust them. Her
phaser was still in her hand as she approached her girl, her thought to
put her arms around her, but as she got close another transporter
sounded and Taline was beamed away in a flurry of atoms. "TALINE!" she
screamed.
Torvan paled then grabbed his father. "The Orion!" he insisted. "He
must have broken loose."
Kell jerked his chin at a pair of his men. "Go search the ship and
bring him back. Alive."
Rissa watched the duo trot off as they were ordered. "Oh
no...Elizabeth, Disir's up there alone..."
Elizabeth instantly hit her comm. "Elizabeth to runabout, Disir, baby,
you okay?"
Xid chuckled to himself. Stupid kiddies. He was going to kill that
ugly girl in front of her father but not now. Not yet. He had to
revise his plans. "Stupid kiddies should have killed Xid," he muttered
as soon as the power blinked nad dropped the force field. He bolted for
the nearest comm panel and nearly cackled with glee. Not just one ship
but two! "Oh no, not Cardassians. Cardassians can have lizard boy so
Xid will just go to the other."
The first commandment is not to destroy the planet unless completely
necessary.
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- » [ussbansheec] Warmth and the Cold War
