Cerulean Stars - Chapter 81

Cerulean Stars - Chapter 81

Stardate 48280.7 - April 13, 2371 - 10:50:00

The sound of footsteps caused Quark to look up from nervously double checking the padd’s in his satchel, and he let out a sigh of relief at seeing Natima walk through the manor’s front door, taking particular note in the back of his brain as he did of the not so subtle threat inherent in D’Ghor having her delivered to their proverbial front step.

“I’d hug you.” He offered with a smile as Natima’s gaze traveled up and down his currently very Klingon attired form before a confused look settled onto her face. “But I’m pretty sure Grilka would stab me if I did.”

“Several times.” Grilka confirmed in a tone that he wasn’t entirely sure was joking. 

“Quark, what’s–” Natima began, only to be cut off by Quark holding up a hand. 

“Tumak will explain inside.” He told her with an apologetic glance over his shoulder at the impatiently glaring Klingon in question. “I’d do it myself, but it’s a long story and Grilka and I have an appointment with the High Council in ten minutes.”

Not a lot of time even with transporters given it was a bit of a walk from the transporter platform, and he’d give it equal odds that D’Ghor had set things up like that on purpose in hopes of delaying them just long enough to be late, but hopefully they wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of succeeding on that particular play.

“All right, Quark.” Natima said as she shot him a look that said he better explain himself when he got back before stepping to the side so they could walk past. “But do keep in mind that I was right about the increased security.”

“I know I know.” He admitted with a sigh as he and Grilka headed out the door,stopping a few meters after on the fitted stone walkway to turn to his temporary wife. “All right we’re out of the manor’s inhibitor field and nobody’s taken a shot at us, so beam away.”

Grilka gave a nod before grabbing the communicator from her belt.

“Cho'echu.” She ordered into it, and moments later the manor’s yard dissolved around them to be replaced by an armored platform about five hundred meters away from the hall. An annoying distance to walk Quark knew, but given he was dealing with Klingons he supposed it was probably a safety measure in case someone got the bright idea to beam down a photon torpedo or something like that.

In the end they made it through the security gates to arrive at the large double doors of the meeting hall with little under a minute to spare.

D’Ghor was of course already standing there waiting for them with a smirk on his face, and Quark fell back a step behind Grilka before giving the Klingon man a light nod to further sell the idea that he was actually on D’Ghor’s side in this.

“Your mistake will be your House’s undoing Grilka.” The man offered smugly as Grilka gave him a narrowed eye glare before pushing open the doors and stalking into the chamber.

“Women.” Quark offered to D’Ghor in a faux tone of amusement moment before following after Grilka with just the smallest amount of a spring in his step.

Walking up behind Grilka, Quark took note of the look of obvious annoyance that flashed across Chancellor Gowron’s face upon seeing his return, a fair enough assessment the Ferengi supposed given the circumstances.

However in this particular case Quark was happy to break with expectations, so he took a deep breath, held it till he caught D’Ghor enter from the corner of his eye, and then bellowed out in his best overly dramatic auctioneer voice.

“Chancellor! I come to you today with an accusation most dire!”

“This man.” He continued, pointing an accusing finger at D’Ghor. “Has used money in an attempt to bring down a great House!”

“Ferengi Lies!” D’Ghor immediately protested as he turned a look of outraged offense to the council.

“Ferengi honesty!” Quark shot back, desperately hoping Jadzia had been right about this being the right thing to do as he pulled off his satchel and tossed it at Gowron with all the strength he could muster. 

The man caught it wouldn’t issue, giving Quark an almost amused look before almost idly tossing the bag to one of the older looking councilors beside him.

“The proof is inside, the council is free to look it over at their leisure.” Quark continued, hoping whatever aids they dumped it on would actually be capable of properly following the numbers though given the plan he supposed it wasn’t that important whether they actually did.

“Ferengi fakes I’m sure.” D’Ghor scoffed as Quark breathed a silent sigh of relief. “You attempt–

“You attack my house with dishonorable methods and twice impinged my honor!” Quark interrupted, turning a sharp toothed snarl to the surprised D’Ghor before whipping his head back to stare directly up into Gowron’s eyes. “So before this council I declare a Ghuy'cha against House D’Ghor!”

A savage grin appeared on Gowron’s face at the words, and the Klingon leader turned an expectant stare to D’Ghor as for a moment a complicated look seemed to war across the dishonorable Klingon’s features at the idea of fighting a war of blades.

But of course Quark knew he couldn’t refuse, the dishonor if he did would all but confirm the claims made against him in the eyes of the high council. And of course, there was the fact that as far as D’Ghor knew, his house would be favored to win such a battle, though of course not without cost.

“What do you say to this, D'Ghor?” Gowron asked as the lack of response began to become noticeable.

“I accept!” D’Ghor finally roared out. “We shall battle on the Mekro'vak plains in three days time!”

Exactly where Kor had predicted D’Ghor would choose, and Quark was very glad all that was left for him to do now was to honorably advance in the opposite direction of the battle and hope D’Ghor would take the bait.

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Stardate 48282.1 - April 13, 2371 - 23:11:00

Planetary time differences were rapidly moving up on the list of things Raine found particularly annoying, and for a brief moment as she waited for the member of the Symbiosis Institute to pick up the com link, she fantasized about the completely impractical idea of everybody switching over to the standardized system used aboard starfleet vessels.

“I’m Doctor Renhol.” A female voice announced, and Raine looked back over to see a Trill woman of moderate age now on screen. “My aid mentioned you’re investigating an attack on the Dax symbiont?”

“Lieutenant Commander Raine Brooks, head of sector security for the Bajor sector.” Raine introduced herself, wanting to be doubly sure that the doctor on the other end was aware that this was an official Starfleet investigation. “And yes, while we aren’t currently sure of the exact timeline of when it occurred. It was recently discovered during the course of a routine telepathic examination that a Trill had placed an unwilling memory block on the Dax symbiont.”

A look of dismayed surprise flashed across Doctor Renhol’s face, and for once Raine was glad about the general lack of interest most Federation member races showed for the more obscure parts of Starfleet life. 

“Is Dax in any danger?” Doctor Renhol inquired in a concerned tone.

“You'd have to ask Doctor Bashir.” Raine deflected in a faux apologetic tone, something about the woman putting her on enough of an edge that she didn't want to give away more than was needed “He's the one handling her medical issues. I'm just investigating the attack itself.”

And he would keep any actual medical details a secret unless Jadzia herself gave permission, something Raine rather doubted would occur given the Trill women's reluctance to deal with the Institute.

“I'll have to contact him after this.” Doctor Renhol said with a slight frown. “What reason do you have to suspect a Trill? I don't know if you're aware, but we aren't exactly the most telepathically gifted species.”

That was technically true enough, as what little Raine knew suggested they needed a specially prepared amplification medium to even connect to another's mind. However it was also more than a bit deceptive, as with said medium she knew they could be as capable as a moderately skilled Vulcan.

“Our expert was able to confirm that it was a Trill mind which put the memory block in place.” Raine explained, wondering as she did whether Renhol was purposefully trying to throw her off or just repeating the general institute line that someone else had instructed her to.

“We're always happy to help Starfleet, so I can certainly look into it.” Doctor Renhol offered agreeably. “But unless you can narrow down the timeframe some I fear it will be the equivalent of searching for a needle in a millgrass pile given the age of the Dax symbiont.”

“You think it might have occurred before Dax was joined with Jadzia?” Raine pressed, having left her own suspicions on the matter vague for a reason.

“It's most likely.” Doctor Renhol admitted with a nod. “Jadzia wasn't here for long after her joining, and during that time she was under near constant observation.”

Not entirely surprising given the very real risk of rejection that came with Trill joining. But it left Raine wondering where, if any, the line was. Because on top of everything else Jadzia had let slip over the years, it didn’t paint the rosiest of pictures for life under the Symbiosis Institue’s thumb.

Of course, Renhol’s theory also failed the smell test on one particular angle that Raine would have to push despite her metaknowledge of the issue saying the actual event happened sometime before Curzon took the position as host. 

“Is it possible that the culprit was one of the observers? It sounds like they’re the ones who’d have the most access, and if something happened between them and Jadzia that they felt the need to cover up to protect themselves.” 

She let the insinuation hang, not out right implying the possibility of sexual assault, but letting the implication loom ominously over her point nonetheless.

“That’s highly unlikely.” Doctor Renhol objected in a tone that suggested she was offended by the very idea of it, which was fair enough Raine supposed given such crimes were supposedly an extreme rarity on most member worlds.

“All right.” Raine returned with an apologetic smile. “Just have to cover all the possible angles.”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t help you more Lieutenant Commander.” Doctor Renhol put forward in a clear statement that their conversation was done for now. “But if I do discover anything relevant I’ll be sure to contact Starfleet about it.”

With that the screen went blank, leaving Raine to stare at it with a frown as she weighed just what she should do next about the issue.

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Author’s Notes: Sadly sometimes all you can do is poke the anthill with a stick.