Another try.

Posted on Thu Apr 20th, 2017 @ 12:44am by Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor

Mission: The Trial of Cor Cordale
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current.

"So, you're just going to lie there then?" Kevin's Dad asked.

"Oh, you're just not going to let this go, are you?" Kevin replied, opening his eyes again.

"Hey, this is your hallucination like I said before, not mine" His Dad replied "but you need to go and set the record straight with that Chief of Operations."

Sitting up and swinging his legs round again, Kevin got off of the bio bed and stood for a moment looking at the Goblin.

"You know, when you were alive, you were never this concerned about what I did with others" Kevin said, a little puzzled "Unless it was in a diplomatic context, so why are you being like this now?"

"Because really I'm your subconscious and I'm telling you what's bothering you" his Dad said.

Sighing, Kevin looked at the Goblin then started off out the door of his room and into Sickbay. Looking around, he saw Ziyal and walked over to her and stopped beside her.

"Hey, sorry to bother you Chief, but the big Goblin here says I should have a chat with you" Kevin said, throwing his thumb over his shoulder.

Ziyal looked a bit distant, focusing somewhere else. She nodded, apparently hearing something that he didn't. She didn't smile at him, but she did look at him. "Have you come to pray with us?" She asked.

"Sure, why not" Kevin replied "was there anything specific you required prayer for?" he asked.

Ziyal looked at him curiously. "We are Oralius." She started chanting. "That power moves through us and animates our lives. It animates the mask of Oralius. Hear, listen to it speak." She looked at Kevin expectantly.

Kevin looked at his Dad, the goblin, and said "Do you want to take this one?"

"No problem" his Dad said.

Moving forward his Dad coupied down beside Ziyal and began his chant "All hail your anus....."

"DAD" Kevin whispered hoarsely "That's not what she said!"

"Yes I know, but it was funny!" his Dad laughed.....

Ziyal watched Kevin, unable to see the goblin. However, she did see him wearing a silver mask. Unlike her Cardassian mask, it was a human mask. "Your father? Is the she your mother?" Ziyal asked.

"My Dad thinks he's a joker" Kevin replied, staring daggers at his Dad "and my Mum is, well, she's my Mum, married to my Dad, though heaven knows what she saw in him...."

"Hey, she loved me for my sense of humour" Kevin's Dad said "Plus the fact that she was marrying into a wealthy family..."

Ziyal nodded solemnly. "Family grounds us, tell us who we are and our place in the universe. Do you seek the wisdom of Oralius because of your family?" She asked, like she would for anyone who came to her as priestess of Oralius.

"Kevin looked at his Dad, who was still sniggering at his earlier comment, and replied "Believe me when I say that there are some parts of your family you'll never receive wisdom about or from."

"Hey, still in the room bozo" his Dad said "well, you're still imagining me in the room anyway" he corrected himself.

Kevin chose to ignore him for the time being and turned back to Ziyal "I'm here to....enlighten you, if you will" he said "to share...happening and circumstance, give you guidance on something you sought earlier."

Ziyal nodded, "The Jennari." She stated, then she looked away from him at the other masked person.

"You should listen to what he has to say, wisdom can be found in the mouth of fools." The other masked figure said.

"a particularly foolish one." Ziyal said doubtfully.

"You are still angry about his calling you a traitor. It was only a small misstep." The hooded figure replied.

"Small, that? A small planet perhaps." Ziyal said, annoyance starting to grow. However, she took a breath and relented. "Fine."

Ziyal looked back at Kevin, "and what do you want to enlighten me about?" She asked, a bit icily.

"Well, perhaps if you explain why you're now angry, we can continue" Kevin ventured.

"You should remember what you said." Ziyal shot at him, then mentally chiding herself for losing controll with him.

"Never loose control Ziyal, that is how they find you." The hooded figure warned.

Ziyal took a breath, calming her exterior at the least. "I've worked hard not to be seen as an enemy. I'm very loyal to the federation for what it has done for me, my family, and my world. Being called a traitor for something I did as an explicit act of loyalty was touching on a very tender nerve at the time."

"And now as well it would appear" Kevin's Dad said "You have your work cut out boyo, she's well angry with you and I don't think she's forgiven you for calling her a traitor."

"You're not helping Dad!" Kevin said, looking down at his Father.

Ziyal looked curiously at where he was looking. There was nothing there that she could see. The goblin just shrugged his shoulders.

Looking back at Ziyal, Kevin said "Look, you could have stepped away from Gates at any moment in time, or you could have sabotaged his plans, but you did neither, you 'stayed undercover' and went along with him and followed his orders. Don't blame me for what is glaringly obvious, you became complicit and guilty by association, to what he did, and the people he helped kill, Starfleet officers included. Now, you can be pissed off at me if you want because of what I said, or, you can be the bigger person and put your anger behind you so we can get on. Which is it to be?"

For a brief moment, Ziyal wondered if she could blame hitting him on there being a hallucination of something that she was scared of right where his face happened to be. "Hitting him would be a bad idea. Leaving the impression of your fist in his face would also leave other impressions with the captain and crew." The masked figure said, and Ziyal listened to it for a moment.

Ziyal looked back at Kevin, and slipped down from the biobed she had been sitting on. She was more then a foot shorter then the Chief of Security. However, she looked up at him defiantly. "No, I couldn't have, not without disobeying my orders. Stepping away would have been desertion, and throwing a monkey wrench in is exactly what I did. It's hard to become complicit in something you are actively working against and guilt by association is fundamentally a fallacy. You have Zero! I repeat Zero! basis for calling me a Traitor!" She said, trying to control her anger.

Kevin looked down at his Dad and said "You were right, she is easily angered."

The goblin again shrugged his shoulders, saying "I didn't want to be, but hey, once a diplomat, always a diplomat, you get to read the signs."

Looking back at Ziyal again, Kevin said "I'm sorry, I was just testing something my Dad said to me, to do with temper control, and how people react. You see, that's the sort of thngs you need to look out for when you pass on sensitive information, like that on the Jenarri. I know you said before that you have the information you need, but you don't have all the information on the Jenarri, not even some of the Senior staff have it because some of it's classified for Security reasons, and they and you don't have the Security clearance for it, but I do. I can give you a potted version of it, but I first had to test how you'd react under pressure."

Ziyal calmed herself, putting a mask over her emotions. She didn't think that he was sincere in his apology, and that made her more angry, not less. That he claimed his mocking of her was some sort of hazing to see if she could get the information enraged her even further. However, it was anger that she could shunt aside, to put away and behave professionally despite of.

She appeared perfectly calm and professional as she said, "I have some very high security clearances as well as a need to know. Nothing you have done has changed any of my clearances. You did not 'have' to see how I would do under pressure. If you wanted to know what information I can access, all you would need to do is look at my file. If your hazing had been a actual technique used to determine if I was suitable to have the information, I'm self aware enough to realize I probably failed. Which means that you should probably not give me the information. However, if I am authorized to hear your information, I would most certainly be happy to have it." Ziyal looked up at him, scrutinizing his response.

"I've already checked your Security clearance" Kevin replied, "that's part of my job here on this ship as Chief of Security, and unfortunately for you, no matter how much you huff and puff and try to say you do, you simply don't have 'very high clearance' on this ship because if you did, you'd be Chief of Security and not me and you don't have the clearance for all the information I have regarding the Jenarri. When you transferred in, your Security clearance came with your information. Only myself as Chief of Security, Commander Cordale as Second officer, Commander Cuprum as Executive officer and Captain Michaels as CO have the clearance. Now, we sit here till we bore each other to death with you saying you very high Security clearance and me saying no you don't, and being correct, or, we can carry on. My money's on me being right when I was speaking to my Dad earlier and you just being angry all over again and spitting out the dummy and saying yes you do, but without stamping your foot....this time anyway. As for me gauging your anger, perhaps that was wrong of me, but I have my ways of doing things, same as you have your ways of doing yours."

He stepped back a few feet and looked down at his Dad, disappointment on his face "You were wrong Dad, the Chief and I aren't compatible for talking with each other about that situation, she's just naturally confrontational and argumentative when she get's told something she doesn't want to hear."

"I can't be right all the time son" his Dad replied.

Kevin just sighed.

Ziyal's face did not change in the slightest. However, internally, she was wondering how everything Kevin did seemed calculated to infuriate her. Her voice was calm as she spoke. "I am cleared for it, all of it, well all the information about the Jennari at the least. If you think that I'm not cleared to hear some piece of information that you implied that you came here to give me, then you must have come here to deliberately antagonize me. You certainly have your way of doing things. However, your way of doing things appears so far to consist of yelling at your subordinates and fellow officers as well as accusing them of things that they did not do with zero evidence."

Ziyal paused for a moment to gather her thoughts before she continued. "So far there are two things that you have told me that are 'things I don't want to hear'. The first was a gross slander against my character and the second was demonstrably false. I think that anyone who has been slandered and lied to would object. If you want to characterize that as me being unreasonable and confrontational, that's your choice. However, unless there is something else you need to say, I think this conversation is over." Ziyal turned away to clamber back up on the biobed to sit next to a masked figure.

Kevin looked at Ziyal and said "At the risk of repeating myself Chief, and with respect, I've already checked your Security clearance and unfortunately, no matter how much you say you do, you don't have 'very high clearance' on this ship, because if you did, you'd be Chief of Security and not me and you don't have the clearance for all the information I have, at least Security wise, regarding the Jenarri. As for yelling at subordinates, hey, things go wrong and it happens very very occasionally, but, they get over it, learn from those situations, and move on. I'm not aware of 'yelling' at fellow officers, I think that those on board here would say to me if I was, so that we could resolve why it had come to that if it had. You may think it a gross slander, that's your prerogative, if you feel so deeply about it, feel free to recuse yourself and inform the JAG's office and report me. Oh, wait a minute, unfortunately, according to Admiral Smith, none of what happened on the Cosmos 'actually happened', and we're not allowed to talk of anything connected to it either, so, you can't contact the JAG's office without outing the Admiral Gates story, so no joy there. One thing is clear though, you're right, this conversation is over."

He looked down at his Dad and said "Can't say I didn't try Old Man."

His Dad shrugged his shoulders and replied "C'est la vie."