From: Katrina Browne (eishnalatrek_at_gmail.com)
Date: Thu Jul 31 2008 - 13:35:15 PDT
-=(^)=- "Customs" Con't From: "Drugs and Mind Control" -=(^)=- Location: Laikan, ANDORIA Stardate: 2.80728.2326 Scene: Shuttle Terminal Laikan, a towering metropolis wedged between glacial fissures, always bustled with activity. As the capital city of one of the founding members of the federation, it welcomed visitors from across the galaxy to the snowy mountains and ice caves the world was famous for. The frigid temperatures ensured close quarters for all who came to the world unaccustomed to the extreme cold. No place was this more true for than the busy complex of shuttle terminals. Interplanetary vessels descended through the icy rings of the moon's gas giant and passed through satellites dense clouds in a complex choreography. Lieutenant Commander Kor looked around the facility as she waited in a winding line. People rushed from bay to bay to catch their regional transports. Signs in the elegant Andorian script hung next to their federation standard counterparts informing visitors and homecomers of the terminal's amenities. Years before, the last time Eishnala had set foot on her freezing world, the signs had simply been written in the dialectic spoken across the United Federation of Planets. The word 'kurzcuit' now hung next to the word 'customs.' A burly guardswoman stood at a desk checking documentation and asking travelers a few questions before being passed on. Her hair was plaited tightly and twisted into an even tauter bun. As Eishnala approached her post, the woman gave her a dull, but traditional greeting in the native Andorian tongue. While Eishnala had not been to her home world since joining Starfleet, it had been even longer since she had heard the old language spoken. The new engineer responded slowly, trying to recall now rusty words. Rusty was the operative word. The guardswoman looked at her and frowned. "What brings you to ANDORIA?" she asked coolly. "Visiting family," Eishnala answered promptly. "Documentation?" Eishnala handed over her "papers." They had ceased to be paper long before, but anachronisms remained in many expressions. For some reason, "chips" just hadn't caught on. "Are you aware that there is warrant for failure to appear in court on your record?" The woman asked. "Excuses me?!?" "Ms. Kor you'll have to go with my colleague," the woman said. "Next." "When was I supposed to have been in court? There must be some mistake. Recheck the file. I haven't received any summons or papers," Eishnala employed that well-worn anachronism. The woman frowned for a moment. "You've got to be kidding me. It's been news for the last six months." "News? Whatever it is, it is certainly news to me." "You're the Eishnala sh'Kor who abandoned her bondmates. They're suing you, Ms. Kor, seeking an injunction to impel you to return to Andoria and finish the bonding rituals." -=(^)=- Scene: Terminal Brig -> Security Office Eishnala had spent a considerable amount of time looking into the shimmering field of a modern cell, but she had never looked out of one. It was a surreal experience for a former law officer. A guardsman stood in the room, surveying his charges, just as Eishnala had surveyed her own. The tall woman sat with hunched shoulders on the plank in her cell. **It was a mistake coming home,** she thought bitterly. This whole experience smelled of the involvement of a powerful person exerting her or his control. Failing to appear in a civil court did not result in a criminal action; it resulted in a summary decision in favor of the appearing party. Holding her in this pen was someone's meddling, and the Starfleet officer had a distinct idea about who was to blame. The guardsman frowned for a moment as a peeping sound issued from a panel near him. Taping a few keys, he accessed the message before striding over to her. "Seems someone's vouched for you staying on planet while these matters are resolved," a strangely high pitched voice issued from his massive frame. "Your documents all have a 'No Transport' order in place. Seeing as your ex-guard and ex-Fleet security I imagine you could find a way past those measures. If you jump bail, the person who vouched for you will be sitting in your place. Just remember that," he said as he lowered the field. Commander Kor strode out of the cell and out the metal doors that locked with an intricate interlinking emblem of the Andorian guardsmen. A pale Andorian woman stood conversing with another guardswoman seated behind the main desk in the facility's security office. The guardswoman sat with her hands folded across her chest and her antennae pulled back in a classic sign of anger or annoyance. The civilian woman, enrobed in a flowing white dress, stood animatedly talking about pacifism and its merits. "Look, ma'am, we're letting your niece out. Just wait quietly for her," the guardswoman finally said, frustration seeping into her voice. "I have work I must attend to." "Immoral work," her aunt piped in. Eishnala didn't think it was possible, but the Andorian woman sporting skin that was several shades of blue deeper managed to press her antennae even further back. "Ma'am, hold your tongue or I'll hold it for…" Commander Kor piped up, "No 'or.' We're leaving now." The middle-aged civilian woman smiled. "Eishnala," she said affectionately. "Why did you tell us you were returning home?" The expat's antennae gracefully dipped towards each other, a shrug. "I guess I wanted it to be a surprise, Aunt Ishnelis. It was only going to be a short trip. I've got a duty posting that I'm supposed to get to in a few days," the younger Andorian woman said, bemused. "I guess it wasn't such a well kept secret. "Oh, you know Sorjei…he plays Kulcaut with the head of the transportation bureau," her aunt pointed out. Eishnala nodded, "I had a feeling that I was here," she waved a hand in a lazy circle, "because of him." Ishnelis' antennae dropped for a moment. "Sorjei has a lot of connections, but he doesn't have the power to affect the legal machinery." "There's an actual warrant?" Her robes swished as she nodded. "Your bondmates got frustrated when you left the first fleet. They're in limbo. They can't seek divorce until the rituals are completed (and you know the Kor outlook on fissuring anyhow). And they can't just replace you because the rituals have been started." "But if there was a civil case brought before the courts, I should have been found in the wrong. Not held here on a criminal offence," the prodigal daughter of the Kor clan said. "That was my doing." "Your doing?" Eishnala asked, incredulity flooded her tone. "I hired lawyers on your behalf. It was pretty clear that the summons hadn't been delivered when you didn't appear in court. This was just when the wormhole closed and the news hadn't diffused through the Federation yet. We thought it would be better if you had to deal with a minor criminal infraction than have the injunction awarded so we persuaded the judge to issue a bench warrant instead of award a judgment in favor of your mates. You hadn't been back to ANDOR in years…" Ishnelis trailed off. Commander Kor closed her eyes for a moment, before nodding to herself. "Logical. Annoying, but logical. The criminal charges will be easy to dispatch." "When I heard you were here and being held, I called your advocate. The dates for the issuing of the summons should be enough to get the case dropped. He's appealing to the bench as we speak. I imagine we'll here the charge has been dropped when we get back to the Kor keep. I'm sure a lovely cup Garin root tea." The Starfleet officer scrunched her face up. "I still don't know how you can drink that stuff. It's hopelessly bitter." "It's very healthy. I find that it calms my nerves," her aunt said nonchalantly. "I bet if you drank it daily you'd have better energy. You are looking rather tired." Eishnala smiled. Her aunt had been suggesting "helpful" home remedies for years. She wasn't malicious. She wasn't trying to be hurtful. But sometimes this helpfulness wasn't done so smoothly. "You mean I look terrible. "Tired" is always a code for 'I want to be kind while I belittle you.'" Her aunt shrugged. "Or perhaps I'm using code for 'you should rest some and take care of yourself.'" It was an old debate. Ishnelis had been providing advice for years. Eishnala had been ignoring it just as long. -=(^)=- Location: Kor Keep, ANDORIA Scene: Eishnala's Chamber The Keep extended in a seemingly endless array of honeycombed rooms drilled into the rock over natural geothermal vents. It was an old structure, added to by the many generations of the clan before modern reactor technology had been developed. Wars had been fought for control over these vents that now seemed hopelessly outdated. And yet, a charm in the old ways remained. The Kor Keep had a certain grandness that simply could not be replicated by modern sensibilities. Eishnala surveyed the chamber she had slept in and studied in for the first two thirds of her life. A new bed occupied the space. But the rest of the furnishings were just as she remembered them. *Hish* wood gleamed with its distinctive golden hues under the flickering blue light that suffused the space. A delicately carved desk stood in a corner of the space. An Andorian P.A.D.D. still sat on the top of it. The emblem of the Military Institute floated on its screen. It's graceful turns caught her eye. "It's been there since you left," a warm female voice said. "I'm surprised its internal power supply hasn't run down. You always had the bad habit of leaving those darned things turned on." Eishnala turned. " Hello mother," she said somewhat awkwardly. Sellene nodded, "It's good to see you." The older cerulean woman had aged more than Eishnala thought was possible. Lines now etched her delicate features. "We had a sending ceremony when news reached us that the wormhole had collapsed." She walked over to the bed and sat down on the new mattress. "This is new of course. You always liked that old bed frame of yours," Commander Kor recognized the warm nostalgia of a mother in her voice. "I'm sorry…" Eishnala sighed. What could she say to a parent who had thought she had lost a daughter? For all ostensible purposes, had lost a daughter. "I ever left you cause to worry." "I know there is a lot of bitterness between you and Sorjei, but you should move passed it. We thought you were dead. Now that we have you back, this feud just isn't worth it," she said. Sellene had always understood Eishnala best of all her parents. She had been forced to abandon a promising dance career when she had bonded. Sellene had always acted as an intermediary between Eishnala and the rest of the family (which meant one person in a clan so wholly dominated by his huge presence). But she didn't just work on Eishnala's grandfather. "You know, he wouldn't let anyone change this room? After you left for the Academy, he was furious…" Eishnala ran a hand through her curls uncomfortably. "I remember." She had left Andoria secretly. When Sorjei had figured out where she had gone, he called her on the comm. net. He had bellowed so loudly, her new neighbors heard the majority of the conversation. Sellene had heard the majority of that first argument. "I remember too. But he always hoped you'd reclaim your place here," she patted the bed to emphasize her point. "Then when we thought you were dead…he forbade anyone to use this space, every item left just the way you had left it." The emblem serenely flipped. "So that's why the P.A.D.D. never got shut off?" Eishnala ran a hand over the desk's gentle curve. A finger trailed along the line of the access device, before she entered the 'off' sequence. "What about the lawsuit?" "He means well. It was his way of trying to bring you home. Besides, you've put your bondmates' lives on hold. They wanted closure and the court case was there way of securing it," Sellene's antennae dipped in towards one another and frowned. Commander Kor was again struck by the years that seemed to have piled onto her favorite parent. Sellene had always been more of a free spirit in the family. Most of the family pursued politics or business. She was an artist and dancer. 'Whimsy' was the word she used to associate with her seed mother. Now Eishnala wasn't so sure. When Sellene frowned, it seemed as if those years had been carved into her very being. "Why didn't you call us when the wormhole reopened?" Eishnala looked at the P.A.D.D. that now sat blank. She plainly answered, "There was a war." But a guilty feeling settled upon her. "I imagine the others who were cut off still communicated with their families when they got the first opportunity. I know the GATE was on the frontline, but how much time does it take to call?" Eishnala heard the pain in her mother's voice. Sellene had a right to her hurt, but old arguments tended to repeat themselves. They took on a logic of their own and followed tired patterns. "The last conversation I had with anyone on ANDOR was an argument about my personal life. I come home and get arrested. Aunt Ishnelis dealt with that, but it certainly wasn't the greeting I was expecting. The guardswoman heading security says I've been in the news. He's made our private dispute into a public spectacle. When the wormhole closed, there was a concerted effort to create a community, a family on the GATE. It was difficult for some. It was easier for others. Sorjei made it easier for me, mother. You've never been hostile, but every time I make overtures at reconciliation with the family it's made impossible," Eishnala said, the old pattern being relived. A fleeting smile passed Sellene's face. She had a proud daughter. It was a Kor quality. They were an old family, an old clan. That pride was a residue of a time past. It was an anachronistic to the modern mentality, yet the Kor continued to breed it. Yet by Kor standards, Eishnala was particularly proud. Only Sorjei was more so. And there was the problem. Sellene re-appropriated the mantle of intermediary, "He felt guilty about that conversation." "And yet there is still a lawsuit," Eishnala said, looking at the routed stonewalls. The lines that had bee gouged into the rock to create the room still faintly shown after hundreds of years of use. -=(^)=- Katrina Browne Lieutenant Commander Eishnala sh'Kor Chief Engineering Officer USS STONEHENGE From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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