Brother and Sister

Posted on Tue Feb 14th, 2012 @ 11:49pm by Major Porter Wallace

Mission: No Room for Enemies
Location: Byzas Valeo's Quarters
Timeline: Evening After Opening

“Am I interrupting, Brother?”

Nadae Dedrita (NPC) stood at the door to her brother’s quarters on Narie. She’d been surprised to find him answering his own door and not Jiran. Byzas Valeo had only cracked the door slightly, but when he saw his much younger sister peering back at him, the door opened widely. “No, of course not. Come in, Little Sister.”

As Nadae moved across the threshold and deeper into the rooms she discovered that her brother was alone. It was a surprising revelation. After the melt down at the opening discussions, she’d expected to find the room swimming with diplomats and Nei’rrh representatives and aides. “Where is everyone?”

“I sent Jiran to get some rest. The others and I are meeting later tonight.”

“I’m sorry that today did not go as well as you would have liked.”

“There is always tomorrow,” Byzas replied with a small, but sad smile. He held out his his right hand palm facing up in the traditional Ta’Chara Romulan greeting. She put her left hand facing down on top of his hand. “It is good to see you, Little Sister. Please, have a seat.”

Nadae chose a small chair sitting to the side of the one of the two couches in the room and daintily perched on the edge of the seat. Byzas chose the couch closest to her. He looked tired, she noted, as if the today had put more weight on him then he’d carried in years. Unfortunately, her thoughts were still too much on herself to ask him.

“I was saddened,” Byzas began, when Nadae failed to say anything more, “to hear that all of your work had been lost on Romulus. It must be irreplaceable.”

“Yes and no. Science stops for no supernova, Brother. It just means that it will take longer to reach any conclusions.” Nadae paused again and bit her lip, “I’m sorry to intrude – ”

“You’re not intruding.”

She paused a moment. Byzas turned twenty-two the year Nadae was born, but even though he’d been the eldest of the nineteen children he’d always given rapt attention to any of his sibling who asked for it. He took after their father that way. “I’m troubled.”

He nodded thoughtfully and made a ‘please, more’ gesture with his hand.

“I met a Betazoid female in a café. After exchanging some pleasantries she asked me…no, for all intents and purposes she called me a coward.” Nadae was not about to mention that the young woman had been trying to read Jiran. “She said that since I do not involve myself in the politics of the Empire, that I am a coward.”

“And this troubles you?”

“Yes. Byzas, you are risking your life for this idea of a republic. I am not, even though I believe your cause just. Is that not cowardice?”

Byzas smiled and petted her leg gently (a Ta’Chara sign of affection between two siblings). “It is a great mistake to think that just because you do not fight one fight that you’re a coward. In my experience the distance between courage and cowardice is far greater and filled with many, many shades than some people would have you believe.”

“Yes, but…”

“Little sister, I think you are the only one who can say dictate whether you’re courageous or not. Courageous can be one simply rising from bed. Cowardice by the same measure. We much each follow the dictates of our soul. But I will tell you this: live your life without regrets.”

Nadae sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. Byzas was exactly like their father; all he needed was the straw hat that Valeo Geroj wore almost constantly. She had been hoping that he would let her off the hook, yet Byzas had basically confirmed what had kept Nadae’s mind focused on that Betazoid woman. “She thinks someone is trying to kill you.”

Now it was Byzas’s turn to frown. “Who?”

“The Betazoid woman.”

Byzas nodded thoughtfully. “Well, that fact that my life is in danger is no great surprise. Since the day I asked our parents if I could attend the military academy, my life has been in danger.”

“She didn’t indicate that you were generally worried about it, but that it was a more specific threat,” Nadae countered.

Their eyes met, but Byzas quickly broke the gaze. “It is a tricky web, Nadae.”

“You need allies.”

“I have Jiran.”

Nadae guffawed. “Can you trust him, Byzas? I saw him meeting with a woman who was surely Tal Shiar. And the Betazoid woman said he as duplicitous.”

He held up his hands to calm Nadae. She opened her mouth to ask about Jiran again, but Byzas audibly shushed her. “Little sister, I have absolute faith in Jiran. If he was meeting with a Tal Shiar agent, it was for our good, and not for ill.”

“But – ”

“Little Sister, I apologize, but I must rest before this evening. I have a feeling that it will be a long night.” He patted her leg again. “Do not worry about me. I’m an old man, but I still have a bit of…what would humans say? ‘Get up and go?’”

Nadae nodded and gave her brother a slight smile. “Yes, I believe you are correct.” She stood. As he escorted her toward the door she stopped and turned around to look at him. “I am here if you need me.”

“Yes. Thank you. Good night, Little Sister.”

“And you, Brother.”