Letter of Marque

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

The air escaped T'yeellaa's barely open mouth in a long exhaled rattle. She regarded the image before her, letting it fill her full attention. A white square. Beyond her, the sights of her quarters dimmed in the fog of tunnel vision. Might as well be in another sector. Deep in a crouch, she stretched her hands wide to either side, fingertips splayed apart, dripping viscous red and blue in thick spatters on the mat beneath her bare feet. Ears forward, she canted her head to nearly a 45 degree angle, taking another deep breath as her back arched. Then in a fluid motion, her hands flew forward.

When the motion stopped, she was on her hands and knees, staring at the canvas in front of her face. Two crimson arcs, nearly parallel, with motion spatters glistened in the center of the white square. A thicker navy blue daub was nearly a perfect circle, a fat blob of paint trailing down to form an inverted teardrop. Frowning, the Cizerack Captain extended a claw, deftly hooking under the paint's trajectory to divert it into a fluid, artful swoosh to nearly intersect the crimson. Rocking back to her haunches, T'yeellaa looked at the image again through half-lidded eyes as she reached for a nearby damp towel to clean the paint from her fingers.

[Kes Akiena]

Perhaps it was a small touch of concern that brought him here. It could also be that he was looking for any excuse to break away from the task of his unpacking.

No matter what it was, Commander Akiena had found himself not exactly roaming the corridors and hallways of Jovan, but he certainly wasn't in too much of a hurry to get where he was going. He'd get there when he got there. It was a nice change of pace from the hurried existence that he'd had on Dac. He passed a few other officers, giving each a nod in acknowledgement. Stopping at as nondescript door as his own was, Kes hesitated a moment, wondering if what he was doing was a good idea. Banishing that thought, his hand came up. Ignoring the chime, his knuckles rapped against the door in a bit of hopeful old-fashioned greeting.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

The sound that greeted him on the other side sounded like a commotion. He could have sworn he heard a glass break.

"What??"

[Kes Akiena]

Well.

That wasn't exactly what he was expecting to hear, and leaning forward slightly, the redhead stopped just short of pressing his ear to the door. Instead, he simply angled his head slightly down and to the side before speaking up.

"Captain? Are you alright?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

More sounds. Shuffling, and maybe a muffled curse, although in Cizeri it could've been anything. Suddenly the door opened, and T'yeellaa looked up at the Commander. Her blonde hair had been pulled back in a doubled-up ponytail, but ends were fraying from the hold and cascading down her face. A sheen of sweat and what looked like paint flecked on her face. The paint continued down in streaks and splotches down her white athletic one-piece compression suit she wore. She tucked the paint-stained washrag behind her back, tell-tale stains still gracing her fingers and knuckles.

"jI'm fjine..."

Still catching her breath, she looked at Akiena expectantly. He did, after all, knock on her door.

[Kes Akiena]

"Well I... "

The sight before him was puzzling enough, and the Commander slowly found his way through his confusion.

"... I came by to, ah, um... "

It really was too much.

"I'm sorry; it's just that you've got red on you."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Her eyes traced down to the violent crimson daubs splattered on her compression suit. It hadn't helped that he'd knocked at such a delicate point in her concentration.

"jI wass pajintjing."

She took a guarded step back, mindful to try and shield his view of the canvas with her body. Her hands again in front of her, she doggedly ran the rag over her knuckles, trying to fastidiously clean them all over.

"jYou ssurrprrjissed me."

[Kes Akiena]

"It seems so."

A single eyebrow raised as he sent a strange look to her side, only catching a brief glimpse of the corner of a canvas. A moment later and he returned his eyes to her. The notion of his first officer painting was an odd one, but Kes supposed that there were stranger hobbies to be had.

"Perhaps I should come back later, then?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

He'd placed her, intentionally or no, in a damned awkward place, and her skewed ears and slightly pained expression showed it. Slowly the ears righted, and her expression softened a little.

"No ssjirr jit'ss fjine."

She took a step back, still more or less intentionally between Akiena and her work in progress.

"Come jin. Mjind the messs, and gjive me a few mjinutess forr the ssonjicss."

Not sure where to put the dirty wash rag, she wrung it between her hands. This was damned awkward, and she wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to act. Was this an official visit? Something else? The Commander was an agent of chaos, and whether he meant it or not, his actions seemed to delight in smashing apart the rigors of order she was accustomed to operating within.

T'yeellaa paused just before disappearing into the privy, feeling some social grace that hadn't been met.

"Do jyou want anjy tea?"

[Kes Akiena]

He blinked as he stepped inside, and her question initially caught him off guard. A finger went up as he let an expression of worry blanket his features. It was somewhat teasing, however.

"Ah, I think I'm going to pass on the tea."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

A second later, her brain connected the dots from his blanched expression to conversations past. She sighed, eyes closing as her ears drooped.

"Commanderr, jI'm not jinvjitjing jyou forr tea. jI'm asskjing jyou jif jyou want tea."

She opened her eyes, wearily pointing to the kettle on the hotplate at her desk. Was he being obtuse on purpose, or was the difference actually lost in translation for humans?

[Kes Akiena]

Her exasperation was palpable, and Kes let his smile win over the cautious look he now graced her with.

His fingers now fanned out, and he gestured to the air.

"No tea, but thank you. I'm more of a Ithorian caf man, myself."

He shook his head.

"I was really only coming to see how you were settling in. Plus, I need a break from my own unpacking."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"Oh, well..."

T'yeellaa glanced around, looking for the neglected hospitality parcel some well-meaning but clueless Alliance staffer had put in her quarters, full of caf and assorted items she likely wouldn't touch and would be consigned to the bin at any rate. She hadn't expected the Commander to take Krii'aachee tea, the potent hot beverage was out of fashion even among her own people. Ship of the line types like her got weaned onto it as a part of naval tradition as anything else. Stiff upper lip and the like. She wasn't even sure she liked it herself, but you drank it because....because.

Wait.

What did he mean he needed a break? This was feeling less official and more something else. Either way, she was still in paint-sopped clothes, halfway to the refresher with a superior officer who also happened to be male and apparently on a social call. Considering that social calls with males in her quarters invariably resulted in those males underneath her, this had to be yet another massive misunderstanding. Her tail tuft frizzed. Goddess, she was going to have to make him caf, just to make this less weird.

"Commanderr...ssjit down."

Ears flinching, she realized how much like an order that sounded.

"Pleasse."

The Captain pointed lamely at the chair next to him.

"Gjive me fjive mjinutess sso jI can look ssomewhat lesss a messs."

She wanted to add don't touch anything in my room but almost bit her own tongue to keep that off it's tip.

[Kes Akiena]

A conciliatory nod, and Kes side-stepped so that he could lower himself to sit down in the chair she'd indicated. It was - well, it wasn't really all that comfortable. Only as comfortable as his own own furniture in his own quarters. Which to be honest wasn't all that comfortable. He had to wonder if the reason that most Imperials sat as though they had durasteel I-beams jammed up alongside their spines was because they had no alternative in their own living arrangements. It would certainly explain the mannerisms of Captain Wygraant.

T'yeellaa had disappeared into the fresher, leaving him with his own idle thoughts, and Kes leaned back as much as he was able, smoothing down the crisp line in his trousers as if in afterthought.

Briefly, he wondered what General Brecklin was busying himself with; whether the Starfighter Corps was living up to the older man's expectations. He'd not accepted a posting with his old superior only because he'd been advised to expand his own horizons. To work his way up and out of the rut of an old Rebel lifer. And that was what he had done, taking stations on Talay, then another ship, then Dac, and after his brief brush with gross insubordination he had been given the opportunity to head the new endeavor here, on Jovan.

With a Cizerack as his second in command, no less.

A Cizerack.

And like a ton of duracrete bricks the realization hit him, and Kes let out a muted cough. He suddenly felt as though he'd committed the most heinous of crimes, and as T'yeellaa emerged from the fresher, he swiftly rose to his feet.

"I mean no disrespect," both hands came up as if to ward off any frustrated and angry thoughts from her, "... I've no intentions, I swear."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa was already clothed in CHF-issued PT trunks, although the matching top was still bundled casually in a hand as she stepped out of the privy, leaving her upper half bare to the world. The only reason she didn't stand fully exposed before her superior was that she'd let her hair down fully in non-regulation array, with her sunny blonde locks draped over her chest.

"What??"

This was the most bothered she'd seen her Commander to date, and day one had involved zero gravity disasters and getting into a staring contest with a star destroyer squadron. What in Saanjarra's name had gotten him by the tail? Disrespect? Intentions? The Captain's brain was a steel trap, trying to connect his dots.

"Sso then..."

Her eyes widened at the pink hue his face was suddenly taking on. Was that normal?? No, focus!

"...jyou'rre not trrjyjing to mate wjith me?"

[Kes Akiena]

"Oh gods... "

As if he'd be struck blind, Kes abruptly turned away, his head angling further from the sight of his first officer.

What had he gotten himself into?! He'd only been pent up, only been tired of pulling out uniforms and civilian clothes for packing away in dressers. Tired of situating other sundries that he'd felt the need to bring with him.

The redhead lifted a hand to even further cover his eyes, despite the fact that his gaze was on the far wall... away from Captain Meorrrei.

"No... no I'm not trying to do... that."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"Oh thank Goddesss!"

T'yeellaa exclaimed, a relieved sigh as she raised both hands to the top of her head, which only caused her hair to part and fully expose her pert breasts.

"jI thought that jyou thought that...jI don't even know what jI thought jyou thought, but that hass to be ssome kjind of sserrjiouss ethjical vjiolatjion...Commander what arre jyou dojing?"

He skulked away from her, hands to his eyes like he'd been sprayed with acid.

[Kes Akiena]

"I just... "

Was there really any way to express his sudden and intense misgivings about this endeavor? Probably not, and so he settled for the best he could.

"I was tired of folding clothes and hanging up uniforms and setting out old mementos. I was... "

In the here and very sudden now, his previous disgruntled feelings suddenly seemed minuscule, and still looking away from her, Kes finished his sentence in a more than defeated tone.

"... I was bored, and thought to see if you were faring any better."

He clenched his eyes shut, despite his already averted position.

"I swear," one arm went out to the side to swipe blindly at the air in some approximation of finality.

"I swear, I swear."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Her ears lowered as her expression of relief and elation transmuted into concern and worry. She took a half step back from her apparently stricken-blind Commander.

"jI'm...fjine. Now, at leasst. jI wass worrrjied about posssjibjiljitjy of prrofesssjional djissassterr and poljitjical djissgrrace. Now, jI'm onljy worrjied about jyourr ejyessjight and what jI hope jissn't a mental brreakdown."

T'yeellaa grimaced. Maybe she shouldn't offer caf after all.

[Kes Akiena]

"Just," again his hand went out, this time to swish about in the empty space between them.

"... just, put your top on, ok?"

And as an afterthouth, he tried to smooth over any percieved slights.

"Not that you aren't attractive, it's just that... well you know... "

By all of the gods above and below, he was no doubt going to have to contact the hanging squad himself at this point.

Yes Sir? Very well, Sir. Execution for one. Tomorrow? Consider it done, Sir.

His shoulders slumped then, and like a man condemned, Kes opened his eyes, stood up straighter, and turned back around to face T'yeellaa Meorrrei. He was sure to maintain eye contact.

"I... "

He so very nearly faltered at the sight before him.

Instead, Kes steeled himself.

"I didn't come here for sex."








Nailed it.