Lt Jovenan – The Edo is dead. Only the Romulan remains.
Jovenan
((Administrative Building, Ki Baratan, Romulus))
A face stared her back. The face, framed by short black hair, had eyebrows that rose up but didn’t arch down, instead extending further up to the forehead, parallelling the ridges that formed the shape of a downwards pointing arrow just above the nose. The face mimicked her every move, however subtle, to a precision of a micron, never breaking the intense eye contact. When she moved her hair behind her ear, it too tucked its dark strands behind its long, pointed ear.
Jovenan turned away from the PADD, leaving her reflection alone, and faced her colleagues.
Jovenan: How do I look?
Gnai: Romulan.
Adea: Indeed.
Doctor Sadar’s replicated prosthesis and wig seemed to be working, as one would expect for a professional like her. This wasn’t Jovenan’s first time posing as a person of a different species, granted her years pretending to be a human during the University was much easier considering the lack of need for prosthesis and her familiarity, even if passing one, on humans. She knew little about being a Romulan.
Jovenan: ::smirks:: Aesthetics aren’t important. Commander, you’re next. And we need to figure out what to do with Doctor Sadar before we can move on.
Sadar: If I remove my uniform, I’ll be just another Mizarian. My people aren’t allied with the Federation, and we’re relatively rare off-world, so so long as we have a good reason for my presence here, I don’t think that’ll be an issue. ::glances to Gnai:: A robotics peddler, perhaps?
Jovenan pressed her lips together. Doctor Sadar walking around without a full disguise was risky, but considering their lack of resources or time, it had to do.
Gnai: Good luck, sirs. ::turns back to fiddling with the replicator::
As Ensign Gnai resumed working with its cover, Genkos took Jovenan’s place in the Beauty Salon Sadar. For a moment, she looked on as he received similar treatment as she had, pieces of replicated matter glued on his face. Idly, she fidgeted with her hair, unusually short of her, before unintentionally touching her pointed ear. The prosthesis, of course, didn’t have any sensation, but the feeling of finding something alien on your body took Jovenan aback. She studied her new ears with both hands, tracking their new edges and curves before letting go of them in fear of accidentally letting them go loose.
Sadar: I haven’t replicated coloured contacts for you yet, Sir, but I will if you deem it necessary. I don’t have a lot of experience with those, so I can’t vouch for how comfortable they’d be…
Adea: We just won’t let them get close enough to see the whites of my eyes. Or lack thereof.
Jovenan worried that would mean that she, as the only one who externally passed as a Romulan, might have to do all the talking if they needed to do that.
Gnai: What means of communication are available outside of combadges? They are very clearly Starfleet. If the team is separated, how will communication be maintained without them?
Adea: We can try concealing them.
Jovenan: If any of us gets caught, the combadges would identify us as Starfleet… Then again, given enough time, the Tal Shiar would be able to do that anyway. So, uh, we could hide them and just… not get captured.
Sadar: I’d likely be able to hide mine in my robe, but beyond that…
Gnai: Telepathic communication is not something that is shared amongst the entire away team, correct?
Doctor Sadar was the first one to shake her head. Jovenan didn’t have telepathic reading gifts either, so unless either of the two officers with at least some level of ability in that field could cover for them, they’d have to rely on the good old vocal communication.
Adea: That’s correct - I recommend we hide our combadges and try not to get separated.
Jovenan noticed that Ensign Gnai was keeping its combadge but had thrown its rank pips to the replicator and had them destroyed – good thinking, should someone come looking for them. Meanwhile, she herself slipped her combadge under her jacket, hiding it from view but still easily reachable should she need that. Doing so, she realised she had already left something hidden; she was still wearing her Edo community leader’s necklace against her skin, under the collar of her borrowed Romulan shirt. She was confused how could she have forgotten to take it off when she had switched out of uniform, as it certainly was something she shouldn’t be having on her should she have been discovered. With both hands, she fished the delicate chain from under her shirt and took it off, looking at it on her palm.
Gnai: Lieutenant Jovenan, would you be able to assist in applying this disguise? Perhaps by painting the blue of this suit to a more Romulan grey. ::it held out the paintbrush and paint it had replicated::
Caught mid-thought by the Ensign, Jovenan turned to it.
Jovenan: Oh, uh, yes, of course!
She placed the necklace over her the pile that was her uniform and then took the paint and paintbrush offered to her by the Ensign. Carefully, she painted over all the blue bits and anything else that would indicate Starfleet origin of Ensign Gnai’s suit with dull grey. She wondered if she could use some green as well, and maybe add a Romulan emblem in there, but as always, their time was running out.
Sadar: I’ll, uhh… ::fidgets uncomfortably out of uniform:: Hide this somewhere…
Jovenan peeked what Doctor Sadar was talking about, learning it was her uniform she was hiding. Marking where the Doctor had placed hers, Jovenan continued painting over Ensign Gnai’s suit with the intention of hiding her own clothes in the same place after she was done.
Adea: Good idea. Now, how do we get up to the turret?
Jovenan: Um, it is attached to the building, so I was hoping there would just be a door.
Gnai: Response
Sadar: Well ::doublechecks the PADD:: the walkway to the turret is two floors up, I think, but that floor looks very segmented… Might be there’s guards posted before the doors leading out.
Jovenan completed Ensign Gnai’s paintjob and gave it a nod. The disguise it had managed to put together was remarkable considering how much they had asked of it. The disguise, particularly the paintjob on it, might not have been perfect, but it was as good as any of their attires were. She really hoped the Romulans wouldn’t be looking any of them for too long.
Adea: Ideas for getting past them?
Gnai: Response
Sadar: Like you said, Commander, ‘no one looks twice at engineers engineering’? That being said, let’s hope the planetary defence turrets’ designated Engineering teams don’t have a standing order to not permit off-world consultants.
Jovenan fetched her uniform, hiding it in the same place as she had seen Doctor Sadar hide hers. Hiding the uniform was fairly risky in Jovenan’s mind, as they’d need to return to this same place after the deed to retrieve them. Otherwise, the Tal Shiar would eventually find them and realise Starfleet’s involvement in the assassination. However, she did as Doctor Sadar had done and slipped her uniform in the place she hoped no one would find it.
But the necklace. Jovenan looked it at top of the pile of clothes. The silvery triangle with two glittering swirls was easily identifiable as Edo; it was their symbol. If the Romulans were to find their uniforms and accuse Starfleet of the assassination, the future for the Federation might turn grim; if they found her necklace among the uniforms, the history of her people might end.
She picked the necklace up. She had received it from her family, a gesture out of their love and respect to her. She had presented it only to her sister across-the-universes, asserting her still being one of her people and not having abandoned her kind. Its symbology had been lost to her people, but to her, it represented a leader’s dedication to the community and to the law.
She destroyed it. She cast the necklace to the replicator and turned it back to energy, and it was gone.
She wasn’t going to be an Edo today. She wasn’t going to be following the law today. She was a Romulan now, and she’d need to think like one.
It had been replicated in the first place. She’d get a new one, if she dared to after what they were about to do.
She then turned and rejoined the conversation.
Adea: Then we will have to pull the “don’t you know who I am” card. But we can give it a go. Before we go, can you replicate some typically Dominion items - perhaps a Jem’Hadar blaster or tools? We can leave them behind. Ooh. And a full face mask of myself - we can leave that behind as a “disguise”.
Jovenan: A polaron weapon might be too complicated to make out of nothing, but maybe something smaller, like faux discarded ketracel tubes, a bucket… Nothing too obviously placed there for framing.
Sadar/Gnai: Response
Adea: We make it look like the turret was hijacked by the Dominion, then the Romulans might take the bait. Right, let’s get moving. I want to get this done - there’s a bottle of sapphire wine I’ve been saving.
Jovenan resisted the urge to raise her upswept eyebrow at Genkos’ curious priorities, but she had to agree with him. They had to get their mission done, and if they remained here for much longer, they’d be late for the Senator’s arrival.
Jovenan: Right. ::to Sadar and Gnai:: Uh, try to look like you’re, um, subservient to me and the Commander. The Romulans have these hierarchies, and I think they’d expect the Romulans ::points at herself and Adea:: to lead. S-sorry.
Sadar/Gnai: Response
With that, they picked up the tools and other equipment they had created or taken and left the room. Walking in the public in hostile territory made Jovenan nervous as she led the way up the stairs with Genkos. She had to remind herself that they needed to act like the belonged so not to rouse suspicion.
oO You’re a Romulan now. You’re a Romulan now… Oo
They reached the correct floor. After a few turns and curious dead-ends, they also found a shielded door, with a few Romulan Imperial Legion soldiers leaning against the walls, chatting together. Before stepping in front of them and presenting themselves, Jovenan turned back to the group.
Jovenan: ::whispering:: This is it. Are we ready? How do we do this?
Adea/Sadar/Gnai: Response
Nod. Jovenan had a deep breath in before she stepped from behind the corner with the Commander, the two non-Romulans just behind them. Their appearance alerted the Romulan soldiers immediately, and they stood up and readied their weapons against their chest without pointing them at the team ― yet.
oO You’re a Romulan now. You’re a Romulan now… Oo
Judging by their rank insignia, which Jovenan didn’t know in detail, she believed one of the Romulans was a private and the other was a junior NCO. She ignored the private and addressed the superior, trying to sound confident.
Jovenan: Step aside, soldiers. We are here to conduct maintenance on the turret. Command’s orders.
Instead of asking them to prove their permission first, as Jovenan would have guessed, the private looked at Doctor Sadar in confusion.
Romulan Uhlat: What is that fehill'curak supposed to be? ::at Gnai:: Or that?
Adea/Sadar/Gnai: Response
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Lieutenant Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11