Ensign Gavrin Tarsan - Romulan? Romu-gone!
Sean Sabbage
((Sick Bay, Deck 7, Afalqi))
One second Gavrin was standing outside the Sickbay on the Afalqi, trying to place a voice that he could hear inside. And the next he was suddenly inside the room, driven by an anger that definitely was not his. He couldn’t control his movements, disregarding the words of his superior officer behind him.
Munro: Tarsan -
There were three Da’al in the room, Gavrin’s gaze passing over two of them as if they weren’t there. There was only one person that mattered right now and she was in front of him. His equipment was dropped by the door, his hands outstretched as he lunged for the Da’al that a part of his brain was shouting at him to kill kill kill.
The rest of his brain could only watch in horror as his body propelled itself towards D’Hariv. He had lost control and he had no way to regain it, like a shuttle stuck on autopilot as it rocketed towards the sun.
He heard the whine of a phaser behind him, heard the sound of two bodies dropping to the deck with one thump after another. Heard Ava again try to stop him. He might as well have been a brick wall for all the difference it made to his objective.
Munro: Grab him!
Tarsan: You killed her!
Gavrin swung for the Da’al, but he was hopelessly outmatched as she swatted him aside like he was a fly. He may have been under the control of the last remaining vestiges of Rithaak’s memories, but all his training was his own. He was no match for a highly trained Romulan infiltrator.
The sane part of his brain knew he’d be hearing from Lt. Cole about this. The sane part of his brain also knew that he’d probably be hearing from every other senior officer on the ship and probably his parents at this rate.
If he survived this fight. Not surviving was probably preferable to hearing from his parents, at this point.
K’Wara: Ensign, stand down!
Gavrin fought in his own mind to try and regain some kind of control over his body, some way of stopping the flood of emotion that was driving him.
Suddenly he was being yanked backwards and away from the Romulan, and feeling the way that Munro winced at the jostling of her shoulder, combined with a heavily armed Tamio stepping into his line of sight, Gavrin managed to break through the lock the anger had on him and force himself back, pliant in Munro’s grip.
Munro: What are you doing, Tarsan?!
K’Wara: ::points the rifle at the Da’al:: I’d stay still.
Tarsan: ::breathing heavily, trying to force his heart rate back to normal:: I’m sorry, I’m sorry Commander. ::Another deep breath before he pointed at D’Hariv:: It’s her. I saw her in Rithaak’s mind, the Romulan we… found. She’s a Romulan spy.
He could feel his body trying to tense again, to try and take another swing at D’Hariv. He shook his head, trying to clear it, closing his eyes as he forced down the memories and emotions that didn’t belong to him. He wasn’t Rithaak.
Gavrin rooted through his own memories, finding the ones that would ground him. The memories of his childhood. The first tricorder he took apart. The tree he broke his arm trying to climb once. Even the physics lab he blew up at the Academy. All of them helped remind him who he was.
He was Gavrin Tarsan of Betazoid. An Engineer. A Starfleet Ensign assigned to the USS Artemis.
For the next hour, at least.
D’Hariv: If you came to this ship seeking a Romulan spy, you have found her.
Munro: Romulan?! So this is what the device was for? What could Romulans want from the Da’al?
D’Hariv: Somewhere on the planet below, a Da’al woman is fighting for her life. I contrived with her husband to deliver her to the treatment which her own government would or could not provide. I won't deny, however, that I am curious as to what other medical wonders might lay buried down there. Nor that coming here in an alien vessel had distinct advantages. In plainer words, I needed a patsy.
It was all double-speak and cloaked meanings. Typical spy-speak. Gavrin hated it. He knew he should be trying to sense her intentions, to get a read on what she might be about to do next, but he didn’t dare reach out again. This was how they - he - had gotten into this mess in the first place.
Munro: Keep your eyes on her :: to Tarsan :: What else did you get from the Romulan? :: lowered :: Your file, it suggested that you had no telepathic abilities?
Gavrin had never seen his file, but he had a fair idea of what it said about his Betazoid heritage. Most likely “Telepathy/Empathy - ENTIRELY UNDEPENDABLE”
Tarsan: ::quietly:: It’s complicated, Commander. I… ::glancing towards D’Hariv:: I’m a normal Betazoid but - I’ve never been particularly good with our abilities. But I saw her kill m-Rithaak. I know that much.
K’Wara: That was your doing, I suppose?
D’Hariv: Yes, I killed her. I take it your people are responsible for neutralizing the doomsday weapon which she left behind on the Da’al homeworld? When last we spoke, she was monitoring its progress, or lack thereof, from this vessel.
K’Wara: And let me guess; you had nothing to do with it.
Gavrin didn’t trust himself to speak in answer. The rage and fury was still there, just at the edge of his mind, like a particularly angry swarm of hornets, just waiting to find a way back in and force him to lose control.
Munro: Response
D’Hariv: You have my congratulations, and thanks. Whatever comes next, I want it stated for the record that I had no knowledge of that bomb prior to the vessel’s launch. And that I executed its creator to avenge its creation and prevent her trying anything of the like on the Afalqi’s crew. I stand apart from such barbarism.
Gavrin’s gaze narrowed on the Romulan. He could feel the indignation coming off her in waves that punched through his walls like a particularly well-aimed bunker buster. She was honest in her words, but he was fairly sure that she was playing them at the same time. There was no way that she wasn’t trained to deal with telepaths - and he was not trained in how to deal with her.
Munro: Response
D’Hariv: Your Betazoid will tell you that I am speaking the truth. I understand empathy to be a passive skill. ::Diplomatic tone dropping to a harsher octave:: But I warn him that if he tries to intrude upon my mind more actively, he will not enjoy the sights that I show him.
Tarsan: She’s telling the truth, or what she believes is the truth. Or, at least, enough of it. ::coldly, to D’Hariv:: And I have no desire to enter your mind. I don’t think I’d ever be able to get clean again.
Munro: Response
K’Wara: Yes Commander. ::approaches D’Hariv, rifle drawn:: By order of the Da’al government, you’re under arrest for conspiracy of theft and for usurping the identity of Da’al government agents. You are also in violation of several Nascaik statutes, including the murder of the crew of the Supply Vessel Balutén. Now, lower the hypo, slowly, and disarm.
Gavrin’s eyes tracked the movement of the hypo, his fingers itching. There was an angle, there had to be an angle she was playing. He wanted to reach out, to pry into her memories, but it would go against his beliefs, Starfleet principals, and also he really really didn’t want to touch her mind.
D’Hariv: Oh, this? A general anaesthetic. Harmless. I did have to knock a fellow out nearby. Someone might want to go retrieve him. He’s likely to fall into the transtube if the Nasciak fire on us again. He's over that way.
She pointed to the seamless door she had just come through with two fingers. Gavrin’s head turned towards it despite himself, and before he had a chance to react the lights went out with a bang.
A shot rang out in the dark, though from the sound of it it hit the wall rather than the fleeing Romulan.
K’Wara: Shoot!
Tarsan: I’ll be right behind you!
Gavrin headed towards the door that they’d come in through, pulling a torch from his belt as he went so that he could retrieve the stuff he'd dropped. They couldn’t lose the counter-agent or the rest of the equipment.
Munro: Response
K’Wara: On it!
Gavrin had had a chance - a small chance - to look around the sickbay while they were in there. While most of his attention had been on the Romulan, he’d spotted the controls to the environmental systems that they’d needed to access. He smacked the control unit with the flat of his hand, wrenching open the circulation system, loading the counter-agent container into the injectors. It was a tight fit but he could just about make it work, slamming the system closed and turning to chase after Tamio and Munro, catching up with them in the corridor.
K’Wara: That- She’s in the transtube network. Heading up!
Tarsan: I think I can speed up the network…
Munro/D’Hariv: Response
K’Wara: Gavrin, you better have that tube lined up for one heck of a boost by the time we get there.
Their chase was soon halted, as they got to the transtube access hatch, and it was closed. Locked, and the scanner refused to open it. Stupid safety features. Gavrin did his best to track where the tube was programmed to take the Romulan agent, squinting at the readout in concern.
K’Wara: Do we have a bead on her? Gavrin?
Tarsan: It looks like she’s heading to… Engineering?
Munro/D’Hariv: Response
K’Wara: Engineering decks? What would she- ::shakes their head:: Questions later. Let’s get after her.
Clearly D’Hariv had reached her destination, the access hatch suddenly clicking open. Gavrin piled through, already overriding some of the transtube’s safety protocols to take them up at frankly unsafe speeds.
Tarsan: Okay, the system is primed to take us up as fast as possible. ::To Munro:: Commander, I strongly recommend that with that shoulder you aim to land on me to avoid making it worse. This is going to be worse than on the way down.
K’Wara/Munro/D’Hariv: Response
The friendly oblong started sliding towards them as the walkway moved into position. This time Gavrin gave it a gentle pat for good luck. As he moved out onto the walkway he paused, turning to Munro again as he pulled out a small device from the engineering kit and carefully held it out to her.
Tarsan: I managed to get the counter-agent loaded into the system. This is the remote activator, I don’t trust myself right now to be in control of it. It should blow through the entire ship within seconds, and incapacitate every telepath in about the same amount of time.
K’Wara/Munro/D’Hariv: Response
Tarsan: Ensign Breys has strongly suggested I shouldn’t be near it but… ::wryly:: The needs of the many and all that. Don’t let me screw this mission up any more than I have already, Commander.
K’Wara/Munro/D’Hariv: Response