Ensign Ithri Sh'shelor - "Seeing Double"
Amanda Nordstrom
((Avander’s Personal Quarters, Deck 2, USS Octavia E Butler))
Ithri took her new position seriously, just as she had when she’d first entered the Andorian military as a fully fledged officer. That hadn’t lasted long, for an accident left her unable to walk. Even after receiving life changing surgery which gave her back that ability, they still didn’t want her. She was broken. Weak. She was of no use to them.
Starfleet felt differently. Rather than turning their backs upon her because of how she was after her accident, they accepted her, counted her previous education and experience toward her learning, and trained her. Now, she served as an officer for them, and it didn’t matter that she required nodes all along her spine and legs to afford her the ability to walk. To them, she was still useful - and so, she planned on proving that.
Sh’shelor: I have something to show you.
She had kept an eye on things in the gamma quadrant since her arrival. There, she found some patterns, and Ithri knew that patterns told a story. What story was yet to be certain, but it was certainly suspicious. She motioned to the screen that scrolled with information, showing it to Commander Promontory, whom she had called to come take a look with her.
Promontory: Ooh, is it data? I love data!
Moving closer, he peered a little more intently at the data she had collated. A number of transactions listed down one side, then the other, with names of those involved.
Promontory: Ok, I recognize some of these. This one’s a front for the Jeshian Liberation Alliance… and this one… I think that’s a mercenary group. But some of these are less familiar to me.
Ithri nodded, and turned her attention away from the man and back to the screen. The list of names scrolled there as translated by the Universal translator, but she was not surprised to hear that he was unfamiliar with them.
Sh’shelor: Most of them are smaller groups. Some are even only recently coalesced. Was that the right word? She thought so. Although the Universal translator would easily formulate what she was trying to say, Ithri felt it was important to improve, and thus did not utilise it. Occasionally, she struggled with words, but the word must have been correct, for Promontory understood her.
Promontory: But you think they’re connected?
Sh’shelor: I do. If you look at when they began until now, there is a pattern.
Patterns distinguished a lot of things. Even among the clans, there were patterns to one’s speech and behaviour that indicated from what part of Andoria one hailed. This was simply a different sort of pattern.
Promontory: I see. (beat) Interesting. You may be right.
The man straightened, then started to pace around the room. The stark blue eyes of the Andorian followed every step he made, though he didn’t have far to go before he was forced to turn around and retrace the path he’d set upon.
Sh’shelor: It is…
She paused, once again searching for a word. Eventually, she found it.
Sh’shelor: Suspicious.
Promontory: Well, let’s look into it. =/\= Promontory to Locksley, Can you pull everything we have on (beat as he read one of the repeated names on the ledger) the K'ktor? =/\=
The affirmation came immediately and succinctly.
Promontory: They do go work, we should have whatever else SFI knows about them shortly. (beat) Then the real work will begin.
Sh’shelor: We must be careful.
The woman cautioned, but before she could go any further, the door opened, and into the room another woman stepped. Her shoulders boasted the red of command, but the face was of a person Ithri did not know. She was neither young, nor old, but sat somewhere squarely in the range of ‘middle age’, her expression settled into strict impassivity. A severity lined her features, her eyes calm, cool, and detached. She was not beautiful, not ugly, but instead squarely situated herself somewhere in the realm of ‘pretty’. Ithri’s gaze slid over the woman’s form, but her antennae dipped down in polite acknowledgement, and simultaneously, she tapped her console and the screen went blank.
Sh’shelor: Greetings.
Promontory/Walker: Response
Sh’shelor: We have not met. I am Ensign Ithri Sh’shelor. We have not met.
With the screen now blank, Ithri turned her chair to fully face the newcomer, her own face bedecked with a natural stoicism not reflected in her antennae, which arched toward the woman.
Promontory/Walker: Response
As usual, her expression did not wave, though the blue eyes darted from one person to another even as her antennae twisted toward each other slightly. What the woman said and what Ithri knew contradicted, and she looked to Promontory for clarification.
Sh’shelor: There are two of you?
Promontory/Walker: Response
-- 2Lt Ithri Sh'shelor Marine Intelligence Officer USS 'Oumuamua M239008AD0
