Capt. Lia Rouiancet: Two-Way Street

[Tony Colella]

(( Sickbay, Deck 9, USS Octavia E. Butler ))

Rouiancet: I see. (beat) So, he did this to you? Toal'Dius, or his people?

Lia wasn't sure if there was a meaningful distinction in that pair of questions. But it also wasn't necessarily her distinction to make. How would Ehths interpret it? 

Ehths: (a long silence before answering) His hand, mostly. The rest… his wrath spilled over, as it always does. My family stood too near the fire. They are ash now. Perhaps not by his blade, but by his enemies, his rivals, all hunting him… and me beside him. I have nothing left but the memory of serving someone who no longer exists.

For a long moment, Lia wasn't sure what to say. The universal translation of what Ehths had said removed some of the nuance, certainly, but Lia couldn't help but hear their tone as fatalistic. But, then, how could you live through what Ehths had described without a little fatalism? Many of Lia's cohort, officers who had graduated with her, were veterans -- those who had survived the worst of the Dominion War. There were certainly many fatalists among them, and maybe that was the nearest comparison for his tone.

Lieutenant Forsyth, thankfully, rescued the conversation a moment later.

Forsyth: When people support a tyrant, it often leads to a situation where, over time, everyone is seen as an enemy. 

Rouiancet: (a nod; grave) Well said. I can countenance your story, Ehths, but (beat) you are one person, alone.

She didn't disbelieve Ehths, nor did she believe them. He had clearly suffered, and -- moreover, and maybe more importantly -- she was willing to act as though his intelligence was real. But she also had to consider that the abuse of one's subordinates for the sake of laying a trap through an apparent flight to safety was not altogether unexpected, either. It wasn't even unprecedented in Stafleet's dealings with the Zet since the UDP had gifted them warp technology.

Ehths: (a tired shrug, voice thin) Believe me or don’t. I have set the truth at your feet. Whether you drink from it or let it spill into the dust… that choice is yours, not mine.

Ehths' shoulders sagged, a clear sign of exhaustion in many humans and a lot of humanoids, too. With the Zet, though, Lia didn't know, and, worried that it indicated that something was badly wrong, she looked to Doctor Fergus.

Fergus: Your ribs are still reading as bruised, and they’ll heal on their own. 

Forsyth: Hopefully, Toal'Dius knows what he's getting into; we’ve faced far worse than that mad petty king.

That was very true, though Toal'Dius's status as one of the Deathless certainly complicated things. For most of the sapient beings encountered by the Federation, even the ones that seemed almost impossibly beyond them, like the Q, death was part of their material reality. The Deathless could die, despite their name, but their relationship to death certainly complicated matters. 

Ehths: You’ve pulled me from the wreck and set my bones to mending. For that, I have spoken plainly. But every hunter knows, the beast that gives up all its secrets is the beast that is skinned. Tell me, Starfleet, how do I know I will not be flayed once my usefulness is gone?

Rouiancet: Because that's not what Starfleet does.

The answer was pat, maybe even trite, and yet it was true. The idea that they could treat Ehths as their own people had treated them -- if their story was to be believed -- was something Lia couldn't even imagine associating with Starfleet. But Ehths could, and did, and so she tried to explain.

Rouiancet: Starfleet doesn't harm those under our protection. Even if you were our prisoner, and you're not, you would still be subject to the same rights we offer to all free, sapient beings. There is no way that you would suffer as you have already suffered if you trust your well-being to any Starfleet ship, base, or institution.

Ehths: I would give you what I know - names, numbers, the shapes of the ships that follow him. But give me a reason. A pledge. Else I am nothing more than carrion dressed in words, waiting for you to pick the bones.

Forsyth: (a glance at Lia) We always tried to show empathy, even to our enemies.

Fergus: What about the possibility of political asylum?

Rouiancet: Yes, that's true, and Lieutenant Forsyth is correct, even if you aren't our enemy, Ehths. We can, as Doctor Fergus suggests, grant you asylum. You would be protected here, including from reprisals from your own people, and you would be able to choose if you wanted to return to them. But you would not be a prisoner here, and could go freely whenever you chose.

It was, of course, more complicated than that, but that was the gist of it. Lia reflected briefly, too, on the irony that Toal'Dius had once requested asylum on the Butler, and had apparently died the final death in doing so. "Apparently" was, of course, the key word there.

Forsyth: He would have to be kept at DS14. I don’t think it would be wise to keep him on the Butler. 

Rouiancet: That might well be preferable.

Ehths: Response

Fergus: In that case, might I suggest we defer any further questions while our patient recuperates? We can check in on him later. (to Ehths) If you’re amicable to us doing so.

Forsyth: May I suggest keeping some security here to watch him, just as a precaution?

Both good suggestions, and Lia nodded.

Rouiancet: The security is for your protection as well, Ehths, whether or not you choose to seek asylum.

Ehths: Response

With that settled, at least for the moment, Doctor Fergus left his patient to the Sickbay staff and stepped aside with Lia and Lieutenant Forsyth for a hushed conference.

Rouiancet: What are your thoughts?

Fergus: Response

Forsyth: Damn…I almost feel bad for him….

Rouiancet: I do, too. I'm also inclined to believe what they said, at least as far as trusting that they suffered thanks to other Zet, and possibly Toal'Dius's Deathless.

That was, in fact, the easiest part for Lia to believe, whether or not it was done at Toal'Dius's order or in spite of it.

Fergus: Response

Forsyth: (folding her arms; considered) Well, I’m not sure we can trust him.

Rouiancet: (surprised) Oh, I don't intend to trust them. Not yet, anyway. But there was truth in what they said. The question is, what was true, and how should we act on it?

Fergus: Response

Forsyth: Even if what he tells us is true, what is to stop him from turning on us when the time is right?

It was the lieutenant's unenviable job as tactical officer to think about such things, and Lia saw in her question a shade of what she once might have posed to Commodores Kells or V'Airu in her post as strategic operations officer. 

Rouiancet: We have to fulfill our part of the bargain. Maybe we shouldn't trust them -- or rather, I agree we shouldn't, not entirely -- but we need to show them that the Butler is a safe place, and that they have nothing to fear from us.

Forsyth/Fergus: Responses

Rouiancet: Well, let's at least get him some quarters, once Ehths is well enough to discharge -- which is at your say-so, Doctor Fergus.

Forsyth/Fergus: Responses

After that, she and Lieutenant Forsyth might as well return to the bridge -- or maybe it would be faster to meet Lieutenant Lahl and Ensign Varik in their analysis of the craft Ehths had arrived in.

Tags! and TBC!

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Captain Lia Rouiancet

Commanding Officer 

USS Octavia E. Butler

V238208LV0
she/her/hers (this character)