First Interview

Posted on Tue Jul 27th, 2021 @ 11:41am by Commodore Mardel Shayron-Connor

1,346 words; about a 7 minute read

“Killian, do you have a few minutes to talk?” Mardel asked, coming up behind Killian after the meeting with the entire crew. Not only had she promised Teaya she would look into this, but she also felt it necessary for her part to know just how much her friend had been messed with.

Turning, Killian gave Mardel a smile and nodded, her eyes a bright blue at the moment. “Of course, Mardel, for you. Would you like to get something to eat while we talk?”

With a nod, Mardel joined Killian, together the two women walked to Killian’s favorite hole in the wall, a Mexican cafe, and took her special booth near the back, away from everyone else. In the middle of the cafe were several pool tables and some dart boards. Mexican inspired guitar music played softly in the background.

“I have this thing for Latin.” Killian admitted sitting down. “You don’t play pool do you? I love a good game of pool.”

Mardel picked up the glass of water and took a sip. “Sorry, I know how to play pool, but it isn’t something I enjoy doing. Now if they had a pool, I wouldn’t mind a swim at the moment.”

Killian laughed. She turned toward the kitchen. “”Juan, I’ll have my usual.” She turned to Mardel, looking at the menu and then Mardel pointed to one of the lunch meals and Killian nodded. “And a number 5 for my friend. And don’t be stingy with the chips and salsa this time.”

From the kitchen, a voice grumbled and then called out, “Killa, with all you know of this, you should be back here cooking your own food.”

“Been there, done that.” Killa answered with a laugh and heard Juan’s grunt of admission. “Do you really want the competition?”

A very clear, “No!” sounded from the kitchen, along with sounds of food being prepared. Killa grinned at Mardel. “We do this everytime I come in here. Juan is a sweet man, and he enjoys the banter.” She stopped talking when the frosty pina colada was delivered to her and a virgin pina colada for Mardel. “I did remember that rum could be deadly for you, Mardel, so I made sure you get virgin versions of the drink.”

Mardel nodded and took a sip of the drink. “This is good, thank you, Killian.” Mardel took one of the chips and dipped it into the salsa. After the sample had been eaten, she smiled. “That is good salsa.”
The two meals were brought out and the two women enjoyed the first bites. “So, Mardel, what did you want to talk about?”

“Teaya.” Mardel said, pushing her fork into the spanish style rice and then looking up at Killian. “I’ve tasted her, Killa, I know that she’s had a child, one that she doesn’t remember. And I know that you are behind it, somehow.”

Killian’s eyes turned black and she nodded slowly. “It was always a risk assigning Teaya to you, Mardel. I thought friendship support was more important than protecting the past. I can’t tell you, Mardel, what happened. It’s classified above your clearance.”

Slamming her fork down, Mardel hissed at Killian. “Dammit, Killa, Teaya is my friend. I owe her this, to find her answers.”

“She’s my friend too, Mardel, even if she can’t remember it. And I’m doing this to protect her.” Killa said, a deep sorrow in her face. “Let it go, Mardel, for Teaya’s sake, as well as yours and mine.”

“The problem is, Killa, Teaya knows she’s missing a child. She felt it before I told her. She isn’t going to let it go. And you know as well as I, that when Dean House gets a bone, he’s going to chew it into submission. This upsets his wife, and he’s going to be doing his own digging. What then?”

Killian shrugged. “I’m not worried about Dean House, he can dig all he wants, he isn’t going to find anything. Even with his...special….enhancements….the knowledge he wants is beyond him. In fact, it’s beyond anyone but myself and there is nothing Dean House can do to me to get it. He doesn’t even know my involvement with it. Unless you told him?”

“I haven’t spoken to Dean about this. I didn’t even tell Teaya who I would be talking to, just that I would go through all I could to get the information to her.”

Killian toyed with the rice on her plate with her fork and shrugged. “You can tell her that you found nothing, not even sealed records, not even erased records. The only place you can get information about the missing child is through Teaya herself. And all you found was?”

“The changes in the body of having a child. And the blocks in her mind. I don’t know who put them up, but it wasn’t just one person, I can feel Vulcan and Betazoid touches to the block. Which makes sense if you want to hide something completely enough so that it wouldn’t break through in dreams, taking care of both parts of memory, emotional and factual.”

Killian nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I see. Thank you, Mardel, for letting me know what you found. I thought I had gotten everything, but I forgot the Orion abilities in healing. I’m glad it was you and not someone else who found the tell tale signs. And please, don’t go digging for more, for Teaya’s sake. What is there….if it’s ever found….let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty for anyone.”

Mardel thought about Killa’s words and the look on her face. She nodded slowly. “I’m not going to give up on this, Killa. But for the moment, I’ll not push it, when I feel that not knowing is doing more harm than knowing to Teaya, then I’ll push again. And I won’t take no for an answer then.”

“Fair enough, Mardel. You would be a good judge for when that time comes. I, honestly, hadn’t thought that not knowing would cause harm. But knowing Teaya, you are right, there will come a time when not knowing would be worse than knowing. When that day comes, I’ll rethink my stand on letting the truth come out. Until then, I know nothing.” Killa said and then went back to eating, however she didn’t taste the food this time, thinking about the events she had taken so much trouble to unmake, for the sake of her friendship with Teaya. This was another reason why she took such close watch on the Aldrin, to make sure that the events stayed unmade. She was just going to have to be more subtle about it now.

Mardel watched Killian for a few minutes and nodded. She didn’t like upsetting her friend, knowing everything in Killa’s past, but this was necessary for Teaya. She finished her meal, also not tasting it, lost in her own thoughts.

For a moment, it seemed that all time stopped, the silence was deafening, and then time sped up again. When the time sped up, Mardel was face down on the table. Killa sighed and nodded to her team. By the time they were done, Mardel wouldn’t remember this lunch or what they spoke about, just a feeling of doing something for Teaya. Tossing a few credits on the table, Killa stood and thanked Juan.

A few hours later, Mardel woke up in her quarters. She felt like the nap she had taken refreshed her and gave her enough energy to get through the rest of the day. Then she paused. Didn’t she have something to do? Something didn’t feel right, inside her head. She moved over to the comchannel and put in a call to Larie. Maybe Larie could help.

 

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