A.K.A. Awkward

Posted on 04 Feb 2013 @ 7:10am by Amril & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren

1,993 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Outside Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD 01 - 1455 hrs

[ON]

After the meeting, Lilou buried her head in her PADD. She wasn't one for departmental meetings, but her team had a right to know what was happening. Memos then. Many memos. And then back to the schematics of the USS Venture.

"Hello, Ensign."

The voice belonged to the vorta, Amril. He matched her pace as they walked. "You seemed... distracted at the meeting? Or perhaps I do not understand you well."

Lilou glanced up; the numbers and schematics and plans in her head jolted to a halt the same way as they always did when she caught sight of him. "Ah..." Why would he understand her? "No...sir. I'm... fine." People. Not people, vorta. Vorta from exploding ship. "You're... feeling better?"

At her question, he chuckled. "Oh, of course. I have had plenty of time to recover and your medical personnel are remarkable in Starfleet. Not quite as convenient, but quite remarkable."

"Convenient?" Lilou asked.

"If I had died in the service of the Dominion," he began slowly, "the next Amril clone would have been activated."

Lilou blinked. She hadn't had much to go on before. Now she had less. In the service of the Dominion; the words sent a shiver down her spine and she'd never even been a part of the fighting. She'd been safe in a lab the whole time. "Did you want to?"

"No," he admitted, "because I am unique. I am different from the other Amril clones..." He looked thoughtful, as if contemplating something that bothered him.

Lilou's brows drew together. How? she wondered, but she didn't ask. She couldn't. Could she? "Did you know them?"

"My predecessors?" Amril asked with surprise, "Oh, no. I was only activated after the previous clone was killed in a shuttle explosion. I do have all the same memories as him, I guess... but there is probably an unaffected version of me still in the Dominion, with all my memories up until the point he was activated. After that, his memories are his own."

It was entirely strange, but she'd put her life in the hands of the Captain, so if Saalm said he was trustworthy enough to run his department, she had to believe that meant he wasn't going to try to destroy the ship. Even though she'd never heard tell before of a trustworthy Vorta, at least not to the Federation. "I... see," she said, although she didn't. The sharing of memories she'd been trained on - that made sense - but being yourself and knowing there was another version of yourself off somewhere else doing their own thing... it boggled her mind. Especially when she considered that it was entirely possible other Amrils were off waging wars for the Dominion. "And yours are your own?"

He laughed at that. "Why, of course they are, ensign."

Liyar finally exited the observation lounge after Pendleton had long left, carrying his PADD and looking singularly determined to arrive at whichever destination he was heading for. At this point it could go either way.

Amril's violet gaze landed on the Vulcan as he walked by. "Ah, Mr. Liyar. I must say I was impressed by your analysis regarding the situation and the Borg presence on our trajectory."

He paused, as the Vorta's words washed over him. Amril, he remembered. Amril was talking to him now. Brought back from his internal musings by the conversation with Pendleton, Liyar looked up from the PADD and stared blankly at the operations chief, and then at Lilou Peers behind him. "As you say." Liyar's response was measured, even, not betraying his decided lack of desire to have this conversation at all.

He wasn't very talkative, this Vulcan who disliked the Dominion. Amril considered all the tricks of his trade carefully but quickly. "I am not entirely familiar with the source of your data though... it would be useful if I knew more about your analysis."

This Vorta who apparently liked Vulcans, on the other hand, was questioning his analysis. Liyar blinked slowly at him. "The Federation database has the information regarding several Borg attacks. Admiral Janeway's logs also prove useful in determining the course of Borg behavior. The resulting analysis takes into account the mathematical and statistical probabilities of the Borg engaging in a myriad of tactical and procedural decisions and the response to those decisions therein." He tapped a button on his PADD and held it out disinterestedly.

Amril's eyes breezed over the PADD quickly. "I have not learned an analytical technique like yours. Is it Vulcan? I would very much like to learn it."

Liyar blinked a couple of times. He didn't think, in as far as he could recall at that moment, that he'd ever actually been asked a question like that. He clasped his now-empty hands behind his back and tapped his fingers against one another slowly out of sight. "There is no instruction," he finally replied flatly.

"Ah, I see." He smiled, "Well, vorta techniques will have to do for me."

"Affirmative," Liyar said. Somehow despite his emotionless bearing he radiated distrust. He watched Amril with a distance in his eyes, as if running a tactical analysis of the situation in front of him. Absorbing Amril's demeanor and presentation, his words, his shifts in facial expression, and remained silent.

"What are vorta techniques?" Lilou asked before she could stop herself.

Liyar knew that if he answered that how he wanted, he'd spend an eternity attending Starfleet's Interspecies Sensitivity Training seminar. Instead he gave a minutely dismissive gesture and grabbed his PADD back, more abruptly than was necessary. "I am certain there are many." Assimilated from cultures under Dominion rule. Bred and programmed into them by their Founder overlords. (Leaders. Rulers? Maybe overlords is a bit of a stretch, but he's not feeling charitable.) Lied and tortured out of people. Although the Vorta would exclaim with false charm that they didn't get their hands dirty. He'd tried to study it, at Ka'veya. Study their workings, most of it was estimation because the intelligence reports were scarce. But they told him it was an unhealthy obsession, so he'd dropped it. Liyar inhaled calmly. Logic and rationality were still there, of course, and they were whispering to him. You could find out. He might have the answers you need. But it would involve being nice, as Athlen would put it. And Liyar did not know if he was willing to go that far.

Lilou took Liyar's statement under advisement at its face value. Trust was hard for her in almost every way, but this wasn't trust. This was curiosity. And she was emboldened a bit by the fact that Liyar was there. She couldn't trust him entirely either, but she had the sense that they would fight each other before they worked together to turn on her. That evened things out a bit. "All right. What are vorta analytical techniques then?"

"I must admit, most of it is programmed into us," Amril told her, "but I was involved in several genetics projects in the Dominion, so I have some understanding of it. The analytical centers of our brains are highly developed." He glanced at Liyar, "Not unlike Vulcans, I believe, except that yours is evolved and mine is genetically engineered with the correct structure, so I do not have to learn it, I already know it. Since I am a logistics coordinator, however, I have access to an array of algorithms." He paused to give Lilou an apologetic smile, "I'm afraid that I'm not being very informative. I would have to give it more thought, putting my knowledge into words you will understand is difficult."

If Liyar were human, he might have given an impatient eyeroll. Impatient at who was up for debate, but he hadn't been impatient before Amril, or had he? Pendleton, staff meeting... He just gave his PADD a stare and switched programs on it, holding it out for Lilou. It was, as always with him, a veritable circus of numbers and characters and equations and hypotheses. "It is likely not as accurate as it could be. There was a large margin for error." Including the fact that he'd eventually been locked out of his own computer system for his own good, but he decided not to mention it. He didn't give any additional commentary, but the outlined numbers showed a clearly alien pattern. It wasn't exactly inaccurate, but it was highly incomplete.

Lilou was easily absorbed by the swarm of of numbers. She huddled the PADD close and sank into the data offered by it.

Curious, the vorta went to look over Peers's shoulder "What is this?" Amril asked, not recognizing what was being displayed.

"It was my attempt to discern Vorta engineering techniques during the Dominion war," Liyar replied tonelessly.

"Fascinating," Amril mused, "though it would take me some time to familiarize myself with your nomenclature before I could comment on its accuracy."

Liyar's ears drew back unconsciously, hidden underneath the length of his hair which now grew too-long even by his own standards. He pursed his lips. Answers, the part of his brain that held onto any level of diplomatic comprehension reminded him. Although he wasn't sure how well Amril would fare off with his nomenclature. Most people found it confusing and disorienting in its raw state, which this was. He could transcribe a more streamlined version, but it would miss things, things he got in the Numbers and spaces, things he saw without noticing. If Amril could figure this out... reflect its accuracy... Liyar was not yet good enough at the political games of species who openly reflected their emotional states, and so his response was wooden. He nodded. "You may study it, if you wish."

"Ah, that would be excellent," Amril said, "I look forward to the challenge."

"Hm? Oh," Lilou passed the PADD to the Operations Chief and stepped out of the way.

Liyar remained standing in place. As a lieutenant Amril outranked the both of them. And this conversation was as he felt a duty rather than an informality, and so he would wait to be dismissed or until Amril left as was custom to both of their militaries. Deference to a Vorta. Kaiidth. It was what it was.

Amril took the PADD from Lilou and started to study the information on it and for a while it seemed he might forget them, but he quickly realized that they were standing there, waiting for him. "I will look it over. Oh, do you need this device back?" He indicated the PADD, "You can send me a copy."

Liyar took back the PADD. "I shall do so," he agreed.

Silence, an uncomfortably long silence. Amril glanced between the two of them as if expecting one of them to say something. When neither of them did, he gestured upward with his hand. "So, then... ah, I'm sure we're all very busy and I wouldn't want to keep you from your work. I'll look over your work, Mr. Liyar. I look forward to it."

The Vulcan nodded once and broke away from the both of them as soon as possible, heading down the opposite corridor and around the corner.

Lilou blinked as Liyar headed off down the corridor, then turned back to Amril. And blinked again, her mind as blank as a non-functioning PADD. Say something. Say something. "I- will let you know what we come up with. In engineering. If... it affects the power draws." She shifted awkwardly. "Good afternoon, sir," she whispered, ducked her head, and hurried towards the turbolift.

"Good afternoon, Ensign," he replied cordially, smoothly ignoring her awkwardness.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

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