[Galae Orbital Facilities, I'Rak Prime]
The next few days went by rather smoothly for Lhaetan tr'Valkar, with his routine on the Galae orbital station finally taking shape. No one else from his graduating class had been spotted on board, but that was not too surprising. The Empire spanned a very massive area, and there were plenty of openings across the fleet. But, with that in mind, Lhaetan had decided not to try and involve himself with those who worked around him. He knew his superiors, of course, and his associates, but very little socializing took place.
That had worked out very well for him. It seemed if he refrained from asking questions of others, they would in turn refrain from bothering him.
At least, it had seemed to work out.
"You are new here."
This afternoon the Tal'Diann officer had no shift to work, and oddly enough found himself resting in one of the officer's lounges, reading a copy of The Iliad while sipping from a glass of lhiet'yeho. The mess was actually fairly populated, with a scattering of tables seating two dozen or more Galae officers.
"Very astute," Lhaetan replied without looking up from the device in his hand. The erie'Arrain could feel the intruder standing behind him. It was not so much of a sense intrusion as it was an annoyance. Being a new arrival on the station, and a low-ranking individual at that, tr'Valkar had expected such treatment, and had been thankful to have avoided it thus far.
"You will address me properly," replied the other individual.
Finally, after finishing the verse he had been reading, Lhaetan raised his eyes. The man standing over him wore the uniform of a dheno'saehne, bearing the rank of an Arrain, a single rank above his own. The intelligence officer, however, would not be pushed around.
"Forgive me, rekkhai," he said sarcasm thick in his tone. "But had I seen a superior I would have made it known."
The other Romulan stood a bit taller as he stated, "I am Arrain Thesiek i-Gorvan tr'Tomalan, Dheno'Saehne on this station, and I demand your respect."
Again Lhaetan refrained from looking up, instead pretending to continue reading his text, "I will honor those who have earned my respect, rekkhai. Now please…you're standing in my light."
The younger Rihannsu felt what was coming long before seeing the man's shadow moving across the cushioned seat. Two hands grapped at the chest of tr'Valkar's uniform before the larger man hauled him straight up off the seat, dragging him to his feet. Lhaetan took in a deep breath and waited for the blows to start coming in his direction.
"Your tone displeases me, ataen," the man said softly, his eyes thinned.
With a straight face Lhaetan tilted his head closer towards his attacker's, "And, I'm sorry, but your smell displeases me."
Finally the last straw had apparently been reached. With a guttural growl the security officer let go as he drew back his right hand, closed into a fist, before bring it back down towards tr'Valkar.
Knowing the assailant would not be prepared for it, Lhaetan dropped all his wait towards the ground, hitting his own right knee and rolling across the floor, coming up on one knee. The move had freed him from the other's grasp, and had thrown him off balance. It was now that he noticed that the other officer's in the mess had all stopped their various activities to watch what was quickly becoming a brawl.
Still low to the ground on one knee, Lhaetan struck out with his left foot, catching the side of the other man's ankle. As he lost balance and began to fall, Lhaetan struck out again against the side of the man's knee, bringing him the rest of the way down.
The crowd in the chamber laughed as Lhaetan sprang back up, twisting to land a single kick to the side of the security officer's head, rolling the man over in the air as he fell to land on his back.
CH'Vashrek, learned over the course of his childhood and maintained through is adolescence.
"Would anyone else like to speak to me about my arrival?" the Tal'Diann officer asked, looking around the room while taking in deep, leveled breaths. He had not been prepared for a confrontation, and would have preferred not to have had one at all. But, with any luck, it would have achieved at least one thing for him.
No one spoke, but several of the bystanders clapped for the young officer before returning their attentions elsewhere.
It seemed he had gained his first tidbits of respect from his peers here at I'Rak.
With a nod, more to himself than to anyone in particular, Lhaetan lowered himself back onto his seat and picked his datapad back up. Completely ignoring the unconscious body lying on the ground next to him he continued reading his story…
[To Be Continued]
Lhaetan i-Mhiessan tr'Valkar
Intelligence Officer
Tal'Diann, I'Rak Prime
