Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in Kane’s Quarters- Confessions and Collaboration

Posted by Lieutenant Dr. Solomon Kane (Medical Research & Development) in Kane’s Quarters- Confessions and Collaboration

Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in Kane’s Quarters- Confessions and Collaboration
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
As she moved through the ship after leaving the lab Alexis worked in, Dira had that strange sensation hit her again. Stopping abruptly and looking around her, there was nothing to match her sensory input. Sighing and brushing it off as heightened tension from her conversation with Bonner, she continued.

Arriving at Kane’s quarters, Dira steeled herself for the likely onslaught of insults he’d likely hurl at her. Most of the time people couldn’t dent her emotional wall that way- she was too well trained and experienced. And yet, this was also personal and that put Dira in a more vulnerable position. So when she hit the chime, there was uncertainty and wariness in her expression.

Commander Myqian, XO

The door slid open to reveal a room mostly devoid of anything not standard for a Junior Officer’s room. There were no personal effects, no momentos… nothing to give a visitor an idea of the person who lived there. Not surprising, considering the history of the room’s inhabitant. “Yeah. I’ll be out in a second.” came a familiar and terse voice from the other room.

One piece of personal clutter could be seen, though. On the wall by the doorway the voice came from was a piece of paper stuck to the wall. On it was a drawing, a woman’s face, her eyes cast down and a slight smile on her lips.

Bonner.

Surveying the room, Myqian felt she should have been more surprised at the one piece of distinct personalization. But their previous conversation had led her to know that he and Alexis were involved, but the delicateness of the drawing showed a deep care.

Kane stepped into the room pulling on his uniform jacket over the black shirt underneath. He looked at the XO and said “Yeah? Whats up?” flatly.

Kane, R&D

But Dira- for all that she was in her uniform, with her three solid pips and list of responsibilities and duties- was not standing there as a Starfleet commander. She was just Dira, but not the Dira people saw day in and day out. The natural confidence had faded and been replaced by a weariness borne of having to keep her guard up all the time. And definitely an uncertainty about how he would react. Maybe he would laugh at her, and dismiss the whole thing. She had no idea.

Kane was many things, but one thing the vast majority of people in any universe failed to grasp about him was that, at his core, the man was a predator. And the predator sensed the shift in the woman before him. Her posture, her demeanor… she was decidedly different from their last encounter. He finished fastening his jacket and crossed his arms on his chest, the wild mane of hair falling over the right side of his face, leaving only half of a glare.

“I’ve been where she is… Alexis, I mean,” Dira said quietly. “Different context, different kind of person. But I know what it’s like to have a situation spin out of your control and to have someone use your own weaknesses against you with expert skill. In my case, the person was generally incompetent so I think that’s that threw me off and gave him control over the situation. I didn’t expect it of him. But then again narcissists are experts at twisting things to their own gain.”

“Must be a prerequisite for Intel.” he said flatly. He went to the replicator and got a glass of water. He walked over and handed it to the XO without look or comment.

“He wasn’t with Intelligence,” Dira said as she accepted the glass, almost involuntarily tensing. She normally had fantastic control over her outwardly visible emotions that it irked her to have slipped here, but she also recognized that hiding behind her mask would do no one any good right now. Sipping on the water, she understood that it was at least rudimentary acceptance of her presence here. An invitation to stay was perhaps too strong a phrasing.

She looked back at the drawing, her dark eyes fixed on it. “I told Alexis I couldn’t professionally just toss out a diagnosis, but gut-level instinct is that Soulis has anti-social personality disorder. He’s a sociopath. The pain and misery of others is what gives him pleasure. So you’re right that her being happy will take him down a notch, but the problem with people like Soulis is that they have no problem escalating a situation.” She returned her gaze back to Solomon. “I think we both know that your warning won’t be enough to deter him, even after his encounter with you. And the problem becomes that he’ll have no qualms about creating collateral damage to get what he wants. So I need your help to stop that, and you need my help to see Alexis through this. Because she’s starting to feel things about all of this. And long repressed emotions have a tendency to explode all over the place, in the worst kinds of ways, in the worst moments.”

Commander Myqian, XO

“Oh, I have no illusions that getting his a&& beat won’t stop him. But it’ll slow him down a few days, and it made me happy to do it. And I doubt that anything we do will keep him off Alexis’s trail for long. She’s convinced that he’s after some project or research of hers… you and I both know that he’s after her. So until he’s either dead or focused somewhere else, he’s gonna keep coming. Common idiosyncrasy of sociopathy… fixation on a single person or object. Obsession. We either change his obsession, or we put him in a box. Those are the only things that will keep Alexis safe. I vote for option two.”

Kane, R&D

Dira nodded slowly and took another sip of her water. “The one thing that is also common with sociopathy is that in their relentless and almost singular pursuit, people like Soulis can make mistakes. They get overconfident, cocky. And quite often they misstep. That might be our one way in. He’s got the advantage of Intelligence on his side. But I don’t know to what degree. I don’t know if he’s more or less acting on his own, or he has support. I did go talk to Alexis- I wanted her side of it, her input- and she told me that the previous COP was also involved, and that there is history between the three of them. My instincts tell me they don’t have anyone watching them closely, and that if they did, they might be forced to back off. Unfortunately, an organization like Intelligence, even in the Federation, can attract people who see the glorified and almost dangerously romantic notion of being a spy. We both know there is a helluva lot more to intelligence gathering and action, but they are easily sold on the part of it that is dangerous and less strict with morality. Many of these people lean towards these personality disorders and I’m sure there are a lot that slip through the cracks and are not only symptomatic but causing havoc as they go. Intel has their own psychiatrists and psychologist, but they can’t catch everyone. Eventually someone makes a mistake and the consequences can hurt more than just those immediately involved.” As she spoke (way more than Dr. Myqian would ever), her tone had become more distant and perhaps unexpectedly, leaning the tiniest bit towards venomous.

Commander Myqian, XO

“Sit.” Kane said. It wasn’t an order… but it wasn’t a request. He took a seat opposite where he had pointed and took a deep breath.

“Listen. I know you have obligations and rules and policy and regulations that you have to follow. On paper, I do to. But I probably have a lot more wiggle room than you do. That and the fact that I’m one slip from a dark hole anyway, screw it. Let’s set this guy up. Lure him in, then he’ll accidently fall on a laser scalpel fifteen or twenty times. And if Intel throws a fit about it? You file an official complaint with the Brass. Name names. Nothing those f&@$ing roaches hate more than a light being shined on ‘em.”

Kane, R&D