Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice Commandant, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Settlement of Disputes

Posted by Civilian Jal’na of House Duroc (Head of Physical Therapy - Sacred Heart Hospital) in Settlement of Disputes

Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice Commandant, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Settlement of Disputes
Posted by… suppressed (17) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Sharah knew that Jal’na was at the hospital. She also could feel the conflict in her friend. Fayth smiled at the young guard standing outside her office. He liked the doctor and found the amount of fire in her diminutive size amusing. “Careful Dr. Fayth, she’s unhappy today. I’ll be just down the hall if you need me.” He moved off to give them some privacy. Sharah moved to the door and waited to be admitted.

Lt. Cmdr. Fayth, SFCMO

Inside the office, Jal’na stood tossing personal items into a box. She looked up at Sharah and straightened her shoulders. “Words will not make up for the disgrace visited on your mate from my house.”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

Sharah walked around the desk, and half propped on the edge. “Maybe not, but our friendship will not wither from a little political posturing. You know that. So why are you emptying your desk?”

Lt. Cmdr. Fayth, SFCMO

Jal’na leaned her shoulders against the wall. “I broke my oath as a doctor. I intentionally caused harm.”

Sharah nodded slightly. “Who was the patient?” she asked knowing full well there wasn’t one. “Even if you resign, a full inquiry has to be done.”

“It wasn’t a patient. It was Ru’tehk. The guard who struck Tenkiller.”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

“You were well within the bounds of Klingon law. You were on embassy grounds and well within reason.”

Lt. Cmdr. Fayth, SFCMO

Jal’na ground her teeth. “It is not my way. I’m disgusted with myself and how approving everyone is. Urg told me, he knows I’m unhappy, but it had to be done.” Jal’na closed her eyes, “He liked it.”

Sharah didn’t dare grin, but it had been quite apparent at dinner what Lord Urg-tohn thought.

“I don’t like who I’m becoming, Sharah. I hate violence. It is why I could never be a warrior. I tried to make my family proud. I went out of my way to avoid fights. That only made things worse. My temper was out of control, so I started harming myself instead. Everyone thought I was getting into fights, and was wary because no one would admit they were in a fight with me.”

“My father eventually put a stop to it. He asked Lord Noggra to assign me some task that was worthy and fitting.” “Jal’na gazed out the window. “Oed became my home. I got to choose my family, my culture, live true to who I was in here.” She pounded a fist over her heart. “I am not that person anymore.”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

Sharah set a gentle hand on her arm “I know this is tearing at you. Giving up Sacred Heart will not help you hold on to yourself though. Did you cause permanent damage? No, you did not. We all have bad days. Would you let a patient give up after months of rehab just because they fell once?” They both knew the answer. “I won’t let you give up, Jal’na.”

Lt. Cmdr. Fayth, SFCMO

The bigger woman sank into her chair. She was unashamed of the sorrow on her features. “I am not sure I can get back up Sharah. I’m on a path I can’t come back from. I am Lady Duroc now. Do you know how often I am reminded I don’t know how to be a Lady of a noble House? No more!” Jal’na’s fist slammed the desk. “Not since I raised a hand to Ru’tehk.”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

Sharah could feel the waves of frustration and loss. “Do you want to leave Urg?”

Lt. Cmdr. Fayth, SFCMO

“No! No. I knew this would happen before I gave him my vow. I… I love him too much to change my mind. He is worth the sacrifice.”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

“Urg would not want you to sacrifice who you are for him. He did not bid hundreds of bars of latinum and court you so ardently because he wanted to change you.” Sharah understood the struggle Jal’na was facing. “You are trying to reconcile who you are with the expectations placed upon you. Then meld them into someone you are proud to be. That is no easy task.” Sharah was quiet a moment. “What if I could help? You said that you would follow Oed’s law, trust the justice system. You believe in Oed and love your home. What if you could do that in a way that is more true to yourself?”

Lt. Cmdr. Fayth, SFCMO

Jal’na’s eyes snapped around, “How? I wish this had never happened, Sharah. The whole dinner was distasteful. As if our house did not already know the honor of General Tenkiller. As if they forgot that the actions of one does not reflect on the whole. That’s how they ALL arrived in Urg’s House. If this had happened before I married Urg, I would have simply riled the report at the hospital and let the police and courts deal with it. Mother Tenkiller wants me to forgo any legal proceeding.” Jal’na stood up and paced, flexing her fists. It would not do to put a whole in her office wall. “I can’t. Not for me, but for everyone else who is a target of such attacks. Even before I became Lady Duroc I could not have ignored it. Do you know how many of my patients have been victims of such violence? How could I look at them if I let someone like that go without consequences for their actions. I don’t want to determine what those consequences might be. That’s not my place. Mother Tenkiller wants me to bring Abigail to our house and have her learn and work with us, but I cannot.” Her fist went into the desk. “One thing this has proven to me is that my orders mean nothing. The whole house was given strict orders not to touch General Tenkiller or anyone else, and they disregarded that order. I could not ensure Abigail’s safety. I would not deliberately put her in harm’s way.”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

Sharah took a breath, “Okay, first I’m going to make a call, then I will tell you my suggestion.” She turned the terminal around as her mind reached out. Charles, I’m calling you from Jal’na’s office. She is… very upset over what happened.

She made the call and waited for the connection to go through. The smile on her face when the person appeared was irrepressible.

Lt. Cmdr. Fayth, SFCMO

Charles smiled when the call came through, although his swollen eye made it look a bit off compared to his norm. =/\= Well well welll… two of the most beautiful women on the planet calling little ‘ol me? Should played the lottery this week, I guess. =/\= and he chuckled. His good eye flicked to Jal’na and he said =/\= How you holding up? Been a bit of a shit couple’a days, huh? =/\=

Tenkiller

She couldn’t help it, Jal’na laughed. Charles Tenkiller had that effect on people. “Don’t either of you dare tell Yavia you said that. She’ll come after me with a spoon!” Her anger returned full force at the sight of his bruised and damaged features. “It has, and I’m disgusted by it all. You did not deserve such mistreatment.”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

=/\= Mistreatment? =/\= Tenkiller said and he shook his head and laughed. =/\= Naw… that wasn’t mistreatment. That was just a crappy bit’a rigormorole that had to happen so things could move along. Now you sit through a six-hour meeting with the CCDA Personnel and Accounting Department to discuss ‘audit findings’? Now that’s mistreatment. Should be laws against that kinda torture. =/\= and he visibly shook at the mere thought of it… and then grinned at Jal’na. Even with the bruised eye, it was obvious that Charkes Tenkiller not only wasn’t upset by the scuffle; but had moved far past it.

Tenkiller

“Qu’vatlh! That did not have to happen. It was ordered not to happen. It was shameful behavior from our House. I am deeply sorry it happened.” A heavy breath moved in and out of her lungs. “Do tell me though, why you are still bruised and swollen when you have the two best medical professionals for mates?”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

Tenkiller smiled at her and then threw back his and laughed. He looked back and said =/\= C’mon, Jal’na. I know you aren’t big inta Klingon politics and the like, but you gotta know that this has’ta heal naturally or else the ass-kicking means nothing. There ain’t no shortcuts to honor, after all. =/\= and he locked her with a serious stare. =/\= Now you listen to me. I ain’t mad at you or Urg or House Duroc or even the guy that did this. =/\= and he cicled his eye with his finger. =/\= I know enough about Klingons to know I got off easy. I also know that of everybody in that House of yours, you are the one that’s upset by it. So I’m tellin’ ya… it’s fine. You don’t have’ta like it. And I doubt you ever will. But liking something ain’t a prerequisite to needin’ somethin’. And if taking a shot to the ‘ol money-maker is what it takes to move us all past this and workin’ to make this whole mess better? Well, I’ll happily take another black eye to do it.=/\= He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms on his chest.

=/\=There was no honor in them attacking you. Period. That’s why Ru’tehk has been sent away. That ‘ass-kickin’.” Jal’na shook her head. “What about the honor of your mates and acknowledging and accepting their skill to heal?=/\= Jal’na smirked slightly. There was honor on both sides, and putting one set of cultural values above another was folly.

=/\= You don’t like this, and I appreciate that. I don’t like what my sister did either; but I can’t change it. And you can’t change this. So now you gotta ask yourself… you gonna focus on the crap we can’t change? Or are we gonna focus on tryin’ ta make things better? Abby f-<ked up, there’s no denyin’ it. And the Klingons in your House got their blood payment so their Honor is satisfied. So we gonna dwell of that crap? Or are we gonna show everybody what House Duroc and the Tenkiller family are really about? =/\=

Tenkiller

=/\=Violence breeds violence. This is not mathematics where two negative numbers make a positive. There is no honor in attacking a person who is not at fault.” Jal’na understood what he was getting at, but it didn’t absolve her of the violence she had committed. She so easily voiced that to Sharah, but the words stuck now. “I don’t know what that is, General.” She couldn’t outright speak against her house and tell him she disagreed with the general Klingon take of it. “We are both caught in a horrible position. My husband is the Lord of a Klingon Noble House whose wife was also attacked. And you are the Vice Commendant of the CCDA. Everyone is watching.=/\=

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

Tenkiller stared at her for a long time in silence and then did something that no normal official of a government caught in a mire of potential catastrophic diplomatic fallout would ever do…

He shrugged and said =/\= So? F^<k ‘em. =/\= in a completely dismissive and wholly un-General-like fashion.

=/\= This ain’t about who is what rank or married to who. Abby didn’t do what she did because you are Lady Duroc. She did what she ‘cause she’s being an asshole. Politics didn’t play any part in her actions, so politics can piss off. This is between our families. Yours and mine. And we don’t have any feud going on… and we don’t want one. =/\= He leaned forward and put his crossed arms on the desk in front of the camera. =/\= Jal’na, you and I are friends. Urg and I are friends. Your best friend outside of Urg is my partner. Yoir other best friend is my other partner. We have shared meals together. We have laughed and cried and cussed and drank and danced and carried on together for far longer than these past few days. I watched you and Urg get hitched. You watched me when I first asked out Yavia. Hell, you were there to gossip with her after our first date! =/\= he said with a grin. =/\= My point bein’ that we are just about as close we can be to bein’ family as we can be without bein’ family. I ain’t sayin’ to just forget about what Abby did. I sure as hell won’t. And I ain’t askin’ you to let her slide on it. What I am askin’ ya is to take the extra out if it. The politics and the public optics and all the other bulls#!t. ‘Cause that ain’t what you or I or Urg or Sharah or Yavia or any of us are about. For f^<k’s sake, Urg practically made his entire personality and reputation on telling the powers that be and ‘established social concentions’ to go f-off. =/\= and he laughed and added =/\= And yours truly here ain’t exactly got a reputation of minding every rule. =/\= and he laughed again. =/\= So you go and tell Urg what you want you happen. And I’m ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure he’ll just go ‘Okay.’ and make it happen regardless of what that is. House Duroc makes it own rules… always has. The Tenkillers are pretty much the same. And yeah yeah yeah… I know you are worried about House Duroc looking weak and inviting someone to try and take y’all out. But they already do! How many shots have other Houses taken at Urg? Dozens, just since I’ve been on Oed. Ain’t a one ever been successful. Your hubby may be insane, but he ain’t stupid. And the fact that he didn’t just snap Abby in half when she did what she did tells me he has somethin’ goin’ on in that scary brain of his. And you and I and Sharah all know that he could’a killed her in a second. Helluva lot faster than you could’ve stopped him. But he didn’t. So maybe we start with that. He could have done something… maybe even should have… to keep things going as smoothly as they have been. But he didn’t. So if Lord Duroc is willing to take a different tact… maybe all of us should. =/\=

Tenkiller

Sharah had a pretty good idea of who reigned in Urg’s temper. The same someone who had told her Abby had a part to play. She kept that to herself.

=/\=You are a wise man, Charles Tenkiller. I am lucky to be counted among your friends. As for Urg, he has already said as much. I told him, and I tell you, I will let Oed police and courts determine your sister’s consequences. Putting your sister on trial in a Klingon court would only validate her opinions. Oed is my home. I trust our justice system to be fair. Tell your mother, I am sorry that I cannot do as she asks.=/\=

Jal’na, Lady Duroc