FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Bottle Episode

By: Dankedonuts

https://dankedonuts.sofurry.com/

"Personal Log, Engineer Krelor. Stardate 52985.7. The Rising Sun is on route to Bajor's wormhole and the Gamma Quadrant. One of the first ships to resume exploration of that region now that the Dominion War is over. But while the threat of the Founders has abated, there are other enemies who have insinuated themselves within the Federation, posing as our friends. One of them on this very ship. And I have just discovered something that will bring that individual to heel..."

. . .

Krelor's creamy white face-fur twitched with barely concealed glee. Not that he expected the human seated at the desk before him to understand his body language. To human eyes, the Antican's ruddy head -- bald, elongated, corrugated with many splendid ridges -- might as well be an expressionless mask.

The red-haired male behind the desk was Lieutenant Branson, interim Chief Of Security. (The actual Chief would be collected on Deep Space Nine.) His face had a respectable number of years on it, but was shaved smooth. Why human males chose to mutilate themselves so had never made sense to the caninoid. "You don't need to be here, Ensign. And you shouldn't be so eager to see this out. There may yet be an innocent explanation for this matter."

"One who is to be charged with a crime has a right to see their accuser, do they not? And I much doubt -" He silenced himself when his keen canid ears detected footsteps approaching. His equally keen nose bristled as the yellow-collared woman walked into the Security office. The back of her glossy black hair was shorn into a conservative Vulcan style which kept her pointed ears unobstructed. But the front was cut into angled bangs which accented her V-shaped cranial ridges. Blazingly announcing her despicable race. Duplicity had a scent, and the name of that scent was Romulan.

"Ensign Sohn reporting as ordered, Lieutenant," said the female. She was a bit shorter than the average humanoid female, by no means intimidating physically.

Krelor bared his fangs in a triumphant smile.

It was, however, the security officer's place to speak first. "Would you care to tell us what this is?" 'This' was a bottle sitting on his desk. It was full of silky blue liquid, and one of the labels featured a heavily stylized bird. A number of scratches marked its wide base. No doubt artifacts from being smuggled onto a Federation starship.

"It is a bottle of kali-fal -- Excuse me, Romulan Ale," Sohn stated plainly. "Which I presume is the one that belongs in my quarters? Might I ask what it is doing here?" She turned her dark eyes on Krelor.

"I hunted it out," he said proudly. And it had been hidden. Secreted away in the false bottom of a case full of personal effects.

Sohn regarded the Antican more carefully now. "You're a weapons engineer, aren't you? I saw you passing a phase modulator over one of the phaser coils when I was cross-checking the array interlocks." Krelor looked into the sneak's personnel file after their brief encounter. What he could access revealed her to be a computer technician. "By what authority did you go through my things?"

"Is is the right and duty of a patriot to seek out wrongdoers," he answered.

"I must have missed that day of Starfleet Law class back at the Academy," she said coldly. "Sounds like someplace else I could name, though."

"This isn't about him" the security officer stated, drawing both Ensigns' attention toward himself. "It's about you. Can you explain the presence of this substance aboard this vessel?"

"I logged it in as a potable when I came aboard," she said matter-of-factly. With no trace of shame or defiance whatsoever. She might as well have said 'space is black.' "Petty Officer Johansen can confirm this. She signed off on my personal effects."

The Security Officer reached for his console, started scrolling through something. Likely to confirm or deny this 'explanation.' "And I suppose you told her you acquired it during the War, when the Federation/Romulan border was somewhat open?"

She shook her head. "No, sir. That would have been a lie. I've had it since before I joined to Starfleet. I bought it on Vulcan, the day before getting on the shuttlecraft that took me to San Francisco. Just over four years ago."

Branson's face took on a grim countenance. "You had better have a damned good explanation."

"Only the truth. You see, after I crossed over I spent two year of re-education at in a Vulcan Science Academy annex. In the Romulan Dissident Enclave, specifically. The Vulcan government granted us the land where the first Romulans left the planet upon which defectors like myself could make a home-away-from-home. Kali-fal is sold openly there. And has been for some time."

"That's not possible!" The engineer refused to believe anything so absurd. Such wild disregard for law and order on that planet of philosophers?

"Yes it is," she stayed firm. With a look of genuine curiosity she inquired, "I don't suppose either of you can read Rihannsu?"

The Lieutenant shook his head. Human for 'No.'

Krelor's gold eyes narrowed. "Why would I defile my eyes with such-"

"Ensign," the Interim Chief warned. "You are here as a courtesy. It can be revoked." Krelor backed down, sensing the line he had crossed.

Sohn continued as though the interruption had never happened. "Then a simple pass of a translator PADD will confirm what I am about to say. That ale was vinted on New Paris. Distilled from kheh grains farmed on that very colony. I emphasize a _Federation_colony. The brewmaster who crafts it smuggled the seeds across the Neutral Zone when he defected. Which was well before I did. The back label tells his story. And ends with a note of gratitude for being able to ply his craft on a world where he is free to act and think as his heart guides him." She allowed herself a small smile. "Very inspirational, I think."

"Who cares where is was bottled," Krelor's long eyebrows were shaking with aggravation. "Romulan ale is illegal. Plain and simple. You have flaunted the law --"

"I have done no such thing," she interrupted. "Federation Law, specifically Order 74, Section B of the Federation Judicial Code prohibits the exchange of goods and materials across the Neutral Zone. It is an act of economic warfare, not unlike the embargoes various sides slapped on each other during Earth's Cold War." She turned to the Lieutenant. "My studies on Vulcan included the histories of the Federation founding worlds. But if my word isn't enough for you, sweep it with a tricorder. You'll scan the presence of flavoring agents that aren't available in Romulan space." She straightened her spine, and her jacket. "The only criminal act committed here is Ensign Krelor's. The unwarranted invasion of privacy and theft of personal belongings, committed without permission or authority."

The engineer's face-fur ruffled fiercely, hackles now fully raised. "You sneak-in-the-dark! Don't try to turn this all on me-"

"Why not? You're the party who acted improperly." She turned back the the interim chief, "Am I within protocol to press charges of my own?"

The was a slight pause before Branson stated, "Yes, Ensign. You are." Krelor looked at him with shock on his face plain enough for even a human to see.

"Then I waive my right to do so." Now Krelor was looking at her in shock. "I don't want this unpleasantness to go any further. I'd rather focus my time and attention on my duties."

"Very well. I believe we are done here." He gave her a wary look. "For the time being."

She let out the slightest breath. "Then I am relieved to return to my station?"

"You are dismissed, Ensign," the Lieutenant said. In his voice firm authority.

"With my property?"

Another pause. A nod. "Affirmative, Ensign."

"Thank you, sir. Ensign." With that, the Romulan took the bottle, turned on her heels, and departed.

Only then was Krelor able to speak. "Y-y-you're not going to let her get away with this, are you?"

"There's nothing to get away with," was the answer. Supplied with a surprisingly stern look. "You are dismissed."

. . .

Sohn walked down just a few corners before coming to a stop in a suitably empty corridor. Sure enough Krelor's heavy feet came following after her.

"This isn't over!" He snarled. "I'll be watching you, and if you step one foot out of line I'll be there to bite off your toes!"

Her own voice was free of the formality of the Security Office. Conversational. "You know, the fascinating thing is I've been carrying this bottle around for going on six years Earth-time. And no one ever asks why I haven't opened it." There was a reason, naturally. She was very particular about who she wanted to share it with. "Would you care to join me for a drink?" She could guess the answer, based on all Krelor's railing against her. But the effort at finding peace had to be made. It was what Ambassador Spock would do. It was why she had joined Starfleet. It wasn't just the majority of her own people that needed to see the benefits of Reunification. Many within the Federation had to be shown the path to friendship with Romulans. "Some time when we're both off duty, of course."

Krelor's arm stiffened, and for a moment Sohn believed he might try to knock the bottle out of her hand. Emphasis on 'try'. "Never."

Sohn persisted. "I could have had you on report just now, but I'd rather have a conversation. If you would just take some time to talk the events of this day through with me, we may find some common ground. I'm sure we can use this misunderstanding as a starting point for something better." The was a new Romulan saying: One can begin to change the landscape with a single flower.'

"You and I have nothing in common," he sneered. "And never will."

She pulled on her collar. "We have this uniform. And the fact that not long ago, your own people had to overcome a ... colorful reputation... in order to find place in the Federation." It had been about ten years ago since the USS Enterprise-D had begun the process of negotiating an end to Antica's brutal war with the Selay. Opening the door for Krelor's own ascension to a Starfleet Officer. "And I dare say I have far more reason to hold my homeworld's typical representatives in contempt than you do."

One of the items Krelor had to have found on his way to the bottle was a line drawing of her parents. The only thing she had left of them after one Senator Pardek betrayed the very movement he had brought them into.

"I said never, and I meant it," his facial expression was inscrutable, but he sounded very much resolute.

Sohn shook her head, accepting this failure to turn an adversary into an ally. Since winning her way across the Neutral Zone, she'd made a few very good friends, and convinced many more to at least rethink their views. But after all these years, she was still butting up against people like this. Ones who refused to look at her and see anything but an Imperial Warbird bearing down on them, and were set on becoming obstacles to her chosen path one way or another. Fortunately the brilliance of her kali-fal scheme was it could open a line of communication or shut down potential conflict. "You'll do no such thing. Because you have by your own actions eliminated yourself as a threat to the positive reputation that I will build on this ship."

He actually laughed! "This I must hear!"

She obliged. Hiking a thumb back towards Security. "Think about what happened back there. You have revealed yourself to a member of command staff as one who acts before he thinks, thinks in backdated and bigoted ways, and doesn't give a whit for protocol or procedure. And have given me the opportunity to display my commitment to law, duty, and my fellow ex-patriots. In short, you look bad, I look good." She cut off a growling interjection with a finger. "Therefore, future attempts to 'prove' anything against me on your part will be dismissed as racist harassment by the very superiors whose time you've just wasted. I suggest for your sake that you drop this vendetta. It's not my career you'd be endangering."

Was that concern on his face? It was hard to tell what the sudden movement of his lengthy eyebrows meant. "You think you're so clever!" the caninoid spat desperately. "But you aren't!"

Native pride swelled in Sohn's breast. "I stand apart from the Star Empire, but I am a Romulan. Clever is what we do." She shook the bottle. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go put this back for the next 'patriot' to find." She smiled triumphantly. "Jolan tru." May you find peace.

She left her defeated adversary standing in the corridor, wide eyed and gape-mouthed. On the way back to her quarters, Sohn removed her combadge and used it to scratch another mark in the bottle. Perhaps the next cremate to go looking for something against her would come out a bit wiser for it than Krelor had.