The following single scene vignettes originally for a weekly prompt topic on the Ad Astra forums. I may include these as a set of short stories for an anthology series.
This first one is a tie-in to the two DS9 installments of the recent Typhon Pact novel series.
2383, Deep Space Nine officer's quarters
The coffee table in their quarters was stacked with PADD's. Sarina was moving several aside looking for one containing information on her upcoming mission. She found the PADD she sought, but absent-mindedly knocked over a small wooden box. It fell to the floor with top opening. A tiny piece of metal rolled out. She balanced the PADD on an arm of the couch and went to retrieve the items she had knocked over.
She kneeled downward to pick up a diamond ring. Was Julian planning on proposing to her? And why would he leave it in a case in plain sight? They had been together for almost a year, following a mission to infiltrate a Breen colony in order to sabotage the Breen Confederacy's efforts to harness quantum slipstream propulsion. Of course, she had certain ulterior motives for convincing Julian to accompany her on this mission. Her superiors with Section 31 had hoped to demonstrate to Julian his need to get his hands dirty to truly become one of them. If Sarina became his wife, that would strengthen her "access to him", as her supervisor L'Haan put it.
But how could she respond to this sudden revelation? And how could she keep stumbling upon the ring to herself before he popped the question? Where she was concerned, Julian seemed to lose any ability to think rationally. Looking back, lacing the jasmine perfume in her blond hair with a microscopic dose of the Venus drug may have seemed redundant in her first attempt to persuade him to join her mission to the Breen planet Salavat. He may have been over her after seven years, but reunions with old flames were often unpredictable. And for Sarina, after years of failed romances that never went beyond casual dating, Julian was more and more on her mind and what he meant to her. Maybe she did harbor romantic love for him shortly after undergoing an experimental surgery to repair a condition that left her a semi-cataleptic mute most of her life. Or maybe it was strong admiration like she felt for her adoptive brothers and sister at the Institute. She couldn't say for sure back then? But would she resort to manipulating someone she truly loved?
Sarina picked up the box and put the ring back, setting the box on the table as if it hadn't been disturbed. Her attention returned to the PADD and the profile on its screen. Very little was available on Starfleet Intelligence's "Person of Interest", a Tzenkethi named Alizome Tor Fel-A. What SI did know was that Alizome was closely associated with the Autarch and that she had been on Romulus shortly before the sudden deaths of Praetor Tal'Aura and Empress Donatra. If the Tzenkethi were willing to assassinate allied heads of state, politicians within the Federation and its Khitomer Accords allies were most definitely targets. But what would Section 31 be planning, Sarina wondered. From her last few meetings with L'Haan, Sarina thought that Alizome and the Autarch would be targets for assassination as well. If that was the case, the Federation was no better than the powers who made up the rival Typhon Pact. Too bad Sarina couldn't prove it.
No matter. Whatever the nature of this mission regarding Alizome, she needed to be at that briefing. She quickly silenced her inner conflict and bolted out of the cabin with the PADD in tow.
This first one is a tie-in to the two DS9 installments of the recent Typhon Pact novel series.
2383, Deep Space Nine officer's quarters
The coffee table in their quarters was stacked with PADD's. Sarina was moving several aside looking for one containing information on her upcoming mission. She found the PADD she sought, but absent-mindedly knocked over a small wooden box. It fell to the floor with top opening. A tiny piece of metal rolled out. She balanced the PADD on an arm of the couch and went to retrieve the items she had knocked over.
She kneeled downward to pick up a diamond ring. Was Julian planning on proposing to her? And why would he leave it in a case in plain sight? They had been together for almost a year, following a mission to infiltrate a Breen colony in order to sabotage the Breen Confederacy's efforts to harness quantum slipstream propulsion. Of course, she had certain ulterior motives for convincing Julian to accompany her on this mission. Her superiors with Section 31 had hoped to demonstrate to Julian his need to get his hands dirty to truly become one of them. If Sarina became his wife, that would strengthen her "access to him", as her supervisor L'Haan put it.
But how could she respond to this sudden revelation? And how could she keep stumbling upon the ring to herself before he popped the question? Where she was concerned, Julian seemed to lose any ability to think rationally. Looking back, lacing the jasmine perfume in her blond hair with a microscopic dose of the Venus drug may have seemed redundant in her first attempt to persuade him to join her mission to the Breen planet Salavat. He may have been over her after seven years, but reunions with old flames were often unpredictable. And for Sarina, after years of failed romances that never went beyond casual dating, Julian was more and more on her mind and what he meant to her. Maybe she did harbor romantic love for him shortly after undergoing an experimental surgery to repair a condition that left her a semi-cataleptic mute most of her life. Or maybe it was strong admiration like she felt for her adoptive brothers and sister at the Institute. She couldn't say for sure back then? But would she resort to manipulating someone she truly loved?
Sarina picked up the box and put the ring back, setting the box on the table as if it hadn't been disturbed. Her attention returned to the PADD and the profile on its screen. Very little was available on Starfleet Intelligence's "Person of Interest", a Tzenkethi named Alizome Tor Fel-A. What SI did know was that Alizome was closely associated with the Autarch and that she had been on Romulus shortly before the sudden deaths of Praetor Tal'Aura and Empress Donatra. If the Tzenkethi were willing to assassinate allied heads of state, politicians within the Federation and its Khitomer Accords allies were most definitely targets. But what would Section 31 be planning, Sarina wondered. From her last few meetings with L'Haan, Sarina thought that Alizome and the Autarch would be targets for assassination as well. If that was the case, the Federation was no better than the powers who made up the rival Typhon Pact. Too bad Sarina couldn't prove it.
No matter. Whatever the nature of this mission regarding Alizome, she needed to be at that briefing. She quickly silenced her inner conflict and bolted out of the cabin with the PADD in tow.
