Romulans And Dinner

Posted on Jun 17, 2017 @ 1:46am by Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Edited on on Jun 17, 2017 @ 1:47am

Mission: The Romulan Way

“Romulans and Dinner”
(contd from Phillip’s ‘Suspicions of the Heart’)

Location: USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.17] 0616.1946
Scene: Gymnasium, Saucer section, Deck 10

By the time Yu and Thytos arrived, adorned in their PT clothes, Von was already waiting in the middle of the large room. There were only the three of them in the room, which Kass reserved for an hour. Jasmine took note of the Betazoid Ops chief’s face, which was expressionless as if one couldn’t tell whether he wanted to be there or not. Then again, even she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be doing this or not but the Major was right, this was a necessity. Who knew what the Romulans had up their sleeve. They seemed interested in having peace talks and Jasmine hoped that was the case but she couldn’t take any chances, in case the whole trip to Romulus was a trap.

“Alright, we are here to pick your brain on Romulan fighting styles, since you spent a few years with them from what I understand with the Romulans,” Jasmine began, sporting a rather serious expression. Cantor raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, I don’t think she meant it literally,” Kass jumped in.

Von arched his brow. “I don’t understand.”

“You know, the whole pickin’ your brain, it’s an old Earth expression…” The marine shared an awkward look with the security chief.

“I already figured that out,” Von said, his mouth curling into a tiny smile. In a business-like tone, he began, “So from what the Major told me earlier, you both want information about Romulan fighting styles.”

Yu nodded. “Yes. Their martial arts, which, aside from footage of hand to hand combat with them, is like a closely guarded secret.”

“Yeah, we need to know what we’re up against, in case all this ends up being a trap,” the older woman added with a hint of mild irritation in her voice. “I don’t want to be taken by surprise.”

Jasmine raised an eyebrow at the shift in tone in the MCO’s voice. Cantor Von, a telepath, was making her uncomfortable and she was only aware of this after Kass confided in her. She hoped the marine realized Von being Betazoid, already sensed her discomfort, though he probably didn’t know why. The Asian woman sighed, hoping the marine would take her advice and talk to him about her concerns.

“Okay, I can help you with that.” Von took a deep breath and clasped his hands forward. “Romulan martial arts have many different styles like for example, Earth. They have one advantage, which you already know – their superior strength in comparison to humans, Betazoids and other similar species. During my time on the Romulan ship, I had the honour of learning one of their styles…”

“Great, well let’s hop right to it.” Kass’ voice was filled with enthusiasm. “Show us some moves.”

The Betazoid took on a cautionary tone in his voice and raised both his hands. “Hold on there. You can’t learn it all in one day. It takes some time and effort to master this style.”

“I don’t think our aim is to be experts of this martial arts style,” Jasmine said in a calm voice. “What we want is to see some of their techniques and movements and figure out ways, using our own styles, to counter them. It’s all about being prepared in case the worst case scenario plays out.”

“And the worst scenario is, they attack and board this ship,” Cantor said, his expression solemn. “I get what you mean now.”

Jasmine sighed, her shoulders slumping. This practice session was for them to learn more about Romulan martial arts and probably find ways to mount a defense against them. It was right now a hypothetical, such as if the Romulans lied and really lured them into a trap to steal or destroy the Phoenix. She very much hoped the Star Empire’s intentions for peace were sincere – the last thing the Federation needed was to be pulled into another war, especially since they were still recovering from the civil war against the Neo-Essentialists.

“Anyway,” the Betazoid began, “The martial arts style that I learnt from them, is called Kormerek. It is not a popular style with them as many Romulans consider learning Kormerek to be beneath them as opposed to their other styles. Basically, this style is brutal and its goal is to break bones and joints in addition to striking nerve clusters.”

“Hmmm.” The marine furrowed her brow. “Yeah, I don’t see what’s the problem. As long as it’s quick and efficient and does the job, then it’s all good with me.”

“I guess many Romulans don’t like their bones getting broken I suppose. Frankly, I don’t think any of us do either.” Jasmine shrugged. “But I think it varies with the situation and being brutal and quick is not always efficient.”

“That’s your opinion, Yu,” Kass remarked, grinning at the other woman. “I know you like it all clean and such.”

Jasmine returned the grin. “We’ll just agree to disagree.” Deep down, the young woman admitted in some ways, Kass was right – there were situations, where one had no choice but to be quick, even if it ended up being brutal and messy. Jasmine preferred to avoid the fight to end up being messy but she also knew from years of experience that combat situations tended to be unpredictable. In her short time here on the Phoenix, she and Thytos had sort of vastly different styles in hand to hand combat – then again security officers and marines were different, one of the reasons the two departments often clashed in many places, where they served together. But Yu believed she could learn something from the older woman.

“So I take it, Mr. Von, the Romulans prefer it all fancy and such?” Thytos asked, folding her arms across her chest. “That might work to our, at least, my advantage.”

“So you know for certain that most Romulans haven’t learnt the Kormerek style?” Yu inquired, her voice filled with mild skepticism.

“It’s what I was told,” Cantor said, not saying anything further. “We’ll just have to make do with the information we have and who knows, maybe we can ask our guests some questions during the dinner with discretion.”

“You’re not thinkin of going up to one of them and askin questions about their favourite style?” Kass asked, a quizzical expression.

“No.” Cantor shook his head. “Just some harmless sharing of information with our guests without revealing our tactics after all we need to be friendly for now.”

Jasmine said, “I think we should begin our lesson.” Yu wondered how interesting it would be to see how her years of training in Kung Fu, Aikido and few other martial arts styles would match up with the Romulan one.

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Scene: The Vulcan Tribble

The doors to the Vulcan Tribble parted as Yu was adjusting the collar of her dress uniform. She strolled past the entry way and was met with a formal, yet uncomfortable air. No opportunity to relax, she realized with dismay. The gathering was in full swing with most of the senior officers and the Romulan guests already having arrived. It wasn’t that she disliked formal events, she did if it was for the right occasion, where the atmosphere was festive and filled with positive vibes. Yet on this particular occasion, Jasmine knew she wasn’t here to have fun but to do her job and as security chief, she had decided to keep her eye on the Romulans – observe them and if they did approach her, she decided to just make polite conversation.

One of the Bynar, Calvin or Hobbes, Jasmine wasn’t sure and didn’t really bother to ask as she couldn’t really tell them apart, approached her, carrying a tray, holding flutes of Romulan ale. Jasmine smiled, picking up a wine flute – sure, what was the harm of having a glass or two. She brought the glass close to her lips and took a sip and glanced around to study her surroundings. “This is impressive,” she said to herself. Iphie had really outdone herself with the setting. Jasmine’s eyes shifted up to the ceiling and sighed, spotting both the Federation and the Romular Star Empire banners hanging beside each other as if they were best friends. Hey, that would be nice if there was peace between the two entities. But then the skeptical part of her was that this could all be a trap by their enemy.

“Lieutenant,” Jake greeted, sliding next to the dark haired woman.

Jasmine acknowledged with a nod towards the ExO. “Commander.”

Crichton asked, taking a sip of his ale, “How are you finding this whole situation?”

Yu took a moment to think of an answer to a rather complicated question. How did she feel about the Romulans and their overtures for peace with the Federation? “Honestly, sir. I very much want to hope that our guests are sincere in wanting peace with us as I believe that would be better for all of us.”

“Yes.” Jake nodded, when Iphie dropped by, carrying two trays that held an assortment of delicacies. “The last thing we really need is a war with them.”

“Well, all this war talk and Rommies must be making you hungry,” the half-Bolian remarked, presenting the trays to them. “Here try some appetizers maybe that will cheer you up and who knows, prevent a war.” She winked, followed by a smile. “Hey, Jasmine,” she said, turning to the Asian woman. “Try these vegetarian ones.” The blue woman nodded at the tray held in her right hand. “Some mini-samosas with a filling, comprising of vegetables from Earth and Bolarus and then the fried ravioli filled with three types of cheese and then…”

Jasmine smiled, picking up the mini-samosa and ravioli. “Thanks, Iphie.”

“And you’re going to love the vegetarian dishes, I made for this evening,” Bonviva said, beaming.

“Good to know.” Yu just continued smiling.

“What about you, Jake?” The hybrid turned her attention to the first officer.

“Sure, I’ll take a couple,” Jake replied, grabbing a few different pieces. Iphie left the two officers and was seen, approaching two of the Romulan guests. “Wonder if our guests will like smoked salmon or a mini-samosa.”

“Who knows.” Yu shrugged, taking a bite of the samosa. “She does have some Romulan delicacies?”

“Yes, I believe so,” the ExO replied before changing the topic.

Jasmine inquired, “If you don’t mind, Commander. You spoke with the Romulans. What are your impressions of our guests?”

Jake sighed, recalling the conversations during the trip from the transporter room to the guest quarters. “Well, they are generally reserved, which you already knew, and keep things close to vest, though some of them had opinions on Federation politics, which was interesting.”

“Wow,” remarked Jasmine, though the ‘wow’, didn’t mean she was astonished or impressed that their guests were having opinions on their politics – it was that not all of them seemed to be reserved. So maybe, there was a chance, a polite conversation with one of the guests, could reveal something, even if it was small.

“Anyway, Lieutenant, enjoy the party,” Crichton said before they parted ways to mingle with the others in the gathering.

Jasmine decided to walk around, until they were all called to dinner. It wasn’t long before it was announced that everyone was to be seated at the long table. Yu followed the others, both Starfleet and Romulan alike to their seats. And thus an interesting evening began.

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NRPG: Everyone, tag! And the Romulan martial arts stuff war was taken from Marko’s last post.


~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS PHOENIX