Breaking The News To Harrad-Tor

Posted on Apr 14, 2020 @ 8:52pm by Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Edited on on Apr 14, 2020 @ 8:53pm

Mission: Last Days of Empire

“Breaking the News to Harrad-Tor”

(contd from ‘Red-Handed’)

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Location: USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.20] 0413.0035
Scene: Yu’s office -> Security Centre lobby, Deck 39


Jasmine let out a sigh, leaning forward in her chair. The sound of a soft whine made the young woman turn her head to the side. She smiled, when her puppy, Wei was trotting towards her, yapping and wagging her tail. The door chimed. Wei barked, excited at receiving a guest. Jasmine grinned, stroking the little one’s fur. “Enter,” she called out, standing up.

The doors parted. Silsby entered, leading Harrad-Tor inside. The big Orion had been confined to his quarters since the ship’s departure from BETA THORIDOR and in fact, had been on his best behaviour. Yu studied him, noting the nervousness in his body language yet his face was a mask. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to this uncomfortable conversation with him, which included telling him the truth about Jeeza – the woman he was so madly in love with that he had agreed to spy for a Klingon intelligence officer, Dhirissa, who was discovered to have been working with the Tal’Shiar agent, Jerika as her contact.

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Jasmine said, addressing Silsby. “You may leave.” She sighed, when Wei trotted towards the blond man, yapping as if her best friend had come to visit her.

Virgo grinned, bending down to pet the corgi. “Sorry, little one. I can’t play with you now.” Wei let out a soft whine, inching herself towards the door. “Maybe next time.” He petted her again and left, quickly closing the door before the puppy had the chance to run outside. Jasmine waved the puppy to her dog bed. “Wei, come on, over here.” To her relief, the corgi puppy trotted to her bed and sat down, all curled up. Jasmine couldn’t believe how fast her little puppy was growing.

Turning her attention to the Master at arms, who was standing in attention, the Asian gestured to the visitor chair. “Ensign, please take a seat.” She watched in silence as the green man pulled out the chair and sat down.

Yu took in a deep breath, taking note of the tension in the atmosphere. “Ensign,” she began, deciding to avoid any pleasantries. “First off, your disciplinary hearing has been scheduled for 0900hrs tomorrow morning. Captain Kane will precede over the hearing. Commander Crichton and I will be in attendance at the hearing as well.”

“Understood ma’am.” The Orion looked downcast, resigned to his fate. “Chief, may ask a question, regarding this hearing?”

Jasmine nodded. “Sure.”

“Am I going to prison?”

The Asian woman sighed, not at all keen on having this discussion with him. In fact, she had wished they hadn’t come to this stage if only Harrad-Tor had resisted his desires and fears – both of which could be challenging – but not impossible – to overcome. The Orion in his three years of service, had shown himself to be a reliable and competent officer so him breaking a whole bunch of regulations in this one mission, surprised and annoyed her. She wasn’t sure how she could really trust him again. The man likely might have thrown away his career, not to mention the second chance that Starfleet had given him. She was a person who believed in second chances for most cases as long as their motives were sincere.

“I am not sure, yet, Ensign.” She let out a sigh. “But I do think that your punishment will not be severe as it would have been for breaking the mission directive of maintaining radio silence, collusion with a foreign intelligence agent and leaking information - all for a personal gain.” She paused to take a breath. “You stepping forward to confess on your own accord and your willingness in even helping us, will all be taken into consideration plus your service record to date.”

His service record. Yu sighed, recalling how the olive green man didn’t have even a tiny blemish. In fact, he had been the sort of officer who kept his head down and performed his duties with due diligence. From what she knew, Harrad-Tor hardly had any conflicts or disciplinary issues with other officers, making this current situation all the more difficult.

“So I am going to prison but with a lower sentence?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.” Yu shrugged. “The hearing will address the list of your misdemeanors during that last mission as well as what kind of punishment you can expect. You may even be asked a couple of questions, which will provide the opportunity for you to have your say.”

“Understood.”

“But the hearing is not why I’ve summoned you here,” she said as he arched his brow. Jasmine took in a deep breath, knowing this next piece of information was going to please and devastate him at the same time – but he had the right to know the truth. “It’s about Liriss and Jeeza.”

“Is Jeeza alive? Is Liriss dead or captured by the Klingons?” The Orion was already aware that Is’toQ and his armada had won the battle at Alcyonus so was likely hopeful of the former crime boss’ demise.

“From what I can gather, regarding the battle at Alcyonus, the Klingons seemed to have taken no prisoners,” the raven haired woman said. “Is’toQ and his ships looked to have pretty much decimated the Orion fleet but there may be a small chance that some of the ships had escaped. However, we had received confirmation that the ship carrying Liriss had been destroyed by birds of prey so I can tell you with confidence that Liriss perished in the battle.”

The confirmation of the late crime boss’ death was sent by the Aen'Akhiy, moments after the PHOENIX had departed from the BETA THORIDOR system – a short encrypted message composed by Jerika herself, sharing information that she had apparently received from Dhirissa, prior to the latter’s demise. Though why the Tal’Shiar agent had even bothered to send the message in the first place, had baffled her. It wasn’t like Jerika had owed the Orion anything after all the Romulan was just doing her job.

Perhaps Jerika as Jeeza might have developed a fondness for Harrad-Tor – it was possible. Jasmine had heard of undercover operations in which operatives had fallen for their targets. Though with the Tal’Shiar being so cold and clinical, she had a hard time believing Jerika had an ounce of feeling for her targets. She watched in silence at Harrad-Tor’s expression brightening, looking as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“That is good news,” he said, a tiny smile forming across his lips. “Now, I no longer have to watch my back for any of his assassins ever again.”

“True.” She nodded and sighed, knowing his happiness wasn’t going to last. “Now, regarding Jeeza…”

“Chief,” he interjected, the words flowing quickly out of his mouth. “Is she alive? Where is she? Will I be able to see her before I am sent to prison?”

“Actually,” she began, her voice having taken on a more sombre tone. “I am sorry but with regards to Jeeza, I have bad news.” She grimaced, watching the elation wash away from his face and now the green man sported a nervous expression.

“Is…she…dead?” His voice cracked.

Jasmine sighed, her brown eyes meeting his gaze. “No, she isn’t but…”

“Has she been enslaved by the Syndicate and serving the pleasures of another boss?” His expression hardened, a dark look in his eyes.

“No.” She sighed, noting the confused look in his eyes. “Jeeza isn’t who you think she is.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?” He blinked.

She had never enjoyed being the bearer of bad news. “Jeeza’s true name is Jerika, a Romulan Tal’Shiar agent who was surgically altered to look like a Risean woman. She was sent on an undercover operation to infiltrate Liriss’ organization for what purposes – only the Tal’Shiar knew.”

“How did you come across such false information?” He demanded.

“It isn’t false,” Jasmine said. “I saw her with my own eyes when she had come aboard this ship for the brief summit.” She let out a sigh. “Although, she was in her true Romulan form, I was able to recognize Jeeza from the image you had provided me of her.” The Asian watched in silence, noting from his expression that the information was beginning to sink in. He had paled, the shock enveloping his features – the shock of learning the ‘special’ relationship that he had with this ‘Risean’ woman wasn’t really special at all.

“I can understand trying to ingratiate herself with Liriss and becoming his prized mistress,” Harrad-Tor said, sounding bitter. “But why me? Was it all part of a Romulan plot to cause a rift between me and Liriss? Were the Romulans attempting to manipulate Liriss to get rid of me? Why? What did I ever do to them?”

“I doubt the Tal’Shiar had anything personal against you.” Jasmine sighed. It might have been possible that Harrad-Tor was an obstacle or maybe the Tal’Shiar had planned on replacing him with one of their own. Jasmine didn’t know that the latter scenario was what had really happened. The Tal’Shiar had planned to push Harrad-Tor out and plant one of their own operatives as Liriss’ right hand and hence, Jerika had initiated a relationship with him to create a rift between the two Orions.

“She lied to me…” he said in a low voice filled with anger. “I was willing to die for her. I waited for over eight years, constantly worrying out of my mind that she may have died and hoped that one day she will come back to me…”

Jasmine bit her lip, deciding to let the Orion rant for a bit. Finding out the ‘love of his life’ was a Romulan spy, was a bitter pill to swallow, making the Sec/Tac wonder if he’d ever recover from this ordeal.

“I had turned down advances from beautiful and nice women all because I wanted to remain faithful to her…” His voice trailed at the end.

**Eight years is a long time. ** Jasmine sighed inwardly, not sure how to respond to his latest remark. Even if Jeeza and the relationship were real, people often changed when such a long period of time had passed. If Jeeza was a real person and was madly in love with Harrad-Tor, it was more likely that after a time apart, say like almost a decade, she might not feel the same about him anymore. But the young woman had kept all those thoughts to herself – she was a Sec/Tac not a Counselor.

“She lied to me!” Then he suddenly erupted, his face turning a darker shade of green as it contorted in anger. “She made a fool out of me! She came between me and Liriss. Until she had come into my life, Liriss and I were fine – sure we were never best friends.” What Harrad-Tor didn’t mention was Liriss had never valued him any more than a subordinate – actually more like someone who was just there to act like an obedient dog. “Jeeza or…Jerika, that Romulan harlot ruined my life!” He slammed the desk and with both hands shoved aside a couple of PADDS.

Jasmine grew alarmed, turning sideways at the sound of a low whine and sighed. The puppy sat up in her bed, her eyes, filled with fear, were fixed on them. Returning her attention to the green man, she spoke in a calm yet firm tone, standing up. “Harrad-Tor…”

“It’s all her fault! I’d not have left the Syndicate if it wasn’t for her and she ruined my life at Starfleet!” He stood up, his large, imposing figure, looking menacing and grabbed a handful of PADDs.

Jasmine grimaced, when he began aimlessly throwing them around. “Harrad-Tor…” She jumped in, lifting her hand to block a flying PADD from reaching Wei. Unfortunately it smacked the back of her hand before falling to the ground. Wei ran towards her, letting out a series of continuous barks and kept jumping towards her wounded hand but the little corgi wasn’t able to reach it.

He kicked the chair down. “It is Jerika’s fault that I will no longer be able to trust and love another woman again as they all will betray me!”

Before he could grab her desk, Jasmine rushed towards him, grabbing his arm at lightning speed, catching him off-guard. Quickly, she pulled the arm behind him and bending his elbow into a joint lock. With both hands and using the full weight of her body, she pressed against his elbow, pushing him forward until he bent over the desk. She then tapped her comm badge. “Yu to Security. Report to my office.”

Within moments, the doors parted, permitting both Silsby and Procter to enter the room. The two deputies rushed to their chief’s side. Virgo took over from Yu and held the Orion down, the latter’s face smacked against the surface of the desk. Wei ran up to first Mackenzie and began barking, bouncing up and down.

“What happened?” Procter inquired, bending down to stroke the corgi’s fur as if to calm her down. Her eyes then flickered to the Asian’s injured hand. “Lieutenant, did Ensign Harrad-Tor do that to you?”

“It’s not that bad,” she said, reassuring her deputy. “I told him the truth about Jeeza and unfortunately he took the news badly.” Wei left Mackenzie and ran up to Jasmine, once again attempting to jump up to her hand.

“Release me,” Harrad-Tor demanded, growling under his breath.

“Sorry, Ensign, can’t do that,” said Silsby in a calm voice. “You cannot go all out in rage over one woman – not when there are so many beautiful ones in this universe.”

“It’s not fair I’m going to jail because of that woman,” Harrad-Tor ranted, just as Silsby lifted him up to a nearly standing position.

“Ensign,” Jasmine began in a calm voice. “I understand how easy it is to blame Jerika for your predicament but you need to shoulder some responsibility here.” Yu didn’t particularly like the Tal’Shiar operative - even had a distaste for the latter’s method in using seduction to further her objective. However, she didn’t believe in putting the blame on Harrad-Tor’s situation entirely on the Romulan woman. Jerika might be an expert in using her beauty to manipulate her targets but the reality was both Harrad-Tor and Liriss were men with fully functional brains, possessing the ability to see through her scheme.

From what she had read of Liriss’ profile in the Starfleet Security database, the crime boss was to put it simply, a greedy, obsessive, sexist, and narcissist jerk who had considered other sentient beings, particularly women, as nothing more than his property. He had given off the impression as a petulant man child who’d erupt into a fit of rage if someone had taken away his favorite toy – and judging from the information in his profile, he’d discard his old toy, when he got a new shiny one. And Jerika as Jeeza, apparently, had played the role of his ‘then’ favorite toy and unsurprisingly, he had never liked to share. So it wasn’t at all surprising, he had become obsessed with killing Harrad-Tor – a subordinate- for the latter stealing or borrowing his ‘toy’.

So did Jerika manipulate Liriss into becoming an obsessive jerk over her and Harrad-Tor? Well, in Yu’s view, there was no denying the Romulan had played some role in it, however, Liriss, too, had a choice in just letting it go and not become obsessed. After all, he was a powerful crime boss in the Syndicate with a harem full of beautiful women at his disposal but no, he had chosen to cave into his obsession for ‘Jeeza’ and Harrad-Tor. Really, it wasn’t like, before meeting ‘Jeeza’, that Liriss was this really nice guy who was fine with sharing his mistress with his right hand man. He never was and according to Starfleet records, the man had a history of murdering others for the most trivial of reasons, including persons who had dared eye his ‘prized possessions’. The Tal’Shiar had merely obtained that knowledge about him, and used it to their advantage.

As for Harrad-Tor, while he was nothing like Liriss, he too had the choice of not giving into his love, lust or obsession – depending on how one saw it. As Liriss’ right hand man, Harrad-Tor already would have had some knowledge about his boss’ possessiveness and could have chosen to wisely not give into the temptation of an affair with ‘Jeeza’. But that was in the past and the Orion had managed to escape to Federation territory to eventually become a Starfleet officer – a fresh start at a new life, one which he had squandered because he wasn’t able to let go of his past.

Harad-Tor blinked, though his eyes radiated a burning ire. “I don’t understand, chief. I am not the one to blame here. Jee…Jerika was the one who cast a spell on me.”

“Oh please,” Mackenzie chimed in, glaring at him. “Jerika didn’t use any magic spell, just her body to tempt you and like a lot of men who lose their minds whenever a beautiful woman batted her eyelashes or swayed her hips around, you blame women when things go wrong instead of taking responsibility.” The Asian couldn’t help agreeing with her deputy.

“See, that’s where you are wrong, Ensign and I’ll tell you why,” Jasmine pointed out, sighing. “During that last mission, you chose to break a number of protocols, which included breaking subspace radio silence and cooperating with a foreign agent by leaking classified information to her – all for personal gain, which in your case, was seeing Liriss dead and reuniting with a former love. The key word here is ‘chose’. Neither Dhirissa nor Jerika forced you to make this decision. I mean, you weren’t threatened, were you by Dhirissa?”

“No, I was never coerced.” He shook his head. “But they still lied to me.”

“Yes they did and were wrong to do that.” Jasmine nodded. “It still doesn’t change the fact that you broke Starfleet protocol on your own accord and while I believe you hadn’t meant to betray the Federation, you will need to accept the consequences for your actions.” She paused to take a breath. “You know what really disappointed me.”

“I don’t follow. Are you mad at me, when I am the victim here?” The Orion was snide.

**Yes, you were deceived but you’re also not a victim here. ** Jasmine sighed, watching at the corner of her eyes, Procter rolling her eyes. “Ensign, why didn’t you report your encounter with Dhirissa to me?”

“I…I didn’t want anyone finding out about my past…”

“That’s no excuse.” Yu frowned, speaking more firmly. “It was your duty as a Starfleet officer to report to your superiors when a foreign agent had approached you and made attempts to entice you into working with them. And if you had reported your contact with Dhirissa, along with your past in the Syndicate immediately and not while we were knee deep in the mission, then we’d have done something to help you. We’d have been better prepared to deal with Liriss’ assassination attempts against you. Maybe, we would not have assigned you as part of the undercover operation to infiltrate the Alcyonus prison camp if that had meant keeping the team as well as the SATET crew safe.”

Harrad-Tor flickered his gaze downwards, watching Wei circling around Procter and then moving towards Silsby. The puppy looked up at the blond man. Silsby glanced down at the corgi, giving her a smile as both his hands were tied, holding the large Orion so couldn’t pet the puppy.

“Frankly,” she said, slightly softening her tone. “I’m disappointed you didn’t seem to have any faith or trust in us to help you.” She sighed, her eyes shifting to Wei, now yapping and attempting to jump up to her hand. A moment of tense silence passed between them. “Alright, I think we’re done here. Lieutenant Silsby, take him back to his quarters.”

“Yes ma’am.” The two men stepped out of the room.

Wei whimpered, bouncing up and down. Yu bent down to pet and stroke her fur, while the puppy licked her wounded hand, likely hoping to make it better. “Don’t worry, girl. I’m doing just fine.” The puppy whined and Yu smiled, seeing how cute Wei was in her puppy-sized red shirt with a big yellow dot on the outfit’s collar – resembling a rank pip. “You have really grown. Maybe you’re old enough now to be addresses as Ensign Wei. What do you think?” Wei barked, happily wagging her tail. “Good, you can be my chief watch dog,” she jested, petting her head before standing up and turning to her deputy, who was caught with a smile in the puppy’s direction.

Then the smile vanished as the blonde woman turned to her. “You know, Lieutenant,” she began in a harsh voice. “Starfleet may need to consider reviewing their entry requirements – maybe conduct more thorough background checks and prevent criminals such as former Syndicate members from applying.”

Yu sighed, recalling how livid Procter was upon hearing of Harrad-Tor’s actions from her, following the Phoenix’s departure from BETA THORIDOR. Mackenzie also didn’t seem too happy that Yu chose to only involve Silsby, when Harrad-Tor was made to act as double agent, however she had accepted Jasmine’s reasons and hadn’t pursued the matter any further. Virgo, on the other hand, was less hard on the Orion, though he too had been a little critical over Harrad-Tor screwing his life for one woman. Silsby had felt, Harrad-Tor should have simply moved on.

The two officers and the puppy stepped outside the office. Jasmine was planning on heading to sickbay to get her hand treated, then stop by Counseling to suggest maybe sending someone to speak with Harrad-Tor and finally go to the bridge for a meeting with Crichton to inform him about Harrad-Tor’s fit of rage in her office.

She stopped upon hearing shouting, quickly spotting Silsby and Harrad-Tor by the exit, leading out to the corridor. Harrad-Tor was shouting and stomping, while Virgo tried to calm him down.

“I demand that the Captain turn this ship around and go after the Tal’Shiar vessel,” the Orion roared.

“What’s going on?” Yu inquired, standing a feet from the two men.

“He wants the Romulans to hand over Jerika to us,” Silsby replied. “When I told him, that’s not possible, he…”

“I want justice, Lieutenant,” Harrad-Tor bellowed, addressing Yu now. “The Captain shouldn’t have stopped Is’toQ from destroying the Romulan ship. Now, because of his meddling, Jerika is free and probably mocking me now.”

“Harrad-Tor, I doubt that woman is even thinking about you.” Virgo sighed. “I bet she’s like okay, this job done, now onto the next assignment. She’s a Romulan – cold and beholden to service of their empire.”

“No!” Harrad-Tor shouted, his nostrils flaring. “Jerika needs to pay! I desire to make her feel the pain she had inflicted on me!”

“Ensign, enough!” she said firmly, shutting him down. “We will not be pursuing the Aen'Akhiy just to satisfy your thirst for revenge. It’s not what Starfleet is about.”

“Alright, then let me go after her on my own,” he demanded, his ire not having subsided.

“Uhm, Harrad-Tor,” Silsby said. “I don’t think you realize if you go after a Tal’Shiar agent, you will only get yourself killed. Believe me, I’ve seen them in action and sorry but I don’t think you have the skills to take one on.”

“No.” Jasmine flat out refused. “It’s part of the agreement we had made with the Tal’Shiar.”

“Then Captain Kane was wrong to do that,” Harrad-Tor declared. “He, you and everyone else here took away my right to bring justice.”

**Revenge, not justice. ** Jasmine set her jaws, turning to Silsby. “Lieutenant, arrange for a site to site transport of Harrad-Tor to the brig, where he will remain there until the hearing tomorrow.”

“Brig? Chief, you can’t do that,” the Orion yelled.

“I don’t want him creating a scene around the ship,” Yu added. “Remember, the SATET isn’t aware of his role as double agent.”

“Understood.” Virgo nodded.

“Chief,” Harrad-Tor said in a low, harsh whisper. “If only you have ever been in love and then betrayed, you’d have understood.”

“I do, Ensign.” Jasmine sighed, maintaining a calm demeanor. “When I was on the CAMELOT, I found out my boyfriend was a Neo-Essentialist – moments before I was forced to shoot him before he could assassinate the Captain.” She noted the surprised looks in her deputies’ eyes. Virgo opened his mouth and then closed it. “Granted, not exactly the same situation.”

Soon, a bluish hue transporter beam enveloped the Orion and he vanished.

“Lieutenant,” Silsby informed. “Brig reports Harrad-Tor is in a holding cell.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Yu nodded.

Virgo grinned. “And, chief. I didn’t think you’d ever share anything about your personal life but I’m glad you gave us a little bit. Must have been intense.”

“Well,” Procter added, sighing. “You were just doing your duty, Lieutenant. Protecting the Captain takes priority.”

“It’s not exactly a secret. “ Jasmine sighed. “The information is available in the CAMELOT’s mission reports.” Memories came flooding back, regarding the young woman’s time at her previous posting. She was responsible for stopping two assassination attempts by two different Neo-Essentialist members against Captain Spankryz and that was over six years ago. The second attempt – the one by the ex-boyfriend – had injured Anaqueen, putting her into a temporary coma, which had led to chaos on the ship. But thankfully, the Trill had recovered and order was restored but that wasn’t end of their Neo-Essentialist troubles - it was only the beginning of the ship’s two year struggle.

Off to sickbay. Yu sighed, glancing down at Wei. “Alright, little one, let’s go for a walk. Maybe you will run into Captain Smooshy on the way.”

Wei barked, wagging her tail.

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NRPG: So, I had planned on writing two scenes but turns out this one scene just took on a life on its own. I have plans to expand more on Jasmine’s latest revelation of that particular time on the CAMELOT in a backstory that I hope to share some day, when I don’t have other things on my plate.




~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS PHOENIX