After Action

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

be-eep

Captain Quez waited at the door to his sister's quarters, hands clasped awkwardly behind his back. At the last minute, he attempted to change tactics, opting for his hands at his sides. Neither felt all that comfortable, so he tried hands clasped in front of him. He wasn't nervous. Well, he was, but it wasn't on account of T'yeellaa. They'd found something of an understanding a few weeks before, and while there was still a long way to go toward mending fences, they were definitely on the mend.

No, this meeting was about something else entirely.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa had worked the lace cravat off her high collar and had undone the buttons of her jacket in due order as the door chime pinged. Instantly, she met Samus's eyes with an apologetic expression. Almost certainly, the chime was for her. While she had duty hours, the K'ohta'rrou of a space station always had to at least prepare for the contingency of tending to business on short notice. She was, after all, that necessary filter in place for all things before they landed on the Commander's desk. It could be crew issues, or it could be the matronly pillars of the Cizeri community. Or it could be the Galactic Empire, although the likelihood that particular buck would stop at her was pretty low. At any rate, unexpected company put the brakes on the promise of less responsibility and more fun.

Guardedly, T'yeellaa took a few steps toward the door, tapping on the vox.

"jYess?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr grimaced. He should have brought wine, shouldn't he? That probably would have been appropriate. He'd lived on a starship for so long that manners and good grace had atrophied.

He'd make it up to her.

"jIt's me."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Samus Dage was in the middle of lowering himself to sit on the sofa when the voice on the other side of the door came through the vox. It was a voice he knew, but the associated memories were still painful.

He blinked, then opted to rise back up to stand. He was still in uniform, and pivoting on his heel, the blonde faced T'yeellaa and the still-closed door with a strange expression, his hands going behind him to clasp together at the small of his back. His features held a neutral yet stony appearance. And in that moment, he looked ever so slightly more haggard than before; as if there was a sudden weariness brought on by simple memories.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"Arr'uuhai?"

T'yeellaa raised an eyebrow as her ears likewise rose. The change in demeanor from Samus wasn't lost on her, but the elder Meorrrei wasn't about to let introspection delay anything. She opened the door at once, her smile broadening at the sight of her baby brother.

"jIt'ss good to ssee jyou."

And it was, really. Their reunion, as it were, had taken place in a less than ideal way, but even in the face of a terrorist attack, the two estranged siblings had figured out how to find their way back home as it were. They'd talked a few times since then, but this was the first real physical interaction since that day. Apologies were cheap. They were both adults and exceedingly busy ones. That happened.

She was forgetting herself. T'yeellaa blinked suddenly, taking a few steps back as she gestured with a hand.

"Come jin, come jin."

Her eyes went to Samus once again, still not quite gauging the expression he wore.

"Thjiss jiss..."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"...Commanderr Dage." Cirr completed his sister's introduction with a mild genial expression as he stepped through the threshold to extend the man his hand.

"jI know of hjim. Captajin s'jIlancy's XO."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Lips set in a straight, thin line, Samus accepted the hand offered to him with his own. It was a firm shake, released crisply. His voice had become a level lower than normal, a deep sort of rumble that T'yeellaa had likely never heard before.

"Captain Quez."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa's eyes went from her arr'uuhai to her gai'tou and back. She blinked.

"Huh. jI guesss jyou've alrreadjy been jintrroduced."

Something about this encounter felt awkward, and the elder Meorrrei shifted her stance between the taller men.

"What brrjingss jyou to mjy quarrterrss, Naitha?" she addressed Cirr by the familiar.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Actually..." Cirr's expression went somewhat sheepish. "...jI was hopjing to fjind Commanderr Dage herre. Netaalli mentjioned you werre loverrs now."

[Q. Samus Dage]

He resisted the maddening desire to roll his eyes at the word 'lovers'. Perhaps it was his old-fashioned tendencies. Perhaps 'going steady' sounded much more amenable to his Myomarian ears than 'lovers'. Either way, Samus was at least aware enough to keep such thoughts far below the surface.

Things would be better served if kept simple, and that was exactly what he did now.

"What can I do for you, Captain."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Captain Quez grimaced, holding up a hand as if to ward off formality.

"Just Cirr. jIt's, uh, not a forrmal vjisjit."

He gave an assuring smile to his sister, but it was still a bit confounded by nerves.

"jI'm not jimposjing, am jI? jI can come back jif you werre wantjing to..."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa's briefly pursed lips gave her away, but she smiled off her tell.

"Prrotectjing jyourr ssjissterr? Oh Naitha, doessn't jit go the otherr wajy arround?"

She wouldn't tease much more. She was a poor hand at it and Cirrsseeto didn't have the stomach for it.

"jI have a few matterrss to attend to anjyway. jI trrusst the bojy talk wjill sstajy jinnocent and jyou two won't sstarrt consspjirrjing agajinsst me?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

He said nothing, simply giving a nod as T'yeellaa left them alone.

The silence that now fell over the two was damn near thick as lentek soup, and letting out a long breath, Samus moved to once more sit back on the sofa.

"May as well sit down, then," he gestured to the matching chair opposite the caf table.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The thought of this meeting going down in the confines of T'yeellaa's quarters, even with her reluctant blessing, seemed a little inappropriate. Cirr's ears skewed slightly, glancing back at the door from whence he came. He thought better of it though, turning around and sitting where it was offered.

"How long have you and T'yeellaa...?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

Samus thought on that as he reclined somewhat.

"About five months, give or take a week."

He kept his eyes on Cirr. A small part of him felt awkward about this meeting, but another larger part was a bit more confused as to the 'why' of this meeting. A moment later he returned to his original question, though wording it a bit differently this time around.

"So this isn't a formal visit; what would it be, then?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr's lips pressed thin as his ears leveled off a bit. Dage wasn't going to let him just ease into this, was he?

"We've got morre hjistorry between us than we do worrds. Fjigurred evenjing up the scorre mjight do us some good."

Part of him could use a drink, but Captain Quez had long ago decided that he abhored crutches. This conversation was intended straight no chaser.

"The bad parrt jis, jI don't know wherre to begjin."

[Q. Samus Dage]

He said nothing to that. Not at first, at least. Captain Quez had spoke the utter truth that the history between them was more than the words they'd shared, and it took him back to that awful day. The day he'd had a hand in sending countless brothers and sisters into oblivion. But, he wasn't the only one that'd done dark deeds that day. Cirrsseeto Quez had as well; on both sides of the conflict. He could still see Novgorod taking the initial salvo fired from Dauntless.

The blonde pursed his lips, looking down to the low table that separated them.

"Might as well start with tough choices."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirrsseeto reached into his jacket with a pained expression, procuring a small flimsi slip. He held it between his large hands, not quite ready to relinquish it to Dage. Index fingers and thumbs pinched the document at its edges, nearly folding it in on itself as Captain Quez looked for the words.

"jI...made a note of the casualty rreporrt. Forr Levantjine. The afterr actjion rreporrt can only say so much about the orrderr of battle."

Thirty eight dead. Two missing and presumed.

"Therre wjill neverr be any rreal way to know whjich of them..."

Cirrsseeto looked away to the window, not quite able to look Dage in the eye on this. There's no way to know which ones died because of me.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Samus let his eyes linger only a moment on the flimsi that Captain Quez held, though it wasn't long before his gaze shifted back up to look at the other man's face. There really wasn't much he could say, or even felt like saying to be honest. His first command had been so many levels of bittersweet, and after agreeing to step down in favor of yet another XO position - this time for Loklorien s'Ilancy - the blonde had to wonder if he really wanted another shot at the driver's seat. Perhaps, in the future, but the sting of Ossus was still acute even if he did manage to hide it well.

"No, there won't."

He spoke up in an effort to save Cirr the need of finishing his sentence. It was partially out of understanding, and partially because he didn't want to hear the rest of it.

"I served under the General for a very long time," he finally offered with a sigh, leaning back slightly.

"Even I didn't see the truth of it until the rest of you did."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr looked at his colleague with a conflicted note in his eyes. There was absolution there, sure. But what kind of man would he be if he let the epitaph lie with The Sith Made Me Do It? Who would he be if he was content with that loss of agency, and assumed that the families left behind would be as well?

He'd been no stranger to losing men and women on his watch, and he'd written those awful letters so often. But as painful as they were, that was the responsibility a Captain owned. Better the agony be put to words than to get swallowed down unsaid and buried.

"jI know that forr the accounted, the offjicjial worrd has alrready been gjiven. Howeverr, jI wrrote somethjing else, forr the famjiljies."

A careful hand passed the flimsi over to Dage, and Cirr's blue eyes met the Commander's own.

"jIf jit werre my loved one, jI'd want to hearr thjis."