Post by Bobbi on Oct 6, 2018 7:16:56 GMT -5
Comm calls were a rare thing between the two of them when initiated by Solomon. He just wasn’t the calling type. It was this reason alone that got an immediate response from Darien when his brother had called him.
Darien sat comfortably, slouched back into the foamy forgiveness of a tan colored conforming chair that sat in the common room of his apartment on a planet in the mid-rim. His base of operations was clean and kept well. It was not an expensive place, but it kept his head dry and body warm. It served its purpose.
“Sol, I was just thinking about you. Is everything alright? How are the kids?”
“Kids are fine, Trin is fine. I...got a question for you.”
Sitting up and forward, Darien gave the comm a slight twist in his hand, laying it gently on his left leg, “Go on.”
“Do you know Mercy Trang?”
“Well, yeah. She’s the current head of the Gerrenthuum govern--”
Sol cut him off with a short and simple, “No. Do you know her? Have you talked to her before? Because she’s claiming to know you, she’s also claimed that you mentioned me to her.”
“I don’t know her, we aren’t friends or anything but,” Darien’s answer was a solid one, but it wavered after a moment, “I believe we spoke on Mytra, she was part of the rebellion. That was years ago, Sol. If I mentioned you to her I was too drunk to remember. What all did she say?”
“Nothing much at all. I didn’t give her a chance to say much more than you had talked to her, and had mentioned my name. She said she had looked into me, but hadn’t turned up much of anything before my involvement on Hapes. I shut her down. I walked away--”
“Sol, you can’t just--”
“I did, and I would again. Something’s not right with her, Dar. I’m not sure what it is, but I can see it in her eyes. I’m not giving her any information, not until I have her figured out.”
Darien grabbed the comm off of his knee and stood, beginning to pace around the small apartment he was renting, his bare feet brushing over low pile carpeting of a beige color, “Are you sure about that? I would think her reputation speaks for itself, here.”
“...Darien…”
“Answer the question, Sol. Are you sure?”
From Solomon came a long silence, and then, “No, I’m not. But shouldn’t that be all the more reason for me to look into it? If she’s snooping around, I don’t want to be standing there without a blaster in my hands. I’ve got too much to protect.”
“I’m not going to say you’re wrong, Sol. You don’t need to justify to me, I just wanted to make sure you were thinking about this. If you’re going to do it, then go ahead. Just don’t abandon the idea that she’s just curious.”
“The last person who was curious about me learned too much. I’m not going to let that happen again.”
“Sol,” he laughed a little, “I doubt very much that President Trang is another Vikas. If she were, don’t you think that something would have happened by now? I served in Gerrenthuum’s special forces for how long? Why would she have waited so long with me at her fingertips? Hells, Sol, I don’t even think she’s sensitive!”
“You’re saying that I’m overreacting.” That didn’t sound like a happy response to Darien. It was flat and sour.
“Maybe just a little, yeah. Look, Sol, I can’t blame you for being concerned about her. I think it’s a good thing in some ways. There’s a line, though. You can easily go from being merely cautious to being extreme in that caution with no middle ground and a lot of energy wasted in the process.”
Getting no response from his brother to that, Darien continued.
“I think you need to take a step back while you wait for that information. Take some time to think instead of reacting. The clear space might do you some good.”
“Already working on that. I’m thinking we need to disappear from Hapes for a while.”
“And go….?”
“Home. The house should be finished by now. I figure we can stay there until I know what I need to about President Trang. Or until the summit ends and she goes back to her people.”
“We? You, Trinity, and the kids?”
“That’s my hope, yeah.”
Darien came to a stop in his pacing behind the chair he’d been sitting in, and placed a heavy hand down against the top back of it, “You call me if you need anything Sol. I can be there in the blink of a hyperspace engine, alright?”
“Yeah, I will. Thanks, Darien. I’ll let you know if home doesn’t happen.”
The line was gone.
Darien sat comfortably, slouched back into the foamy forgiveness of a tan colored conforming chair that sat in the common room of his apartment on a planet in the mid-rim. His base of operations was clean and kept well. It was not an expensive place, but it kept his head dry and body warm. It served its purpose.
“Sol, I was just thinking about you. Is everything alright? How are the kids?”
“Kids are fine, Trin is fine. I...got a question for you.”
Sitting up and forward, Darien gave the comm a slight twist in his hand, laying it gently on his left leg, “Go on.”
“Do you know Mercy Trang?”
“Well, yeah. She’s the current head of the Gerrenthuum govern--”
Sol cut him off with a short and simple, “No. Do you know her? Have you talked to her before? Because she’s claiming to know you, she’s also claimed that you mentioned me to her.”
“I don’t know her, we aren’t friends or anything but,” Darien’s answer was a solid one, but it wavered after a moment, “I believe we spoke on Mytra, she was part of the rebellion. That was years ago, Sol. If I mentioned you to her I was too drunk to remember. What all did she say?”
“Nothing much at all. I didn’t give her a chance to say much more than you had talked to her, and had mentioned my name. She said she had looked into me, but hadn’t turned up much of anything before my involvement on Hapes. I shut her down. I walked away--”
“Sol, you can’t just--”
“I did, and I would again. Something’s not right with her, Dar. I’m not sure what it is, but I can see it in her eyes. I’m not giving her any information, not until I have her figured out.”
Darien grabbed the comm off of his knee and stood, beginning to pace around the small apartment he was renting, his bare feet brushing over low pile carpeting of a beige color, “Are you sure about that? I would think her reputation speaks for itself, here.”
“...Darien…”
“Answer the question, Sol. Are you sure?”
From Solomon came a long silence, and then, “No, I’m not. But shouldn’t that be all the more reason for me to look into it? If she’s snooping around, I don’t want to be standing there without a blaster in my hands. I’ve got too much to protect.”
“I’m not going to say you’re wrong, Sol. You don’t need to justify to me, I just wanted to make sure you were thinking about this. If you’re going to do it, then go ahead. Just don’t abandon the idea that she’s just curious.”
“The last person who was curious about me learned too much. I’m not going to let that happen again.”
“Sol,” he laughed a little, “I doubt very much that President Trang is another Vikas. If she were, don’t you think that something would have happened by now? I served in Gerrenthuum’s special forces for how long? Why would she have waited so long with me at her fingertips? Hells, Sol, I don’t even think she’s sensitive!”
“You’re saying that I’m overreacting.” That didn’t sound like a happy response to Darien. It was flat and sour.
“Maybe just a little, yeah. Look, Sol, I can’t blame you for being concerned about her. I think it’s a good thing in some ways. There’s a line, though. You can easily go from being merely cautious to being extreme in that caution with no middle ground and a lot of energy wasted in the process.”
Getting no response from his brother to that, Darien continued.
“I think you need to take a step back while you wait for that information. Take some time to think instead of reacting. The clear space might do you some good.”
“Already working on that. I’m thinking we need to disappear from Hapes for a while.”
“And go….?”
“Home. The house should be finished by now. I figure we can stay there until I know what I need to about President Trang. Or until the summit ends and she goes back to her people.”
“We? You, Trinity, and the kids?”
“That’s my hope, yeah.”
Darien came to a stop in his pacing behind the chair he’d been sitting in, and placed a heavy hand down against the top back of it, “You call me if you need anything Sol. I can be there in the blink of a hyperspace engine, alright?”
“Yeah, I will. Thanks, Darien. I’ll let you know if home doesn’t happen.”
The line was gone.