Losmah - Nice Try - Spam for Rhade

[general_chang]

[Chang's reaction to his return to the barge was subdued, particularly given that he was a Klingon. He stood stock-solid for a few moments, until K'Nera brushed up against him, clearly confused.

He looked down at her before moving briskly towards his room, the panther close on his tail. Only upon entering his room did he permit the growl that had slowly been building loose into a roar.

The next he knew he was leaning against the cool plating that served as a wall in his quarters, his hands bloodied, panting.

He found a seat, grabbed an old bottle of blood wine and uncorked it. K'Nera, brave creature that she was, sat up next to him, gnawing slightly on his free hand. The bond they had soothed him some.]

Comments

Yo Dawg, I heard you like Spam so I tried to make you a post as you were making one for me.

[truth_is_cold]

[It would be his luck, his luck precisely. Parts of it he doesn't want to discuss- what little sleep he got, he didn't spend well, and mostly consumed with the thoughts of a person long missing from his life but forever present. Failure doesn't sit well with a Nietzschean. And he had failed on many counts.

Whether or not he would hit Chang for running was still up in the air- he was angry enough to, even if it risked their pairing. He had no intention of sending the man to Zero. That would prove absolutely nothing to the warrior except seclude him with his thoughts for longer.

But then again, if Chang was inside, Rhade wouldn't have been the only one to fail. He chimes for the Klingon to answer.]

Chang, if you're inside, acknowledge.

[And if he doesn't, he 's coming inside anyway.]

Spam

[general_chang]

Enter. [One better, granting him access inside. He considered standing, but instead elected to remain sitting, if straighter than before and putting the bottle down and away. His expression was expectant. If Rhade chose to hit him, it likely just stay between them, otherwise having no effect. It was how Klingons communicated their displeasure, he wasn't going to deny it to Rhade.]

Spam

[truth_is_cold]

[He strides inside when the doors open, glad that he doesn't have to place a request to the Admiral to grant him access. The reason that he doesn't actually walk over to him and hit him immediately is that he's momentarilly surprised that the cat had grown to that size. For all of his anger, he remembers when it was small enough to hold.

He breathes a tight breath out of his nose and walks around where Chang is sitting, opting to pick up the bottle of blood wine instead.]

Shego brought him in. I was unable to pick up a trail. [She, of course, knows him considerably better.

As for Chang escaping, there's no need to ask why he did; there was an opportunity, he had to try. There's no need to ask what happened. He's here again, not there.] You're ready to die, but you would prefer living honorably. [He picks up the bottle.] Are you familiar with how that timeline was different from yours?

[His jaw is still tight, teeth still gritted, still doing his best to manage himself.]

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

[The news was greeted by a 'that's vaguely interesting, if irrelevant' grunt, he'd long lost interest in Kirk's comings and goings, though it probably would have done Rhade some good if he'd been the one to bring him in.] Not the details, but I knew it was different.

[It had been a logical assumption based on who was flying and things were slightly different to how he would have expected his native timeline.

He rose to get Rhade a battered tankard, and so to be upright should Rhade's attempt at management fail.

K'Nera was evidently sensing Chang's own remaining discomfort as she didn't satisfy herself by remaining seated, following once more.]

Spam

[truth_is_cold]

Most of the differences I was aware of were on the part of Starfleet, but Nero had been altering history on an interstellar level for twenty years. The largest change being the destruction of Vulcan.

[He looks at Chang's hands when he's getting the tankard. He gives the wall a cursory glance for signs of where Chang vented his own frustration.

He smears his hand down his face and then through his hair.]

What are you going to do now?

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

[A neutral sort of huff was the response to Vulcan's destruction, thinking of Spock and T'Pol, but not managing anything more than the sympathy he felt for Rhade's failure to capture Kirk.]

If you are not going to hit me, I am going to give you a drink.

[He holds out the tankard to the blood wine bottle, but he doesn't wait for Rhade to actually pour before giving him a real answer, at least to the core of Rhade's question, even if there's no action involved.]

You said I was running. [He shakes his head.] This place is running. Hiding in this simulation of my quarters, pondering my fate. If I had succeeded then I would have been able to face my people. It is to them, not you, not the Admiral, I owe my debts.

Spam

[truth_is_cold]

I didn't ask what were you going to do. Your intentions were clear enough then. [He pours some, brow furrowing in thought.]

If you want to repay your debts, you will. You have to figure them all out first. You're right. You do run in here. [He puts down the bottle of blood wine.] You're a warrior surround by one room of culture and relics of the past.

So what are you going to do? You don't need to admit to us any of what you owe, but you can't face them without knowing the full implications of what you've done.

[He remembers how the CES would give him Brandenburg-Tor out whenever he went into it. He half wonders if he should request a change in Change's room to the Chancellor's quarters]

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

[Rhade gets the tankard in return and Chang pours his own. Figure them out, as if he'd done anything else.] The implications are that I failed and sometime in my future there will be a half-breed on a Federation colony who despises herself, not for being merely half-Klingon, but for being merely half-human.

[He takes a draft.] Aleera told me that it was better that my people merely survived as an Empire, crutched upon the Federation's tender mercies, yet the Admiral presents me with B'Elanna Torres, Starfleet officer, who so despises such an essential part of who she is that she does not know it.

Her anger spilled out like an untamed beast because of her self-loathing and misunderstanding of herself. [He's aggrieved by how she was snatched away before he could help her.]

The implications of what I succeeded at pales in comparison when you realise she could not have been the only child to suffer so.

If Gorkon had lived, would he have spared these children? Hmm? Tell me how the Empire would have been better if I had not acted. Is keeping my honour unblemished worth it? My friend's life? My own?

Spam

[truth_is_cold]

B'Elanna. Yes, I remember her. [He takes the drink and decides to pace with it. It's difficult for him to stay still at the moment.] The way she despised herself was the fault of a man who acted as a poor husband and an unworthy father. He found a strong female, bred a capable child, but was unable to fulfill his duties as a father. Her cousins mocked her for her heritage.

[He remembers how she avoided him after that flood, because he could see how she was. He told her a story then, about how his sister would growl when she was angry- to make her feel better about her own anger.]

She might have been. But he was dead for that. He didn't have the opportunity to stand for his Empire. Even if Azetbur succeeded him. If she was what you say, I doubt she would have wanted a woman of her people to feel that way.

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

[Chang follows his pacing with his eye.] If it were only that, then she would have embraced her heritage rather than rejected it. There are many reasons a child can come up with that explains the behaviour of their parents and her cousins did not come up with it on their own.

What she wants is irrelevant, what she chooses is what dictates what happens. What did happen.

Spam

[truth_is_cold]

You underestimate the impact of being rejected by a father. She was very attached to him and he decided he was unable to keep up with her and her mother. He failed as a father. He abandoned his family, and Federation, human, or otherwise he is still the one that should be held responsible.

[He finally takes a drink and after a slight squint, puts down the tankard.]

Whether or not what you did was necessary, you still had your friend murdered. You tried to maintain the Empire as it was through dishonor. And you know that you acted in dishonor, and that your honorable friend died in vain.

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

No. [He sighed, while important, he doesn't quite put the same emphasis on fatherhood that he does.] If it hadn't been confirmed by all around her, then she would have been hurt, but not so sensitive that any hint of her Klingon nature would threaten to set her off.

He didn't die in vain by his own measure. My death may have been, but his was not.

Re: Spam

[truth_is_cold]

He did die in vain. You're sitting here lamenting the state of the Klingon Empire in the future, how a hybrid girl couldn't find her place [and he has strong feelings about hybrid girls at the moment], when his death accomplished nothing. And you think you can face your people for judgement while you're still unwilling to admit you sacrificed something that wasn't yours to give? There's no repentance in that there. Just pride.

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

He achieved what he wished.

Whether it was mine or not, it needed to be sacrificed. I do not repent that act, but that I did not succeed.

Re: Spam

[truth_is_cold]

But it wasn't yours, you had no right whether it needed to be or not, and you probably won't understand that until someone sacrifices something important to you.

[Which is a dilemma. What did Chang even have that was important after years rotting away here?]

It makes you little more than a thief, no matter how noble the reasons.

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

I understand well enough. I do not claim that I had 'the right', if I had the right I would have demanded it from him, rather than let the Federation dispose of that duty.

His rights were not more important than the Empire and that is why I stand by it. Not because I dismiss his rights, but because I cannot place his before the fate of the Empire.

Thief, traitor, conspirator, honourless cur. Changes nothing, certainly not my pride.

Re: Spam

[truth_is_cold]

How much of it was personal. [He has to ask that.] How much of you was angry at him for not seeing what you saw?

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

[That isn't answered immediately as he considers.] I was angry. But I did not revel in his death. I do not know.

Spam

[truth_is_cold]

Consider how much you were angry.

But you didn't kill anyone to escape. You did steal a craft, but now you need to have your hands treated- [He nods toward his hands. Whether it's by a healer or simply having them wrapped.] That coupled with the fact you accomplished nothing will suffice as a punishment rather than any time in Zero.

[Unlike Kirk, Chang didn't have a responsibility as a warden.]

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

[It sounded like he was being given homework, so he said nothing. When Rhade pointed them out, Chang glanced down at his hands. Blood was blood. He was sore, but nothing was broken. He'd wash and then not care.

He nodded in acknowledgement.]

Re: Spam

[truth_is_cold]

[He's more thinking of the moment that he got angry at the Doctor, and realized how angry he'd been at Dylan for not listening to him. Not trusting him. He doesn't think it has as much to do with Chang's choices, but still it hurts when someone who is supposed to trust you doesn't agree with something you very much believe in.]

Was there anything different about the Empire there?

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

I'm certain there was . [He shrugged. He really didn't care.]

Spam

[truth_is_cold]

[He decides that he really does need to find out the changes in the Empire after Chang's time.]

Then I'll let you tend to your hands. [He's less angry now- talking about Torres seems to have tempered him. At least for now. He still has to talk to Kirk and the dread of that is still weighing on him.]

Re: Spam

[general_chang]

[Chang nods quietly, not dismissing him, but waiting for him to leave.]