FicWad

Interlude: Unwelcome Revelations
Naya reached up to the top shelf and straightened the towels that sit there. She couldn't settle for anything to be out of place. Even if was just a few towels.
"You done yet?" Naya heard the cynical yet joking tone of Laiserta, who sat upon her bed across the room. She turned to face the dark character.
"Of course not. I'm just...adjusting minor things. I don't understand why it irritates you so," Naya replied mockingly.
"Hrm. I'm not bothered by it," Laiserta lied. Anyone moving things around in her room bothered her, but she was starting to get used to it. After all, she'd had to share with Marice a good while before they ran into Naya, and adding a third person wouldn't be that bad...would it?
Well, it didn't matter; Naya was her new roommate and that was how it going to be. There was no way she'd ever share a room with spider-head. Hell, nobody would ever share a room with her. Even if she allowed it.
"Try and get some rest, will you? You're fatigued; I can see it plain as day," Naya brought Laiserta out of her thoughts. "You're not quite as strong as you'd like to think you are," Naya added with a friendly yet taunting smile.
Laiserta simply 'Hmph'ed at Naya and closed her eyes, although she still sat in a seated position-as well as in full battle attire. Naya shook her head at the stubborn Taydran. She'd seen too many of her type while serving.
Naya decided to leave Laiserta to herself to get some rest, even if she wasn't in exactly the best position to do so. So Lai'd wake up achy, and then maybe she'd learn to be less stubborn about it next time and just get some real rest. Here's to hoping.
Marice had managed to drag Trunks off shopping some time ago, although they'd be back soon. Bored, Naya decided to take a trip to the commons to see what was happening in the outside world-through the news, that is. She spent no time at all walking through the bridge to make it to the commons, only to see that her captain was seated behind one of the monitors to the left of the table that comprised most of the room.
Naya approached Armada with curiosity; she seemed to be lost in thought while looking at something. Naya stopped behind her superior to see what exactly she was looking at. Oh... Naya thought. She recognized all of the faces upon the screen as the lead officers of the different executive branches of Taydr. However, she decided to be tact about her approach and asked a very broad question.
"What exactly are we looking at?"
"Hm," Armada shook her head, "some stuff I got from this guy a while back. It's supposedly who's really on Shera's Federation council right now, considering that it doesn't match the one displayed over the Network."
"Really?" Naya questioned, studying the familiar faces closer.
"Yeah," Armada responded, still not bothering to look in Naya's direction. "The list of councilmen listed according to the Network matches the list of almost twenty-eight years ago."
Naya leaned her arms over the back of the chair her captain resided in, and took a closer look at the list before her. "That's because these people are the chief officers of the different executive branches in Taydr."
"W-what?!"
"Mm," Naya continued, this time reaching forward with her right hand to point to one particular picture upon the screen. "You see this name, 'M. Raika,' right? She's actually a woman by the name of Rain Kiari, and she heads up the Manufacturing Department of Taydr." Naya stopped, moving her finger to point to another young man. "L. Tomli: Tomas Lian, director of the Department of Labor." Naya pointed to yet another face. "S. Donga-"
"Are you serious?" Armada turned around to look at Naya with a sense of disbelief in her eyes and across her face.
Naya nodded. "I know, trust me. It's my job to know who's in charge of what in neighboring countries. Or, at least, it was." She added thoughtfully, almost forgetting that she hadn't seen a day's work in Tyron for little more than six months. I wonder how everyone's doing...
"But that's illegal..." Armada trailed off, amazed at her criticism of what was legal and what wasn't.
"Correct. It's a very serious felony," Naya added calmly. "But what strikes me as odd is this," she said, pointing to the picture of a short, dark indigo haired young man with 'H. Gen' beneath his name. "This is Hamad Gen, the-"
"Crown prince of Taydr," Armada filled in, her voice almost somber.
"He, however, is the only perfectly legal councilman of the bunch," Naya added, bringing her hand back to rest on the top of the chair. "As long as he holds no political power in Taydr, he is legally allowed to serve on the council as a citizen. The only stipulation is," Naya added, "that once his father passes, he must either abdicate all power to another to remain on the council, or accept his role as emperor and leave the governing body and go back to Taydr."
"But if Taydr has total control of the council, they can change things in the Shera system to their benefit," Armada added, beginning to contemplate once more.
"True," Naya broke in again, "but what is most important about what Taydr now has the power to do is the fact that they, and they alone can denounce any and all declarations of war made by countries in the Shera system."
"Aside from Tyron, Taydr has no real threats," Armada commented thoughtfully.
"And Tyron has no intentions of attacking Taydr," Naya thought aloud.
"Are you sure about that?" Armada asked, turning to face the former general.
"Yes. In recent years, Tyron has become much like-like you, actually," Naya added, a slight laughter in her voice. "It's like an entire country that's a sword-for-hire."
"Interesting concept, that's for sure," Armada replied, turning her gaze toward the monitor before her once more. "If Taydr can pull this off, does that mean that they have connections farther into the Alliance than we realize?" she questioned loud to Naya.
"I'd have to say so," Naya answered, standing upright once more and removing her hands from the back of her captain's chair.
Armada reached forward and turned off the computer, the screen going black. She stood and moved to face Naya. "Please don't tell the others about this. They'll only worry."
Naya nodded. "I understand." She understood far better than Armada probably knew, actually. She'd been in the same situation before-discovering troubling news yet not wanting to share it with the troops for fear that they might make too much out of it. Armada seemed to be doing the same thing. Naya's guess was that she wanted to know more about the situation before getting everyone riled up about it. And for good cause. If Taydr was the one after them, as Laiserta had told her they'd figured from a previous endeavor, then maybe now wasn't the time to tell them that Taydr had complete control of the system in which they currently stayed. No, definitely not a good time.
Naya watched as Armada left, presumably to work on the ship's fine tuning, as she did with most of her spare time. Naya thought that it was eerie yet comforting that her captain seemed to have as much tactical prowess as she herself did. Yet...it seemed odd for someone of twenty-four to have such knowledge-it usually only comes with battle. Naya shrugged it off. It could be strange, yes, but not impossible. Besides, who was she to question her captain?
Naya sighed as she heard the door to the ship open. "Hey, watch out!" one voice called.
"Don't drop my bags!" the other shouted.
Naya laughed to herself as she decided to check on the commotion. She hadn't been with the crew of the Verdandi for long, and she was already accustomed the group's habits. Such was life.