"Good afternoon, Colonel Kira."
"I take it you're my new babysitter," she said, without looking up from her station.
Dr. Ethne Stoker considered the matter. "That's one way of putting it," she admitted, "but it doesn't have to be that way. I certainly don't want it to be."
Kira sighed. "That's what they all say. You sound like some kind of shrink to me."
"No wonder you don't like me," Ethne found herself laughing. "I promise, I'm not a shrink, Colonel. Think of me as your public relations advisor. Or your favorite teacher from grade school. Take your pick."
Now Kira did look up. "Well, Dr. Stoker, there are problems with both of those roles. I've never had any desire to be a glamor girl, and therefore don't need a public relations advisor. And I don't particularly have fond memories of my grade school days. As a matter of fact, my teachers are all dead. So I'll pick neither, thank you."
Of course, the bloody occupation by the Cardassians. Poor choice of words, Ethne. This was going to be one long assignment. Her expression became serious. "Look, Colonel," she said in a let's get right to the point tone, "It appears we both have other matters we'd rather attend to."
"Finally. That's the first thing you've said that I can agree with."
Ethne continued patiently. "If we work together, instead of against each other, this will be easier on both of us. Then we can get back to our real jobs." She said a silent prayer that Kira would see reason and co-operate.
The Bajoran sighed again. "You know, you're right. Prophets help me, I shouldn't be rude to you for my mistake."
Ethne smiled with relief. "Thank you, Colonel."
"You're welcome," she answered, returning her smile. "Okay, let's start at 1300 hours, shall we? It'll give me some time to finish up the rest of this." She indicated a stack of padds at her side.
"Fair enough," she agreed. "I'll go get settled into my quarters. Until then, Colonel." She turned and went back down the lift.
Kira sighed for the third time. What she said to her "babysitter" was true. This was all her fault. Though she had come out on top in her stand-off with Senator Cretak, she was now considered a loose canon by Starfleet.
"I've already stuck my neck out for you once, Colonel," Admiral Ross had scolded her, "I'm not going to do it again. These people," meaning the Romulans, of course, "are our allies now. You need to learn to get along with them. I'm not going to allow you to jeopardize our cordial relations just because you can't control your temper."
The next thing Kira knew, here was Dr. Ethne Stoker, the Federation's expert on the Romulans. Or rather, their nearest available expert. Apparently, she was a former professor at some university on Earth, which Kira had never heard of (and she could not have cared less). Trinity College, or something of the like. At present, she was supposed to be at work on field research.
But she had been pulled from that assignment, and was here to instruct Kira in matters of Romulan culture and etiquette, so that there would be no excuse for the afore mentioned episode to be repeated. If all went well, their sessions would last approximately two weeks. Stoker would give her a passing, if not an excellent mark. Then things would go back to normal, and Admiral Ross could relax.
That was at least Kira's hope anyway.
Meanwhile, Ethne made her way over to her quarters in the habitat ring. She unpacked the bags gathered her notes together. She reviewed them over a quick bite to eat from the replicator.
It was beastly of Starfleet to tear her away from her important work in order to tutor some Bajoran witch. She should have been out in the field, continuing her grandfather's work, and making her invaluable and unique discoveries! This was pathetic!
She was on such an important station, where the Allies tended to meet quite often. Countless ships stopped for repairs, supplies, etc. As a result, there was a tiny fear in the back of her mind, that maybe she might run into unwanted old acquaintance.
No, she decided not to think about that. In any case, the sooner she got away from the front lines, the better.
Finishing her sandwich, she grabbed her padd and headed out the door to meet Kira.
Hurrying across the Promenade, she made a few brief mental notes of the places she wanted to visit later when she had the chance. Whatever else Deep Space Nine was, it was an exciting place to be. There were so many things to see, so much hustle and bustle. And so many aliens! Ethne's scholarly mind was intrigued.
A group of Romulans ahead suddenly caught her attention. As to be expected, her curiosity was piqued. But then she thought she recognized their leader. He was a tall, powerful-looking man with handsome features, who marched with an air of authority.
"No...it can't be," she whispered in alarm. But it was. "Oh, no!" She tried to move off in another direction, but it was too late. He had already seen her. Instead she quickly moved out of their path, and pretended to examine the wares of a nearby vendor's stall.
"Do you make all of these yourself?" she nervously asked the elderly Bajoran woman, turning her back to the Promenade and the passing Romulans. The woman smiled eagerly, and proceeded to tell her all about them, sparing no detail.
The Romulan didn't stop, but she had seen by his expression that he was equally as astonished to see her there, too. Ethne held her breath as he and his soldiers went by. The woman prattled on all the while about how she dug up the clay herself, fashioned it into beads, strung them together, and so on.
When she finally made it back to Kira, she was out of breath and flustered. "I'm sorry for being late, Colonel. I was detained."
"For a while there you had me thinking my prayers had been answered," she joked. Then she noticed the lovely string of beads around Ethne's neck and smiled as though she knew exactly where they had come from. "The Promenade can be a diverting place, wouldn't you agree? Some of those merchants could talk the hind legs off a donkey."
"Yes," she answered, "Very diverting. Shall we begin?" With that, she dived into the first lesson, grateful to that old Bajoran woman, not only for saving her from an extremely awkward situation, but also from having to talk about it afterwards.
Suddenly, Ethne's troubles had gone from annoying to bad. Very bad. This was going to be a long two weeks.
A/N: I've never written a Romulan story before. Please leave me a review if I should continue with this! I've been reading all of the Romulan stories that have been floating around lately, and I decided to jump on the bandwagon. Thanks for the inspiration, all of you girls! Since the bones appear to have been picked clean, these are going to be original characters.