Shades of Green - Part 3

Zedd had let the introductions run their course with the patience of someone who knew when to stay out of the way and when to move things forward. He looked at Tiraa now with the same easy directness he had brought to the dinner the night before, comfortable in the space between pleasantries and business without rushing either direction.

"We have a conference room on Deck two," he said, nodding toward the bay exit. "Quieter than the shuttlebay and the chairs are better." He glanced once at the D'vara in a way that acknowledged it without making a thing of it, then back to Tiraa. "I'd like to hear what you're thinking in terms of how this works practically. What you need from us, what we can expect from you. Get it out of the abstract and onto the table." He gestured toward the corridor with a slight tilt of his head. "Rallid is welcome as well. I'll have Mei-Lin join us. She'll want to know the ship's requirements before anything gets agreed to."

“Of course.” Tiraa agreed without hesitation. This was the flow of business and she knew it well; she preferred that he wanted to make sure everything was understood before commitments were made. So many would simply rush things along without reading the proverbial fine print. She began walking to the door but was slow enough that Zedd could either walk next to her or take the lead.

“Did you get the ship freshly painted? It wasn’t as beat up as I was expecting.”

Zedd matched her pace without getting ahead of it, hands loose at his sides, and considered the question for a moment longer than it strictly needed.

"She's not as young as she looks," he said. "Previous owner had standards, or needed her to appear that way, which comes to the same thing in the end." He glanced back at the Dutchman briefly, the way he had found himself doing more often than he expected since the title transferred, then looked forward again. "I've had her long enough to know what's underneath the paint is worth more than the paint. That's usually what you actually want to know." He said it without edge, more observation than deflection, and let it sit between them comfortably as they walked. "I suspect you already knew that before you asked."

“I don’t know everything, you know.” Tiraa laughed softly, the sound light and drifting. It didn’t confirm or deny his suspicion of course. “Tell me a bit more about this ship. We didn’t get to discuss too many particulars about it last night and I am curious to hear what you as the captain think of her.”

"Saber class," Zedd said. "Thirty years old give or take, which in Starfleet terms means she was built to last and in privateer terms means she has history I don't know the full shape of yet." He walked easily, not checking the corridor ahead, comfortable enough on his own ship to give his attention to the conversation instead. "Fast for her size. Maneuverable. She was designed as a patrol vessel so she thinks in terms of quick decisions and tight approaches, which suits the kind of work I intend to do with her." He paused a beat. "She's also smaller than she reads on approach, which I find useful. People tend to underestimate what she can do until she's already done it."

He glanced at Tiraa with the quiet candor that had come and gone through dinner the night before, the version of him that was not performing anything in particular. "I like her," he said, which was simpler than everything that preceded it and probably more honest. "I didn't expect to as quickly as I did. She has a particular character to her and the crew she's collected so far matches it in ways I couldn't have planned for." He held the door to the turbolift open with one hand. "Deck two," he said, and looked at Tiraa as she stepped in. "What made you curious about the ship specifically, rather than the contract?"

“Does it surprise you so much that I would be interested in the place I intend to live for the foreseeable future?” The challenge was mild but there. She stepped into the turbolift with him, and when Rallid followed it became considerably more cramped. The man was large and something about him said that it wasn’t just for show either.

“I’m curious about many things, Captain, but it’s only useful to cover one topic at a time.”

Zedd looked at Rallid for a moment in the way you looked at something that had just rearranged the available geometry of a space, then shifted his weight slightly without making it obvious and looked back at Tiraa.