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Meeting of Minds
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2024 by Walter Reimer
Prompt: lowering
Thumbnail art by
technicolor_pie, color by 
Major Matt Mason
Anulka-Mei Balakrishnan paused as the door opened, but only for a split second. It wouldn’t do to show hesitation, as if she might be having second thoughts.
Or fear.
The door closed behind her, and the roebuck behind the desk at the far end of the room smiled. “Foreign Minister! Fair day,” ‘M’ said.
“Fair day,” she said almost automatically. “Thank you for agreeing to speak with me,” she added, acknowledging that she had come to him, was essentially acting subordinate to the roebuck, and requesting his assistance.
His smile broadened as he, too, realized that the role that she had adopted and he was being forced to play. “Please have a seat, Balakrishnan-jih. And please remember that we are both on the same side.”
The Dhole-Akita smirked. “No need to patronize me, Director. You are on your side, and you know it.” Nevertheless, she sat down and glanced down at her paws (another gesture of subordination, and she hated herself for it) before meeting his gaze. “I have a very particular problem, and I wish to speak to you about it.”
An eyebrow quirked. “And?”
She frowned. “Ask you for your assistance, of course.”
“Very good,” he practically purred. “Now, what is your problem, Minister?”
“Several months ago,” Balakrishnan said, “I received a message. No record of the sender.”
“I see. What was the message?”
“Thirty pieces of silver, and a hardcopy note that read ‘We know what you did, traitor.’”
The roebuck’s ears swiveled. “That’s rather theatrical,” he said musingly. “Why would they think that of you?”
The canine took a deep breath. “During our incursion into Kashlanin space, I was brought to the Imperial commander on Downtime Station. I was confronted with the data that Task Force Two was headed for their Home System, and – and I told them that something had been discussed.”
‘M’ nodded. “That was under my predecessor’s tenure as Director.” He pursed his lips and visibly arrived at a decision. “You were marked for assassination.”
Balakrishnan blinked. “The Political Officer?”
“Exactly,” he replied in obvious pleasure at her conclusion. “I believe we determined that Colonial Intelligence had found a way to kill him before he could carry out his mission.” His smile broadened. “That artist who visited Downtime when he – ah, had his unfortunate accident.”
Well, that cleared that up, not that Balakrishnan cared at this point. “After receiving the message,” she said, resuming her story, “I received a call on my padd from – well, it could have been whoever sent the message.”
His ears went up. “Interesting. Did they leave a record of the call on your padd?”
“No. I had the Ministry’s Technical Section inspect it.”
“You could have brought it to me,” ‘M’ said evenly. “What did the caller say?”
“Basically, they threatened to tell you that I had spoken with the Kashlani.”
The roebuck seemed amused by this. “So you’ve preempted them by coming to me. Well done,” and he just managed to avoid saying it in a patronizing tone. “What did they want you to do?”
“’A word here, or there, in the right ear at the right moment.’”
‘M’ gave a short bark of a laugh. “Like I said, theatrical. Well, Balakrishnan-jih, you did the right thing by telling me about this. I will supply you with another padd, prepared by my technicians; if whoever spoke to you speaks again, we’ll know of it and who sent it.” He stood and extended a paw. “Thank you for coming to me with this, Minister.”
Balakrishnan felt demeaned to shake his paw and be dismissed by him. She kept her goodbyes perfunctory and left the office as quickly as decorum allowed.
Now alone in his office, ‘M’ frowned in thought. One of the various languages that had contributed to one of the core languages in Terran Basic had a word for what was being done to Balakrishnan: nervenkrieg. It essentially meant psychological pressure.
But he hadn’t ordered it. Any subordinate who had would have been an ex-subordinate in very short order.
So who had?
Hmm . . .
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2024 by Walter Reimer
Prompt: lowering
Thumbnail art by
technicolor_pie, color by 
Major Matt MasonAnulka-Mei Balakrishnan paused as the door opened, but only for a split second. It wouldn’t do to show hesitation, as if she might be having second thoughts.
Or fear.
The door closed behind her, and the roebuck behind the desk at the far end of the room smiled. “Foreign Minister! Fair day,” ‘M’ said.
“Fair day,” she said almost automatically. “Thank you for agreeing to speak with me,” she added, acknowledging that she had come to him, was essentially acting subordinate to the roebuck, and requesting his assistance.
His smile broadened as he, too, realized that the role that she had adopted and he was being forced to play. “Please have a seat, Balakrishnan-jih. And please remember that we are both on the same side.”
The Dhole-Akita smirked. “No need to patronize me, Director. You are on your side, and you know it.” Nevertheless, she sat down and glanced down at her paws (another gesture of subordination, and she hated herself for it) before meeting his gaze. “I have a very particular problem, and I wish to speak to you about it.”
An eyebrow quirked. “And?”
She frowned. “Ask you for your assistance, of course.”
“Very good,” he practically purred. “Now, what is your problem, Minister?”
“Several months ago,” Balakrishnan said, “I received a message. No record of the sender.”
“I see. What was the message?”
“Thirty pieces of silver, and a hardcopy note that read ‘We know what you did, traitor.’”
The roebuck’s ears swiveled. “That’s rather theatrical,” he said musingly. “Why would they think that of you?”
The canine took a deep breath. “During our incursion into Kashlanin space, I was brought to the Imperial commander on Downtime Station. I was confronted with the data that Task Force Two was headed for their Home System, and – and I told them that something had been discussed.”
‘M’ nodded. “That was under my predecessor’s tenure as Director.” He pursed his lips and visibly arrived at a decision. “You were marked for assassination.”
Balakrishnan blinked. “The Political Officer?”
“Exactly,” he replied in obvious pleasure at her conclusion. “I believe we determined that Colonial Intelligence had found a way to kill him before he could carry out his mission.” His smile broadened. “That artist who visited Downtime when he – ah, had his unfortunate accident.”
Well, that cleared that up, not that Balakrishnan cared at this point. “After receiving the message,” she said, resuming her story, “I received a call on my padd from – well, it could have been whoever sent the message.”
His ears went up. “Interesting. Did they leave a record of the call on your padd?”
“No. I had the Ministry’s Technical Section inspect it.”
“You could have brought it to me,” ‘M’ said evenly. “What did the caller say?”
“Basically, they threatened to tell you that I had spoken with the Kashlani.”
The roebuck seemed amused by this. “So you’ve preempted them by coming to me. Well done,” and he just managed to avoid saying it in a patronizing tone. “What did they want you to do?”
“’A word here, or there, in the right ear at the right moment.’”
‘M’ gave a short bark of a laugh. “Like I said, theatrical. Well, Balakrishnan-jih, you did the right thing by telling me about this. I will supply you with another padd, prepared by my technicians; if whoever spoke to you speaks again, we’ll know of it and who sent it.” He stood and extended a paw. “Thank you for coming to me with this, Minister.”
Balakrishnan felt demeaned to shake his paw and be dismissed by him. She kept her goodbyes perfunctory and left the office as quickly as decorum allowed.
Now alone in his office, ‘M’ frowned in thought. One of the various languages that had contributed to one of the core languages in Terran Basic had a word for what was being done to Balakrishnan: nervenkrieg. It essentially meant psychological pressure.
But he hadn’t ordered it. Any subordinate who had would have been an ex-subordinate in very short order.
So who had?
Hmm . . .
Category Story / General Furry Art
Species Dhole
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 36.4 kB
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