Capital City, Osiris: Town Hall

[gabriel_tam]

The timing of the press conference and his announcement had been carefully planned.

Later that day, waving to the cameras and media captures filming for the evening's newsfeeds, Gabriel and Regan Tam had left Londinium on the first stage of their trip, prior to beginning the outward-arcing tour towards the Border and Rim. The first stop, of course, is Osiris -- the planet that Gabriel Tam represents in Parliament, and the location of the Tam family estate.

Home, in other words.

Still, even a brief vacation at home has its obligations and opportunities, and Gabriel is Osiris's member Senator on the Council of Seven, after all. The first town hall open meeting had been scheduled to take place in Capital City, the evening after their arrival.

He'd seen to it that his security personnel had been informed prior to the announcement as a courtesy. It should have given them plenty of time to arrange matters, and in fact it had.

However, that was before anyone had realized that the Senator would see fit to make a point of declaring his clear confidence regarding his personal safety and security. As a consequence, unbeknownst to Gabriel, hidden cameras trained on all entrances and exits from the venue have been hastily activated in order to keep track of all attendees, each of whom is undergoing an automated ident-scan.

One can't be too careful, after all.

Comments

[gabriel_tam]

"Not exactly," he counters. "A brief report. In any case, I'm not interested in what your file says about you, Dr. Jordan."

A beat. Gabriel's gaze is direct and open.

"I prefer to know a person in and of himself."

[dr_j]

Jordie tilts his head. "You'll forgive my skepticism. If you're not interested in the contents of my file, why bother consulting it -- or a 'brief report' -- in the first place?"

[gabriel_tam]

"You may have noticed," he says, dryly, "that I have something of a zealous security detail."

He gives a very small shrug, accompanied by a wry smile that only pulls at one corner of his mouth; the scar tissue on the other side prevents that side from responding.

"Unfortunately, given certain past events, they've established a few additional screening procedures to allow for quick response in a worst-case situation. We're still trying to find the right balance, I'm afraid."

[dr_j]

Jordie's tone doesn't change. "It's profiling, Senator. It's the kind of thing that can land you in court if your people do that to the wrong person. There's certainly precedent."

Not that anybody's likely to care if it's a Catholic from Fremont.

[gabriel_tam]

"As I said," Gabriel repeats, "we're trying to find the right balance. What happened to you tonight is unforgivable. I accept full responsibility, and I'm sorry for it."

[dr_j]

The corner of his mouth turns up. "Be sorry for yourself. You're the one who's going to get in trouble with the law. I thought it was fun."

[gabriel_tam]

He raises his eyebrows.

"Am I?"

[dr_j]

"If your internal policy dictates that level of profiling, yes. I haven't had an arrest in eight years, and Londinium was a big blank spot in my file. And your people still flagged me. With policies like that?" Jordie shakes his head. "It's a matter of time."

[gabriel_tam]

"Duly noted," Gabriel allows.

A beat.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, at least."

[dr_j]

Jordie snorts. "I'm sure. Let's stay on point, shall we? Why am I here?"

[gabriel_tam]

"Because, Dr. Jordan, I did want to apologize again -- but also to take the chance to meet you," he replies, with perfect aplomb.

A beat.

"Why did you agree to come back here?"

[dr_j]

"To find out why a man like you would want to waste his valuable time on a man like me."

His head is canted to the right.

"We can do the verbal fencing thing for hours, you know."

[gabriel_tam]

"I suppose we could," Gabriel says dryly, "but perhaps we might instead consider being frank?"

[dr_j]

"Absolutely." Jordie folds his arms a little tighter, resettling his center of balance. "What do you want from me?"

[gabriel_tam]

He raises his eyebrows.

"I just told you."

A beat.

"What do you mean, 'a man like you?'"

[dr_j]

Half a smile; it's not particularly warm. "The kind of man who'd mouth off to a senator. You met me. Now what?"

[gabriel_tam]

"You're not the first I've met who'd gladly do that, I'm afraid, and you won't be the last," Gabriel tells him, matter-of-factly.

"Now it's up to you. You're welcome to stay longer and talk for a bit, if there's anything you'd like to discuss or ask in a more private setting -- I noticed you didn't ask any questions during the session-- or you're welcome to join the reception in the next room, or you're certainly free to leave, if you'd prefer."

[dr_j]

A fair chunk of the cynicism is out of his posture by the time Gabriel is finished speaking.

And a lot of it's gone from his tone, too. "Meaning that you don't have anything you'd like to discuss or ask in a more private setting. No -- how'd you put it. 'Other matters'. Is that it?"

[gabriel_tam]

He shakes his head.

"No 'other matters,' Dr. Jordan. No hidden agenda. Nothing more than what I said before. I merely wanted to meet you."

A beat, and a small, half-wry quirk of the unscarred side of his mouth.

"And to apologize, but I believe we've covered that ground already."

[dr_j]

"So you're not going to bring it up?"

[gabriel_tam]

He could dissemble, could return to the 'verbal fencing' of before, but there's absolutely no point in doing so. Gabriel meets Jordan's glance.

"Not unless you are."

Perhaps oddly, there's no defensiveness in either tone or stance; nothing but a quiet acceptance.

[dr_j]

"I don't think I have anything to say about it."

He slips his hands in his pockets, and if the suit in the corner doesn't like it, big deal. "Except for maybe one thing. Is that really why you pulled me back here?"

A slightly crooked smile. "If so, you could've said. And if so -- I thought the thirty seconds at commencement would have been more than enough for you."

[gabriel_tam]

Gabriel laughs.

"You know, it's actually not." He shakes his head. "No, Dr. Jordan. When Bajian Li -- he's the head of my security detail, you haven't actually met him -- brought me the word that the 'gentleman who'd been involved in the earlier situation' was still in the hall, I told him to extend you the invitation that you received."

"It wasn't until word came back that you'd accepted that Mark gave me the brief report, so I could know who I'd be meeting."

A beat, and a straightforward look.

"I didn't expect it to be you. I can't say that I regret it, though."

[dr_j]

Jordie shrugs, a little uncomfortably, and glances at the door.

Then, abrupt:

"He doesn't know I'm here. And I wasn't planning to tell him."

[gabriel_tam]

He raises his eyebrows at that, but says, mildly,

"All right."

The obvious question goes unsaid, but perhaps not unasked.

Why not?