Interlude – An Unexpected Encounter
by Lieutenant T'Pal & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek
Post Details
ON:
When Malcolm Cane sank to his knees, T'Pal was already on her way to the hotel where she had a room. It was not the most complicated hit she had ever performed, but it was highly effective. Her Klingon nature always wanted a more dramatic flair, but that was illogical and could get her caught. Sometimes she indulged, like she did with X'aedell and in that case, that was a very good decision.
She had been very unsettled about the contract to kill X'aedell Kelan, niece of the Captain of the IKS D'ama, a flag ship of the High Council in this very fleet. So she had decided to follow the most honorable route, namely engaging her in hand to hand combat. Kelan was a good fighter and would have had some chance to defend herself. Kelan's husband, Charg, had intervened though, having been alerted of the hit on his wife. Kretorg had called the contract off.
This was not the case with Cane.
He was involved in distributing 21st century drugs and could be involved in human trafficking too. That justified his demise at her hand. There were many ways to do this, but she chose the one of least resistance. Vulcan or no Vulcan, she felt the compulsion to look her victim in the eye. Which she did. In fact she walked right past him, touched his hand when she passed him, placing a microprobe in his skin. Like the listening device, it would burrow through the layers of skin, but would continue till in the blood stream and make it's way to his heart. There it would find it's way to the heart and by interrupting the nerve impulses permanently, would cause arrhythmia and heart failure. At this point the microprobe would self destruct, releasing millions of enzymes, the same released by the lysosomes af a human cell, during infarction, or necrosis. It would leave no evidence as its biologically based components would also be destroyed by theses enzymes
By the time medical would get to him, it would be too late to revive him. The damage to the heart tissue would be too severe.
When the probe self destructed, it sent a small signal to a receiver in T"Pal's hand, which she then dumped into a nearby recycling receptacle. Her contract complete, she could now send information she had gathered, anonymously to the Intelligence office on the base. Using a console in the promenade, she transferred the data.
In the crowd Isha saw a face she recognised. “Stop!” she said, feeling like a prisoner being escorted between locations, but after all, that was what she was, no matter how one dressed it up. She was the Stelam Shiar, and she must be protected.
“Saren,” Isha said to the big man in her bodyguard, “Accompany me.”
Saren nodded, motioning for the woman to lead the way as his eyes scanned their surroundings. One of the remaining guards motioned for the other two to take up their appropriate positions as they stopped.
Isha stopped about six feet away and waited until the hybrid turned, T'Pal was not the sort of person that one wished to startle at close quarters.
"T'Pal," Isha said staring directly at her.
The console to the right of T'Pal chirped that the information had been delivered. If she was surprised, she didn't show it. A mere lift of her one eyebrow indicated that she had not expected to be addressed. "Ambassador," she replied, her eyes quickly summing up Isha's entourage. There were one close to her, one further back, watching her intently and then the two backups. There could be more, but she gave her attention back to Isha, even if all that only took a split second.
Isha walked forward, a tall and elegant cane taking the weight of her right leg as she did so. "Leave us, Saren" she said.
The tall Gai'Shian officer studied the woman the Ambassador had stopped with, filing away her appearance in his head. He nodded respectfully to t'Khellian before retreating to a respectful distance.
"Is it just T'Pal?" she asked looking over the woman who had once risked so much on Isha's behalf in the name of 'duty'. "I trust that you either found grounds that I told you the truth, or else my lies lacked the conviction to interest you," Isha said.
An almost smile curled the one side of T'Pal's mouth. "Will we ever really know?" she asked a rhetorical question. Their prior relationship was based on acceptable risk and common ground, namely a common enemy and it sufficed. Her eyes rested on the cane for a moment and them went back to study Isha's features in more detail. Though she hid it well, not seeing someone for a while could amplify otherwise subtle changes. It was just in the fine lines around the Romulan's eyes, the pull of her mouth that told a story of personal strain. This was different, there was something more.
"I am no longer Starfleet, I work on my own," T'Pal answered her question. Isha would know exactly what she meant. On this station, no one know more about her than the woman that stood before her.
Isha nodded and smiled the slightest smile. "I'm sure that I will know when you decide," she said, "one way or the other. For now if you would join me at my table there is something I would like to talk to you about." The table that Isha suggested was inside a small tea shop just off the main promenade, a location that afforded a surprisingly good view of comings and goings in this quarter of the station. The quarter most notably furthest from the entrance to the Cardassian embassy.
TPal followed the gracious woman, even with the cane. She couldn't help but wonder what caused her to have to use it. "Interesting location," she commented as she swept her surroundings. "What do you want to discuss with me?" T'Pal asked curiously.
Isha glanced at her escort, "Some privacy, please," she suggested said resting the cane against the table as she waited.
Maiell sighed, unable to hide his frustration very well. But he complied, walking a few feet away from the two women. Motioning with his hand, the other three guards followed him, taking up positions around the Ambassador and her acquaintance but keeping their distance as well.
She stared at the woman opposite, the one who had been inside her mind, who knew some of the memories that Isha had long repressed, memories that until then were inaccessible even to herself. "I remain in your debt, and impressed by your abiltities. Had I been in your place I would be dead," she said without elaborating, that was not necessary. What had occurred on the USS Freedom when they had contrived to make Isha’s brother in law expose his part in the attack on DS5 had been bad enough to watch once without either of them having to relive the experience. "I apologise, T'Pal, I am avoiding the subject about which I wish to speak," she admitted seeing the expression on the other woman's face. T’Pal did not have much time for prevarication, Isha recalled so she brought her conversation closer to the point.
"I have a job for you, if you are interested," Isha said resting one hand on the tabletop. The other massaged her knee as if the touch of her own fingers could relieve a pain that modern medicine could not.
There was no need to beat around the proverbial bush. They were connected in a way few people had to privilege to be. Too many words and questions would be superfluous. "This is personal, I gather," she remarked, her tone of voice affirming that she would consider to do work for her. There was no doubt in her mind that Isha paid well and that her talk was good. Not being able to see Isha's hand, her heightened sense of hearing picked up on the stroking movement of her fingers on the fabric of her dress.
Isha’s gaze wandered over the woman’s face. In her eyes there was still something uneasy about the merging of Klingon features with Vulcanoid ones, but that was not what was important. The important thing was that if T’Pal accepted her commission she would get the job done. “It is personal,” she confirmed. “I wish the Cardassian Ambassador to die,” Isha said finally reaching her point, “I don’t care how long it takes, or what method you choose to achieve it,” Isha told her suspecting that T’Pal would demand to know why before she gave an answer.
Isha stretched out her fingers and gazed at her fingernails, painted deep red and perfectly polished they reflected the light that filtered through the shop window from the promenade. That was what she had to be, perfect and serene, the embodiment of the Stelam Shiar - It had become a conspiracy, nobody knew about her shame except herself, Getal who had perpetrated it, t’Merek who had found her, and the doctor who had treated her – but it was not just the act itself. Yes, Getal had violated her body but symbolically the Cardassian Union had raped the Star Empire, Isha required revenge both for her own honour and for that of her people.
Once again, T'Pal's eyebrow shot up. "I don’t eliminate people to satisfy the whims of people who get themselves in trouble... " she remarked. "Not that I believe that is the case with you, I am only informing you that I want to know why... but that you know. And more so with a high profile mark like this," she said, watching Isha carefully, making note of every nuance she observed. "And I cannot tell how long it would take....it would need special preparation," she said slowly. There was something deeply personal to it, even T'Pal could see that. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she could swear that self contained ambassador would like to see him suffer somehow.
There was no need to discuss the political and diplomatic repercussions should she be caught or it came to light who exactly was behind such an attempt, that much was clear. This was not the first high profile hit T'Pal was contracted for, so she had experience on her side. Her brown eyes gazed into Isha's, as if she wanted to peek into her familiar mind.
Isha did not posess T’Pal’s icy indifference to life. She might be able to see that whatever was necessary was done but it would never be a decision she took on a whim. Isha would struggle with her own conscience even when the life in question belonged to someone she despised as much as Getal.
“Tharek Getal wishes to destroy me, something he has set about doing piece by piece,” Isha told her. “He acts with impunity because everyone is afraid of him. I will not lie to you, T’Pal, I count myself among that number, but unlike everyone else I will not pander to the ego of a preening would-be despot and he knows it. He has threatened me, assaulted me, he has undermined my authority in my own consulate while subjecting me to a systematic program of intimidation, and now he has raped me. Nobody seems prepared to stop him except me, and that I will do, even if I die for it,” she said fiercely, "I lack the strength and the skill to do it with my own hand," she added.
A seething anger rose in the hybrid, heating her body beyond Vulcan control. Her usually cold eyes now burnt white hot with this sudden rage, even if she had suspected something along these lines. Her fingers gripped the sides of the table as foul Klingon curses escaped her lips, just above a whisper. Her chin tilted slightly upwards as she turned the heat of the moment into ice cold determination. "That Cardassian bIHnuch [coward], he deserves to be treated as he treated you..." she said seething still. "He does not deserve a quick death..... he will be violated... like he did you...." she concluded.
Isha bit her lower lip, rolling it between her teeth as she watched T'Pal. Their acquaintance had been brief and somehow it had never occurred to her that a fiery passion might lurk beneath the controlled exterior; she realised it now seeing T'Pal's rightious outrage on her behalf.
"You are right of course," Isha said with a gentle nod, somewhat at odds with the hard words that followed, "He must learn that actions have consequences. I want him thinking that every bottle is poisoned, every face he thought he could trust might conceal an enemy. I want him to realise that power exercised without restraint is a very fragile thing, and before he dies I want him to see that the power he coveted so much has been plucked from between his grasping fingers. He told me, T'Pal that he would break the foundations of everything I hold dear, of everything that I treasure," Isha said, relating part of his threat to her, "That is what I want to achieve and then, perhaps he will beg you to kill him, for that is what he hopes to drive me to."
Her lips moved in a hint of a smile as she nodded in agreement. This was a hunt TPal would personally take pleasure from, but she could not allow it to impair her judgment. "Though this is the way it should be done, it increases the risk considerably," T'Pal commented, now calm again, her cold demeanor in place again, as she calculated the risk in her mind. "The more I do, the greater the risk of capture by the Cardassians. If he runs to station security, I would have that on my tail too," she said.
This was T’Pal’s area of expertise, not Isha’s so she did not comment. Instead she chose to do something that might be of use to T’Pal. Wary though she was of distributing information that came from such a classified source Isha fished an isolinear data rod out of a pocket in her skirt – on it was stored a copy of the dossier she had requested from R’Vek – she reasoned that something within it might improve T’Pal’s chances of success.
“It contains the Tal’Shiar’s full record on Getal,” Isha told her sliding the rod across the table, she did not offer any explanation as to how she came to possess it. “What compensation do you require?” Isha asked.
This type of work would require more compensation than most people could even begin to comprehend, but of course Isha was not one of those. Her hand reached forward to take the precious rod, which she inspected while she thought her answer through. "This is not a once off and I will require resources as we continue," she stated.
“I understand,” Isha replied. She waved to one of her escort, who leaned down to hear her. As she whispered something, he nodded and handed her a padd. As he once again retreated to a respectable distance Isha entered an initial figure. In addition she entered a code before handing the padd to T'Pal, "I believe that should be adequate to be going on with," she said reflecting that she might have to sell some of her holding in the hiera rhienn’arrenh shipping line if she was to see this through. It would be a blow to lose the controlling interest in that venture, but it was the source of funding most rapidly liquified and least traceable to Isha. "The funds will be available within an hour," she continued, "I will consider any reasonable addtional expense."
T'Pal took the Padd and looked at the figure then studied the face of the woman across from her. ~This was costing her~ she thought as her eyes dropped to the figure again. In actual fact, no monetary value could be placed on the risk of what she had agreed to. It could not only cost her her life, but it would cost her her life at the hand of the Cardassian, and no one could calculate that.
During the Dominion war, she had to get close to Gul Gerak, and then kill him. Which she did. To achieve her aim, she had to sleep with him. She did that too. But then she was working for the Federation in a war, and she had received no payment for it. This was not a war and she was not employed by the Federation. "This will suffice for now," she said at the generous figure. T'Pal was not greedy, that would be illogical. She did this because this was who she was, not because she had no other way to survive. "If and when I do need more, I will let you know, but I think you know that I am not unreasonable. It would be illogical to destroy my source of income," she said dryly, a rare moment of humor.
"My dear T'Pal," Isha said softly, "If I thought you viewed me that way I would not have approached you. There are any number of bandits who would kill without compunction if paid and demand constant payment afterwards." Isha said, "You find my situation offensive, your own response tells me that, but we are not friends, so I cannot allow you to do what you must without recompense."
"Friends we are not, in fact, I think *friendship* is overrated," T'Pal responded, with Vulcan-like detachment. "I prefer alliances, it is far better controlled," she expressed her opinion. "There always seemed to be a high emotional content in *friendships* which could impair one's judgement," she continued. The one side of her mouth twitched in a half smile. "And yet I engaged in this contract, which I would hardly do for anyone else," she said with some irony.
Isha leaned forward raising her hand to T'Pal's brow. Quite slowly she drew it down over her cheek to her chin amazed that T'Pal could still be intact. "I already owe you so much," she said, letting her hand drop back to the table. "I respect you, T'Pal, I don't need to like you, nor do I need for you to like me."
T'Pal hardly allowed anyone to touch her, except whne she needed distinct *entertainment*. But she sat unmoving as the fingers grazed over her skin. No quick response to grip the wrist and fick it away. T'Pal was quite certain that not many people ever really gain the very discerning Isha's respect. "I value respect far more than *like*, so I thank you for the compliment."
"It is well deserved," Isha said with no intent to flatter. "I came out today in search of a solution, and I found one that I did not expect to see. If you will forgive me I am not altogether comfortable being out in public at this time," she continued as she rose. "If you require anything further please direct your request via the Kaesa Consortium, the message will reach me. I think it would not be wise for us to meet in person."
T"Pal dipped her head slowly in agreement and leaned back in the chair as she watched the elegant Romulan, walking stick in spite, rose and walk away. The rod in her hand contained crucial information and should not be left lying around anywhere. For the next hour, after loading the information on a padd, she memorized it so she could destroy it if needed. Only then did she get up, carefully observing her own environment and proceeded to destroy the padd in a recycling unit and made her way to her hotel room. There she replicated a tiny pouch to store the rod, it would be safest on her person.
Perhaps a visit to the Box of Delights for some *entertainment* would be a good choice now. It would give her time to think....
OFF
T'Pal
Who knows?
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Finding a way back to what she counts as 'normal'
plus NPCs by Maja
by Lieutenant T'Pal & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek
Post Details
| Title | An Unexpected Encounter | |
| Mission | Interlude | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant T'Pal & Commander Isha t'Vaurek & (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek | |
| Posted | Tue Jun 08, 2010 @ 7:47am | |
| Location | A Tea Shop, Promenade | |
| Timeline | SD 23 |
When Malcolm Cane sank to his knees, T'Pal was already on her way to the hotel where she had a room. It was not the most complicated hit she had ever performed, but it was highly effective. Her Klingon nature always wanted a more dramatic flair, but that was illogical and could get her caught. Sometimes she indulged, like she did with X'aedell and in that case, that was a very good decision.
She had been very unsettled about the contract to kill X'aedell Kelan, niece of the Captain of the IKS D'ama, a flag ship of the High Council in this very fleet. So she had decided to follow the most honorable route, namely engaging her in hand to hand combat. Kelan was a good fighter and would have had some chance to defend herself. Kelan's husband, Charg, had intervened though, having been alerted of the hit on his wife. Kretorg had called the contract off.
This was not the case with Cane.
He was involved in distributing 21st century drugs and could be involved in human trafficking too. That justified his demise at her hand. There were many ways to do this, but she chose the one of least resistance. Vulcan or no Vulcan, she felt the compulsion to look her victim in the eye. Which she did. In fact she walked right past him, touched his hand when she passed him, placing a microprobe in his skin. Like the listening device, it would burrow through the layers of skin, but would continue till in the blood stream and make it's way to his heart. There it would find it's way to the heart and by interrupting the nerve impulses permanently, would cause arrhythmia and heart failure. At this point the microprobe would self destruct, releasing millions of enzymes, the same released by the lysosomes af a human cell, during infarction, or necrosis. It would leave no evidence as its biologically based components would also be destroyed by theses enzymes
By the time medical would get to him, it would be too late to revive him. The damage to the heart tissue would be too severe.
When the probe self destructed, it sent a small signal to a receiver in T"Pal's hand, which she then dumped into a nearby recycling receptacle. Her contract complete, she could now send information she had gathered, anonymously to the Intelligence office on the base. Using a console in the promenade, she transferred the data.
In the crowd Isha saw a face she recognised. “Stop!” she said, feeling like a prisoner being escorted between locations, but after all, that was what she was, no matter how one dressed it up. She was the Stelam Shiar, and she must be protected.
“Saren,” Isha said to the big man in her bodyguard, “Accompany me.”
Saren nodded, motioning for the woman to lead the way as his eyes scanned their surroundings. One of the remaining guards motioned for the other two to take up their appropriate positions as they stopped.
Isha stopped about six feet away and waited until the hybrid turned, T'Pal was not the sort of person that one wished to startle at close quarters.
"T'Pal," Isha said staring directly at her.
The console to the right of T'Pal chirped that the information had been delivered. If she was surprised, she didn't show it. A mere lift of her one eyebrow indicated that she had not expected to be addressed. "Ambassador," she replied, her eyes quickly summing up Isha's entourage. There were one close to her, one further back, watching her intently and then the two backups. There could be more, but she gave her attention back to Isha, even if all that only took a split second.
Isha walked forward, a tall and elegant cane taking the weight of her right leg as she did so. "Leave us, Saren" she said.
The tall Gai'Shian officer studied the woman the Ambassador had stopped with, filing away her appearance in his head. He nodded respectfully to t'Khellian before retreating to a respectful distance.
"Is it just T'Pal?" she asked looking over the woman who had once risked so much on Isha's behalf in the name of 'duty'. "I trust that you either found grounds that I told you the truth, or else my lies lacked the conviction to interest you," Isha said.
An almost smile curled the one side of T'Pal's mouth. "Will we ever really know?" she asked a rhetorical question. Their prior relationship was based on acceptable risk and common ground, namely a common enemy and it sufficed. Her eyes rested on the cane for a moment and them went back to study Isha's features in more detail. Though she hid it well, not seeing someone for a while could amplify otherwise subtle changes. It was just in the fine lines around the Romulan's eyes, the pull of her mouth that told a story of personal strain. This was different, there was something more.
"I am no longer Starfleet, I work on my own," T'Pal answered her question. Isha would know exactly what she meant. On this station, no one know more about her than the woman that stood before her.
Isha nodded and smiled the slightest smile. "I'm sure that I will know when you decide," she said, "one way or the other. For now if you would join me at my table there is something I would like to talk to you about." The table that Isha suggested was inside a small tea shop just off the main promenade, a location that afforded a surprisingly good view of comings and goings in this quarter of the station. The quarter most notably furthest from the entrance to the Cardassian embassy.
TPal followed the gracious woman, even with the cane. She couldn't help but wonder what caused her to have to use it. "Interesting location," she commented as she swept her surroundings. "What do you want to discuss with me?" T'Pal asked curiously.
Isha glanced at her escort, "Some privacy, please," she suggested said resting the cane against the table as she waited.
Maiell sighed, unable to hide his frustration very well. But he complied, walking a few feet away from the two women. Motioning with his hand, the other three guards followed him, taking up positions around the Ambassador and her acquaintance but keeping their distance as well.
She stared at the woman opposite, the one who had been inside her mind, who knew some of the memories that Isha had long repressed, memories that until then were inaccessible even to herself. "I remain in your debt, and impressed by your abiltities. Had I been in your place I would be dead," she said without elaborating, that was not necessary. What had occurred on the USS Freedom when they had contrived to make Isha’s brother in law expose his part in the attack on DS5 had been bad enough to watch once without either of them having to relive the experience. "I apologise, T'Pal, I am avoiding the subject about which I wish to speak," she admitted seeing the expression on the other woman's face. T’Pal did not have much time for prevarication, Isha recalled so she brought her conversation closer to the point.
"I have a job for you, if you are interested," Isha said resting one hand on the tabletop. The other massaged her knee as if the touch of her own fingers could relieve a pain that modern medicine could not.
There was no need to beat around the proverbial bush. They were connected in a way few people had to privilege to be. Too many words and questions would be superfluous. "This is personal, I gather," she remarked, her tone of voice affirming that she would consider to do work for her. There was no doubt in her mind that Isha paid well and that her talk was good. Not being able to see Isha's hand, her heightened sense of hearing picked up on the stroking movement of her fingers on the fabric of her dress.
Isha’s gaze wandered over the woman’s face. In her eyes there was still something uneasy about the merging of Klingon features with Vulcanoid ones, but that was not what was important. The important thing was that if T’Pal accepted her commission she would get the job done. “It is personal,” she confirmed. “I wish the Cardassian Ambassador to die,” Isha said finally reaching her point, “I don’t care how long it takes, or what method you choose to achieve it,” Isha told her suspecting that T’Pal would demand to know why before she gave an answer.
Isha stretched out her fingers and gazed at her fingernails, painted deep red and perfectly polished they reflected the light that filtered through the shop window from the promenade. That was what she had to be, perfect and serene, the embodiment of the Stelam Shiar - It had become a conspiracy, nobody knew about her shame except herself, Getal who had perpetrated it, t’Merek who had found her, and the doctor who had treated her – but it was not just the act itself. Yes, Getal had violated her body but symbolically the Cardassian Union had raped the Star Empire, Isha required revenge both for her own honour and for that of her people.
Once again, T'Pal's eyebrow shot up. "I don’t eliminate people to satisfy the whims of people who get themselves in trouble... " she remarked. "Not that I believe that is the case with you, I am only informing you that I want to know why... but that you know. And more so with a high profile mark like this," she said, watching Isha carefully, making note of every nuance she observed. "And I cannot tell how long it would take....it would need special preparation," she said slowly. There was something deeply personal to it, even T'Pal could see that. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she could swear that self contained ambassador would like to see him suffer somehow.
There was no need to discuss the political and diplomatic repercussions should she be caught or it came to light who exactly was behind such an attempt, that much was clear. This was not the first high profile hit T'Pal was contracted for, so she had experience on her side. Her brown eyes gazed into Isha's, as if she wanted to peek into her familiar mind.
Isha did not posess T’Pal’s icy indifference to life. She might be able to see that whatever was necessary was done but it would never be a decision she took on a whim. Isha would struggle with her own conscience even when the life in question belonged to someone she despised as much as Getal.
“Tharek Getal wishes to destroy me, something he has set about doing piece by piece,” Isha told her. “He acts with impunity because everyone is afraid of him. I will not lie to you, T’Pal, I count myself among that number, but unlike everyone else I will not pander to the ego of a preening would-be despot and he knows it. He has threatened me, assaulted me, he has undermined my authority in my own consulate while subjecting me to a systematic program of intimidation, and now he has raped me. Nobody seems prepared to stop him except me, and that I will do, even if I die for it,” she said fiercely, "I lack the strength and the skill to do it with my own hand," she added.
A seething anger rose in the hybrid, heating her body beyond Vulcan control. Her usually cold eyes now burnt white hot with this sudden rage, even if she had suspected something along these lines. Her fingers gripped the sides of the table as foul Klingon curses escaped her lips, just above a whisper. Her chin tilted slightly upwards as she turned the heat of the moment into ice cold determination. "That Cardassian bIHnuch [coward], he deserves to be treated as he treated you..." she said seething still. "He does not deserve a quick death..... he will be violated... like he did you...." she concluded.
Isha bit her lower lip, rolling it between her teeth as she watched T'Pal. Their acquaintance had been brief and somehow it had never occurred to her that a fiery passion might lurk beneath the controlled exterior; she realised it now seeing T'Pal's rightious outrage on her behalf.
"You are right of course," Isha said with a gentle nod, somewhat at odds with the hard words that followed, "He must learn that actions have consequences. I want him thinking that every bottle is poisoned, every face he thought he could trust might conceal an enemy. I want him to realise that power exercised without restraint is a very fragile thing, and before he dies I want him to see that the power he coveted so much has been plucked from between his grasping fingers. He told me, T'Pal that he would break the foundations of everything I hold dear, of everything that I treasure," Isha said, relating part of his threat to her, "That is what I want to achieve and then, perhaps he will beg you to kill him, for that is what he hopes to drive me to."
Her lips moved in a hint of a smile as she nodded in agreement. This was a hunt TPal would personally take pleasure from, but she could not allow it to impair her judgment. "Though this is the way it should be done, it increases the risk considerably," T'Pal commented, now calm again, her cold demeanor in place again, as she calculated the risk in her mind. "The more I do, the greater the risk of capture by the Cardassians. If he runs to station security, I would have that on my tail too," she said.
This was T’Pal’s area of expertise, not Isha’s so she did not comment. Instead she chose to do something that might be of use to T’Pal. Wary though she was of distributing information that came from such a classified source Isha fished an isolinear data rod out of a pocket in her skirt – on it was stored a copy of the dossier she had requested from R’Vek – she reasoned that something within it might improve T’Pal’s chances of success.
“It contains the Tal’Shiar’s full record on Getal,” Isha told her sliding the rod across the table, she did not offer any explanation as to how she came to possess it. “What compensation do you require?” Isha asked.
This type of work would require more compensation than most people could even begin to comprehend, but of course Isha was not one of those. Her hand reached forward to take the precious rod, which she inspected while she thought her answer through. "This is not a once off and I will require resources as we continue," she stated.
“I understand,” Isha replied. She waved to one of her escort, who leaned down to hear her. As she whispered something, he nodded and handed her a padd. As he once again retreated to a respectable distance Isha entered an initial figure. In addition she entered a code before handing the padd to T'Pal, "I believe that should be adequate to be going on with," she said reflecting that she might have to sell some of her holding in the hiera rhienn’arrenh shipping line if she was to see this through. It would be a blow to lose the controlling interest in that venture, but it was the source of funding most rapidly liquified and least traceable to Isha. "The funds will be available within an hour," she continued, "I will consider any reasonable addtional expense."
T'Pal took the Padd and looked at the figure then studied the face of the woman across from her. ~This was costing her~ she thought as her eyes dropped to the figure again. In actual fact, no monetary value could be placed on the risk of what she had agreed to. It could not only cost her her life, but it would cost her her life at the hand of the Cardassian, and no one could calculate that.
During the Dominion war, she had to get close to Gul Gerak, and then kill him. Which she did. To achieve her aim, she had to sleep with him. She did that too. But then she was working for the Federation in a war, and she had received no payment for it. This was not a war and she was not employed by the Federation. "This will suffice for now," she said at the generous figure. T'Pal was not greedy, that would be illogical. She did this because this was who she was, not because she had no other way to survive. "If and when I do need more, I will let you know, but I think you know that I am not unreasonable. It would be illogical to destroy my source of income," she said dryly, a rare moment of humor.
"My dear T'Pal," Isha said softly, "If I thought you viewed me that way I would not have approached you. There are any number of bandits who would kill without compunction if paid and demand constant payment afterwards." Isha said, "You find my situation offensive, your own response tells me that, but we are not friends, so I cannot allow you to do what you must without recompense."
"Friends we are not, in fact, I think *friendship* is overrated," T'Pal responded, with Vulcan-like detachment. "I prefer alliances, it is far better controlled," she expressed her opinion. "There always seemed to be a high emotional content in *friendships* which could impair one's judgement," she continued. The one side of her mouth twitched in a half smile. "And yet I engaged in this contract, which I would hardly do for anyone else," she said with some irony.
Isha leaned forward raising her hand to T'Pal's brow. Quite slowly she drew it down over her cheek to her chin amazed that T'Pal could still be intact. "I already owe you so much," she said, letting her hand drop back to the table. "I respect you, T'Pal, I don't need to like you, nor do I need for you to like me."
T'Pal hardly allowed anyone to touch her, except whne she needed distinct *entertainment*. But she sat unmoving as the fingers grazed over her skin. No quick response to grip the wrist and fick it away. T'Pal was quite certain that not many people ever really gain the very discerning Isha's respect. "I value respect far more than *like*, so I thank you for the compliment."
"It is well deserved," Isha said with no intent to flatter. "I came out today in search of a solution, and I found one that I did not expect to see. If you will forgive me I am not altogether comfortable being out in public at this time," she continued as she rose. "If you require anything further please direct your request via the Kaesa Consortium, the message will reach me. I think it would not be wise for us to meet in person."
T"Pal dipped her head slowly in agreement and leaned back in the chair as she watched the elegant Romulan, walking stick in spite, rose and walk away. The rod in her hand contained crucial information and should not be left lying around anywhere. For the next hour, after loading the information on a padd, she memorized it so she could destroy it if needed. Only then did she get up, carefully observing her own environment and proceeded to destroy the padd in a recycling unit and made her way to her hotel room. There she replicated a tiny pouch to store the rod, it would be safest on her person.
Perhaps a visit to the Box of Delights for some *entertainment* would be a good choice now. It would give her time to think....
OFF
T'Pal
Who knows?
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Finding a way back to what she counts as 'normal'
plus NPCs by Maja