"Taking the Plunge: Deep Water"

[OdileCondacin 0]

Kansas stalked down the corridor, and it did look kind of odd, her being on all fours and in civilian attire to boot. She wasn't exactly mad, either, just very much in a low profile mood. The feline stopped just inside the main entrance to the sciences offices, sniffing the air slightly for a familiar scent.

 

It was there, and a midshipman pointed the way to the office where, undoubtedly, Odile had holed up in her little lair. Of course, the chief would have disagreed -- she was working, after all, not moping about like she could have been.

 

JoNs nodded to the middy and then stood upright, walking with a predatory ease to the main office. She chimed for entrance. "Delivery for Ms. Condacin!" A couple of the officers on duty gave her a funny look.

 

"Oh, come in, Commander," Odile greeted. Her office was neat -- the walls had no damage, and although a few bits of statuary had been swept into the nearest garbage receptacle, the recent carnage wasn't evident.

 

A feline head popped through the doorway, sporting a small smile. "Drop the rank; this is purely an off the record visit. If I wasn't worried about our track record with alcohol, I would have brought some." She moved easily into the office, sliding into one of the chairs facing the desk.

 

She reached to pull the gauze wrapped dagger - rather, what remained of it - from the back of her waistband, depositing it gently on the desk in front of Condacin.

 

"Ah," Odile replied, simply, stroking the simply-wrapped knife carefully through its bindings. "Thank you, Kitty. You don't know how much this means to me."

 

The Caitian settled back in her chair, crossing her cat-shaped hind legs and resting her paws on a knee. "What are your plans now?" She indicated the broken dagger with a nod of her head.

 

The Xenexian pursed her lips. "I don't know yet. It's not religious or ceremonial, needing blessing -- but the metals and alloys are fragile. A Xenexian forge could potentially repair it. Or," she muttered, softly, "a Danteri one. But that won't be happening."

 

"...not exactly close to either place are we?"

 

"No," she replied, quietly. "But we will be, someday. Until then, I'll keep it in my safe."

 

"I wish you well in the hunt of the re-forge O'd'yl," the Caitian managed an accurate pronunciation of the name, if a bit mangled, "but, I do have some minor business to ask you about."

 

"Of course."

 

An ear flipped back. "What in the Holy Rings of Betazed were you doing in my brig interrogating my prisoner?"

 

"I wasn't interrogating him," she replied calmly, her face open and honest. "I wanted a bit of cultural insight. Nothing tactical, and I didn't coerce or torture him."

 

JoNs was open and calm as well. "Come on Odile -- work with me here. Feline, territorial, likes to be informed. That's all I ask. At least you could have cleared it through one of my Lieutenants."

 

"Well, I didn't know. Besides, I didn't want to bother you when you weren't well. I didn't mean harm. No problems there, Kitty?"

 

"Aye we're good," she let the 'no harm' comment pass; Sin might not have harmed Noleph, but someone else sure did. It wasn't Kansas's place to spread that information around though. "My only other concern is...will you try it again?" Her head cocked to one side.

 

"I'd like to, if you'd allow it. The rest of the ship thinks I've lost it entirely, but... I'd at least like to talk to him again. Tell him what was decided. He deserves that much, even if he deceived us." Condacin shrugged, a little dejectedly. "He's all but condemned."

 

"I flat out admit I don't trust the veken..." Kansas paused, reigning in her temper, "I don't trust him at all. He used the entire crew, made us do his dirty work and just up and killed a couple hundred of his own compatriots," she stopped herself again with an annoyed shake of her head.

 

"Look, let's just say I've washed my paws of the whole mess with Noleph. As for you seeing him again...Sin, you know. Can you imagine the fall out if I let you?"

 

"I keep having this image of myself being the new bridge upholstery and you spread-eagled across the main viewer..."

 

"This whole mess isn't right. You and I both know it. He's not a telekinetic -- letting me talk to him won't hurt anything. And you know I didn't cause trouble the last time."

 

"...you seriously think that another round of questions will benefit our situation in some way..."

 

The Xenexian breathed deeply, and looked at JoN's with intense, sad eyes. "No, I don't. But damn if I don't feel bad about our part in this. He's... he's not so evil if you talk to him. Misguided, yes, but aren't we all, about one thing or another?" She almost chuckled, darkly. "Here, again I plead his case. But Kitty -- you can leave a guard with me if you don't trust my motives. I won't try to help him escape. I just want to talk to him."

 

"Sin, the brig is in lockdown per orders from Day. If, and that's a big IF, mind you, I let you speak with him again, it would be off the record and after hours, and then I'd have to make the brig recorder 'go offline', " her paws waggled in mid air, "for a bit as well."

 

"Lockdown?" Odile frowned. "Why lockdown? Did he pull something?"

 

With some effort, Kansas kept her features neutral. "Just some extra precautions, I guess you could say. Not my idea, I'm just following the protocol."

 

"I see. Well, then... I'm for after hours. Shift's over pretty soon anyway."

 

Kansas wiped a paw across her face. "If he so much as twitches, I will stun him. And if he hints at anything remotely that can help us in this corridor of space, we need to run with it and report it..."

 

"Of course. I'm fine with that." Odile smiled, that same sadness in place. "Thank you. I mean it -- you didn't have to agree."

 

"See if you can find out more regarding the sway the Selshan have over the Soltan as well. Anything tactical...you understand that Odile?"

 

"Anything at all. Right-o."

 

Kansas put both paws in the air, and started moving them this way and that as if she were a director setting up a head shot for Odile. "...you're going to look good strung up on the viewscreen..." the statement came out deadpan.

 

"You'll make a nice cushion for Medusa."

 

"...twenty two hundred tonight. I'll make sure the offices are clear. We go in, glean what tactical information we can use from that rat bastard, and then get out. No unnecessary lingering."

 

"With that cat-itude, let me do more of the talking?" Odile shook her head. "Gods. I never thought I might be the more level-headed of us."

 

"You were not smack dab in the middle of about a dozen dead Selshan on a ship that had become a floating tomb."

 

"And your people weren't in a situation like his within the past few generations," she commented, a little tersely." A small sigh. "I'm sorry, kitty. I really am. But... let's just agree to disagree about him. I'm not waging another argument about his motives today."

Edited October 21, 2007 by OdileCondacin