"Shedding the Veils"

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

Captain Moore entered the transporter room flanked by two armed security officers. He'd taken off his wig and put on a long robe, but the guards, both men, still looked like ugly Orion women; Moore hoped this would not diminish the intimidating effect.

 

Rago was sitting nonchalantly on the edge of the transport pad. He looked up at the arriving officers and smirked. "Captain Moore, good to see you again! Love the 'do, but you're still looking a little green, I must say." He spoke as smoothly as he had when he'd informed the crew that he was turning them over to a band of slavers. This clearly wasn't the Rago Moore had met for the first time--the grinning oaf whose grasp of English was a work in progress.

 

"You betrayed us." Moore stated simply. The guards stepped in front of him.

 

"I rescued you." Rago retorted in a proud tone. "Your little slave-exchange ploy wasn't such a bad idea. But it was doomed for failure if not for my noble intentions; I needed only tell Overlord Gamses that the Orions you sent to his ship weren't the slaves he was after."

 

"The slaves he was after?" Moore repeated with a suspicious glare.

 

"Captain, Captain." Rago laughed silkily. "You want your crew to infiltrate Orion society convincingly. How can you do that if you don't understand Orion ways? Mark my words, Captain. From this point forward, nothing... *nothing*... is quite what it appears."

 

Moore could buy that. Rago was proof of it. During their first encounter, there was little reason to believe that the Orion was any more than a hired hand, sent to give the crew a lift, possibly capable of punching a few lights out. His cheery personality and self-effacing language struggles gave him an aura of innocence; ironically, his size only heightened this perception, possibly playing on a 'big and dumb' prejudice deep in Moore's psyche. That was all a guise, however, no different from the transformations that the crew had undergone. Now that the 'gentle giant' mask was discarded, Rago had the air of a calculating killer about him--the debris of the slavers' command carrier supported this.

 

"It's a bit stuffy in here, isn't it?" Rago looked around the transporter room.

 

"That's because the environment in this room has been cut off from the rest of the ship," Moore answered. "Where we're currently pumping our pheromone substitute into the air. Every Orion on this ship is now obedient to us; there's no one to come to your aid. And I'll have no compunctions about ordering my people on the Bridge to beam you right back to the slavers' ship."

 

Rago understood his meaning. After all, he'd been the one to blow the carrier up. "There'll be no need to do that, Captain. We're still on the same side. You see, I was counting on your escape. I'll admit you managed to take control of the transport a bit more quickly than I'd anticipated, but there was still enough time for my associates to plant explosives on the carrier's warp drive... and enough time for me to figure out who the carrier belonged to."

 

"I'm listening." Moore said. "But I won't listen long. I've had my fill of your lies."

 

"Aww, you mean I'll have to leave the Orion political history out of my explanation? Pity, as it happens to be my area of expertise." Rago crossed his large legs and grinned up at Moore. "You were not beset by mere slavers, Captain. The large Orion you encountered (large even by our standard, that is) was a 'Fist of Gold.' Quite a specimen I must say. There were two more on the carrier. They are genetically engineered warriors of an Orion Syndicate faction known only as the 'Stregadoro.'"

 

"Genetically engineered?" Moore repeated. His mind instantly recalled the complex under the Nequencia colony. Couldn't anyone keep their fingers out of this sort of activity?

 

"That's right. The scientific brilliance of the Stregadoro is matched only by their secretive ways. They don't trade in slaves, Captain; it's never been their way. If the Stregadoro kidnaps someone, it's because they have a clearly defined purpose in mind for the kidnapee."

 

"What purpose?" Moore asked.

 

"I don't know." Rago's massive shoulders shrugged. "But I'd wager that it has something to do with your Klingon mission. Allow me to explain how this set of circumstances came about, Captain. All of the rival factions of the Syndicate consist primarily of Orions, understandably enough. This makes it remarkably easy for agents of one faction to infiltrate another faction--one of the reasons that my superiors, The Six, are interested in closer ties with other species. When involved in the Syndicate, it's generally best to assume that everyone around you is working for another faction and waiting for the right moment to stab you in the back... because, if they aren't already, there's a good chance that hefty bribes will eventually turn them."

 

"Sounds like a fun career." Moore observed.

 

"It has its moments." Rago beamed. "Shortly after Starfleet contacted us about your mission, The Six put my crew together not only assuming that two or three traitors would be included among its ranks, but anticipating it, even assigning one traitor that was known to them."

 

"This was a sensitive mission that required the utmost discretion." Moore said. "You're telling me The Six deliberately assigned known turncoats to the transport?"

 

"Common procedure. In this business, it's wise to keep one's enemies close. Consider the alternative. Without a Stregadoro informant on my crew, they might have learned of the mission through other channels... possibly after you'd already entered Klingon space. There's no telling what they would have done under such circumstances. Blown your cover to the Klingons, maybe? Destroyed the transport, killed you all, since there would be no one on board worth sparing? No, it is better to anticipate and plan accordingly than to allow events to unravel at someone else's whim. The way we do it almost always ensures that we remain in control."

 

Moore furrowed his brow, trying to keep up. "So this informant on your crew notified this faction that you were escorting a Starfleet crew into Orion space? Then what?"

 

"Then they contacted me." Rago said. "Not the wisest decision, maybe, but the Stregadoro tend to be somewhat... arrogant when it comes to their rivals. They assume that we're all mindless thugs with price tags. As we were en route to picking you up from your Deneva colony, their carrier intercepted us. They offered me a handsome sum of money for my transport... with you and your crew on board, of course. It was also implied that refusal of their offer would subject us to the itchy trigger fingers of their fighter pilots. I didn't refuse."

 

"Quite a roll of the dice with our lives." Moore said, not doing much to conceal his anger. "While we were having our heads bashed in by Fists of Gold, what were your people doing over there?"

 

Rago shrugged. "Learning about them and their interest in your crew. If you'd taken more time in capturing the transport, I might have been able to learn more about their motives. But the knowledge of which faction they belong to will go a long way in helping us combat their efforts. As soon as I inform The Six of Stregadoro interest in your mission, steps will be taken to shake them off your tail. Decoys will be dropped, false rumors will be planted, key officials will be clipped... well, it's probably better if I don't go into details. Suffice to say that things will get bloody in the coming months, but we'll accept the sacrifices in the best interests of our alliance with the Coalition."

 

"Touching." Moore said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

 

"Aside from that," Rago continued. "We planted explosives on the carrier in preparation for the right moment to wipe out any evidence of what occured out here. Along with any traitorous elements."

 

Moore did the mental math. Rago was the only member of the transport crew who'd returned from the carrier. "You killed off your entire crew just to take out one person?"

 

"I wasn't certain which one of them was the Stregadoro informant. Would you rather he tagged along with us, Captain?" Rago asked. "Enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about what you're doing in Orion space? Or to draw more Stregadoro carriers to us? Which reminds me... you have the rest of their crew here, still alive, right?"

 

"Despite their intentions, yes, we avoided killing any of their people." Moore answered. "The pheromones are keeping them in line, and their leader is going to be restrained in your medical bay."

 

"Gamses' mate? Is still alive?" Rago laughed. "That was quite a lie you told him. The fact that he didn't react by opening fire at once tells us that you're more valuable to the Stregadoro alive. But if I were you, I would kill her and the rest of her people as quickly as possible. They're liabilities to your mission."

 

"We're not killing anyone." Moore stated flatly. "We're in charge of this ship now, Mr. Rago, and my people don't do things the way you and your associates do things. They'll be monitored closely."

 

Rago sighed and shook his head. "Inviting trouble, Captain. The Six will probably order them killed anyway, but have it your way for now. I'll head to the Bridge and set us back on course for Mingavon." The Orion stood up, prompting Moore's guards to snap to readiness. He cast them both amused glances. "Or won't I?"

 

"You won't." Moore answered. "You'll be kept in the same suite you locked us into, under guard of course. We've figured out enough about your helm controls to restore the course you had us on originally."

 

"I see." Rago chuckled and moved toward the guards with his hands on top of his head. "Fine with me. I've been a prisoner many times before. But you're still going to need me, Captain. The course you're on doesn't lead directly to Mingavon. Call me when you reach the edge of the nebula." Rago winked.

 

Moore glared back at the Orion and motioned the guards to take him away. He couldn't help but think that the Syndicate had more surprises in store for his crew...