"Skullduggery"

[OdileCondacin 0]

JoNs stood nearby the cell, watching both Condacin and Noleph carefully; her phaser was out and drawn, right at Noleph’s head.

 

"Sir," Odile said, quietly. "Is being so... forward that necessary?"

 

"Yes."

 

Noleph lay on the bunk, his head still aching from that other woman's... whatever it was. He did his best to ignore the furry one and the one in blue.

 

Without further argument that, after all, the forcefields were up, Odile sighed, leaned against the wall just to the right of the cell. "Noleph?" she called out, quietly.

 

Without opening his eyes, the Selshan replied irritably, "What?"

 

The furry one backed off a bit, but the phaser did not waver.

 

"I came to talk to you again. I've spoken to my superiors about you, passed on what you told me."

 

He cracked one eye open slightly. "That would be why my head aches, I suppose?"

 

JoNs's green eyes shifted from the prisoner to Sin and back; she made no comment regarding what had transpired between Noleph and Day.

 

Odile glanced at the Caitian in confusion, her forehead furrowed as she peered in at the Selshan. "Are you all right?" she asked, concerned.

 

"I imagine I will live long enough to attend my execution," Noleph replied dryly. He opened his eyes with a sigh, turning towards her. "What is it?"

 

"I spoke to the two in charge," she replied neutrally, devoid of emotion. "It was determined that you'll be turned over to the Selshan authorities."

 

"Yes, I gathered that," he replied. "Though it's nice of you to tell me directly, as neither of them bothered to. Was that all?" He made to turn away again.

 

"I wanted to apologize for it." Her voice broke a little. "I did everything I could to prevent it."

 

The Caitian security chief looked at Odile askance for a second, surprised at the display of emotion. "Sin, don't shed any tears, it's really not worth it at this point."

 

Odile glanced at her with a dark look touched with warning, but otherwise ignored the comment. "I'm sorry," she readdressed the Selshan.

 

"I'm touched," Noleph replied. He shifted on the bunk. "You know, if you were really feeling remorseful, you might find a cot long enough for me. Might as well spend my last days comfortably, eh?"

 

Okay, enough of this. He's starting to bait. Kansas let loose with a gentle growl that carried within the confines of the brig.

 

"Mister Noleph, yes I will be honest and confirm that your days with us are numbered. We need more information; that is the bottom line.”

 

He eyed the furry one. "And you decided to be nice about getting it, this time?"

 

"...let’s just say I'm not going to get...rough."

 

"And I only want one thing - can you give us any information on the movements of your Soltan ships? So we can avoid them?" It was a blatant lie, but one good turn deserved another.

 

Certain he would get no peace until he answered, Noleph sighed. "I wouldn't know," he explained gently, as if speaking to a child. "They don't keep traitors up-to-date on military movements."

 

"Surely you have some idea of where the Soltan caste patrols? I mean, all traitor movements do have some kind of information network."

 

"Wherever my people's interests lie," Noleph said. "There will always be Soltans."

 

Kansas merely stayed silent, a thoughtful look settling on her feline features.

 

Odile, who'd been quiet, put a hand on the security officer's arm. "Can you tell us anything more about them? Anything at all?"

 

He looked at them silently for a long moment, and then shook his head. "What more is there you would know?"

 

"Weaknesses, perhaps?"

 

"I don't know."

 

A low murmured growl of displeasure issued forth from the furry one.

 

"Kansas," Odile hushed. "You're sure?"

 

"I'm not military," he pointed out. "Nor am I an engineer."

 

"You're a rebel, and sometimes that can be better than either."

 

The lieutenant commander glanced at Odile before her gaze latched back onto Noleph. "We need to wrap this up Sin; we can't dally in here forever."

 

"You probably know more about them than I do," Noleph admitted. "We don't deal much with them on Shel'shaala.

 

She glanced at JoN's with a long face. "Kitty... two minutes alone with him? You can watch on the security monitors. Please -- I won't do anything stupid."

 

"Oh, hell no."

 

"Noleph," she addressed, mentally ignoring the Caitian for a moment, "you know you're going to die. I'm sorry, and I've tried every damned tactic to avoid it. But the fact remains, and whatever you tell us could help your movement. You don't have any reason to lie. Are there more of your people, and would they be potentially willing to help us?"

 

"Of course there are more of us," he said somewhat scornfully. "A movement of one wouldn't be much of a movement."

 

"Would they help us?" she repeated, sharply.

 

His eyes were wary and his lips thinned. "If it wouldn't bring the government down on them... perhaps."

 

"Would you tell us how to locate them?"

 

Now he was giving her a look that suggested he thought her slightly insane. "We don't have a mailing address."

 

"I'm sure you have some sort of central rendezvous point, or way to identify yourselves."

 

"What part of 'underground movement' is too difficult for you to wrap your mind around?"

 

Kansas merely stood, arms crossed over her chest, tail swishing, content to let her partner in crime run with the astro ball.

 

"You're not a fool, Noleph. Obstinacy won't help you. Please. I'm only trying to help both of us."

 

The feline spoke in a low tone. "We need to call it a session, now, especially if we are going to doubletalk. I rigged the brig cameras to go off line for twenty minutes only; the aux power relays will kick in soon Odile."

 

Noleph sighed heavily, finally responding. "Mostly we talk through the global net, on a hidden line," he said. "You can use my ID, if you can hack into it without raising every red flag."

 

Rattling off a string of numbers and letters, he gave Odile a narrow look. "Think you can handle that?"

 

Two feline ears flew back in shock.

 

She repeated it back a bit slower, but without omission, glancing at the Caitian. "Yeah. I think I can. Anything else I should know?"

 

"Don't get caught, and don't get them caught, or I swear I'll haunt you." With that, he rolled over on the too-short bunk, the conversation clearly over, at least from his perspective.

 

JoNs jerked her head toward the outer offices, a clear indication for Odile to follow her.

 

Odile swallowed hard, her jaw quivering, and followed the cat, stopping before she reached the door. "Thank you," she whispered, just loud enough so she knew he would hear. "... so much. The gods' blessings on you," she said, not allowing herself to look at him again before leaving the brig.

 

Once they were out of earshot of Noleph, Kansas spoke quietly to her fellow officer. "Okay, we have some more tangible information that may give us a lead on getting home. We are going to compose a report, then both of us are also going to digitally sign off on it. Then, I don’t know about you, but I am going to the farthest section of the ship or something... and, like...hide."

 

Odile didn't exactly reply, but she did mutter. "If that's not someone useful to have around and take a few risks over..."

 

She shook herself. "Right. Digital signature. Got it." Scrambling for a padd, she made a quick note of the code before it was forgotten.

 

"...I still say he's a rat." A paw tiredly wiped at her face. "Gods, they really don't cover this sort of thing in command school..." She began to walk towards her office.

 

"Send it to me." Odile headed out, headed for her own office -- or was that the hills? "I'll sign off on it as soon as I get it. I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight. And Kitty -- senior officer or no, I'm taking the blame for this."

 

Kitty paused in the doorway to her office. "Last I checked, I did have free will and a perfectly functional section of the brain devoted to reason."

 

"You don't need to go down in flames, too, Kitty."

 

"Sin, don’t make me hug you again."

 

It was probably just overactive imaginations and guilty consciences that made both of them think they heard a woman's voice yell, "They did WHAT?!" Probably.