Principles

[Samantha_Kent 0]

Brian looked warily at Valera as she pulled away from the kiss. He was quite sure he hadn't performed as she had expected. Even with her pheromones influencing his libido, there had been no passion, no desire. The intimations he had made, the teasing possibility that he had returned for her, were revealed as the lies they always were. As hard as he had tried to push it aside, the image of Samantha refused to leave his mind. It had been his downfall and salvation. No matter what happened to him now, he had to be satisfied with the fact that he hadn't betrayed her trust.

 

Valera looked at him as she pulled back, her expression rapidly darkening. He had made insinuations, intimations as to the reason he had returned to her...and she had continued to believe him. She had been played for a fool in their negotiations and then shot in the stomach, and still she had been willing to believe that he might possibly have come to pick up where they had left off. But that kiss had made everything quite clear; even with her pheromones amplifying the lingering emotions between them, he was flat, cold. Weak. His Starfleet friends had taken everything that had been valuable about him, even down to his soul. And he had played her for a fool once again. A sharp smirk twisted her lips. "You used to be a better liar, Brian," she said harshly, the hand that had drifted to his shoulder tightening around the fabric of his shirt.

 

"I used to have fewer principles." He matched her smirk with a cynical one of his own. "I thought that was why you liked me, my incorruptible core."

 

Valera's jaw set though the confident smirk still lingered in her eyes. She didn't like being told her own thoughts, especially from someone who used to have known them as intimately as Brian had. "I suppose I used to have fewer principles as well," she returned, a little haughtily, releasing him with a jerk and stepping back. "I have to say I thought you were smarter than this, Brian. Your new friends have cheapened you." The disruptor which she had turned towards the ground pointed back up towards him. "Not to worry...my timetable can be accelerated."

 

Brian contemplated the wisdom of his next action for a brief moment before deciding to dig in one more barb. "It is surprising what the love of a good woman can make a man do." Standing casually as he spoke, as if a disruptor pointed at his chest was an every day occurrence, and brushing some dust off his pants.

 

Valera raised both eyebrows at that and her smirk faded, leaving anger mixed with abrupt jealousy in its wake. "Aha..." she said delicately, her hand tightening slightly on the trigger of her disruptor. "You mean, say, to get captured, traded, and killed? Yes, I'm very surprised...though at this point I'm not sure I'm altogether disappointed." A flick of her wrist triggered a communicator hidden in her sleeve. "Two to the dropoff point, and signal our contacts to prepare for the transfer." The two of them sizzled out before Brian could respond.