Cold Call
Posted on Sat Jan 13th, 2024 @ 6:43pm by Lieutenant Karna Zsan & Lieutenant Commander Leonora Wolf MD
2,000 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
S1E6: Where Skies End
Location: Leah's Quarters, Overwatch
Timeline: MD 1
After Leah left Ari's quarters, armed with new information, she made her way back to her quarters first and sent off a one line message:
"For through the mist 'round the old stone tower I only found rain."
The message would then sent securely to a dead drop that was only to be used when all other alternatives were exhausted. A dead drop only one other person knew about.
Given their situation, Leah couldn't see an alternative. With how delicate and unstable the situation was none of the assets Leah had could be trusted. Who better to navigate instability than him?
In truth, Wolf didn't really believe that he was still listening, or that he was even still out in the cold and alive, much less in a talking and/or favor-doing mood. She'd promised Ari she'd try, so, the message was sent.
Not knowing how long she'd have to wait, she set about creating data packets to be sent to Nandi, via a series of pre-arranged dead drops so that the young Ensign had a clearer goal and understanding of what she needed to do. Find more on Project Lazarus, and see if she can ascertain what the missing entry pertains to.
After she was done, she went to have a shower, and to start getting ready for her date with Teejay later. She never planned on hooking up with him, but he'd won her over with easy charm and dry wit and humor. Sure he had a temper, but everyone did, even vulcans and hybrid. The latter two more so than humans, as such, but alas, Leah wasn't immune to temper herself so...
Twenty minutes later, she was out of the shower, and stepped out into the living room to get herself a glass of juice, hair dishevelled up do, in her birthday suit.
The wall console lit up with an incoming transmission. It was a truncated frequency that veiled the origin through a series of repeater comms buoys. The protocol was Delphi.
"Hello there!" Leah let out a wolf whistle as she turned around with the glass of water in hand, then she went over to the console and pressed a few commands, to correctly respond to the protocol query. She'd considered running back into the bedroom to get her towel but the problem was he may not have had much time, so every second not spent on this conversation was a second wasted.
"That was quick." She said, "didn't think you were in range."
"Well, hello, Leonora." The man on the other end, with his bottomless pits for Betazoid eyes, was not the man she had expected. He scanned Leah's state of undress and let out a whistle. "I didn't know you cared."
Leah did a small lady like bow, "oh you know, when you need a favor you pull out all the stops." She quipped back, knowing that he was saying words without meaning them. For a telepath and an empath, being a sociopath was such a strange combination. If she hadn't known him personally, she wouldn't believe it was possible. Yet somehow, she trusted him, always had.
"Speaking of pulling out, I hope your new beau is treating you right." Karna grinned wide with glee as if genuinely congratulating her. "If not, I know of a flower bed in dire need of fertilizer. I can have him interred within the week "
Leah smirked and winked at him, "you know what they say about going black," she said and took a sip of the water she was still holding. "I need to vet someone and all of the assets I have available and can trust have eyes."
Karna's mouth flattened but his smile didn't disappear. It merely shifted to his dark eyes which picked up a glint. "You know the type of vetting I do isn't for the faint of heart, Leonora. If someone has double crossed you, just say so. I can plan a scrubbing more efficiently than an interview. Especially since your bosses mostly think I'm dead."
"I can't afford for this one to be on the slab, Karna. I need to know if he's working for the enemy. We don't know yet if it's the Black Nagus," Leah shook her head and took another sip, "or another group. You ever heard of Project Castermer or Project Lazarus?"
Karna shrugged. "Probably. Jog my memory. Why should I care?" He was absolutely disinterested in the fact that Leah was still naked as a jaybird.
"I don't care whether you care or not, Karna. Fact is, Castermer's Taskmaster has gone off script and is assimilating operational targets with Federation nanites and depositing them right under our nose here at Theta. Lazarus seems to have produced an actual returned-from-the dead individual. Problem one is, said operational targets were meant to be prisoners and/or dead. Problem two is Taskmaster may or may not be the return-from-the dead specimen - we're trying to get more intel and ID the bastard. We have him down with two aliases Omri Updike and Omri Shaw. Here's the crux, the vetting target is Admiral Gareth Tau, he and the Updike alias served together on the USS Taniwha in '75. Under Commodore Xanthe Rahal, current head of Project Castermer. Now we know Taskmaster is not the head of this splinter faction or cell...someone else is running it. We need to know if Tau is in on it or not." Leah tried to keep the sentences as brief and as to the point as possible, but it still came out as word salad sadly.
It required more water, so she oblidged herself.
"You must be in trouble," Karna said. "In the old days you'd never let everything spill out like that. Are you sure you want me to interview Admiral Tau? I could just take out the trash with your Taskmaster." But Karna stopped as his memory produced something. "Updike, you said? I have heard of an Updike. The Obsidian Order remnant told ghost stories about him. He was a demon in the Dominion War. Ran half a dozen espionage campaigns behind the scenes, prevented the Order from compromising Starfleet ranks. Even scrubbed a few Obsidian Order guls by beating them at their own game. He was reported as killed but his legend lived on. If he's back from the dead somehow, then that is..." Karna grinned wide like a wolf savoring a kill. "That is very interesting. He is a bait hunter. Makes his quarry come out of hiding instead of tracking them down. And, just when the target thinks they're ready to pounce, the hunter becomes the hunted." His black eyes narrowed as he laughed. "Oh, Leonora. Look at me going on about ghost stories from the past. Chasing ghosts, you might as well chase a deadly one. Just be ready to walk right under the guillotine if it's Updike or whatever his name really is."
"You know I'm ready. You know the lengths we went to to protect Starfleet and the Federation, you were right there with me. Tau is head of OSI, if he's bent, then there's no telling how far this goes. But if he's not, then he's an ally. I was meant to be part of Lazarus, I said no because I deal with the dead. Now I am seeing dead people assimilated and possibly come to life. Who the hell knows what else they have planned. I know what I am asking, Karna. Just need a yes or a no. If you say no, no hard feelings on my end, but I'd owe you one if you did. And yes, we know Taskmaster...Updike is dangerous. We have a source with us who worked Castermer with him from the start." Leah countered as she began pacing in front of the screen.
Karna's eyes narrowed to slits. "You do? And is this source trustworthy? Cross referenced and corroborated by other independent sources?" When his eyes widened again, they were filled with intrigue as he gave Leah a side long look. "I'll do whoever you need done, Leah. I owe you that much. But you're starting to look a little sloppy from this end. Do I need to pull you and Fin out?"
"Fin's out of the loop at the moment while we vet the rest of the field team. Safer for her this way, for now. Accidental finds when you don't have a specialized team don't exactly lend a lot of resources. As for the source, Commander Arianna Frost, Project Castermer via IA. She and I trained together on cross and I was first hand witness of the find. I trust her."
Leah knew she was giving Karna too much information. Her gut, however, didn't complain, in fact it encouraged it.
"Uh huh..." Karna said. "I met Frost before. Conducted one of my batteries when I came back. Loved up to her name. I'm surprised at you, though, for going after a target based on the word of only one source who by your own description could be very well in his pocket. You know the game too well to be playing it this badly, Leonora. Tell me what has gotten into you besides fresh dick."
"I also know she cleared you, and Kazyah Linn, who by the by was also Castermer." Leah rolled her eyes, not taking his bait. "We have ben-Avram, Frost, the station Commandant Garlake, Doctor Garlake, Laena ben-Avam," Leah felt wrong saying that name for some reason, "and "Nandi Chakma and we have an IA investigation open. "And Calderon Jarsdel with us. That's it. The rest of the field team is still in the dark and won't be brought in until fully vetted."
Now Karna openly laughed. "Two operatives she previously cleared are disavowed and how many more are dead? She is your only link to this Taskmaster character whom you believe to be a tactical genius known for outwitting Cardassians back from the dead, and now you're calling in your ace-in-the-hole to vet an admiral?" He shook his head in mock pity. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. That little pied piper must play quite the tune, Leonora." His grin returned. "I will play this game with you in hopes we live long enough for me to tell you I told you so right before we slip into the sweet embrace of eternal nothingness."
"She doesn't know I'm calling you specifically." Leah countered again as she finished her glass of water, "and thank you. Let me know when you have something."
Always a flare for dramatics, that one. It always made Leah wonder if he did it for emulation of some sort of emotion, or if he just liked annoying people with long speeches.
"Oh, you'll know when I do," Karna said, his grin spreading to full width. "I guarantee it."
Leah sighed. That grin didn't bode well, she knew that. Still, he was doing her a favor, she couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. "Thanks, Karna. Take care of yourself, old friend." She settled her hand close to the command panel.
She wanted to ask where he was, what he was doing, but decided against it. It was better she didn't know.
"Leonora..." Karna cut in with her name right before she terminated the transmission. "If you were to reform Delphi, you would tell me, wouldn't you?"
"Yes," she said and cut the feed. Yes, she would tell him. No, she probably wouldn't invite him back. He'd been out there for too long and he'd likely be her unstable element. Would she ever reform Delphi though? At this stage, she didn't think so.
With that in mind, she went about actually putting some clothes on and getting ready for her date with Teejay.
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