by Melanie
"Come," he called, re-entering the sitting room.
Kathryn slowly did, clearly uncertain as to what she would find inside. What she did find was Tom Paris standing at Tuvok's typical near attention. She never suspected what she actually was seeing was the Tom Paris mask in place, not usual Tuvok's non-expression expression.
"I heard about what happened in the Mess Hall."
"A regrettable outburst, Captain," Tom agreed in a serious tone. "One which will not happen again."
"Can we be certain of that?"
"Yes. Mr. Paris and I have discussed what happened. We will avoid any such situations in the future and there shall
not be a re-occurrence."
"Will it be possible to avoid them?"
"We shall endeavor to do our best, Captain. Please pass along our apologies to Miss Wildman. It was not our intention to upset her."
"I will. You are sure you're both all right? You don't want to talk about what happened?"
"No, we are fine, Captain."
"Even so, I want you two to take the rest of the day off."
"Understood, Captain."
Kathryn nodded and left.
After telling the computer to notify his staff of the cancelled Conn meeting, Tom slumped down into a chair and leaned his head against the chair back. His hands came up to cover his face.
'You imitate me rather well,' Tuvok's still shaky voice observed.
Tom smiled and lowered his hands. 'You should see my Janeway. I've been told I've almost got the Janeway stare down pat.'
'You should not be aping your superior officers, Lieutenant,' the Lieutenant Commander admonished.
'Oh, come on, Tuvok; it's tradition. Don't tell me you didn't see your fellow juniors imitating your seniors when you were a junior officer.'
'It was done, yes, but it hardly was appropriate then or now.'
Tom smiled further. Tuvok's voice was strong and he sounded like himself once more.
'I hardly see how my chastising you for inappropriate behavior is reason to smile, Lieutenant.'
He tried to wipe the smile off of their face. 'No, sir.'
Tom could almost see one of Tuvok's brows raise at the snappy denial.
'Do you mind if we get some sleep? Tom asked, yawning. I seem to need it.'
'That would be acceptable, Lieutenant.'
Tom rose and walked over to Tuvok's bed instead of going back to his own quarters where they had planned to live. He removed all of his clothing and slipped beneath the sheets and was asleep within seconds.
-------
As soon as REM sleep began, they shared a dream of Tuvok's family.
They were back in the austere garden with his loved ones. While they naturally could not express it openly, his family somehow communicated their contentment at all being together and their concern for Tuvok's safety. It made Tuvok feel happy and Tom along with him.
Then the scene began to change and their moods changed along with it. Another garden, almost as sparse and severe as its Vulcan counterpart, appeared. As did a woman.
She was breathtaking, but then most Pyzealean females were. Her name was DeLaur. Her occupation was chanteuse par excellence. Journalists had christened her the most talented singer of all time and the most beautiful female in the Galaxy. No one, not even her competition, had disagreed. It was hard to refute a statement when all the evidence was against you.
The man singing softly to himself as he tended the gardens behind the Yiimalt nightclub did not wish to refute it either. Though he did not betray the fact, he had taken a good look at her long before she took notice of him and was drawn to him.
"You," she whispered in awe. "What is your name?"
He rose and used a grimy forearm to sweep his shaggy blond hair away from the lenses of his sunglasses. "Rix
Zavaleta, ma'am."
DeLaur reached out one exquisitely manicured hand towards his dirt and sweat encrusted throat. "Your voice. It's beautiful."
"Ma'am?"
"You must come with me," she insisted, hand dropping.
"Come with you, ma'am? I don't understand."
"A voice such as yours is too precious to be serenading mere flowers."
"But the flowers seem to like it, ma'am."
"None the less, you should be on a stage, sharing your gift with all, not merely the flowers."
"Me? On a stage, ma'am?" He laughed shyly and shook his head. "No, ma'am, that's for people like DeLaur." He gestured towards the club. "She's supposed to be here tonight. At least that's what one of the waitresses said. If you're here for the performance, it's not for another couple hours yet."
"Dear child, I am DeLaur."
He removed the eyewear and beautiful blue eyes openly stared at the beautiful woman before him. A soft "oh, my" was his only comment.
DeLaur's was an intake of breath. Her fondness for a certain shade of blue almost was as legendary as the tales of her beauty, talent, and presence. This man's eyes were precisely that shade. Perhaps that, as much as his singing abilities, was what made her call out to the club owner who was waiting at the table he personally had prepared for her lunch. The squat Wesnean waddled over to them, earflaps twitching convulsively in agitation.
"Is he bothering you, DeLaur?" Panfew turned his three huge eyes on the dirty, young human. "You were told you had to finish the gardens before lunch." He bowed to DeLaur. "My profoundest of apologies, DeLaur. This one is new here, only his third day. He is not too bright I am afraid." A glare was aimed at the gardener. "He will be leaving my employ immediately."
"Yes, he shall," the woman answered airily, "because I intent to take him with me when I leave Wesne."
"DeLaur?"
She ignored the unspoken question. "That will be all, Panfew. Please tell my assistant to join me."
"Yes, DeLaur." Panfew hurried away as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.
"What do most people call you?"
"Rix, ma'am."
"Fine then, Rix, I am offering you the opportunity of a lifetime. As you suddenly find yourself in need of a position, I am offering you one as I find myself in need of a protégé. My last one was killed in an accident a week ago. A terrible thing that was and so unfortunate. He had talent. Nothing like yours though, dear child."
She turned to see a petite human female with cascades of long brown hair flowing to her waist striding towards them. "Ah, Souris. Come."
"You wish to see me, DeLaur?" she asked in a soft alto voice.
"Yes. This is Rix Zavaleta. Take him to his lodgings, collect whatever belongings he has then take him up to the ship and make him comfortable."
"DeLaur?"
"He is to be my new protégé."
Rix tried to make an argument. "Um, ma'am, I-"
The chanteuse refocused her attention on him. "You are not married, are you, Rix?"
"No, ma'am."
"Involved with anyone?"
"No, ma'am."
"Sole support for your family?"
"I have no family, ma'am."
"So no close ties with this planet?"
"No, ma'am, I just arrived here."
"Then it's settled. I have need of a protégé. You have need of a job and have no reason to stay here any longer. It is the perfect arrangement."
"Well, ma'am-"
"Say yes, Rix."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good!" She clapped her hands together in joy. "We will begin your training first thing tomorrow. Souris, make him comfortable."
"Yes, DeLaur," Souris responded.
With that DeLaur left in a cloud of ultra-expensive perfume, never knowing until much later that she had been set up.
-------
DeLaur looked down at her young lover and smiled into his eyes. Over the past three weeks, Rix Zavaleta had proven himself to be quiet the protégé in all areas except the one in which they current found themselves. Here in her bedroom, she had found herself to be *his* protégé and a very willing one at that.
> "I wish we did not have to leave this room tonight, my dear child," she confessed, "yet we must."
"Is tonight truly that more important than us?" he asked guilelessly.
"Oh, Rix, it is not a matter of importance. It is a matter of fulfilling an agreement I made with Elxs Tho long before I ever met you." She smoothed back his slightly too long bangs from his forehead. "Tonight is the night all of Tho's planning has been leading up to. If I do not go, all shall be lost. I am the bait to ensure they come. They'll be reassured that nothing is going to happen with me there."
"But you will be in no danger? I have heard her name before, I think. She is said to be the most dangerous woman in the entire Alpha Quadrant yet no one can prove it."
DeLaur smiled. "She is, my dear child, she is."
"Then how can you be certain she will not harm you once her plan is complete? I don't think Souris or I will be enough to protect you from her. Perhaps you should bring some security people with us to protect you."
"Tho won't allow and it will unnerve her guests since they weren't allowed to bring anyone themselves. I'll be safe. Don't you worry."
She rose and walked across the blue on blue bedroom, totally unconscious of her nudity. Maybe not *totally unconscious* for she cast a glance over her shoulder, clearly with the intention of making sure he was appreciating the view. Propped up against the cushions of the wide bed, he gave every appearance of doing so.
"Now, don't you ever tell anyone about this, Rix, understand?"
Like an angelic child, he nodded.
She gave him a smile then shifted her attention to the wall.
Normally, DeLaur was cautious to the point of obsessiveness where her secrets were concerned. She had learned a great many things in her hard early life and never totally trusting anyone was one of them. But Rix was different. In her opinion, he was too stupid even think of betraying anyone. He just did not seem to comprehend the fact it might be to his advantage some how to do it. Added to that, he was totally besotted with her therefore would do anything she told him to. She knew her telling him to keep his mouth shut meant she could tell him anything and it never would go any further. Because of all this, she showed him her most prized possession, next to him.
Gracing the woodwork of the wall directly in front of her was a seemingly purely ornamental flower. She carefully pressed the face of her signet ring to the centre of that flower. The large stone of the ring was -- like all her things -- blue, in this case a semiprecious stone known as turquoise from Earth. Its carved face fitted neatly into the flower and triggered a hidden release. A panel in the wall slid up to reveal a state of the art safe. She entered the correct code to open the safe, removed a padd from inside and waved it at him.
"I know I am safe, my dear child, because I have this."
He rose and walked towards her. His lack of self-consciousness where his body was concerned was real, not feigned. And what a body, DeLaur's appreciative look told him, though he ignored the interest for the moment.
"A padd?" he asked, stopping before her. He made no move to examine it.
"Yes, but not just any padd," she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck. "This padd has all the information there is to know about Elxs Tho."
His frown told of his lack of comprehension.
"I know everything about her. She won't dare try anything against me when tonight is over because if she does I will go straight to the authorities or, better yet, her enemies and she'll be finished. There won't be a safe place for her in the entire galaxy."
"But how will that protect you? She could just kill you and then she would be safe."
"She can't take the risk of killing me, my dear child," she smirked. "She doesn't know where I keep this padd or how many others I may have given copies of this to."
"Why would you give copies to others?"
"As insurance, my dear Rix. In case anything happened to me."
"Oh. So you did that?"
"No, dear child. In order for me to take an interest in anything, it has to be valuable." As she traced his features with a finger, she became blunt with her words. "Like you. You're valuable because of your talents -- vocal and otherwise." The implication that when his talents waned so would his value was deliberate. She wanted him to know that if he wanted to retain his place, she would have to be kept happy. From the look on his face, he got the message loud and clear.
"The same with other people and information and whatever," she continued. "The value is important. And if it is valuable, then I can't trust anyone else with it. Had I trusted anyone with this information about Tho, they might have gotten it into their heads to use it themselves. That might have become messy and all of Tho's planning leading up to tonight would have been wasted. I have too much at risk to let that happen."
"But what if something happens tonight?"
She ran the pad of a blue tipped fingernail down his jawline. "Nothing will happen other than what is supposed to happen." The chanteuse drew his head down to hers. "All this talk has made me so tense, Rix," she murmured. "I think I need relaxing."
As he kissed her, she reached backwards towards the safe and set the padd inside. With her eyes closed in ecstasy, she never saw the invisible hand reach out and snatch the padd along with the rest of the contents of the safe before DeLaur triggered the panel to close once more.
-------
Almost five hours later, Rix wordlessly watched the proceedings around him. Half a dozen of the galaxy's most important criminals sat around a table and right in the thick of it all was Elxs Tho herself. It was rather entertaining to watch the others pretending they did not fear the seven foot tall Trasan. If anything, their anxiety was all the more obvious because of their attempts to disguise it.
And she was relishing every second of it almost as much as she had the private performance DeLaur had finished giving them only moments ago. Now the chanteuse was delighting all with her charm, particularly Eenaki, upon whose lap she currently was perched.
Once his duet with DeLaur was over, they paid little attention to Rix who went to prop up one wall. Souris also was overlooked as she quietly sat in a chair at the opposite end of the room to him. Underestimating them was their second mistake. Their first was assenting Elxs Tho's invitation.
"So why are we here?" Brunn asked, setting down his half empty glass of Romulan ale.
"Yes," Geird agreed. "As delightful as it is to hear DeLaur -- and her protégé -- sing, I must admit to being curious about this plan you alluded to for ending our troubles with the Orion Syndicate forever."
Nonchalantly, Tho interlaced her fingers and dropped her clasped hands to her lap as she leaned back in her chair. "Yes, I suppose now is as good a time as any to begin. Simply put-"
"Pardon me, Tho," O-Kis-Rhah squeaked, "but perhaps the others should go?"
She dismissed the concern over DeLaur, Souris, and Rix's presence with a flick of the wrist. "Oh, they are no problem. In fact, I want them to stay... since they are going to be such an important part of my plan."
For the next ten minutes, Tho slowly outlined her plan. Once she was finished they did their best to poke holes in her ideas then lapsed into thought while the woman who was to play such a large part in the plan resumed cooing away to Eenaki.
"How can you be so certain DeLaur can pull this off?" H'Th'Z'r finally asked. "No offence intended, DeLaur, but you are not a spy. How can we be certain she can get close enough to the head of the Syndicate?"
"Because he is my most ardent admirer," the chanteuse answered for Tho. "I can't tell you how many invitation from him I have refused -- politely of course. When the next invitation is issued, I shall gracefully relent and go perform for him."
"And what assurance do we have, Tho," Caz hissed, "that this proposed partnership will continue after the Syndicate is crushed?"
The Trasan turned her amber eyes on him. "None, same as I have from all of you. We'll have to trust one another on this. Each one of us has a vital piece to co
ntribute to this plan. It cannot be achieved without each of us fulfilling their end of the bargain. When it is all over and we are in control of the Syndicate, then we can decide how best to carve up what is left of it. There's plenty to go around."
"I have a better suggestion," a voice said seemingly from no where. "Merge your organizations with the Syndicate."
A general call of disagreement went up. Then it stopped. Puzzled looks came over their faces as they realized it was not one of their number who had done the speaking.
"So you do not wish to join with us," the voice continued. "That is a pity."
All eyes flew to the humanoid the shimmering transporter beam was depositing amongst them. The seven at the table leapt to their feet, taking up defensive stances. As Eenaki stood, DeLaur was unceremoniously dumped off of his lap. Only Rix's quick action saved her from ending up an ungainly heap on the polished marble floor. He drew her off to once side, holding her from behind with an arm around her waist.
"I had so hoped we could all do business together," the newcomer moaned.
Eenaki rounded on Tho. "You said this place was shielded against transporters."
Confused herself, Tho brought up a nasty looking phaser pistol from under the table and pointed it at the stranger.
"I am Zepfa," the right hand man of the head of the Orion Syndicate introduced. "As soon as we heard of this meeting, we knew we had to be present to protect our interests. It is regrettable you rejected our offer. Now we'll-"
Unseen hands slammed Zepfa into the wall.
Souris was out of her chair and had Tho disarmed and prone on the floor before the Trasan ever knew the tiny human had moved.
The cry from the others present abruptly was stifled at the decloaking of eight very heavily armed and hooded soldiers in midnight blue. A soldier laid a hand on each of the seven from the table and forced them back into their seats once Souris had searched them for weapons.
Zepfa tried to crane his neck to see the soldier who had him pinned to the wall. He subsided at the sound of a growl from under the head-concealing hood.