Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Surprising Surprises

Posted by Lazol (Chief Science Officer) in Surprising Surprises

(snip)
This though was where he visibly tensed and cleared his throat, sipping at his drink a little more frequently before easing up as he pulled out the pendant and removed it, letting it hang between his fingers and shimmer in the light of the room before pulling it into his palm and fidgeting with it a little before putting it back on. He looked at the counselor, eyes squinted as he studied her intensely before saying, “It is one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever done for me Counselor. It’s nearly the perfect recreation of what was destroyed in that breach so many years ago.” She must have seen his father wearing the pendant in the photos from the file, and she wouldn’t know that Lazol had removed it from his father’s body to keep as a memento. One that had been lost due to the need to survive, but one that was potentially still out there.

Lazol, CSO

Casela waved it away. “What I found on your family included many photos of your father. The necklace is distinctive and elegant. It was hard to miss, and because you wore no necklace, it was easy to determine it was lost when you lost your parents.” She’d lost her necklace, and Ryder had given her a new one. It could not be seen, not even the chain. She wore it secured against the neckline of her uniform. She had a horrible habit of touching the stones when thinking deeply, a habit that at that moment she turned into a small wave of her hand before she actually touched them through her shirt. “I understand all to well the significance of such things. And though it is not the original I do hope it brings you some solace.”

“It does indeed and I do appreciate the thought.” Lazol said as he cracked an ever so slight smile and looked down at it before looking back to the good counselor.

Casela didn’t miss the slight smile. She was starting to suspect that there was more to Lazol than what he portrayed. But then again wasn’t that the truth with everyone. Couldn’t just once someone be who they claimed to be. But the world, such as it was, didn’t operate that way. And to her benefit she was very good at working within that world, even if she didn’t always like how she had to do it.

She sat forward carefully, removing the paper from the package and examined the box carefully. It appeared she was examining the craftmanship of the box itself, when in fact, paranoid as ever, she was checking for traps and tricks. Her name in script a very nice touch. Though she preferred the inscription on the box that Ryder had incased her necklace in. “If the knife is as fine as the box, I will be more than satisfied.” She lifted the lid carefully and took in the Reman Jackal Knife. She inhaled appreciatevly at the beauty and skill craft that had created it. She ran practiced fingers over it and picked it up, but briefly to test the weight and replaced it. “I am exceptionally pleased.” And something she’d learned from Karra, a Ferengi politeness to say but never expected to be accepted by the seller. A compliment of a transaction well recieved, “For such a fine piece I must assume I owe you more latinum?”
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

He watched as the counselor checked over the box, although he wasn’t sure exactly that she was checking for traps he simply thought she was appreciate it. He watched her eyes dance over the the objects and he kept his thoughts to himself as she opened the box, the blade glistening in the light as she picked it up and weighed it, “I’m glad you’re pleased, it took a few favors to get a hold of the authentic article.” He watched her place it back as he said, “My dear counselor there is no more latinum required. Consider the quality of what you have received as a guarantee of what to expect and as a down payment for the future of our productive relationship.”

Lazol, CSO

Casela smiled, “I am most pleased with that arrangement. Are you equally satisfied with what I have given you?” She took the PaDD and walked over to the couch to sit with him. The PaDD placed on the small table within easy reach. Neither having to bow in order to reach it. The PaDD would contain other small details like his grades in school, the specifics of some of his early research, and then just the name and profit of the anomalies with dates. And of course his financials that S31 had examined. “Let me ask you Lazol, and I don’t really expect an answer, but why would you come here to study anomalies? You are already very successful.”
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Lazol reached for the PaDD and perused the information when he looked up and said, “I am exceptionally pleased counselor”. He did not seem to be bothered by the counselor’s presence and he in fact felt almost a little comfortable with her being there. He looked at her and finished his drink and sat there in the silence for a few long seconds. “Counselor let me explain to you that I have my reasons. Right now those reasons are my own, but it should ease your mind ever so mildly to learn that the profits are of a secondary consideration, otherwise yes I would have stayed on The 92 and made sure to make as much money as possible. “

Lazol, CSO

Casela was not surprised by the cryptic answer. In fact she was not expecting any answer at all from him. “The 92? There are several paths to profit. A fitting name I think. Most scientist within the Ferengi Alliance don’t make much profit and are not seen for their brilliance. And as I’ve told you, I have a desire for the finer things and for power. What if I were to tell you we stumbled on, what I hope, would be a very profitable turn of events. But it would take someone, of your obvious skill to turn a profit,” of course here she is referring to his massive wealth, and the skill it would take to acquire it. “and make the idea work. And perhaps be even more profitable than your previous scientific ventures? But I am not a scientist so the accuracy of my statements are pure intellectual assumption.”
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

“She’s an old K’tinga cruiser that looks dated from the outside but inside she’s as modern as this vessel is. I’ve spared no expense to make sure she’s up to the task of capturing these anomalies.” Lazol said as he considered her offer, “My dear counselor I am very interested in what you are to propose as it sounds like a potential profitable venture for both of us. Tell me counselor, what do you have in mind?” Lazol rapped his fingers together and said, “What can I provide for you next Counselor?”

Lazol, CSO

“A passion for new toys and the quality that comes with age,” she raised one brow at her assessment. “Right now, I need nothing. What you can provide is your thoughts on how to implement such a plan. Our....mission, is hampered by the ethics of Star Fleet. And we MUST return the captured anomalies. It is part of our directive. And we are also very much independent and must provide our own equipment and resources. It makes it difficult to make profit. And if my reports do not show a success here, well then, I can’t return to the…comfort and position I am used to.” It wasn’t even a lie. Everything she told him was true. Except she did NOT want to return to S31, but if she did, her reports would need to be full of useful information. “We recently discovered that,” she leaned in dropping her voice, “that people would be willing to pay us to remove the anomalies. And I wondered, we have to remove them anyway, orders and all that, but why couldn’t we have both?”
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Lazol wrapped his fingers against each other a he thought over what the good counselor has said. He mused the dual nature of being paid to take something away then being paid once he sold it or the research should the anomaly be too dangerous. “I had pulled the information from Olash about how that transaction went down and I appreciate how the Leviathian handled the situation.” He leaned back in his chair and rubbed the head band behind his lobes “I have a few leads in this sector and one in particular that could create a wonderful avenue for profit is a village on the planet of Delotha where there are children who’s wishes are coming true. I heard that there positives and negatives to each ‘wish’ as it were. Maybe something we can exploit?”

Lazol, CSO

Casela had not personally met Olash, she’d been busy with other things at the time, but she had read the reports and seen the ships feeds. She’d been impressed with how Cobb had handled the situation. She had also formed an opinion of respect for Olash as well. Lazol, however, was a whole other situation. a village on the planet of Delotha where there are children. Her relaxed posture remained, not even the blink of an eye. A K’tinga cruiser, a Klingon ship, owned and run by a Ferengi. A memory stired, vague from so many years ago. Ch’otok had paid for her passage off of Delotha on a Klingon ship, captained by a Ferengi. She’d barely left her quarters that trip, and never met the captain…and she was 100% certain she was looking at that captain. This situation just went from uncertain to very dangerous, and Lazol didn’t know it yet. He knew about the orphanage and he knew about her! Or did he? Not for the first time in her career did Casela curse the Betazoid inability to read Ferengi.

Suddenly, she was no longer sitting across from him, but was in his space, dangerously in his space, a knife pressed hard to the soft spot in his throat. “Who are you? Why are you here? And you better hope to whatever gods of profit you pray to, that you didn’t plant that damn anomaly to hurt those children, or I will disassemble you joint-by-joint. Do you understand?” And in her eyes Lazol would see that avenging angel of death that made grown men and women beg for their mothers with their dying breaths.
Lt. Synthi-er, S31

Well. That escalated quickly. Lazol felt the cold blade against his throat as he broke out in a cold sweat. He raised his hands slowly, placing his wrists together and extending his closed hands outward in the traditional sign of Ferengi submission. This wasn’t the first time his life had been threatened, especially for someone with the wealth and resources he had this was an all to common fear, hence his usual retinue of body guards that he was sorely lacking on this ship. He breathed for what seemed like a suspicious amount of time when he said calmly. “I am Lazol, Diamon in the Ferengi Alliance and Chief Science Officer onboard the USS Leviathian under and officer exchange program. There are many things you do not know about me Counselor and least of all my past but let me shed some light on that for you.” He said staring straight ahead, speaking in a very forced calm tone as he maintained posture. “You saw in my file that my parents had died due to a ship’s malfunction. That was what I wanted the galaxy to believe. My parents and older sister were killed in a very horrific way by an anomaly, but I was a child at the time and didn’t know that, all I knew is that I wanted to stop those things from hurting any other child and the least of all orphans as that is what I became. Please remove the dagger from my throat and I will answer any questions you want. I know you cannot read my thoughts but I will submit myself to any test to verify what I am saying.” Lazol was scared, he was trying not to show it but he was petrified that this would be his last conversation alive and he didn’t even know why.

Lazol, CSO

A slight twitch of the eye, attempting to look away, told her it was a lie. “That’s not true, not entirely. An officer exchange program on the most secretive of Star Fleet divisions. I don’t think so. I didn’t believe it before and I certainly don’t now.” She eased the knife enough so he could talk without risk, but she wasn’t stupid. Ferengi were intelligent and survivalists. And Lazol was better than most. It was a risk if he wasn’t aware, but she watched him carefully. “11 years ago, you gave transport to a young woman, she was injured and sick, from Delotha. A Klingon purchased passage for her.”

She nodded, he remembered. “I don’t need to be telepathic, Lazol, and good thing for you, you’re Ferengi or this would get very painful. Let’s connect the dots then. You took me off that planet, someone, with a lot influence figured it out. Maybe you let something slip in your arrogance. Maybe your reputation drew the attention of the wrong people. Either way it doesn’t matter. Who is paying you to find me?” Her voice had dropped, a soft silky, poisonous whisper, promising nightmarish things.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Lazol breathed a little easier as the blade was removed from his throat. He swallowed and looked in her eyes, the black inky pools full of fire and loathing. He thought back long and hard… “My dear counselor a officer exchange is what was officially sanctioned by Admiral Janssen. Unless you want to be complicit in some crimes at the highest levels of the ARU I would suggest you drop that specific inquiry. As for your second point…” Lazol said eying the blade as he swallowed again. “11 years… that was.... Are you talking about Ch’otok?” He said, a man he had worked with back then and to this day with honor and integrity. “Yes I do remember him booking passage for someone with express instructions to make sure that she was comfortable, and not to be bothered. I…” He trailed off before saying, “I owed him a favor and told him that transport wouldn’t be a problem, and his requests would be honored and I put you in the best stateroom that an old Klingon ship can offer and dropped you off of Starbase 332. After that the whole thing slipped from my mind until you oh so aggressively reminded me of it.”

He sat up and looked at her in the eyes, dead seriousness in his expression as he said, “I am many things Lieutenant, most of which your people find deplorable but there is one thing I am not. And that is a snitch. You guessed correctly. I picked up an injured sick young woman at the request of a long time business partner with little questions and from there I fulfilled my end of the bargain and went back to making a profit. I did not keep records, nor did I even have you listed on a registry. He gave me a name that I knew had to be false and I told him the less I knew the better. He escorted you personally on the ship and took you to the room that had been assigned to ‘cargo’ and that was it. No money exchanged hands, no logs were kept, no records exist beyond what is in your memory, my memory, and his. I found out during the Dominion War that Ch’otok was a man to be trusted but not fooled with. When he retired to that planet he requested that I work with the village to get supplies that the governor was withholding. I fought Orion blockades, I lost men and profit working with him but I owe him a great debt that I can never repay so when he asked me to take someone off world I did so without thinking anything of it. And here I am 11 years later being held at knife point by the person I was instructed to take off world by the one person who holds me in a perpetual debt. Do you really think I am so narrow of a man to be led by profit alone? Do you not think that I am a deeper man than simply an individual with a lust for latinum. I can buy moons, fleets, but there is something more that drives me and that’s why I’m here. So don’t you dare accuse me of betraying the trust of the man whose debt I can never repay. And don’t you dare insinuate that I am so low that I would sell out people for profit, or risk the lives of children who have already lost so much!” Lazol had risen from his seat and was yelling at this point, the indignation was fierce and he was done with whatever was going on and had been triggered.

Lazol, CSO