Hidden Talents

Posted on Sat Mar 12th, 2016 @ 8:46pm by Commander Oralia Zeferino & Captain Li Hawke & IKS Ning'Tao

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Romulus

* Tal Shiar Fortress, Kaeli’s Quarters *

Returning to the quarters had been far easier than leaving them had been. Once she was past the blurred out part of the building diagram, Isa had simply run into an officer and then stammered out a story about looking for a library. The woman hadn't bought it, but had, rather roughly, returned her to Kaeli’s room. Isa heard the bolt click home as she stood in the living room. “That went well,” she patted herself on the back, smiling.

Heading for Kaeli’s room, where they'd unceremoniously dumped and hog-tied Tindam, Isa shed her jacket and boots and briefly, through the hole in her shirt, lamented the burn mark on her belly. “I owe Baier for that,” she muttered to herself.

“You bitch,” Tindam growled at her as she entered the room. “I’m going to have you.... Rekar won’t stand for this!”

“You’re going to have me what, Tindam? Drawn and quartered? Spanked?” She crouched where he could see her and she could pet his hair. “I bet you’d like that; you’d probably be the one doing it, too.” She laughed, untroubled by his grumbliness. “By now, your muscles are screaming from being in this position, Tindam, but you know that. You’ve trained with Rekar, haven’t you? Rhetorical question; I already know that answer. You also know, then, that when I cut those ties, your muscles are going to hurt just as much and you’ll be weak as a kitten for a few minutes.”

“I’m going to kill you. Slowly, like you...ugh,” he grunted as Isa reached over and pressed on his arms.

“You won’t,” she assured him.

“You’re so sure, huh? How about cutting those ties, then? Give me a few minutes and then we’ll see who bests the other.” He hissed in pain as Isa pushed down on his ankles, using them to balance herself as she stood up.

“Sure. I’ll cut you loose,” she nodded placidly and pulled out the dagger. With a quick flick of her wrist, she cut the strip of sheeting connecting his ankles to his wrists. It was almost as if he’d used his mind trick on her, prompting her to obey him.

Groaning, loudly, Tindam stretched out his legs. He still couldn’t move his hands - and that movement was becoming a priority: his biceps and back muscles were burning from his arms being pulled behind his back. Isaura went out to the other room then returned after a moment. “Here, let me help you up,” she said and helped him maneuver to his knees; from there, he was able to sit on the bed. The whole while, he wondered what her game was; the worry left him off-balance.

Isa was glad he was more concerned about what else she was going to do to him than he was about reading her thoughts. Had he been in tune with them, he’d know she was worried about what she was about to do. She’d done it before but Zarv had been right beside her. She wasn’t even sure it’d work when they were this far apart; but, then, she believed the talent came from Zarv, not from her innate abilities.

“I brought some water,” she said, getting the glass from the nightstand and offering him a sip.

He looked at her, trying to read her, then took a sip; they were slightly uncoordinated and water dribbled down his shirt. “What are you doing?”, he asked. He'd gotten a wall of noise when reading her; it surprised him that she could block his telepathy so strongly.

Setting the water aside, having taken a drink from it first, Isa bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “Nothing that will hurt, Tindam. That’s not my way, unlike you barbaric Romulans,” she came back to put a hand on his jawline, her thumb touching his lips. The fingers of her other hand parted his hair at the nape of his neck; she cradled his skull in that hand. “Just hold still,” she whispered and concentrated hard for a long moment, looking into his eyes.

Tindam blinked slowly, feeling her in his head; it was an invasion and, yet, it wasn’t. They’d been intimate, physically and mentally, during the night; he had let her in and she had already seen quite a bit in his mind. This, though, was deeper somehow, more guileful and purposeful than he’d thought Isa could possibly be. By his estimation, she was just a display piece, something to distract while others did the actual work around her.

She smiled, her eyes barely open; she could see these thoughts and knew he was quite wrong. There was something specific she was looking for, though, and she delved deeper looking for it. Finding it, she did something Zarv had taught her to do and slowly withdrew from Tindam’s head. As she did, she leaned forward and kissed him.

He responded as if he were in a dream; he’d gone from feeling the pain of his bound arms to being suddenly blissful and thrilled to have Isa’s attention on him. Her kiss was all he wanted. He wanted nothing but to help her.

She stepped away then cut the bindings on his wrists and ankles. She eased him back into the pillows and suggested, “Sleep a bit.” He was out in a moment.

* Kaeli Returns *

Kaeli entered her quarters two hours later, looking a little disheveled, shoes in hand as if she were trying to sneak in unheard. She dropped them by the door and seeing the lights on, called out softly.

“Isa?”

“Wha--?” Isa woke up quickly and peered over the back of the couch at Kaeli. She sat up completely, blinking and yawning. A shot of panic woke her fully, “Oh! What time is it?”, she looked at her on watch, since that’s the watch she’d used to calculate the four hours.

“2100 hours, why?” Kaeli asked. She reached up to try and smooth her unruly curls, then gave up. “Three and a half hours since I left.”

“Woo... we don’t have much time, then,” Isa said. She was counting half hours on her watch. “Oh, yeah, we have about 65 minutes, then Jarad and Drekkar will be here. I need to get back to the transmitter.” She’d gotten up and crossed the room to Kaeli’s bedroom.

“Really??” Kaeli smiled ear to ear. “That’s awesome. Wait...does he know where I was?”

Isa paused mid-step, “Ah...,” she looked back at Kaeli. “Was I not supposed to tell him?”

“Let me guess, you said Rekar and he got all broody and stern, didn’t he? Demanding to know when I’d be back?” She dropped to the sofa and propped her bare feet on the table before it. “I am in trouble I bet.”

“Uh... yeah, that was his reaction,” Isa said, bemused. “Perhaps you could have warned me not to mention that. Or... maybe you did?”

The door to the bedroom opened behind her. Tindam stepped out, flexing his arms and wincing with pain. “Gods... how long did you leave me tied?”, he complained.

“I didn’t expect to be there so long or to….yeah. I am in so much trouble.” She looked up at Tindam, confused. “Do I need to drop him again?”

Tindam looked at her, a brow raised. “Didn’t you just get enough from Rekar?”

“None of your business, Tin,” she snapped.

Laughing, Isa shook her head at Kaeli. “No, no, we’re good. Kind of a mutual agreement. Oh, hey, Tindam, we need to get to a secure transmitter on the far side of the Fortress; could you please take us there?” She put a wheedling tone in her voice and smiled at him nicely.

He blinked rapidly a few times, then nodded and returned her smile. “Yeah, we can do that. I need to stretch my legs anyway.”

Kaeli frowned slightly as she looked back at Isa. What did you do?

Wide-eyed, Isaura looked as innocent as she could. Nothing. What? I can be persuasive, you know.

We’ll talk about this….later sweets. Right now we need to get to that transmitter. I’m ready. And when we get off this god-forsaken planet, I may need to crash on your couch.

“Rafe might not like that, but I don’t have an issue with it,” Isa said. “Let’s go,” she grabbed her jacket and stuffed her feet into her boots.

Tindam held the door for the two then led them through the hallways, making sure they were waved through at the various checkpoints and ignored by the officers moving about the Fortress. At the door to the transmitter, Tindam stopped and scanned his badge. He was denied access. “Huh,” he grunted.

“I got this,” Isa said. She’d done it once already this evening; she scrambled the lock’s brain and it popped open like a practiced professional. Opening the door and entering the room beyond, she checked her watch. “Okay, we’re a little early.”

Tindam made sure Kaeli was inside before he followed them and closed the door. He stood close to Isaura.

Kaeli checked the time and began to pace. She didn’t think they would run into trouble here. If they did, she knew Tindam’s ability and if that didn’t work, she and Isa could take out what was left.

“That reminds me, Isa. Rekar knows about the guard. I told him the guy was roughing you up and I had to kill him. He was pissed...on your behalf, believe it or not.”

“Oh... well, that’s... um... I’d say that was sweet, if, you know, there weren’t a dead guy involved,” Isa looked decidedly uncomfortable. She’d done it easily, but killing a man like that bothered her; what if he had children? A wife? Surely he'd have a mother who would miss him.

“It’s okay, Isa,” Tindam pulled her a little closer and kissed her hair. She leaned into him slightly.

“I put him out in the hallway, hidden in an alcove. He’ll start to stink pretty soon, so we need to leave,” she said.

“I hate to say it but they will simply remove him and carry on as usual. This is the Tal Shiar after all,” Kaeli reminded her. “It’s an event when there isn’t a dead body around here.”

That just made Isa sad that life here was so devalued dead bodies were common. She moped till the comm chimed.

***********

Isaura Panossian
Kaeli
Tindam