Curtain Call

Posted on Fri Aug 3rd, 2012 @ 12:53pm by Commander Sakkath & Suresh
Edited on on Fri Aug 3rd, 2012 @ 12:54pm

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: The Cherry Pit

Li stood before the mirror in the changing room of the Intel department and sighed. This was, hopefully, the last time Isha would make an appearance. She examined herself closely, making sure every detail was exact. Tonight’s dress was black silk studded with crystals, sari-style. It left one shoulder bare, the other draped with see-through silk, and her midriff bare as well. It was a bit more conservative than usual, and that was done purposely. Tonight was her swan song as far as Suresh was concerned. First, she would meet Lazan, then they would stage her exit stage left. She sent a message to Sakkath that she might be late, then turned and left the room. It was time to get the show on the road.

* * * The Cherry Pit * * *

Lazan was in one of his safe houses, quarters believed either abandoned or belonging to someone recently deceased. He never kept them for long, comfort was anathema in his line of work... No, he corrected himself. Complacency. He was, in fact, quite comfortable as he sat smoking something the vast majority of 900’s occupants hadn’t even heard of. Yet. How he felt about this particular narcotic would decide whether or not he recommended that Suresh pursue a market. So far, things looked promising, his senses beginning to swim in a pleasant, but not debilitating, muddle. But he knew he had to keep his head. The masses would be clamoring to lose themselves completely.

And the reason he needed to keep his head was about to walk through the door, he knew, so he extinguished his cigarette in a decorative dish that likely meant something to the previous occupant but nothing to him. Standing and buttoning his jacket, he waited patiently, a small snifter of brandy sitting so far untouched.

The doors of tonight’s unknown room slid open and Li entered. She was silent until they closed and locked, then she looked to Lazan. Her expression was unreadable as she addressed him.

“Good evening, my friend.”

“Good evening,” Lazan replied with a nod of his head. “You quite surprised our mutual friend, letting him off the hook so easily.” The slight smile that crosses Lazan’s lips was muted but mischievous. “I imagine you’ve heard by now that we paid a visit to Deck 6?”

“I heard, in glorious detail. How is he? Planning murder and mayhem already?” Li sat down in the empty chair and placed a bottle of wine on the table before her.

“Executing, actually.” Lazan’s smile grew, mostly appreciating his own wit. He had meant only to say that Lazan was beyond planning and well into action, but ‘executing’ was oddly appropriate where those poor thugs were concerned. “Bringing me gifts, are you?” he asked, gesturing to the bottle of wine. “You’re too kind.”

Li reached out, laying her hand over the top of the wine. “Not unless you want to get mistaken for dead. This has to do with why I am here tonight, and seeing you first. I have some news, that isn’t going to go over well.” She paused, then plowed ahead. “I’ve been promoted to XO of this station and Patrick, Nine, is taking over Intel.”

For the first time in a great while, Lazan found himself speechless. He was unaware of the slackening of his jaw or the glazed look that passed over his eyes as his mind reeled with the possible implications of that statement. It was several very long moments before he simply stepped over to his glass of brandy and downed the contents in one go. He hadn’t even yet put together her first admission, regarding the wine, with the fact that she was now far too public a figure on this station to go on playing Isha.

He continued to mull things over, staring into a darkened corner of the room as the silence lingered between them, save for the sound of his snifter falling with a dull thud to the carpeted deck, Lazan caring far too little at the moment as to where he placed it.

Li watched him intently, sympathy in her eyes. “It’s going to be rough for you for a time, and for that I truly am sorry. We will still have contact, whenever you need to reach me. But it’s time for Isha’s swan song, you know that as well as I do.”

He finally nodded. “I suppose it is the only way.” He turned, his hands out slightly to his sides as if to signal a gesture of defeat, or at the very least of acceptance. “What do you need me to do?” he asked.

“I will leave here and go to him. With that bottle.” She paused and looked at the bottle for a moment. “He’s not a wine drinker, so he will have something else, I’ll have the wine. It was doctored by our CMO with a drug that will cause my body to imitate death. I will casually thank him, after I’ve had several sips, for such a generous gift. That should put him on alert, since he will know he didn’t send it. He will likely yank it from my hand, but by then it will be too late. It will take effect, he will lose it and start screaming for you.”

“I will be on hand, as always,” Lazan intoned, subtly bolstering his own ego in the process of following along. “Presented with such a scene, and understanding Suresh’s feverish desire for you, he will insist on accompanying you to Piper. I hope your medical doctors are as good with their acting as they are with a hypospray,” he cautioned, knowing it would only take one moment of recognition to undo so much work.

“Can you convince him that there’s nothing to be done and point out that since he’s hysterical, he should stay home, have a drink and go to bed? If you promise to see that I’m taken care of?”

Lazan frowned. “I’m good,” he admitted, “but that good? I don’t know...” He paused, mulling over his options mentally before nodding tentatively. “That might work,” he whispered, more to himself, before lifting his voice back to a normal volume. “Yes, I think I can. I may have to hit him, but... I can’t say I wouldn’t enjoy that.” The frown turned back into the slimy right-hand-man’s usual smirk.

“You’ve certainly earned it, Lazan.” She tugged on her red hair which, surprisingly, did not come off as it should have. “Dyed. I couldn’t risk my hair coming off after my demise.” Li smiled. “After this, I will not be in contact with you for several days unless there is a problem. If you have trouble, call me or send word with Patrick.” She rose and wrapped her hand around the wine bottle. “Wish me luck. And please call Sakkath, request that he meet me in Sickbay in an hour. I’d like him there when I wake up.”

Lazan gave a nod of understanding. “He’ll never be the same after this, you know.” He felt it was all he needed to say as she stood and made her way to the door, knowing full well that in mere moments his entire world would be turned upside down.

“I know, but I have no choice. Perhaps this may be the break we’ve been looking for. Once he gets over the initial shock that is.” Li looked from the bottle to Lazan. “Good luck.”

“To us both.” Strange, Lazan thought, how this felt like a goodbye, even though he knew the woman behind Isha wasn’t going anywhere. Stupidly sentimental, he chided himself, instead walking over towards one of the room’s still-active terminals. “You’d best be going, then. I wouldn’t want one of my men to see you here. It would raise... awkward questions.”

It was all he said before he keyed the comm. “Danell, I have a job for you. Get up here.”

“See you soon.” Li watched Lazan for just a moment, then slipped out and closed the doors behind her, leaving him alone.

Lazan flat-out scowled as soon as she was gone, knowing full well that this was going to make Suresh horrifically unpredictable for the next few days, if not longer. He would have to be constantly on his guard... and if push came to shove, it might finally be time to deal with his ‘employer’... In the meantime, he focused on encrypting an isolinear chip for Danell to deliver north of the equator. He’d need to be down at Suresh’s place in the next few minutes, and could spare no time to handle it himself.


* * * Suresh’s Quarters * * *

Li arrived at Suresh’s door and stopped to take a deep breath and steady herself. This was the home stretch and she was almost there. Just a few more minutes and the final act would begin. She’d managed him just fine so far and one last show and she would be home free.

The night of Suresh’s arrest flashed back through her mind without warning and she reached out to the door frame to steady herself. That had been the night that Sakkath had fled from her at the Nexus and then everything had gone crazy. Suresh had known something wrong that night and had tried to reach out to her, comfort her. She had now allowed it and it has hurt him, she knew. It was as she’d said to Lazan - never get personally involved. And now that the Rhys scare was over, and she’s assumed the XO position, she had greater priorities. Her position made it impossible to continue, but even if it didn’t, the man to whom she’d bound her life did. She had to focus there, rebuild what Rhys had almost broken. And danger of another sort was not what Sakkath needed.

It was time. Reaching out, she rang the chime.

The doors opened immediately and she knew he’d been standing just on the other side waiting.

“Isha!” Suresh’s smile was bright and despite her rule, he reached out to take her hand, drawing her in. She didn’t object, knowing that soon he would need some small comfort and this one touch would be it. “You look incredible.” He stopped with the touch, knowing anything further could ruin the moment. “I’ve missed you.”

“My apologies, it could not be helped. I’ve had some unexpected difficulties to deal with but everything is settled.”

He regarded her a long moment, and finally nodded. So much about her was still unknown to him but going forward, he resolved to change the rules. Lazan had accused him of being obsessed and he knew it to be the truth. It was time he got what he needed from this relationship, and what he needed was her. All of her.

“You brought wine I see, shall I open it and pour some for you?”

Li nodded. “Please.” Second by second, the finale was drawing near and a flash of nervousness hit her. She had to settled down, she’d done this particular subterfuge before, she knew it would be fine.

Suresh took the bottle and moved over to the bar. “Sit, Isha.” as she did, he set about pulling the cork out and pouring her a glass. He sniffed it and nodded. “A good one, even though I am not a wine enthusiast. Here.”

Li smiled and took the glass. She hadn’t been exactly truthful with Lazan. The dose in the wine was heavy and she would be lucky to get through one glass. She’d requested that it be done so to prevent a long evening. She knew Suresh was getting impatient. Raising her glass she spoke finally.

“To us.” Then took a good long drink. “You’re right Suresh, it’s delicious. You always did have a good eye for wine, of not the palate for it. Thank you by the way.”

“Thanks for what?” He poured himself a brandy and moved over to sit by her on the sofa. Her toast secretly thrilled him, but he was afraid to mention it. Things were going too well to screw it up now.

“This wine of course. It was a nice surprise when it arrived and the card was lovely. You’ve become sentimental it seems.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “What card, Isha? What are you talking about?”

Li took another two sips of her wine before she spoke. “You sent it, don’t play coy with me. I appreciated the peace offering. You know it’s one of my favorites. And the card had your name and....I must apologize again for being distant.”

“But I --” Suresh turned to face her. “I didn’t --”

“Didn’t what? Mean what you said?”

“I didn’t send it, Isha.” Hie tone was perplexed. The thought came that perhaps Lazan had done so to get the two of them together to smooth the waters but then, Lazan had never meddled where Isha was concerned. The uncertainty turned to worry. Given his line of work, there was always an element of danger, even to someone like Isha, simply for being close to him. “Maybe you shouldn’t drink that.”

“Don’t be silly.” She drained the last sip and held the glass out to him. “Your card said you wanted to --” She stopped mid-sentence as if her air had been cut off. Her naturally tan complexion paled suddenly and when she opened her mouth to try and breath, nothing came but a choked wheeze. “Suresh?” She managed his name, then the glass slipped from her hand. With a frantic movement, she clawed at the neckline of her dress, instinctively trying to loosen it even though it wasn’t constricting.

“Isha?” Suresh reached for her and cursed aloud. Her skin and turned cool and clammy and he didn’t like this at all. In fact he was terrified. “Isha!”

She swayed and now looked truly panicked. Already, there was a faint outline of blue around her lips. Suresh took hold of her and lowered her to the floor. Tilting her head back, he opened her mouth and pressed his lips to hers, doing his best to give her the air she so desperately needed.

Breathe....dammit...breathe....

She was not responding and now Suresh gave in to the panic and bellowed. “Computer, page Lazan! Lazan, where the hell are you??” He continued his attempts to help his lovely Isha breathe but something told him it was a losing battle.

Torn between arriving too swiftly and too slowly, Lazan had purposefully positioned himself about two corridors away, and set off at a slightly quickened pace. When he arrived, he keyed his code to the door and stepped in, smoothing his jacket.

“You cal--” he began to ask, before looking down at the pair of them on the floor. His eyes went momentarily wide and he stood, frozen.

“DO SOMETHING!” Suresh bellowed. “She’s dying. It was the wine...she won’t breathe....” Suresh was unravelling before Lazan’s eyes. “Don’t leave me...please....”

The roar of Suresh’s voice brought Lazan back to his not-so-stunned senses and he hurried to the floor beside them. He took only a moment to check Isha’s pulse, noticing just how incredibly weak it was already and frowned before reaching into his breast pocket and thumbing on his personal communicator.

“Link me into Starfleet’s comm,” he ordered. He received no word of affirmation, his tone made it clear he wasn’t interested in small talk or delays of any kind. The only change was a chirping tone seconds later. “Medical emergency,” he said swiftly, “Deck 531, Section C. Requesting emergency transport, two persons.”

“Which Sickbay will they take us to?” Suresh fought valiantly for control but his voice cracked and this close. Lazan could see the sheen of tears in his eyes.

“I’ll tell you after they beam us up,” Lazan countered, anticipating the fight before it even began. He met Suresh’s eyes, watching sorrow blend instantly with anger. “You know damn well the Chief of Security is going to come investigating a dying woman beamed out of your quarters. I really don’t need that on top of this.” His tone softened an instant later, even as Standby came over his comm. “I’ll take care of her,” he promised. “This is out of our hands now...”

Suresh wanted to argue the point but Lazan had a valid point. Security was watching him like hawk these days and this would give them ample reason to lock him up for a few days while they investigated.He couldn’t let that happen, and appreciated Lazan’s concern.

“Very well. Take the wine with you so they can figure out what’s in it.” He leaned down and kissed Li gently. “Come back to me,” he whispered. This was followed by some other words in Rihannsu, meant for her ear alone. Finally, he moved back so he wouldn’t be touching her when the transport started.

Lazan reached out and snatched up the bottle of wine only seconds before the pair of them vanished in the azure haze of the Federation transporter, leaving behind what he was sure would be a restless and inconsolable Suresh.

Once they were gone, he lifted the empty wine glass and with a mighty roar, he threw it, shattering it against the wall. The destruction of the glass felt good and he continued on, overturning furniture, smashing decorations, glasses, bottle of alcohol, the mirror that covered one wall.

“I will find the one who did this,” he growled. Then he gave in and the destruction continued as Suresh was lost to his grief.

**********
Commander Li Hawke
Exit Stage Left

Suresh
Hoping For An Encore

Lazan
Playing Dual Roles