Blurred Lines

Posted on Sat Jan 19th, 2013 @ 5:52pm by Lazan & Major Patrick Smith

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: The Cherry Pit

Lazan had managed to secure only a few moments with the Hazari under the truthful (just not primary) pretense of securing him an advocate, but it had been sufficient. Time would do the rest, he knew as he smoothed the front of his jacket and stepped into the turbolift.

"The Cherry Pit," he ordered as the lift slid into motion, leaving him some time with his thoughts. He supposed that all of the loose ends with the Enforcer were neatly tied, save one. The Rat might also need to be addressed. If his involvement were discovered... well, the man had less backbone than an Edosian slug. Lazan didn't need him to start talking to Security.

Returning to his, formerly Suresh's, office, the new syndicate boss poured himself a drink and then moved to a secured lockbox that responded to his touch, revealing a hypospray within.

Nine moved from the dark room attached to Suresh's office into the doorway, leaning on it. "You know I heard those things can be bad for you," he commented referring to the hypo. "But not worse than murdering Starfleet cadets can be." Pat knew that it was likely Lazan knew who was behind it but he hoped such a direct accusation would promote a response which would let him know if Lazan was involved.

Lazan tensed visibly at the sounds from behind him, but when he turned to see Nine relaxed slightly as he pressed the hypo to his neck to deliver whatever was inside to his bloodstream. He actually laughed when accused and replaced the medical equipment in its secure storage.

"You can thank Suresh for that, though they'd never be able to prove it. I should actually send a thank you note to Zeferino for removing the Hazari thorn in my side... maybe a bottle of wine," he mused, smirking. "Regardless, you have your killer and I don't have to worry about cleaning up any additional messes my employer left before exiting the universe."

"I doubt with the charges we already have racked up against him he will ever make it out of prison legally," nine commented. "I am however glad that you have nothing to do with it. I see you've jumped headfirst into his place though. Plans?"

"At the moment, damage control. I owe rather a lot to your predecessor, and I had promised her husband that I would keep things quiet while he dealt with the disappearances. Would you care for a drink?" Lazan asked as he reached for his own, brushing some of the greying black hair back from his face. "Of course, Suresh had put into motion some things I was not entirely aware of, to the detriment of the Cadet. So I will sit, and wait, and solidify my power base."

Lazan seemed at ease, but inwardly, something that Nine had said was gnawing at him. Suresh would be rotting in prison, almost certainly, but that wouldn't necessarily stop him from guiding things down here...

"Sounds good," Nine answered to the offer of a drink as he moved from the doorway across the room. "Solidifying your position is a good call. The sooner you get everyone on side here the better, not only for you but for us. Thankfully everyone down here knows you already so you have that air of authority."

Pouring two fingers for Patrick, Lazan topped off his own glass in the process. "There are a great many on this station who are accustomed to seeing me as Suresh's right hand man. That I should assume power will seem natural. There are others who are less... shall we say loyal to the organization than to the man. Those are the ones I'll need to keep my eye on. And yes, I believe my stewardship of our activities should prove mutually beneficial to both parties." Of course, in this case both parties were the Federation and Lazan himself. Slightly disparate, those.

"How's your girl?" he wondered as he took another sip of his whiskey.

"Not bad I believe. I've been rather to busy to check up and once security found Jade I had to let her out of our frist class accommodation up above. It was that or have security banging the door down looking for her," he said as he took a drink. "I daresay once Suresh gets back and that's dealt with we will all have a bit more time for socialising."

"I can imagine," Lazan admitted. "Aside from myself, and possibly Tog or Seyla if Suresh's tongue wandered, no one else should be aware of your little acquisition." In the way Lazan looked at Nine, it was obvious he was leaving something deliberately unsaid. If any goons had been involved with trafficking slaves, they weren't going to be a contingency anymore. "I'm sure the ladies will appreciate their freedom. They just need to avoid taking any tours of the brig in the next... fifty years to life?" he estimated.

"Life preferably. With as little contact with the outside world as legally possible," Nine added frowning at the thought of Suresh getting out. "I don't see Tog knowing. No reason to tell him unless something went skeewiff which it hadn't, and by which time it was two late. Seyla on the other hand probably does. I daresay as long as they stay away from her she won't care if she knows." He finished his drink and set the glass down.

"If you have problems with anyone down here not falling in line let me know. I'll knock a few heads together in my capacity as your pilot. Or if needs be they can disappear," he added shrugging.

"Hmm," Lazan hummed as he observed Nine over his glass, a smirk on his dark features. "Quite unlike your predecessor, that, though I do appreciate it. It may do some good for the riff-raff to see you knocking skulls... they knew not to lay hands on Isha, after all, even if it was for different reasons." Pausing, he chuckled after a moment. "Still, you don't get to be in my position without analyzing everything. Would you be trying to implicate me in something, my numerary friend?" His grey eyes shone more with amusement than accusation.

"Oh never. I'd just make something up and fabricate the evidence," Pat replied, the joking nature present in his tone of voice. "At the end of the day the less likely the lot down here are to try and seize power the more stable things will be and the less of a headache security will have to have."

Lazan laughed out loud at Nine's rather frank admission. He had to admit, he respected this man, who seemed to be as ruthlessly cunning as he needed to be... and if he was being entirely honest, it was nice knowing he wasn't a telepath. That had always been a consideration with Li, as much as Lazan liked her.

"I can tell you with all honesty that I have no interest in running this spinning space heap," Lazan said. "I'll take my corner of it for now, turn a tidy profit, and wait to retire to... what was that planet she mentioned? Rise? Something like that. It sounded wonderful, very much worth a trip across the galaxy."

"From what I gather it certainly is. Never been myself as personally I prefer flying myself to planets with as few people as possible and enjoying the sights. Add in a bit of low level aerobatics and you have yourself a perfect holiday," Nine said reminiscing of the last time he was able to do that.

"Sounds more like a recipe for getting sick to me," Lazan admitted, envisioning his stuff turning with the ship, "but to each his own. As it stands, we each have something of a holiday without my dear employer around to enjoy. I suggest we both make the most of it."

"Speak for yourself. I just have less time down here to distract me from the paperwork and the other operations," Nine replied screwing his face up at the thought of it. "But at least that's less risky. Anyway I need to get back up here. If you need me then you know how to get in touch," Nine said moving towards the door.

"Ah, yes, far be it from me to forget that there are some respectable enterprises going on inside this station. I'll contact you the usual way if anything should come up." Lazan raised his glass to Nine as he departed, before putting his feet up on the desk and contemplating how next to secure his grasp of the underworld of 900.

_____________________
A joint post by:

Lazan
While the cat's away...

'Nine'
Checking on the new Cat on the block.