Prey In Sight

Posted on Tue Jan 22nd, 2013 @ 3:28pm by Lieutenant Commander Leto & Zoudin Veist

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: Archadia III

* * * Archadia III * * *

Leto awakened with the overwhelming urge to get back to her house. While she would love to have some of her clothes, some as yet unknown compulsion was drawing her from the bed and away from Zoudin. She turned over gently to study the man who lay sleeping at her side. Zoudin Veist. His dark lashes lay against his cheeks and he had a slight smile on his face. She couldn’t resist reaching out to brush her finger over his bare shoulder, then follow that with a kiss. He sighed contentedly, but remained asleep. It was early still, and if she hurried, she could get home and be back before he awakened.

Leto dressed and slipped out of Veist’s home. Her steps as she moved along the street were a bit more hurried than usual as whatever compulsion drew her along grew stronger the closer she got to her own home. She passed the park that ran alongside the palace square and continued on, unaware that she was being observed. Two streets over, she unlocked her house and slipped in, locking the door behind her.

Changing clothes and packing a few things in a bag took only a few minutes. Once that was done, she left the bag by the door and crossed to move the picture and open the safe. This is what had drawn her inexorably home and she reached in, removing all the small padds. She sent off a report of the previous day, a note that she was with Veist at his home and the location. Once she’d wiped the memory, she dropped all but one into the recycler and waited till they vanished. The last she held in her hand, debating. Some sense of self-preservation had her hanging onto it, wondering if she should keep it. Turning it over, she removed a small button and reached up, buried it beneath her hair and attached it to her scalp. The last padd was disintegrated in the recycler and Leto grabbed her bag, hurrying out to return to Veist.

Fifteen minutes later, the hunter watched as Leto entered the house. She found a good hidden spot and settled in to wait.

“Ah, there you are,” Veist said as Leto came back into the house. “I was worried that I may have been too forceful, or, possibly, horrible?” As she came in he went to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I was hoping that you would return to me.”

The other choice would have been bad for her, but he didn’t mention that. No one, ever, slighted Zoudin Veist.

Leto laughed softly as she snuggled close to him. “I just ran home to get some clothes and a few things is all. I’ll always return to you, never fear.”

He kissed her deeply and looked into her eyes. “Good. Now, what can we do today? What would make you happy?”

Leto’s smile turned suggestive. “Eat. Then perhaps, stay in.....”

“Absolutely!” He spun her around and sat her down at the table in the kitchen as he began pulling out various pots and pans.

Outside, the hunter pulled out a long-range scope and held it to her eye. “How disgustingly sweet,” she murmured as she watched Veist cooking for his new woman. “At least he understands his place at home.” She moved the scope enough to watch the one she knew as Imara. The hunter had to admit, the woman was striking. No wonder Veist had been so quickly swept away. No matter. Soon Veist would be no more and this Imara would be in the hands of Aegina. What happened then, the Hunter had no desire to know. Now, while both were apparently basking in the afterglow and Veist was being domestic was the perfect time.

She closed the scope and slipped it back into her pouch, then readier her weapon. Keeping to the perimeter, she circled around until she was approaching the kitchen door on the side of the house. Several long, rapid strides had her at the door. The weapon’s beam cut through the transparent panel and she burst into the kitchen.

“Don’t move!” she shouted.

The huntress had made one mistake, even though she could never have known it. Her thoughts were so intent on Zoudin, a Betazoid, not an Archadian, that they were virtually screaming to him as she approached the house. Imara screamed in shock as the woman burst in and Zoudin threw a metal pan at the woman. She only ducked momentarily, but it was all he needed as a large steak knife was also hurled at her. It sunk to the hilt, firmly lodged in her lower abdomen. It wasn’t an instantly fatal wound, but it would slow her down enough for his next trick.

The woman began to scream as she tore at her head. It felt to her as if someone were reaching into her skull and squeezing her brain. Her eyes felt as if they were going to pop out, her ears like they were going to burst. “What is this!?” she managed to squeal.

Leto/Imara was instantly on her feet and in motion, moving to Veist’s side. “What does she want with us??”

“I have an idea about that,” Zoudin replied as he read the intruder’s thoughts while he tortured her. “Aegina sent her. I don’t know why, nor do I care, but I cannot stay here any longer if my employer is willing to have me, and the woman I love, murdered!” At this, the warrior screamed more and fell to her knees, still pulling at her head. Veist stared intently at her, concentrating on reaping as much information from her mind as he could before blinking her out of existence.

“Pack a bag, Imara,” he said. “Just essentials. We need to go and quickly.”

“I -- it’s here. I brought one from my home.” She took one last look at the woman, then dashed out to the front hall to get her bag. She then ran into the bedroom to get some things for him. His words had barely registered, and she’d think on what he said later, when there was time to think.

As Imara went into the bedroom Zoudin stood closer to the woman. “No one gets the drop on me, bitch,” he said. He then lifted his right hand and, with his forefinger and thumb made a pinching motion as he shorted out her brain, killing her instantly. With a kick to her face, just to vent frustration, he turned and found Imara running back out to him.

“Don’t look over there,” he said as he pulled her to him and made her walk away from the body. “We’ll go out the back door. I have a personal shuttle out there, we can go in that and just get away for a while. Try to find out what’s happening, you know?”

“Good and once we are on our way, you can tell me your idea.” Out of habit, she did a visual sweep of the area and seeing nothing else they might need short term, she grabbed the bag and Veist’s hand and ran for the back door.

With a click of a button from a remote in his pocket, the small ship became visible from it’s hidden spot. He’d had a camouflage net and local plants around it but they were cleared away and the door opened, allowing them access. “The idea,” he said as he secured the door and began getting ready for liftoff, “is about one of the Queen’s staff, her little personal doggie, Moren. Aegina ordered me to kill him soon. I’ve gotten--” He stopped himself. What the hell was he doing? Since when did he just blurt out sensitive information like that?

“Shit, shit, shit,” he said under his breath. Closing his eyes for a moment, quickly going over his options, he found that he had no choice. Standing, he opened a small console by the door and retrieved a hypospray and held it to Imara’s neck. “I’m so sorry, Imara,” he said, “but this is for your own safety.” He caught her as the same concoction that he’d used on Amalee Dorinel, the former, and now deceased, Captain of the Guard that rendered her paralytic, but still aware of what was happening, took effect and she dropped like a stone. He gently dragged her over to a seat and placed her on it in a seated position. “You’ll be safe here. I have to get us in the air.”

Her own safety? Alarms went off in her head as she felt the small shuttle begin liftoff. Where were they going? She tried to move but nothing seemed to be working. Veist was still in her line of vision and so her gaze remained on him, at least till her eyes began to burn, then water, blurring her vision.

****************

Lt.(jg) Leto /Imara
On A Magic Carpet Ride

Zoudin Veist
Domestic Assassin