Give Me a Reason

Posted on Mon Aug 19th, 2019 @ 11:57am by Commander Liselle Qwyyn

Mission: Mission 2: Heaven On Earth
1428 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Taam had watched Tana as she walked the Promenade, far enough away where she couldn't see him, close enough where she couldn't ditch him if she did. He waited until she'd gone down an empty corridor, taking a short cut to somewhere else. He wished he could see her face when he cocked that pistol behind her, "Be very quiet, no sudden moves, act as though your life depends on it." He instructed, his voice low, "You need to know this isn't a phaser or a disruptor, there's no energy signature and no alarms are going to go off. This is a good, old fashioned gun, silenced and trained on your pretty head. Now, we're going to talk, by which I mean you're going to answer my questions and try to give me a reason not to part your hair with a 7.65 millimeter bullet, got me?"

Tana inclined her head, the movement barely perceptible. Her eyes darted over her shoulder. "I was wondering when we would meet again," she said. "You know, if you do kill me, they'll never let you leave this station alive."

"You clearly still have no idea who the hell you're talking to." Taam sneered, "Now, let's start with question number one. The scumbags at the prison who you nearly sent to their deaths, who are they and why were they interested in me?"

"I have no idea," she said. Her eyes darted to either side of her, either searching for someone to help her or for any kind of opportunity to slip her way out of this conversation. "None of us knew who you were. Just another random mark for us to shake down. You were just another fresh face sent to rot in prison like the rest of us."

Taam didn't believe her, not for a second, especially since basically everything this bitch had told him had proven to be a lie so far, "Okay, let's say I swallow that, which I don't, but let's say I did." Taam mused, "You've still not given me a reason not to kill you. Want to try again?"

His tone was undeniable. She knew there wouldn't be much leeway with clever conversation, not if the rumors about him were true. "Alright, alright. Let's talk," she relented. "But let's start with you doing me the courtesy of pointing that 'thing' somewhere else."

"Fair enough." Taam dropped the muzzle lower and to the right, but in such a place where he could easily get it back on point if she tried something stupid, "Try anything dumb and you are one dead bitch, understand?"

"You know..." she began, "You have quite the reputation as a lady's man. That language hardly suits the stories I've heard."

"This language is reserved exclusively for women who try to throw me to the sharks." Taam replied, "And this one girl on Risa who got off on it." ~Now that chick was weird...~

Tana spoke her next words slowly, carefully. "And how did you speak to the wife of Maja Roz?"

"Who?" Taam didn't know that name, ~Maybe if she had given me the wife's name instead...~ "Anyway, it doesn't matter, that wasn't an answer to my question. Want to try again?"

Tana laughed out loud at that. "Oh, Taam. You really do live up to your reputation," she said, though there was hardly humor in her voice. "Her name was Anya Roz. Though, I don't know what name she gave you. That hardly matters. What does matter is that at some point you had a magnificent evening with her -- a lovely young Bajoran woman taken to explore the quadrant with a group of friends on vacation. She was very beautiful, very sweet, and would have been adorned in far too much jewelry for your hungry eyes to possibly resist. That Bajoran woman was the wife of Maja Roz -- a very powerful, and very jealous member of the Orion syndicate."

That's when it clicked, Maja Roz, he had been the target. The Queen had sent them after him, looking for enough evidence to send him away for the murder of six agents, they'd only managed to find enough to send two of his associates away for life, which turned out to be a shorter sentence than expected when they were both killed en route to New Zealand. She had been... collateral damage when he'd taken a new approach to pumping her for information, "So, Roz sent you?" Taam laughed, "Yellow son of a bitch was always afraid of a standup fight. So you're an Orion then? Or just some sleazy mercenary?"

"I wasn't lying to you before when I said I'm a lot like you. I do what I have to in order to survive," she said. "When you ended up in that prison the syndicate got wind of it. They looked for a prisoner they knew would 'appeal to your appetites.' Lucky me. One of their people approached me and told me that if I didn't do what they asked, they'd kill Sarilla. It wasn't supposed to be anything more than confirming your identity. I swear, I had no idea they were going to jump you."

Something strange had just happened to Taam Sor'el. For the first time since he'd met the pretty blonde backstabber he actually believed something that came out of her mouth, but he wasn't going to tip his hand yet, "And who is Sarilla to you?" He had a feeling he already knew, but he wasn't going to play that card yet, either.

"She's my brother's kid. I was helping to relocate the two of them from 'debt collectors.' When the Romulans caught up to us they killed him without a second thought, right in front of her. Didn't even give him the chance to surrender. I managed to find out where she was in the prison, and I even managed periodic visitation. I had to trade a lot for that privilege. But I'd already sworn that I would do whatever I had to in order to keep her alive." She fell silent for a moment. And then she looked over her shoulder at Taam. "I've never told anyone that story before."

"If it makes you feel any better, Mishka Valdran is going to pay dearly for her sins." Taam said, "I'm going to make sure of that. So, I suppose you're all Sarilla has left, right?"

Her eyes flicked to the gun. "I guess that all depends on what you intend to do with me."

"I'll admit the original plan was to put a bullet in your pretty skull, Tana. You earned that bullet." Taam replied, decocking the gun, "But, you told me the truth, finally, earned yourself a stay of execution. Now, what are your plans going forward?"

"I need to get Sarilla somewhere safe. I'm not someone who can raise a kid, but I can't get back to my own life until I know that someone is taking care of her's. Maybe one of the Bajoran families? " she ventured. "What about you? You know the syndicate is going to find out the prison attempt on you failed."

He walked now where she could see him, letting her see his Starfleet uniform, "If they can somehow board Atlantis, my phaser and a body bag will be waiting for them. Don't suppose your freighter exists anymore, does it?"

"Actually, I had a lead on a certain Ferengi bartender having acquired her since my arrest. I was on my way there just as you and I decided to have this lovely chat of ours." She looked at him cautiously. "What did you have in mind?"

"A job offer." Taam replied, "But instead of that, why don't I lean on Quark for you. He's got a little more idea of who he's dealing with."

"You'd be willing to work with me? After what happened back at the prison?" Tana asked, her surprise clear. "You aren't setting me up for some kind of payback, are you?"

"I'm doing this for Sarilla." Taam answered bluntly, "If she's going to have a life she's going to need stability, that means financially and emotionally. Long story short, you've got a lot of work to do, Tana, and you can't do it without your ship."

She couldn't help the relieved smile that filled her features. Her eyes practically sparkled her gratitude. "Then let's find my ship."

"Right." Taam nodded, sending a signal to a friend to do just that.

-OFF