80331.12
Following The Trap Snaps Shut
-=The Russian Tea Room: New York City=-
*Damn it* Breaux said nothing.
They had never been caught...it had been nearly two decades...his thoughts ran to Angela, but he didn't want to alert Lair to her involvement-he didn't know what information Lair possessed.
As if on cue, Lair spoke again, "We don't have a lot of time." She spoke softly, each word carefully chosen. "Captain Nolan will not be keeping your appointment, she is already in custody."
He wasn't sure at all that he believed her. "I see. So, it's illegal now for Federation citizens to meet for tea and caviar? I had no idea."
"Avery," Kellyn's eyes begged his attention. "Stop. Just, stop it, okay? I know."
"Know what?" As much as he cared for Lair, he was not going to give her anything to work with.
"More than you think." She leaned forward in her seat, her body language urging him to sit down quickly, so she could explain more fully. "I'm authorized to make you a deal, but you have to understand this is a one-time opportunity. You take the deal, you undergo counseling, and allow Starfleet to deal with Angela Nolan."
Breaux attempted to sound perplexed..."I don't like the sound of that. Is this some type of joke?...What the hell are you talking about?"
"Nolan didn't like the deal when she heard it either. Let's just say, she wasn't receptive to working with us, at least not yet."
Breaux's mind raced...*Did they really have Angela?*...*counseling?*...*work for who?*...* who the hell was Lair really, and how had she become involved in all of this?*
Lair opened her closed hand, which rested on the linen tablecloth -a woman's ring was exposed. It was Angela's.
"She said you wouldn't believe me, so I brought this," Kellyn still looked saddened at the discovery that Avery was involved in the world of the Maquis. Yet as she grasped that reality more fully, her expression became stoic.
She had lost friends to the dark pull of the Maquis before.
She waited for a response.
Breaux knew they had Angela. He had no avenue of escape-there was no reason to find one. He slowly walked toward Kellyn and sat across from her, placing his hands gently on the tabletop.
Without emotion he inquired, "What's going to happen to her? Who are you and what do you want?" Avery understood this drill all too well. He'd lost friends to apprehension in the past, and he was more concerned with Angela Nolan than himself.
Lair sighed, "She's ready to throw you under the bus, and you're still worried about what is going to become of her." Kellyn shook her head. This was consistent with the man that she believed that she knew him to be- always more concerned about the fate of others than his own. Or, he could be giving the performance of a lifetime.
Maybe she didn't know him at all.
Breaux was seething that Lair or anyone else would try to pit Angela against him, and no doubt, they were trying the same ruse with Angela...they didn't know everything obviously...he maintained his composure as he responded, "If you know anything of Angela and I...you'd know she wouldn't give me up on anything. Please, no rudimentary interview techniques. I don't believe it." Avery objected. "She would never."
"Wouldn't she? Are you so sure?" Kellyn fidgeted Nolan's ring between her fingers and frowned. "You still don't know why exactly she wanted to meet you here. How do you know she wasn't going to sell you out in trade for a deal with Starfleet?"
"You're obviously not listening when I speak of Angela...you're going to need to tell me what I'm accused of, if we're going to proceed." Breaux lectured, then he let out an indignant laugh. "Lair...I respect you, but if you think I'm buying this..."
She still had her doubts. She set the ring down between them.
"So you want to know what is going to happen to her? Here is what is going to happen to her. She is going to lose her command, for starters. Starfleet Intelligence will fabricate a reason. The only reason she's not going straight to a penal colony is because they feel she can still be useful to them."
Breaux broke in, "She's not chattel..."
Lair cut him off, "She's Maquis! She forfeited her freedom the moment she broke the law!" Kellyn's voice threatened to rise, and she received warning glances from the security officers standing by. She straightened her shoulders, lowered her voice again and continued.
Breaux smiled, yet he was careful, obviously Maquis was personal for Lair, "So it's about the philosophical difference between the Maquis and Starfleet...so you feel Nolan is Maquis...we all have political persuasions..."
"This is about a hell of a lot more than who she voted for in the last UFP Presidential Election! Please don't insult me my implying otherwise." Her temper was at its limit, and she was growing ever more nervous. If O'Sullivan came and formally arrested Breaux, it would make things a lot more difficult to keep quiet, thereby jeopardizing his plea deal.
"Nolan has countless violations in her past...items from age-old investigations are coming together now...she's getting off easy-relatively speaking." Kellyn looked over her shoulder and bit her lip anxiously, as the security officers glanced around the room once again as well. "Did I mention we don't have a lot of time?" She put Avery back in his place and continued.
"You asked me before who I am. I am Lair Kellyn, and I grew up in a family that was stained by the blood of the Bajoran Resistance. Maybe you've heard of the Kosst Kejal?"
Avery's complexion turned ashen. He had indeed heard of them.
The Kosst Kejal cell had been responsible for large scale 'actions' resulting in some of the greatest Cardassian casualty figures during the years the Resistance was in full force. Sadly, some of those operations had also cost innocent Bajoran lives as well. One in particular came to mind. Something about a miscommunication and a cafe being destroyed. . .
Suddenly the woman before him made a lot more sense. He'd had no idea that Lair's family was the same Lair family that had been at the top of the cell's command structure.
"I was young. Just a kid. I barely understood what was going on. But my parents. . . they made decisions that the entire family paid dearly for. By reacting with violence even when it seemed to be the only way. My sister," she stopped short. Now was not the time for this.
She did not mean to lecture him, she only wanted to try to make him understand that while she had never joined the Maquis herself, she understood their ideals better than he knew.
"I know what it's like to struggle against the politics. The frustrations of the two-faced diplomats who are dealing behind the scenes and making it hard on everyone. The endless committees. But there has to be a line, Avery. Someone has to draw the line and say that's as far as I go."
She reached across and squeezed his hand. "You've drawn your line quite a ways past the one I chose for myself. But I understand why, and I really do want to help you. I owe you my life, and I am trying to keep you from throwing away the rest of yours. Listen to me, please."
He nodded, eyes fixed on the ring on the tabletop. "War...does not determine who is right...only who is left." He looked at her sideways, adding the source of his quotation softly. "Bertrand Russell."
She looked at him sadly, he seemed to her to be a man caught in a time warp- suspended there, bound and chained to the past.
"Avery, the righteous war the Maquis were fighting is finished. It ended more than a decade ago."
She looked away a moment then gazed at him again, eyes so familiar even though so much about her appearance was foreign to him in its current, altered state. "The nightmare is over. It's time to wake up."
"Is it so easy to determine which side is patriot and which is terrorist?...I don't think so, Kellyn." He reflected on Lair's loss as she continued to listen. "I'm sorry for your loss...we're all damaged somehow. It's the nature of this ugly business. So what are we really talking about? I assume there is some pitch I'm to listen to, and then we go from there?"
"This is going to be tricky, for you and me both. O'Sullivan has no idea that I stumbled onto, well, I can tell you the how and why of it later, if you want the comprehensive forensic dissection. But the short version is that Captain Zanh doesn't even know I am here- I am here under the direction of Admiral Vox and he is working with Starfleet Intelligence on your case. Your choice is simple now. You remain on the Serendipity, but in the future you may be called upon to take on extra. . .duties." She paused, the look of revulsion on his face giving her a clear impression of his feelings toward the idea.
"So my supposed actions...make me a bastard...but...if I work for the 'right' people, my actions are sanctioned." He let her continue.
"Wait. Hear me out. Starfleet is interested in turning Maquis operatives, not just exposing and prosecuting them. There's a lot of unfinished business to be taken care of after the war, and they don't want to lose out on the experience of these people if they can show them that times have changed and they are better off serving not only themselves but also the ideals they have fought so hard for by returning to Starfleet as Intelligence agents."
She let the information sink in a moment.
"There's more. You'll have to undergo counseling for a number of reasons, the least of which is your use of tropolisine." She squeezed his hand once more. "Doing these things will help you and Angela...no doubt, if you decide to do the right thing, Angela will as well. However, if you choose not to cooperate," she didn't finish the options, there was no need.
Kellyn had set the ring on the tablecloth. Breaux slowly picked it up and turned the ring over in his hand. "Is she safe? Where will she go from here?"
Kellyn was amazed that Avery continued to be more concerned with his mate...and yet, she wasn't surprised. "She's en route to San Francisco, following an investigation stemming from a recent mission-that will allow for her demotion and reassignment . She will have an opportunity to turn as well..."
Kellyn waited. "She wants to talk to you, but that won't happen for awhile if at all, and definitely not until I have an answer from you."
*Why was Angela getting a second chance to turn?* Avery pursued the matter, "Angela has something on Starfleet doesn't she?"
Lair paused as if debating whether to answer, "She has some... sensitive information in her possession. But she is still subject to this. . .special assignment."
*Good girl,* Avery thought, while trying not to smirk. He knew information could buy you a lot of things.
Avery asked, "So you want me to lie to my friends so you can expose them?...That...will buy my freedom?"
Lair didn't enjoy giving the next answer, but found it necessary, "It seems you and Angela have had no trouble with lying to your friends before. You've done it with great skill, even recently."
The sting of being disappointed in Avery was made clear yet again. "And yes, this will allow the two of you a certain amount of autonomy."
Breaux gently placed the ring back in Lair's hand. He knew that if given a chance he could make Lair and the others understand. He clung to his convictions of having aided both Starfleet and fought against a dysfunctional bureaucracy. A solemn Avery spoke quietly,
"When do I start?"
"Right now. Show me the least obvious exit from this place so we can elude O'Sullivan. You and I have an appointment to keep with Admiral Vox."
Avery sat for what seemed an eternity, "We go upstairs. There's a connecting door to an adjacent building. From there, we disappear."
LT. Commander Avery Breaux
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Commander Lair Kellyn
Director of Engineering Research
USS Serendipity NCC-2012