as written by barney_fife and Ylanne
The sun was hanging low over the horizon as Kathryn was preparing to pack for her training with the TIB. Several suitcases were packed with her personal belongings, or rather those that were approved for her to bring with for her training.
She was expecting her courier to arrive any minute, so that she could relay a status update to the field commander back in Van Leugen. A note had been written in neat anquietas code, referencing specific code words that only the IIA operatives could decipher.
She checked her disruptor pistol for a moment, before she removed the microfusion call from the power slot within the weapon. She then placed both within a locked drawer hidden behind a false panel within the china cabinet in the kitchen.
She peered back into the bedroom, this was the most secure place within the cottage. An armoire with a false back that opened up to a reinforced trinnium door that separated the cottage from the true IIA central command facility.
She made sure the armoire was shut, and that her wardrobe obscured the hidden keypad within the armoire, a hidden keypad that was revealed only when special magnetic coat hangars were arranged in very specific places in the armoire.
Kat then moved over towards a photograph. It was a small photograph of herself and Marlene Angel. This photograph was secured in the same hidden drawer her disruptor and other IIA gear were being stowed.
The only evidence of anything aschen was the small icon of Athena that was displayed on the fireplace mantle. Kat venerated it for just a moment, before she flopped on the couch, and turned on the television.
____
Instead of the Aschen courier, a nondescript gray van pulled in front of the unassuming home at the end of the road. Other than a few scrapes around the bumper, the vehicle's only distinction were its official plates. When it came to a slow stop and the engine quieted, the passenger door opened. An older human woman, seemingly white but at least a shade or two darker than the driver, stepped carefully to the sidewalk, gripping the handle on the side of the door for balance. The driver nodded, and she shut the door, making her way up the small path to the front door, her footfalls soft with practiced, deliberate movements despite her clothes rustling in the wind. At the next gust, she reached for the scarf hanging limply from her neck and tossed it over her shoulder.
She carried with her a beaten and worn leather bag with the softly curling edges of papers peeking out from under the flap. As she came to the door, the older woman might have been easily mistaken for someone's aunt or grandmother, coming to pay a social call. She pressed her lips tightly together and, pausing only to still her trembling hand as much as possible, grasped the brass ring and gave it two firm knocks. Arianne Drulović was nothing if not unfailingly polite, at least when it suited her to affect a certain old world refinery in mannerism.
____
The sound of the knock startled Kathryn for just a moment. She stood up and looked around, spotting the icon and taking it down hastily, she placed it inside the top dresser drawer by the front door.
She opened a small hidden keypad to disarm the intruder alarm and rigged self destruct before she let her slender fingertips wrap around the doorknob.
Her eyes briefly moved to a holographic screen that showed Drulovic standing in the doorway, and then she began to undo the locks on the door, one by one each electronic latches disengaged before Kathryn turned the doorknob and opened it up with a smile.
"Director, what a pleasant surprise!" She said with a smile. "You caught me just as I was packing." She said with a smile.
This was bad, the courier would be here soon, she had hoped the courier would maintain his cover.
"Come in! I just ordered some pizza." Kat said with a nod, stepping aside to let Drulovic in.
____
It took significantly longer for the door to open than it might have at any other ordinary home, but Drulović did not think too long on it. Once Kat answered, the older woman accepted the invitation, striding into the house. She offered a small smile, half-turning to close the door quietly behind her. "That's all you've decided to eat for dinner tonight?" Drulović shook her head, looking bemused. "I should hope it's at least decent pizza, and none of that soggy, overcooked dough with highly processed cheese on top that passes for pizza at most of the corner shops."
Drulović wiped her shoes on the mat before moving farther inside. She cast her gaze over the suitcases in the hall. "So many suitcases there, Ms. Gaul," Drulović said, gesturing, "you'd think you might be packing for a month-long luxury cruise throughout Valorian space and the surrounding worlds. I can assure you, a week's worth of clothes will more than suffice for training. Besides, there's a tendency to ruin some of it anyhow. The physical components are a far cry from summer outdoors camp." Drulović snorted, as if to a joke only she understood, and turned to meet Kat's eyes again. "Is there somewhere I can sit down and have a rest?"
____
Kat gestured to the black leather couches that surrounded a modest television set. "Please." She said, keeping her eyes on Drulovic. "It's a local place in Van Leugen, family owned." She said, as she moved over to the couches to join Drulovic.
"Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Tea?" Kat asked, looking to the suitcases and nodding. "One Suitcase? Alright I think I can consolidate a little bit." She said, making her way towards the bar that separated the living room from the kitchen. As she was pouring her drink, she spoke up. "What brings you to my humble home, Director?"
Everything in the cottage appeared to be in fairly good condition, recently purchased, recently bought, and hardly any of it worn in. Of course given that Kat had just moved here; that could offer as good an explaination as any.
While Kat was in the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of water, while a beat up green compact sedan slowly crept up the driveway. On top of it was the sign for a local pizza business in Van Leugen. Kat saw the car as she peered out, and she offered a smile.
"The pizza is here." She said, sliding the folded note between some banknotes before she pocketed the banknotes.
"I hope you don't mind pepperoni." Kathryn said, as she moved towards the front door, waiting for the pizza man to knock.
If the TNG officials stopped the pizza man, they would find no weapons, and a hot pepperoni pizza in a hot box that the man was carrying, he was in a pizza uniform and appeared a little worse for wear. Nothing out of the ordinary. Little did they know, he was the courier Kathryn was expecting.
____
"Some tea would be lovely," Drulović replied absently, her gaze resting on Kat as she moved about the kitchen. "You seem to have settled into the place quite well. It's a lovely cottage, though if I may, I'd suggest a touch of purple in the flowers, perhaps a few irises would do well by the walls." Her dark eyes moved very little, and the look to them was more than passingly vacant, heavy with the same exhaustion that had haunted her, following doggedly after her since Westeria's fall. There was a bulletin board of faces in a back hallway somewhere.
The agents in the van had detained the delivery man briefly, long enough to conduct a search aided by a handheld body scanner. They knew they could never be too careful, and of course, Leimgrüber would be immensely displeased if he were to learn that his staff had failed in their diligence about the director's personal security. As it was, Leimgrüber had already tried to dissuade Drulović from making this "wholly unnecessary" visit during wartime.
At the sound of the car coming to a stop outside, Drulović stood again from the couch, intercepting Kat's path to the front door. She shifted her fingers to reveal a few well-creased notes in her own hand, and gave the younger woman a warm smile. "No, no, don't worry about it," she said with a dismissive gesture. "Consider it my treat, Ms. Gaul, a small something before you begin your training." Drulović sniffed derisively. "Even if your dinner of choice is substandard pizza from a franchise, I should hope it's filling."
____
As the delivery man came to the door, Kat offered a frown, the man offered a few knocks on the door, but Kat nodded. "Well thank you, director." She said with a smile.
As the door was opened, the delivery man was standing there with hot pizza in hand. He was surprised to see Drulovic instead of Kat offering to pay for the meal. But he quickly dismissed the notion and offered Drulovic a warm smile. By seeing Kat standing behind her offering a subtle nod from the kitchen at the courier as she prepared drulovics tea. the courier had his Intel. Kat was embedded and she would be out of contact for awhile.
"One large pepperoni pizza!" The man said, handing Drulovic the pizza. The pizza was hot, made with fresh ingredients. "That will be twenty five even, please." He said, accepting the banknotes.
"You guys have a wonderful night!" He said, while Kat smiled at Drulovic.
"I put your tea on while you were grabbing the pizza, it should be ready in a few. I'm starving though." She said, while she offered to take the pizza and take it over to the coffee table.
"Purple, you know I'm more of a rose kind of person." She said, looking around. "I'm glad you like my place though, it's very quaint."
At that moment, Kat fiddled with a small pendant around her neck, the golden icon of Athena that she kept hidden under her shirt.
She stopped short a moment later, to nod to the pizza. "Come, you must be famished too, it's not exactly an easy drive from Nida-Kule."
____
"Thank you, and you have a good night." Drulović smiled as she allowed the younger woman to take the pizza box from her, closing the door quietly behind the delivery man as he departed. "You'll have to apologize to him next time -- if they send the same young man -- for his state-sanctioned molestation. Courtesy always to the security detail, of course." She chortled, returning to the living room and her perch in the armchair. "They'll tell you it's a part of their job to keep me safe, but I doubt those on the receiving end think of it as much anything else than a vaguely perverted experience, much like passing through security protocols before flying."
She peered at the pizza box and the hot melting cheese sticking to the cardboard top as Kat opened it, sniffing in its general direction. "It's a nice gesture, and I truly appreciate it, Ms. Gaul, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass on the offer. I'd rather not succumb to a sudden and unexplained heart attack from too much cholesterol." She turned slightly to look up at Kat. "That can't be healthy. Perhaps once in a great while, it may be justifiable, eating something like that, but believe me, I know where to find real pizza, made without the ... preservatives." Drulović waved her hand dismissively. "A word of advice -- I never trust franchises and chains."
____
Setting the pizza down, Kathryn offered Drulovic another warm smile. "I figured it would be one last hurrah before I shipped off to training." She said, letting her hand fall from where she was playing with the medallion, moving to grab a paper plate and a slice of pizza, before she moved towards the kitchen.
She came back with a glass of hot tea for Drulovic. "I'm not much for tea, but I scrounged up what I could find." She said, handing the mug to the Director.
The tea itself had a crisp, but soothing flavor and aroma, like a cross between peppermint, chamomile, and sage. It was Aschen elves ear tea, the Elves Ear being a plant that grew natively on Langara, that was famous for it's flavorful, and aromatic tea.
"It's something I picked up from a grocery store when I was in the Aschen Empire for my Tretonin." She said, frowning somewhat. "I'll make it a point to pick up some tea next time. Unfortunately I hadn't been expecting you, I know it's Aschen tea, but it's all i have; I hope that's okay." She said with a nervous chuckle.
"I typically eat a lot healthier, is there something I can prepare for you? There's not much, since I'm getting ready to ship off to training, but I could scrounge together something." She added, sitting down at an adjacent chair. "God, i'm hungry." She said, taking a bite of the pizza.
"I've been packing all day, really wears you out."
____
The elves ear tea had always had a distinct aroma, readily identifiable from the moment the leaves began to infuse the water. Drulović smiled as she took the cup, politely inhaling before she sipped at the tea. "It's not often I have the chance to sample the Aschen brews," she remarked, fingering the cup with care. "I remember the first time I'd tasted this particular tea, though it had to have been so many years past I'm quite not certain of the exact year when it might have been anymore." The sun was hardly a sliver of light peeping over the horizon, and soon its light would wink out.
At Kat's offer to pull something together, Drulović shook her head. "Don't worry about me," she said, "I have a large enough dinner waiting for me at home. You've plenty to worry about for yourself. The first week's the hardest. I'll tell you, it was no jest -- one of our agents had somehow gotten this foolish little thought up in his head that training would be rather like a summer outdoors sleepaway camp." Drulović laughed, the look of amusement traveling to her eyes. "He discovered for himself a mighty surprise. I should hope you harbor no such mistaken preconceptions about it."
Drulović stretched her feet a moment, shifting her weight, and fixed her gaze on the younger woman. "That's a nervous habit, you know, playing with your necklace like that. You'll learn soon that such habits are best forgotten. Even the smallest of things like that can blow a cover, alert an enemy, alarm an interrogator, ruin a career." Her expression softened somewhat. "It's normal to be anxious about the training. If you think another trainee is entirely confident, I'll reassure you, it's a façade and false." Drulović's eyes flicked toward where the outline of Kat's pendant showed under her shirt. "What sort of charm do you wear? A lover's promise? A saint's visage? Perhaps instead, an ancestor's token? You've made me quite curious."
____
Kat smirked ever so slightly, thinking back at the rigors of IIA training. Kat surmised that anything the TIB threw at her would be a day at summer camp compared to what the IIA put her through. She reflected back at the long hard days at the Tal'dor training facility. The weeks of literal torture she had to endure in order to pass SERE training.
She reflected a moment the week she was subject to the tantalus torture, she recalled having lost thirty pounds that week alone.
"So, you've had elves ear tea before, I didn't know if you'd be offended or not given the views we hold concerning the aschen." Kathryn said. "I suppose it's the government we should disdain, not the people, as they always say." She replied
Kat continued to sit in the plush vinyl chair, as the sunlight slowly faded, a few automatic lights came on, and Kathryn reached over to turn on a lamp situated upon an end table beside her.
"I think I'll be okay, I expect the training to be difficult, and I've been physically preparing myself since our last interview." She said rolling up her sleeves, exposing lean muscular arms.
There were scars on those arms as well, from her own experiences with torture. One telling in particular appeared to be a burn mark along her bicep, like she had been struck by heated Rebar, or some rod like instrument. A very telling method of torture associated with a very particular aschen agent.
She lowered her sleeves once more when Drulovic mentioned the pendant, quickly changing the subject.
"This thing? It was given to me by my mother." She said, pulling it out for a moment and then putting it back under her shirt. The keen eye could make out the owl, big eyes staring out, perhaps an olive branch too. But Kathryn had quickly flashed the charm before she tucked it under her shirt.
"It brings good luck." She said
____
"It's not so much the Aschen government, even, as it is the present administration and its policies," Drulović said with a shrug, her dark, sharp eyes catching sight first of the telltale burn scar and then of the pendant with Athena's icon as Kat spoke. Her expression betrayed nothing. "I try not to hate too many people, but I'll confess, I have a special loathing for political creatures of all stripes and colors, whether from this side of the galaxy or another. They like the sound of their own voices echoing around them overly much, and seem often too fond of money. I don't care for them and their ilk."
The tea was still blissfully hot as she sipped at it, enjoying the luscious taste until she reached the bottom of the cup, or near about, until the porcelain surface showed and only a few drops of tea remained. "Thank you for the tea, Ms. Gaul." Drulović smiled again, setting the cup quietly onto the table beside the armchair. "I'd rather not keep you for too long. Morning will come for both of us soon enough." She rose to leave, gripping the armrest for support as she did so.
____
Kathryn offered a slight nod and smile, her own expression betraying nothing as well. That was until the telephone rang, it's sharp chime filling the house.
Kat looked to Drulovic for a moment, and then she turned to the phone. "Excuse me, director." She said briefly before she turned to the phone, picking it up and pulling it to her ear.
"Hello?" She said.
"Maribeth? Hey it's Emma!" Said the smooth voice on the other end. "Hey, I'm supposed to tell you that your uncle Tito passed away this morning
Kat frowned deeply. The aschen code for scuttling both the operation and he Safehouse had just been given. Someone was watching Kats exchange with Drulovic and they did not like what they saw.
Her expression was that of brief frustration and disappointment before she turned to Drulovic, hanging up the phone.
"My uncle just passed away." She said, frowning as she moved to help the director up. "I look forward to working with you, but you're right, I do need to pack." She said, walking Drulovic to the front door.
____
"I'm so sorry to hear about your loss," Drulović said, inclining her head as she stood at the threshold, fussing with her scarf a moment and then drawing her coat closer about herself. "If you need some time to spend with your family, you can let us know. I wish you well." She pressed her lips tightly together, and turned on her heel to descend the path to the waiting van, her figure receding into the darkening dusk before she was gone and the van began to pull away from the road.
"Prepare to send this note, if you would." Drulović was scrawling text on the notepad she carried with her, careful to maintain as steady a hand as possible in the moving vehicle. "I'd rather like to enjoy my dinner this evening. I've had so little chance to do so of late."
"Director, I think you should hear this," the purple-scaled humanoid in the back said, tapping at the screen mounted on the wall inside the van. "The call that Gaul received just now."
Drulović gestured idly for xem to replay the call. As the audio filled the space between them, she frowned, deep lines cutting into her face, and found herself in inadvertently clutching the pen in her hand more tightly than she'd intended. A few drops of black ink had begun to dribble from its end, forced out from the unexpected pressure. Her eyes narrowed, and she underlined one of the words on the note she'd begun to write. "I'd suggest you contact Mr. Natsuma immediately."
____
Kathryn kept her composure as the Director walked out of the house, she looked to the phone for a moment, and then she looked to the window.
She slowly shut the blinds and turned to the living room. Then she started towards the back bedroom. There she arranged the magnetic hangars to activate the keypad. The keypad opened up with an audible click, and she entered the proper sequence of numbers, and provided her thumb print, and voice password identification to open the false back panel and trinnium blast doors.
The doors opened up to reveal a large basement with walls lined with various computer equipment.
Approaching the master control terminal, she entered her authorization code to initiate a data purge.
"Gods damn it... I did everything by the book." Kathryn grumbled. As the data purge initialized, Kathryn went into the next room, which held a large Naquadah enhanced conventional device. 150 Kilotons of explosive force to ensure everything in the facility was vaporized, and a satisfactory amount of collateral was inflicted on the surrounding countryside.
She entered her command code, and inserted the control crystal. Red anquietas holographic letters flashed, indicating the device would detonate in three hours.
Lastly, Kat approached a man sized locker, and entered her series of codes. "Damn Tito protocol, this damn thing better work." She said, as the armored locker opened up to reveal a T-65 Augmented combat skin. "Rendezvous with team leader for next assignment; fun times."
One by one she began to suit up, as a Disruptor PDW opened up from it's adjacent locker.
The sun was hanging low over the horizon as Kathryn was preparing to pack for her training with the TIB. Several suitcases were packed with her personal belongings, or rather those that were approved for her to bring with for her training.
She was expecting her courier to arrive any minute, so that she could relay a status update to the field commander back in Van Leugen. A note had been written in neat anquietas code, referencing specific code words that only the IIA operatives could decipher.
She checked her disruptor pistol for a moment, before she removed the microfusion call from the power slot within the weapon. She then placed both within a locked drawer hidden behind a false panel within the china cabinet in the kitchen.
She peered back into the bedroom, this was the most secure place within the cottage. An armoire with a false back that opened up to a reinforced trinnium door that separated the cottage from the true IIA central command facility.
She made sure the armoire was shut, and that her wardrobe obscured the hidden keypad within the armoire, a hidden keypad that was revealed only when special magnetic coat hangars were arranged in very specific places in the armoire.
Kat then moved over towards a photograph. It was a small photograph of herself and Marlene Angel. This photograph was secured in the same hidden drawer her disruptor and other IIA gear were being stowed.
The only evidence of anything aschen was the small icon of Athena that was displayed on the fireplace mantle. Kat venerated it for just a moment, before she flopped on the couch, and turned on the television.
____
Instead of the Aschen courier, a nondescript gray van pulled in front of the unassuming home at the end of the road. Other than a few scrapes around the bumper, the vehicle's only distinction were its official plates. When it came to a slow stop and the engine quieted, the passenger door opened. An older human woman, seemingly white but at least a shade or two darker than the driver, stepped carefully to the sidewalk, gripping the handle on the side of the door for balance. The driver nodded, and she shut the door, making her way up the small path to the front door, her footfalls soft with practiced, deliberate movements despite her clothes rustling in the wind. At the next gust, she reached for the scarf hanging limply from her neck and tossed it over her shoulder.
She carried with her a beaten and worn leather bag with the softly curling edges of papers peeking out from under the flap. As she came to the door, the older woman might have been easily mistaken for someone's aunt or grandmother, coming to pay a social call. She pressed her lips tightly together and, pausing only to still her trembling hand as much as possible, grasped the brass ring and gave it two firm knocks. Arianne Drulović was nothing if not unfailingly polite, at least when it suited her to affect a certain old world refinery in mannerism.
____
The sound of the knock startled Kathryn for just a moment. She stood up and looked around, spotting the icon and taking it down hastily, she placed it inside the top dresser drawer by the front door.
She opened a small hidden keypad to disarm the intruder alarm and rigged self destruct before she let her slender fingertips wrap around the doorknob.
Her eyes briefly moved to a holographic screen that showed Drulovic standing in the doorway, and then she began to undo the locks on the door, one by one each electronic latches disengaged before Kathryn turned the doorknob and opened it up with a smile.
"Director, what a pleasant surprise!" She said with a smile. "You caught me just as I was packing." She said with a smile.
This was bad, the courier would be here soon, she had hoped the courier would maintain his cover.
"Come in! I just ordered some pizza." Kat said with a nod, stepping aside to let Drulovic in.
____
It took significantly longer for the door to open than it might have at any other ordinary home, but Drulović did not think too long on it. Once Kat answered, the older woman accepted the invitation, striding into the house. She offered a small smile, half-turning to close the door quietly behind her. "That's all you've decided to eat for dinner tonight?" Drulović shook her head, looking bemused. "I should hope it's at least decent pizza, and none of that soggy, overcooked dough with highly processed cheese on top that passes for pizza at most of the corner shops."
Drulović wiped her shoes on the mat before moving farther inside. She cast her gaze over the suitcases in the hall. "So many suitcases there, Ms. Gaul," Drulović said, gesturing, "you'd think you might be packing for a month-long luxury cruise throughout Valorian space and the surrounding worlds. I can assure you, a week's worth of clothes will more than suffice for training. Besides, there's a tendency to ruin some of it anyhow. The physical components are a far cry from summer outdoors camp." Drulović snorted, as if to a joke only she understood, and turned to meet Kat's eyes again. "Is there somewhere I can sit down and have a rest?"
____
Kat gestured to the black leather couches that surrounded a modest television set. "Please." She said, keeping her eyes on Drulovic. "It's a local place in Van Leugen, family owned." She said, as she moved over to the couches to join Drulovic.
"Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Tea?" Kat asked, looking to the suitcases and nodding. "One Suitcase? Alright I think I can consolidate a little bit." She said, making her way towards the bar that separated the living room from the kitchen. As she was pouring her drink, she spoke up. "What brings you to my humble home, Director?"
Everything in the cottage appeared to be in fairly good condition, recently purchased, recently bought, and hardly any of it worn in. Of course given that Kat had just moved here; that could offer as good an explaination as any.
While Kat was in the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of water, while a beat up green compact sedan slowly crept up the driveway. On top of it was the sign for a local pizza business in Van Leugen. Kat saw the car as she peered out, and she offered a smile.
"The pizza is here." She said, sliding the folded note between some banknotes before she pocketed the banknotes.
"I hope you don't mind pepperoni." Kathryn said, as she moved towards the front door, waiting for the pizza man to knock.
If the TNG officials stopped the pizza man, they would find no weapons, and a hot pepperoni pizza in a hot box that the man was carrying, he was in a pizza uniform and appeared a little worse for wear. Nothing out of the ordinary. Little did they know, he was the courier Kathryn was expecting.
____
"Some tea would be lovely," Drulović replied absently, her gaze resting on Kat as she moved about the kitchen. "You seem to have settled into the place quite well. It's a lovely cottage, though if I may, I'd suggest a touch of purple in the flowers, perhaps a few irises would do well by the walls." Her dark eyes moved very little, and the look to them was more than passingly vacant, heavy with the same exhaustion that had haunted her, following doggedly after her since Westeria's fall. There was a bulletin board of faces in a back hallway somewhere.
The agents in the van had detained the delivery man briefly, long enough to conduct a search aided by a handheld body scanner. They knew they could never be too careful, and of course, Leimgrüber would be immensely displeased if he were to learn that his staff had failed in their diligence about the director's personal security. As it was, Leimgrüber had already tried to dissuade Drulović from making this "wholly unnecessary" visit during wartime.
At the sound of the car coming to a stop outside, Drulović stood again from the couch, intercepting Kat's path to the front door. She shifted her fingers to reveal a few well-creased notes in her own hand, and gave the younger woman a warm smile. "No, no, don't worry about it," she said with a dismissive gesture. "Consider it my treat, Ms. Gaul, a small something before you begin your training." Drulović sniffed derisively. "Even if your dinner of choice is substandard pizza from a franchise, I should hope it's filling."
____
As the delivery man came to the door, Kat offered a frown, the man offered a few knocks on the door, but Kat nodded. "Well thank you, director." She said with a smile.
As the door was opened, the delivery man was standing there with hot pizza in hand. He was surprised to see Drulovic instead of Kat offering to pay for the meal. But he quickly dismissed the notion and offered Drulovic a warm smile. By seeing Kat standing behind her offering a subtle nod from the kitchen at the courier as she prepared drulovics tea. the courier had his Intel. Kat was embedded and she would be out of contact for awhile.
"One large pepperoni pizza!" The man said, handing Drulovic the pizza. The pizza was hot, made with fresh ingredients. "That will be twenty five even, please." He said, accepting the banknotes.
"You guys have a wonderful night!" He said, while Kat smiled at Drulovic.
"I put your tea on while you were grabbing the pizza, it should be ready in a few. I'm starving though." She said, while she offered to take the pizza and take it over to the coffee table.
"Purple, you know I'm more of a rose kind of person." She said, looking around. "I'm glad you like my place though, it's very quaint."
At that moment, Kat fiddled with a small pendant around her neck, the golden icon of Athena that she kept hidden under her shirt.
She stopped short a moment later, to nod to the pizza. "Come, you must be famished too, it's not exactly an easy drive from Nida-Kule."
____
"Thank you, and you have a good night." Drulović smiled as she allowed the younger woman to take the pizza box from her, closing the door quietly behind the delivery man as he departed. "You'll have to apologize to him next time -- if they send the same young man -- for his state-sanctioned molestation. Courtesy always to the security detail, of course." She chortled, returning to the living room and her perch in the armchair. "They'll tell you it's a part of their job to keep me safe, but I doubt those on the receiving end think of it as much anything else than a vaguely perverted experience, much like passing through security protocols before flying."
She peered at the pizza box and the hot melting cheese sticking to the cardboard top as Kat opened it, sniffing in its general direction. "It's a nice gesture, and I truly appreciate it, Ms. Gaul, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass on the offer. I'd rather not succumb to a sudden and unexplained heart attack from too much cholesterol." She turned slightly to look up at Kat. "That can't be healthy. Perhaps once in a great while, it may be justifiable, eating something like that, but believe me, I know where to find real pizza, made without the ... preservatives." Drulović waved her hand dismissively. "A word of advice -- I never trust franchises and chains."
____
Setting the pizza down, Kathryn offered Drulovic another warm smile. "I figured it would be one last hurrah before I shipped off to training." She said, letting her hand fall from where she was playing with the medallion, moving to grab a paper plate and a slice of pizza, before she moved towards the kitchen.
She came back with a glass of hot tea for Drulovic. "I'm not much for tea, but I scrounged up what I could find." She said, handing the mug to the Director.
The tea itself had a crisp, but soothing flavor and aroma, like a cross between peppermint, chamomile, and sage. It was Aschen elves ear tea, the Elves Ear being a plant that grew natively on Langara, that was famous for it's flavorful, and aromatic tea.
"It's something I picked up from a grocery store when I was in the Aschen Empire for my Tretonin." She said, frowning somewhat. "I'll make it a point to pick up some tea next time. Unfortunately I hadn't been expecting you, I know it's Aschen tea, but it's all i have; I hope that's okay." She said with a nervous chuckle.
"I typically eat a lot healthier, is there something I can prepare for you? There's not much, since I'm getting ready to ship off to training, but I could scrounge together something." She added, sitting down at an adjacent chair. "God, i'm hungry." She said, taking a bite of the pizza.
"I've been packing all day, really wears you out."
____
The elves ear tea had always had a distinct aroma, readily identifiable from the moment the leaves began to infuse the water. Drulović smiled as she took the cup, politely inhaling before she sipped at the tea. "It's not often I have the chance to sample the Aschen brews," she remarked, fingering the cup with care. "I remember the first time I'd tasted this particular tea, though it had to have been so many years past I'm quite not certain of the exact year when it might have been anymore." The sun was hardly a sliver of light peeping over the horizon, and soon its light would wink out.
At Kat's offer to pull something together, Drulović shook her head. "Don't worry about me," she said, "I have a large enough dinner waiting for me at home. You've plenty to worry about for yourself. The first week's the hardest. I'll tell you, it was no jest -- one of our agents had somehow gotten this foolish little thought up in his head that training would be rather like a summer outdoors sleepaway camp." Drulović laughed, the look of amusement traveling to her eyes. "He discovered for himself a mighty surprise. I should hope you harbor no such mistaken preconceptions about it."
Drulović stretched her feet a moment, shifting her weight, and fixed her gaze on the younger woman. "That's a nervous habit, you know, playing with your necklace like that. You'll learn soon that such habits are best forgotten. Even the smallest of things like that can blow a cover, alert an enemy, alarm an interrogator, ruin a career." Her expression softened somewhat. "It's normal to be anxious about the training. If you think another trainee is entirely confident, I'll reassure you, it's a façade and false." Drulović's eyes flicked toward where the outline of Kat's pendant showed under her shirt. "What sort of charm do you wear? A lover's promise? A saint's visage? Perhaps instead, an ancestor's token? You've made me quite curious."
____
Kat smirked ever so slightly, thinking back at the rigors of IIA training. Kat surmised that anything the TIB threw at her would be a day at summer camp compared to what the IIA put her through. She reflected back at the long hard days at the Tal'dor training facility. The weeks of literal torture she had to endure in order to pass SERE training.
She reflected a moment the week she was subject to the tantalus torture, she recalled having lost thirty pounds that week alone.
"So, you've had elves ear tea before, I didn't know if you'd be offended or not given the views we hold concerning the aschen." Kathryn said. "I suppose it's the government we should disdain, not the people, as they always say." She replied
Kat continued to sit in the plush vinyl chair, as the sunlight slowly faded, a few automatic lights came on, and Kathryn reached over to turn on a lamp situated upon an end table beside her.
"I think I'll be okay, I expect the training to be difficult, and I've been physically preparing myself since our last interview." She said rolling up her sleeves, exposing lean muscular arms.
There were scars on those arms as well, from her own experiences with torture. One telling in particular appeared to be a burn mark along her bicep, like she had been struck by heated Rebar, or some rod like instrument. A very telling method of torture associated with a very particular aschen agent.
She lowered her sleeves once more when Drulovic mentioned the pendant, quickly changing the subject.
"This thing? It was given to me by my mother." She said, pulling it out for a moment and then putting it back under her shirt. The keen eye could make out the owl, big eyes staring out, perhaps an olive branch too. But Kathryn had quickly flashed the charm before she tucked it under her shirt.
"It brings good luck." She said
____
"It's not so much the Aschen government, even, as it is the present administration and its policies," Drulović said with a shrug, her dark, sharp eyes catching sight first of the telltale burn scar and then of the pendant with Athena's icon as Kat spoke. Her expression betrayed nothing. "I try not to hate too many people, but I'll confess, I have a special loathing for political creatures of all stripes and colors, whether from this side of the galaxy or another. They like the sound of their own voices echoing around them overly much, and seem often too fond of money. I don't care for them and their ilk."
The tea was still blissfully hot as she sipped at it, enjoying the luscious taste until she reached the bottom of the cup, or near about, until the porcelain surface showed and only a few drops of tea remained. "Thank you for the tea, Ms. Gaul." Drulović smiled again, setting the cup quietly onto the table beside the armchair. "I'd rather not keep you for too long. Morning will come for both of us soon enough." She rose to leave, gripping the armrest for support as she did so.
____
Kathryn offered a slight nod and smile, her own expression betraying nothing as well. That was until the telephone rang, it's sharp chime filling the house.
Kat looked to Drulovic for a moment, and then she turned to the phone. "Excuse me, director." She said briefly before she turned to the phone, picking it up and pulling it to her ear.
"Hello?" She said.
"Maribeth? Hey it's Emma!" Said the smooth voice on the other end. "Hey, I'm supposed to tell you that your uncle Tito passed away this morning
Kat frowned deeply. The aschen code for scuttling both the operation and he Safehouse had just been given. Someone was watching Kats exchange with Drulovic and they did not like what they saw.
Her expression was that of brief frustration and disappointment before she turned to Drulovic, hanging up the phone.
"My uncle just passed away." She said, frowning as she moved to help the director up. "I look forward to working with you, but you're right, I do need to pack." She said, walking Drulovic to the front door.
____
"I'm so sorry to hear about your loss," Drulović said, inclining her head as she stood at the threshold, fussing with her scarf a moment and then drawing her coat closer about herself. "If you need some time to spend with your family, you can let us know. I wish you well." She pressed her lips tightly together, and turned on her heel to descend the path to the waiting van, her figure receding into the darkening dusk before she was gone and the van began to pull away from the road.
"Prepare to send this note, if you would." Drulović was scrawling text on the notepad she carried with her, careful to maintain as steady a hand as possible in the moving vehicle. "I'd rather like to enjoy my dinner this evening. I've had so little chance to do so of late."
"Director, I think you should hear this," the purple-scaled humanoid in the back said, tapping at the screen mounted on the wall inside the van. "The call that Gaul received just now."
Drulović gestured idly for xem to replay the call. As the audio filled the space between them, she frowned, deep lines cutting into her face, and found herself in inadvertently clutching the pen in her hand more tightly than she'd intended. A few drops of black ink had begun to dribble from its end, forced out from the unexpected pressure. Her eyes narrowed, and she underlined one of the words on the note she'd begun to write. "I'd suggest you contact Mr. Natsuma immediately."
____
Kathryn kept her composure as the Director walked out of the house, she looked to the phone for a moment, and then she looked to the window.
She slowly shut the blinds and turned to the living room. Then she started towards the back bedroom. There she arranged the magnetic hangars to activate the keypad. The keypad opened up with an audible click, and she entered the proper sequence of numbers, and provided her thumb print, and voice password identification to open the false back panel and trinnium blast doors.
The doors opened up to reveal a large basement with walls lined with various computer equipment.
Approaching the master control terminal, she entered her authorization code to initiate a data purge.
"Gods damn it... I did everything by the book." Kathryn grumbled. As the data purge initialized, Kathryn went into the next room, which held a large Naquadah enhanced conventional device. 150 Kilotons of explosive force to ensure everything in the facility was vaporized, and a satisfactory amount of collateral was inflicted on the surrounding countryside.
She entered her command code, and inserted the control crystal. Red anquietas holographic letters flashed, indicating the device would detonate in three hours.
Lastly, Kat approached a man sized locker, and entered her series of codes. "Damn Tito protocol, this damn thing better work." She said, as the armored locker opened up to reveal a T-65 Augmented combat skin. "Rendezvous with team leader for next assignment; fun times."
One by one she began to suit up, as a Disruptor PDW opened up from it's adjacent locker.
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