Cardassian spies in the brig

The three disguised Cardassians had been left in their respective cells, Deion and Banke together, and Bennya in a cell of her own. Bennya refused all questioning from security, insisting on speaking to no one but Rai. The two Ranjen said nothing, grooming each other in silence.

It was a regular ol' slumber party.

T'Pren hadn't done any slumbering herself, but that was the advantage of being half-Vulcan. When she couldn't stand the water anymore, she'd dried off, put on a clean uniform, and made her way to the brig. Because repeating in her head all night were her faux father's last words: "Look closer."

Her hair was loose to cover her pointed ears, but her expression was so stoic that it wouldn't be much of a leap to see her Vulcan heritage. When she got to the guard, she said flatly, "I'd like to speak to the prisoners alone."

"Did the Commander authorize it?" he asked her.

"No," replied T'Pren frankly, lifting those slanted brows in a very imperious way. "But they won't speak to me if they know you're here." Since she didn't get a replacement comm badge yet, she nodded at the wall panel. "I can get the Commander's permission if I must."

The guard sighed defeatedly.
"Just go ahead, ask them what you need to. My shift ends soon either way."
The three inmates glared at the Lieutenant when she entered.
"I speak to Rai or no one," said Bennya. The two Ranjen ignored her, clearly disappointed in the failure of their own plan.

And yet the false Kai did speak and for a moment, T'Pren was back in a Cardassian lab, listening to a woman's voice over a speaker giving instructions while she, fifteen and trying to be brave, was strapped to a table, staring up at a very bright overhead light.

A chill ran down her spine, but T'Pren was holding tightly to the reins of her emotions and nothing registered in her face. Instead, she pulled a chair to the center of the room and settled herself into it so that she could see both the Ranjen and the Kai. She looked very deliberately at the imprisoned woman and then slowly tucked her hair behind her pointed ears.

"I was no one for years. You can speak to me."

"You look familiar, have we met before? Do you know if or when we'll receive our advocates?" she asked T'Pren disdainfully.

The disappointment T'Pren felt -- even hurt -- at not being recognized translated into a wry but subtle sideways smile. A smirk, really, that expressed nothing very useful.

"I don't think we ever officially met, no," replied the half-Vulcan coolly. There was something particularly intoxicating about turning the tables on a Cardassian and finally being in the position of power, but T'Pren was keeping it carefully in check. "But I know your voice." Her brows lifted again. "Would you recognize me as a teenager in a hospital gown in a sterile white room?"

"Probably not, you all look the same to me," she said.

This time T'Pren did give a full thin-lipped smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Ah, you're one of those," she said and slowly crossed one leg over the other. She let her gaze travel momentarily to the Ranjen before returning it to the ringleader. "Trying to give your life meaning in the rubble of the disgraced Obsidian Order?"

"Is that what passes for prisoner analysis in Starfleet?" She asked.
"I was trying to kill the son of a rival, I simply had a score to settle. There's nothing more to it."

T'Pren actually scoffed and this time her amusement did make it to her green eyes. "You expect anyone to believe that you attacked an archaeological dig, poisoned the Kai, beamed her body into space, took her place and the places of her attendants, and impersonated her at a multi-species summit of all places just to sneak a bomb into the quarters of a Bajoran sex worker? The Obsidian Order is many things, but you and I both know that incompetent and convoluted aren't among them."

The lieutenant's smile turned condescending. "But perhaps it was a petty personal debt. What happened? Was his mother a better prostitute than you? Did she steal your clients?"

"What can I say? I really wanted to get even. Insult me as much as you please, you won't get anything further from me," she said. Her face was cold and blank.

"Very well," T'Pren sighed, pushing to her feet and setting the chair against the wall. She let her hair fall back over her ears before she turned to study the prisoners again.

"I can't tell you how nice it is to be the one of us that's free to walk away. Enjoy your captivity."