The Eve of the Ensigns' Arrival, T'Pren's Quarters

There had been no point in trying to put the soaked leggings back on, so instead T'Pren had pulled on her tunic, grateful that it was so long and she was so small, and wore it through the corridors as a dress. She didn't bother putting on her shoes either, but carried them in one hand and her dripping pants in the other, hurrying barefoot back to her quarters.

She managed to avoid any particularly unfortunate encounters, and, the moment she was in her quarters, put the wet pants in the laundry. There were new objects now, little items of decor and some orchids that were all stacked neatly by her dresser because she had no idea what to do with them now that she had them. They were an eclectic mix of comforting and spiritually refreshing, natural but colorful. Certainly not the kind of luxury one might have expected from shopping with Lorelei.

When there was nothing else to do, T'Pren stood awkwardly in the middle of her room, trying to figure out if she should place herself somewhere in a position that Rai might find attractive or if she should maybe put on the dress she'd purchased. But in the end, she decided to just play it safe and keep her tunic on until the door was securely closed behind the Captain, just in case someone else happened by at just the right moment.

Rai's hair was still damp and messy, and he hadn't bothered zipping up his uniform top by the time he arrived at Pren's quarters. He rang at the door.

T'Pren was there to greet him, those dripping ringlets putting wet splotches on her coral tunic where they touched. She stood just inside the door and opened it with an inviting smile that bloomed across her lips at the sight of him. "Come," she purred a little coyly, and the smile grew.

Rai entered, but waited until the door shut behind him to speak. "Pren," he said.

(OOC: We are going to FTB here)

It was a long, exciting, exhausting, deeply satisfying night for the Captain and his lieutenant, both of them selflessly generous with each other until neither of them could properly do or say or even think anything at all. They fell asleep tangled up together, Rai's head nestled against Pren's chest and her hand threaded in Vulcan style through his hair. Their other hands held each other even in sleep, fingers needfully interlaced.

And so they spent the night, the iridescent covers of T'Pren's bed long since abandoned onto the floor, holding each other naked even when they shifted positions. They slept hard and well, and the drunken intensity of psionic lovemaking blocked out anything else that might have happened in world around them.

There was a loud crackle of static and a bright flash as Pren's view screen tried to bring fourth a picture through the resistance of - well - not being supposed to bring fourth a picture unless specifically told to by the occupant. The computer's voice stuttered.
"--mission. Inc-- Transmission accepted."

Rai blinked sleepily over Pren's shoulder.
"Oh, it's you again. What is it now?" he asked.

"Me?" asked poor, sleep-deprived T'Pren, right until she realized the reason she was having such a difficult time opening her eyes all the way was because they were having difficulty adjusting to the view screen. When she figured out who it was, Rai could feel her entire body tense and her heart begin to go like a hummingbird's wings. Was she breathing? She may have forgotten to breathe. She stared at the screen with something between fascination and horror. She'd wanted the Cardassian to come back, or some part of her had, but certainly not like this.

"You missed the fun, but if you stick around long enough, we might start up again," he said defiantly.

"Is that the commander I hear?" the fragmented voice came through this time before any image, but soon enough the ocular ring of the Cardassian could be seen as he peered at his own screen.
"Commander, I'm surprised at you. Then again perhaps I shouldn't be," he laughed heartily. "But really... even for a Betazoid, isn't this a little.. unseemly? I mean, your inferior officer."

Part of T'Pren wanted desperately to tell the Cardassian that Rai was a Captain now. And that she wasn't his inferior, but his subordinate. But most of her was switching into a conditioned paralysis, a kind of absolute stillness in the hopes that the man talking about her like she wasn't there wouldn't decide she needed another experiment. The only reason she wasn't trembling or hiding was because of her skin contact with Rai. It was quite a change from the voyeuristic exchange they'd had at first.

"We don't have inferior officers in Starfleet. We have subordinates. Starfleet has no regulations against it. I know it's hardly lovemaking to you without a war crime, but it's a victimless crime... what was your name again? Legate Burlum?"

The man tisked at them. "Still not able to look me up? Well, I suppose you have been busy. And how are we doing tonight, little girl? Climbing the ranks?"

It was like watching a movie of someone else in control of her body. T'Pren pulled away from Rai to sit up on the bed. Her face was flushed green and she looked like she was being drawn and quartered on the inside, but she faced Vorlem fully. Almost obediently.

Her potential answers were varied: insult him, insist that's not what was going on, point out that she knew her fathers had been alive all that time...but somewhere inside her, maybe because she could feel Rai in her head, she found a little bit of bravery. And she managed a slow, only slightly shaky smile.

"Only sometimes," she answered quietly. "Sometimes he climbed me."

Rai shrugged at Pren's words. "So how's about it, Legate? Are you just checking in to flirt, or do you have anything to share with us?"

Vorlem laughed at her answer.  "Very good, very good... and also disgusting."  he sighed.

Something shifted in T'Pren now that she had already been defiant. Besides, Vorlem seemed to like it, so the part of her that wanted his approval had decided it was very on board with getting a little sassier.

"Are you sure you're not just jealous that the only thing being injected into me these days is a Betazoid?" she asked with an edge to her voice. An edge that only barely covered the fact that asking it at all brought her close to tears.

Rai didn't wish to undermine her in her moment, but he immediately laid a hand on her back, and passed a cool bolt of calm to her, wrapping around her spine, clearing the furious fog from her brain.
"I'm going to find you, you know."

Vorlem shook his head. "Such vulgar language, lieutenant - I'll have you know I never once did any injecting in your sessions, with needles or otherwise.." he paused, seeming to censor himself from saying any more.

It was with relief and extreme gratitude that T'Pren's shoulders relaxed with Rai's touch. And despite the fact that she tried to hide it, he could no doubt feel her deep urge to please the Gul. But she was fighting it with almost everything she had.

"I'm afraid," she told the Gul carefully, "that my memory's a little foggy on what exactly my sessions entailed with you. Or even who you are, beyond that you were there." Her smile was just a little cruel. "And since you clearly are somewhere remote and boring, I can only conclude that you must not have been that important." She glanced back at Rai. "He was probably just a guard."

The man hissed through his teeth.
"Ohh, you clever girl. Well I expect you to know exactly who I am next time." his signal weakened. "And perhaps I should visit you during the day... less chance of being in the nude, perhaps? Perhaps not."
Just as quickly and roughly as the message had appeared, it flickered out again.

"We'll find him. I have several people in ops tracking him from his contact point in my quarters. We'll get him." He swept Pren's hair behind her ears, off her shoulders. "We'll get him," he repeated.

Poor T'Pren was simultaneously relieved that the Gul was gone, upset that he cut off the transmission, grateful for Rai's touch, and very, very nauseated. She sat staring down at her knees for a very long time, heart pounding and breathing labored.

And worst of all, she knew Rai must have felt how confused and conflicted she was. Guilt and shame flooded over everything else, drowning it out in a tidal wave.

Rai clasped Pren to his chest, hushing her out.
"It doesn't matter. He doesn't matter," he said, comforting her. He drew his mind around her like a heavy shroud and held her tight.

T'Pren more than welcomed the opportunity to pretend she didn't exist, that thoughts weren't a thing she was capable of, if only for a while. She curled up in Rai's arms, pressing her forehead to the curve of his neck and shoulder. She stared at his chest, or rather at the air in front of his chest, and tried to wrangle her breathing and her heartrate and her emotions.

She was silent like that, mentally and physically, for a very long time. And then, voice thick with pain, admitted, "I don't know who he is, but every time he talks, I..." Want to please him. But she can't quite get out the words. When she spoke next, she was almost inaudible, "If I'm a danger to this station, I should resign my commission."