Author's Note: This story follows "The Unkindest Cut". It was also featured in the "Objects in Motion" vignette. I've made some slight alterations to fit better with "Shadow Puppets".
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Reversals of Fortune
Palais de la Concorde
Paris, Earth
Mid-August 2376
Garth Logan refused to be intimidated. “That’s not my concern,” he said as disinterested as he could. “I lived up to my end of the bargain. I delivered Admiral Glover and Ousanas Dar to you. It’s not my responsibility to ensure that your rivals don’t do an end run around you.”
“My rival is one of your assets,” Commander Patrin Volok’s eyes burned through the small viewer atop Logan’s desk. After Logan didn’t give the Romulan the reaction he hoped for, he said, “Don’t deny it. I’ve known it for quite some time.”
“If that was the case, why haven’t you exposed them?” Logan asked, a playful smile on his lips. He would never admit that Chairman Koval was a Section 31 asset, his loyalty insured by his desire for a cure to the Tuvan’s Syndrome ravaging his neurological system.
“Because that knowledge serves my purpose,” Volok answered. “Besides my vendetta was with Helanor,” the older man said, referring to Koval’s predecessor at the Tal Shiar. “She was the one that had me imprisoned, my lands taken, my reputation blackened…” the rest of the litany dissolved into inaudible grumbles. Volok now had a far away look in his eyes.
He’s losing it…again. Logan often questioned why he had allied with Commander Volok, without the approval of Section 31’s Directorate, to sabotage a mission that Starfleet Intelligence in part designed to stymie Romulan designs on the Benzar System. But he knew why, and it bothered him. In his own way he was just as unhinged as Volok, maddened by a thirst for revenge. He wanted to destroy both Captains Terrence Glover and Donald Sandhurst, two men that had left him to die in the Tong Beak Nebula years ago when he used the identity Gennaro Laurent.
He had survived their deathtrap and risen like a phoenix, with a new identity and more power than he could ever imagine, as Federation President Martin Santiago’s Chief of Staff. The gifts were not only courtesy of Section 31, but the Bodai Shin, his dark protectors, who believed he played some role in their grand dark designs. Logan had no problems letting either group of his benefactors believe him loyal if it helped him make good on his plans, first Glover and then Sandhurst.
“Listen commander,” he said as sweetly as possible. “Your agents helped insure that the Romulan repression on Benzar was particularly brutal, and the Remans you commanded will likely find a new home on one of the uninhabited worlds in that system so long as you stick to our deal. I am committed to seeing that happen. How about we schedule a meeting?”
Volok regarded him skeptically. “You would come here…to Romulan space?”
“Of course not,” Logan chuckled. “Let’s meet somewhere neutral. You pick the place.”
Volok scratched his temple for a few moments, and then tightly smiled. “I have just the location,” he paused to tap the keys on his terminal. “Transmitting the coordinates now.”
“Got them,” Logan said a few seconds later. “I look forward to resolving this.”
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Reversals of Fortune
Palais de la Concorde
Paris, Earth
Mid-August 2376
Garth Logan refused to be intimidated. “That’s not my concern,” he said as disinterested as he could. “I lived up to my end of the bargain. I delivered Admiral Glover and Ousanas Dar to you. It’s not my responsibility to ensure that your rivals don’t do an end run around you.”
“My rival is one of your assets,” Commander Patrin Volok’s eyes burned through the small viewer atop Logan’s desk. After Logan didn’t give the Romulan the reaction he hoped for, he said, “Don’t deny it. I’ve known it for quite some time.”
“If that was the case, why haven’t you exposed them?” Logan asked, a playful smile on his lips. He would never admit that Chairman Koval was a Section 31 asset, his loyalty insured by his desire for a cure to the Tuvan’s Syndrome ravaging his neurological system.
“Because that knowledge serves my purpose,” Volok answered. “Besides my vendetta was with Helanor,” the older man said, referring to Koval’s predecessor at the Tal Shiar. “She was the one that had me imprisoned, my lands taken, my reputation blackened…” the rest of the litany dissolved into inaudible grumbles. Volok now had a far away look in his eyes.
He’s losing it…again. Logan often questioned why he had allied with Commander Volok, without the approval of Section 31’s Directorate, to sabotage a mission that Starfleet Intelligence in part designed to stymie Romulan designs on the Benzar System. But he knew why, and it bothered him. In his own way he was just as unhinged as Volok, maddened by a thirst for revenge. He wanted to destroy both Captains Terrence Glover and Donald Sandhurst, two men that had left him to die in the Tong Beak Nebula years ago when he used the identity Gennaro Laurent.
He had survived their deathtrap and risen like a phoenix, with a new identity and more power than he could ever imagine, as Federation President Martin Santiago’s Chief of Staff. The gifts were not only courtesy of Section 31, but the Bodai Shin, his dark protectors, who believed he played some role in their grand dark designs. Logan had no problems letting either group of his benefactors believe him loyal if it helped him make good on his plans, first Glover and then Sandhurst.
“Listen commander,” he said as sweetly as possible. “Your agents helped insure that the Romulan repression on Benzar was particularly brutal, and the Remans you commanded will likely find a new home on one of the uninhabited worlds in that system so long as you stick to our deal. I am committed to seeing that happen. How about we schedule a meeting?”
Volok regarded him skeptically. “You would come here…to Romulan space?”
“Of course not,” Logan chuckled. “Let’s meet somewhere neutral. You pick the place.”
Volok scratched his temple for a few moments, and then tightly smiled. “I have just the location,” he paused to tap the keys on his terminal. “Transmitting the coordinates now.”
“Got them,” Logan said a few seconds later. “I look forward to resolving this.”
****
