On Encrypted Channels

Posted on Thu Jul 13th, 2023 @ 10:59pm by Caeda & Endia

Mission: Historiae Terrae Et Imperii
Location: Imperial Intelligence Headquarters
Timeline: Date 2371-08-06 at 2230
1466 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Late work was a must in a building like this, but most of the people who were the best at their jobs had come to love it years ago. Out on an expansive balcony, the dark summer sky showed points of light interrupted by spacefaring objects with their lights. Pollution of that kind had long taken Terra, and London had long been a bright and shining light. A man in a charcoal black pin-stripe suit pulled a dark cigar to his thin lips and puffed. As smoke billowed from his mouth, his cold gray eyes danced around the stars in the heavens, wondering. Was his daughter still out there somewhere? Somehow, a man who knew more than most any other man was uncertain of the thing which, despite what even she would suspect, cared about above all else. His daughter; his legacy. Was there really a difference?

“Mr. Nazar, your 10:30 is in to see you.” came the voice of a brown-haired woman coming from a weather-conditioned screen on the wall.

Nolan Nazar turned around and nodded at her with his typical inscrutable expression and not another word. He then proceeded to enter his ornate and thoroughly modern office. His polished black shoes met his polished white marble floor and he walked slowly, deliberately, toward the roaring fireplace at the far end of the room. Sitting down where he so often met others, he puffed his cigar and waited.

There was just enough time for Nolan to get his cigar started before he would hear the light tap of heels on the beautiful floor of his office. The cadence was steady and light, this was a woman of poise and elegance. Suddenly, she stopped, and greeted him respectfully.

“Good evening, sir.” Her voice was unassuming, pleasing, devoid of any discernible accent despite her heritage.

Oksana Volkova was a beautiful woman; slender with just enough curves to be pleasing, but not voluptuous. Her face was gorgeous and drew the eye more than anything, delicate features, full lips, and large eyes the color of the clearest blue sky. She wore a simple sleeveless black shift dress with a thin black leather belt around her waist to accent it. Her hair was up in a bun with a few ringlets down at the back of her neck and sides of her face to be fashionable. A simple pair of small gold hoops hung in her ears. She was well put together, but obviously wasn’t looking to pull attention.

“On time, even so late in the day. That’s good.” The Intel Chief said, blowing smoke from between his thin lips. His eyes rested on the fire and didn’t hint at looking at her. “Have a seat, Oksana. We need to have a chat.”

Oksana stepped around the chair and took a seat with a grace that seemed to simply come naturally to her. She crossed her legs and placed her hands in her lap then looked over to Nolan with her full attention. Being on time wasn’t a rarity for her, they both knew that, so she didn’t comment on it. “Of course.”

“You have been on small assignments with our domestic affairs branch, but I suspect you have more potential than that.” He said then, looking at her with piercing gray eyes set in lazy lids. He was watching. He was always watching and always learning. “Where do you see your career going, Oksana?”

Oksana quirked a brow slightly. She was a young woman, but a prodigy; one of the few who began her career at the tender age of sixteen with special dispensation. She had only just recently crested twenty-one. “Upward, simply put. You are of course correct in the thought that I have more potential, but what I have learned over the past years has of course been invaluable.”

It may have been boastful coming from someone else, but Oksana simply spoke the fact as it was and they both knew.

“But the test for any agent worth his salt is to be placed in a situation much further out of their comfort zone than you have been placed. It’s the best way to see if one is as capable as their evaluations suggest they are.”

Nolan puffed again, and the smoke billowed from his lips as if drifting to heaven. A long time ago, he had been an agent like her, but he had climbed the ladder quickly, playing politics and doing his job well. Since then, he had remade the agency and was considered its J Edgar Hoover, despite the fact he hadn’t been the man to start it.

“I’ve got a chance for you to prove yourself to me, and to put your talents to the test.”

“Would this have anything to do with the plan to infiltrate the Romulan High Command, by chance?” Oksana asked with casual curiosity in her voice and her beautiful blue eyes still resting on him, evaluative in the same way he was.

She was showing off, trying to indicate she knew more than he might expect. That fact didn’t surprise him. Inside the Company, information sometimes flowed more freely than was technically allowed. But it never flowed out, and if it did, an agent could find themselves dead along with their spouse, kids, and dog.

“Yes, but perhaps in a different way than you might imagine.” He said, looking at her with an expression that almost seemed to signal interest. “Have you studied the art of seduction, Oksana?”

Despite Nolan being decades her senior, Oksana looked at him with a mirrored expression. He knew the answer to that already; seduction was a tool both men and women learned to employ early, but it was usually a far greater and more deeply cutting weapon for women. Her head tilted in a slight nod. “Of course.”

“Good” he said, signaling no interest or emotion whatsoever. “Well, you will rather have the Romulan High Command infiltrate you. And when the man I have in mind does this, you will bleed him for every bit of information he has and…get to know his character as well. The Emperor May find him very useful in the future.”

He puffed his cigar, the ashy taste mixed with the sweetness of the classic tobacco.

“You will be going undercover, surgery and all. After the procedure, you will ship out. Your handler will explain the details of the assignment to you once you arrive on Romulus.”

“I see.” Oksana replied, showing no emotion in her reaction for a moment. She didn’t love the idea, but who would, really? If it was just a “simple”infiltration mission, sure, but he was asking her to travel to Romulus and letting one of the aliens debase her body all in the name of gathering information. Though below the shallow thoughts, Oksana was intelligent enough to know there was something deeper in this task he demanded of her; the Emperor might find it useful and by extension, that made her quite useful.

She liked to be useful.

“When do I leave?”

Another puff, and then the man gestured toward the door. A short woman with blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail had just entered the room wearing a white lab coat.

“You will go with the doctor now and say goodbye to your current face. Then, you’ll depart right away. Your handler will answer all of your questions when you arrive. Of course, you remember, that all of this is highly confidential; even within the agency.”

“Of course.” Oksana nodded. One good thing about being an orphan was there wasn’t any sort of need for excuses to where she would disappear off to or questions to be answered. She slid forward to the edge of her chair but didn’t stand quite yet. Instead she looked at Nolan again, her brows raising slightly.

“Any last moment advice, then?”

“If they find out who you are, they will kill you. And it may be the excuse they need to shatter the alliance.” he said, looking at her with a sober expression. “Don’t get caught, Oksana.”

“I won’t.” She assured him simply and stood with grace. “Goodbye then, sir.”

“And, perhaps, a ‘see you later’”. He said in return. “But if not, do your duty.”

It was as personal as things got in the agency. Their line of work took detachment and ruthlessness as much as it did intelligence and competence. They rarely wasted words with each other.

Oksana graced him with a small though distracted smile and a respectful nod. Without another word she turned to leave with her escort and begin the transformation process. This coming chapter was sure to be interesting.

END