Personal Log - Dani, Zett - The Plan

Posted on Sat Oct 18th, 2014 @ 11:53pm by Danielle Atarah
Edited on on Mon Oct 20th, 2014 @ 8:10am

920 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Are You Touched?

It all went extraordinarily well from the get-go, which, Dani had to admit, came as a huge surprise to everyone. The plan was complicated and included so many overlapping details that it was quite a feat of luck it went as far as it did for as long as it did.

Dani leaned back and let the plush sofa in Zett's office swallow her body. It all worked, but it wasn't easy, and while the plan involving Andrea and her family was about to be over, the parts that included Zett, Dani, Smith and Cardello were only beginning.

"How's our guest?" Zett looked up at Smith with a crooked smile behind her steaming cup. He sipped his own under the hood that was now his second skin. He hid behind it for almost two weeks now, and seemed to be getting used to the discretion the garment provided.

"As terrible as can be expected," he answered after a swallow, smiling.

Zett smiled back and sipped, giving Dani an amused look. "I wonder how he'll feel when he learns this," she paused to chuckled, "is actually the best he should expect."

"Are you dissing my ship, little girl?" Zett scoffed.

"Never," Dani produced a charming smile, and Smith yawned and shook his head.

They were all tired; the past few days were an adventure neither one of them expected would be successful.

"The Orion Syndicate was pretty pissed to see that video of Cardello," Dani added, lifting her cup to Smith. He bowed his hooded head at her. "And after what Cardello pulled off last week on Earth," Dani smirked, barely containing a full-on smile, "I'm pretty sure he has no more friends left in all but the delta quadrant."

"That pissed Federation First quite badly," Zett played with the rim of her cup, "especially when they saw the video of him shooting two of their guards."

"He's out of control," Smith nodded.

"He must be replaced," Zett smiled.

"Everyone agrees," Dani smirked, and they lapsed into content silence.

* * *

Five days passed since they've left Earth in a blaze. "The rescue" was a goal, but in the context of the bigger plan, it was just another nail in the proverbial coffin that wrapped around Tom Cardello.

The first step of that plan was to make everyone he dealt with distrust him so much, they'd never want to deal with him again. The second, was to make his own people revolt. But the third was the trickiest; the plans and execution of the third step of the plan was interlaced with the other two. When Cardello goes down -- and he was about to, it was pretty clear -- a vacuum will form in the Cardello Syndicate, a vacuum that if not filled, will start a war for succession. Likely, a very bloody war. That was good for no one, especially since no one could guess who'd come next.

No.

The plan could only truly be successful if they could pitch a replacement. Prepare an heir. Make sure that when the vacuum is created, someone is there to plug the hole and fill the space. Someone on their side.

But in order to be accepted, that someone would have to be widely supported both inside the organization and outside it. Someone had to be delicately placed in the position to be the one everyone trusted not to screw everyone else.

That was the third step. The trickiest step. The step Smith and Dani agreed on immediately, not having to discuss it at all, sharing mutual understanding that did not require words.

Dani suspected Zett knew, if not consciously, then in the back of her mind, but the woman had no time to delve into the details of that part of the plan. They had to frame Cardello piece by piece, and she was the one to expose him externally first -- to each of the major groups that did business with the Syndicate -- and internally later, to their own people.

So far so good.

* * *

"You know you can get that damn hood off when we're alone," Zett motioned at Smith's head.

Smith shrugged. "Better not. I trust our crew, Kalina, but after what we told them, I don't quite trust them not to kill me if they see my face."

Dani giggled. Zett chuckled.

"Speaking of which," Smith leaned back in his seat. "When do I... get this off me?"

Dani laughed. "What, you don't like it?"

"I do not." He grunted, but she knew he was smiling.

"We'll drop our VIP guests off with the Starfleet folks, and then we only have one last detail to play out before you can change back to your handsome self, Aldus."

Smith sighed. "I guess I can live with that."

"Come on," Dani leaned forward with a grin, "let me see it again."

He looked at her for a moment and then shook his head, lifting the hood to expose his face. "You are enjoying this way too much, Atarah."

Dani looked at Smith's face that wasn't Smith's face and nodded, grinning. "I am."

From his seat, Smith's mouth expanded into a chilling smile. Cardello's smile. Cardello's eyes narrowed on Smith's face, and his forehead crinkled. Cardello's face looked at the two women with his famous sneer.

"We," Dani smiled widely and lifted her cup again, "are fucking geniuses."

* * *

Danielle Atarah
Grifter / Thief
Earth

Kalina Zett
Captain
Bristol Supply ship
The Cardello Syndicate

Aldus Smith
Executive Officer
Bristol Supply ship
The Cardello Syndicate

 

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