An Artful Assassination

Posted on Mon Dec 8th, 2014 @ 7:37am by Venin & Vendenje Kamdram

Mission: Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Thieves
Location: Auxiliary Trading Station - Mira
Timeline: MD15: 2300hrs.

Crelar Rax had done a good day's work. He floated through the corridors of Mira's auxiliary trading station like a man without a care in the world. The truth was that his troubles were many and varied but at least the dog-faced woman of Mira Station was no longer one.

She had given him trouble since the moment he'd laid eyes on her. It all started as a milk run to Cupar III to track down her estranged wife. Easy- or so he thought. The darker thoughts began to creep back as he reminisced bitterly on the number of people who wanted to buy information but always had duff information to give in the first place.

Rax traded in information. He loved it, he lived it, he breathed the flow and counterflow of information and if there was something you wanted, Rax could get it for you. At least that's what he told people.

It was hard to sting a mark if they couldn't muster up enough interest to give good information in the first place. Not everyone was like his Ferengi 'pals' from Starbase 332. They had information and they were all too willing to give it up. He chuckled to himself. He'd made a pretty penny forwarding their information onto Oleran Telan after he'd extorted a few extra bars of latinum out of the idiot.

His flowing red shirt was buffeted by a breeze coming from a vent in the corridor. It startled him at first but he quickly maintained his gait. One could never be too careful in Rax's line of work. He had no respect for any of the people he had put through the ringer but these meatheads had one thing in common.

They all carried guns.

--

All was quiet.

She checked her gear one last time, making sure the tiny white capsule was firmly tucked away in the proper leather pouch. It was. Crelar Rax, she decided, was going to die in a very artful way.

In the past, a simple shot between the eyes had been the trademark of Raela, but Raela couldn't afford to follow old patterns. There was a surprising amount of 'heat' on the station as of late, and though it was certainly large enough for her to lose anyone pursuing her, too much attention could draw him out. She briefly allowed his face to flow into the front of her mind, the rough, unshaven face and handsome dark eyes. She imagined the gray that must surely be edging his hair, and the lines of age. His image made her smile sadly, and then it was gone, her smile with it.

No, for Crelar Rax instead she would employ a different kind of tool.

The Cardassian female slithered more than walked as she made her way down the corridors leading to her prey. She had scouted ahead in the early hours of the morning, taking stock of the possible exits. The northern corridor led nowhere, while the south - the way she came - led back to a junction, one way leading back to where she came, while the other also led to what may as well have been a dead end. A final option - the venting - could get her anywhere, but it was armed with a clever set of security measures. Still, it was an option if she needed.

As she rounded the corridor she began to bite her fingernails feverishly. It was a habit her mother had broken her of long ago, before her attendance of the schola's prior to entering the Order. It was certainly not a habit she had developed again, and in truth disgusted her more than most. Necessary evils, she told herself. Her hair, messy and long, hung around her head like a crown, and her eyes, dark and red, darted back and forth as she began to shiver. She could see him now, and he her, though he seemed in a daydream, barely paying attention. She found herself wondering what it felt like to feel that kind of peace. The peace of a man who hasn't realized that he is already dead - he was just waiting for his body to get the message.

She slammed into him, staggering to the floor, acting surprised and confused by him. "O-oh!" she exclaimed, letting out a shout as she stumbled.

Rax grunted as he absorbed the woman's impact. She had roused him from his thoughts at a vital moment. "Are you alright, Miss?"

He was looming over her as she looked up at him. A moment passed, and she was sure that he'd noticed by now. Noticed that she, dressed head to toe like any hunter worth her salt would be, was not some addle-minded fool. She saw his eyes flicker toward the holstered weapons at her sides, at the blade secured in her left boot, and at the chunk of black obsidian worn on a chain around her neck. His eyes met her, and it was too late. He was already dead, his body just hadn't realized it yet.

Her hand shot out like a viper, and her gray fingers gripped his throat so tightly that she caught his alarmed shout in it. She could feel his throat constrict and bulge even as she slowly rose to her feet, forcing him down onto his knees even as she did. Her mouth was slightly open, her eyes following him. "Ahhh, that's it," she whispered softly, so soft he could barely hear. Her finger pressed at a spot just under his jaw and his lips parted. The white pill was in her hand, and then at the far back of his throat. She forced it down and then released him, shoving him back as he grasped at his throat. Would he try and throw it up? It didn't matter, the damage was already done.

Rax felt the pill violate his throat and the sudden, searing heat of the capsule as it began to break down all the way down his oesophagus. His eyes bulged and his vision flickered back and forth as the woman went from being the clearest thing he had ever seen to a distant, hazy mirage. He barely had time to compute what had happened to him. Crelar Rax went from being the foremost information trader in Galactic South to being atomized in what seemed to him like hours but was- in reality- just a few seconds.

Raela watched as the man turned to dust and closed her eyes as the nearby vent blew what remained of him across her. Foolish, she thought. She breathed him in and then, opening her eyes, left. The corridor was now as silent as a tomb.

Hell, it was a tomb.