As he returned from his shop at the end of the workday, Garak was surprised to see a message light start blinking on the console screen on the desk in his quarters. He was even more surprised to see how heavily encrypted the message was. His eyes widened as he sent back his access code. A Cardassian face appeared on the screen, slightly weaving around.
"Well, Mr. Damar. Long time no see," Garak addressed the face on the screen. He waited to find out what the person on the other end would say.
Damar's fingers clutched the Kanar bottle so strong, he almost broke it. Ten minutes ago, this had seemed to be the best idea ever. Now the doubts came drifting to the surface, but some more Kanar would drown them to where they belonged. He opened the bottle and took a sip. Much better.
"Garak, we don't have much time", he said to the screen. "For now, this channel is secure and I intend to keep it that way. I don't want to take unneccessary risks by keeping it open for smalltalk, so let's just save the how-is-your-family part of the conversation for some other day."
"Well, I did not expect you to call for smalltalk", Garak replied. "But then, I'm surprised to hear from you at all." Damar's eyes drifted away from the screen, through the room, and finally found hold on the Kanar. "Cardassia needs you", he finally said. "The Order has one last mission for you." He couldn't see Garak's amused face. "The Order has exiled me. I didn't consider myself to be in a very helpful positon for the past years, or even a citizen of Cardassia. And suddenly the Dominion requires my services?" Damar looked up to the screen again. "Not the Dominion. Cardassia."
Garak considered the possibility it was just the alcohol that made Damar sound so serious. At first, seeing the bottle, hearing the slight lisping in Damar's voice, he had been certain this was not the man he remembered. But in this moment, it seemed he had returned for a moment, stepped out of the shadows and pushed the pitiful version of Damar aside. "Then, what does Cardassia need from me?" Garak slowly asked, watching the face on the screen carefully.
"You won't like it, I don't really like it either", Damar replied. "But the point is, Weyoun will like it even less." Now Garak smiled. "I'm all ears!" Damar nodded briefly. "And the best part is, Dukat will really hate this." "If the intelligence reports are accurate, Dukat left Cardassia months ago", Garak said. And added in his thoughts ...and I didn't expect you to plot against your mentor... "Yes, he did. But it is not like the flawed Starfleet intelligence thinks." Damar opened the bottle for another sip. He was walking a thin line, and the company of his liquid friend made him feel better. "Dukat did not simply 'vanish'. He is on an undercover mission Weyoun assigned him to. It was a farce though, the original idea was an 'accident' to eliminate Dukat once and for all. I warned him and helped him get out of the danger zone, and gave him a new mission. But..." He stopped and Garak could see the fingers close around the bottle neck some tighter. "But what?" he asked, though he already had an idea how this story would go on. For some moments, Damar said nothing and just stared at the bottle. Then, he finally looked up again and no doubt, this was the man Garak remembered. The anger he could barely disguise in his eyes gave him away. "But that was before I knew his last order, or suggestion, or however you want to call it, to promote the idiot commander of some mining colony instead of me. That is how he thanked me years of loyalty!" The last bit of control crept away like a beaten dog, and when Damar lowered the bottle, it was almost empty.
"I understand", Garak nodded. "Not the Order or Cardassia needs me, your bruised ego does." Damar's eyes glittered in anger. "Call it what you want. You know you still owe me a favour. Me, and Tain." He paused and seemed to enjoy the shock Garak failed to hide completely. "Or is your loyalty to your mentor even more a farce than mine?" Damar added with a grin. Slowly, Garak shook his head. "Then I will transfer the instructions for your mission now."
Garak let the screen go blank before he allowed every last ounce of disbelief to show on his face. It had been nearly more than even his exceptional lying talents could handle to hold it in. He sank back against his desk chair and glanced over the instructions. What he saw caused the entire chain reaction of disbelief to shudder like a quaking table of dominoes through his thoughts.
Damar has finally just snapped. Lost his mind completely.
Garak re-read the instructions, unsure that he'd picked up every nuance.
However, it does have the merit of making quite a few people look like idiots. Dukat and that Vorta, especially. Hmm.
Deepeppeep!
Garak jumped up at the sound of his door chime. He quickly deleted all of the files and shut off his screen. Smoothly, he turned around and went to the door.
"If you're from room service, tell them I already ate," Garak called through the door. He opened it and smiled at the expressionless man in his doorway, "Why Constable, so kind of you to drop by..."
"I'm not here for a visit, Garak," Odo glared. Garak considered the constable's expression, at least, I think that's a glare. At times it's really hard to tell when he is actually glaring and when he is simply looking. Quite wonderful ability, really The changeling's eyes scanned the room quickly, "I'm here to investigate an unauthorized coded subspace message that was sent from the station a short while ago."
Garak carefully calculated how much surprise was neccessary and allowed it to spread over his face, "Well, I don't remember making any calls recently."
Odo's head turned side to side as he suspiciously eyed the room, "Are you certain the Order hasn't tried to contact you? Or old friends on Cardassia perhaps?"
"I hope not," Garak replied with sincerity, "I doubt I'd want to hear anything the Order had to say...although it would be more likely they'd send someone to 'tell' me in person. In that case, I promise, you'll be the first to know. In the interest of station security, of course." Garak smiled warmly.
"Hmph," Odo grunted, giving the Cardassian a wary look. He walked to the screen and turned it on.
Garak followed him, "All right, in the interest of my own security as well. I would really rather live to see old age than recieve 'messages' from the Order."
Odo scrolled through the few messages on Garak's recieved list and stood up, "If you hear anything, let me know."
"Of course," Garak nodded, showing the constable out, "and don't hesitate to drop by anytime for a chat."
With one final glare/glance, Odo left. Garak let the door close and sighed. That will definitely not be the end of it he thought Odo is too dogged an investigator. Still, I think it's worth the risk.