Note: This chapter is short as I've had to cut it from the following scene as together it would have been a chapter far too long to be posted in one go. So, this may be a short chapter, but I really enjoy this one.

Chapter 4 - Conspirators

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The station was dark, the night hours marked by artificial illumination only. This solar system's single sun hung far away in the distance, the red star's glow and warmth was dying away with its life. It would still outlive more generations that he could envisage, yet in the scope of suns, it was dying.

A door opened behind him, but he kept his eyes on the narrow silt of a porthole out of which he had been observing the distant sun among the vastness of other stars. He watched Tremlin's reflection stop a metre behind his shoulder.

"She is here," Tremlin reported.

"Where?" He asked, keeping his attention focused on the reflection, watching the man's expression closely.

"Creass says she is quartered up in the third level," Tremlin replied.

He grunted at that. "How lowly one falls," he muttered, his focus shifting back to the dying sun. How appropriate.

"He confirms that the report from Iasius was true," Tremlin added. "One side of her face is covered."

He nodded. He had already heard further confirmation from a scout. He grunted again, watching as a distant planet began to encroach through his view of the sun. "Did Iasius share what they had been discussing?"

"No, Sir," Tremlin replied, the tone suggesting that he had made sure to question carefully to allow for that exchange of information. "Creass gave no information either."

He considered that, not surprised, but it would have been far more useful to have had more information in his hand first. He resisted the urge to sigh heavily. There had been a day when men and women would have flocked to discover any and all information he required. He had been in charge of vast forces, all at his command. A sharp, focused deadly army. Now…now, he had only a handful of the most loyal, and more 'friends' and 'associates' than ever before. People who he had dealings with, who he could still manipulate as he needed, but they were nothing compared to how it had been before. His hands were tied inside the Alliance, but out here, his name held a different kind of power. A name known only through the dark shadows and among those who could make matters turn to their own advantage. And matters had been occurring as planned, but her presence here could risk all of that. Or, there was the possibility that she could be used. Her options were limited as well, and so, for the first time, they had a more equal footing.

He turned from the window and strode across the narrow room towards the door. He tugged his jacket into a more comfortable position. It was not his old uniform, but his clothes were tailored as close to them as possible. He had grown up wearing the Genii uniform and he had wished to die in it when he was old and grey.

The corridors of the station were busy for the late hour, but then there were plenty of late night activities supplied here for any tastes. He didn't distract himself with such pursuits, but he wasn't surprised that she had come here. Here she could play her perverted games with as many 'slaves' as she wished, have the worship she had lost, and perhaps now would never regain. However, despite her fallen station and her injuries, of which he still had no precise detail, she was still an Elite warrior, and one of the most devious women he had ever known.

The third level of the habitation quarters were slightly more presentable than the lower levels, but they were hardly luxury. His quarters here, which were of the best in the station, were still small compared to most bases and ships he had lived on before, but he had never been one for luxuries. He knew she had enjoyed her luxuries though, and that her new quarters here would be more than degrading to her sensibilities. He could use her pride against her, and no doubt her festering resentment as well.

Tremlin gestured towards a corridor ahead to the left and they proceeded down the quiet hallway. One of Creass' guards sat at a small table to one side. He glanced up and nodded as they passed. Creass had supplied a guard, but he had to wonder was that for her protection or to keep an eye on her?

There were only two doors at the end of the corridor and Tremlin pointed to the right hand one, before stepping back and away to wait outside.

The door opened just before he pressed the call button. He found that faintly amusing as he stepped inside the room, the door sliding shut behind him.

A long curtain of cream fabric hung from the ceiling, creating a partition from the rest of the room, and in the small space this side of the curtain a slave stood waiting.

He ignored the slave's offer of a drink and moved on along the partition curtain towards the gap through which he would enter the rest of the room.

The curtain was more transparent than he had thought, and as he moved at a steady unhurried pace along it, he began to see a shape on the other side. A woman seated in profile and dressed in creamy white, the colour blending with the curtain.

He smiled at her theatrics and made sure his boot falls were louder than normal. He set his hands behind his back and smiled wider.

"I was pleased to hear that the stories of your death were greatly exaggerated," he said through the curtain as he made his way towards the gap.

She chuckled, that deep throaty voice that she used to her full advantage.

"You should never believe all that you hear," she replied and there was no sign of weakness in her voice.

He stepped around the curtain and the rest of the small room came into view. Though the simple dark station room was dull and nondescript, it had been filled with overtly elegant furniture. There was a gilded table and chairs to one side, a wide reclined plush cushioned seat upon which she was sat, and behind her, a large dark wooden framed bed. Despite the location of her quarters on the third level of the station, Creass had provided her the best he could procure.

Running his eyes away from the rich materials and furniture, all crushed together into these small quarters, his gaze finally fell to where she sat, partially turned from him, as she set down a delicate ceramic cup. She was dressed very differently than he had seen her before. Almost all of her skin was covered, except for her turned cheek, her hands and her upper chest. The rounded tops of her breasts were on full display above the tightly corseted cream dress that hugged her waist and hips, covering her all the way down to her bare feet. He frowned at this new image, but his eyes focused mainly on her hair and face. Her previously excessively long hair was shorter, though still long enough to be piled up and pinned at the back of her head, and though her profile was turned to him, he could see that a white mask covered the far side of her face. The uncovered side of her face was as beautiful as ever and he knew that she was making sure he recalled her astounding beauty before she looked round at him.

She picked up a small piece of fruit and it disappeared between her luscious full lips.

"Acastus Kolya," she greeted him with amused pleasure as she finally looked round at him, giving him her full attention.

He smiled at her. "Iketani."

The half mask was beautiful in itself, white and perfectly modelled to her face shape. Silver detail ran along the jaw of the mask, as well as forming the eyebrow and a spiral curling away at the corner of the eyehole. Her beautiful blue eye could still be seen, intact, through that space. When she smiled only one side did so, but then there was the sensation of knowing that the smile continued unseen on the other side under the half mask. It created a curiosity within him that was unusual, but then this woman was unusual in almost every way.

He moved forward and smiled again. "I am glad to see that you are as beautiful as ever," he told her and she gestured to two chairs near her plush seat. He took the one closest to her. As he sat, he pulled off his gloves, placing them together and then folding them. "I was surprised to learn you had come here."

She settled herself against the back of her chair, watching him in that still manner of a predator. "Creass has much he can offer me."

Kolya secured his gloves over his belt, watching what he was doing so to deny her his full attention. "I am sure of that," he replied with amusement, glancing off to the elaborate furniture pressed around them.

"He does what he can," she replied, seemingly nonplussed by his comment.

Kolya turned his gaze back to her and sat as equally still in his seat. "Which leaves me to conclude that there is something you wish from me as well."

The one visible eyebrow rose beautifully. "You also have always had much to offer me."

He inclined his head briefly in acknowledgement, though knowing full well that in one particular area she had never won what she wanted from him. Her seat placed almost at the foot of the large bed emphasised that far from subtle point to him.

"And what precisely is it that you wish now?" He asked her directly.

She remained still, watching him, her expression more serious now, reading him as he was reading her.

"I wish your assistance," she finally replied.

He was not surprised, for why else would she have allowed him to know she was here. He waited for more.

"I am sure that you are very busy, disrupting the Alliance advance as little as you have been," she continued and Kolya controlled his reaction to her insult that though weak had still hit at his pride. She had always been very skilled at this game. She paused, her eyes lifting to his with a knowing smile before she looked away, and he noticed that her long eyelashes were the same cream colour as her dress.

"I would have thought you would have been too busy running from the Elite to have noticed," he responded in turn, pressing at what had to be open wound for her pride.

The frown was just noticeable to her expression, and that he had seen it at all, told him that she either wished him to see it, or that her emotions had broken free for a moment. The half of her forehead that he could see smoothed out again quickly.

"The Elite, and the rest of the Alliance, believe me dead," she told him.

"How foolish of them," he replied and she smiled in return.

"I have no one chasing me anymore," she added, stressing the point that he had many who would leap at the chance to deliver him to the Genii government.

"And so what will you do with your time now?" He asked.

"Revenge, obviously," she replied instantly.

He nodded with unsurprised knowing. "And you wish my help to gain you that revenge."

She smiled again, with one side of her face only.

"I require certain…individuals of a certain skill and disposition, and I believe that of all those I know, that you would be able to recommend the very best of such individuals."

He smiled at her compliment and inclined his head again.

"And of course you will wish to know what you will gain in return for such assistance," she continued.

"Other than the honour of being able to assist you?" he added with amusement and she smiled back before continuing.

"It is likely that my revenge will lead to something that you wish most dearly," she said temptingly, her gaze dropping away briefly to return to his, looking at him from under her eyelashes. It was an overtly flirtatious look and they both knew he did not respond to such manipulations, so it was game, a back and forth. Perhaps also that he had never shared her bed, despite her many insinuations and flirtatious invitations, meant that she saw him as a particularly resistant challenge, one she still hoped to win.

"And what do I wish most dearly?" He asked her quietly, wondering if perhaps it was time to allow this game to another level.

She leant forward slightly, turning her body so that he had the best view of the deep shadow between her breasts.

"To return to your home," she whispered back. He had expected the more obvious of answers, but she had cut to the deepest point, and it was unsettling to know how transparent he could be to some.

She leant a little further toward him. "I know what it is like to be forced from your people, to be labelled the traitor when you have so much to offer them. Instead we are forced to watch our people grow weak and fall under greater domination." Her voice was quiet like the conspirators they were.

He did not disagree with her words, but waited for more she would add, letting her give her story, her plot, and reveal her mind.

"The Alliance will stretch itself so thin that it will break. When that day occurs, your people and mine will once again become prey to the Wraith." He listened to her voice his own thoughts. "The Alliance needs strong leadership, not the weaklings that it has now." Her tone was studied temptation and manipulation, and he wondered why she was using it on him now, though he agreed with all she said.

"Leadership such as we both can provide," he finished for her with a knowing smile.

She smiled back, leaning a fraction closer, the shadow between her plump breasts darkening and deepening. "We are warriors, Kolya, it is our place to fight, and to clear the path to make our people strong."

He studied her for a long moment and she looked right back at him. She knew that he was well aware that she was manipulating him, using temptation to win him over, and yet still it worked, because they were two sides of the same coin in a way. She used her manipulation in one way and he used his in quite another. She would never be a member of the Elite again, he was sure of that, so revenge was all she had. He wondered what she would do beyond that day, but then it did not matter to her yet. If she could offer something that would help his own cause right now, then he could see the benefits to working with her.

He leant in towards her. "And how exactly are you going to help me clear the path?"

She smiled wider, the seductress now out in full force, and he acknowledged that her power was in no way reduced by the mask. "You do not need to do anything, except introduce me to the right individuals, but when I am finished, you will find the time will be perfect for you to begin walking down that path."

He contemplated that carefully. It seemed there was little risk for him from what she had told him so far.

"And what kind of individuals precisely do you require?" He asked her.

She leant even closer, and he dropped his eyes to the exposed cleavage openly now, trailing his eyes up the smooth skin to the fabric choker around her neck, and up to the elegant angle of her jaw. He looked back up into her blue eyes and she crooked a finger at him, tempting him closer. He smiled at the game and leant further forward, right into the warmth surrounding her, and closer to her lips, bared from the mask, open and tempting.

"Individuals who are willing to spy and individuals who are willing to hunt and kill those who are most powerful…" She whispered ever so quietly.

He looked from one of her eyes to the other. There was a chance that she was mad, but he saw only calculating intelligence in her eyes. He looked at the mask, so close to him now, and considered what injury it obscured and how angry and filled with hatred that could make a woman such as her to risk what she was proposing. He reached up and touched one finger under the chin of the mask, and lifted it up and partly aside. She did not withdraw from him, did not show any sign of embarrassment or anger.

He studied what he saw, the damage shocking in its place on such a stunning woman, but equally a testimony to her warrior status. He pushed the mask fully aside and she pulled its strap from over her hair, leaving her face fully on display.

"I know just the individuals for you to use," he told her as he leant in and pressed his lips to her smiling ones.

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TBC