Stasia rolled the coarse linen Wayist robe into a ball and shoved it into the large purse slung over her shoulder. The sentry at the gates hadn't given her a second glance as she'd approached. Requesting admittance to the visitors' section, as was often the practice of monks who desired to share The Way with prisoners, she'd kept her head and face covered with the hood. She bowed dutifully and offered him a quick blessing as he allowed her inside.

Once inside, it wasn't difficult to wander away from the area where inmates were allowed to visit with family or receive counseling. In the shadows, she hiked the micro-skirt up a little higher, baring even more skin than before. She pulled the low cut blouse down, exposing more cleavage. Fluffing her hair she took a deep breath and walked into the reception area.

There was a single clerk at the desk in the area that separated the public areas from the restricted zones. She cleared her throat to get his attention as she sashayed toward him with a big smile. His eyes grew a little wider and a pleased smile creased his face as he saw the young woman with lots of bare skin walking toward him.

She placed her hands on the desk and leaned over, allowing him a good view. She noted with satisfaction that he was Nietzschean. She was just entering the fertile phase of her cycle; few males were able to think at optimal levels once they caught the scent of a fertile female.

"May I help you?" he asked.

She smiled charmingly, detecting the scent of an aroused state beginning to emanate from him. She twisted on one foot and then the other. "I hope so. Do you know Admiral Telemachus Rhade?"

"Uh…yes, ma'am," he replied after a moment, his eyes straying toward her exposed cleavage.

"Do you know who I am?"

"I've, ah, seen you with the admiral on a variety of occasions," he nodded.

"He's been cooped up for days with that nasty business regarding the triumvir. I've come to pay him a visit; he's lonely," she explained, moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue.

He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but no one is allowed into this area without a security pass. Do you have a pass?"

She pouted prettily. "I had one this morning," she said ruefully. "It had pretty colors on it, and my picture in the corner. Admiral Rhade and I were…otherwise occupied…and it fell down the elevator shaft when the doors opened."

"Elevator?" he asked hoarsely. "I…could call for Admiral Rhade to come to the desk for you," he offered.

She moved, sliding her finger across the desktop as she walked around the corner, chewing on her bottom lip. "No, don't call for him. This is a surprise visit. Isn't there some way that you could just let me go through those doors? It's not as if I'm a complete stranger here."

He rolled his chair away from the desk. He swallowed hard as she leaned closer. "Sorry, there are rules…and it's not safe to wander around without an escort."

She trailed a finger down his arm. "Ooh, you're strong," she commented appreciatively, stepping closer to run her hands over his shoulders. This put her standing directly between his legs with her cleavage at eye level. "I bet I'd be safe if I was with you," she cooed, taking his hands and placing them firmly on her hips.

She felt his hands tremble as she held them in place and she swayed with a slight suggestive movement. Her face lit with a sudden realization. "You could take me, couldn't you?" she asked. "You could be my personal escort!"

"I..I'm…don't…know," he stammered.

She leaned forward, resting her cheek against his. "If you do this favor for me, lancer, I'll do ANY favor you want later," she whispered.

She felt his hands slide from her hips to her breasts and she knew her mission was the same as accomplished. She moaned for effect. "Umm, that feels so good. I bet you know how to make a girl feel really good…and you can show me when I get back."

She tugged on his hand, pulling him from his chair, sliding her arm through his. He took her to the elevator and withdrew a security keycard from his pocket. The doors opened and they stepped inside. He keyed a code and the level for maximum security and the elevator began its descent.

With a sly smile, Stasia pressed the button that brought the moving compartment to a halt.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She pressed herself against him, unbuckled his weapons belt and let it fall to the floor. "You won't need these," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He smiled as she allowed his hands to wander for a moment. He started to unsnap his pants and she stopped him. "Let me do that," she laughed, pulling at them until they were near his knees. "Oh, I've got an idea. Here, you sit down," she ordered with a giggle.

He did so and sat there with an expectant grin. She smiled down at him. "Get ready to see stars," she purred. "Close your eyes."

He obediently closed his eyes and she slammed her knee into his forehead. His head bounced off the steel wall of the elevator and he slumped over onto the floor.

Stasia frowned at him as she picked up his weapons belt. "I told you that you'd be seeing stars," she told him with a smirk.

She stepped out of the elevator on sublevel six, tossing his weapons belt far into the corridor. Checking to make sure that there was a maximum amount of exposed skin available, she headed out.

Rounding a corner, she nearly tripped over the crossed legs of Telemachus Rhade as he lounged casually on the deck. For the first time in her life, she was speechless. He looked so smug and self-satisfied that she just wanted to pinch his head off. How dare he be here?

He looked up from the copy of Will to Power that he'd been reading and nodded and he glanced at the time on his watch. "Impressive," he smiled, bringing himself to his feet. "Three minutes ten seconds to get from the desk to maximum security. Maybe I should have encouraged you to pursue a career with Argosy Special Ops; you've obviously got some talent that I've failed to acknowledge," he commented.

Glancing around the corner, he could see a boot sticking out of the open elevator doors. "I hope you didn't actually kill Grissom because I need to formally reprimand him for allowing anyone to break the perimeter."

"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be asleep!" she sputtered, crossing her arms over her exposed cleavage.

He had the audacity to grin at her and roll his eyes. "Oh, my sweet little Shadow! Did you really believe that I didn't anticipate that you'd try something like this? I was injected last week with a special configuration of nanobots designed to combat synthetic contaminants in my system."

He reached out and touched her cheek. "I told you; I'm always prepared." She jerked away angrily from his touch.

"She's not even here, is she?" she demanded.

"I believe the official term is 'undisclosed location.'"

"I can't believe you lied to me, 'Lemachus!"

"I can't believe you drugged me!" he retorted with a laugh. "So far as strike and counter-strike, I'd say we're even."

The livid outrage bled out of her cheeks and she looked at him sadly. "I wanted to see her dead," she whispered.

He sighed. "So you shall. I've received word that her sentence is the death penalty. I've been further instructed to provide the means to that end."

"How…will it be done?"

"You will decide the manner of her execution, my love, and it will become the order that I issue."

Suddenly weary, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "Let me design the serum that she will have injected into her system," she whispered.

He held her close, resting his cheek in her hair. "Consider it done."

Moments later, two lancers skidded to halt in front of their admiral.

"Grissom's down, sir," the commander breathlessly announced. "We've got an intruder!"

The lieutenant eyed Stasia and her copious show of flesh with obvious interest. Telemachus glared at him and removed his jacket to wrap around her, depriving her audience of the splendid view that had moments before been on public display.

"Stand down, lancer," he admonished, waving off their concern as he wrapped a possessive arm around her shoulders. "Your intruder was part of an impromptu security drill and Grissom failed miserably. Get him on his feet and to the brig for violating basic security protocol."

With hasty salutes, the two were off to fulfill their orders.

Telemachus guided Stasia toward another elevator. "Time to go home," he told her.

"Are you going to arrest me?" she asked him ruefully.

He chuckled and keyed a code into the control panel. "Arrest you?" he asked. "Hell, no! I'm going to take notes on covert infiltration methods from you!"