With the power back on at the Bunnicorn’s Foot casino, Roger and Lori packed their belongings, said good-bye to Ted and Erica, paid the bill, and headed to the spaceport.

It was time to go home.

Approaching the Tigress Paw, they saw two men waiting for them.  Giving each other a quick glance, the two Starfleet officers stopped about ten feet away.

Lori and Klunt looked at each other, while Roger and the Romulan security guard from the vault nodded in respect.

“Here to see me off, Daimon?” said Lori.

“Something like that,” said Klunt.

“What do you want?”

“You told me you needed a safe place to stash some of your wealth,” said Klunt.  “Though there were obvious holes in your story, I chose to believe you because you intrigued me.  In reality, you were here to steal my deployment charts.”

Lori didn’t say anything.

Klunt smiled.  “Well played, Kavi Rozen.”

Roger had been tense, wondering if there was going to be another confrontation.  Seeing Klunt was actually impressed with what they did, he relaxed.  A little.

“I did what I was told to do,” said Lori.

“About that,” said Klunt.  “Your masters can’t be happy they had to escalate things.  If you’re in trouble, you can stay here.  I can offer you a job.  Both of you.”

“I appreciate that, Daimon, but I can’t stay.”

“No, I suppose not.  The Syndicate has a long reach,” said Klunt.

“It’s a generous offer, surprising for a Ferengi.”  Lori chuckled.

“Generous?  Pfft!  I have my own reasons for asking,” said Klunt.

There was a brief lull before Lori spoke again.  “It’s time for us to go.”

Klunt nodded, motioning for his guard to let them pass.  “Maybe we’ll meet again, Kavi Rozen.”

Roger rolled his eyes.  Don’t count on it, he thought.

=====

Roger turned off the tricorder.  “Initial scan clear.  Computer, do a level 1 security check.”

“You don’t think Klunt tried something, do you?” said Lori.

“Probably not, but I want to make sure.  I don’t want to be vaporized because the runabout explodes.”

“Scan complete,” said the Computer.  “There are no security breeches of any kind.”

“There you go,” said Lori.

“Good.  Let’s get out of here,” said Roger

=====

“We’re officially in Federation space now.  We’ll be at the rendezvous point in about three hours.”  Roger looked at Lori, but she was staring off into space.  Literally.  “Doctor?  Lori?”

“Mm?”

“We need to talk,” said Roger.

“Why?  We’ll be debriefed when we get back.”

“That might be fine for you, but this was my first UC assignment.  I need to talk.”

Sighing, Lori turned the co-pilot chair to face Roger.  “Talk.”

Roger mulled that over before continuing.  “Aside from you practically making love to me on the beach after the volleyball game, I know we had to become our undercover personas.  In training, they emphasized the importance of not losing our true selves in the process.  I saw that happening with you.  There was more than once I wondered if Doctor Lori Weaver, Chief Medical Officer of the Eagle, was still there.  I’ve got to admit it scared me.”

Lori didn’t talk.  She didn’t move.  Her face didn’t show any reaction at all.

“Talk to me, Lori.  I’m your XO.  It’s my responsibility to watch out for you.”

Still nothing.

“Do I need to make it an order?  I’m willing to stop the runabout and sit here for as long as it takes.”

Lori rolled her eyes.  “What do you want from me?”

“Just tell me what happened.  Why did it feel like I was losing you?”

Lori seemed to be carefully considering her words.  “Maybe you were.”  She shrugged.

Roger didn’t expect that.  “Go on.”

Lori took a breath deeper than Roger thought possible, letting it out slowly.  “On Lextis, when Dex and Nessa began trusting me, they put me in charge of the street dealers.  Hok had it easy.  He was in charge of inventory and distribution, but I dealt directly with the people selling that poison.”

Roger thought about saying something comforting, but kept silent as he didn’t want Lori to hold back.

“Once a week the dealers would meet me in the back room of Dex’ club to hand over the money they earned and I would pay them their cut.  If someone didn’t make quota, I would warn them and give them more time.  When Nessa found out I wasn’t disciplining failure, she said I would be disciplined.  I got the message, so after that, any dealer that fell short, got a beating.  At first it sickened me, but after awhile, I liked it.  They were scum selling drugs, so I justified their punishment in my mind.”

Roger knew Lori was sent on a dangerous assignment, but he never understood what she endured.

“Part of my job was to take an enforcer with me and make surprise appearances on the street.  There was one time in particular…”  Lori’s voice trailed off, her eyes like she was gazing at something far away.  “A young girl was trying to make a buy.”

FLASHBACK

“Please, Chalkie, you know I’m good for it.”

“Go away, Mouse.  You know how it works.  No cash, no product.”

“What’s going on here?” said Lori.

Chalkie was surprised to see her.  “Nothing to worry about, ma’am.  Just somebody that thinks they don’t need to pay.”

“Come on, Chalkie.  We can go behind that building.  I’ll do whatever you want.”

“A street rat like you?  Ha!  Who knows how many diseases you have.”

The girl looked at Lori.  “How about you?  I know how to please women, too.”

Tigress Paw

“The girl was small, maybe 5′ 2” and not even a hundred pounds.  She was dirty, smelly, and in terrible pain from withdrawal.”  Lori began choking up, tears forming in her eyes.

FLASHBACK

“What does she normally buy?” said Lori.

“Ma’am?” said Chalkie.

“What does she want?  Powder or a capsule?”  Lori’s voice was harsh.

“Capsule.”

“Give her one.”

“But, ma’am”

“I’ll cover it for you.”

Chalkie looked like he was just told to jump off a cliff.  Reaching into his pocket, he handed Mouse a capsule.  Grabbing it like it was the last bit of food in existence, she ran over to a nearby tree and swallowed it.

“I will cover you on this, Chalkie.  Don’t worry.”

“Ma’am, I don’t mean disrespect, but you can’t fall for every hard-luck story out there,” said Chalkie.  “These people will sell their mother for their next fix.”

“It won’t happen again.  I felt generous today.”

“Um, ma’am?”

Lori looked at the enforcer, who was pointing at Mouse.

Tigress Paw

“Mouse was seizing from an overdose.”  Lori’s voice was a whisper.  A tear trailed down her cheek.  “Her eyes had rolled back in her head.  She was frothing from the mouth and there was blood on the sidewalk from hitting her head.’

FLASHBACK

“Ma’am, we’ve got to get out of here before someone sees us.”  There was panic welling in Chalkie’s voice.

“But she needs help,” said Lori.

“And what are you going to tell the police when they get here?  Sorry, Officer, we didn’t mean to give her drugs?”

Lori glared at Chalkie.

“He’s right, ma’am.  We can’t stay,” said the Enforcer.

Chalkie growled.  “I’m out of here.”  He bolted down the street.

Staring at the dying Mouse, Lori nodded at her enforcer.  “Let’s go.”

Tigress Paw

“Mouse died on the street, alone and left there like a piece of garbage.”

Lori could barely talk.  Roger saw the agony and guilt on her face.  More tears began to flow.

“I should have tried to save her.  All she needed was someone to care about her, to show her she was important.  I gave her the drug that killed her.  Like a criminal, I left her there to die.  That was when I truly became Kavi Rozen.  When we went to the Lappa moon, it all came back to me.”

Roger stepped out of the pilot chair and knelt beside Lori, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her into a hug.

“I don’t know who I am anymore.”  Leaning against Roger, all of Lori’s barriers broke and the burning conflict in her poured out.

Holding Lori in his arms and listening to her deep, aching, uncontrollable sobs, he knew the first step in her healing had begun.