Seeking Gul Vorlem

After a long day in the lab and working on the Hippolyta, T'Pren finally decided she absolutely had to know whether or not she could find out the name of the Cardassian man in her room. She didn't bother to put her hair back or to act hard. Not after Tahain and her lackeys had clearly heard her sobbing uncontrollably the last time she'd come down.

She dismissed the new ensign guard for the time being, tugged down on her uniform top, took a deep breath, and stepped inside to face the Cardassians.

Mila Tahain was still wiling the hours a way in a darkened cell. She rose to her feet when Pren entered the room.
"It's you again. You didn't bring your Betazoid this time," she sniped.

"I never had any interest in hurting you," T'Pren replied earnestly, picking up a chair and setting it down in front of the forcefield that contained Tahain. "And I have no interest in hurting you now, even knowing what I know." She gave a very slight, cruel upturn to her lips. "And make no mistake, I can go get my Betazoid any time. But I thought I'd give you the option to be cooperative from the goodness of your ridged, gray heart."

"What can I hope to gain out of this?" she asked flatly. Her posture closed off as she crossed her arms over her chest. The two ranjen were asleep together, spooning in the adjacent cell.

T'Pren had to think about that for a moment. Would Tahain accept 'not being tortured'? Probably not. So she decided to take a chance on a slightly different tactic:

"You're going to pay for your crimes, one way or the other. And I'm going to advocate for you, just as I promised." She rolled her eyes. "Not that you accepted my offer. But you have a unique opportunity right now to take down an arrogant, holier-than-thou, pretentious former colleague of yours with you. A final hit, shall we say."

"I'm listening." said the old woman, visibly intrigued by Pren's offer. "Who are they?"

"That's where you come in," admitted the half-Vulcan, studying the Cardassian woman with lifted brows. "I know certain things about him, but I don't know his name. And since his hubris seems to be his weak spot, his identity would be exceptionally helpful in drawing him out."

She took a breath and began. "He worked on me. I know his voice, but he must have been involved in the parts of my adolescence I don't recall. He took offense to the idea that he might have injected me with, as he said, 'needles or otherwise'." She pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow trying to figure out exactly the most useful information. "When he spoke to me, he would have included me in his person. 'How are we doing today'. That type of thing. He still considers himself very, very important and superior, but he'd be living somewhere far away from everything and so boring that he'd go out of his way to bother the occupants of the nearest station. And this isolation is probably exile. He really doesn't like it."

"That doesn't exactly narrow it down. Has anyone been triangulating his transmissions? If they have, you should have a copy of his image," she said.

"We have a copy of his ocular ridge," T'Pren admitted flatly. She stepped back into the security office and fiddled with something before reentering with a PADD. She held it up to the forcefield so that Tahain could see the bone structure in question. "That's the best image I have."

Her stern face turned cracked into a smile. "That's Gul Vorlem, the old so-and-so! Why, I haven't seen him since they were about to place him as the Prefect on Betazed! That old fossil has been calling you? He should try a hobby."

While Tahain was smiling, T'Pren's lips were twisting with disgust. "Oh yes," she replied without humor. "He thinks I've grown into quite the 'dashing young woman'." She sat back down and turned off the PADD, letting her expression return to passivity. "His sessions with me. What did they entail?"

"The Cardassian government had some ridiculous notion to create some super soldier using prisoners of war, there was hypnosis and brainwashing. The project was ended due to its ineffectiveness. He lost his job over it, in fact."

"He lost his job over it," T'Pren repeated, trying not to be amused by the idea that she had somehow helped take away the Gul's career. "Was it his project? He was in charge of my-- of that project?"

"He was managing it and several others. He managed the bureaucrats who managed the scientists who managed you. He lost he job because of his inability to produce results and his... unconventional practices," she said, her voice dripping with disdain. "Unconventional, even for my tastes."

Just from the way Tahain said 'unconventional practices', T'Pren's skin went a sickly pale. For a moment she considered asking whether or not she even wanted to know what they were. But instead she swallowed and braced herself. "Go on."

"Sometimes, he was known to take trophies from the people he interrogated. His household cook told me they were charged to prepare those trophies for... consumption," she said, swallowing.

Strangely enough, that seemed to not bother T'Pren even a little bit. The Vulcan lifted her brows in surprise at the other woman's squeamishness. "That's it?"

"That's it," she said firmly and coolly.

"For a woman who supervised medical experimentation on children, I'm a little perplexed that that is where you draw the line," T'Pren admitted earnestly. After a moment's thought, she added, "In exchange for your cooperation, I'd like to show you that I learned from my years with the Obsidian Order and give you some sort of reward. Maybe you'll get something extra for dinner tonight."

And because she couldn't quite help herself, she added, "Liver?"

But, in fact, Tahain would get a little dessert with her meal, compliments of the lieutenant, who turned on her heel and walked out of the room.