Naming Gul Vorlem

Despite the fact that she hadn't been on duty in hours, T'Pren was still in her uniform when she came up the lift to Ops. It was the first time she'd actually been in Command in a little over two days, first because of her mandatory day off and then because her duties required her to be elsewhere. Besides, now there were whole rosters of ensigns to keep an eye on the mundane every day workings of the science stations. And they reported directly to her. Even though some of them were only a year or two below her at the Academy. Regardless, it meant she got to concentrate on important things like the Hippolyta. And Mila Tahain.

As soon as she stepped off the lift, she scanned the room for Rai. The computer in security had told her she'd find him here. "Captain," she addressed him respectfully.

"Lieutenant," he said professionally. "What can I do for you?"

"I have information I think you'd very much like to hear," explained T'Pren, lifting her brows to show just how important this information was.

"Oh, this sounds important," he said. "What is it?"

"It might be best to discuss it in private, sir," T'Pren requested frankly.

"Let's take it to my office then," he said. He walked her over, and waited for the glass Cardassian doors to close behind them. "What is it?"

T'Pren followed the Captain obediently, glancing behind her to make sure the coast was clear outside the doors as well before beginning. "I just spoke to Tahain about our favorite peeping Tom," she explained. "His name is Gul Vorlem."

She hesitated then, trying to gauge from her connection with Rai and his expression whether or not he could handle anything heavy at the moment. When she made her decision, she said, gently, "He was slated to be the prefect of Betazed during the occupation."

Rai stretched out his fingers and cracked his knuckles, pursing his lips. Pren could see the gears turn in his head. "Well then, no wonder he was such a flirt."

"He was also," T'Pren continued, taking a step further into the room and resisting the urge to sit on the edge of the table, "the supervisor of multiple projects, including the one I was in. Tahain said he supervised the bureaucrats who managed the scientists who managed...me. She said that the projects were ineffective...and he lost his job over it." Her brows lifted as she delivered one last little factoid that she thought was interesting enough to share: "And she said that apparently he has a predilection to taking...edible trophies from the people he interrogates."

"Delightful," he said, crossing his arms and sitting down on his desk. "Did she tell us where we might be able to find him?"

"She didn't," responded the lieutenant, still standing more or less at attention. "But I did some digging. Apparently he did a short tour of duty here when it was in Cardassian control. His file says he was 'removed from service due to emotional strain'. He retired with honors...somewhere on Cardassia. But, of course, it doesn't say where."

Her expression shifted then, a little less confident than when she was being a good, cunning officer and delivering the goods to her CO. "She did, however, mention hypnosis and brainwashing techniques, which...explains quite a bit."

"How do you feel about all of this?" he asked her.

"Knowledge is power," T'Pren replied with a helpless shrug. "It worries me. That he could maybe trigger something in me or..." She shook her head. "But you'd notice. And we'd know what it was. So it should be fine. Right?"

"Nothing is going to be triggered, Pren. I know you won't let that happen. You're in control," he said. "Do you remember how well you handled Tahain when we interrogated her? The Lieutenant in the room with me then was not a victim. She's a survivor."

"And do you remember how poorly I handled him?" T'Pren countered, her brow furrowing with concern. "Will you just...if I start acting strangely, you have my full permission to go spelunking in my brain. Okay?"

"I've got your back. I said it before, I'll say it again. I've got your back," he said, hoping that if he repeated it enough, she'd eventually process it.

"I know you do," T'Pren promised with feeling, but it didn't take the worry from her brow. "I trust you. I'm just not sure if I can trust me."

"This is something we can handle, Pren. We'll get through this," he said. He clasped her shoulder emphatically, but didn't exceed any further affection while he was on duty.

"Do you know anything about Earth fairy tales?" T'Pren asked suddenly. She was trying to find a way to touch Rai's skin, to brush two fingers across even just his wrist, but there was no way to do it without looking very, very strange.

"Only a little, why? he asked. His eyes darted to the officers outside of his office.

"Sometimes the protagonists spend the whole story under the power of a monster," T'Pren explained, carefully not looking outside when Rai did so as not to appear that they were doing something wrong. Because they weren't. At least not right now. "But the monster is almost always defeated when someone learns their true name."

"Ah, do you feel like you've regained your powers?"

"Not yet," T'Pren decided thoughtfully, determination creeping in beneath her words. "If I ever had any. But he feels...mortal now. Less like a nightmare and more like...someone we can catch. Someone we can stop."

"We can stop him, and we will," Rai said. "Why don't we get dinner tonight when we get off duty?"

The half-Vulcan was midway through a subdued smile when Rai made his suggestion.

"In public?" T'Pren asked in surprise, lifting her brows. "Are you sure?"