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Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 20:42:58 -0500
Subject: [ASCEM-S] NEW DS9: 2/8 A Slight Case of Blackmail (G/B-NC17)
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Title:   A Slight Case of Blackmail
Author:  Kathryn Ramage
Series:  DS9
Codes:   G/B  
Rating:  NC17 
Part:    2/8

See Part 1 for summary, disclaimer, etc.

|~1~|

The first thing Commander Sisko noticed when he entered his 
office that morning was the datarod lying on his desk.  He knew 
he had straightened up before leaving last night, and had not 
left it there.  Could one of his staff have brought it in?  
Unlikely. Cardassian datarods were still commonly used in station 
operations, but if anyone had wanted to leave a report for him, 
they would have submitted it on a Federation-style chip or data- 
padd.  And, unless it had been one of his senior officers, who-
ever had left the datarod here would have had to breach the 
security code on the office door to get in.

There was only one way to find out what this was; Sisko picked up 
the rod and slipped it into the slot beside the view screen on his 
desk.

A scene appeared:  A darkened room, someone's personal quarters 
here on DS9.  The time code in the corner of the screen indicated 
that this recording had been made 10 days ago, just after 2200.  
The door slid open and the lights in the room came up as two 
people entered--Garak and Dr. Bashir.  They were in the middle 
of a literary argument:

"I'm not surprised that you prefer Tirat's love sonnets to the 
works of more contemporary Cardassian poets, Doctor.  He's 
considered to be one of the most emotionally self-indulgent 
writers of the late Empire."  

"And that's precisely why I like him.  No incomprehensible meta- 
phors.  No politics.  No boring lectures on the virtues of being 
a true Cardassian.  Just good, old-fashioned 'How do I love thee' 
poetry." 

"It's insipid."

"It's romantic!"

The two were obviously enjoying themselves, but Sisko frowned, 
somewhat puzzled and vaguely uncomfortable as he viewed this 
innocuous private scene.   What, he wondered, was he supposed 
to be seeing? 

"What's wrong with a little romance?" the doctor asked as he 
flopped down in one of the chairs.  

Garak went to the replicator to order drinks.  "Nothing at all.  
It's simply a matter of keeping one's priorities in perspective.  
Oh, I admit that Tirat's effusions might have been acceptable 
in his own time, but we modern Cardassians demand more from our 
poetry than extravagant expressions of the ordinary pleasures of
courtship and coupling.  In fact, Tirat's works are sometimes 
thought to be a rather subversive statement about the primacy 
of private life."

"You're not going to go on about how Cardassians always put their 
duty to the state before personal feelings, are you?"

"Unwavering allegiance to the state _is_ one of those Cardassian  
virtues that you find so tedious."

"But _you_ don't believe that, do you, Elim?"

"Of course I do," Garak answered promptly.  "Although, I admit 
that there can be...certain exceptions."

Bashir grinned.  "I suspect that you're really an awful senti-
mentalist at heart."  

"There's no reason to be insulting."

"It's not an insult--it's the truth."  As Garak handed him one of 
the drinks, the doctor stretched up to kiss him so quickly, so 
casually, that Sisko was shocked.  Garak, however, did not seem 
surprised.  "It's why you gave me Tirat's sonnets in the first 
place.  You can't fool me, Elim."

"I wonder why I even try."

Sisko had no voyeuristic interest in his CMO's sex life, but he 
understood that _this_ was what he was meant to see.  He made 
himself watch as Bashir, still smiling, set his drink down on the 
nearby glass-topped table and half-rose from his chair before 
Garak captured him in what looked like a violent embrace.  He 
didn't look away as they tumbled to the floor, wresting to strip 
each other of their clothing between furious kisses.  Bashir 
pinned the supine Cardassian to the carpet and moved to sit 
astride him.  Most of the action was thankfully obscured, from 
his point of view, by the edge of the table, but Sisko continued 
to watch, caught somewhere between fascination and repulsion, 
until the doctor reached for his drink and playfully resumed the 
conversation at the point where he had left off.  Then the screen 
went black as the video file ended.

Sisko took a deep breath and sat back in his chair.  Garak and 
Dr. Bashir... He recalled seeing them at Quark's one evening just 
over a week ago.  That was nothing out of the ordinary; the two 
met regularly for lunch, and occasionally for dinner.  They'd 
been doing so for years.

*And after dinner,* he thought, *they went back to Garak's 
quarters and had sex on the living-room floor.*  Apparently, 
_that_ was not out of the ordinary for them either.

Except that, on this particular evening, someone had recorded 
their encounter to send to him.  

*Who?* he wondered.  *And why?*

~*~

He called Dr. Bashir into his office.

"Do you know what this is?"  He held up the rod.

The doctor's brow furrowed.  "It's a Cardassian datarod, sir.  But 
I suppose you mean do I know what's on it."

Annoyed as he was by this smart-ass answer, Sisko realized that 
Bashir's response indicated that he didn't know a thing about it; 
the doctor was curious, mildly amused, but he showed no sign of 
guilt or self-consciousness.

"I received it this morning anonymously," Sisko explained.  "It's 
a video file of you, and Mr. Garak."

Bashir still wore a puzzled frown as he opened his mouth to ask a 
question--and then comprehension dawned.  He turned bright red.  
His mouth shut, then opened again, and his eyes grew enormous as 
he regarded his commander and waited to see what Sisko would say.

"I wish you would have told me about this yourself."

"I've never had to report my sexual activities before," Bashir 
responded.

"You're not that naive, Doctor!  Your personal life is none of my 
business. I don't give a damn what you do, or who you do it with, 
but if you have a lover who is a former intelligence agent for a 
hostile government, then we have a potential breach of security 
and what you do has to be my concern whether I like it or not.  Do 
you have any idea just how compromised you are because of this?"  

The doctor looked abashed after this outburst. "Yes, sir," he 
answered in a more subdued tone.

While he was furious at Bashir for his foolish involvement with a 
possible spy, Sisko realized that they had more immediate issues 
to face.  He reached across the desk to give Bashir the datarod.  
If the person who had sent this thought he would ruin the doctor 
over it, he was mistaken.

"I don't want to bring Security in to investigate this yet," he 
said. "I think that we can conduct our own private inquiry.  Do 
you have any idea who might want to damage you by doing this?"

"No, sir.  But Garak-" Bashir hesitated.  "Garak has enemies."

"Then maybe I ought to have a talk with Garak too."

~*~

Garak came up to Ops later that morning.  "I believe you wanted to 
see me, Commander," he said as he entered Sisko's office.  "About 
_this_?" And, with a dramatic gesture, he brandished a datarod.

"Did Dr. Bashir give you that?"

"No.  I found it when I returned to my quarters last night."

Sisko understood.  "The doctor didn't tell me that you were sent 
one too."

"The doctor doesn't know.  When he told me about this...intrusion, 
he was already very upset.  I didn't want to cause him further 
distress." Garak took a seat near the door.  "After I received 
this datarod, I found a surveillance device behind one of the 
wall panels in my quarters."  He produced this device for the 
commander's inspection: a tiny, metallic cube, about three centi- 
meters on each side, with a circular transparent panel on one 
face and a series of inactive lights on the top.  "It's a common 
Cardassian design.  I search my quarters regularly as a standard 
precaution--you never know who might be watching you--and I am 
certain that this device was not there the last time I looked."

"Which means it was installed recently."

Garak nodded.  "Within the past month."

"We've had several Cardassians visit the station lately," Sisko 
mused as he turned the cube over between his fingers.  "Gul Dukat 
has been here twice in that period of time.  Are there any others 
you would consider enemies?"

"None that I've been aware of, but whoever was responsible for 
planting this device might have used a subordinate or confederate
--even someone who was _not_ Cardassian--to do the actual work."

"No one's contacted you?  Made any kind of demands?"

"No, not yet.  I believe that the responsible party wishes to 
remain anonymous.  It's my guess that if he intends to make 
demands, he will convey them in person and, if he does not plan 
to reveal himself, he will do so when there are plenty of other 
Cardassians around to provide camouflage.  He will have the 
perfect opportunity shortly."

"The conference," said Sisko.  DS9 was expecting a delegation 
of Cardassian dignitaries to meet with corresponding Bajoran 
officials as part of the rapprochement between their two govern- 
ments.  

"If you're looking for enemies of mine, you'll meet more than 
enough to satisfy you next week, Commander.  Our guests will 
include a number of high-ranking guls, legates, and civilian 
officials.  People," Garak concluded with a grin, "who know me 
well enough to despise me."

"You're being very cooperative, Mr. Garak," Sisko observed.

"I intend to work with you," the tailor replied promptly, "and 
give you every assistance I can in finding the one who's doing 
this.  I want the culprit exposed as much as you do.  I'm sure 
it has occurred to you that _I_ may not be the target of this 
scheme."  

"You mean it might be Dr. Bashir."

"Precisely.  Short of assassination, there isn't much that any 
of my old enemies can do to injure me now--but they might attempt 
to ruin or manipulate an innocent party connected to me.  A young 
Starfleet officer in a sensitive position would be particularly  
valuable."

"Then why give copies of the file to you and me, but not to 
Bashir?"

"I wish I knew," said Garak.  "But I think we can agree that we 
share one common priority, my dear Commander: neither of us wants 
to see Dr. Bashir come to harm.  I trust you will ensure his 
protection, no matter what happens."

Sisko couldn't argue with that.

Through the transparent panels of his office doors, he could see 
that the doctor had returned to Ops during their conversation.  
Bashir was talking with Dax at her workstation, but from the 
frequent glances thrown up at the closed doors, Sisko could tell 
that the doctor's attention was more focused on what was going 
on in here.  When he caught Bashir's eye, the commander gestured 
to summon him in.

Garak turned in his seat as Bashir came in.  "Ah, Julian."  He 
lifted his hand to brush the doctor's flank with the backs of 
his fingers--a small gesture, but one so intimate that Sisko was 
surprised that Garak would do it in front of him.  But Garak must 
know that he had viewed the video file, had seen _that_; the 
tailor apparently believed that, as far as his relationship with 
Bashir was concerned, he had nothing more to hide.  "We were just 
discussing this distasteful situation."

"I wanted you to join us," added Sisko, "since this problem 
concerns you as well.  We've been trying to determine the identity 
of the blackmailer...if blackmail is the reason for this.  Garak 
seems to think that the person responsible will make himself known 
at the upcoming conference."

"I've been thinking about it too, sir," Bashir replied as he took 
the seat beside Garak's. "If it is a Cardassian who's doing this, 
I have an idea how we can draw him out." He glanced at his lover. 
"Garak once told me that other Cardassians wouldn't understand 
our- ah- relationship.  They see us--humans, I mean--as a highly 
sexual species.  We have that reputation around the galaxy.  By 
their standards, we seem casually promiscuous.  If anyone knew 
that Garak was my lover, they wouldn't see us as a couple--they 
would assume that I had a 'taste' for Cardassians.  _Any_ Car-
dassians."

"Not very flattering," Garak confirmed, "but it is true.  I'm 
afraid that my people know very little about humans.  Until 
recently, the political situation didn't allow for much personal 
interaction between our two species."  

Julian nodded.  "But they're curious about us.  You told me that 
any Cardassian who knew about our relationship would think that 
it meant I was available, and might come sniffing around."

"I never used such a vulgar expression!" Garak protested.

"You said they'd be 'naturally intrigued and eager to learn more 
about me'.  I knew what you meant."  He turned back to Sisko.  
"So, if our blackmailer is one of the Cardassians who's coming 
to DS9, I think he'll pay me a visit in hopes of getting a- ah- 
bit of first-hand experience."   

"I don't like the idea of using you as bait," said Sisko.  And, 
although Garak didn't say anything, the commander could see that 
he was also troubled by Bashir's proposal.

"I want to do it, sir," the doctor answered bravely.  "I'll do 
whatever I can to help catch the person who's been spying on us.  
Besides, if I'm right, he'll come to me whether I want him to or 
not."


|~to be cont'd...~|


Kathryn Ramage                           kramage@erols.com
/~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~//~*~/ 
"It's about Garak...I'm afraid this relationship has gotten 
a little out of hand."
                                - Dr. Bashir, Past Prologue



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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