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“Carden again, huh? They just don’t ever learn their lesson, do they?”

A black man with a rather broad frame folded his arms and nodded. “We found an offshore center of operations in the tropics. There are no legitimate business dealings being done there, it’s purely a front for smuggling and money laundering, and under-the-table dealings with political figures at the state and national level. We know Carden Industries is trying to become a political powerhouse and there are suspicions that this is the center of their efforts to take over as a shadow government, with Geoff Carden as the ruler.”

Quinn’s brow furrowed, forcing him to adjust his glasses. “Jesus. We have to put a stop to them. They’re going to cause all sorts of trouble if we don’t end this fast. Who are you planning to send?”

“You.”

The rather mousy, blond-haired and bespectacled man did a double-take. “Me? Uh...Director Agon...you know my specialty is cyberwarfare and communications interference. My infiltration operations are, well, purely clandestine. With all due respect, this doesn’t sound like an operation that matches my skill set.”

“It will be. We’re not yet ready to mount a full attack - Carden expects to be ready for us and they no doubt have plenty of plans to fend off a full-on assault. So this is purely going to be an information gathering and tech sabotage mission. We need someone to enter their systems, get information on their defenses, and install some malware to allow us to crack into their network and shut down their communications when we’re ready to go all out.”

With a sigh of relief, Quinn nodded. “I see...that does make sense. Still, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for me to go alone.”

Director Agon nodded in understanding. “Of course. We’re sending Grendel with you as muscle.”

“Perfect. If there’s anyone I knew can hold his own it’s him. Can’t understand why the others are nervous about partnering with him.”

“Well, you know how it is. He’s somewhat cantankerous, and he is a dragon. Most are intimidated by him.”

“They shouldn’t be. He’s over two feet taller than me and weighs more than twice what I do. If I’m not intimidated, other people shouldn’t be. You just have to know how to be on his good side, and he’s got a pretty lenient good side for a dragon.”

“You seem to have a way with him. He likes being your partner. Just make sure you stay safe anyway, these people are bad news and I’m sure they wouldn’t be happy to know you were anywhere nearby.”

“Understood, sir. I’ll do my duty as instructed. And I expect everything to go well.”

---

“This is a terrible idea.”

Grendel smirked at the lizard, who was glaring at him rather harshly. “I don’t recall your approval being necessary.”

“Just because it’s not doesn’t mean I’m not gonna speak my mind. Rethink this, Gren. If you think this is the way to go about anything, you’re nuts. You’ll be in enemy territory, they’re probably the least inclined of any of our foes to have mercy.”

“You don’t know how they think. I do. Besides, Tarant, it seems to me you have little to talk about when it comes to unsanctioned activities in enemy territory.”

Tarant glowered even more darkly at the brick-colored dragon. “That was INDUCED. Kirk and I were fucking drugged! It’s not like we decided that would be a good time after getting fucking shot at!”

“Hm, yes, and yet it doesn’t seem that you’ve ceased your, ah, ‘partnership’ since. Would make one wonder how much the drug was really working on you…”

“That’s...that’s got nothing to do with anything! And it doesn’t excuse what you’re planning! Seriously, I’m warning you, Grendel, don’t do it. It’s too dangerous, it’s not just you that’s on the line here!”

“I know that. And that’s why I’m going to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. And you, Tarant, are going to keep your mouth shut. You know why you’re going to keep your mouth shut?”

Reluctantly, Tarant backed down. “Because...we can’t afford to lose you. Dammit.”

“Quite right. Let’s not forget who’s done most of the bailing out around here when things go bad. Rescuing your hide more than once, for example. You need me, and the others here need me, and that’s why you’re not going to create a fuss over this. Now, let me do my thing, and quit worrying about what’s going to happen. All right?”

Though it was only following a very long, reluctant sigh, the reply was a quiet nod. Tarant may not have liked it...but there wasn’t anything he could do about it at this point, even reporting it probably would have amounted to nothing. He only hoped that everything would go according to Grendel’s plan...for Quinn’s sake as much as anything.

---

It was supposed to be a simple operation. Quinn and Grendel were supposed to sneak into Carden’s base of operations, get the bead on the computer systems, install some malicious code, and sneak out. But as anyone in the Revenants would tell you, simple was never, ever synonymous with easy.

Getting to the building was straightforward enough. The Carden Compound was quite large, fourteen stories above-ground with the promise of plenty of underground activities as well. There were numerous points where one could get in without being seen by a physical person. Cameras were a different story, but all cameras had blind spots and most were not constantly monitored. Beyond that, there was no way that a security guard would know everyone, so as long as you didn’t LOOK like you were sneaking in, you could get away with a surprising amount. It was amazing what a bit of casualness got you. And Grendel had been scouting the place for a while, so Quinn was confident that he would know the best way to go to get to their destination and avoid getting caught...and if they did, he was a dragon and could bust some heads.

Grendel led the human to a spot in the rear of the building where there were few observers, and they entered a door like they owned the place. Once inside, they had to be more cautious - security guards might not recognize everyone, but there was a greater chance of someone noticing something out of place up close and personal. The hallways didn’t have too many people in them, but there was almost a guarantee that anyone they ran into was going to be hostile, so they kept as low a profile as possible, ducking into rooms temporarily when they were decidedly empty and moving only carefully around corners. It was so quiet that Quinn was feeling they had to be incredibly lucky - he wasn’t exactly a field agent, and was neither the best at stealth nor combat, so this was the best-case scenario. He owed Grendel for finding the most optimal path to their goal and keeping him out of danger.

At least, that was what he thought was going on...until Grendel brought him into a room where he was greeted by half a dozen guns pointed at him. Instantly his hands went up, a terror-stricken look immediately fusing onto his face. This was NOT part of the plan...well, it wasn’t like that sort of thing ever was.

From behind the gunmen, another human with a very smart appearance, clearly a director of some sort, walked into view with a smug look on his face. “Well, well, well...looks like our mousetrap caught a little rat. Even looks as much like one as you can get without being one. You’re going to be a very useful little rat, once you start squeaking about everything you know.”

Quinn remained silent, heart pounding hard enough that he thought it might smash through his rib cage. This didn’t faze the smug Carden agent, though. “Oh, you think you’re going to stay tight-lipped, are you? Heh heh heh...don’t worry, we have a way of making you talk, and you’ll be nice and eager to do so. Isn’t that right, Grendel?”

“Rrrr...yeah, you’d better believe it.” That broke Quinn’s last fragment of stoicism, as he turned and stared at the brick-red dragon in horror, the reptile grinning down at him with a mix of hunger and predation. “I’m gonna have you singing like a little birdy...and everyone’s gonna get a chance to hear what you have to say.”

“Grendel’s been waiting for this chance to turn on you,” the Carden agent remarked with a disgusting drool of satisfaction in his voice. “All this time, waiting for the chance to get one of the ones working on the inside of the Revenants into our hands, so we can finally learn enough of their secrets to crush them once and for all. Geoff Carden will finally rule the world like he was meant to, and those who opposed him will meet the messy end they deserve.”

“I...I won’t...I won’t t-tell you any...anything…” It was a frail resistance, Quinn couldn’t put up a bold front. Led right into a trap by someone he trusted? Betrayed by his own teammate? What hope did he have, other than dying before he was able to spill any beans?

“Oh, you’ll be singing a different tune soon...the room’s all set up, let’s get the two of them in there.”

Two of them? What...oh, no… Quinn had a sinking feeling he knew who the ‘other’ was...and as Grendel started walking with them, his suspicions were confirmed. What did the dragon plan to do to make him break? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out…

---

It was a bad situation all around, and Quinn wasn’t sure how it could get much worse.

Bad enough he was locked in the same room as the traitor Grendel, a creature who had two feet on him and probably was more than twice his weight, and basically all of it was muscle...and that was before one took into account the claws on his fingers and toes, the heavy tail, the dangerous horns, the keen fangs, pretty much every natural advantage a human lacked. But for added humiliation, they had stripped the both of them down, ensuring that neither one had any weapons on their person that they could use to tilt the odds. Of course, Grendel didn’t need any weapons, and Quinn hadn’t taken any, but they hadn’t given him back anything to cover up. The room they were in was pretty bare, just a table and a couple chairs locked down to the floor, nothing Quinn could possibly use...and Grendel was looking as relaxed as ever, sitting down with his back against the door, looking at Quinn with that same threatening expression.

All he could really do was huddle against the back wall, unable to look away from Grendel. It was safe to say his mood was dismal; the last thing he expected was a betrayal like this. He wanted to scream at Grendel, to ask why he would do something like this, if everything he’d ever said about his hatred of the corporate monsters was a lie...but he couldn’t say a word, his throat was almost closed up in borderline panic. Silence was all that reigned over the room for a good while...he didn’t know how long he could hold out before something happened. When it did...was there even the slightest hope? He was pretty sure he could already smell something in the air, something that was heavy and unusual,

“I’ll bet you’re wondering why I did this.” Grendel finally spoke up after what felt like an eternity. “Or cursing my existence, or both. Heh, doesn’t really matter, but...let me tell you something. Do you know how hard it is to go through life knowing that at a drop of a hat, your body could betray you?”

Quinn remained silent; he wasn’t sure where this was going, wasn’t sure he wanted to know, doubted he could stop it anyway.

“You know what dragons are like, right? When we’re around people, we get urges. Urges to express our intrinsic dominance. They eat at us, gnawing at our insides until we can’t stand it anymore, and we break and unleash them in spectacular fashion. Either we take medication to suppress it, which futzes with our sex drive and mood, or we isolate ourselves from everyone else and live lonely lives...or we take what we want and get our kicks out of it.”

Quinn was aware of these basic principles, at least. Dragons were renowned for having these kinds of issues - it was a situation that in fact caused there to be legal exceptions for rape by a dragon if there was proof that there was some exacerbating factor. Was that why Grendel had betrayed them? Were they promising him a better life, the ability to use suppressants or even get laid? Sex had felled many great people before…

“When we actually take advantage of our needs, the ones who take us...they become addicted to us,” continued Grendel. “They want us, want our cocks, want to be around us and let us satisfy our desires on them. It’s something that makes us dragons innately excited, to have a willing bitch who wants us all the time, but it’s also cathartic...once we have one, our urges aren’t so powerful, and we can be around others without fear of doing things we wouldn’t normally want to do. Everyone’s happy when the dragon’s getting laid, you ever heard that phrase?”

Of course Quinn had, it was again common knowledge. But he was starting to get a sense of dread...why did Grendel feel it was important to tell him these things that most people already knew? The answer was simple, because it was relevant to the situation. But how?

Grendel’s grin widened. “Maybe you already knew that. But I think there’s something you probably didn’t know. Certain non-dragons, and it seems to be humans more than anyone else, their scent causes dragons who haven’t taken a bitch to start giving off a special altered pheromone. This pheromone causes the human to become addicted and needy before the dragon even has sex with them...and when they do get fucked, rather than just becoming addicted, they become totally subservient, obedient to every word that dragon says, willing to do whatever they say at any time. And that effect never fades…”

Quinn’s eyes widened, as the implications finally hit home. That was why he was locked in with Grendel! They were going to make him the dragon’s slave, and he would be forced to talk whether he wanted to or not! And there was nothing he could do about it...that smell he was smelling in the air must have been the threatened pheromones, meaning he was probably already close to succumbing. Yes, there was a slowly growing heat in his body, he could feel it now...he’d probably had it coming on already and just had been too preoccupied to notice. He could see Grendel start to rise, the dragon’s gaze taking on a hint of lust...he could see a parting in his groin, a wet slit that was prepping to unsheathe its prize. He tried to make a move away, but he felt sluggish and slow, clumsy as he tried to rise...there was no way he was going to be able to fight this.

It was so unfair...Quinn had a weakness for Grendel. Really, he had a weakness for dragons in general, he’d always found them amazingly sexy and desirable...before his ‘death’ he had spent a lot of time on sites where he could look at erotic pictures of them, and even now he snuck glances where he could, it was good practice for keeping his tracks hidden. Had Grendel wanted him, he doubted he would have said no, at least before this...but he’d never thought it would be like this, where Grendel had turned on them and was using it as a weapon against him. But...even as he thought this, he was finding it hard to focus on that. The allure of the dragon’s body was sucking him in harder...he shivered a bit as his nose picked up a stronger scent of pheromone, with Grendel closer to him the air was getting heavier with it, and he was feeling warmer, more aroused...his cock was stiff as a board, he just realized, and he knew what was making it that way.

As Grendel reached him, Quinn’s legs gave way and he sank back to his knees, heavy breaths drawing in more of the pheromone. That heavy, dark-red cock was hanging in front of his face...pointed at the tip, ridged down the body of that thick shaft, possessed of a knot at the base, it made Quinn’s arm look short and scrawny. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it, it was almost hypnotic, glistening with natural lubricants, giving off so much of that alluring scent that Quinn couldn’t help but love even as he knew what it was doing to him. And then he heard a deep voice above him speak up. “Lick it, bitch.”

Quinn couldn’t stop himself, just hearing the words made it feel like a necessity. He leaned forward, his mouth hanging open slightly, tongue pushing out almost involuntarily as he took a long, slow lick of the dragon cock. It had a very flavorful tang to it, similar to the scent but thicker, meatier, slightly spicier. Delicious on a level Quinn couldn’t even imagine, it was like he couldn’t even imagine anything better tasting than that dick in front of his face. He leaned into it more, his licks getting less slow and inhibited by the moment, his hands rising up to cradle and caress that heavy staff.

“That’s right...what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? Heh, dragon bitches always show it before they know it...all those spicy pictures you swiped up, all I needed to know to know you wanted this bad.” There was an eagerness in Grendel’s voice, the thrill of domination combined with the anticipation of a success long deferred. Quinn barely noticed, his head was fogging over nicely as he worshipped that overwhelming dragon dick, slurping at the tip as it gushed precum into him, specially tinged fluid that was prepping the human’s body for conquest. His sense of wrongness about the whole situation was fading fast, replaced by a lust-laden desire to obey and belong to the dragon, the sexy beast he’d always wanted to lay claim to him, whether he’d known it or not. His head was starting to bob along the tip, drinking directly from the tap, moving back and forth as much as he could, limited by the sheer girth of that tool.

When Grendel pulled away from him, Quinn couldn’t help but let out a moan of disappointment as the source of that wonderful flavor was removed from him. Moments later, he felt two strong arms lift him up, and was brought up high enough to see those sharp golden eyes boring into him. “Don’t worry, slut, you’ll get to enjoy my taste soon enough. But time’s a-wasting here, so we’re gonna fast-track to the next part.” Down Quinn went, onto the table, laid on his side, Grendel spreading his legs and using his body to hold one up in the air. The human could feel that hot dick smearing wetness all around his rear and against his pucker. His heart was racing for a very different reason, now, the thrill of being utterly and completely conquered was upon him, he didn’t care about the betrayal or the place they were in or anything else, he wanted Grendel, wanted that dragon cock to take him and claim him forevermore.

And Grendel was clearly ready for that as well, as he shoved more than half his immense cock into that tight hole in a single blow. Quinn let out a strained cry as he felt his body stretch around that huge intruder, discomfort rapidly fading into glorious pleasure as his ass adjusted quickly to the powerful distortion. He pawed at the table, trying to get purchase and finding none, but the hold Grendel had on him was more than enough to keep him in place.

The dragon’s pause was only brief, getting Quinn’s body to sort itself out...and then he started to drill in, and it was as savage as the human could possibly have imagined. That fat shaft plunged in ruthlessly, like he was some kind of stretchy toy rather than a living creature, thick knot slapping wetly against his rear on every impact, like it was threatening to break through at a moment’s notice rather than at the culmination. Quinn would feel Grendel’s thickness pushing against his insides, making a bulge in his gut that anyone could view if there was anyone to view it. And it all felt amazing, incredible, any sense of pain was utterly deadened, he felt nothing but raw pleasure and exhilaration, his incoherent cries merely begging for more of that forceful rutting that he was getting.

Not that Grendel needed the help, he was taking what he wanted and taking it without question or even the chance of opposition. A true conquest that was laying waste to Quinn’s faculties, imposing on them the dragon’s will and ensuring his indefinite compliance. And he couldn’t have been happier about it, his mind flush with all the thoughts of belonging to a dragon, serving him without hesitation, being there as a target for his lusts, wrapped in his arms at night as they slept together, his body sure to be constantly smelling of his new master. Already he was squeezing and clenching around Grendel’s member, trying to encourage the scaly beast to seal the deal and take full ownership.

Quinn’s own arousal was hotter than it had ever been in his life, his body so keyed up that it was amazing he hadn’t cum already...though he didn’t want to, not yet, not until that invader in his bowels suffused them with thick, musky dragon seed. His erection flopped back and forth, splattering faint amounts of precum onto the table and onto Quinn, only a fraction of the amount poured into and slopped onto his well-rut ass. He could feel Grendel pounding harder, hear the dragon’s growls and snorts, the noticeable throb of that thick cock a warning that things were coming close to the finish, that the subjugation he sought was very near becoming a reality. His voice got higher, cries pleading for that knot to pierce him and bring everything to a glorious finish.

When Grendel grabbed him tighter, he knew it was coming, but there was no preparing for that savage slam that drove his ass to the utter limit and made it desperately stretch to allow the thick bulb into Quinn’s body against all reason. With that final pop, it was in, and then Grendel was letting loose, flooding the human’s body with his viscous spunk, the free-flowing fluid rapidly filling every crevice it could find inside Quinn. It all made the human’s mind go blank, his vision whiting out as he felt raw, untamed pleasure crack like lightning through him, his own cock shooting off like a geyser to spew his feeble human seed onto the table and floor, expelling it like it was making space to let the dragon pump him even fuller. That heat inside him was phenomenal, the pressure sensational, the sense of total submission terrific...Quinn was a messy wreck squirming on a dragon’s cock, but he felt more complete and satisfied than he ever had in his entire life.

Even when his climax faded, Quinn’s mind didn’t clear the haze; the effects of Grendel’s claiming weren’t going to ease up any time soon. Even if it wasn’t there, he’d be dutifully obedient and deferential, but in this fog, he couldn’t even have any conception of consequences. Indeed, it was a state where Grendel could have made him speak about anything he wanted, reveal every secret he possessed, and he couldn’t have cared in the least. If that was what Grendel wanted, he wouldn’t think twice, wouldn’t even think once.

IF that was what Grendel wanted.

The dragon’s breaths came hard and heavy, with an unmistakable satisfaction of their own. For the first time in ages he seemed truly relaxed, truly at ease...a rare thing in their line of work, and even rarer for a dragon who was known to be fairly uptight on a good day. “Damn...it’s as good as they all said it would be. Heh, life’s gonna be a lot better...oh, right, we’re ‘dead.’ Well, being dead never felt so good.” Grendel twisted Quinn a little bit, just enough to get his leg down, though there wasn’t going to be too much movement with that knot embedded tightly in him. He didn’t care, lifting the human bodily and holding him against his chest while he remained impaled. “Guess we probably shouldn’t wait around, things are gonna happen soon…”

He walked over to the corner of the room and retrieved a small remote device from a spot where it was velcroed to the wall, high up enough that most wouldn’t see it. The device had only a trio of buttons on it, unmarked and unlabeled...Grendel clicked the top one, and then the middle one a couple seconds later. Upon the second, Quinn heard the door open...he was still hazy, but dimly aware of the surroundings, especially the dragon’s voice. “Time to make some noise.”

With that Grendel walked right out of the room, unconcerned about the display he was giving. Though Quinn was somewhat aware that there wasn’t anyone looking...he could see them passing by people collapsed on the floor, twitching and writhing in what looked like raw agony. He wasn’t sure what it was, but everyone they saw between there and the door was in the same state. Had he been clear-headed enough, he might have wondered about that…

Grendel strode outside casually, taking a path away from where anyone else traveled across the grass and towards the fields they had come through. After some time, his knot deflated enough to pull Quinn off of him, and he held the leaking human more against his body in a more embrace-like carry, letting the exhausted Quinn cling to him. They kept walking like this for a bit, until Quinn heard another click, and then his eyes were lit up with the flash of a massive explosion, consuming the Carden building in seconds.

It seemed he wasn’t the one being betrayed after all.

---

It was late at night when Tarant entered Director Agon’s office, without even knocking. The man seemed completely unfazed by the sudden disruption. “Tarant. I have a guess as to what brings you here.”

“Grendel went off-script. You know it. If I’d known it would be this bad...look, he was talking about doing something to Quinn, I was telling him not to but I...well, you know no one’s good at talking Grendel down from anything. But that was all I knew, I didn’t...I had no idea he was going to...he breached protocol severely, put us all at risk for exposure. It’s...it puts his trust at serious issue, among other things. It’s a...it’s a problem.”

The director simply clasped his hands under his chin and looked directly at Tarant. “I’m not sure what you mean, Tarant. As far as I can tell, everything went according to plan.”

“According to-are you nuts?! Grendel blew up the entire compound! There were probably hundreds of people in there that are dead now! He made Quinn into his...his plaything! He turned a recon mission into his own personal...display! How can you say that it was all a...according to...plan…” The knowing look and slight tilt of Director Agon’s head were enough response to make it all click for Tarant. “This...this wasn’t a recon mission at all, was it?”

“The number crunchers told me all I needed to know. You know how Carden is, they would have never been afraid of exposure and the likelihood of us convincing the public of a story like that was slim...only direct intervention could stop them. But all the scenarios were the same, it didn’t matter how prepared we were, with what they had there, we could never be victorious in a direct attack on the Carden compound. Even if we somehow stopped them, the number of casualties was projected to be impossible to overcome...it was going to be the end of the Revenants. I don’t know how Grendel found out, but he came to me and told me he had another idea. He’s spent the last four months on an extremely dangerous clandestine double-agent operation to set up the destruction of the Carden compound and most of their physical and personnel infrastructure. The recon op was a front to put the final phase in motion.”

“...And no one knew about this, except him and you.”

“Him, me, and whoever it was that was absolutely necessary to know. Which was maybe two other people. Extremely risky, but the only real chance we had to come out on top. And he was as thorough as we could ever have hoped for. Honestly, it vastly exceeded my expectations for a solo operation, even with as much time allotted as we had.”

Tarant had to admit the same - that was a hell of a thing for one person to pull off. And it wasn’t like seeing Carden fall was some horrible thing given what they were... “But an explosion? It couldn’t have gone unnoticed. And there’s no way it left no bodies.”

“Unnoticed, no...we’ll have to see if any bodies are actually found. But deniability? They had a massive weapons stockpile underneath the compound, with quite a large number of unstable products. An area where some of the explosives just happened to be concentrated...and which were actually responsible for the most extensive blast. I suspect anyone examining the wreckage will take more note of that than the other debris around, especially since ours were minimal-trace charges.”

“If that was the case...then...why even have the recon mission? Why put Quinn at risk, and have him...have what happened happened?”

Director Agon nodded. “There were a few reasons for that. Foremost among them, the idea Grendel put in motion that he would betray the Revenants and turn over someone who had insider information was designed to get as many people in the compound as possible. We have good knowledge that Geoff Carden himself was in there at the time, preparing to use the information to personally plan and lead an assault on the Revenants himself within hours. They wanted to act fast once they had the intel, knowing they had the numbers. Second...we had been planning to have Quinn become Grendel’s personal ‘assistant’ for a while now, and you only get one chance to pull off this kind of charade before that happens.”

Tarant’s eyes went wide. “Wait...what?”

“Grendel has been unhappy, and with good reason. Although he’s one of the best field agents we have, it’s been a point of contention for him that he can’t return to our home base for longer than a day at a time, lest his issues get the better of him. And it’s been troublesome on our end, as well, as we want to keep him better in the loop. We made an effort to synthesize medication for him, but we just don’t have the resources to get what we need, and trying to do so creates too much risk of exposure. The agreement was made that the best way to deal with this was to manage Grendel’s issue the natural way, with one individual bound to him to ensure that his urges are properly managed. After all, once a dragon has one, they don’t feel the need to spread beyond that, and any ancillary effects are limited in nature as well. It was well-known that Quinn had...interests in such things, thus he was considered the most viable option. And it so happened that Grendel had the most interest in him as well.”

“And you just...decided to do this without Quinn’s consent in the matter.”

“Sometimes we have to make a few sacrifices in this line of work. Quinn understands this as much as anybody...I’ve already received word that he’s been let into the loop and takes no issue with his added role in the organization. And besides that, Quinn needed to have genuine reactions in order to sell the façade...had he known anything about what was going to happen, it likely would have been sussed out. There was only one chance for the ruse, we needed to make it count…obliterating Carden was perfect. Ideally, foreknowledge and knowing acceptance would have been preferable, but we were forced to rely on the odds favoring his acceptance after the fact. Given his reaction, it seems that could have been a potential liability anyway, so it works out for the best in the end.”

Tarant shook his head, one hand on his temple. “I know I said I didn’t really want to know what goes on behind the scenes here, but...if this is something routine…”

For the first time, a hint of a smile appeared on the director’s face before reverting back to its normal solid expression. “No, Tarant, we had nothing to do with what happened between yourself and Kirk. That was entirely between the two of you.”

“That wasn’t...ugh, forget it. Fine...I’m glad it turned out as expected...but...one of these days someone’s going to be very unhappy about something that was kept from them. You know what can happen with disgruntled employees, even ones devoted to a cause.”

“Trust me, Tarant, I’m well aware of this. And that’s why I do all I can to ensure that we don’t push the limits unless it’s absolutely necessary. There will be a full disclosure report in the coming days, after we’ve ascertained the full scope of the ripple effects. Anything else?”

“No sir. Um...thanks for...lifting the veil a bit, I guess.” Slowly Tarant turned and left the office, not sure what to think. Clearly there were more machinations going on behind the scenes than he was aware of...and he wasn’t sure now how far they might extend. Could he trust them all? He didn’t know whether he was more troubled by the lack of knowing, or the prospect that someday he might learn the whole truth, and not like what he was going to hear.