Chapter XX: Humble Origins
The road that Semil and K'vot beamed onto was in the heart of the Hitora settlement, yet was completely empty, being in the dead of night. A fine dusting of snow clung to the duracrete.
K'vot reached immediately for his tricorder, scanning to establish their orientation in the small frontier town.
Semil instead, relied on his eyes to get a sense of the unremarkable ramshackle of the village. "This is hardly the most impressive location we've visited so far, but at least it's clean."
K'vot grunted in annoyance at the Vorta. "I am not interested in your travelogue. I am interested in finding..."
"Yes, yes. The Lethean's last registered address in the settlement was a small flat on the eastern edge of town. Quiet and remote."
K'vot's tricorder established its lock. "This way. Down this street."
Semil gestured, still attached to the pliant graciousness of his preprogrammed servility. "After you, Colonel."
The duo fixed the hoods of their cloaks, and started down the small side street. Semil knew better than to draw attention, and so kept his voice at a hush. "You didn't seem so surprised the settlement was so well-kept."
K'vot couldn't decide whether allowing the Vorta to bait him, or ignoring him would end in greater annoyance. "This is a mining town. In the Empire, miners are hard workers. Just because they lead simple lives without the glory of great battle, does not mean their hearts are not filled with struggle and sacrifice."
"Colonel, I never would have guessed you came from mining stock. Humble origins perhaps, but nothing quite so..."
In spite of their need to remain quiet, K'vot's interruption was stern and forceful. "Don't presume you know anything of me or my life, Vorta."
Properly humbled, Semil submitted to the chastisement. The two continued down the darkened street wordlessly, as a quiet flurry of soft flakes began to drift lazily down onto the silent street.
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The door to the darkened basement apartment opened easily, K'vot superior espionage training clearly being at its most effective when used as effortlessly as possible. Both the Klingon Colonel and the Vorta quietly slunk inside.
They kept the room lighting off, instead using palm beacons to scan around the minimally furnished room. In turn, each man took out and activated his tricorder, concentrating on different areas of the room in a well-rehearsed pattern.
"No sign of any secret compartments. Can't pick up any anomalous power drains that might be a hidden cryonic unit." Listing off his findings, K'vot was clearly going off a prepared mental checklist.
Semil shook his head, disappointed at the Colonel's rote proceduralism. "These flats have seen too many tenants since. Anything that obvious would've been taken out long ago. What we're looking for wouldn't be here, or else it would be long gone."
"And you continually fail to appreciate that only after we eliminate the most obvious..."
Semil's tricorder beeped, silencing K'vot. "There are remarkable levels of baaktenite throughout these furnishings. On the walls, ground into the floor."
K'vot shook his head dismissively. "The main product here is unrefined baaktenite. This is to be expected, if you'd bothered to read..."
It was Semil's turn to shake his head. "No, I read the files on Hitora en route." Semil's countenance furrowed in concentration upon his tricorder. "It's something else, something not quite..."
His eyes lit up with recognition. "That's it. I'm detecting exceptionally high turbidium contamination. The most active mines currently produce ore with very low impurity. It has to be..."
The Vorta reached for his PADD, clipped to his belt, to access datafiles on the colony. Going off of half-remembered detail, scanning through for the information was easy. "There. Abandoned mines, not active for 60 years. Remarkably high in turbidium impurities."
"How far?"
"Four kellicams to the south."
"Well then. It's best we get started immediately."
