Clarissa watched as her blood bubbled into the tube. Davoust, the woman conducting her medical debrief, was not a contract nursing tech, but a full Purple Cloak, according to the officer stripes on her shoulder. Clarissa's preliminary report to Handler must have interested someone high up. With soft pop the tube was removed and placed in a holder next to two others. The woman efficiently removed the needle and set guaze in its place, wrapping it quickly with a self-adhesive bandage. Clarissa was impressed. There was no way she had done this more than a handful of times since basic Scienseer training.
"I read your initial report, but I'd like more details," Davoust said, pulling up a chair and sitting down across from Clarissa. Was this some kind of test? She would not talk about an ongoing mission with someone outside the mission, it didn't matter what rank was. Plus, there were orderlies moving about the lab on various duties.
"Everything I observed is in there, Ma'am," she said.
Davoust smiled and said, "Trent, Meechum, take a break." The two techs acknowledged and filed out. Davoust waited for the door to close behind them. Glancing at Clarissa, she took a piece of paper from her pocket and showed it to Clarissa. On it was written a single word, "Leviathan." Under it was the raised seal of Colonel Tompkins, the Spymaster and the highest ranking officer in her order, the Black Cloaks.
Clarissa nodded. There were layers of codes for agents like her. They outlined exactly how far she could go in conversations with other agents. There was even a code that compeled her to lie and another to kill the person who gave it to her. These codes had been used in the past to find moles and traitors. Code words seemingly slipped out under the influence of drink or the pillow, they would filter down and eventually be used at the right place and time by the wrong person. None who didn't wear the Black knew of these layers. Davoust's code told Clarissa she could speak to Davoust as if she was Colonel Tompkins. Well, perhaps. There was one more test. She watched the Purple Cloak without moving. Note: this is pretty cool, have her and Handler exchange code words like this to set it up.
Davoust lit a burner and placed the paper in the flame. Clarissa watched the Seal burn. It was one of several she knew about that the Spymaster used. It said if Davoust acted rightly, which so far she had, her authority to question Clarissa about the details of her mission was complete and permanent.
Note: add to "Connections" somewhere a scene where the Spymaster opens a locked drawer with a key and there are a dozen stamps inside. Even with the key, a deadly trap still springs each time. Tompkins' view was that if he ever let down his guard, he deserved what he got and he didn't ever worry about misplacing the key. Have Baird or whoever's story it is be meeting him and be alarmed by the loss of the key, but the Colonel just smiles and leads them to his office and the body of the would be thief.
Their relationship redefine, Clarissa said, "This room is not secure, Ma'am."
Davoust replied, "I will arrange it so." She got up and locked the main door. She motioned for Clarissa to enter her office and sit down. She went herself to the three closed windows on the far wall and pulled down the blinds. Finally, she entered her small office, closing and locking the heavy door.
"This will have to do," she said. "Now, Agent, I do not want to know what happened, since it was clear from your report that you have no idea. What I need is how it happened, what it felt like. Describe to the best of your ability and do not concern yourself with contradictions. They are the death of official reports, but that is not what I am after."
What are you after? Clarissa thought, but wisely held her tonuge. Davoust outranked her and had shown conclusively that she held the trust of the Spymaster. "Where would you like me to begin, Ma'am?"
"At the beginning of course," she replied, unhelpfully.
"It is difficult to describe, but when TKLeadSingerWrhythm touched my head..." she began, but Davoust cut her off.
"No, Agent. The beginning. Let's start with the whole day preceding this event. We will go back further if necessary.I understand you have been undercover for a year and attended many of these...Discords," she said the word with disgust, "but this had never happened before. What was different about this time?"
Clarissa was impressed. The woman was shrewd. She herself had not considered this at all. It did not take long for her to find the key difference, though how it mattered she had no idea. She did not want to talk about this, but that seal required an answer. She had not authorized the visit through Handler and was technically a violation of her duties. She spoke the truth, but only as far as the question required. "My partner and I had a big fight. Everything else was normal. Pop up Discords like this are not uncommon, though big acts like Wrhythm do them very seldom."
Davoust leaned toward her across the desk and said, "Your relationship has suffered because of your work."
It was not a question. Clarissa bristled at being touched where she was tender. "Yes," she said stiffly, "both of our work."
"Was this your first fight?"
"No."
"But it was important." Davoust paused, considering. "This visit was not in Handler's report."
Clarissa's stomach leapt. "Ma'am, I..." But Davoust raised a hand. "I do not care about your Order's operational procedures. This is my interview. Only the Colonel could force me to speak on this and, if I know him, he won't."
Clarissa hadn't been this nervous since the aptitude tests for placement within the Orders. Davoust leaned back and opened her desk drawer. Taking out a cigarette, she lit it and took a thoughtful puff. After a few moments she started and offered Clarissa one, but she declined politely.
"Do you believe in coincidence, Agent?" Clarissa was baffled. What was this?
"Ahh, I would have to say yes, Ma'am." Davoust frowned at this and replied slowly, "Why?"
"I, I don't know. Things just happen. Sure there is a cause somewhere for everything, but predicting such things is impossible."
Davoust's answer was quick, "Why is prediction an important element in coicidence's existance or nonexistance?"
"Ma'am, I am a bit out of my depth. I don't follow." Davoust waived her hand with the cigarette.
"Agent, something happened to you. And we'll get to that, believe me. What interests me is why. I personally do not believe in coincidence. Somehow it is so that more than 99.9% of the things that happen to use have no discernable meaning, yet in aggregate they are almost our entire lives."
Putting out the cigarette, she drew out the case and lit another, again offering Clarissa one, who again declined. "You meet your girlfriend without permission, which is, if your file is to be believed, your first real breach of protocol. Second, you have a significant fight. Third, you are picked out of a crowd by a front for a powerful element cult. Something in the water, I guess," she said with some sarcasm.
Clarissa didn't know what to say. This all felt very airy-fairy and a pile of speculation. How had this woman conned the Colonel into giving her full access?
Waving her cigarette and appearing not to care if Clarissa understood her or not, Davoust continued, "It doesn't matter. Tell me about the Discord itself, the incident and everything after with the cultists.
Happy to be off the subject of Pali, Clarissa began her story.