by Leslie Lee
her. One thing she remembered from her days so long ago at Starfleet Academy: When there is only one road left to one’s goal, prepare to travel it. As the days passed, she waited. Meditate, practice, strengthen, meditate, practice, strengthen. Oddly, the reconstruction had seemed to toughen her. Probably due to the doctor’s DNA repairs, she surmised.
Myryath suddenly appeared at the cell door. “Your presence is required, 738766.”
“Do you have the things, Mistress Myryath?” she asked jumping up.
“I have them here, 738766.”
With the young Romulan’s help, she dressed carefully, applied the makeup, and adorned her body with jewelry. Silver tips gave her exaggerated pointed ears. Her makeup lent her the illusion of large angled eyes, complemented by the long eyelashes. Lipstick blackened her lips into a dark moue. Her face was white, referencing the Kabuki theater. She arranged her hair in the swirls he loved so much. The clothes hardly covered her. The heels elevated her above the height of the student. She surveyed herself, transformed once again.
She raised her eyebrow to the Romulan student. “And do I meet with your approval, Mistress Myryath?”
“You are stunning, 738766.”
The Human bowed slightly. For a moment, the Romulan glimpsed someone else under the guise that the Human had adopted. Someone...cruel. But then it was gone with a wry smile.
“Let’s hope it is stunning enough.”
She surveyed the cell one last time. Then walked to the outer cell. All of her guards from the different shifts had assembled. They were dressed in the gleaming honor robes of the Tal Shiar which she’d first seen at the courtyard. She looked curiously at Myryath.
“You need to be escorted, 738766.”
The Human gazed into the dark eyes of the young Romulan. Myryath could not possibly know her plans, yet perhaps the student had somehow projected what Kari would do. She could only hope.
“Mistress Myryath, you would do me great honor, if you again called me Kari. Please.”
She was silent a moment. “As you wish, Kari.”
Kari turned her attention to the guards. “Accompanying me will put you in tremendous danger.”
“The prisoner does not dictate our duties nor our responsibilities,” one said.
“As you say. Let the Stars of Wisdom ever watch over you and your families.”
Two preceded her as they left the outer cell. She kept her focus between them. The rest of the guards followed. Their synchronized march echoed with the faster click of her heels. Slightly behind the Human, Myryath glided silent as a shadow. The group neither paused nor looked at anyone they met on their approach to the great hall.
“May the Stars of Wisdom always illuminate the paths of Welan, Jhynif, Donle and yours as well, Mistress Myryath,” she whispered.
“I shall convey your wishes. May your plans be watched over by every Star of Wisdom.”
Kari didn’t know whether these Stars of Wisdom existed but if they did, she prayed they were on her side.
Myryath dropped back to trail the Human as they approached the doors. Two of the Beloved Nephew’s protectors stood there. An outrage for them to be here.
Kari bore down on them. The fabric adorning her body sighed softly with the sway of her hips. Her steps echoed with strength. She did not smile. She did not look at them. She stood tall and confident.
“I have been summoned.”
The Beloved Nephew’s protectors stared at the huge guards, then at her. Diaphanous blue cloth flowed around her body. Black painted nails shone their sharpness at them. She did not bow to the Beloved Nephew’s protectors. One pulled out a scanning device.
“Our Beloved Nephew himself has summoned me.” She gazed, cool and superior, through them.
They made as if to scan her escort. Her guards’ helmeted heads turned toward him.
“They are with me.”
He looked uncertain. One of the guards tightened her grip on her baton making the sinews of her fist creak.
“Must I help you recall the fate of the last person who kept our Beloved Nephew waiting?” She finally graced him with a look.
He put the scanner away and brought out a device. Argument over this would accomplish nothing. She turned so that he could shackle her hands behind her. Electronic handcuffs. Her hands were useless. Plan A flew away. He opened the door to the great hall.
She stalked in. The hall was large, not the intimacy of the interrogation room. She eliminated some of her plans. Many Romulans stood in a circle. Far more than she had projected. Again, she reordered her schemes. The Romulans turned to watch her enter. She strode a little faster to catch up to the lead guards. She brushed against them to make them halt then left them with the other Tal Shiar. She hoped that Myryath would fade into the background.
Kari saw him. The butterflies, with their razor sharp steel wings, slicing through her stomach, finally alighted, settling down to spectate. Her legs, lengthened by the heels, parted the skirt as she floated towards him. He had taken a center seat as she knew he would, sitting in a pool of light. His entourage stood behind him.
The Beloved Nephew smiled but did not arise when he saw her. She paid no attention to the female in the pain field not too far away. Speakers amplified her screams for all those in attendance. The sound echoed around the large chamber, off the symbols of Tal Shiar power, along the beams of ancient wood, resonated by well worn stone.
She smiled as she reached him, then knelt to touch her lips to his very shiny boot.
“Kari,” he said, beaming at her. “I see the doctors have healed you most sufficiently. I cannot tell you how very pleased I am to see you healthy again.”
“My lord and my master,” she said, rising up. She stared down his entourage. Then looked away, dismissing them from her attention. “It pleases me so greatly to be in your presence once more. By your side, I am your most loyal of objects.”
“The pleasure is mine as well. Because as you see,” he gestured to the figure writhing in the pain field. “I have solved a most vexing problem.”
“My lord.” A Romulan from his entourage stepped forward. “This Human should not be allowed in this place. She is an insult to those here.”
Kari spun and was on the Romulan in an instant, her face centimeters away from his. “And insulting the Tal Shiar is something we should not do? I can leave if you are worried for the sensibilities of the little spy club.”
The male gritted his teeth. “I meant you are not required here, slut. You are an abomination.”
“Do you insult our Beloved Nephew by implying that he would tolerate an abomination?”
The male’s eyes flicked a little toward the Beloved Nephew.
“She will stay,” the Beloved Nephew said. He waved his hand, magnanimous. “She is amusing.”
“Thank you, my lord and my master.” She bowed her head while sneering at the advisor, and turned to the Beloved Nephew. “I am most pleased to see a solution has presented itself. Hopefully, one that will soothe what troubles your brow.”
As usual he was not listening to her. Instead, he was preening for his audience. A gallery of his most trusted advisers. Those that he had not shot yet.
“This creature here,” he walked around the pain field. “Do you know her?”
“Her name is Syll. She is the worthless Tal Shiar who betrayed you when you first extracted me from the Federation.”
“Yes! Yes, she is! You remember.” The thin facade cracked a little. “As you can see, I’ve used a little encouragement beyond the Tal Shiar methods.”
Kari watched the blood drip from the lacerations crisscrossing Syll’s body. The green liquid pooled at the Romulan’s feet. Parts of her body bore blisters and burns.
“Is she deserving?”
“Oh yes,” His face contorted a little more. “Oh but yes. Have you had much contact with her?”
“Contact with a worthless Tal Shiar?”
He pulled out a pad. Kari’s pad. He frowned at the readings.
“You said you’ve not had any contact with her?”
“Little could be gained from contact with one such as she.”
He tried again to interpret the readings.
“Is the pad too complicated, my lord and master?” Kari inquired craning a little to look at the device. “Perhaps I can be of help?”
“No, I don’t need your help. Yours or anyone’s.” He threw the pad aside. He glared at the screaming female. “She is a perversion. A criminal. She will soon break and all she knows will be mine.”
“Is this pain field not working, my lord and my master?” Kari asked. “Do you wonder if she perhaps has been practicing? Could she have been making herself resistant? Surely not.”
He waved what she said away. “Kari, dear sweet Kari. I hope you forgive me for our last meeting. I trust it was not too strenuous.”
“The only strain was to be taken from your presence.”
“Later, you can entertain me again. Would you like that? I know you will. Your flair for the dramatic shows great skill. First, though, we must get on with this business. This Syll, she has been the one to try to destroy me. She is behind all the schemes and plots trying to thwart me. I am sure of it. And I will find out who is aiding her. And I will destroy them!”
The entourage broke out into applause. No one seemed to notice that Syll had stopped screaming and just stood, vibrating from the pain, watching Kari. The Human stalked around her, locking eyes with the Romulan. The weapons of the Beloved Nephew’s protectors followed her as she paced back and forth in front of the prisoner.
“She will tell me now who helped her,” the