A/N: I do not own Star Trek nor am I making money. Just a story teller telling stories. Some chapters may be rated M, but warnings will be provided. You will have a mixed bag of characters joining this little madness I call a story and I hope it entertains you all well. Thank you for reading. I have had to re-publish this with some formatting errors corrected. I am new here so I beg your indulgence.
Senator Letant sat absently drumming his fingers beside his padd pursing his lips. It had taken months to get this far, to be believed. The evidence had finally been vetted and now he was getting what he knew was in the best interest of the Romulan Empire, which coincidentally was also in the best interests of the Federation. He'd never go home again, it was an acceptable sacrifice. He had nothing to go back to. He had given all to his career and the empire as life and lover, now it was all gone. The only thing left was a dawning realization that his chosen lover had been as capricious as any social climbing Romulan woman ever had been. The thought made him press his fingers against the Federation desk until the pads of his fingers were green.
Glancing at the clock to distract himself he brought his focus to the perfectly manicured lawns that lay just outside the windows. It was a lot of green, not a hint of blue, perfectly green. Alien. He sighed and closed his eyes. It was the right thing to do, even the damnable Vulcan, Spock, told him so before he left Romulus forever.
Letant heard the Admiral, and a second set of footfalls he did not recognise walking down the hall toward the meeting room. He sat up straighter, he was not going to look weak at this moment of victory.
Admiral Alynna Nechayev opened the door with a feline smile over her lips as her passive blue eyes found his. He smirked and nodded to her. She was a formidable woman, Letant thought, a worthy opponent if the Empire weren't crumbling and threatening to destabilize the entire quadrant. He stood as the second woman entered behind the admiral. She was younger, but not a child, statuesque with whiter skin than the admiral and shocking long red hair. His contact with humans had been, limited, but in the past few months of being a Federation guest the diversity of humanity had been paraded past him in a very new way. They were of so many different colors and shapes it surprising. They didn't seem to be one race at all, but a patchwork of many races.
"I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, Senator Letant," Admiral Nechayev said pulling out the chair at the head of the table while the woman who followed her in took the chair opposite the Romulan.
"It's your time to keep, Admiral," He replied, "As I have nothing to do these days, and all day to do it, not how I pictured my retirement though." He said pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher at the center of the table.
Nechayev smirked, "Still." she wasn't a woman of pleasantries so she didn't have anywhere to go with his reply, "This is Dr. Agnes Walsh, from Starfleet intelligence."
Agnes nodded to him, "Senator, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you."
Letant smiled, "A big fan?"
"I didn't say that, Sir." Agnes said with a lilt in her voice, "But I am a big fan of the information you've so selflessly given us."
Letant knew he was finally getting somewhere, "I knew you would be, but your department took long enough to verify the veracity. Were we on Romulus your entire staff would have been dismissed for incompetence." There was no venom in his voice as he stated what he thought was just a fact.
"Not my department, Sir, I'm just a small cog in the machine." Agnes said with a chuckled as she got her own padd ready for notes, "In fact, I've only just been made aware that I'm about to be sent on a mission thanks to your intell." She licked her lips, "But thank you for the compliment, I like to think I carry myself with authority."
Letant's eyebrow quirked, he had made his life on reading people, sizing people up was a matter of life and death. He'd made a surprising slip, he made mental note of it, perhaps Earth was making him soft.
The Admiral dismissed the security that had been standing in the corners of the room instructing them to lock the doors behind them. "Senator," the admiral began until Letant waved her off in irritation, "Letant," the Romulan said firmly, "I have nothing to govern anymore."
Alynna gave a curt nod of apology, "Your request for asylum has been granted. Everything you've given us has credibility."
With the news of asylum muscles relaxed that he didn't realize were tensed, "I could have told you my information was credible, and it would have saved you a good deal of time."
"You'll forgive me, Letant, the last time a Romulan of note crossed the Neutral Zone with important news it turned out to be a fake." Alynna countered firmly, "It nearly provoked a war."
Letant waved, "Fair point."
"I also thought you'd like to know that your apparent death on Romulus was believed." She added as she looked through the notes.
Again, muscles that had been tense relaxed. "That pleases me."
The Admiral smiled at him, "I thought it would."
"So other than these two lovely news items," he paused casting his eyes between the two women, "Which could have been an electronic communication." He leaned toward Agnes, "I do so hate meetings that could have been a beep on the padd," he said with a grin and a wink, "Why am I here?"
"I wanted to introduce you to Dr. Walsh." Alynna motioned toward the woman sitting across from him, "After her briefing she is going to be working close with you for a couple of weeks as we are sending her into deep cover. She requires your, expertise on Romulan operatives."
Letant smiled at the red head, "Ordinarily I'd think someone as aesthetically pleasing as you might not last. You know, all beauty no grit, but you fooled me so you may have a chance…"he trailed off taking a sip of his water before he began again, "How much do you know about Vulcans?"
"To date," Agnes said pretending to count on her fingers, "Nothing. I've never been a fan."
Letant's mouth twisted into what was going to be a protest, but the Admiral held up her hand, "Letant, we just need you to brief her on the Romulan piece of this puzzle, we'll handle the rest."
"As you wish, Admiral, but be mindful….her lack of knowledge may just doom the poor girl."Letant looked at the red head squarely, but was silently pleased when she didn't flinch.
"Sir," Agnes began in a diplomatic tone, "Given your vast knowledge and experience, I have no doubt, by the time you are done teaching me what I need to know...I couldn't help be do well."
Letant threw his head back and laughed, "Oh me, oh my, give this woman some Romulan clothes and she'll be a Praetor before the week is out!" He leaned forward and abruptly took her hand kissing her knuckles, "Well done, M'Lady." Standing, he straightened his shirt, "Now, if that is all for the day, I will meet you say...tomorrow?" He cast a glance at the Admiral, who was watching them both passively.
"No, actually, three days from now. We need to move you, Letant, to guest quarters and begin building your new identity. I've sent word to my aid, he will see to your needs. Dr. Walsh will be at your quarters at 0800 on Thursday, three days from now."
Letant nodded to both women and the door opened as he approached it, he cast them both a backward glance before disappearing down the hall.
When the door shut again, Agnes was the first to speak as she looked over the service jacket file on her padd, "Captain Solok is a three time Christopher Pike medal of honor winner." she tsked her teeth, "It's hard to imagine he, or his crew, or any combination there in, is involved in this Romulan plot to destroy the Federation to reunify Romulous and Vulcan."
"Right now, we can't take anything for granted Dr. Walsh." Alynna said, a hint of sadness lilting over her normally matter-of-fact tone. "What you need to understand now, is that this assignment is not going to be a quick in and out job. You may be in deep cover for years."
Agnes looked up at the Admiral with surprise. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Everything that Letant reported to us is credible, but what he knows was and is the tip of the iceberg."
"May I know?" She asked sitting her padd to the side.
"No, the less you know the better for the time being. Your first mission is going to be infiltrate the T'Kumbra. We need to know who among the crew is loyal to Starfleet, if there are any left, and report back. From everything I've read, we are going to need them."
Agnes could extrapolate she was going to need extensive cosmetic surgery for this, but there were other things too, "They might be able to accept me for a short term if I show up with surgical ears, but long term?"
Alynna nodded, "Your cover will be...invasive, Dr. Walsh. You will be posing as a half-vulcan. Dr. Ston, the head of xenopathology, has developed a treatment that is going to help you simulate many vulcan features. Strength, being the first, the partial neutralization of your scent. He will be joining you on the mission as chief medical officer on the T'Kumbra. He won't know what your complete mission is, but his mission is to keep you physically vulcan. You will be his second, do you understand?"
Agnes blinked a few times trying to process the physical implications of this deep cover. This wasn't going to be a glue some ears on assignment.
The Admiral sensed her trepidation, "Do you accept this mission or not?"
Her eyes slowly went to the admirals, in her mind she said no in three different ways, but what came out of her mouth was, "Yes."
"Good, you'll meet with Dr. Ston in three hours to begin the process. We have four weeks until the T'Kumbra puts in at dock to do crew rotations. You will have until then to ready yourself in every possible way. Tie up loose ends, I'm afraid you won't be back here for some time."
Agnes stood, "Yes, Sir."
In truth, Agnes had few personal things to tie up before the mission began. She was a career person, earning her medical doctorate at seventeen she went directly into the academy. Her only non-career pursuit was classical acoustic guitar, and she only took up that because her CO on the USS Hood, Captain DeSoto said she needed to have something outside of duty to relax with. As it turned out, she discovered he was right. She had fallen in love with the instrument and it did allow her to relax, which in turn helped her career. Agnes knew she'd need that, even if they had to make up some reason for it, because she didn't know much about Vulcans except her overachieving mode was their normal life. She'd need something to keep sane.
Other than that, she knew nothing of the Federation's oldest ally. There were vulcan officers on the Hood, she'd treated them, but to have a conversation or to know anything about their culture, she was a blank slate. Now, she was going to have to be one of them and she had one month. "Computer, how much information do we have on the Vulcan Species and their culture?" she asked the computer as she puttered around her Starfleet apartment packing up things for storage.
There are one hundred thousand, seven hundred and fifty two documents on Vulcan culture,
She ran her hand through her red hair as she shook her head, "That's a lot of information." she mumbled, "Computer, list seven well known quintessential vulcans from ancient and recent history and give me a synopsis of each."
Surak, considered the greatest philosopher of all time brought logic to Vulcan. Syrran, brought the Syrrannites together to restore the true teachings of Surak. T'Pau, Priestess and Minister of Vulcan, described as being all of Vulcan in one package. T'Pol, first vulcan starfleet officer. Soval, Ambassador to earth 40 years one of the Federation founding members, Kuvak, Minister of the reformed high council, Sarek, Federation ambassador two hundred years in service, 150 peace treaties.
Agnes sat on the edge of her bed, "Compile a psychological profile on the above list of vulcans with updated information to the social and political status of vulcan and the federation to dated, save to my personal data port." The data port beeped and she took it out of her padd, "If I can't go to the mountain, the mountain will come to me."
She checked the time, it was getting close to time to leave for the vulcan doctor. Everything was packed to store, only her data chip and her guitar were going with her. It was going to be a long time before she saw any of this again.
Dr. Ston was waiting for Ages at the door of Starfleet medical. "Dr. Walsh?" He said stepping quickly toward her as she put her foot on the first step. When she looked up at him he raised the ta'al to her, "I am Dr. Ston."
She had vaguely remembered vulcans greet each other with their hands raised, but this was a first. Instead of trying to mimic it, she simply waved to him, "I'm Dr. Walsh, it's a pleasure to meet you." For the first time ever she took note of how he, any vulcan, really looked. He was very...angular. His jaw had a sharp upward slant giving his face a slim, but not gaunt look. His eyebrows were thin, manicured looking, with the same upward slant. He had bright blue eyes, that were shocking in comparison to the slight green tint of his skin and jet black hair, interrupted by a few distinguished strands of pure silver. He wasn't in uniform, but wore black and silver robes, much akin to a Japanese kimono if she had to compare.
Dr. Ston noted her stare, "Are you unwell? You seem to be looking at me as if you've never seen a vulcan before, Dr. Walsh."
She blinked and looked away shyly, "I'm sorry, Dr. Ston, to be honest, I've never really looked at your people beyond their biology. "
"The Admiral said you did not have exposure to many vulcans or our culture." he motioned to her to follow him, "We are taking transport to another facility."
Agnes's eyes widened, "Oh, so this is REALLY off the books." she said catching up to his quicker pace.
"Very much so." he opened the door on the small shuttle waiting on them, "So tell me, how do you plan on remedying your deficiency?"
His bluntness took her back a bit, "You mean my lack of vulcan knowledge?"
He nodded in the affirmative as he motioned for the pilot to take off.
"I am formulating that plan. I found some influential vulcans in the Starfleet database. I plan on creating a holodeck program of them and the vulcan territory I am supposed to be from and immerse myself."
His eyebrows rose slightly, "That is...most logical."
"Thank you." she said shifting in her seat to face Dr. Ston, "Now, can you tell me what you are about to do to me?"
"How prone are you to...emotive responses?" Dr. Ston asked folding his hands neatly in his lap.
She shrugged, "That's hard to quantify. I'm as prone as any other human, I guess. It depends on what kind of response you mean. Do you mean fear, anxiety….what?"
"Fear, perhaps, is what I am expecting." He looked at her carefully studying her for many reasons, "Are you...afraid?"
"I wasn't until you asked. The way you are….hedging around things makes me a little more apprehensive." her mouth did start to go dry under his laser gaze.
"You are handling your emotion with commendable restraint, for a human" he conceded, "I am going to surgically alter you, in every cosmetic way, to look like a vulcan."
She nodded, expecting that, "Go on."
"I have developed a," he paused considering the best way to phrase it, "treatment that we will begin to administer during the surgery. It will aid you chemically in many ways."
Her eyes narrowed, "How?"
"You will smell less...human. You strength will increase, and as it accumulates in your body you may have other features." he replied.
She was starting to get frustrated and now it was showing. Leaning toward him, "What other features?"
"That remains to be seen, but there is a probability that you will develop a limited form of touch telepathy."
Had she known how to read a vulcan she would have seen that he was excited to see the outcome, but since she was a virgin to communicating with his species he seemed passive to her. It was calming, in an odd way. She leaned back, "Ok, well, that would be….interesting. Is any of this permanent?"
"We will be infusing you for the next three days until your body is saturated and acclimated, there after you will require an infusion once a year. If you do not get the infusion, it will likely wear off within months." Ston said doing mental calculations.
"Likely, so you don't really know…"
"The statistical probability of…"
"No, no, you can't bull shit another doctor." She interrupted flatly, "I say things like, "likely" when don't really know or I suspect something I know the patient doesn't want to hear. So what is it you aren't saying?"
The tension was broken by the shuttle landing, both of them looked out the window to see that they had arrived. They were on the roof of the pre-federation vulcan embassy. The front part was being used as a museum, and the back part, where they were, seemed to be abandoned. Ston looked back at her to answer her question when she held up her hand, "Forget it, Let's just do this." Agnes wasn't keen on it, but if the worst case scenario happened, it's not like she was going to be cursed with foaming dog syndrome. Plus, scientifically speaking, if it could be done they could undo it, it may just take a little effort.
Taking her guitar from the side of the seat she followed him out of the shuttle, a thought washed over her as she looked at the back of Ston's head and she laughed loud and hard, enough to make Ston flinch and turn.
"May I ask what you find amusing?" he said looking her over with his head cocked slightly left.
"Oh, I don't know. Have you ever seen or read Pygmalion?" Agnes replied trying to stifle her giggles.
"I have, it was required reading." he pursed his lips, "Your situation does have a resemblance to that story, though you do not have the aesthetically pleasing Henry Higgins to mate with at the end. I am bonded satisfactory."
Agnes paused her laughter with a gasp, "Did you just make a joke?"
He straightened his head, "Perhaps, let us get inside and begin preparations."
