AN

So yeah seriously this is just the prologue, well actually just part one of the prologue, I was going to post both Tomalak's story and Ryclac's at the time but didn't realize the Tomalak's would wind up being this dang long, cause he's a stinken Romulan. So thank for that Tom -a-jerk. Umm, anyway there are a few things I feel I should mention. First and most importantly throughout the story I will be using words from the fictional languages of the federation and is planets, as well as mentioning aspects of made up culture such as the names of gods and historical figures and so on. I will do my best to mark this anomalies with this symbol* and provide a translation, definition, or explanation at the end of the chapter. Second, this story takes place in my version of the united federation of planets that exist in my megaverse, so it has quite a different history and culture from the federation Gene Roddenberry envisioned. For instance earth, the planet we all live on (unless you don't) is not part of my federation but instead a nearly identical yet not the same planet named Earthens takes it's place. So I ask you please keep an open mind about this changes. I promise that the overall theme is still intact, I merely changed a few things up to "make it my own." The Star Trek franchise still of course belongs to the legal heirs of and paramount pictures.

The Romulan sneered at the filthy hybrid before him. On Romulus a child such as she would be an outcast. Her parents would have been imprisoned for their defiance of nature and she left on an isolated moon to live as a slave. He had seen many hybrid slave Children in his thirty eight years, rarely did they live past their tenth.

But this was the federation not Romulus, and she was not a Romulan hybrid she was Valcon and human. Far from an outcast she was beloved throughout the federation. Even after nearly ten years of Romulan occupation, the fedus still sang praise for their corrupt princess.

"She's gone! Don't you understand old man? Your princess has left you! Your gods have abandoned you! The federation has nothing left!" Tomalak would tell them time and time again. Yet nothing he said, nothing he did could seem to extinguish their flame of hope. A Flame foiled by a single name, a name that had haunted his dreams since he first heard it uttered, Keira, servant of the Juluk*.

Ten years Tomalak had searched for the child so that her people could watch him crush their final hope, and for ten years her whereabouts alluded him. Now almost by an ironic twist of fate she stood before him. Now he had the chance he so long had dreamed of.

"So the long lost princes returns at last to vanquish the evil and return her people to the light of the star?" He eyed Keira, she had grown much since he had last seen her. Not at all surprising since she was only twelve when his army had invaded her kingdom. Her hair still pure gold streaked with jet black fell long past her shoulders instead of the short cut accustomed to Vulcans. Her clothing was neither Volcan nor human either. She wore silver armor over a white garment in a style that he could not recognize. The only thing left of the child Keira was the fierce fire burning in her eyes as she held her mortal enemy in her gaze. "So much time, so many men I've wasted to find you, when all along all I needed it do was wait."

"Well you were never very good at that, always too impatient." Keira smirked "I might have been the holy princess, but you're the spoiled brat."

Behind Keira stood a small army. He pick out her four cousins easily enough. Though they had also grown a great deal over the years, none had changed quite so dramatically, at least not visably. However Tomalak did not know who the fifth warier was.

He was not even sure to what race he belonged. At first glance he took the stranger as Volcon but there was something decidedly very un volcan like about stranger was dressed much in the same fashion as Keira. His hair, as gold as Keira's too grew long, his gray eyes fell on Tomalak with disdainful curiosity. The way you might look when meeting someone for the first time who you have heard terrible tales of.

Tomalak matched Keira smug face "Perhaps you still cling to faith in gods which your people have long forsaken. Do you think maybe that they will lend their cosmic powers to give you the strength to defeat my forces and slay me? It seems to me that these gods have forsaken your people as they have forsaken them. Perhaps the gods know that it is time for the power in the galaxy to shift. They have delivered their used up champion into the waiting hands of the new supreme power."

Keira's glaring grin broke into an an unearthly laugh that filled the whole council chamber.

"You may pretend you're the one truly in power here Tomalak, but we both know you're just putting on a show. You say that the gods have forsaken us,that they give their power instead to you? For one who does not believe in faith,yet you know of the power it can create. With faith even the weakest of soldiers can defeat the strongest of foes. And a mere child can stop an invasion. Yet you speak of gods in which you do not believe, gods which for years you mocked. Now you stand and claim to have their support? Is it perhaps that you do not believe in the divine prophecies as much as you believe in the hope they foster. You know the federation people will never surrender to you as long as they can catch even the smallest hint of the Juluk. As long as that hope lives you can never gain true control of the descendants of the starlit people. Thus my existence torments you. For as long as I live the flame of hope burns strong always. That how I knew you would never stop searching for me. That you would hunt me to the ends of time."

"Very well," Tomalak growled fiercely. "Now here you stand before me, and claim to the stars above that I am a false believer, I have now power against faith itself? Have you come here tonight to fulfill you destiny, to do that what from birth you were told was what your divine master sent you to the world of mortals to do? Are you here to slay me, the great monster with whom your path entangles?"

"I have accepted my place in fate, I will follow the path my master wishes of me. And so will you."

Keira was moving slowly closer to him. The others however remained where they were. They concerned Tomalak little, if need be his men could handle them, but Keira was his.

"Your mistake Keira, I decide my own fate, not some spirit of nonexistent energy!"

Even as he said the words, as though of its own accorded Tomalak's hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of the phaser on his waist. With one quick, undetectable motion he brought his arm up and aimed the phaser at Keira. Her champions lunged forward like a great wall springing from its foundations.

Keira remained unwavering in place. With a gentle wave of her hand she called them off.

"No, this must be."

Keira's cousins obeyed instantly, but the fifth warier required the others to hold him back.

"Keira speaks true, Elvit she must walk the path from here alone." Said the blond haired girl whom Tomalak reasoned was Slyvana.

"Let her worry about Tom-a-jerk we have other problems." The boy named Rexlen spoke. He was correct. Several of Tomalak's men had gathered on the balcony overlooking the chamber to watch the scene. As soon as Tomalak had pulled his phaser they prepared for action. Ten or so were currently running down the balcony steps toward Keira's squad.

Both of the royal enemies were distracted for a brief moment as fighting erupted between their respective allies. Having regained focus a split second before Tomalak, Keira took advantage of the situation and hurled herself at him. Tomalak returned to his senses just in time to move out of her path.

Keira fly passed him and rounded back around. Tomalak re aimed his phaser and triggered sending a fast moving beam of green light into the wall, as Keira dodged out to the way just in time. For a split second Tomalak lost track of her when she slipped into the chaotic crowd.

When he did manage to spot her she was already running over the balcony. Instantly he was in full pursuit.

At the center of the balcony Keira drew out a sword. Not a lazer sword like most federation warriors wielded, Keira's sword was the kind the of the ancient knights. The hilt was dull silver, but the blade itself shown with a cool blue light. It seemed to Tomalak that the metal may have been infused with a great power.

He snarled in annoyance, and shot his phaser once more. Keira blocked the blast with her sword. The blade glowed brighter and the beam rebounded off and hit the chandelier above the chamber, causing it to shatter. Shards of crystals rained down on the fighting warriors.

Tomalak knew then that his phaser would do him no good. He let out an inward growl of frustration. Even as a small child Keira had always been his equal in every way. They would never be able to break the stalemate the years had brought upon them, unless one had an advantage over the other.

Tomalak returned his phaser to his belt. He knew that Keira would not take it as a surrender for she knew that he would not give up so easily. Nor did he wish to show his hesitation. As though it was his plan all along he ran directly at her. If only he could capture her, the others would come to his aid. Together they would take her outside before her people. There then with the whole federation and Romulan empire baring witness he could end it all.

The impact of their body's through them both to the ground. From this angle for a brief second Tomalak saw something that should not have been. The shards from the chandelier fell still, in endless waves. Thought they did not fall straight to the floor below as gravity would dictate they should. Instead they circled the diameter of the chamber slowly losing altitude with each round. The effect was one endless swirl of crystal forming a curtain before the Romulan prince and his Fedu counterpart.

Though Tomalak saw this now, it was not till much later after the battle was over, that he was able to grasp the unnatural aspect. But if he had realized it then then perhaps the conclusion of the battle would have made more sense to him. But as it was he had little time to ponder over the miner oddity as he was in a race to stand before Keira could. By a fraction of a millisecond he beat her.

Abruptly he grabbed the shoulders of her clothing in one hand and pulled her up the rest of the way. His heart beating fast at his nearing victory, he disarmed her sword in one swift motion. He then grabbed the bends of her elbows and pulled her against his body. He held her so tightly to himself that he could feel his own breasts heaving against her back with each breath he took.

Tomalak reach out for his phaser once more when a joyful sound from his captive took him by surprise.

"Why do you laugh, Keira? Are you so twisted, so deformed that you find amusement in your own capture.?" He ask only half suppressing his own amusement.

"Do you desire me, Tomalak?" Keira asked through a devious grin.

"What?" Tomalak demanded wondering where the teen could have gotten that idea.

Keira did not answer but instead continued. "Or perhaps you are so infatuated by war that you burn with need to take one of your crew to bed?"

It took Tomalak a moment to understand that in her physical closeness to him she had made a discovery about the state of his body that up until then even he had not been aware. With a tremendous growl he shoved the hybrid away from him. Keira landed on the floor next to the blue sword.

"I would never desire a being as un pure as you!" He roared unholstering his phaser.

"Are you quite certain my mixed parentage is the only reason you don't find me attractive, borivoc*"

Tomalak felt his face flush with rage, if Keira hoped to keep her meaning from him she had already failed. But if she did want to hid her meaning why would she taunt him so?

"Do you think I don't know what that word means?" He demanded " Do you think I do not know that you are insulting me?"

Keira sighed lightly and when she spoke again it was with pity. "The insult is in your eyes alone. You are beloved by your people just as I am. But tell me if your people knew, would they not shun you? Would they not call you a disgrace to the blood of Romulus?"

Tomalak growled low in his throat. "You know nothing of me Keira! There is nothing else for for my people to know of me!"

As though she ignored him Keira went on. "When your people speak of it, it will be an insult. But when mine speak it, it bears only fact,and acceptance for what you are. Don't you see? You are seeking to destroy those who would accept you in honor of those who would shun you. But you don't have to. I accept you for everything you are Tomalak, as my enemy and as my friend."

That was the last straw for Tomalak. As though the pity in her voice was not enough, the insulting subject of her tirade was gnawing at his shame. It wouldn't have bothered him half as much if it weren't true. The anger in him cut through everything else, burning through him like a fire. He raised his hand with the phaser and aimed once more, right at Keira's heart.

Keira lay still where he had tossed her, the wall of the chamber was at her back. Had she tried to move she would have no where to go except into the arms of her adversary. Tomalak had stood over her in such a way to prevent her from rising to her feet.

There was no way for her to escape, and no way for Tomalak to miss. At last, after ten years, complete and total victory over the federation was staring him in the face. As triumph resided his anger Tomalak readied his trigger.

Then suddenly a raging pain shout from his hand through his body. Tomalak let out a shout as the phaser seemed to have turned to fire in his hand. In a flash of instinct the weapon fell from Tomalak's grasp onto the floor.

He heard a shout below him and the next thing he knew, he had been thrown through the swirling curtains of crystal still falling from the destroyed chandair. He was tumbling down the stairs back into the council chamber.

No sooner had he hit the bottom did he hear the explosion, around him the fighting siest as all the warriors turned to see what had happened. Now all eyes were on him and Keira. It was only then he realized that the hybrid had just saved his life.

"Don't expect me to be grateful." He growled

Keira gave a sharp exhale. "That would be illogical."

"What happened?" A voice behind them asked

Tomalak now saw the the council chamber was fuller than when he and Keira had left it. It seemed several of the federation underground resistance teams had made their way passed Tomalak's forces guarding the building. He knew that could only mean that his forces were weakening and his occupation was crumbling around him. This changed the objective of his battle drastically.

The men who now approached the center of the room were none other than the former flag Captain Kirk and his ever present first officer Prince- Commander Spock. It was Spock who had spoken.

"Divine intervention." Keira addressed her father.

Tomalak rolled his eyes. "Must you claim that gods would cause a phaser to overload?"

"Do you make a habit of going to battle with you foes with faulty weapons?"Keira retorted

Tomalak bit back his lips, he had to silently admit the he was at a loss as to why the phaser malfunctioned. Even still it did not matter, he had a more pressing problem.

He now stood unarmed in a room full of people who would just as soon see him dead. Meanwhile very likely his control was weakling by the secant. He knew that there was no longer any way he could win. The battle was no longer about removing a thorn in his side,or regaining control, it had become about fighting for his honor.

And the only way to maintain his honor after such a defeat as a Romulan Prince was with his own demise. But he was not going down alone if he could help it. Before anyone could stop him he grabbed Keira by the shoulders and raced to the exit. To his surprise Keira did not struggle against him, nor did it seem as if anyone tried to stop him.

"Why did the phaser overload?" Tamalak as he made his way outside."How did you manipulate it?"

"It wasn't me." Keira said calmly from someone who had just been taken hostage. "If anyone was responsible it would be you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You were angry. The phaser channeled that anger and used it as energy." She explained

"If that were possible why don't phasers overload all the time?" Tomalak challenged

"Like I said, divine intervention. Now do you even know where you're going?"

Tomalak loosened his grip slightly. The party from the council chamber had collected at the grand doorway, below the steps of the council building more teams from the resistance were waiting for him to make a wrong move. He was surrounded.

Keira freed herself and redrew her sword with a sharp fluid movement. Tomalak was stunned for an instant as he had thought the sword was still on the floor of the balcony. Knocking the back of his knees out from under him Keira used his weight against him. In an instant the table had turned and Keira had the upper hand. A cry of joy rose from the onlookers in the street except from one section which remind dead quiet as the Romulan officers watched their Prince being brought to his knees before his enemy.

"You're not the only one who has waited ten years for this moment, dejel." Keira told him. "Today, our path cross this final time, tomorrow the King of Parathens* reclaims his throne."

Tomalak watched Keira raise her sword and prepared himself for the blow. It was the only way this could end now. He wanted to close his eyes or look away but knew that it would only be seen as cowardly. So instead he forced himself to look Keira in the eyes.

Such a fire burned with in her golden irises that he could not have fooled himself of her resolve even if he wanted to. She looked into his eyes with such fierceness, golden eyes lock on the green for what felt like an eternity. A moment he knew would go down in history in both their kingdoms. Each land singing praise for their respective royal warrior will condemning the other. Somehow that thought gave him a peace of comfort in his last moments.

His last moments never came. Keira's sword began to fall, but he never felt more than the touch of cool metal on the bare skin of his neck. Keira's eyes fell from his, the fire died away, her fierceness fading into tranquility. She was looking before her, as though someone had come to stand behind him. Tomalak dared not turn around, he dared not know what power he felt on his back. He feared what great strength had caused Keira to steadied her hand.

Looking away at last from whatever held her focus she sheathed her sword and addressed her enemy once more.

"Stand up,Prince of Romulus. You are named Mirin, protected one."

Fearing that it might be a trap Tomalak only dared rise very slowly.

"Are you so weak Keira that you would not slay one who would not hesitate to slay you, even as an infant sleeping in a cradle."

"I've no doubt of your cruelties. Given the chance I knew you would have ended my life on the very night it begun."

Tomalak sneered. "Why then have you twice today ensured the continuance of mine?"

"Twice? I only count once, and it was not my will alone that steadied my hand."

Tomalak drew in his brows. "Was it not you who threw me from the balcony?"

Keira looked at him with understanding. "It wasn't me. Your fleet from the balcony serves me as further proof of my master's will. Though my thirst for revenge is great, my desire to obey is greater. That is why I spare your life."

Tomalak was dumbfounded yet he did not wish to show it. He used his anger to hide his confusion. Keira's army was not so prideful. At once the strange warrior came forward.

"An..Keira are you sure you wish this man to live? You have told me how he tormented you so in your childhood. Does he not deserve to be punished."

"Yes my friend, my masters will is my will as well. It seems he has a part to play in things yet to come. As for punishment, he will receive what he is do. By granting him his life I have as much as forced exile upon him. If I had slain him his people would remember him as a great warrior, his name revered for generations to come. Because he was defeated and his enemy granted back his life he will be shunned until he can reclaim the honor he lost."

Keira turned back to the crowd and addressed several of the resistance fighters."Take the Prince and what is left of his men to the nearest prison. Allow a single ship to return to Romulus and inform Emperor Zelotok that his grandson has been defeated. Also tell the federation people that they are free. Quickly, we have an civilisation to rebuild."

Four months later

Tomalak sat deep in thought glaring at the Romulan all before him. All though he had ordered it over half an hour ago the glass was still over half full. He just couldn't bring himself to drink it. His mind was too preoccupied to enjoy its stinging taste and he was in no mood for pleasantries. It had been five days since he had been released from the federation penal colony. Although a starfleet ship had taken him as far as the neutral zone he had not returned to Romulus.

He did not need to, to know what kind of welcome he would receive if he dared show himself to the Emperor. He could just see Zelotok shaking with rage and crying out for his palace guards to remove the disgrace from his sight. Tomalak had witnessed this scene many times since he was a small boy. Fortunately he had never been the cause, until now. His cousins had already informed him that he had been striped of rank and his men reassigned.

No, he could not return to Romulus just yet as there was nothing left for him there. But not all was hopeless. Everything he losted could easily be regained. He lost his honor when Keira gave him his life, but if he took hers not only would he be able to continue what he started in the first place, her death would restore his name.

Tomalak smirked quietly into his all before allowing himself a large sip. It would be a simple matter really, the rumor on the federation side of the neutral zone was that Keira and her cousins where going to search for an ancient Parathens artifact in a system near by. It would be a simple matter to trail them waiting for an opportunity to strike. In the meanwhile Tomalak figured that he would have time to work out the details later.

He polished off the rest of his drink then stood up from the bar and the eatery and making his way back to his rented dwelling Tomalak pondered on the one thing that still troubled him.

Surly Keira most have known that as long as he was alive he would never tolerate her existence. Was she not even now constantly looking over her shoulders, wondering if he would be around the next corner? Was she not living in daily fear of him, much as she had her whole childhood? Why then, when she finally had the chance to return home and end her everlasting torment did she chose to allow him to live?

"The will of my master is my will as well."

Her words kept playing around in his head but the more he thought about it the less since they made. By "her master" did Keira mean the federations supreme god, he wondered. If so maybe Keira's "master" had somehow talked her out of killing him. It was certainly explain her swift change of heart.

This went against everything Tomalak knew about Keira's character. Once she had made up her mind about a mater she would it easily change it without a strong logical reason. Yet as Tomalak had waited for his death, he had not seen even the tiniest hint of hesitation in her eyes and only a split second later her entire resolve had been lifted. Something profound must have happened in those few milliseconds, but to go so far as to claim divine intervention?

Even if the federation gods were real, which he highly doubted, why could they possibly care if he lived or died. He was not a worshiper of theirs, he gave them no nearly winced as more of Keira's words came back to him.

"He has a part to play in things yet to come." He didn't know what she meant by that nor did he won't to. He was never found of the idea of being someone's or something's plaything. He preferred to think that he was in control of his own fate. The idea that some divine entity had any sort of power over his life was not one he cared to entertain.

At length Tomalak pulled his mind for its dark recesses. She was just toying with him,he decided. The chandelier, the phaser, the balcony, sparing his life it was all just part of some twisted mind game she had concocted. At least that's what he tried to convince himself.

Juluk- the combined consensus of all federation gods. Often said to be the very life of the universe itself. In most accounts the Juluk is personified as a human male with some Romulen like features. All similarities to one Captain Jon-Luk Picard are purely coincidental, or is it?

Borivoc- translation, means "One touched by Borivin". It is a common term to refer to homosexual males in the federation. Is not considered an insult.

Borivin- A servant god in federation mythology. He is the god of forbidden or unconventional love. In the legends he was tricked into falling in love with another man. In many federation worlds many homosexuals were his amulet to distinguish themselves from heterosexuals.

Dejel- rough translation: an enemy whom will never be truly conjured.

Parathens- a mystical planet whose native race went extinct a million years before the founding of the federation. A major belief in federation mythology is that the natives of Parathens colonized several worlds throughout the galaxy including the Twenty founding worlds of the federation before becoming extinct. It is also believed that Parathens served as a neutral territory for diplomatic purposes during the founding of the federation. It latter become the home of the central Federal government early in federation history until it's destruction by the Romulan empire.