Rising from the stiff metal bed, Subcommander Nirenka Paluth exited the shielded compartment and walked – with a slight limp – towards the opposite end of the dimly lit corridor. To her right was a single desk, with an officer in security uniform sitting behind it.
"Ahh, Paluth! I have your assignment for today. Please report to Commander Fel'tok at tactical right away, he's going to help you accumulate to your new training." The Officer barked, before ushering the somewhat dazed Nirenka further down the corridor. After a time, she found herself confronting the Commander.
"Subcommander. We have here your old friend Veril. She didn't make it out of the base. Unfortunately for us, she has not responded well to interrogation. Take this disruptor and shoot her please." Nirenka stared down at the weapon she had been handed for a few seconds, almost confused as to its purpose. Upon realisation, she pulled it up and squared the Reman in her sights.
"Nirenka! Don't do this! It's not right!" A voice came out of nowhere and she began darting her eyes across the room.
"Subcommander. A good soldier follows the orders they are given. Kill the woman." Suddenly, Nirenka felt a rush of excitement and immediately pulled the trigger. A disturbing smile paved its way across her pale face.
"Excellent, I sensed some hesitation there but that's nothing a bit more conditioning won't fix. Computer, deactivate program." The disruptor and dead Reman subsequently vanished, and Nirenka's grin was wiped.
"You mean… That wasn't…" Nirenka began to tear up, one half of her horrified she executed her friend and the other half disappointed she didn't.
"Yes, Subcommander, it's a shame we couldn't get the actual Veril here for you to kill. We'd be eliminating more than just you from the equation then." The Commander sounded unsatisfied but swiftly moved on. "Anyway, I'm taking you over to Lieutenant Gerren in the Engineering Lab now, we're going to be doing some exciting work with Thalaron weapons!" His mood lifted, as did, strangely she found, Nirenka's.
The triangular room that greeted the pair was littered with spare components but shared the same green glow as the rest of the ship.
"Commander, I see you've arrived with my new lab assistant. I sincerely hope she's not as incompetent as that Starfleet so-and-so we had in here last week. The procedure didn't work on her at all."
"Subcommander Paluth meet the Lieutenant. Lieutenant Gerren, meet Subcommander Paluth." The Commander stated before hushedly exiting the room with a "Good luck" muttered under his breath.
"Ok then, Paluth. Today we're making some handy WMDs. And I don't care what bloody protocol you throw at me because I'm going to ignore it anyway. Now get me some components!"
As Nirenka began ambling around the room, the voices from before came back to her.
"Nirenka, stop what you're doing. You're going to kill people with this weapon!"
"Nonsense, don't listen to him. You're going to save lives! The Romulan people will owe a lot to you after this!"
"No! She's winning you over Nirenka! Think back to Virinat, where you were born! Remember?"
"Forget the past. It's never done you any favours. Virinat only brought you loss. We, we can help you correct that loss."
Without knowing it, Nirenka had gathered all the correct parts to build the Thalaron mine.
"Good work, I see you're not wholly incompetent. Now test the weapons in that shielded compartment over there."
Nirenka dazedly walked to the containment unit, where several plants and animals were being held. Tapping away at the console enthusiastically, she beamed in the mine and set it off, almost hypnotised by the helix pattern the energy made before dispersing and disintegrating the biological matter inside.
"Nicely done, do you often build world destroying bombs? You've got a real talent for it."
The female voice returned sarcastically, as Nirenka handed Gerren the datapad with her results on it and proceeded back through the dimly lit corridors of the ship to her quarters for some rest.