She paused the recording, isolated a few seconds from the entire thing, and fiddled with the controls. Ah, there, she thought, satisfied as the segment of Hazthash she could not figure out came clear. What the commander had said, now that she had taken the time to study it, was really of little concern, but Devi was a professional, and leaving even one syllable ambiguous was not professional. What truly interested her was the Praetor's words to the Romulan regarding a starship Enterprise. Devi stretched with a yawn, dislodging the Hazthash dictionary in her lap, something she had been forced to consult three or four times--three or four times too many, in her mind. She looked down at the flowing dress shirt and trousers she wore, deep blue and green. They had done their job well. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and removed the pants, then her top, revealing a suit of black leather that exposed only her hands and face. Thin plates of alloy guarded her shins, the backs of her thighs, torso, forearms, and a strip of armor ran the length of her spine.
"In you go," she muttered, detaching the armor that circled her forearm. A push of the leather at her wrist opened a tiny compartment. She dropped the bug inside and pushed at the raised section, which fit back into the hole, seamless against the black. She clicked the armor back into place. "Computer, lamp off."
The bedroom plunged into darkness. Instead of curling on her side to sleep without even getting under the covers, as was her habit, Devi rose from the bed and made her noiseless way into the main room, palming a small mirror on the way. She had no official obligations tomorrow, and she had decided far in advance that sleeping this night would be decidedly unwise. So she sat down on a couch and waited.
Several minutes past two in the morning, Devi saw what she had been expecting: the red light of her lock suddenly, silently turned green. She was off the couch and hidden around the corner in a breath, no more than a mere shadow. So, you sent in a croonie, she thought, listening to the door quietly open. Light from the outside hallway crept in. Devi angled the mirror in her hand and managed to get a glimpse of the intruder before it was abruptly cut off. She nearly dropped the glass. It was Shinzon himself.
I don't think the Romulan empire will mind one less Praetor. They replace them all the time, after all.
Shinzon had a sureness of movement about him that worried Devi for a moment. Then she remembered. Ah, yes, the dilithium mines. He can move in the dark. That was all right; so could she, and she had the element of surprise. Her fingers drummed silently against the dagger at her hip. Come on...come on... She could not draw her weapon until the last second; she had seen that he carried at least as many knives as she. He would know the sound of metal being drawn.
Then, in the dark of the room, she saw his figure turn its back. Not even all the way, only a half-turn, but that was his doom. She was out from around the corner in a second, blade flying out as she tackled him to the ground. Before Shinzon knew what had hit him, he was lying on his back with a knee on his chest and cold steel at his throat. One hand was crushed beneath the second knee while the other was pinned above his head in an iron grip. "Computer," rapped a voice, "Lights."
It was her. It was all Shinzon could do not to gasp when he saw those eyes on him again. Her raven hair had been let down, brushing over her shoulders. "What are you doing in my rooms?" she demanded coldly.
Shinzon's chest was heaving beneath the weight of her knee. "I...uh..." he stammered, still in shock and very much aware of the dagger at his jugular.
The pressure behind the knife increased dangerously, making Shinzon squirm. "Talk."
He bucked unexpectedly. Devi felt herself thrown into the air. Oops. She hit the floor--He's stronger than he looks--and rolled in one fluid motion to her feet. He, too, was on his feet, whipping out a knife from a pocket at his shin. They stared at each other uneasily. Shinzon swore silently; the woman obviously knew how to use her weapons. "Come now," he said after a moment with a smile, "We're both civilized people. I'm sure we can work something out."
Devi's dagger never wavered. "Says the person snooping through my rooms like a common thief." The temperature in the room dropped below freezing. Shinzon raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, of course. I've forgotten my manners." He slid his blade into a wrist-sheath and straightened, walking forward with his hands clasped behind his back, heedless of her knife. "My name is Shinzon. And yours?"
She brandished the weapon, causing him to pull up short. A lock of hair fell over her face, a black curtain through which she glared. "Devi," she replied, "And I know who you are, Praetor. What are you doing in my rooms?"
Shinzon adopted a helpful, vaguely obsequious expression that did nothing to veil the poison in his eyes. "I saw you outside of the meeting. Was there anything you wished to add to the debates?"
"Yes," she drawled. "Better locks on these doors."
He smirked. "I'll be sure to bring it up next time."
Devi's eyes narrowed. Keeping her dagger on him, she circled around the Praetor until she stood between him and the door. "Somehow I doubt you broke in here at two in the morning just to ask my opinion." Her lip curled. "Now I suggest you answer my question."
Shinzon stiffened, realizing that she was in earnest. "You stick your nose where it does not belong," he snapped. "Reman business is not your own."
She raised a brow, retorting, "My nose was not in Reman business; it was outside of that room."
Shinzon's communicator chose that moment to beep. He gave her the barest of apprehensive glances before answering it. "Hello? Yes, I'll be right down." He looked up. "I'm afraid I must be going."
"I don't think so," she told him flatly, seriously considering if she should let him leave the room alive. Her cover was blown; she had to leave Romulus as soon as possible. It made little difference if she committed a murder or two along the way. Shinzon ignored her, moving forward resolutely. Oh, you really want to get slashed.
A lesser man would have never stopped her attack: Devi did not telegraph her movements; her strikes, empty-handed or not, were faster than a cobra's. So were Shinzon's. His hand came up and arrested her leather-clad wrist, holding the knife point a centimeter away from his neck. As he did so, his fingers brushed the very edge of her hand, where her armor ended. A hot-white shock surged through both as sparks flew where their skin met. For a moment, each sensed the other's mind. Devi gasped and dropped the dagger as Shinzon stumbled back from her as though burnt, probing her eyes in confusion. They stared at each other for a frozen moment before Devi recovered enough to go for one of the many other weapons secreted on her person. Shinzon also snapped into action, darting out the door like a snake.
She lunged after him into the hallway, but that was the farthest she went. The Praetor was running. She let him go, whipping back into the room to fall against the door as it shut. She stared at the knife on the floor as though it had grown arms and legs. "...the fuck...was that...?"
In the hour of dawn, Devi was finally able to attempt escape undetected, after having making all the necessary, on-the-spot preparations and contacting the right people. People at two in the morning who were almost as unhappy as she was. But she had the loaded bug, and that was really all that mattered.
The Romulan Forum had originally been a fortress, and still doubled as one during the empire's many coups d'état. The Senate was housed in the inner keep, which was separated from the outer wall by a wide courtyard, about a quarter of a kilometer. As the sun's first pale rays began to wash away the night, Independent Shipping's representative was on the keep's roof, eyeing the distance to the ground. She tugged at thin gloves, black leather like the rest of her entourage and textured on the palm-side for grip. The ground was clear. Her hand slipped into a side-pocket and emerged with a black, paper-thin disc. It unfurled down the wall into a hair-breadth rope, pooling on the stones below.
Devi fed the other end of the rope through a device at her hip, which blinked from red to green with a click, then held it down against the roof and hit a button on the device. An electric shock passed through the thread and fused it with the stone. The rope was incredibly strong for its width. Devi had no reservations about rappelling down the wall without even controlling her descent with a hand; the little gadget on her side did that for her. Technology like this was not common even in the Federation. It had saved her skin many, many times.
She was more than halfway down when a tingle ran up her spine. It was a familiar half-feeling, one that she had learned to detect over the years. She glanced down and swore through her teeth as two Reman guards met below her and began conversing. Her fingers flew to the rappel controller to hit the Up setting, but froze when she caught sight of more guards appearing on the roof.
She had done a thorough study of every guard position and shifts. There were no guards on the roof this early in the morning.
Shit.
Up was no longer a better option than down. It lost all status as an option when a shout of, "Hey!" in Hazthash, then in Standard, came from below. Devi's head snapped up. The Remans on the roof had spotted her, as well. Only one way to go, now.
Allowing herself only a second to aim, Devi released the control's lock
on the rope and dropped the remaining fifty meters in free-fall, crashing
down with catlike precision onto one of the guards. She managed to bring
the heel of her boot hard into his head before the impact hit her. The
Reman's body broke her fall, but didn't save the shattering pain that went
up her shins. Yeah, we're gonna have bruises tomorrow, she thought
as she scrambled to her feet. "Morning," she snarled at the other guard,
twin blades whipping out into her hands. The guard's hand was halfway to
his phaser by the time he had two daggers deep in his chest. He looked down...and
smiled.
That can't be good. She lunged forward and grabbed his wrist, the
fingers of which had grasped the phaser by now, and threw all her body
weight into twisting it behind and pinning it against his back, all the
while desperately hoping none of his wild firing (or the firing coming
from the roof) found its mark. She drove her elbow into the back of his neck,
and this time he bellowed in pain as bone ground against bone and his wrist
gave a crack. Devi snatched the phaser from his hand and pressed it to the
back of the Reman's head. "Why don't you die?" she hissed, pulling
the trigger.
This time he obliged her, crumpling to the ground with a frozen, twisted
expression. Devi brushed back her two long bangs with her wrist. "Thank
you."
She only had time to pull one of her daggers out of the dead guard before
a shot from above came too close for comfort. She looked up. The doors
of the outer wall were straight ahead, while the entrance to the keep was
twenty meters or so to her right. Shinzon stepped out into the courtyard.
Devi's eyes widened, what in God's name...?!, then she bolted, running
in a zigzag pattern across the stones. Shinzon flew after her, his cloak
flapping in the air as he lunged and tackled her full on. They fell to
the ground together. Devi managed to roll away from him and regain her
feet, but Shinzon swept his legs into the back of her knees from the ground.
She toppled down hard, slapping out with her free arm to absorb most of
the impact. She readied her blade again and made to get up, but Shinzon
was on her in a flash, pinning both hands to the flagstones. "What do your
employers want?" he demanded, eyes dangerous and flashing as he loomed
over her.
Devi struggled reflexively. "What?" Feigning ignorance was
never the best tactic in anyone's book, but given the situation, it was
all she could come up with.
Shinzon leaned more of his weight onto her wrists, making her clench her
teeth. "I said," he hissed viciously, "What do your employers want?
Information? Weapo--" Shinzon's body decided to betray him just then.
The agony of cell degeneration spiked through him and he jerked forward,
wheezing for breath. Devi tucked her knees to her chest and kicked him
in the stomach with everything she had. The Praetor could not even draw
enough breath to bellow in pain as he went flying backwards.
Devi flipped to her feet in time to see the squad of security guards
charging from the inner keep. The Remans on the roof started shooting
again now that their Praetor was out of the way. Her mind raced. She leapt
forward, dragged Shinzon to his feet, and held him against her with the
knife at his throat. "Don't move," she snarled.
Shinzon stiffened, breathing heavily. He managed to hold his hand up fo
the guards to stop. "Let her be!" he called through clenched teeth.
"Good boy," she muttered into his ear sarcastically, accidentally brushing
it with her lips. The same jolt coursed through her again, but this time
she kept her wits. Shinzon hissed and arched against her. "Now let's go."
She began backing toward the outer wall, using the other human as a shield.
She stopped when her back hit the doors. She risked dropping her left hand
from his chest, readying her dagger to slice in case he should try to
run, and groped for the controls. They were locked. "What's the code for
this lock?" she said tersely.
"Let me go and I'll tell you," he replied, searching for an opportunity.
Devi's nebulous eyes narrowed. She pressed the blade into his throat and
pulled, making a shallow cut. Her voice was low and dangerous. "What's
the code, Shinzon?"
He grit his teeth. "Ah..." Then in Hazthash, "5...2...9...4."
Her eyes darted over the Reman guards, a mass of barely-restrained warriors
with all weapons trained on them. "Are you sure?" she warned, feeling
for the number panel, "Because if those doors do anything but open, I'll--"
She saw his hand coming towards her face, too late. The tingling, fierce
shock inflamed one cheek and shot down her shoulder. Shinzon took advantage
of the moment to knock the dagger out of her hand and slip away, but was
too weakened to do anything else but run back towards the guards, shouting
in Hazthash. Devi spat a curse and whirled to the controls, punching in Shinzon's
sequence of numbers. She was almost sure it wouldn't work, but it was her
only chance now because those guards were going to open fire in about...
Pew! "Ahh! Fuck!" A shot had knicked her shoulder, forcing
tears to her eyes as the smell of burning flesh filled her nostrils.
Her right hand flew up to the wound and came away stained red. She kept
enough presence of mind to duck another phaser blast as the doors began
to slowly, torturously open. Devi darted through as soon as the opening
became wide enough to accomdate her and began sprinting across the city
for the docking bays.
From a high balcony, a Romulan watched the woman's flight. He tapped his
fingers meditatively against the railing before turning back in to the
keep. "Ready my transport," he told an attendant, who dipped his head
and entered a turbolift to descend to the ground floor. A moment later,
his employer opened a camouflaged door in the wall and disappeared through
it.
Devi's lungs felt ready to collapse into ashes by the time she made it
into the docking bays. Normally, she could have made this run without
a problem, but normally, she would not have a bleeding hole the size of
a saucer in her shoulder, the pain of which was catching up to her as the
adrenaline began to wear off. Her left arm was all but useless. She stopped
for breath, gasping, head swimming from lack of oxygen. After a moment
she straightened and trotted down the row of hangars to the private bays.
She always paid for her ship to be kept behind locked doors. Every step
was a torture as her shoulder was jarred. Devi fairly collapsed against the
wall as she keyed in her password on the controls.
A warning tingled at the back of her neck as the doors opened. Something
was wrong. She glanced back as the sound of an approaching speeder reached
her ears, no doubt in pursuit. For a moment she considered bolting again
and hiding until she was sure it was safe to board her shuttle, but one
glance at her shoulder ruled that out--the possibility of bleeding to death
was not small enough to ignore. With a grimace against her gut feeling, she
darted into the bay, ordered the control panel on the ship to lower the
ramp, and boarded it.
The Romulan watched from just inside the door as she rushed past him, oblivious.
He followed her noiselessly into the cockpit as the ramp retracted and the
hatch closed. Blood had reached the fingers of her left hand by now, which
Devi noticed was shaking. She swore and turned to seal the cockpit door.
The Romulan stepped aside calmly as he was confronted with a shocked snarl
and the phaser of a dead guard. "Don't let me get in your way. But I might
worry about them if I were you." He gestured toward the Remans running into
the hangar, visible through the cockpit.
"Who the hell are you?" she demanded, breathless from fatigue and pain.
"A friend," he replied with a polite nod. "But I'm the least of your concerns
right now. Praetor Shinzon won't let you off Romulus so easily."
Devi glanced back. The guards had begun to open fire. "Sit down,"
she snapped, motioning with the phaser and struggling to bring her breath
under control. "If you move, I'll kill you." It was a genuine threat, but
with her left arm utterly useless, it might as well have been a bluff,
and a transparent one at that. She half-turned to the controls, keeping
one eye on the Romulan, and lifted the ship from the ground.
"Thank you." The Romulan sat. "Your hospitality is duly noted."
Devi's jaw clenched. Manuvering a shuttle in closed quarters with one hand
and a blasted shoulder was not easy. Outside, the smart guards began running
and the dumb ones kept firing their rifes. "And shut up." She ignited
the engine and blasted straight out the doors, mowing down any Reman who
had not thought to get out of the way.
Devi did not leave her station until they were out of the atmosphere.
She let out a shaking breath, staring at the expanse of stars, before turning
to find the medkit. She nearly ran into the Romulan, who was standing right
behind her with the white box in hand. She glared. "Didn't I tell you
not to move?" She took the medkit without making good on her earlier promise
and slumped back against the wall. Her face was draining of color. She
opened the kit with slightly trembling fingers and began to disinfect her
shoulder with hydrogen peroxide, not even bother to use gauze: the wound
was deep enough to pour the liqiud directly into. A choked hiss escaped
through Devi's teeth. Tears sprang to her eyes as the liquid began to froth.
"Who are you?" she demanded again through a gasp.
The Romulan watched her dispassionately. "My name is Chancellor Huhn'Tej.
And I understand you contract."
She looked up sharply, thinking of the bug hidden in her suit. Did he
just say Chancellor? "I do," she said cautiously, never taking
her eyes off of him as she felt for the bandages. "What of it?"
"I was at the meeting," he went on. "I don't suppose you recognize me,
as your eye was on the Praetor. Which is exactly why I am here. Ever since
his rule the Romulans have had very little...shall we say, direct influence?"
Devi was dressing the wound with one hand and her teeth. "How the
mighty have fallen," she remarked when her mouth was free. Then, "What
do you want me to do about it?"
Huhn'Tej's eyes darkened. "I will pay you. Handsomely." His voice had lost
some of its indifference. "For influence over Shinzon."
Devi stopped in the middle of a wrap and looked up at him, seemingly for
the first time. "Go on."
"No Praetor has ever lasted long, due to dissent within the government
beneath him. Unfortunately, if the lives of leaders are continually so
short, disorder ultimately reigns. However, if Shinzon keeps his life and
his title, the empire might unite behind him. Under my rule. What
I need you to do..." He smiled enigmatically and paused, as though thinking.
"Shinzon is obsessed with his humanity. You are the only other member of
his species he has ever laid eyes on. You will keep him occupied. He will
listen to you in time."
Devi raised an eyebrow, sharply. "Aren't you just a man with plans."
A final wrap and tug secured the bandages. She made her way back to her
seat and sat, leaning back and crossing her legs in a deceptively helpless
position. "I hate to tell you this," she drawled, "but I cut his throat
back there. Literally. There's no way he's going to do anything I say, assuming
I get the opportunity to say anything."
"You will not be killed, rest assured of that. Perhaps I can persuade you
otherwise." The Chancellor slipped a hand into his pocket. Devi tensed and
reached for the phaser, but the other only withdrew with a small black tube
between his fingers. "Have you ever heard of thalaron radiation?"
She nodded, and decided that she was getting thoroughly sick of that warning
prickle. "Yeah; it's theoretical."
"Not anymore." Huhn'Tej smiled, seeming to get some satisfaction out of
seeing her eyes widen. Devi was struggling not to swallow against a suddenly
dry throat. "This, and two other vials of thalaron, will be yours to do
with what you wish--after you've completed the job. Sell them to the highest
bidder, keep them for personal use, decorate your wall for all I care."
The ship's computer beeped. "Ah, that would be their ship. If you surrender
now and confess to holding a Chancellor hostage, you'll still have time to
be taken prisoner."
Devi barked a laugh, not responding to the hail just yet. "Yeah, you're
a fucking hostage." Her eyes glittered coldly. Thalaron radiation. My
God, I could never have to work again for the rest of my life. "A hundred
thousand on top, and it's a deal."
He smiled. "Excellent." The ship beeped again. "They will hail you once
more, then they will open fire."
"Two things," she said sharply as she rose. "I want a complete list of
override codes for all of your damn doors, and don't even think
about disposing of me once you're in power. I haven't contracted for ten
years for nothing."
"I wouldn't dream of it."
She gave him a truly frightening look before drawing a knife and making
a slice through her bandages with it. Then she grabbed them and ripped
the dressing off in one go, taking a fair bit of skin with it. A cry of
pain twisted her face as blood began to flow even more freely than before.
This had to look convincing. The Chancellor slipped the phaser from her and
pinned her wrist behind her back. "C...computer," she managed through white
lips, "On-screen."
The pebbly, bat-like face of a Reman captain appeared on the monitor. Huhn'Tej
nodded to him before prodding her hard with the phaser. "Confess yourself,
girl!"
Devi felt a twinge of unease but played along, doing her best to look
angrily distressed. Which did not take much effort; her shoulder was really,
really hurting right now. She glared back over her shoulder at the Chancellor
and spat. His hand cracked across her jaw, but not too hard. It was
reassurance enough. "I've abducted an official of the Romulan empire," she
growled at the screen.
"And she has graciously agreed to lower her shields and allow you to board.
"Agreed, my ass...!"
He leaned forward to manipulate the ship's controls. The captain nodded
and cut the connection. Within seconds no less than ten armed Remans beamed
aboard, rifles primed and at the ready. Devi found it was all she could
do to focus on breathing as Chancellor Huhn'Tej was 'rescued'. The Romulan
caught her eye and inclined his head so subtly that she might have imagined
it. Then there was a stun tazer to her temple and nothing more.