Four years earlier - Federation year: 2268

Hellguard colony, Romulan Star Empire

Hellguard seemed lifeless. Some old buildings rose on a plain just where the sands of an enormous desert ended, shadowed by high mountains. Thieurrull had never been a successful colony, and its scarce inhabitants had abandoned it decades ago to live in richer areas of the Romulan Empire. They were the ones who had given the planet its awful name.

Nothing of value existed here. The mineral sources that had motivated its colonization had been so limited that nobody had mined them. Hellguard was not even worthy as an outpost, but even so, the Imperial Fleet had always detached a military unit to the planet. At first, it had been just that, an outpost from where the Empire could protect its borders, but the real reason why the military had not completely deserted the colony once the civilian inhabitants left was a very different one. The doomed planet was perfect for covert operations, and, for the last ten years, a secret research project had been run.

Soldiers hated the post. The temporary barracks where they lived where the only place that looked habitable; however, the old buildings still held some activity. And in the deep of the desert, another compound was hidden beneath the sands. Its entrance, always locked, could hardly be seen, and sometimes was completely buried. It did not matter. The soldiers always used a transporter to get in and out of it. The scientists who worked in it hardly left it, and the rest of its occupants never did, unless they were going to die.

Inside the facility, four scientists talked in a small room. The bright lights hanging precariously from the low ceiling only served to emphasize their weary faces. They sat around a plain table, visibly distressed. The project they had worked so hard on was being canceled, and their future was now unknown.

Their desperate talk led to a decision, of sorts. An hour later, all the hybrids were brought together in a big room with large tables and chairs for everyone, but most of them stood or ran across the room and even fought. Some of them cried, although they tried to hide it, fearing the Romulans and the other children, who could be even crueler.

As they had been taught to be by their creators.

Saavik, a five year old girl, snarled, looking menacingly at an older boy who stood near her. The boy was almost double her height and stronger, and she acted like the aggressor before he picked her as a weak target.

But he was the one who looked intimidated. The girl was too quick, too clever, and too strong in will. She had fast learned the rules of survival in the complex or she wouldn't have made it to five. The older powerful children respected her, but not him, which was one more reason why he had better let her be.

A group of soldiers had brought them in moments ago, but now the guards were all gone. A young man had taken their place in supervising the children. He was tall and rather thin, his soft, almost childlike features very true to his character. Fegral was a good man which made him brush his fingers through his brown hair nervously over what he was about to announce. He was in the front of the room, and observed them for some minutes before speaking up.

"Please, please, kids, listen to me."

His clear and loud voice stopped most of them. The hybrids liked him, because he was the only one who was always kind to them; but most of them also distrusted him, for they knew well that he could not be that different from the others like him, and those others were all cruel.

"Kids, listen to me, this is important."

Saavik was not paying any attention until the last sentence stopped her; she turned her back on the other child to look at the Romulan man instead. She had noticed his desperation and had realized he wasn't commanding them, not even asking them; he pleaded with them to listen.

"You are going to be given another aptitude test," he explained. "You must do it correctly."

Saavik looked oddly at him. They were always being tested; she could not understand why this time was so important, and when hadn't she done a test correctly?

In that moment the doors opened and a young woman entered the room. She passed by the hybrids, haughty, and even pushed some of them as she walked towards Fegral, muttering some curses.

"Ejarh, you are late," he told her softly. "You have left me alone with all these little monsters."

He spoke the words with tenderness, but that was lost on his partner.

"No, Fegral," she replied as she neared him, "you left me alone with the bosses." She was not really angry with him, just upset with the situation.

"Another meeting? I didn't know." He lowered his voice then, and some of the children who had been quiet before, started to make noise. Saavik, however, strained to hear.

"Of course you didn't know!" Ejarh snorted. She was speaking louder and Saavik could hear her better. "You're always here around the hybrids, trying to teach them. You treat them as if they were children!"

Saavik flinched and her expression hardened, fixing her murderous stare on the woman. So did the others who paid attention, while some younger ones broke into crying. But no matter their reaction, they were all hurt, and their low self-esteem lowered a little more.

Fegral's gaze was also one of distress. "They are children, Ejarh, look at them."

She did as her colleague suggested and studied intently one of the children in front of her. Her eyes showed her inner confusion. She dropped the subject. Looking uncomfortably to the young man, she answered, "Maybe you can consider them children, Fegral, but I'll tell you exactly what they are." She was speaking softly then, and Saavik was unable to understand. "They are the subjects of a project that has just been canceled."

The man was ready to argue, and she stopped him before he could utter a word, raising her hand. "Please, listen to me." These were the only words Saavik could understand, and was surprised when she realized the mean woman was distraught. "It's over, Fegral. The ship that is going to dismantle everything is already on its way. They will be here tomorrow morning. There is nothing more we can do."

The man sank, and with his eyes cast on the floor, he asked warily, "And what about the children?"

She smiled faintly at him, sympathetically, and stretched her hand to touch him lightly on his shoulder. "You have always been a good man." She paused. "Come on. Let's talk about all this outside."

He looked up, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "What's going to happen to them? Tell me."

She sled her hand over his arm to take his, and pulled him as she walked towards the door. "Outside." He followed her reluctantly.

This time, as she pushed her way between the hybrids, she was gentler.