"I have no idea what to do with him," Tomalak muttered under his breath.
His wounds had been tended to, and lying on one of the beds was Bochra. He was still unconscious from his injuries and there were bandages wrapped around his eyes. Sitting on the floor by the doctor's office was Kaylee, still nursing a headache from her mind meld with Lavok. There were no beds for her, and she didn't particularly need one.
She smiled at Tomalak's mutter, the back of one hand over her eyes to shield them from the bright light of sickbay. Thanks to her mindmeld with the Romulan, her emotions were rather high, and she smiled without thinking when she heard the irritation in Tomalak's voice. Logically, the traitor Aerv would be handed to authorities within the Star Empire once the D'deridex rendezvoused with Enterprise and returned the Romulans home. Whether or not the Romulans were that logical remained to be seen because right now Kaylee wasn't feeling very logical. The information and memories she had gotten from Lavok's mind were still making her head spin.
Tomalak looked at the decoder he had removed from Aerv and then clenched his fingers around it. Normally, he would turn Aerv to the authorities and have his treason dealt with, but Aerv had said he was following orders. For some reason, Tomalak believed him. There was a traitor in the Star Empire, and whoever they were they were in a very high position of power.
Judging from this decoder, Aerv had been a member of the Tal Shiar. The only ones who could give a Tal Shiar agent orders that they would follow was a Tal Shiar. The first guesses were the Tal Shiar Chairmen who led the organization, Praetor Maiek R'Mor, and a few members of the Senate or other high ranking Tal Shiar. Something very dangerous was happening inside the Star Empire, and it worried Tomalak. He didn't even know how Emmeline fit into all of this let alone who was giving these orders.
Tomalak knew only one thing. One of the leaders of the Romulan Star Empire was a traitor.
He didn't look up as the doors to sickbay opened and Geordi La Forge entered. La Forge looked around and then approached Kaylee. She lowered her hand from her eyes when Geordi overshadowed her, and looked up at him curiously.
"Geordi? What is it?" She asked.
"Nothing much," La Forge said a little nervously. "Can I talk to you outside?"
"As long as you don't mean outside Enterprise then sure," Kaylee remarked sarcastically and stood.
La Forge sighed when she said that, relieved that Kaylee was still Kaylee despite the mind meld. The two of them left sickbay, Kaylee still rubbing her forehead, and went into the hallway.
"All right," Kaylee said once the door closed. "What's up now?"
"Normally Worf would probably be the one to tell you, but I know you and him don't get along very well," La Forge stalled. "I thought I should tell you before it became public knowledge."
"Tell me what?" Kaylee asked seriously.
La Forge wasn't sure what to say.
"Just say it," Kaylee sighed and shook her head. "Whatever you plan to say just say it."
La Forge supposed that would be the best, and took a breath. "Saavak is dead."
Kaylee narrowed her eyes and slowly looked up at La Forge. "What did you just say?"
"We found Saavak's body in one of the cargo bays," La Forge repeated. "We think the Romulan traitor came across her after he escaped from sickbay. He used the transporter in the cargo bay to reach Tomalak's position and avoid the guards. The power was mostly shut off in the bay, so Red Alert wouldn't have sounded inside. There was no way for her to know what was going on, and the Romulan ambushed her."
Kaylee slowly looked down, hand shaking. La Forge was still talking, but Kaylee didn't hear his words anymore. Saavak was the person who had raised her in place of her real parents, and the only family Kaylee knew. Now she was dead because of that traitor?
"Thank you for telling me," Kaylee interrupted La Forge as he tried to say something comforting.
She turned on her heel and left, not really knowing where she was going. La Forge let her go unchallenged. He had lost close friends before, but she had just lost her only family. There was no way for him to know what was she was feeling right now. Hopefully she'd go see Troi and talk to her a little. Dianne was the ship's counselor after all, and this was what she was familiar with. La Forge hoped that was what happened.
Kaylee didn't go see Troi though, and she didn't wander into Ten Forward where Guinan was. She went to the last place she should go, an idea forming in her head. It was all the fault of that Romulan Aerv that Saavak was dead, and from what she had felt and heard from the other Romulans, he had been working under orders. She wanted to find out who they were, and why they had given those orders that had ended in Saavak's death.
Aerv probably wouldn't care about Savaak since she was a Vulcan and a simple civilian casualty, but Kaylee did. Considering that she was planning to disable the guards and get the information from Aerv forcibly it wasn't a very Vulcan thing to do, but she wasn't feeling like a Vulcan. Since she didn't suppress her emotions she had handled Lavok's Romulan mentality without destabilizing her, but there was an aftereffect. Right now, Kaylee was feeling as irrational as a Romulan.
Aerv was trapped behind a forcefield with his hands cuffed behind his back when Kaylee entered. There was only one guard at the station, and he looked up in surprise when Kaylee approached.
"Sorry Kaylee," he said apologetically, "authorized personnel only. I know you get told that all the time and you get around it, but not this time. If the security footage of his fight with the other Romulans is true then he's way too dangerous."
"I want to ask him something," Kaylee said calmly. "I am one of only two telepaths on this ship."
"I am aware of that," the guard agreed, "but I need permission from the captain to let you anywhere near him, or the Romulan Commander. I'm not really sure."
Kaylee tilted her head as she thought about it, and then raised her head back to the guard. "Why don't you ask the Captain about it?"
The guard was wisely cautious of lowered his eyes from her, but foolishly looked away to activate the communicator. While he had his head lowered, Kaylee crept up behind him. He jumped when glanced up and failed to see Kaylee, and suddenly realized she was behind him.
She pinched the shoulder of the security guard near the base of his neck with one hand. Nearly instantly, the guard froze and then collapsed into a heap without making a sound. Kaylee let him fall with a smirk, glad she was half-Vulcan. The Vulcan nerve pinch might not work on fellow Vulcans or Romulans because of how similar their biology was to Vulcans, but it worked marvelous on humans.
Her action had attracted Aerv's attention, and he watched her without moving or making a sound as she took the guard's phaser and walked over to stand in front of his cell.
"If it isn't the one who revealed my presence," Aerv mused to Kaylee. "I take it you aren't here to rescue me."
"No," Kaylee promised darkly. "I am not, Romulan. You killed one of Enterprise's crew earlier today."
"I did?" Aerv asked and looked at the ceiling to try and remember. "Well there was one Vulcan in the cargo bay. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ah, I see. You're Vulcan as well. Did you know her?"
Kaylee tightened her grip on the phaser, confirming Aerv's guess. "She was my surrogate."
"It appears I have upset someone," Aerv smiled.
"Yes you did," Kaylee agreed. "Have you ever heard of a mind flare?"
"Not of a Vulcan using it," Aerv hummed lightly. "A mindflare requires feeling anger and using your telepathy to turn your anger into someone's pain. A living calculator can't do it."
"No," Kaylee agreed, "which is why Vulcans don't use them. But a half-human can."
She smiled, and Aerv took a step back. It was obvious she was a mixed-blood from her appearance, and Aerv scolded himself for being so flippant with her. She raised her empty hand out towards Aerv to focus her attack.
"Pain," she whispered.
Aerv's head jerked back as something like fire burned the nerves in his mind and he banged against the wall of his cell. This was a mindflare? It felt worse than a mindprobe and despite his training as a Tal Shiar agent to resist telepathy he couldn't stop it. Tilaria walked closer and deactivated the barrier to his cell. Blood started to drip from Aerv's nose and he dropped to his knees as Kaylee knelt in front of him.
"You killed the wrong Vulcan, Romulan," Kaylee warned him.
Then she shot him with the phaser. He cringed and then slumped to the ground loudly. Kaylee lowered the phaser and rolled him over so he was on his back. The phaser had done its job and he was soundly stunned. Now that she had weakened him, all that was left was to get the reason why.
Why had he done this his fellow Romulans? If he hadn't destroyed Terix then Saavak would still be alive, so why? What was so important that Saavak had needed to die for? What?
"My mind to your mind," Kaylee hissed as she pressed her fingers to his temple. "My thoughts to your thoughts."
The mind meld took. Memories flashed as Kaylee was submerged in Aerv's consciousness. Some were similar to Lavok, growing up in the Star Empire. It seemed that Aerv wasn't from Romulus like Lavok was, but had been assigned there after he joined the Tal Shiar. There were other memories with emotions and personal thought interwoven as Kaylee lived through them, but one was suddenly stuck in her mind.
Aerv had traveled to a distant part of Romulus on a private estate and walked into a two-story house with much of the lower floor walled with glass. He entered and met with another Romulan inside. The Romulan was in civilian clothes, but from his stance and the air around him was obviously a military officer. When he turned, Kaylee saw that his black hair was worn long to his shoulders instead of cropped at his ears as most Romulans did, and his the ends curled slightly with bangs framing his face.
"Delron," Aerv greeted the longhaired Romulan and saluted.
Delron waved away the salute casually, and Kaylee could see through Aerv's senses that the back of Delron's right hand was scarred as if it had lacerated by the talons of a raptor. It was an ironic feature considering the eagle was the Romulan crest, and Kaylee, or Aerv at the moment, knew that it had been made by an eagle when Delron was a child. Aerv had read it in Delron's file.
"Ah, here she is," Delron looked up as someone glided silently into the reception area from the kitchen as silent as a stalking cat, and her steps were equally feral.
"What is it?" A woman asked in a voice similar to a silken purr as she walked inside.
There was a wine glass partially full with what looked like Romulan ale in one hand, and in the nook of her other arm was a pale brown and white ball of fuzz that cooed. Unless Aerv was mistaken, the six-inch long ball of fluff was a tribble. Walking around her feet was a black and orange Earth cat with bright green eyes, and she was meowing.
"Hold on," the woman sighed and knelt down on one knee to scratch the cat between her ears.
The cat hopped onto her hindlegs and headbutted the woman's palm.
"What is it?" She asked without looking up. "Guests again Delron? Normally things are so quiet here."
"A new Chairman of the Tal Shiar was recently appointed," Delron explained, "I believe his name is Vrih. You are quite an unorthodox asset, and he wants to make sure you check out."
The woman stopped petting the cat and stood, her dark blue knee-length longcoat rustling with the movement. "I suppose I cannot blame them."
Kaylee froze in the memory, stunned to see that the woman was a mirror image of Kaylee, only older, without Vulcan features, and with a scar on the right side of her face. She knew who that was, but she didn't believe what she saw.
"My name is Emmeline, Tal Shiar asset," Kaylee's mother greeted with the ale and tribble still in her arms. "I am a former member of the Federation as my file states, and I used to be given assignments by Federation's Sector 31, and now by your Tal Shiar. Tal Shiar's new leader, Vrih was it?, has nothing to worry about. The last Tal Shiar Chairmen had no complaints, so I doubt this one will."
Emmeline, Kaylee thought as she saw the woman, that was her mother. Her mother was a member of the Romulan Star Empire, an asset of Sector 31? Saavak had always said she was a Federation science officer, but it seemed that couldn't be more wrong. What was Sector 31 to begin with?
The memory slid away although Kaylee tried her best to keep ahold of it, and there was a collage of others one after another, bits and pieces. Aerv was next sparring with other Tal Shiar agents, honing his skills. Then he was at a social reception with officials in a formal suit, undercover and gathering information. He was next seen in engineering onboard a starship, not the Terix, giving out commands as the Romulan equivalent of Red Alert sounded. It seemed they were in battle.
Then a memory stuck. Aerv was meeting with a Tal Shiar official, saluting respectfully. There was a PADD on the desk that showed a picture of Commander Tomalak, and Kaylee was able to read the letters on it. Her mother's name was listed along with Delron, the Romulan with her mother, and both Bochra and Patahk, the crew of Pi, were on the list. There were a few others she didn't recognize: Dontara, Rehu, and Vira.
"Your targets are Tomalak," the Romulan behind the desk told Aerv. "Patahk was successfully killed, but Bochra survived Pi's sabotage so you will need to ensure his death as well. This contamination must be stopped now. Emmeline is simply too dangerous, even dead."
Kaylee couldn't make out who the Romulan was
The Romulan was sitting in the shadows behind his desk, and Kaylee couldn't see who it was. There was something about his voice though that made Kaylee want to shield away from the memory. This had to be when Aerv received his orders to destroy Terix.
"This is a one-way mission," the Romulan promised Aerv. "The agents who eliminated Dontana and Rehu did not return, and you must eliminate both Tomalak and his son Bochra."
"I will," Aerv promised strongly, Kaylee speaking the words as she lived the memory.
Son? Tomalak had a son? Why did her mother's name come up on the list? Emmeline had something to do with these killings? Who was the Romulan that was speaking?
His tone was honeyed, and his words clear and light although somewhat quiet as if he meant to whisper. Kaylee narrowed her eyes, but she couldn't see the Romulan sitting behind the desk. He was the one who had given the Tal Shiar orders to kill fellow Romulans, but who was he?
Aerv handed the PADD back to the other Romulan, and he took it. "I understand my mission, and the importance to the safety of the Star Empire."
"There is no greater threat to the Star Empire at the moment," the Romulan assured Aerv. "Not the Klingons or the Federation. Emmeline is dead, and all that remains is removing her old allies and those who have been in deep contact with her."
"Yes sir," Aerv said strongly and saluted in the Romulan fashion.
Then Kaylee was in Engineering aboard Terix, locking a shift gauge between two panels and sabotaging the ship so it would be destroyed. Aerv was the one had destroyed Terix after all, and Kaylee felt fear from the memory strike through her as Lavok knelt down inside the conduit Aerv had just been in.
Since he was pretending to be a lowly Uhlan, Aerv couldn't stop Lavok from looking inside without raising suspicion. He was caught, and let his nervousness betray him. Foolishly, he had been left Engineering, and that move had been what had tipped Kaylee off to his identity and revealed him. Aerv regretted failing his mission, especially when the stakes were so high.
Kaylee batted aside the memories of Terix, and tried to find the spot through the sea of memories that showed the Romulan who had given the orders that had ended up killing Saavak, the traitor. She couldn't find the point in the sea of his memories, of every second of his life in his mind. Like Vulcans, Romulans could live over 250 years and Aerv was currently almost seven decades. It was too many memories, too much life, for Kaylee to find that brief fragment again.
Then she felt her hold start to slip, like water running through her fingers. The memories were fading away even though she had not stopped the mind meld. Kaylee and Aerv were returning to being two separate beings. She had no idea what was happening until she felt Deanna Troi start to call out her name. Troi was cutting her off from the meld, and that meant someone had found Kaylee.
Kaylee allowed her personality and Aerv's to separate, but echoes of his memories still rang in her mind just as Lavok's did. She was drawn back to her real body, and went reluctantly. There was no dose of lexorin waiting for her this time, and Kaylee felt her hands slip from Aerv's face as she was tugged away from him.
As Kaylee returned to being herself she became aware that she was propped up against a wall near Aerv's cell. He was coughing up blood, and more was dripping from his eyes, nose, and ears. The pathways of a mind were very delicate, and Kaylee had not been as gentle as she could have been with her meld. Dr. Crusher scanned Aerv with a Tricorder while Worf stood nearby. Tomalak was also present with Riker, although Kaylee couldn't make out much more through her haze.
There was a chime from Riker's combadge, and he tapped it once. "Riker here."
"This is bridge," Captain Picard announced. "Two Romulan warbirds just decloaked. They're asking to speak to Tomalak and to begin transporting the Terix survivors aboard their ship. They say they have security standing by to take the saboteur into custody."
"Now?" Riker demanded.
"Yes," Picard said. "Is there a problem?"
"Possibly," Riker admitted after a moment. "Kaylee just did a mind meld with the traitor. She looks really out of it, and I think she might have damaged the traitor."
"Damaged?" Picard looked at the view screen showing the Romulan warbirds with a curious look. "What does that mean?"
"It means he sustained brain damage," Dr. Crusher answered after activating her own combadge. "I read severe neural degeneration and damage to the blood vessels in the brain. It doesn't look so much like she did a mindmeld as a mindshred."
"Mindshredding takes more focus," Kaylee said dazedly. "You don't care about reading the memories, only tearing them up. One by one, attacking the memories and the neural pathways connecting to them. A mindshred kills. He's alive."
Riker stared wide-eyed at the wall and then down at Kaylee. "You know how to mindshred someone? Kaylee!"
"I've never done a mindshred before," Kaylee defended, pupils dangerously dilated. "They take emotion to do like a mindflare, and since I use my emotions I thought I might as well learn. Saavak got all the files I needed. She's never tried to make me suppress my emotions. I'm more powerful with them, and a much greater asset."
The first thing that crossed Tomalak's mind was that the Vulcans had allowed Kaylee to keep her emotions to turn her into a better weapon. They had taken advantage of her, a perfectly logical thing to do to take advantage of an emotional Vulcan. There couldn't be many Vulcans with the emotions needed to do the things Kaylee could do. Then the name of the Vulcan sank in.
"Saavak?" Tomalak repeated quietly, as quiet as taking a breath.
"Kaylee's surrogate," Riker explained and sighed. "She was just killed by your traitor, probably why Kaylee came here and attacked him."
Saavak had been involved with Kaylee? This was the proof Tomalak needed that it wasn't a coincidence that Kaylee looked like Emmeline. The Vulcans would not assign someone like Saavak to monitor Kaylee unless she was a very valuable asset indeed. Her emotions alone wouldn't be enough to garner Saavak's involvement. Kaylee had to be Emmeline's daughter. It was the only way to explain why the Vulcans would be so interested that they would arrange Saavak to be her surrogate. This was the connection he had been looking for.
"Commander Tomalak," Riker said, jolting Tomalak from his daze.
Tomalak realized he had clenched his teeth, and relaxed his jaw enough to answer. "Yes?"
"The Warbrids want to speak to you," Riker explained.
"I imagine they do," Tomalak agreed.
He looked over first Kaylee, who was still sitting there as if she was either drunk or had taken a hit to the head, or both, and then at Aerv. The traitor was still bleeding and unconscious. He wished he knew how to explain this.
There is more to everyone in this story. Remember, intrigue and subterfuge are part of the Romulan way and everyone is playing a role in this game. Emmeline is very important. I don't know how to describe a mind meld from a first person POV, so i guessed. If you have any ideas about how that works i will be free to hear them out.