Rios looked at the message on the panel in front of him. All traffic to Kiera Station was suspended for at least 24 hours. What new twist was this? he wondered. They were scheduled to arrive in two days but he figured there'd be delays. Right now there were hundreds of ships trying to leave the system in wake of the demonstrations and rally. The station had been busy the last few days, if traffic couldn't leave, then there might not be space for new arrivals.
"Have you contacted your sister?" he asked A'den when he came out of his quarters.
"No," A'den said, "Enid never carries her PCD and everyone at the rectory seems to be involved in the rally."
"They've grounded all departures for 24 hours at Kiara Station," maybe the Vulcan would have some insight. It could be nothing, these remotes stations often had technology glitches.
"See if you can contact Rory O'Dare, at the station." A'den had been in the same class as the young man, "We played soccer together."
"A'den, what can I do for you?" to the young Vulcan, Rory's greeting was uncharacteristically cordial. A'den shrugged it off thinking Rory was under stress from the shutdown.
"All traffic is grounded I hear," he began, "I'm scheduled to arrive the day after tomorrow."
"Everything should be cleared up by then," was the assistant station manager's matter of fact reply.
"I've been trying to get a hold of Enid. She's supposed to be staying at the rectory," A'den explained, still wondering about the response he was getting from his one time friend. The mention of Enid seemed to make the usually gregarious Rory's face harden further.
"Some man named Rynar came to the rectory a few hours ago with your father," Rory watched for a reaction from his friend but was rewarded with typical Vulcan stoicism, "They took Enid."
"My father returned early and picked up Enid," A'den said mostly to himself.
"They took Enid," Rory corrected. Rynar must have ruffled some feathers at the rectory. That rang true to A'den, Rynar was cold even for a Vulcan, which would not have played well with the O'Dares. He expected that Rynar would come to Kiara eventually. Hopefully he had not made any decisions yet. He didn't want to ask Rory for more details in front of Rios and his crew.
"What do you mean took?" Rios interrupted. He judged that Rory was hoping that A'den would take the bait and when the young Vulcan did not, Rios decided to be helpful. A'den shifted on his feet. Rory's apparent animus coupled with A'den's increasing withdrawal gave Rios cause for concern. Something was very wrong.
"I mean those sick fucks came in and took her against her will," Rory exploded. Rios made eye contact with Raffe across the bridge who mouthed the question, "sick fucks?"
"Enid is not fond of Rynar," A'den turned to Rios, "And she has difficulty with changes in plans. She would not have been happy," he then said to Rory, "I hope she didn't throw too bad a tantrum."
"She didn't throw a tantrum," Rory said bitterly, "I don't know much about Vulcan culture but we don't hold with people being treated as chattel."
"Chattel?" Rios echoed, alarmed, "Explain please."
"Ask your passanger." Rory cut the communication. Rios turned to A'den and lifted an eyebrow.
"I've no idea what's gotten into Rory," A'den said as Rios tried to determine if he was telling the truth. A'den didn't wait for a follow up question, "I need to contact my father." He retreated to his quarters.
Once A'den was out of earshot, Rios turned to Raffe, "What the hell did we miss with this one?" Raffe shrugged, A'den, S'ril and Enid had all checked out ok. She decided to dig a bit deeper.
Narek returned to the checkpoint to find Federation news drones circling above the twenty or so Romulan miners demonstrating in the street. Raelyn waved him into the diner. Ni'ael was seated in a booth towards the back.
"What happened at the rectory?" he asked. Narek relayed the events of the evening. He learned that the Klingons had not been working for the Orions.
"The Klingons are interested in her?" Narek did not like this development.
"They planned to just kill her," Ni'ael said, "So we wouldn't have her."
"We have eyes on her?" Narek was worried, "We know they didn't take her off planet?"
"Oh they did head straight to the station," Ni'ael gave a rueful laugh, "That Rynar is a piece of work!" Ni'ael relayed the confrontation between Liam O'Dare and Rynar at the station. "He's lucky that O'Dare canceled the transports though, we planned to take the girl by force, news service drones or not." Ni'ael had dozens of altered operatives in place around the station ready if need be. Narek wondered at the power that Plutarch must yield to have this sort of operation in place for so many years under the nose of the Federation. That had to take an enormous amount of money in bribes and endless amounts of intelligence to blackmail officials.
"The protest?" Narek nodded towards the checkpoint.
"A diversion," Ni'ael said, "I think it is better to keep the Federation News Service occupied for now." He didn't offer any further explanation.
"We need to know what is going on with Enid," Narek formulated a plan in his head but needed help to pull it off quickly, "Do you have an operative with holo programming experience?"
"My communications specialist," Ni'ael responded. Romulans did not use holo assistants or any artificial intelligence but they did employ holograms for communication, "What's your plan?"
Narek explained that S'ril had holo emitters in every room to accommodate the medical hologram that served as Enid's primary care physician. As a theoretical cyberneticist, Narek thought he could find his way around S'ril's EMH programming but needed to tweak the holo matrix to escape detection. Given the time crunch he wanted to consult with someone who had more practical experience with holo matrixes. The two men then crossed the checkpoint into the Romulan sector where Ni'ael introduced Narek to Cailem. Although he was short for a Northerner, Cailem was otherwise classically handsome. He shaved the sides of his head to expose his ears which were well proportioned. The rest of his hair was long and cornrowed into a bun on top of his head. After spending so much time alone the last few years, Narek enjoyed collaborating. Cailem was intelligent and efficient. Narek's plan was to hijack the holo emitters so that he could enter the residence in hologram form. Cailem needed to monitor the emitter grid in case the holo program was activated.
"There are some things you should remember," Cailem told Narek when they were ready to give their plan a try, "You'll be visible in direct light. If the medical holo is activated in the room you are in, I will redirect your signal to another part of the house." Operatives were stationed outside Enid's home and could give a rough idea where people were given that the Vulcans had employed a jamming signal. Cailem modified scanners to counteract the Vulcan signal but could only guarantee 78 percent accruacy. Cailem tapped out a few commands on the panel at his workstation, "Also, if you want to manipulate something in the environment, let me know, but you will be visible." This was an added bonus. Usually communication holograms couldn't manipulate matter.
Enid was being held in her bedroom. When it was determined that no one was nearby, Cailem activated the holo program. Narek entered the dimly lit room. The poster over her bed had been torn down, shards of hooves and horns lined the ledge along her room, and her notebooks and medals were missing. Enid was slumped over against the door. He knelt. He could see she had been crying hard. Her lips were cracked from dehydration. Green blood had dried around her mouth, making Narek think she might have bit one of her assailants. Good, he thought. He hoped she got a good chunk out of the man. Her hands were swollen and purple. Narek saw a purple bruise that ringed her neck. She banged her head against the door several times and repeated "Papa, Papa," in a horse voice. Her pupils were dilated, Narek guessed she was drugged. He wanted to stop her from banging her head and indicated to Cailem to increase his signal density so he could slip his hand between her and the wall. When her head came in contact with his hand she startled. She rolled away from the door and tried to prop herself up on her arms but found that her hands hurt too much to support her weight and she fell on her face. She curled up, drawing her knees up to protect her abdomen and covered her head and face with her arms.
Narek took a cue from Missy and Rone. He lowered himself to the floor so his head was even with Enid's. She was wearing a white sleeveless shift. From this perspective he could see she had been treated with extraordinary roughness. She had hand shaped bruises on her upper arms, defensive bruises on her lower arms. He examined her legs. She had some bruising on her thighs and on the inside of her knees. These are not typical Vulcans, Narek thought.
"Enid," Narek gently reassured her, "We're going to help you." She looked up at him. Narek felt sand under his hands. He was on the beach. Enid was laying across the bloodied body of her alicorn. She stroked it's mane. Tears dropped from her face mixing with the blood on the beast's white hide.
"Rynar killed Boo," Enid said with her head buried in Boo's mane.
"Enid, Boo's a construct of your mind," Narek explained gently, "Can't you just bring it back?"
"Rynar will just kill her again," Enid lifted her head, looking Narek in the eye, "He enjoys killing Boo."
"You are not alone," he wanted to comfort her in some way but was unsure how to proceed, "There are people who are trying to help you." Narek walked around Boo to take a seat near Enid, but not close enough to be considered a threat, "Tell me about Rynar."
Enid turned to face Narek. Her back was against the alicorn and she pulled her knees to her chin, "He works with Papa. He hates me..." She stopped and bowed her head into her knees.
"So you know him?" Narek pressed. Enid nodded. She had always felt contempt from Rynar. He wanted her to be someone else, someone Vulcan. This was her fault. She should have listened to Papa. She should have tried harder to be a proper Vulcan.
"He wants..." She paused and looked up, "I don't know what he wants...He needs me but he hates me." She squeezed her eyes shut.
"What does he need you for?"
"I don't know," tears flooded her eyes, "I feel like I should know but…" She placed both palms on her forehead and took a deep breath, extending a finger for each second as she inhaled. She reversed the action as she exhaled. The technique worked, she leveled her eyes at Narek, "Everyday is a test is a test, I don't know how to pass. Everyday I fail."
Narek, like any other Romulan could relate to this. Everyday was a test of loyalty and wits. This girl, however was from what he could tell, purposely brought into existence despite...He checked his thoughts remembering she could hear him. He didn't want to muddy the issue, "Maybe the test isn't fair," he said.
"That's not what you were thinking," Enid said, "You think I'm too…"
"Is it ethical?" Narek interrupted, "To listen to…"
"You came in here!" Enid interrupted him back.
"I'm not telepathic," Narek's reproached, "I'm here because on some level you want me here."
"Missy says the Tal Shiar uses dark psychology to get people to do what they want," Enid retorted, "You're manipulating me somehow." She jumped up and started walking briskly along the shoreline. Narek followed.
"Oh, there's dark psychology at play here, but it's not me!" he called, amazed at the girl's sophisticated self-deceptions. "Rynar is trying to break down your identity," he gestured back towards Boo, "He wants to mold you into someone he can control." He watched to see if she understood. She was in danger, and he needed her to see that. He needed her to cooperate.
"He wants to make me Vulcan," Enid said, "I didn't listen to Papa and now Rynar has to fix me."
"You believe that?" Narek balked.
"It makes more sense than what you believe," Enid countered.
"You are never going to be Vulcan, Enid," Narek continued to push her, "You can never be Vulcan." Enid stopped and spun around to face the Romulan. It was difficult to discern her expression. She was fighting the truth. He needed for her to embrace the truth, to accept that she was Romulan and that she needed to come with him. She needed to meet her father, "Aren't you just a little curious?" He said cautiously and waited for a response.
The response came albeit not the one he was hoping for. The landscape disappeared and Narek found himself back in Enid's room. The battered girl was still curled up on the floor. She clutched a large white feather in her hand that Narek recognized as coming from Boo. She extended it towards him. Narek took and examined it. This was beyond telekinetics, at least any telekinetics that he'd been aware of. She had created matter from something she imagined. What was the limit of her abilities? He knew he couldn't bring it back with him so he decided to leave it in her horde of drawings. Enid's eyes grew wide as he accessed her secret hiding spot.
Narek didn't want to leave the girl on the floor. She let him gently pick her up and place her on the bed. He needed to find out what drug they were using on the girl so Cailem calibrated the holo so he could scan Enid. It was a neat work of programming, Narek thought as he waved his arm above Enid to collect her vitals, this technology would have many applications if it could be scaled. He pulled a blanket over her then signaled for Cailem to put him in another room. Cailem put him into S'ril's office. Rynar was seated at S'ril's desk examining a tablet.
Vulcans had been repressing emotions since the Time of Awakening but no society is ever truly monolithic. Rynar had learned logic, found it useful, but rejected the idea that the pursuit of logic leads to peace, either individually or as a society. This was not an edict of the ancient order he served, but rather a personal decision. He did not believe in pacifism. He believed that there were logical justifications for violence or even war. He did hold to the central tenet of Vulcan culture that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or one. With that in mind, he believed he was justified in his treatment of the albino girl. S'ril's late wife had been a seerer. Her prophecy regarding Enid made the girl a clear and present threat to Vulcan society. Regardless of his acceptance or rejection of Surak's philosophy he regarded S'ril's handling of the affair to be folly. If the girl could not be salvaged, she must be destroyed. What Rynar had not been expecting was just how glorious unrestrained violence was. In fact, now that he had gone down that route once, he looked forward to his next session with the girl.
These were the thoughts that occupied Rynar as Narek watched him from the shadows of the room. There wasn't much that Narek could discern from this vantage point until T'vel entered the room.
"S'lar reports that he finished programming the medical holo. It will no longer accept Enid's commands." he said.
"Very good," Rynar said, placing the tablet on the desk. T'vel did not leave. To Narek, it seemed the man wanted to say something but restrained himself. Rynar evidently sensed the same thing, "You have misgivings?" he asked.
"Yes," T'vel leveled his gaze on Rynar, "This goes against everything our society believes."
"Do you want your descendants to be subjected to Romulan rule?" Rynar asked.
"It is not my preference, but to treat another sentient being in this matter is wrong," T'vel lectured, "Enid is-"
"A mistake," Rynar interjected, "S'ril's folly, and one that needs to be corrected."
"That is harsh," T'vel persisted.
"You have often criticized S'ril's training of the girl," Rynar pointed out.
"Training yes," T'vel conceded, "Enid lacks discipline but what you are doing goes against our training, our culture. The end doesn't justify the means. We can't save ourselves by going against our core beliefs."
"What are you getting at?"
"I resign," T'vel said flatly, "I will no longer be a part of this."
"What do you intend to tell the council?" Rynar rose from his seat.
"You are the council now," T'vel said, "There is no need for me to speak further on this matter." T'vel had already notified Vulcan Intelligence regarding Rynar, The Order, and Enid's condition. Rynar had intercepted the transmission. Now all that was left was to take care of T'vel.
"Very well then," Rynar made a motion like he was going to escort T'vel out, then drew a phaser and shot him. T'vel was killed instantly. Rynar increased the setting on the phaser so that all that remained was some genetic residue which he cleaned up with a towel and deposited in the recycler. Rynar smiled. Unrestrained violence was good.
Narek signaled Cailem to bring him back.