Koval raised his hand to silence his guards and their stupid questions. For almost a minute, he did nothing. He just stared at the empty space where Sloan had stood only a moment before, where he had menaced him, and even beat him, looking for answers. Oddly, he had conflicting emotions towards the fallen man; he was feeling some kind of distress he was unused to. He had created several Sloans before, he had used them and then, he had disposed of them; he had killed a few of them and he had never felt anything. But this Sloan had been different. He had come to him, enraged, aware of his real identity, feeling betrayed. The other Sloans were proud and self-possessed when they were just tools, as they were meant to be. And this last Sloan was instead a broken man with free will. And he had betrayed him.
Koval stared at the empty space unable to understand that betrayal. The Sloan clone existed only because of him, why did he turn against him then? Shouldn't he be grateful to him? He had made him a better man, he had enhanced his mind and his body, and he had given him life. Why did he want him dead, or even worse, dishonored? But that was not a pressing matter now; the answers would have to wait. That Sloan was dead and would never answer him.
Thankfully, he had been able to distract his enemies enough time for the alarm to be raised and his security team to raid the room. Sloan was welcomed, of course, but he always had a contingency plan. No one could stay an indefinite time with him alone without his consent, and even when he was by himself, he always sent a signal to internal security every hour if he was awake, and he hardly sleep at all; if the signal was not sent, security knew something had gone wrong. Now, thought, he realized he had to shorten the programmed time; Sloan could have killed him at any moment, and now the empty space would be himself instead of the Human. That was the fragility of life.
Suddenly, Koval woke up of his reverie and moved nervously around the room, thinking of what was the better course of action. He had tried not to admit any of the accusations, and probably he had not talked too much, not even when he lost his mind talking about Hellguard. In spite of all, he realized that he had never expected anyone to speak up against him now that he was so powerful, and precisely for that, he had been running his last operations with less caution. If the Continuing Committee decided to investigate him, the probabilities of finding any of his illegal activities were too high. But he did not think that any of them as themselves could be considered treason. Now he regretted not having killed Ajeya when his agents caught her spying on them in the Cardassian Union. Her death would have been easier to explain than her confinement, especially now that she had her own voice and was risking to lose everything to stop him. Once more, he had to wonder why the woman was so driven to destroy him.
Koval paced restlessly. His first priority was to obliterate every trace of the facilities given away by Sloan. He held there several of the biological weapons he had created, and kept investigating on genetic enhancement. As the cloned man had pointed out, he had never informed the Praetor or the Senate of any of his actions; they were his private research, for his own Great Scheme; nobody had to know.
"Leave me alone," he ordered his guards. "Go back to your post."
As the four soldiers retreated, he went to the communications' console. He did a quick search and found out which of his ships was closer to the secret base, one that would be unaware of its activities. He ordered a channel opened with the vessel; he did not have to wait long. He took on his appearance, the phaser's wound and the bruised face, so switched off the image and let only his voice be listened. He watched the commander, though, a veteran Tal Shiar colonel with an unimpressive record; he had never trusted him enough as to let him be part of his elite, but just as anyone else, he would obey his orders without question. He delivered his new mission; he commanded the ship to cloak, cut off communications and travel at maximum warp speed to the Delta system; he gave him the facility's exact coordinates on the planet, it has to be blown up to dust. The mission was classified, of course, he would never speak of it. Koval nodded in satisfaction as the commander just took his orders without a hint of distrust.
When the colonel was dismissed, he went to his armchair, sat down and leaned on it again, smiling. But his body ached in pain and he grimaced instead. He wondered what to do next. He realized that just waiting at home until someone came to question him about Ajeya's accusations was the best way to appear innocent. But for the first time in many years, he was afraid. Ajeya was not his only enemy and Sloan was not the only one who had betrayed him. Someone had freed the Human clone; someone had helped that puny man, Asfastr, to gather the incriminating information that now the admiral wielded against him. Someone who would betray him again if given a chance. Koval was furious and hurt; he felt trapped in his own house.
Koval reflected about his Great Scheme, the plan he had dedicated his life to since learning of it from his grandfather. He had accused all his foes of being too short-sighted, now he had to question his own narrow-mindedness. Is it so hard to lose a battle? Is it so bad to leave Romulus behind? The Romulan Star Empire was just a tiny point in the vastness of the universe; it was his homeland, of course, and the ties binding him to it were really strong. He was Romulan and very proud of his race. In his plans, he had always imagined being named Praetor the final step to openly start his own particular Empire. But it was not necessary; he could gather his troops in any other place and begin his conquest from there; Romulus and all his pitiful enemies would surrender to him later.
Koval contemplated the many trophies surrounding him in the large room, a full life of achievements. He was Tal Shiar's chairman, he had a seat in the Continuing Committee, and he would become the next Praetor. He had fought hard to get all that. But he realized it all had been a mean to an end; and everything could be sacrificed to ensure that end.
He called security, ordered his vessel to be prepared to depart and all his precious belongings to be shipped. It was his most drastic contingence plan, but even that one his mind had contemplated. Let them all think I'm guilty if by doing so I survive and at the end I prevail!