Koval pressed his temples hard with his fingers, trying to control his growing headache.
"I warned you that Cardassian, Garak, was asking too many questions."
He glared at the man who lectured him from the screen. He was a muscled Orion man who leaned on a chair and looked at him with indifference.
"You didn't tell me Ajeya or the Federation had sent him," he said with gritted teeth, enraged.
The Orion was not impressed, he just shrugged it off, "Didn't I mention the Romulan who accompanied him in The Ugly Rock? I guess I forgot."
Koval seethed in frustration, but he refused to insult him. He rose and paced around the room instead. He was already at his personal ship's quarters, ready to depart. He turned to face the Orion again and changed the subject, "So are you ready for my arrival or not?"
The man offered him a bleak smile, "We are still ensuring there will be no complications. It's not so easy to get the residence license."
"Don't lie to me! I already own a house in Orion. I spend a lot of time there," Koval snapped.
"It isn't the same," he replied calmly.
"Where is Devaar?" Koval asked exasperated. "I want to speak with her."
The man frowned slightly, and hardened his tone, "You are speaking with me."
"It's ok, Nivsor," a female soft voice was heard at the background.
And a moment later the slender form of an Orion woman was appearing on screen. She stopped behind the man, caressing his body seductively.
"What problem do you have exactly, Devaar? Isn't the payment enough?" Koval questioned, trying to ignore the display in front of him; the man was returning her attentions now and seemed to have completely forgotten him.
The woman kept looking at him. "The payment is enough, even if there would be more to come," she clarified. "But considering the circumstances of your arrival, I must ensure I don't get into too much trouble with the Romulan Empire if I let you in. And," she added, "I must also ensure that your commitment to our Syndicate in now complete."
Koval gulped inwardly, but he had been playing spy games all his life; he did not doubt he could fool the Orions and their associates now.
Suddenly, the red alarm sounded in the ship startling the three of them. The Orion couple stopped flirting to look sharply at him. "What's that?" Devaar demanded to know.
"Nothing of interest," the Romulan curtly answered. "Get my… 'residence license' ready. I'll contact you later."
Koval cut the communication with the Orions immediately after that and opened a channel with the bridge instead. "What's going on?" he shouted.
The wary voice of Major Gyra answered him, "Sir, you'd better come to the bridge."
Grunting, Koval strode towards the bridge, wondering what else could be happening. He stepped inside a minute later, enraged, and turned to face the major who now stood at attention as the rest of her officers, but his focus was diverted to the main screen instead. Two Romulan patrol ships, especially designed to operate in the planetary atmosphere, could be seen; they flied in circles over the manor and fired upon it. A shield protected the house and its surrounding areas and the energy weapons only harmed it. But the shield had not being designed to prevent such an attack and would not hold for long.
"At your stations!" he ordered, and finally faced the major, "What the hell is going on?"
"Sir, we got a transmission from General Sela ordering us to disarm the house's security system and surrender. I raised the red alert and didn't obey, as your command."
At that moment, the shields collapsed and the disruptor fire from one of the ships hit the house. Another screen in the bridge showed foot soldiers now swarming into the manor. General Sela was Tal Shiar, and so were the assault troops that she sent against him. Koval was pained, but didn't have time for sorrow or regret.
With any other officer, he could try to intimidate her or negotiate with her, but with the half-Human operative, that was impossible. If she had orders from above that he was a traitor to the empire, she would not listen. After all, she had started her career selling out her own mother because she was going to try to return to the Federation. Sela had been just a girl then, now she was a general, a very determined one.
"Put us on the air, Gyra," he ordered. "Destroy their vessels if necessary. We have to leave Romulus now!"
"But sir, the Praetor is the one ordering us. General Sela sent his signed orders too," the major informed him in confusion.
Koval was now utterly despised, with the general, with the major and especially with himself. He had used the same genetic techniques he had researched with the prisoners to submit her and several officers who served in his personal guard, but still he was not satisfied with the results; the servants were always easier to handle without raising suspicion, especially since he did not need them to be particularly smart. As with Sloan, he projected thoughts and desires in their minds while they were unconscious or asleep to reinforce the more submissive nature he had forced into them, but sometimes it was not enough. Major Gyra was not a mindless follower of him; she still heeded Praetor Neral's command as it had been ingrained to her since birth, when she was born a free Romulan citizen. Another reminder of why he needed the much more successful Jem'Hadar-like army to his own disposal. But for the moment, he could only count with the enhanced Romulan crew.
And he was not going far. He contemplated the two vessels circling over them and realized that his options of escaping them were low. He had not expected the Praetor to react so soon, or his own Tal Shiar forces to actually hunt him down so efficiently. Even if now, dryly, he was not surprised at all; he should have figured so. The headache pounded in his head once more. He did not have many alternatives. "We are fighting them," he ordered again.
Nobody questioned him this time, of course. They raised shields and loaded all the available weapons. The docking area was underground and in a far corner of the manor, communicated with the house both by tunnels and transporters; probably the ships were not targeting it. The gates opened over them revealing Romulus' clear blue sky. As they did, Koval realized just how suicidal his maneuver was.
The ship took off slowly, the amount of energy necessary for the process immediately attracting the patrol vessels' attention. His own ship, designed for deep space traveling, was badly equipped to battle Sela's wing now, and his only chance was leaving the planet's orbit before they could chase him down. His crew fired all their weapons against Sela's ships the instant they had a target, as their own ship continued ascending towards their escaping point. They were hit but their raised shields resisted, and the faster smaller ships easily outmaneuvered them and returned fire. Koval was not the only one ready to destroy his opponents. As his own ship flied upwards at maximum speed, Sela's vessels tailed it. Koval's ship was an easy target, but he did not turn to fight the Tal Shiar's vessels back; he just defended himself with the aft disruptor array as he tried to leave the atmosphere as soon as possible. His ship took several hits and the shields were hardly holding; the patrol vessels were faring better. They went forward and Koval watched with anxiety how they got closer to their objective. For a fleeting moment, he really believed he would prevail; an instant later, however, the shields collapsed and his ship was seriously damaged. Suddenly, they were falling back to the planet surface. He roared in frustration. He did not need to be told by his crew that they had lost, precisely, the propulsion engine. The helmsman tried to control the vessel and his weapon officer never stopped firing, but their enemies knew they were lost. This time, they did not launch their weapons, they used their tractor beam instead; and at the same moment they seized Koval's ship, they boarded it. No shields could stop them from beaming in, and the assault soldiers did not find much opposition. The Tal Shiar agents had been especially trained for such operations; several heavily armed squads had materialized in different sensitive parts of the ship. Just as Koval was been informed that Sela's troops were aboard his ship, one of the assault teams was at the bridge's doors. They opened them and rushed in, their rifles up and pointing to each of them. To Koval's utter enragement, his officers just surrendered. He looked down to his waist, fastened to his belt were both a disruptor pistol and his Honor Blade. Again, he raised his gaze to meet the invading soldiers. The young centurion in charge answered him with a cold void stare; he would not doubt to kill him if he ever tried. Koval realized a death by disruptor fire would be painful but quick; probably it was his best option. And, in spite of his reasoning, he found himself raising his open hands, also giving in.
"Whatever you accuse me of, son, I am innocent and I'll prove it" he blurted out to the indifferent centurion.
The young operative did not deem to answer him; while his subordinates disarmed and scuffled Koval's people, he opened his communicator to announce his success to Sela. Koval pierced him with a glare full of hate, but the centurion was not intimidated. For the still chairman of the Tal Shiar, so used to be feared, his insolence came as a heavy blow; he had forgotten how fragile power could be.
Koval heard Sela's voice from the communicator, "I want to see him." Just as that moment one of the operatives neared to restrain him. The centurion and another man had their weapons steadily aimed at him. Koval did not resist, but gritted his teeth as the squad leader neared the communication console to open a channel with his ships; he was feeling humiliated.
General Sela smiled with satisfaction upon seeing Koval. Her blonde hair made her unmistakable. The half-Human was not just utterly loyal to the Empire, she had always been an ambitious and ruthless woman too, one who never hid her intentions of taking once Koval's chair.
Sela had started her career in the military and had raised to the rank of commander at a very early age. Even then, she already worked for the Tal Shiar too. Her failure in her mission to capture Spock several years ago had not allowed her to raise further in the ranks. So, when many of Tal Shiar's officers and ships were lost fighting the Dominion in the battle of the Omarion Nebula, Koval offered her the promotion she desired if she fully joined the Tal Shiar. He had not been surprised as how quicky she had raised to the rank of general wearing her new uniform.
If Neral had decided to listen to Ajeya's accusations and arrest him, Koval expected to find the general leading her troops, ready to take him down. If she was successful, she would probably be promoted to vice-chairman, an step closer to her goal. Sela could brag all she wanted about her merits on his capture, but Koval realized very well that she was not the one who had orchestrated his downfall, nor was the fearless Imperial Fleet admiral. He wondered for a moment if that person would be onboard too.
Summoning up all his remaining pride, he drew himself tall and looked at Sela in the eye. He saw the general's resolve waver for a single instant, but she kept looking down at him with unhidden glee. Koval, however, did not care about her and her disdainful attitude.
"So you wanted to see me," he commented, "I wonder if you are the only one. Where is your new master?" he asked knowing how much those words would hurt Sela, "Where is D'Tan?"
The young woman hardened her gaze, but she did not answer. She did not need to. Another man, even younger than her, left the background to appear now on screen, a man Koval knew very well. D'Tan, his features grim, just stared at him, and for several seconds, they contemplated each other in an uncomfortable silence.