Ba'el observed closely the Romulan commander and her two silent officers. Saavik implicitly trusted them, she even spoke fondly of them, but Ba'el disliked the fact that the three strangers knew something about Saavik she didn't, and it was something important. It was the reason why the five of them were meeting there: the mysterious Admiral Ajeya.
Raghnil was really a younger copy of her mother, at least physically, and she had a magnetic presence that rivaled Saavik. It was paradoxical that Saavik could admire one woman and hate the other when they seemed so similar. The Romulan commander was seated at the other side of the small squared table they shared, with her somber officers posted at guards behind her. Ba'el noticed soon they looked at Saavik with appreciation, even devotion, but the glances directed at her weren't as friendly, and suspicion was clearly written in their eyes. They disliked her because to their eyes she was Klingon; they would probably despise her even more if they learned she was actually half-Romulan. No matter how many years had passed since Worf revealed to her how unacceptable her nature was to most of both her people, it still pained her greately. The distrust didn't seem to be shared by their superior, though; she was apparently satisfied with the fact that Saavik vouched for her. For that, Ba'el also trusted the commander.
Raghnil massaged her temple with her fingers before echoing, "A Cardassian scientist."
"A geneticist, " Ba'el supplied, "he has worked in many leading projects, some of them, quite disturbing, linked to the former Obsidian Order; however, he was also notable in the academic circles for speaking up in favor of the individual rights and against their government's too controlling politics."
Ba'el noticed the intriging looks the three officers gave her when she spoke in flawless Romulan for the first time. She was not about to inform them that she was Romulan too. It was not a good moment, and it would only complicate matters even more, but she wished she could, she wanted to scream to the whole universe of her parents' love and damned all the racists who were too narrow-minded to understand.
"Illogical," Saavik muttered, cutting off her aide's trail of thoughts and turning her back to reality.
"I still don't understand what all this has to do with Admiral Ajeya!" the commander exclaimed.
Ba'el was intrigued by Raghnil's formality; most of the time, she apparently refused to use the word "mother", maybe it was something Romulan, another part of their culture her father had neglected to teach her. Of course, she did not know she consciously skipped the word so it would not remind Saavik of her past. Saavik reflected her half-sister was also being illogical; what was, was, and that was a truth she could not forget, no matter how hard Raghnil tried to avoid it.
"We cannot understand it either, Raghnil," Saavik calmly answered her.
"It is all we have found out for now. Ajeya was investigating this scientist and others who have recently died. She was probably interested in what they were researching. We still do not know the nature of that research."
Raghnil shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense," she commented. "She would not risk everything for some stupid Cardassian scientific project!"
"You forgot to mention those involved in the project were killed."
Ba'el regretted her words the moment the Romulan commander fixed her narrowed eyes on her, a menacing glint lighting them.
"I don't forget, Lieutenant Ba'el," she corrected her, "I just don't care, and neither would she!"
"However," Saavik added, "she did care, for some odd reason, and now she is missing because of that."
Ba'el was grateful Raghnil shifted now her gaze and softened it to look at her old friend. She tilted her head a bit in reflection. "Your source must be misleading you," she concluded. "Maybe she was uncovering some Cardassian plot against the Empire and she was discovered. Of course, your Cardassian acquaintance doesn't want to cooperate."
Saavik also gave it a thought before replying, "I know he's withholding something, but he isn't misleading me."
"He isn't helping much, either!" Raghnil exploded, and for the first time Ba'el could see clearly the distress the Romulan commander was under. She quickly composed herself, but when she spoke again, lower this time, her voice was still filled with sadness, "What I'm supposed to do now? I can't find mother with that! I'm still in the dark."
Saavik did not like the situation either; for her it was also hard to accept she could not help. She looked sympathetically at her half-sister. She was about to speak, but Raghnil did it first.
"I guess I'll have to start thinking of a way to explain this to my superiors. She-," her voice cracked with the pain it caused her to pronounce the words, "she is lost." She fought back the tears.
"I grieve with thee," Saavik solemnly said.
The other two Romulan officers also looked down and struggled with their own strong emotions. Ba'el did not know well what to do or say. She could not think for long, though.
"What the hell are you doing?!" A voice shouting from behind in flawless Ki-Baratan accented Romulan startled all them.
The two Romulan officers looked immediately up as they pointed their disruptors at the intruder. Ba'el and Saavik stood up and turned as they drew their phasers. too Raghnil had her own weapon steady aimed at him.
"That's not necessary," the newcomer said as he slowly raised his hands.
However, none of them lowered their arms. Cold anger had taken the place of the initial surprise; Raghnil was piercing the man with her sparkling blue eyes. A Cardassian, one who was somewhat familiar to her; she tried hard to remember in the brief instants before asking directly, "Who are you?"
"Garak," the man affably said; and then she knew, she had read reports of his role during the Dominion war. "I'm the misleading source," he mockingly said, a wry grin plastered in his scaled face.
A dry smile answered his remark, but Raghnil held her disruptor tighter. Her mind had quickly displayed her all the information she had about that man. The Federation spoke well of him, but he was considered responsible of at least one notable murder in the Empire when he worked as an Obsidian Order operative in Romulus. He was an assassin.
Her officers, who had secured the building before, and Ba'el, who had also checked the place was safe, were feeling chagrined. They were not the only ones. Saavik was frowning, wondering how it was possible that Garak had found their meeting place. She had thought she had been careful. So had Raghnil. But the veteran spy was there, smiling at them and with a still unknown agenda. Saavik knew it was futile to ask him how he had managed to outsmart all of them, so she went for a more practical question.
"Garak, what are you doing here?" she coldly asked.
Garak kept his hands raised and remained still, but he was not intimidated. "I asked that first, and I ask again." To the others' shock, he berated them, "I thought you were warriors, that you fought hard for what you wanted, but instead, you just give in the moment you find a difficulty!"
They all heard a disruptor's discharge, and the next instant a big ugly scorched hole could be seen at Garak's feet, even if he himself was untouched.
"You want to die, don't you?" said the young Romulan man, the one who had fired, as he drilled his glare at Garak.
If the shot had frightened the Cardassian, he did not show it. He ignored the question and turned instead to Ragnhil with a new one, "Would you kill a defenseless man?" Then he grinned as he immediately answered himself, "Oh, of course you would." His eyes moved to meet the Federation officers next, "Would you?"
"Even in this situation, I'd hardly call you a defenseless man, Garak," Ba'el replied him mirroring his mocking smile.
"And I'd really love to kill you," Ragnhil added, a dangerous sparkle briefly lighting her eyes.
"And I'd kill you all too," Garak continued with his dangerous approach, "you're such a disappointment!"
Saavik raised her hand, holding the possible violent reply of her enraged companions. "Because we give in," she coolly completed, "and you do not want us to give in. Why, Garak? What is your interest in finding Admiral Ajeya?"
"Ah, Saavik, always straight to the point," Garak said back with some irony. "I have no interest in finding Admiral Ajeya. I just expected you to investigate further her disappearance so you would lead me to the one I'm really looking for. But now it seems it'll have to be the other way around!"
"And who are you looking for?"
Garak did not like a bit the edge in the Romulan commander's hardly controlled voice. Inwardly, he flickered his gaze towards the weapon she gripped, before turning again to look at her furious eyes. "Will you investigate further if I tell you?" Garak asked first.
"There is nothing I want more," she was being frank.
Then, he simply admitted, "Koval."
Ragnhil winced at the revelation, so did her officers behind her. "Koval? Chairman Koval?"
When Garak just nodded and murmured, "uh huh," in reply, Ragnhil's blood ran cold. If he really was misleading them, that was surely a shocking, and frustrating, way to do it. Koval was the Tal Shiar's commanding officer, a man she despised, but one she could not touch; she would never dare to try.
"My mother was after Koval?" Ragnhil blurted out her disbelief.
"Apparently, she was."
"And why are you after Koval?" It was Saavik's time to ask; she wasn't liking the new implications, either.
"My reasons are my own," his answer was firm.
"And what does Koval have to do with that mysterious Cardassian project?" Ba'el added her own question.
Before Garak could say a word to Ba'el, Ragnhil forcefully spoke, "Do you know what happened to my mother?" There was a threatening underlying to the interjection.
Garak took a breath to calm down before talking again. There was too much tension in the room. "I don't know," he pronounced slowly every syllable. "But I know about the project, yes, and about Koval's implication on it. Actually, most of what I know, it's thanks to her," he laughed at that. "I don't like standing here with all of you pointing your guns at me, though. Could you just lower your weapons and let me sit?" They did not; they were looking expectantly at him. However, he confidently took a step forward and went on, "The moment has come to admit a new member in your partnership, don't you think?"