"Come to my quarters," she had said the moment she heard the news. Surprisingly, when Ba'el went in, she found Saavik still wearing the uniform she had put on for her previous debriefings; Saavik had not rested at all. Worse, even if composed as always, her strain only seemed to have increased.
"Ba'el, I also have news, and mine are not so good," she had said. "Please, sit." And then Saavik had set her deep gaze upon her and had arched one of her eyebrows, noticing, "You haven't rested. I told you to rest."
The concern was mutual. "Neither have you," she commented as she took the offered seat.
"I had no choice." Was there a hint of regret in her tone? Ba'el was not sure of that. "I received news from Romulus, from Spock," her eyes glinted warmly at the mention of him, but her face grew somber as she went on, "He also learnt of Koval and his plans. We must stop him. We must do it now."
And she explained. She said that Ajeya was really trying to stop him too, as Garak had confided to them. When Ba'el asked her why, she did not say. But what she disclosed to her was actually more than she expected.
She seemed to have finished explaining all the new details, all the terrible ramifications of Koval's researches, all the dark doubts about his loyalties and the difficulty of maybe having their own honored Federation implied on them. Ba'el was already shocked and understood the importance of putting an end of it. However, with her own hidden knowledge about Ajeya, she still hoped that the also interested and apparently trustworthy Raghnill would take care of all this. She desperately wished so.
And then Saavik made the pause, and gazed at her as if she were pondering something. Ba'el looked expectantly, and then she added, "Ruanek said something else." There was an edge in her controlled voice that put Ba'el inmediately on alert. The Vulcan's eyes drilled on her with fierce intensity. "Koval mentioned something about an old abandoned Romulan project. Tieurrull is its name, Hellguard in Federation standard." Ba'el was sweating, even if Saavik as usually kept her cabin at Terran conditions and therefore, the temperature was not high. The name of the planet where Saavik had been born. She knew Saavik was revealing something very important to her, even if she still could not understand what. "You may hear of it in the future," she was saying and then paused again, "I plan to learn about it." And she said with cold ruthless determination, "We are going after Ajeya."
Inwardly, Ba'el shuddered again. Ajeya. Koval. Hellguard. She repeated the names in her mind; those were the key pieces of the puzzle.
Saavik took a look at her computer; taking in Deep Space Nine's report again. "We are not taking a runabout this time," she informed her when she gazed up. "Tell the Numancia to prepare for our boarding and immediate departure. I will take command of the ship. Only the essential personnel will board. The rest will remain on the base. Update Raghnill and inform her of our arrival."
Ba'el nodded, but added dryly, "She may not appreciate us presenting ourselves in a warship to welcome the returning admiral."
Saavik, who had still that hard expression set in her face, relaxed a bit at her comment, and her eyes smiled at her, "It is a Defiant class vessel, it is not a warship, Ba'el." Officially, at least, it wasn't. "Besides," she turned serious again, and tapped some commands in her computer's console; immediately, two holographic ships and its characteristics were projected in the room; "the Firebird and the Avenger are both Tal Shiar vessels. I had the impression Ajeya traveled alone."
Ba'el gaped slightly. Her last sardonic sentence, replying her own attempt at humor, did not make her smile. She had not researched that. She had not researched anything. She had just gotten the information, passed it to her and went to her quarters. But the brief time that had taken her to stride into the admiral's nearby cabin had been enough for Saavik to look for intelligence, reach to a conclusion and form a plan of action, of course. Ba'el sometimes wondered why she really needed her; she liked to think that she appreciated her company. And she still had work to do. With Saavik, she was always busy.
"What am I supposed to say to Starfleet Command?" she asked.
Saavik lifted her eyebrows at what seemed an obvious question to her, "That we are meeting Admiral Ajeya, of course."
Ba'el clucked, trust Saavik to always be so blunt; however, Starfleet would never suspect the singularities of that meeting.
"While I get the ship ready, you are going to rest," Ba'el guessed sympathetically when she was retiring.
Saavik wondered for an instant if it was a sign of weakness admitting the truth; not to her trusted aide, who obviously knew her too well. "I must," she conceded.
And finally being alone but with so little time, she went for her firepot and lit it. She kneeled before it and pronounced the ritual words. Finally, she was going to meditate; certainly there were many issues that needed to be settled, because in the next hours, her fortitude was going to be tested, and she needed Vulcan wise disciplines more than ever.