Minutes went by and only silence returned their attempts of communicating with Commander Raghnill's vessel. The Tal Shiar colonel sent several messages condemning their actions as an act of treason and demanding them to put their tractor beam down and allow them to destroy their twin ship. To no avail. If someone was receiving their messages, they were completely ignoring them, and stubbornly protected the damaged ship.
Colonel Coltan was sweating. He knew well his boss, Koval, wanted the matter settled with as little involvement as necessary. He loathed the idea of calling for reinforcements, and however, he could not fight the much more powerful D'Deridex class warbird if her commander refused to surrender. Colonel Coltan realized Commander Raghnill had no intention of surrendering, and even in spite of the grave accusations, her crew kept loyal to her. Only the gleeful comments of their Cardassian associate broke the uncomfortable silence, and they were unnerving him.
Finally, the Rhian'Unnr accepted their calls. Relieved, the Tal Shiar officer looked up, trying to appear more confident than he really was. He was not really surprised at the image that welcomed him; if only, it infuriated him. "Admiral Ajeya, Commander Raghnill," he greeted them, "not that you will hold those ranks for much longer." A thin cold smile formed in his lips as he issued his threat.
It failed to intimidate his interlocutors, though. Ajeya was seated comfortably at her ready room's table, resting her back, and looked at him haughtily. She smirked, dismissing his words.
Colonel Coltan had wanted to direct his menaces to Raghnill alone. He had hoped Ajeya to remain prisoner of the Jem'Hadar and unable to communicate with her ship. In that position, her daughter was more vulnerable. Ajeya had insisted her daughter knew nothing of her plans, even after being subjected to their persuasive means of interrogation. Now he could tell she had lied, and both mother and daughter together were a dangerous enemy. Raghnill sat at the admiral's side and she glared at him mirroring her mother's disdain for him.
Ajeya had prepared her next statement quite well. She spoke up with confidence.
"You accuse me of treason over the comm. line, Colonel, and you do so without proof. But you see, I have proof that the only traitor here is you and your dear boss, Chairman Koval. I have my proof secured on that ship you are trying to blow up. Don't think I'll ever allow you to. Do you want to save the little honor you may have left? Surrender now, and surrender to me that Federation operative you hold onboard, the one you take your orders from."
Coltan, taken off-guard, was tempted to look back at Sloan, but he kept his eyes fixed on the rebellious admiral. "You are making a mistake," he said through gritted teeth.
"Don't try to deny what is obvious." She paused. "This is the only chance I'm giving you. Show some loyalty to the Empire! Surrender that Federation spy and you may be spared. Refuse and you will be destroyed."
"Would you fire upon your own people, Admiral Ajeya?" the Tal Shiar officer replied. "And you want us to believe you aren't a traitor."
Ajeya smiled at him with satisfaction, "Do I need to remind you that you just tried to kill me? And I'm not the one harboring alien spies, obeying their commands!"
The colonel tried not to look appalled, but his voice almost creaked as he replied, "I obey Chairman Koval only! And why do you insist on the presence of such a spy? Have you actually spoken with the Federation vessel?"
For a moment, the Tal Shiar commanding officer thought he had caught her. However, Ajeya had very much predicted that question and she was ready to give an honest answer. "Yes, I have. And they insist they aren't working with you, but I think that's a lie. You can prove it otherwise, though. I repeat my offer, Colonel, surrender the Federation operative now and show the Empire you are a loyal officer. If not, you die here as the traitor you are."
Coltan looked at Ajeya's blue eyes; there were boiling with cold rage. The colonel realized she was not bluffing. She may be the traitor and not him, but that did not really matter when she had the upper hand. If Ajeya destroyed his ship and ran away with the Jem'Hadar prisoners, he would fail in his mission, and being a derelict officer was not much better than being a traitor. This time, he actually looked back, hardly spotting Sloan. And if I really surrender him to Ajeya? Sloan was nobody to him, and if he was the prize to pay to earn him more time, he was ready to sacrifice him. However, Ajeya had been right in one point: no matter how much he loathed it, Koval had placed the Human in command of the ship; handling him to Ajeya would mean going against his orders. He gazed at the Imperial Fleet admiral again; she was still piercing him with her uncompromising stare.
"I reaffirm my statement: you are a traitor, Ajeya," he refused to acknowledge her rank this time, in spite of her higher position, "but I'll think of your offer. That Federation man means nothing to me." He spat the words, and cut the communications immediately after that.
Sloan bristled and went once more towards him. Coltan turned to face him. "We need time," he said to excuse his hash words.
"I am in command here, do you realize?" Sloan seethed.
"I only take orders from Chairman Koval," he coldly replied.
Saying those words, the rest of his officers tensed, ready to support him.
"I want to speak with Koval now," he forcibly said.
"To tell him what a pathetic team we are, unable to keep a few prisoners in check and now getting him into serious problem?"
It was the Cardassian operative the one that so overtly mocked him. He side-glanced at her with open contempt; he thought of taking her to Ajeya too, the alien intruders really unnerved him. However, she was posing again that problem he did not want to face: failure was not something his boss Koval would easily forgive. But then, he looked sharply at the hateful Human spy. "You are in command, Sloan. You are the one who ordered us to wait instead of destroying their ship the first chance we had. You are the one having a problem and I'll not follow your orders further until I'm not authorized by Chairman Koval." Defiantly, he made his point. "After all, you have only jeopardized us in this mission. You may actually be an enemy, as Admiral Ajeya suggests."
There was rage, disdain, even hatred in those words. Sloan knew well the Romulan operatives never liked him. His authority openly questioned and surrounded by the Romulan officers, he thought wise to concede to his desires. "We will speak with Koval now. But don't think I'm going to forget your attitude." He eyed him coldly. Koval and him were partners, they were together in this big enterprise. He was not simply a pawn as Saavik had called him. For that reason he did not want to call Koval as she and now Coltan insisted. He realized he did not have a choice, thought, he would contact the Tal Shiar chairman now, he would make Colonel Coltan pay for his challenge later.