"You keep the Firebird under your tractor beam, their shields down, and there has been transporter activity between them and your ship!" Ajeya roared. "Now tell me how this fits in our alliance!"
Beside her, Raghnill was also angry. She eyed at her with suspicion, doubting her.
Saavik stiffed a sigh and explained again, trying to remain calm in spite of the fury directed towards her. "The Firebird surrendered to me, and I will surrender it to you. There was no aggression. And I'm only using the tractor beam to avoid the vessel to flee. I thought you wanted them."
"I still don't have them. You do," Ajeya pointed out.
"And what about the crew you have beamed down to the Firebird?" Raghnill interjected.
"Nobody has beamed down to the Firebird."
"So it has been the other way around, are you taking prisoners?" Raghnill sounded in equal parts enraged and hurt. Saavik had realized from the start she was feeling betrayed.
"They are my guests, not my prisoners." Saavik hardly paused. There had been a question she had wanted to ask since the moment they had scanned the Avenger. She had waited to question Ajeya in private, however, the new facts suggested a change of plans. "Can you say the same about the Jem'Hadar aboard the Avenger? Are they your guests too? And why do you keep them in tow?"
Ajeya looked largely at her before answering, "They are my proof. And what claim do you have on them? They are not citizens of the Federation."
"They are not Romulan either. They are former Dominion soldiers who should be returned to their homeland." As she finished the sentence her gaze shifted from Ajeya to Raghnill.
The commander gritted her teeth and replied, "They will be returned."
"Once they have served their purpose," Ajeya clarified. "After all, I don't think anybody is waiting for them at home."
"It all comes to that. They mean nothing to you. They are just tools." Saavik had raised her voice, her eyes sparkling dangerously.
Raghnill actually winced. She realized the issue about the Jem'Hadar was getting into too personal ground. Saavik certainly was not so upset because of them; it was because her mother was giving them the same treatment she gave her.
"We are not discussing the Jem'Hadar here," she sentenced, her voice hard.
Raghnill recognized to herself that at that moment she was not only furious because of Saavik and her apparent betrayal; the distress of learning about Saavik's truth and the heartless way her mother had approached the subject was again troubling her.
Saavik collected herself. She remembered again why that one was a subject she wanted discussed in private. Still, she could not help but dedicate to Ajeya an icy stare and her gaze hardly softened to reply to her half-sister, "We will discuss them later, nevertheless. Once we meet." She paused, then went on, "Because my guests here are also my proof, one I plan to share with you."
The two Romulan officers kept quiet for a moment and did not argue back, so Saavik continued, "Because we are still allies, and with this action I have secured Koval. He is waiting on the comm. line. Once we meet, we can approach him together."
Ajeya narrowed her eyes with distrust, "You are lying."
Saavik did not answer immediately; again, she seized her long time enemy. "I am not. And I am still willing to meet you."
Ajeya mulled it over, and finally conceded, "The meeting still stands. Don't disappoint me more than you already have."
Saavik frowned slightly, weighting the words, but Raghnill grimaced, understanding fully the personal attack this time her mother directed in an utterly deliberate way.
"Admiral Saavik, you are welcomed to the Rhian'Unnr," Raghnill spoke this time, trying to sound friendly again. The eyes Ajeya fixed on her were not friendly, though.
Saavik decided to end the conversation at that moment before their animosity raised again. "Thank you, Commander," she answered politely, but she noticed her voice also lacked the usual fondness she felt towards Raghnill.
"Romulans are really difficult to deal with," Song commented sympathetically once the Rhian'Unnr signed off.
Saavik could only agree. Raghnill's anger unsettled her; she knew that under its influence her half-sister was as dangerous as Ajeya. However, Saavik expected to have a chance to explain to them how much of a benefit Sloan's surrender to her was to all of them.
She left Song coordinating the details of their encounter with Raghnill and left to the commander's cabin. Before facing Ajeya, she was talking with Koval and Sloan's double in private.