Luther found himself playing nervously with his phaser pistol, always pointing at Koval and keeping the distance with him. At first, Koval had been stunned, next enraged and now he was oddly subdued. He sat on one of his armchairs, observing him, and sometimes his eyes shined briefly holding an emotion he could not identify.
Luther's plan had been simple: go into Koval's house and kill him; he had never discarded the possibility of questioning him, but he had not thought of others interfering in his actions in that way. Actually, he realized now, he had not even thought what he would do next. He had watched the other Luther Sloan being almost killed in horror, and maybe because of the shock he had agreed with him to wait. The problem was he did not know what he was waiting for.
And standing an indefinite time with Koval was not an option he liked; especially now that all his initial plans had fallen apart. Therefore, he kept quiet, and so did Koval.
"Why do you betray me, after all I have done for you?" the question, and the softness in Koval's voice, startled him.
"You did nothing for me, except manipulating me, using me as if I were a tool…" his voice was harsh, it wavered for an instant, as his hand shook, "…as if I were only one of your slaves you sell to the black market."
"A profitable business, one you did not seem to object before."
Surprisingly, Koval was calmer than him. Luther could not help to answer in a roar, "Because I did not know I was one of them!"
"You are not." The denial was firm, and for the first time Luther could read again stress in his tone. "You are my master piece, Sloan. You are far more important than them."
Luther realized how he was losing grip on his emotions again. Every single moment since he had discovered the truth about his life, it had become very difficult to be again the ruthless detached man he was supposed to be.
"I am still your tool! And how many of us do you have around the universe running your missions? How many Luther Sloans work for you as they foolishly think they serve the Federation?"
"There had to be only one of you. The one that is lying now in a starship's infirmary. You… I don't know why you are here. I don't know why you woke up."
Koval obviously made the admission to get an answer, but the question of who had set him in that path now was not high in his list of priorities. "And I don't care about that!" he snapped.
Luther was ready to continue questioning Koval, but the only comm. line he kept open beeped. It was the Numancia. Always with an eye on Koval he neared the communication console to display the holographic projection. Saavik appeared virtually in the room and he switched the setting so his own camera focused on the seat Koval occupied, next he moved closer to him, his weapon raised as always.
"How is the other Sloan?" he blurted out without given a chance to Saavik to speak first. "Is he ok?"
Saavik was sat at a nondescript table that could only be the ready room, and her cabin, given the Defiant class design. He envied the calm the Vulcan projected.
"He is still seriously injured, but stabilized. He will recover. He must thank his genetic enhancement. He had proven to have a healing recovery similar to that of Vulcans. He would have died if not for that."
"It's about time the Federation recognizes the benefits of genetic manipulation!" Koval chimed in.
"The benefits do not outweigh the disadvantages," Saavik corrected him.
"Right now I can only agree," Luther added. "Here you see me, Admiral Saavik, a fine example of its drawbacks," he theatrically bowed as if presenting himself. "Do you know who I am?"
Saavik answered warily, "I know you were subjected to DNA resequencing in Pidgeon Prime when you were four years old, and that mister Koval is aware of that."
To her surprise, Sloan laughed; she still had difficulty understanding what humored Humans sometimes. The laugher died soon, though, and grimly he announced, "No, I never went to Pidgeon Prime. I was cloned in a secret facility in the Neutral Zone; just as the Sloan you keep onboard, I believe." Saavik processed the new information. "Koval here… well, you can say he is my father." The dark smile in his lips tried in vain to hide his self-pity.
"So you work for him. You always have." Saavik concluded aloud. "You are a traitor."
"Don't presume, Admiral!" the Human quickly interjected. "I would expect Vulcans not to come to rushed conclusions."
Luther said the sentence as if quoting, and she frowned; she remembered the other man asking her the same but with different wording.
"Oh, but Saavik is only half-Vulcan," Koval was speaking again, and his own grin was one of contempt.
Saavik decided to ignore the comment, and Luther did exactly the same. He seemed agitated and that was a stark contrast with the impassive way the other clone had always behaved.
"I'm not a traitor" he started to defend himself. "How can I be? A few days ago, I was probably nothing more than a DNA sample stored in a lab; less than forty eight hours ago I was conscious for the first time in my life. It's curious how I can remember so many things that never actually happened to me. You know, Admiral, I even cried for who I believed to be my parents. But the truth is all I have done in my life is escape from that dammed Romulan base and come here, to avenge myself, to kill this monster I was supposed to consider an ally and a friend."
Saavik contemplated the man, wondering if what he said was true. She realized it could explain why Sloan had died before and at the same time was still alive; it would explain why there were two of them at that same moment. Koval was very capable of creating the clones and using them for his purpose, if he had the technology to do so. And he had dedicated all his life to gain that knowledge.
"How can I be a traitor?" he went on. "And how can any other of my clones be, no matter what they have done, when actually they were never aware of their origins?"
Luther now tried to exculpate the other Section 31 agent, but Saavik was not about to let that pass so easily. "You may not be aware you have been cloned by Koval, you may not be aware of his plans or how he manipulated you until now, but you were very aware of what the laws of the Federation were. You were very aware of our principles and you systematically violated them. You are guilty of that."
Saavik remembered how the injured Sloan had still claimed his innocence after hearing her accusation, how he stubbornly justified his illegal acts, that's why she was positively surprised when the newer clone accepted her words.
"Yes, you are right. I realize that. But again, I am innocent. I am only going to be guilty of one crime, and that's killing this excuse of a man," he said as he wavered his weapon to point at Koval. "I have waited enough, as I promised. So if you have something to say, say it now."
That was the Luther Sloan Saavik had known before: cold and uncompromising. He had stopped gazing at her and now focused on Koval. That was the Luther Sloan she had met on the Firebird, except for the hate that burned in his eyes, and the pain.
"Don't! Don't do it!" For the first time, Koval pleaded for his life, even if his tone was still too arrogant.
He shifted his gaze towards somewhere in the back of the room for a fleeting instant, then returned his eyes to Luther and next to Saavik. Sloan frowned and tried in vain to follow his stare, but found nothing, so he focused on his enemy.
This time, the Romulan directed his words to Saavik, "Say it, why are you here? What do you want?" he aggressively asked.
"Is what he says about himself true?" Saavik coolly questioned instead.
Koval half-laughed, and draw himself tall. "I am the head of the Tal Shiar. It's my duty to protect the Empire from all threats and to use all means necessary to ensure that the Empire is safe and strong. So if he were a mean, would that matter?" He smiled, challenging her.
"It would matter. Contrary to you, we have ethics. People cannot be conceived and used as tools," Saavik tightly controlled her fury.
"And we differ." He plainly stated. "And if what he says is true, he is not really a Federation citizen and your silly rules do not apply to him."
"If what he says is true, a Federation citizen was cloned and impersonated by you. Our rules apply."
"And if I was your mole, you were never ours," Luther concluded too.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Koval harshly questioned him, and attempted to rise, but the Human's weapon stopped him.
"I recruited you, remember? You were supposed to support the Federation's interests before the Empire. You were supposed to pass any relevant information to us."
Sloan had come to the question she really wanted to ask Koval, but he did not answered him.
"Why are you so short-sighted?" he asked instead.
"I repeat. Is what he says true?" Saavik insisted.
Saavik wanted it to be truth, because that would mean the Federation was innocent of most of his deeds. However, she wondered how he was going to be condemned if he proved to be loyal to the Romulan Empire. Koval was right, Romulans did not care much about ethical matters if they were successful.
"You are half-Romulan. Certainly your name is Romulan." Koval was musing aloud, again ignoring her questioning. "It's only a rumor, but it's true. You are one of the children of Hellguard." He smiled brightly as he made the conection. "That's why this bothers you so much, doesn't it, Admiral? Because you were also conceived as a tool."
Inwardly, Saavik flushed and her eyes glittered.
"And why are you two so ungrateful? You would not even exist if it were not for the Empire and its unethical methods!"
Saavik could not believe his words.
"Enough!" Luther shouted enraged, and fired his phaser against Koval.
The Romulan screamed and shook for a few seconds, then fell against one side of the armchair. Saavik stood up in alarm; she could not say she really pitied Koval, but he had not yet answered her questions and the fact that he was dead did not ensure his project would be stopped. Saavik turned to shot an accusing stare at the Human operative.
The man also turned to look at her; he was feeling relieved. He had wanted so much to kill the Romulan, and finally shooting at him had appeased some of his rage. But just as Saavik, he realized he had many questions he wanted answered. He turned the phaser pistol around and showed her its setting; he was unconscious and wounded, but very much alive.
"Sorry. I just couldn't stand him any more," he excused himself.
Saavik stared at the sidearm for a moment, then sat back again.
"Can I ask who or what is Hellguard?" Luther asked, genuinely intrigued.
A question Saavik always feared. This time, however, she reflected about it and smiled satisfied to herself. "His downfall," she said as a matter of fact.
Because as she had previously noted to herself, the Empire did not care about moral in their operations as long as they benefited them; the Empire only punished defeat, and just as Hellguard had failed, Koval's plans were also falling apart.
"Wake him up," she ordered. "I want him ready to talk again."