Subcenturion Aldrifg was chief engineer in the Firebird. Coming from a humble background, she had joined the Tal Shiar so she could have a chance to study and get her desired degree, and she had been successful. She wanted nothing to do with the secretive operations her so called comrades carried out. She was always at the engineering room with her machines and that was all she cared about. She was content in the Firebird, but she wished for the day she would be discharged from the service and could work as a civilian engineer in a freighter. She did not even know what their actual mission was about; no one debriefed her on that and she really did not want to know.

But the situation had changed. She was now at the bridge's door with a few other agents, with a disruptor pistol in her hand, while two of her people forced the door open. No one answered in the bridge; their engines and shields have been suddenly shut down and she was the highest ranking officer available. Her fellow officers had placed her in command of their surreal operation to break into their own ship.

The door opened. The three security guards entered first and stopped in their tracks. One of them stifled a cry. Another one swore. They have raised their weapons and pointed randomly across the bridge. Aldrifg forced herself to get nearer and take a look; the others followed her. Her two fellow engineers, who were closer, swept their gazes over the armed soldiers first. They gasped.

When Aldrifg reached the door, the security officers let her pass and she came in. Reality was much worse than any scenario her mind had created. She took on the blackened holes in the walls, the charred consoles, the one station that was missing, a scorched spot in its place. She took on the dark red blood that stained the floor and the command chair, soaking it. The security personnel hovered over the place; they have lowered their weapons and had taken out the tricorders.

"Nadion particles. Phaser damage," one was saying. "Must have been that damned Human." He was inspecting one of the burned consoles.

"This one was killed by a disruptor, though," another guard added and Aldrifg, inwardly, looked towards her.

She almost threw up and immediately averted her eyes. The guard had knelt beside what was left of an officer, most of his body had been disintegrated by the blast but still his face, paralyzed in a expression of sheer terror, could be seen.

"Yes, there are residuals antiprotons all over the room. I bet the rest of them were volatilized," the third one agreed; he was the non-commissioned officer who commanded the squad.

He was over the tactical station and keyed a command. He frowned and tried again.

"But the human was not volatilized, sir," the woman said as she inspected the command chair. "His blood is everywhere."

He turned to look at her. "Try pressing any button at the command console," he ordered.

"Sir?" she doubted.

"Just do it!" he snapped angrily.

Aldrifg was there in the middle of the bridge, flanked by the two other engineers. She was mesmerized, contemplating the scene played by the security guards without really understanding. A tactical officer was by their side too and he also stared in shock.

"Sir, I'm asked a command code. The controls are blocked," she reported.

He swore. "All the bridge controls are blocked! What's going on?" The other security man was also muttering curses under his breath.

"We're being held captive," the tactical officer spoke slowly in an automated way; his eyes were glued to the main view screen, "by the Federation ship."

All their gazes switched to stare now at the screen. And they saw clearly the Starfleet vessel and its tractor beam pointing directly at them. The swearing intensified. But Aldrifg's eyes were lighted in hope, for behind the alien ship, a much bigger familiar vessel could be seen: a D'Deridex class ship with the classical feathered eagle and the Imperial emblem painted on its hull. She had not forgotten it when she had first seen it from the mess hall's viewport.

"But there is a warbird from the fleet out there!" she exclaimed. "They will help us out!"

The security officer grunted, "Don't expect the military to do anything if we aren't pointing them slackers with our guns."

Aldrifg felt the insult as if it were directed to her. She did not share the pejorative view most of her comrades had about the military, and their fellow citizens in general. Actually, she had wanted to join the Imperial Fleet first, but the admittance tests for the Tal Shiar were much easier to pass and she did not want to make a career choice of any of the armed branches.

In spite of his words, the mention of the ship had spurred the man out of his shock and he was calling someone from his communicator. "She's a cryptographer," he explained the rest of them. "She may be able to get us the command code."

And Aldrifg's face lighted up again; she had had another idea. She called her own people in engineering and issued her orders. "Open a channel with the warbird or just send a signal explaining our situation, whatever you can, but you have to by-pass the bridge, go directly to the communication array." At the other side of the line, her fellow engineer doubted for an instant. "Yes, subcenturion, we'll do it," he finally answered.

The cryptographer came shortly after that. She also stopped at the door, staring incredulously at the bridge's scene for a single moment. "Where is the colonel?" she questioned harshly when she noticed the lowly ranking officers present. "Where are the commanding officers?"

The squad leader, a seasoned operative in spite of his rank, unceremoniously signaled the only present corpse. "Just over there." He did not wait for her reaction. "Now, we need you to find the code that it's blocking the bridge, so we can escape from the Federation's grasp." And he jerked his head toward the screen.

Aldrift noticed how very young the agent seemed; this was probably her first assignment. And however, she just took a dispassionate look at her fallen superior officer and at the alien ship outside and haughtily strode towards the command console with a confidence she could never match. "Yes, sir!" she acknowledged, and started to work. No questions, no doubts, no second-guessing, just as a good Tal Shiar operative was supposed to be.

But the minutes went by and the bridge controls were as inaccessible as before. Aldrifg's people have been more successful; they insisted they had sent the message in the correct frequency but they were getting no response from the other Romulan ship. Everybody in the bridge huddled together around the cryptographer, who seemed unfazed by the situation and focused in her particular puzzle instead.

"Weapons down! Weapons down!" several voices suddenly shouted behind them.

They turned startled to watch several Romulan soldiers swarm into the bridge, dressed in close-range combat uniforms, their features hidden by their helmets, all of them pointing their assault rifles at them.

Aldrifg had holstered her gun after finding out there was no enemy in the bridge and so had her two subordinates, and now she stared at the newcomers unable to comprehend.

The tactical officer had acted the same way, but he poised his hand close to his sidearm as he swirled around. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he screamed at the soldiers as he realized they were Romulan military.

"Drop your weapons! Rise your hands! Do as I say or we'll shoot you down!" the man who seemed to be in command yelled at them.

The cryptographer was unarmed; she just set her jaw and glared down at them, silently challenging them. She thought what the security squad leader said aloud, "We are Tal Shiar! We don't take orders from you! Put your weapons down!" He had his rifle down but his index finger caressed its trigger. The other two guards also gripped their disruptors.

Aldrifg could not utter a word. She was just an engineer and happy to be one; she had no command or combat training, except the basic one she had taken in the Intelligence academy. The situation was too much for her.

The young agent did not feel intimidated, though. She took a step forward, encouraged by the insignia she wore and the guards that flanked her. "Do as he says or you will be charged with treason," she threatened. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she echoed her superior officer. "You're supposed to be helping us against them." She pointed with her finger at the Starfleet ship outside.

But she did not get the expected answer. She heard in astonishment as the centurion in charge of the soldiers laughed out loud at her. She scowled. All the Tal Shiar operatives tensed inwardly. A few others smirked at them now, insolently defying her words, their rifles steadily aimed at them.

"The only traitors here are you," the centurion explained slowly and gleefully to them, "and we are placing you under arrest. Don't resist and we may be merciful."

They all hated the tone he used, the same tone their Tal Shiar comrades had used so many times against their own detainees.

"This is very irregular! You have no authority here!" the squad leader protested, but his voice lacked conviction. The guards were now looking nervously at the soldiers that outnumbered them.

But again only an almost sadistic grin welcomed his words. "My commander doesn't agree," he replied calmly, "and neither does the admiral, and neither does Praetor Neral." He paused for the effect of it; he was really enjoying the show. "Yes, my orders come from him. Former chairman Koval is now in prison and you are going to join him. Be nice and I may speak with the commander so she isn't so hard on you."

Aldrifg paled. She was not the only one. The security officer gulped, his mind racing with too many unpleasant scenarios. He thought of the gun he had so close to his hand; inwardly, his eyes lowered to look at it. The centurion broadened his smile and shook his head. With the other twelve soldiers pointing at the Tal Shiar agents, he turned his rifle around to show him its setting. If any of them fired, they would only stun them. The release of death was not as close as the non-commissioned officer wanted it to be. Distressed, he surrendered to the unavoidable reality and put his hands up. Alfrifg, still in shock, followed suit, and so did the other two engineers. The other security guards complied next; they angrily threw their disruptors to the floor and glared at the soldiers. The younger agent, however, still refused to accept her fate. "You're lying," she hissed at the centurion, "and you'll dearly pay for it."

But the centurion laughed, "I don't think so."