Diclaimer: It's all Paramount's, cept for Verla, T'Valk, and Rachel. Maybe a few Maquis.

A/N: "I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition!"

"Nooooobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" – Monty Python



Chapter 8 – Enter the Traitor



Subcommander Toreth sat with her head resting on her hands in the Officer's Mess, just off the bridge, all alone. Now what was she supposed to do? Commander - she still grimaced when she thought of the title that was once hers - Sela was gone. She had simply disappeared, leaving to traces - except the injured transporter chief aboard the Enterprise.

What would the Rihannsu Empire command her to do? They would tell her to come home to ch'Haveran, and leave Sela to whatever fate awaited her. Toreth was more loyal to her commanding officer than that. And so the Empire had no idea that Sela was missing.

Toreth was tempted to call Picard. She had to know how the investigation was going! She knew he would tell her if there was any more news, though. If she talked to him, she would only be a distraction.

Then, suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a message from the bridge.

"Subcommander, we are being hailed-"

"By the Enterprise?" Toreth couldn't hide her excitement

"No, subcommander. The source is unknown."

Toreth sighed. "I'll take it in here." With my luck, she thought, it will be an urgent

message from Command for Sela.

The familiar Rihannsu Emblem graced the screen for a moment, and then a very well known face appeared. "Riker! Do you know that everyone on the Enterprise is searching for you?!"

"Not me, I assure you. I am not Commander Riker. He is . . . my brother. But I have something you may want to know."

"What?" Toreth asked suspiciously.

"Commander Sela is alive. And this was found in her pocket when she arrived here." He held up a Starfleet compin. "She confessed that she is part of a defection plot. An elaborate defection plot. It kinda reminds me of the M'ret scheme. She was to receive the defectors aboard the Enterprise from a freighter. The whole ARK-7 investigation was just a ploy to get her here."

Toreth grasped the table so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "When I get a hold of that traitor-"

"I suggest you leave the Neutral Zone now. Some one in the Empire may connect you with the plot." With that, the transmission ended.

Toreth was too enraged to notice the discontinuities in Commander Sela's confession. If she had thought about it for a moment, she might have realized that not many people would know of M'ret's defection. Why did he? But Toreth didn't take the time. She stalked out onto the bridge. "What was the source of that communication?"

"Unknown, Subcommander," an officer replied.

"Contact the Enterprise, and inform them that we will be leaving the Neutral Zone." Picard wouldn't be happy, Toreth knew - but who really cared. He had lied to her enough all ready . . .

"Leaving?" Picard asked hoarsely.

"Yes, Captain. I have . . . been called back to the Homeworlds. They believe Sela is dead. I am to return to bring the new Commander aboard," Toreth said.

"Do you believe Commander Sela is dead?" Picard asked desperately.

"It doesn't matter what I think, Picard. If Command says Sela is dead, then she is."

Picard clenched his hands into fists, hoping to hide his rage. How dare they give up all hope! There was always a chance! "But Subcommander," Picard began, "My first officer-"

"Is dead as well, I'm sure," Toreth interrupted. "As well as your missing security officer and the Vulcan. You will leave the Neutral Zone, too, or I'll inform the Senate of all this. They won't be as forgiving as your government is."

"But we're so close-"

"So close to finding what, Picard?" Toreth scoffed. "That your first officer is dead? Who killed him? I believe they've all ready fled the sector to who knows where." Toreth paused for just a moment. "Good-bye, Picard. I expect your ship to leave within one hour - or you will be in violation of the Treaty of Algeron." The connection was broken, and Picard sat back in his chair. He then turned to Troi, a quizzical expression on his face.

"She was lying - about everything. She knows Will and Sela are alive! She wasn't called back to Romulus either. And she believes the abductors are still near." Councilor Troi said from Riker's chair.

Picard sighed, more determined than before to find Riker and Sela and all of his missing officers. "Ensign McKnight, lay in a course for the Federation side of the Neutral Zone, as close as you can get to this area, and engage at Warp 7." He turned back to Troi. "We've just going to have to convince the Federation Council to let us return."

Sela was shoved roughly into the holding cell. She turned around, her eyes boring into Thomas Riker as he put the forcefield back up. He had gained no knowledge during her interrogation, at least nothing he didn't all ready know about the secrets of the Federation/Romulan cloaking device treaty, and the secret location of it's negotiation.

As he walked away from her haunting blue eyes, he held Rachel close to him. "Nothing, Rach, nothing. I'm beginning to think the treaty itself is just a rumor. And why would the Federation use a cloaking device against the Maquis?"

"I don't know, Tom, but what if the rumors are right? The Maquis wouldn't stand a chance against a Federation ship with a cloaking device for long."

"I know, I know! But we just murdered 30 innocent people for nothing! Simple scientists weren't told of the treaty."

"They weren't 'innocent' scientists, Tom. They were experimenting with trilithium or something. It's supposed to be really unstable, and very dangerous."

Riker frowned. "They won't be able to actually use it. It's impossible to stabilize it."

"They're weren't people, anyway. They were Romulans."

"And we aren't fighting the Romulans, we're fighting the Cardassians. I just regret we may have to kill more people, including William T. Riker. Their ships are gone, and they aren't of any use to us, but they are Human! I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for killing another Human being!"

"Sela is only half-Human," Rachel offered.

Thomas Riker breathed a deep, tired sigh. "What's the difference anymore?"

Will Riker jumped up and caught Sela as she lurched to the side. He guided her over to one of the cots, and helped her sit down.

"What do they need to know about the treaty?" she groaned.

"They think the Federation is going to use the cloaking device to track the Maquis to their hiding places and destroy them. The treaty is so secretive that, at least on the Enterprise, no one knows where it's being signed, or even what the terms are. For all we know, the Federation could be using it to track them."

For a few moments Sela lay in silence, then moaned, "He said you're brothers."

Riker looked at her in surprise. "He did? Well, I guess you could put it that way, but it's quite a bit more complicated than that. I don't think you want to hear that story, though. Did you tell them anything?"

"I didn't have anything to tell them!" Sela exclaimed. She hesitated for a moment before adding, "But I did learn something for them. The Khazara and the Enterprise have left the Neutral Zone."

Riker jumped up and started pacing with a moan. "Dammit! Now what are we supposed to do?!" He looked over at Sela. "The Enterprise will be back, though. They'd never leave us!" he said, trying to convince himself.

"They'll probably be too late to help us," Sela said with a sigh. "We've worn out our usefulness to them."