§ § § - sometime in 2282

Lauren broke into giggles. "So let her," she said. "We could get rid of Princess Serve-Me-For-Life right now and Arzi's existence would improve instantly."

Kylie looked horrified. "You're actually serious!" she blurted.

Some small part of Lauren was horrified too, but living with the arrogant princess had pushed her into such a state of agitation that she couldn't quite think straight. She gave her head a couple of hard shakes and ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, okay, wait a minute," she mumbled. She looked pleadingly at Kylie. "Believe me, you don't know what it's been like around here. Mrs. Stink sends Arzi to do everything—and I mean everything—for her. She treats Arzi like a combination slave and pet, and she doesn't even let the poor girl talk to the rest of us. Inriya's the only one who's heard Arzi say anything, and that's only because she was the first one here and introduced herself to the princess and Arzi, and they introduced themselves back. I think I've seen Arzi watch us, just once or twice, as if she wanted to join us or at least help us out, but Mrs. Stink always screams at her to get in the bedroom and do something for her, and she takes off like someone was shooting at her. That lazy royal blob hasn't emerged from that room once since we got here, and I'd be willing to swear she hasn't even gotten out of bed. Arzi probably even has to go to the bathroom for her."

Kylie gaped at Lauren in amazement throughout this narrative, and the last line made her laugh. "Anatomically impossible, but funny," she said. "But tell me...what's this princess of yours and her poor slave got to do with Kah'gos wanting to join her comrades in battle?"

"Oh yeah," Lauren said. "Princess M'sis'tenk and Arzi are both Clanimids."

Kylie's face cleared. "Aaahhhhh," she breathed. "Now I get ya. Okay, so these two Clanimids haven't done anything to advance the experiment, and you're looking for an excuse to get rid of 'em...but look, sending Kah'gos over here isn't the answer, Lauren. Hate to tell you that, but it's true. It's not exactly the spirit of cooperation and friendliness that Starfleet's been aiming to achieve."

"I'd feel a little more friendly toward Princess Blob if she'd cooperate," Lauren shot back, and Kylie snickered. "You said the other day you'd be willing to have Kah'gos come over and handle Mrs. Stink. What changed your mind?"

Kylie rolled her eyes. "There's a difference between joking around and being serious, Lauren."

Lauren sighed and shrugged. "Well, okay, so your Klingon friend is interested in participating in war. One little thing—I thought Klingons didn't allow their women to fight."

"We fight when called to glory," announced a brand-new voice. Lauren blinked at the girl standing at the open door. She was unmistakably Klingon, but Lauren was still accustomed to the ones she'd seen on the TV series. This Klingon looked like the ones from the film, with a high forehead lined with intricate-looking knobs and bumps, skin the color of a too-heavy suntan, and long, gleaming black hair carefully arranged into a fairly elaborate style. "I am Kah'gos," she told Lauren. "I am searching for Kylie Garrison."

"I'm here," Kylie said through a sigh. "What do you need me for?"

"I ask you to take me to Commander DeVanay," Kah'gos replied. "My father is aboard the ship that waits at the Clanimid system, and he wishes me to join him there."

"Clanimid...?" breathed a soft, timid voice. Lauren was thoroughly stunned to see that its owner was the heretofore mute Arzi. The pitifully thin young girl, still clad in her ragged gray tunic, stood in the middle of the apartment's common room and stared at Kah'gos with wide, frightened silver eyes. To Lauren, everything about the girl seemed to be in shades of gray; even her skin, which should have been the healthy carnation-pink of M'sis'tenk's, was so pale she appeared to have no color at all.

"Arzi," Lauren whispered, as if afraid the princess would overhear. "What about Mrs. ...uh, the princess?"

"She sleeps," Arzi said softly, glancing at Lauren for a second before returning her fascinated gaze to the Klingon girl. "She naps for two of your hours and will not know I am here. Normally I sleep when she does, but I heard Mistress Kah'gos speaking of our worlds."

"There's a Klingon ship in your system," Lauren explained. "They want to take over both planets."

Arzi's face broke out into a huge, hopeful smile. "Perhaps you shall be our salvation, Mistress Kah'gos!"

Kah'gos, for her part, was gaping at Arzi with patent disgust. "You are a slave," she pronounced distastefully. "Slaves are weak and worthless in battle. Surely you are mad that you welcome a takeover by what you know to be a hostile force!"

At this point, Inriya and T'Rala emerged from the bedroom Lauren shared with them and stared in astonishment at the unfolding scene. Lauren had been the only one awake till now; there was a designated rest period during which most of the young people caught up on their sleep, but Lauren hated naps and hadn't taken them since she'd stopped having an afternoon nap at age four. So much for the daily siesta, she thought. At that point T'Rala inquired, with a slightly acerbic edge to her voice that Lauren didn't miss, "So you, as a participant in an experiment of goodwill, friendship and cooperation, condone this threat to Arzi's home system?"

To everyone else's surprise, Kah'gos actually looked embarrassed. "I have been called to join my father, whose ship awaits me in the Clanim star system."

"Who says you have to go?" Kylie asked. "Is your father the one who sent you here in the first place? If so, he's one seriously hypocritical bloke."

"This was my mother's idea," Kah'gos said. "I have four brothers who are already in the military, and Mother is peace-minded. She is a follower of Mara, the consort of Kang, and Mara teaches peace and tolerance between the Klingons and the Federation. Mother wished one of her children to learn these tenets, and as I am the only girl, she stood up to Father. Father was strongly opposed, but Mother has an iron will." Kah'gos glanced around at the group of girls. "Perhaps this is Father's way of teaching me his ideas, away from Mother's influence."

"You seemed eager enough to go," Lauren remarked.

Kah'gos scowled. "I am Klingon," she said as if that explained everything.

"Arzi!" screamed a voice from the larger bedroom, and everyone jumped, even Kah'gos. "Where are you? Who dares disturb my slumber?"

Poor Arzi immediately fled to the bedroom. "I am here, princess!"

"Bah!" spat Kah'gos. "Perhaps my father is right. Some worlds beg to be taken over."

Stunning them all, M'sis'tenk filled the bedroom doorway with her brightly-colored bulk. Inriya inched away from her as if smelling something foul, and Kylie blinked in amazement at her first sight of the roommate she had up till now only heard about. Lauren eyed the Greater Clanimid and drawled, "Gee, you didn't have to get out of bed just because we have visitors."

That drew laughter from Kylie and Inriya; were she not a Vulcan, T'Rala might have frowned in disapproval. Lauren could see it in her black eyes, but by now she was past caring. "M'sis'tenk, let me introduce you to our newest acquaintance, Kah'gos. It's too bad you two couldn't have been roommates, considering that Kah'gos's father's getting ready to claim Clanimid I and Clanimid II for the Klingons."

M'sis'tenk's florid face began to acquire a rather nauseating magenta hue. The princess's golden eyes narrowed in rage, and her entire body quivered, making Inriya back completely away from her to join the girls standing in the doorway. "You...dare...to take over...my homeworld?" the princess growled. "I...shall not allow it...do you hear me, Klingon?"

Kah'gos eyed M'sis'tenk at length before observing, "You would appear to be in no shape to stop me, Clanimid, and I am not even armed."

M'sis'tenk bared pointed little teeth in a nasty grin. "I am," she replied, and from out of her voluminous silken garments she pulled something that appeared to be a phaser, but much smaller. It looked like a toy.

"Princess, no, please," they heard Arzi cry out from the room behind her mistress.

"What a flippin' coward you are!" Kylie exclaimed in disbelief. "Kah'gos just said she's not armed, and this is your response?"

"She carries a toy weapon," Kah'gos sneered. "Do all princesses on your soft little world play at bravery?"

The magenta blush on M'sis'tenk's face deepened, and before anyone else could react, she fired the tiny phaser right at Kah'gos. The Klingon girl vanished with a roar that sounded more outraged than anything else; the others stared in sheer shock. Only T'Rala closed her eyes briefly.

"How did she get that thing in here?" Lauren demanded. "Didn't Starfleet check to be sure nobody was carrying anything like that? Even us cadets had to leave our phasers on board ship!"

Kylie shook her head. "No," she muttered, "nobody was ever searched, except the Romulan and Klingon arrivals. Guess they figured Federation kids wouldn't do something so stupid. But then again, Clanimids aren't Federation, and they should have been searched. Maybe someone figured they could be trusted...too bad they were wrong." She raised her voice then and taunted, "Well, 'princess', who's next? You've started a killin' spree already. Can't believe you won't off the rest of us just to keep us from calling Commander DeVanay and lettin' her know what you just did."

M'sis'tenk stood perfectly still, staring at her tiny weapon in wonder. "This 'toy' really works," she said. Having ascertained that, she pointed it directly at Kylie. "Speak more words, then, Earther, so that you may empty your mind before I end your life. I thank you for the reminder about the authorities."

Kylie glanced back at Lauren, then grinned. "Surprises me you don't have your poor slave shootin' us for ya, ya fat slob. I hear you've probably never done anything much for yourself in your entire worthless life, so this must feel like strenuous exercise to you. Aren't you gettin' tired already, just standing there holding up your arm? You must be just dyin' to hand that little popgun over to Arzi and let her do your dirty work."

At that moment M'sis'tenk squeezed her trigger and another beam lanced out, disintegrating Kylie and wringing a scream from Inriya. Lauren saw red.

"You just killed my friend!" she shouted. "You're a murderer, you know that? Who ever invited an arrogant pain in the butt like you onto this planet? How did you ever get into this experiment? Pull some strings? Did your daddy the king threaten to make some Starfleet heads roll if his precious daughter wasn't part of the noble project? You're not worth the dirt you walk on...Mrs. Stink!" She flung the nickname at the princess, who was staring at Lauren in disbelief.

"You called me..." began the Clanimid, now turning purple.

Several things happened at once, so quickly Lauren barely had time to register it all. T'Rala, unnoticed till now, reached out for the juncture of the princess' neck and shoulder; at the same moment, Arzi slid a stick-thin arm around M'sis'tenk and tweaked the little phaser from her grasp. Inriya blurted out something in Deltan; M'sis'tenk turned when she felt T'Rala's fingers close onto her neck; Arzi lifted the phaser and shot the princess at point-blank range. T'Rala yanked her hand back, but not in time to keep from being singed by the phaser shot that consumed M'sis'tenk.

"Oh my God," Lauren mumbled in the heavy silence that followed. The phaser fell from Arzi's grip. T'Rala cradled her senseless right hand, unable to pull her usual Vulcan mask over the pain that radiated from her face. Inriya looked very pale, and her eyes were huge and bright.

"I am free," Arzi said very softly. "I am finally free."

"How could you...where did you...you were so..." Inriya babbled.

Arzi smiled. "You can't imagine how many years I dreamed of doing that," she said. "It was so easy to dispatch her once I had the phaser. The Klingon was correct—M'sis'tenk lived a very soft and undemanding life. She believed she had all the spirit beaten from me, and I let her think so in order to lull her into, what do you call it...a false sense of security."

"But you have killed a Greater Clanimid," Inriya cried. "You cannot expect to return home except to face execution, Arzi."

Arzi nodded. "I know that," she replied steadily. "But it was my only hope of ever going home. I would have been M'sis'tenk's slave for life. Yes, I will certainly die for having killed her, but I will die free." She turned to T'Rala. "I apologize for having injured you, T'Rala. Please let me tend to your hand."

T'Rala regarded Arzi with unreadable black eyes; her mask of control was back. "Yes, I should be grateful for your assistance, Arzi," she agreed.

"Gratitude is an emotion," Lauren said, unable to resist. She must have watched Kirk and McCoy tease Spock once too often, she thought.

T'Rala shifted her gaze to Lauren and raised an eyebrow. "Indeed it is."