ILuvHawkeye: I am glad. Here is the promised update!
Data: Whatever gave you any indication that I was going to stop? Thanks for the compliments... is this better than Love Me, Love Me Not? And Vokar is actually based on- blushes- my dream guy. And I highly doubt my dream guy is from Kansas. LOL
T'Son: Thank you! By the way, when you review, leave me notes on how I am doing with your character. This will help me to write you better.
This chapter gets a bit deeper a quarter of the way through, but I need to write some seriousness. Character emotions are key to my stories, so if you are here for the humor, bear with me. It will get funny again! And, as always, R&R, and not only if you are one of the three people I asked in person to review! LOL I am also experimenting with the three dashes thing to break up scenes- is that easier? Should I continue?
Before she realized what was going on, Toreth felt her vision grow fuzzy. Her first thought was of the contact lenses she had worn a few lifetimes ago, but then she recognized the effect. Apparently the idiot at the transporter controls saw fit to beam her over too. But when her vision finally cleared, she saw not the blue and silver bridge lit with the numerous Red Alert lights T'Son had put in, but a different bridge- one that was infuriatingly familiar. Within seconds, she had her disruptor out and pointing at the figure in the central chair... who was not General Chang.
"Seize them," the Klingon, whoever he was, said lazily. Toreth fired, but at that moment someone grabbed her arms, causing her shot to go wild. She looked around and saw that Qwi and T'Son were with her, and they were in similar predicaments. The three of them struggled and found Klingon disruptors pointed at them.
"What are we doing here? Who are you?" T'Son demanded furiously. The Klingon grinned.
"All in good time, Commodore. First, let me introduce myself. I am Captain Korok, master of this little prototype. My plant has informed me that you-" He was interrupted by a sound of disbelief.
"You talk to plants?" Qwi asked in a scathing tone. "Wow, I never knew Klingons were that stupid."
"They are, trust me," Toreth said, shaking her head. Korok made a sound of annoyance.
"A plant in the sense of a Klingon planted in an enemy government to inform the Klingons of that enemy's movements! I never knew Romulans and humans were this stupid! As I was saying, my plant has informed me that all of you possess advanced technological information and are almost like true psychics. I demand to know where you got this information. You must tell me everything you know and how you know it. Should you refuse to cooperate, the consequences could be unpleasant, at least for you. So what do the three you say?"
"I will never betray the Romulan Star Empire," Toreth said. "My secrets are for my empire alone and nothing you can do to me will change that."
"Likewise, I stand for the United Federation of Planets. Not until 2293 will I even consider giving you any technological secrets," T'Son said.
"I also will keep my secrets within the confines of Federation territory. No Klingon will learn anything from me, especially in this century," Qwi said. The Klingon sighed.
"As I expected," he muttered, partly to himself. "Very well, strip them of anything that could be thought of as a weapon and put them in the brig. Just having a human, a Vulcan, and a Romulan in the same brig should be difficult enough for you to start with."
"Oh, you have no idea," T'Son grumbled. Toreth could not help grinning at that.
"Wait... where are you taking us?" Qwi asked. T'Son and Toreth suddenly felt rather stupid for forgetting about that. They looked at the viewscreen and noticed the stars whizzing by as typical when moving at warp.
"Why, we are going to the Enterprise, of course!" Korok said. "Captain Spock, if I have my way, will soon be another one of my guests!"
(A/N: I estimate this to be a little bit before The Wrath of Khan, though I have very little real idea).
"Not Spock!" Toreth whispered as they were led away, too numb to even fight back. Only T'Son, with his Vulcan hearing, heard her.
---
Everything had been confiscated, even their clothes, and they were now dressed in the most hideous Klingon things. The three of them had checked the cell top to bottom, side to side, any other way they could think of, and they had still not found a way out. They needed help, but their friends were light years away and no Klingon was going to help them. Toreth was sitting against a wall, staring straight ahead and not seeing anything. T'Son was going over even the minutest of cracks yet another time. Qwi pulled her Klingon garments, trying to get them to hang right. They were made for a much larger female.
"Upset because your 'one true love' is going to be captured?" Qwi teased Toreth, but it was only half-hearted.
"Spock is not my one true love anymore," Toreth said.
"Who then- T'Son?"
"No."
"Okay, why are you depressed?" T'Son asked, hearing their conversation. At last, Toreth smiled slightly.
"Only you..." she murmured. "I am the Chairman of the Tal Shiar. I am one of the most powerful and influential women in the Empire. I have everything- a starship, a wonderful job, power, money, a loving best friend... so the fall is hard. Worse, to be stuck with you two now, of all times, well, it is as though I am a teenager on an emotional rollercoaster again. Besides, I hate being helpless. And the fall is harder for me, the fall from power to prisoner, because I feel things more strongly than you. T'Son, you might not be a 'normal' Vulcan in the emotional sense, but I am sure some of it has rubbed off on you. Qwi, Romulans have always felt emotions stronger than humans, and I used to be one quarter Italian on Earth anyway." She smiled wryly.
"Well, we're upset too, Tori," Qwi said. "But at least there are people out there, on our ships, who we can trust to take control of our ships and help us. At least you are with friends here, too!"
"No, I do not," Toreth said, eyes narrowing. "You two think everything can go back to the way it was when we were sixteen. Well, it cannot. Also, it was never to way you thought it was. Do you know how long I had been passing information to the Romulans before I left Enterprise? Since we arrived. My people are the Romulans, Vokar is my only friend."
"Fine, be that way," Qwi muttered.
"Are you still going to help us get out of this cell?" T'Son asked.
"Of course," Toreth said. "However, I do this for myself, not you. My motives are entirely selfish."
"When have they not been?" T'Son asked sarcastically.
"When they were for the good of the Romulan Star Empire as a whole," Toreth answered without hesitation.
---
Elaina was not happy. She had gone to see about the real commander of T'Son's ship, and he had been in sickbay, unable to take any sort of command. He told her that she was temporarily in command, since she was the only one who knew what was going on. Of course, she was a counselor. She had no idea of how to run a starship. She wore blue, not gold. And now she was expected to work with a Romulan and save her commanding officer from Klingons! It was absurd.
"... Commander Toreth has explained to me how to trap this bird-of-prey, if we can only find him," Vokar was saying. With difficultly, Elaina dragged her attention back to the meeting of the two Acting-Captains and the Acting-Commander.
"But how are we supposed to find it?" Codiar asked.
"You compile the lists of what might be major targets in the Federation. I will do the same for Romulus. Let us hope that he is not too far away, but will not strike at either of our peoples," Vokar said.
"Good day," Codiar said, "once your commander's minions escort me to the transporter room." Clearly Codiar did not like working with Romulans. Vokar obviously did not like working with Federation members either. He glared at Codiar's retreating back, offended at the insult to Toreth.
"Vokar?" Elaina asked. He turned his eyes on her. "We will get them all back... and we can trust you to help us, despite the fact that you are a... Romulan, right?"
"I will attempt to get To- the commander back," Vokar said, reminding himself that he had to be formal around Federation people. "As for the other, they are high-ranking Federation officers who are against the Romulan Star Empire. They could drop down a pit for all I care. If in doing this, I must work with you and the veruul who calls himself Codiar, then so be it. It is for the good of the Empire."
"Is everything you Romulans do for the good of your Empire?" Elaina asked. Vokar nodded. She shrugged and exited the room with the Romulan guards, not seeing him collapse into one of the chairs and bury his face in his hands. Vokar could not admit it to anyone, but he missed Toreth more than he had previously thought possible. Who would have thought that two nerds who met in the library when Vokar asked Toreth for help in a language class could have grown so close? Little did he know that Toreth was thinking the same thoughts about him.