ILuvHawkeye: Glad you liked it. Here is the long-awaited update, while not as funny, 100 percent us.
Data: The fate of the Federation is in my hands. I like that idea. LOL And you know, the Trio only thinks you are dead. I did not mention them looking you up in AOTTT! :raises eyebrow: By the way, the compliments are true.
Points to those of you who get the joke with the planet in the paragraph below the next paragraph. This is a nice long update for you! I have more questions. Should I cancel the "humor" category? This is not near as humorous as AOTTT! and in fact on page three, there is a huge moral dilemma. Despite that though, enjoy! As always, R&R please!
If nothing else, Korok certainly knew how to throw a party. The three captured Trekkies walked into a scene of magnificence. Toreth muttered something about this Klingon certainly knowing how to mess with a prisoner's mind, and it was true. Though the room was just a conference room, the decorations transformed it into a banquet hall, and banquet certainly was the appropriate word. There was one long table, and it was piled it high with all manner of delicious food from several worlds.
Each of the four sat down in one of the four places. Even the plates were fancy, sprinkled with a strong, but good smelling spice, and then some sort of syrup. The silverware was a rare blue metal from a planet called Bleucouteau VIII, and intricately worked to have ornate swirls on the handles. Korok was grinning at his "guests'" reactions. Qwi was taking it all in with wide eyes, amazed by the finery. T'Son was wondering if this were what kind of meals the President of the Federation took, and wanted to be in that office. Toreth was trying to mask her awe with disdain, and not succeeding.
"Well now, what do you think of my little feast?" Korok asked. "Are you happy you decided to cooperate after all?"
"Nice try, Captain Korok, but did you really think all this could prevent me from noticing the clever traps?" Toreth asked, raising an eyebrow and looking very Vulcan. Of course, she would have killed anyone who called her Vulcan. "The spices on our plates are slightly different then yours. They are undoubtedly some sort of poison, as is the syrup." She went on to point out other little things, like the near invisible lines of some sort of liquid on the knife edges. "And lastly, despite how much I miss my grandmother's apple pie," she concluded, "I would not eat a pie with razor thin slices of metal carved and painted to look like apples. Did I miss anything?" Korok was gaping.
"How did you...?" he managed to say. Toreth smirked.
"You think I have not done this myself? I'm Tal Shiar, remember? Trust me, the razor just make a mess on your table and make your prisoner madder." Qwi and T'Son winced in sympathy.
"You forgot the mashed potatoes imported from New Antarctica," Korok said, partially in annoyance, partially in shock.
"Oh no," Toreth said softly, putting a finger to her lips in a thoughtful manner. "I knew I was getting rusty."
"Remind me never to accept your dinner invitations," Qwi said. T'Son nodded in wholehearted agreement, not realizing who he was agreeing with.
"I suppose this means we cannot have our feast," Korok said. He sounded almost disappointed. "Oh well. A good leader always has backups." Without warning, a hypo was given to each member of the Trekkie Trio.
"What was that? What did you do to us?" Qwi asked, eyes wide.
"This drug will slow your mental responses, not as in stupidity, but as in tiredness. You will also be much more inclined to talk freely, especially about... confidential matters." Toreth and Qwi took on panic looks. Korok was grinning. No one noticed that T'Son looked perfectly composed, even now. The three were taken back to their cell to await whatever fate was in store for them.
T'Son knew the girls would be furious if he told them his secret, so he did not bother. It was hard though, because of the drug. Qwi had babbled on and on about some dog she had had when she was younger, which was okay, because she was human. But if he or especially Toreth were to start about the dogs they had had... He had already had to remind both girls to hush several times. Therefore, they were talking about cosmetics, of all things.
"I still hate make-up," Toreth said. "As Chairman of the Tal Shiar though, it gets me trouble. The Emperor himself once actually asked me if I was feeling alright. I had just got back from... tell you later... and I had circles under my eyes or something. Not that I had bothered to use some sort of concealing..." T'Son tuned them out. Anything that could make Toreth talk about make-up without violence against the poor powders was a powerful drug indeed.
He concentrated on looking for an exit, and not talking. Qwi was nearly asleep, because of the hypo, and even Toreth was starting to wind down. T'Son concentrated on listened to the talk of the guard, and deciphering the rapidly spoken Klingon. He was on a communicator.
"I'm supposed to let the force field down when they're asleep and put in some higher security measures. The hypo should give me eight hours, approximately. Tomorrow though, when they wake up, the other parts should not have quite worn off, and we can question them, especially that Romulan. Chairman of the Tal Shiar, no less...!" T'Son tuned him out too. He had enough information to formulate a plan.
"Toreth, Qwi, pretend to fall asleep," he hissed at them.
"Why?" Qwi asked. "And why aren't you tired?"
"Vulcan healing trances and other things," he said softly, knowing that they would be upset with him for not revealing this sooner. "Now, when the force field goes down, get his disruptor. You may be tired, but do not fall asleep. That is an order, Qwi. As Starfleet and Romulan officers, you all should know that it is about pushing yourself even when you can go no farther. Got it?" They nodded. Toreth kept talking for a few seconds, but faded out slowly. They waited, eyes closed, on the floor, for about forty-five minutes.
"You asleeping?" the Klingon asked in bad Federation Standard. When he got no reply, he assumed the drug was working and lowered the force field. However, as he was walking by Toreth, she lunged up and grabbed for his disruptor. T'Son seized another energy weapon he had in his boot, and Qwi grabbed his own handcuffs, and snapped them on his wrists while he was distracted. The Trekkie Trio managed to back him into a corner, Toreth keeping her disruptor and two furious eyes locked on him.
"Ask him where our communicators and weapons are," Toreth said to T'Son.
"I will tell nothing to a Romulan petaQ!" the Klingon snarled.
"You would tell T'Son though," Toreth said, looking steadily at her one time best friend. He suddenly realized what she wanted him to do.
"No, Toreth," T'Son said, staring at her in shock. "You really have changed. I can believe you would want me to do something like that! Don't you remember watching The Undiscovered Country?"
"Do not throw that back in my face," Toreth said harshly. "I did not realize how innocent I was as a human twelve-year-old when I first gasped at the events of that movie. Now that the entire Romulan Star Empire is at stake, for only with me can we for sure win this war, I realize that we all will do whatever is necessary, no matter what. At least this is a Klingon and not someone you are close to! T'Son, you have to do this. It is logical. But if you will not, I will have to. It would be better if you were to do it, being an actual Vulcan. But I have not forgotten how."
"Toreth, when we were teenagers... and you joked about becoming the Evil Empress of the Multiverses... I never until now realized just how serious you were," Qwi said, face pale.
"I refuse to do this. Spock was your crush; maybe you can do what he did with a clean conscience," T'Son said. Hazel met silver in a fierce battle for a moment, until both turned away. The mind meld was accomplished quickly and with no fuss. Not that a Klingon would know how to put up mental shields in the first place. Toreth quickly and efficiently took what she needed from his mind and then knocked him unconscious.
"Has that... I mean, have you ever done that before?" Qwi asked as they walked along a corridor in the direction Toreth told them to go. Toreth nodded, head bowed. She did not want to meet the accusing gazes of the Federation duo, despite being a Romulan. "When?" Qwi asked in shock.
"When I was fifteen. I was already spying for the Romulans, and a man caught me in an area of the Enterprise that was classified. I had to modify his memory." T'Son stared at her in shock.
"I can't believe I was dating you!" he said with revulsion.
"I told you two I never belonged in the UFP," she said simply. "I have different values, different definitions of right and wrong, a completely different philosophy and way to view the world! Humans and Vulcans could never understand this. Even you two, who were once my best friends, do not understand, and are horrified by what you see." Now Toreth did look up, and the look in her silver eyes was that of cold relentless metal, the metal of the dagger for which her ship was named.
The Trio hurried along the corridor to the door behind which the communicators and weapons were located. As expected, they were guards, but the guards themselves were not expecting anything. It was not as though Toreth had given the man a chance to blab about escaped prisoners over the intercom. The Trio stunned the guards and quickly retrieved their personal items.
"It is so good to be out of Klingon apparel," Qwi said with content as she tugged her Federation uniform straight. Toreth nodded in agreement. T'Son rolled his eyes. Females were the same, no matter what species they were from, or even how evil they were.
"T'Son, listen," Toreth said, coming up beside him. "I know you could probably keep going forever; you could probably swim to Earth if you wanted, but Qwi and I were drugged."
"Right..." T'Son said, feeling slightly foolish for forgetting. "We can do a classic trick- sleep in the ventilation ducts. By the time we awake, the Klingons will have undoubtedly discovered our not-so presence. From there, we only have to wait until a Federation or Romulan ship comes into communicator range."
"Great. It's like having a cell phone on roaming," Toreth muttered in annoyance. Qwi looked over at her with a mischievous grin.
"Tori, I know that at the time we first left Earth, your cell phone was named Kiwi. What is your communicator's name?" She ducked the slap Toreth threw at her.
"If you must know, Baron," Toreth said, bright green with embarrassment. She marched over to a ventilation duct, pried the screen off, and ducked inside. "I finished the fruit series not long ago and started the 'titles of power' series." Laughing under their breaths, Qwi and T'Son followed her into the duct to get some much needed sleep."