Just then, she received word that the Praetor was expecting her to call him. Toreth squared her shoulders, and got him onscreen. "Commander Toreth, I presume," the Praetor greeted her. "Praetor," Toreth acknowledged.
"Commander, your orders are as follows: track down the Federation ship the USS Royale. You will take the Admiral, T'Son, as your prisoner. Then, destroy the ship, with everyone else on board."
"Who is this T'Son of whom you speak?" Toreth asked. "You know..." the Praetor said. "The person you were 'no, you'-ing to the other day. We got several complaints about that, by the way."
"Erik?" Toreth gasped in shock. "No, T'Son!" the Praetor said impatiently. "Fulfill your orders, Chairman! Once they are completed, the Emperor wishes to see you." "Thank you, Praetor," Toreth said, and he disappeared from the screen.
"Follow the Federation ship, the USS Royale, as we have been doing previously," Toreth said. "Tell me when we have them in our sights. Do not fire until my command." She strode off the bridge, as she was late at a meeting with Vokar in the library.
Moments later, Toreth arrived at the futuristic library, where computers lined the walls and data padds were available if needed. She looked around, and walked to where Vokar was sitting at a table.
"Hi, Vokar," she said, sitting down beside him. "Chairman," he greeted her with a slight nod. "I need to discuss with you a matter of extreme importance..." They talked for quite some time about different things, ranging from the Romulan government to such minute details as the color of the RIW Kaleh, and should they get it painted or not?
"Oh, Vokar, I had a wonderful time," Toreth sighed as she regained her breath from laughing. "Thank you for listening," Vokar said. "Oh, by the way, Toreth-"he stopped her as she started to get up.
"I was wondering if you would join me on the holodeck tomorrow evening?" he asked. Toreth's pulse went full-speed and her heart soared. "That would be great," she said. "I'll bring the wine." "I'll bring the food," Vokar said. "See you later, then," Toreth said. "All right," Vokar agreed. As Toreth walked out of the library, she felt she could fly from the heady feeling she was experiencing. She couldn't wait until tomorrow night.
"Mara!" T'Son shouted. "Uh-oh," Mara muttered under her breath, and quickly turned to store away some files. T'Son stormed into sickbay and stood behind her, hands on his hips and fuming.
"Where are my two lieutenants?" he asked her. Mara slowly turned to him, a sweet smile on her face that spoke of innocence and confusion. "Why, T'Son, I have absolutely no idea of what you're talking about!" she said. "Why would you accuse me of taking your two lieutenants?"
"Because they were the same two lieutenants who supposedly hit on you the other day," T'Son said. Mara shrugged and turned back to her filing. Rhonda glared at him, and muttered, "Monster. Beats his own girlfriend." Unfortunately, it was not quiet enough to be unheard by both Mara and T'Son, who whirled around and glared right back.
"Oh, you mean those two lieutenants?" Mara asked. "Oh, um...I do seem to remember escorting them down to the morgue...they wanted to...experience the thrill." She stifled a laugh as she turned back to the files once more.
"No." T'Son grabbed Mara's arm and whirled her around again, his face white. "You...you didn't." "Oh, on the contrary, I did," Mara said, choking on her laughter.
T'Son let go of her arm and raced out of sickbay down to the morgue as Mara bent over in laughter.
Moments later, a very displeased T'Son and two very disgruntled lieutenants were in her sickbay. "Mara-"T'Son said warningly. "One moment, please, gentlemen, I shall be right with you," Mara said, sweeping past them to give a hysterical patient some morphine-or the futuristic equivalent, anyway.
"Now." She turned and smiled. "How may I help you today? Might I recommend super sizing the fries?"
"Dr. East," T'Son began in a very formal tone, "I found these two officers in the morgue tied up in body-bags, and they say that they have been there for over two days."
As if to emphasize his words, one of the lieutenants' eyes rolled up, and he collapsed to the floor in a dead faint. Mara looked at him, and then smiled at T'Son. "Don't worry," she said as she helped pick him up off the floor with Rhonda. "It's quite natural when one has been locked up in the morgue for two days. A combination of stress, emotional trauma, and dehydration most likely."
She dropped him with a bang on the bed, and turned back to T'Son. "Well, that's that! Would you like our free McNuggets Value Meal with your order?"
T'Son closed his eyes and counted to ten, then opened them again and asked quietly and firmly, "Dr. East, may I see you for a moment?" "Actually, sir, I'm very busy right now: the lines at the drive-thru are incredibly long, but if you'd like to talk to Rhonda, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to-ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
Mara kind of skipped over to wear T'Son was standing as he dragged her over, his nails digging into her still sore arm. "What?" she groused, pulling her arm away and examining her bruises which were now turning black again, thanks to T'Son's vise-like grip.
"Mara, you need to grow up," he said seriously. "Starfleet cannot have a childish doctor in it." Mara rolled her eyes. "Hello? Don't you think that's why I'm acting childish?" she asked. T'Son's expression remained blank, indicating he did not understand. "I'm being childish so I can get out of Starfleet," she explained. "I hate Starfleet. Stupid uniforms, stupid people, and...apparently people who cannot take a joke or a hint as to when to back off," she said, glaring at the lieutenant who was still conscious, who was gazing into empty space as a result of the nerve-wracking trauma he had endured being very close to dead corpses.
T'Son debated: he could either fire Mara and be rid of her nuisance and let her have the satisfaction of knowing she had won; or, he could keep her on and make her life miserable as she continued to mess up his.
It was a hard choice. He had very nearly decided when he saw Mara's eager face staring at him, and he changed his mind. "You're staying," he said abruptly, and turned to walk out. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Mara said, desperately running after him and grabbing his sleeve. He tried to shake her off, but she hung on. "Please, please, please!" she begged him. "I hate Starfleet, I despise Starfleet! If you bear any pity for me, I BEG you to please consider this!" He looked at her, and announced, "I have had no pity since you beat me up."
"Oh, come on," Mara said as he dragged her a few feet and tried again to shake her off his sleeve. "Can't we forget about that little incident? I already have!" she said, despite the fact that she was still very much angry with him. Apparently, he realized that, and didn't answer, but again tried to shake her off.
"What are you, a Post-It?" he asked. "Rhonda, get over here," he motioned. Rhonda came over quickly and grabbed Mara's legs and pulled. Mara only wrapped her arms more tightly around T'Son's arm and sobbed, "No! Please!!" T'Son and Rhonda pulled and finally there was a ripping sound and Mara and Rhonda tumbled to the floor, part of the fabric of T'Son's shirt in Mara's hand.
T'Son looked at the ripped sleeve of his shirt, and sighed, shaking his head. Mara grinned sheepishly, and handed him back the fabric as if he could somehow magically reattach it.
"You're staying," he said again, and motioned for the lieutenant to follow him and they left.
Mara looked up at the ceiling from where she sat on the floor and let out a wordless scream of despair that echoed throughout the USS Royale. She would never escape this mad world.
Toreth arrived at the holodeck, carrying glasses and a bottle of good Romulan wine that she could never pronounce the name of.
She looked around and sighed in amazement. She was staring down upon towns, and trees, sitting atop a mountain with a beautiful sunset with colors of pink, purple, red, and gold coloring the mountains at the horizon.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Toreth turned and saw Vokar walking towards her. "Immensely," Toreth agreed, and they sat down on the grass. "Wine?" Toreth offered, and Vokar accepted. "Cheers," Toreth said, and the glasses clinked together before they drank.
They ate slowly, enjoying the view and each other's company, talking about this or that, such as Vokar's life, and Toreth's former life-of course, she had emitted the fact that she had been a human.
"Mm," Toreth sighed as she finished the last of her food. "That was good," she said. "I'm surprised." "Why? Did you think the food would be horrible?" Vokar asked. "I had my doubts about you," Toreth teased. "You don't look like the kind of person who likes good, normal food." Vokar laughed and moved a little bit closer, and they took each others' hands.
"You know, I used to be friends with T'Son," Toreth said. "Really?" Vokar asked in surprise. "How is that possible?" Toreth shrugged. "I ran into him a couple of times. We became friends but then when I became Chairman of the Tal Shiar, we...kind of lost touch. I was also friends with Mara East..."
"Dr. Mara East?" Vokar asked, and now Toreth looked at him in surprise. "Um...yes, I suppose," she said. "Why? Have you heard of her?"
Vokar looked at her incredulously, and said, "Everyone's heard about her! She's come up with several valuable medicines and new healing techniques! At least two kidnap attempts have been made on her, only three less than the kidnapping attempts made on T'Son."
"Mara?" Toreth asked in shock. "Mara has almost been kidnapped? Boy, if she had, I pity her captors. She'd talk their ears off."
"Once by the Ferengi, and once by the Romulans," Vokar answered. "That attempt failed, unfortunately...say, perhaps we could get her as well as T'Son. The emperor would surely be pleased."
"And it would be a good chance to meet up with two old friends again," Toreth mused, and then smiled at him. "I really like the way you think," she said. "That's good," Vokar said.
They looked in each other's eyes, and then slowly leaned in and kissed.
A/N: Yes, yes, I know this chapter was not as funny, but I decided I needed to include more of Valerie/Toreth and Vokar, so I did. Plus, the chapter yielded some surprising information to me as well. I personally had no idea that Mara actually had the patience to invent new medicines and healing techniques...oh, the things you learn about a person...