Ni'ael returned to the surface of Vashti. Yes, he wanted to talk with Picard and see if he would share some of the contents of his many protracted conversations with Plutarch. Maybe the synth had caught something in Plutarch's manners or countenance that would shed some light on this situation. More pressing at the moment was that Plutarch's operatives had detained two men who had checked out of the inn just before he arrived with Enid. The innkeeper tipped them off that these two men were not what they seemed. They claimed to be from Villera'trel which was highly unlikely. The transports from that region never made it to safety. Plutarch was questioning the men in the home of a loyalist, and wanted Ni'ael present.
When he arrived at the house, he was shown to the cellar where the imposters were bound to chairs. Plutarch was already there. He obviously decided to forgo traditional methods and resorted to telepathy. Infact, he seemed to be engaged in a mind meld with one. Ni'ael tensed as he watched the process from the bottom few steps. To the best of Ni'ael's knowledge, this was not a skill Plutarch had. Yes he could tell what was top of a person's mind from a casual touch or even, as Enid could, bend someone to his will for a short time but a deep probe of someone's mind was not in his wheelhouse.
"Sorry, Ni'ael," Plutarch said when he finished with the last man, "I know you like to do these things but we really don't have time, right now." He slapped the man on the shoulder. "I will let you kill them though. That ought to compensate."
"What did you learn?" Ni'ael casually took stock of the room. He had two of his own men there and three of Plutarch's personal guards were there as well. Three against four. Those odds weren't too bad. Ni'ael didn't have to be telepathic to read the room. One look at his men told him that they were suspicious of Plutarch as well.
"There is an imposter in our ranks." Plutarch was drawing this out for some reason.
"Who?" Ni'ael shifted his position. It was a subtle gesture, but told his men to stand ready.
"Yumuen," Plutarch said. "Yumuen is section 31. They have been slowly poisoning Enid since he came."
"Then let me kill him," Ni'ael said, hoping that the man Plutarch melded with was limited in his knowledge of Yumuen's actual mission.
"Let's talk," one of the prisoners said.. Ni'ael didn't want the man to spill more than he already had so Ni'ael drew a weapon and shot him.
"Yumuen violated my home. Enid is my daughter, I want to kill him." Plutarch's eyes glistened. It was greed, Ni'ael discerned. Plutarch never relished killing before.
"He managed to ingratiate himself to my wife and daughters as well. Let us do this together, old friend." Ni'ael smiled amicably.
"You have enough to occupy yourself here. I can handle this Federation filth."
Ni'ael walked over to the remaining prisoner and shot him as well.. "See," he said, "My schedule just freed up. Let's go take care of it."
Rynar intended to take Ni'ael out as well as Enid's doctor. He underestimated the loyalty of Ni'ael's men, however. Before Rynar could level Plutarch's weapon to Ni'ael it was kicked from his hand. The resultant brawl brought ruin to the little cellar. Stacks of provisions were knocked over and barrels of ale were upended. Few people could best Ni'ael and Plutarch was not one of them. He did manage to take out Ni'ael's two operatives so the blonde Northerner retreated. Plutarch's men, having been told that Ni'ael was in league with Yumuen, gave chase but Ni'ael lost them behind a tavern. He ducked through an alley and into a backyard where clothing hung out on a line. He changed then took some mud and worked it into his blonde hair. He covered his face as well. Picking up a discarded bottle of ale on the sidewalk, Ni'ael made his way to The House of Truth, pretending to be a common drunk. The streets had enough of those, both human and Romulan. He fit in fine. Reports put Picard walking that way with the sister boy and Enid's friend, Missy. He waited outside The House of Truth for Picard to finish talking with Zani and return to La Serina. He would make his case then.
Picard, Elnor and Missy left and made their way to the beam out point. As Ni'ael approached, Elnor pulled his sword.
"Please my friend, choose to live," he said. Ni'ael held up his arms in acquiescence.
"I have urgent business with Picard," he said.
"Ni'ael?" Picard recognized his voice but it didn't fit the image in front of him. "What has happened?"
"Not here Picard. I need to get off Vashti. Has Arcana granted Plutarch passage to Coppelius?"
"I believe she has."
"Then I need to talk to her. There is great danger."
"We have no reason to trust the Tal Shiar," Elnor said, still holding his sword at Ni'ael's throat. Picard waved him off. Reluctantly, Elnor sheathed his weapon. "The Tal Shiar weaves lies."
"I am not speaking for Tal Shiar. I am here for my cousin."
"Enid has sent you?" Picard asked.
"No, Boo has." Ni'ael felt certain this was the sort of mystery that would hook the old Star Fleet Captain.
"You have spoken to Boo?"
"Yes. As have you, I believe. Only my wife and daughter are a bit better at talking with Boo than most. I am here at their bidding."
"Why are you disguised?" Missy asked. Ni'ael ignored her and continued with Picard.
"We need to talk, but not here." Ni'ael's eyes sweeped the darkness around them.
Picard knew the problems involved with bringing Ni'ael to La Serina. He thought about this as they walked. It was dark by the time they reached the settlement and few people were on the street. Ni'ael scanned the shadows as they passed.
"Picard," Ni'ael leaned in and said with a hiss, "This is important."
"Elnor, you go back to La Serina. Tell them what has transpired. I'll accompany Missy and Ni'ael to the Enterprise.`` Missy had secured passage on the Enterprise using her media credentials. Picard had a thought. He watched Ni'ael's reaction for confirmation as he said, "And I don't think we should chat about this, even over secured lines, right?" Ni'ael raised an eyebrow slightly and tilted his head.
On the Enterprise, the transporter room hailed Worf. He was in the holodeck running his exercise program.
"Sir, Picard wishes to beam aboard with a Romulan," a young sounding disembodied voice informed him as he dodged a virtual assailant. He brought his bat'leth down hard on his opponents back. The holo vanished.
"Is it the boy, Elnor?" Worf scanned the holodeck for his next threat.
"No sir. Elnor is there, but he is returning to La Serina. What should I do?"
"Computer, pause program." Worf trusted the judgement of Picard but what if the old man were being coerced?
"Security to transporter room three," he said to the air. Then addressing the young man in the transporter room, he said, "When security gets there, beam them on board." He called for the arch, changed and left the holosuite for the transporter room. He still had his bat'leth in his hands but passed it off to an ensign before joining his security team in the transporter room. He entered and found a rather pale Missy, a muddy Ni'ael, and a somewhat perturbed Picard.
"Worf! Tell these men to stand down! Ni'ael is hurt, I believe." He gestured to the green blood coming through the shoulder of Ni'ael's pilfered attire.
"I will escort you to sick bay." Warf nodded to his security team who stood aside but still on alert as Ni'ael and Picard left the transporter pad. Missy followed, keeping her distance.
"This is nothing, I need to speak with the leader of the Coppelius Synths."
"You will first speak to me," Worf said.
"Fine." Ni'ael didn't waste time and started telling his story as they walked. "None of this makes sense to us," he said when he was finished. They had reached the sick bay door. He paused and turned to Picard. "You, Picard, have struck up a friendship with Plutarch these past few years. Have you noted anything useful?" Picard had to admit that his communications with Plutarch did not hint at such betrayal of his daughter. They entered the sick bay and a medical officer approached Ni'ael.
"Good Lord! What happened here?" The officer's enthusiastic greeting was met with an eye roll.
"I was jumping rope," Ni'ael said in a dry voice. The doctor directed him to a bed where Ni'ael sat and allowed the human to work on his wound. "You have broken ribs as well."
"Is Plutarch Zhat Vash?" Missy asked. The question startled the small group as no one had remembered she was around until she spoke.
"We have considered that but dismissed it," Ni'ael said, in a low voice.
"But Enid's mother was a cyberneticist."
"Power is a living entity. It must be fed and nurtured or it perishes." Ni'ael addressed Missy as he would one of his servants who didn't understand directions. "Even influential men have to do favors at times. Plutarch has many contacts within the governments of our rivals."
"Rivals? The Tal Shiar considers everyone their enemy," Worf said.
"We have reasons to be suspicious of outsiders." Ni'ael flexed his shoulder as the doctor finished his ministrations. He pulled his shirt back on. "We don't believe that Plutarch was ever officially Zhat Vash. He knew someone in the Cardasian government who could get him close to Dinah's husband. He is protective of his contacts and probably undertook the mission to maintain the safety of his connection."
"Honor among spies?" Missy asked.
"Exactly. Governments need to have channels to work out issues that neither side wants to address publicly for various reasons. What we do is in the best interest of the people."
"You're just knights in shining armor, then?" Worf asked, his face twisted into a cynical smirk. He extended an arm to the back of the sick bay where Yumuen stood in conference with the Chief Medical Officer. "Yumuen was tipped off by Narek." Instead of taking injury at the sight of the agent, Ni'ael's shoulders relaxed.
"I didn't have a chance to warn you," he said. Yumuen walked over and the men clasped hands.
"I think Enid has tabs on you, Ni'ael."
"I would be surprised if she didn't keep track of you as well. I am sorry I questioned your loyalty."
"Well, I am walking a fine line here. And Boo was not specific about the threat until recently."
"We should continue this conversation in private," Worf said. "I'll assign you quarters. We will meet in the observation lounge in ten minutes." That would give Ni'ael a chance to run through a sonic shower.
"I need to know what sort of Romulan hijinks is going on here," Work said as they all took their chairs. Ni'ael bristled at Worf's characterization of the events. It was Yumuen who answered.
"I was originally sent to coax Enid and Narek to come to the Federation. When Ni'ael figured out my connections, he could have executed me, but he didn't."
"Why?" Worf asked. Picard tried to study the men using biometric markers to gauge their emotions. He had to admit that both men were a mystery to him and chalked it up to their training as clandestine agents.
"Because of the maps," Ni'ael said.
"I understand that the maps that Plutarch provided the Federation with were fake," said Worf.
"That is correct," Yumuen said. "The Romulans consider StarFleet to be capricious."
"Capricious! Explain!" Worf turned to Ni'ael.
"Star Fleet has excellent technical skills," Ni'ael said evenly, "but you are subject to the political whims of the Federation. And sometimes, you have to admit that discipline is lax." He gestured to Picard. "How many times have you violated your prime directive in your career?"
"We don't follow orders without question," Picard said.
"And that makes you dangerous." Ni'ael smoothed his jacket. "I mean no offense. We wouldn't trust this information to our own military either."
"They believed that Section 31 was a better avenue for cooperation for a variety of reasons. Many of these traps are in heavily populated sectors. We don't want to create a panic." He turned to Ni'ael. "Plutarch spearheaded negotiations regarding this arrangement. What has changed?"
"I'm not sure. The operatives that visited you? Those weren't yours, then?" Ni'ael asked.
"I figured they were Orinon. They had someone surgically altered to look like me. Did you capture him?"
"No, but Plutarch picked up two of them. I am relieved to find out they weren't yours. They posed as survivors from Villera'tre."
"No one from Villera'tre survived the supernova."
"The Tal Shiar keeps excellent records. We know exactly who, and what we've lost." Ni'ael lowered his head as he said this but maintained eye contact with Yumuen.
"This is a most unusual arrangement," Worf said. He had already been briefed by his superiors but he didn't trust Section 31 anymore that he did the Romulans. Both operated in the shadows. He preferred laying everything out for all to see but understood that this was how governments sometimes worked. His own experience with the Klingon High Council had taught him enough about back room solutions. "So you want to contact Arcana to warn her about Plutarch's behavior."
"Plutarch is not acting himself. He had no reason to interrogate those operatives. It would violate our arrangement," Yumuen said.
"Unless he suspected them of being from Orion," Worf countered.
"Last I knew, Plutarch was unable to do a mind meld," Ni'ael said. He recounted again what he saw in the basement. "And he would not have a reason to turn on me."
After a moment of silence, Picard asked, "Is it possible that Rynar has somehow taken over Plutarch?"
"Then we should keep Enid away from Plutarch," Worf said. "Would she be willing-" Worf was cut short by a message from the bridge. Arcana was contacting them from Coppelius. Worf directed that the message be transferred to the observation lounge. The screen displayed the emblem of the synthetic homeworld. It was the black shadow of a raven in flight against a white background. Then, Arcana appeared in the center of the screen.
"I have important information regarding the fugitive, Rynar," Arcana said. As always, her voice was smooth and friendly but there was a touch of urgency. She noticed the assembly in front of her. "Perfect! You are Ni'ael, I believe?"
"Yes."
"Good. You must secure Enid. Do not let her near any of our people."
"Why?" Picard asked.
"I have just become aware that until recently, the fugitive, Rynar, was hiding within Sutra's neural network. We have secured Sutra, pending the outcome of an inquiry, but according to our sources, Rynar's consciousness has transferred to Kiel."
"Kiel sabotaged the equipment. I thought it was unlikely to be a mistake," Yumuen said. He had been in the room observing with Narek when the equipment went dead.
"That is what originally raised my suspicions but since then, I have had outside verification."
"By whom?" Picard asked. He felt he knew the answer but it seemed so far-fetched. He watched as Arcana stepped back to reveal that she was contacting them from outside. She was in a meadow. She angled her communication device to give a panoramic view of the landscape behind her. In the center foreground was a magnificent white equine. The stately beast had a long horn protruding from its forehead and its mighty wings were folded over its back. It was grazing, but then, as if it knew it was being watched, it lifted its head and reared on its hind legs with its wings spread wide. It returned to all fours, tucked its wings, and trotted up beside Arcana who gave the beast an affectionate rub.
"Boo?" Picard stood to get a better look.
"Yes, that is her name. She had quite a lot to say; it took several hours to wade through the information. I believe Enid is in great danger, as are we."