§ § § -- sometime in 2297

Arzi broke into her anxious train of thought. "Now we begin," she said and actually smiled at Lauren. It was a strange, cold smile, one that told Lauren she was dealing with an Arzi light-years removed from the timid servant she remembered. Clearly, Arzi's killing of "Princess" M'sis'tenk had been the catalyst for tremendous change. "Come with us. Inriya, please call for refreshments for all our guests."

"All?" echoed Lauren warily.

"Of course," Arzi said, almost warmly. "We have Romulan visitors as well." She led Lauren through a maze of dangling silk at Lauren's left into an area that was hidden from view at the entrance, to reveal a sitting area already occupied by four Vulcanoid figures, two males and two females. "May I introduce Ambassador Mei'hna t'Raiheiteh; her close friend and assistant, Annedae t'Llihhirran; and secondary assistants, Aniol tr'Teisianh and Hweiai tr'Nhiekhran. This, my guests, is Ambassador Lauren McCormick…an old acquaintance of mine from years back."

The Romulans regarded her with expressionless faces, except for t'Raiheiteh, who gave a small reserved smile. "You are our Federation counterpart, then?" she asked.

"There were two of us," Lauren said with a sharp, quick glare at Arzi. "Unfortunately, our hostess here decided not to trust her, so here I am."

T'Raiheiteh gave Arzi an odd look and half rose. "Madame, do you mean that you have seen to it that the Federation contingent is outnumbered by the Rihannsu?"

That made Arzi flush deep pink again. Lauren took a closer look at her. She could still remember Arzi's paleness the first time—white hair, colorless skin, even gray eyes—and her unnatural thinness. Now Arzi's hair was an oddly attractive pale green, a sort of seafoam color, and her skin was the properly healthy pink that Lauren recalled in M'sis'tenk. The gray eyes were now a luminous silver, and Arzi had filled out enough that she was slim but in good health. She was quite transformed from Lauren's memories, down to the colorful, richly decorated clothing she wore and the tiara that encircled her head. It made Lauren squint. I bet that's Mrs. Stink's tiara, she thought irreverently. I wonder if I'll get the chance to talk to Arzi and ask some questions?

"Perhaps I have erred," Arzi said, controlling herself with an effort and drawing her slender frame to full height. "But the ambassador's companion was impersonating a dead woman, and theft of identity—even from the deceased—is a despicable thing."

T'Raiheiteh nodded slowly, though it was clear she didn't fully understand. Little wonder, Lauren reflected. It was such a ridiculous predicament. She brought herself back to the moment when t'Raiheiteh's chocolate-colored eyes settled on her. "It was inevitable that the Federation would send an ambassador," she said, "but I did not think they would cheat you of proper escort. Aniol and Hweiai are my security; had you none?" She gazed at Lauren as she spoke, but the question was obviously directed at Arzi.

"She sent them out of the room," Lauren said, tipping her head momentarily in Arzi's direction. "You seem unusually sympathetic…" She stopped herself before she could stick her foot in her mouth, but t'Raiheiteh grinned unexpectedly.

"For a Rihannsu, yes?" she said. "Much to the disapproval of my companions, I have spent much of my life studying cultures other than our own. How else can an ambassador hope to broker peace between warring factions? Supreme Ruler, I ask you to be fair. You leave me surrounded by my own people, but you rob Ms. McCormick of her own. If you refuse to admit her security people, and if you insist that her co-ambassador has committed some crime, then the only solution is for my security men and my aide to leave the room as well." She indicated her companions.

T'Llihhirran gave her a scandalized look. "My lady, this is madness!"

T'Raiheiteh shook her head firmly. "No more than what our hostess has done to Ms. McCormick. Come, Annedae, do you think I am that soft?"

"Then perhaps you would have me arrested along with the ambassador's companion, to be truly fair," t'Llihhirran offered sourly.

T'Raiheiteh laughed merrily. "I dare say we need not exhibit quite that much honor. You may return to the ship, Annedae. Hweiai, Aniol, you might join the Federation security in their wait outside the door. Please, Supreme Ruler, will you see to it?"

Arzi looked astonished. "I never would have expected such fairness," she remarked. "Now I think it will be more difficult to choose which side will better benefit the Clanim system." She chewed on her lip, looking like the teenager whose waiflike image Lauren still couldn't reconcile with the current reality.

Just then Inriya came in with a tray of beverages and snacks, stopping in surprise to watch Annedae t'Llihhirran being beamed up in a cascade of red sparks. "What happens here?" she asked. The two Romulan men arose to leave; Hweiai tr'Nhiekhran's eyes lingered on the very lovely Deltan woman on the way out. Inriya smiled at him but offered no more than that before setting the tray on the low table in the middle of the room.

"Restrain yourself, Inriya," Arzi warned genially.

"Why?" Inriya asked, sounding truly curious. "He's very attractive."

Lauren grinned reluctantly and decided, as a show of good faith, to take the vacated space on the long sofa beside the Rihannsu ambassador. "Before I forget any more of my manners," she said, "it's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. t'Raiheiteh."

"Call me Mei'hna. I expect you'll find it much simpler to pronounce," the Rihannsu said with a twinkle of amusement. Lauren laughed.

"Then in that case, call me Lauren. And what are we supposed to call you?" she asked, turning then to Arzi.

"Supreme Ruler," replied Arzi frigidly and settled herself regally into a large overstuffed chair, from which she regarded Lauren and Mei'hna as though they were a pair of lab experiments that had outlived their usefulness. Inriya flicked a worried look in Arzi's direction, making Lauren wonder exactly where Inriya stood in all this. "Now, to begin, tell me exactly what you can do to quell the anarchy in my system."

"You first, Mei'hna," Lauren said immediately. It would give her a chance to think.

Mei'hna smiled. "My thanks." Turning to Arzi, she said, "Perhaps you might begin by answering a question for me. If you are Supreme Ruler, as you say, then by definition there is no anarchy here. True anarchy means there is no ruler at all. Are you then unable to control the people you claim to rule?"

Arzi flushed again. She's been doing that a lot, Lauren noted. I have a feeling she knows she's in way over her head, and it's getting to her. "There are a great many people in the system, Ambassador, spread over two planets. It takes time," Arzi said. She shook her head impatiently. "Suddenly I find this stifling: if there is to be true debate, then the full contingent on both sides should be present. Bring back your people, Ms. t'Raiheiteh, and you may have your security people present, Ms. McCormick."

"What about Kylie?" Lauren demanded.

Arzi glared. "You'll not win the impostor's freedom that easily, my old acquaintance. You had better contact your ship and have a suitable substitute sent down."

"I'll do that," Lauren said coolly and pulled out her communicator, calling up to the Excelsior and requesting they send Jaunalinn Andresso down. She noticed Inriya's annoyed look and wondered what was going on. Trouble between Arzi and Inriya, maybe? I hope it's possible to exploit it. The security men entered all at the same time, the Rihannsu and Federation sides eyeing one another with bald distrust.

"An abrupt change of mind, Supreme Ruler," Mei'hna remarked, a calculating eye on Arzi, when she had called her ship to have t'Llihhirran beamed back down. Arzi only stared back at her without changing her expression.

Jauna and t'Llihhirran appeared in columns of sparks at the same time, across the room from each other. "Whoa," Jauna said, taking in the situation.

"You can say that again," Lauren murmured.

"Where's Kylie?" Jauna asked, lowering her voice.

Before Lauren could answer, they noted movement and focused on the men. Federation and Rihannsu alike were honed in on Inriya, who stood there aiming a suggestive little smile at them all. Lauren frowned and stepped back, almost colliding with Mei'hna. Arzi seemed confused, watching with a blank look.

The men abruptly began to fight over Inriya, who skillfully evaded their advances, all the while flashing a particularly inviting look at tr'Nhiekhran. "Chaos!" shouted Arzi. "Enough of this! Guards!"

"Oh, Goddess," mumbled Jauna, and Lauren blinked when she realized that Jauna too was affected. That was when she realized that Inriya was deliberately putting out Deltan pheromones, which didn't differentiate between the sexes, and stepped back even farther. Being a married woman, she didn't dare get too close, for fear she'd somehow betray Brian with the first being she came in contact with. In the ensuing pandemonium during which everyone in the room was herded out and dispersed to separate rooms, Lauren turned her thoughts back to Kylie and wondered what she was going to do next.

‡ ‡ ‡

About half an hour afterwards, there was a knock on Lauren's door, and she frowned in surprise. There was no reason not to answer, so she did—and found Inriya there. "Well, hi," Lauren said, studying her curiously.

"Greetings, Lauren," Inriya said and smiled a little sheepishly. "I hope you will let me inside. I must speak with you, absolutely must. It's a miracle you're here."

"How so?" Lauren asked, stepping back and letting Inriya come inside.

Inriya, now dressed in her native Deltan garb and with her smooth bald head bare of the silks she and Arzi had affected earlier, pushed the door shut and tugged Lauren over to the two chairs that stood on each side of a narrow floor-to-ceiling window through which Lauren had been watching people demonstrating in the streets below. "Sit," she said. "It's a long story I must tell you. I need your help, badly."

"With what?" Lauren asked.

"Arzi, for one. She's growing ever more out of control and less the friend I've known for the past fifteen years. I suppose it's true that power goes to one's head." Inriya sighed and absently played with the heavy brocade curtain. "Let me start from the time you left and Kylie was killed. We were safe on the experimental planet, on Spirit, but when that ended, Arzi was immediately returned to Clanim I to be executed for the killing of Mrs. Stink." Lauren grinned at Inriya's use of her old nickname for the obnoxious princess. "But you remember what Arzi said after the princess' death, don't you? She had new confidence and new serenity. We had all thought she was only a downtrodden slave with all the spirit driven from her, and she told us that she had merely let the princess believe this had happened. All she needed was the weapon."

"I remember. She said she dreamed of it for years," Lauren said.

"Exactly. She knew she was going back to die, but she didn't care, because she was free. But it seems that once she had done what she did, she had a new belief in herself. After she reached Clanim I, she somehow escaped from her jailers and disappeared. I don't know what happened after that, because I did not hear from her for ten years. So it was a great surprise when she appeared on my home planet and visited me."

"She managed to get all the way to Delta?" Lauren exclaimed.

Inriya smiled crookedly. "Amazing, yes? This was nearly five years ago, now. I had felt so terrible for so long. Arzi and I became very close friends during our remaining time on Spirit, and we told each other our life stories and even became blood sisters. We swore to do anything to support each other. So when Arzi begged me to come back to this system with her and help her instigate reform of the corrupt social system, how could I say no?

"When she escaped, she had somehow found her way back to her own planet, Clanim II, and to the village where she was born. She was embraced with open arms and they gladly concealed her from the authorities when they came looking for her. They were willing to do what was necessary to help her in her quest. When Arzi came to me, she had a little starship and a very loyal band of men—eight of them, and four were her brothers. Another of them was the man she loved. The rest were somehow related to her, cousins or some such."

"What made you go?" Lauren wanted to know.

"Our blood-sisterhood," Inriya said simply. "It bound us together, Lauren. Would you not do the same for any of your friends?"

Lauren pictured Michiko, Myeko, Leslie, Camille, Maureen, Tabitha and Katsumi, the newest member of their circle of friends, and winced. "Let's just say I hope I never have to face the decision. Anyway, what happened after that?"

"We returned to Clanim I, where Arzi had somehow acquired a large enough band of devoted followers that she thought she could make a raid on this palace. In all, she made five attempts to overthrow the sitting government. The fourth resulted in the death of her beloved, and I think that changed her. She grew angry and bitter, less willing to forgive and more closed-minded. She turned to me then and asked me if I would lend my own strengths to her next battle."

"Like what?" Lauren asked.

Inriya winced. "It shames me now to say this. But you know about the Deltan ability to take sex to an entirely different level from that experienced by any other being. We must always carefully control these natural urges, lest they overwhelm others in proximity. I did it this time to clear the room so that I could have a chance to speak privately with you. But Arzi wanted me to use them against our enemies."

Lauren made a couple of connections. "So you did the same thing you did to all those men and poor Jauna. Pouring out pheromones and making them all go crazy with wanting you, is that it?"

Inriya nodded, staring at the hand that plucked fretfully at the curtain. "Yes, I did. It was for my blood sister. I couldn't refuse."

"Inriya, blood-sisterhood doesn't necessarily mean that you have to follow Arzi into every crazy scheme she dreams up. Especially not if it goes against everything you believe in." Lauren leaned forward. "I assume this attempt was the one that finally succeeded."

"Yes, five months ago…and everything has gone wrong since then. I begged Arzi over and over again to get help, but she refused until Clanim II imposed its embargo on shipping food to this world, in exchange for complete equality. They petitioned Arzi, since they knew she is a native. But she has changed, Lauren. She wanted the same soft life that she had always watched Princess M'sis'tenk luxuriating in, and she wanted the chance to really enjoy it. I grant you, she treats her servants far better than she herself was treated, but they are still in servitude to her. And it's simply wrong. She refuses to see it, however, and she turned down the request from Clanim II. They tried twice more, but she was unreasonably stubborn—so they reacted with the food embargo. Most of the planet has been on rations for the last six weeks, and people have begun starving. Some strange disease has suddenly set in, now that their resistance is down due to this enforced famine. People are rioting in the streets and there is violence everywhere." Inriya dropped the curtain and leaned forward herself, grasping Lauren's hands in hers. "I am so very relieved that it was you the Federation sent to us! I have known from the beginning that we are in so deeply that we can't stop the tide from turning. I don't even know if the problems can be solved and the balance of power maintained, because Arzi won't give a millimeter. What can we do?"

Lauren scowled. "Well, for one thing, you can let Kylie out of jail. We came together, you know. How do you expect me to solve all this, all by myself?"

"You can't work with the Romulan faction?" Inriya asked.

"You must be joking," Lauren said incredulously. "No matter how sympathetic their ambassador is, she's still Romulan, and they're still not exactly friends of the Federation." She caught Inriya's downcast look. "Listen, if you want that Romulan guy you were eyeing before, and if Mei'hna and her party don't care, you can have him. That's not my concern. I'm just trying to tell you that I'm at a disadvantage here. Jauna isn't trained in diplomacy." She managed to push away the nagging thought that she and Kylie suffered from the same lack, and plowed doggedly on. "And Juan Ernesto and Tirio are security—you can't expect them to be of much help. It's gotta be Kylie."

Inriya was silent for a moment, then raised large liquid-gold eyes to Lauren's. "Kylie was killed by M'sis'tenk's phaser. We all saw it. Gods, Lauren, even you screamed that the princess had killed your friend! How is it that she is alive now?"

"Well…" Lauren began, wondering how much Inriya would swallow. But then the talkative Deltan woman lit up.

"The fal-tor-pan, was it not? Exactly as the revered Captain Spock was brought back from the void! Somehow, the Vulcans agreed to perform this on Kylie, did they not?" Inriya looked excited and awed all at once. "What a great honor!"

"Absolutely, of course," Lauren said quickly. "They were really diligent on Spirit, beaming Kylie up just as the princess shot her, and making sure she was stabilized. And someone aboard the ship that was in orbit there saw to it that she got to Vulcan to undergo the process."

"I had no idea humans had katras," said Inriya, huge-eyed.

Neither did I, Lauren thought ruefully and shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. "Well, she wasn't far gone enough to lose hers," she mumbled and shook her head. "Anyway, they saved Kylie. She had to go through a ton of rehabilitation and so forth, but she came through it with flying colors, just as good as new. She's not an impostor, Inriya. Please let her go."

Inriya sighed and dropped Lauren's hands. "It's not so simple, I fear. The final decision rests with Arzi, you see. Even I don't have that much power."

"But you could explain things to Arzi, couldn't you?" Lauren pleaded hopefully.

Inriya considered it. "Yes, I could do that," she said after a moment. "I cannot give you a guarantee of success, but I can promise you that I shall do my best."

"If anyone can talk Arzi into releasing Kylie, you can," Lauren assured her. "Thank you so much, Inriya. Believe me, it's our best hope."

Inriya nodded. "Very well…wait here and I will give you word as soon as I have spoken with Arzi. I hope it will be good news." She got up and departed, and Lauren fell back in her seat. For the first time she could recall, she was truly and sincerely grateful for friends who didn't insist on blood-sisterhood to be true friends. The story Inriya had told her was enough to make her stomach do back flips; so when a couple of servants came around and offered lunch, she declined, wondering if she could sneak off to see Mei'hna and find out if she and her group had some Romulan ale with them. She could use it.