Terran (Mirror) Universe
2253 – Eighteen Months Before the Lorcas Switched Places
ISS Buran
Orbiting Vulcan
In those few moments between deep sleep and wakefulness, Gabriel Lorca sometimes envisioned a very different life, a life of simple joys, one filled with love and revolving around satisfying work and a house full of happy children. The sort of quiet life most led and found contentment in. The life he traded years ago in order to pursue power and wealth. In those moments Lorca remembered the feel of her in his arms, her soft smile as she turned to him for a kiss, and the intoxicating rush of possessing a lover who knew his every desire before he did and performed those intimate pleasures freely and out of affection rather than out of fear or in trade for favors or money.
It bothered Lorca that the memory of those few months they were together still beckoned invitingly, it was a weakness he eradicated long ago. Or so he thought.
It matters little, he thought. Soon you will possess her again, no you will own her, as well gain unlimited power.
His attention drifted to the naked woman who was already out of bed and roaming the room. Just watching her lean, taut, perfect body move aroused him. Michael knew this and it was the reason for the private show she was performing. Her lips curled in a slight smile as she sashayed her hips to and fro, causing her breasts to jiggle provocatively.
Michael held multiple roles in his life – de factor daughter (at least from her point of view), protégé, fellow captain, and lover. She is almost my equal in ambition and brilliance. And she is utterly and unapologetically ruthless. I do care for her, Lorca admitted to himself. He had groomed her for years, starting with reading bedtime stories filling the hole left by the loss of her father. Then training her in marital arts. Lorca was her secret confidant during the stormy teenage years, always available in person or via subspace with a sympathetic ear when Michael fought with her adopted mother.
Lorca had hedged his bets wisely. If Michael is named heiress presumptive and succeeds her mother, she will be expected to marry, bloodlessly paving my way to the throne. If Philippa names another heir Michael will join my coup.
He and Michael were celebrating the capture and elimination of a successful and lethal Vulcan terrorist cell, one that had managed to assassinate a prominent member of Empress Georgiou's inner circle. The rebels' executions were overseen by Michael and were public, brutal, and lengthy. After a Vulcan healer carefully scorched their minds so all they could feel and remember was pain, the rebels were hung until close to death, gutted, and quartered. Michael was, after all, a student of ancient Terran history and reveled in reviving medieval tortures and punishments.
All but one member of the cell was seized, including its leader S'Veck, to whom Lorca had been feeding tips for several years, using the rebels to eradicate his more insulated and problematic enemies, and heightening the public's fears for their and their families' safety. In return the Terran people willingly surrendered their few remaining freedoms. S'Veck's usefulness was coming to an end anyway and it is one less loose end to tidy. It's unfortunate Sarek and his traitorous Terran wife Amanda escaped. But your time is coming my duplicitous servant. And Amanda, my niece, I have something very special planned for you.
Amanda was his niece by marriage, daughter to the eldest brother of his wife Katrina Cornwell. Theirs was a marriage of convenience, a successful one albeit stormy. Kat was the only daughter of a noble house, Gabriel the son of a poor farmer. He provided vigorous new blood to a tired, hopelessly inbred brood, she brought him a hefty dowery and entrance into aristocratic society. After all, the Terran Empire was a meritocracy. For the ruthless. If you survived long enough.
Each supported the other's ambitions, he in giving her children, she in financing his early campaigns and buying him a place at court. And supplying inventive torture devices; her hobby was psychology, or to be more accurate, the manipulation of another's mind for her own gain. Once the line of succession was assured for her dynasty, they went their separate ways, leading their own lives, except for formal functions and the odd week here and there. Invariably their time together began with an argument, shouts, and a fistfight before ending in bed. She has the skills of a pleasure slave, thanks the tutors hired by her father. And an arousing taste for an overtly domineering partner, Lorca thought. I should visit her soon.
They had three sons and two daughters. The girls were already betrothed into noble families at the highest levels of Terran society, ensuring the loyalty of those houses and extending his influence. The sons … I certainly have no intention of bequeathing the empire to that line of mealy-mouth, soft, cowardly underachievers. No, I need a true heir. One I have personally raised and molded.
That turned his thoughts back to Michael. Perhaps there is another role for which she is ideally suited. Yes, our son would be mighty.