Chapter 5

Major Takashi Kimura swept his eyes over the surrounding area, his phase rifle at the ready. There were only trees as far as he could see.

"Where did they go?" he asked Sylor.

The Vulcan science officer consulted his scanner. "I am not detecting any humanoid lifesigns within sensor range, other than ourselves."

Paired together, Kimura and Sylor had somehow become separated from the rest of the group due to the dense concentration of trees, making this part of the forest into a maze.

"Suggest we continue with our previous course of action," said Sylor. "Heading out of the forest to contact the base."

Kimura clenched his jaw in frustration, but he knew there was nothing further the two of them could do alone.

"Agreed," he said, and he resumed slowly stalking forward. "That's if we ever get out of here. Haven't you noticed? We've been walking for a lot longer than it took us to get here in the first place."

"That had occurred to me," said Sylor. "I must confess, I have found that my senses of time and direction have been… compromised."

Kimura nodded. He had also found it difficult to keep his mind on such things. "Same. Must be something in the air. This whole planet is freaky."

"Indeed," said Sylor.

Today had really made Kimura regret accepting a planetside posting. He had previously been MACO Company Commander aboard the famous Enterprise NX-01, filling the boots of the late Major Joss Hayes after the Xindi Crisis.

He had seen plenty of engagements during his time on the legendary ship - chasing down renegade augments, handling the Terra Prime incident, and the entirety of the Romulan War - but that had come to an end with the NX-01's retirement.

Commodore Archer had promised to try and keep as much of the crew together as possible, now that he had some pull in Starfleet Command, but Kimura had to go where the MACO sent him. He held out hope, however, that Archer may be able to put in a word with General Casey and get Kimura assigned to wherever the crew ended up next.

Particularly comm officer Lieutenant Hoshi Sato. He and the Lieutenant had established a playfully antagonistic flirtation during his time aboard, and he would have liked to have continued it.

For the time being, though, he was stuck in the woods with a less-than-chatty Vulcan.

"Tak…"

Upon hearing a familiar voice calling his name, he turned to look at Sylor, who continued to read from his scanner, apparently having heard nothing.

"Come on, Tak," said the voice again.

He turned away from Sylor to look behind them towards the voice's source, and saw Lieutenant Sato herself leaning on a tree, smiling at him.

He stared silently in disbelief, his rifle still held up cautiously. How could Hoshi be out here on Berengaria? Last he heard, she was still on Earth awaiting reassignment, and now she shows up just as he was thinking about her? For some reason, as he continued to stare, it started to seem believable.

"I know you want me," said Hoshi with a coy smile. "Come this way and we can have some fun."

Kimura's eyes widened as Hoshi proceeded to unzip her jumpsuit, revealing that she was wearing nothing underneath, only porcelain skin down to her navel. Giggling, she turned away from him, shedding the top half of her uniform to let it hang from her hips, exposing her smooth, bare back as she walked behind the tree.

Somewhere in his head, Kimura knew none of this made any sense, yet he did not question that Hoshi really was here and attempting to seduce him. His body led him towards her, but Sylor's voice caught his attention.

"Major?"

Kimura turned to face Sylor.

"I think I see daylight ahead," said the Vulcan.

"Oh," said Kimura. He could also see brighter light through the trees behind Sylor. He turned back towards where Hoshi had been, but now the idea of her presence seemed absurd to him, and he felt foolish for believing it so readily - not to mention the fact that she had been so blatantly sexual.

"Are you alright?" Sylor asked him.

"I think… I think I might be seeing things," said Kimura.

Sylor raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps you are fatigued. We are near to the edge of the forest; once clear, you can rest."

Kimura didn't appreciate the insinuation that he was merely tired, but he did have to admit that he felt as though they had been walking around for days. He nodded and they both started towards the light.

It started to get brighter, the air became less close, and Kimura thought he could even feel a slight breeze as they moved forward.

The excitement of potential escape was swiftly shattered when a large, vicious-looking feline animal dropped out of a tree several metres ahead of them, snarling and baring its teeth. It looked to Kimura exactly like a tiger, and once again he saw no reason to doubt such a coincidental occurrence - this time out of self-preservation rather than confusion.

"You see that too?" he asked, levelling his rifle.

Sylor withdrew his phase pistol from his heavy jacket. "I do," he said plainly.

The tiger-like beast suddenly started charging for them. Both men opened fire, beams of blue and red energy lancing into the creature, with no effect.

"Do our weapons work against anything on this planet?" Kimura muttered.

The ferocious animal drew closer.

"Suggest we run," said Sylor.

Both of them darted off in opposite directions.

Something was interfering with Loxius' mind, and he did not appreciate it. His military training had prepared him to resist attempts at mental or emotional manipulation, but he was finding it difficult to concentrate now.

When he tried to focus on details such as the time or the immediate landscape, there was only a blur of thoughts. Living undercover as Sylor meant that the only interaction he had with his true identity was within his own head, and that was being compromised.

He had even felt fear for his life when that bloodthirsty animal had dropped into their path. With their weapons useless, he and the Human had bolted and managed to become separated.

Loxius now wandered the woods alone, still clutching his phase pistol, absolutely clueless as to how to get back to where he had seen daylight poking through the endless trees.

He looked at the heavy metallic weapon in his hand, recalling how ineffective it had been against the creature - which he realised, now that his mind was clearer, had looked bizarrely similar to the vicious thraiin of Romulus. But that was preposterous. It must have been the fear affecting his perceptions.

After all, he was so far from home.

"Jolan tru, Centurion."

Loxius spun at the sound of a deep voice, his pistol instinctively raised, and found himself facing none other than his superior, Admiral Valdore himself, the very man who had dispatched him on his infiltration mission over six years ago.

The Admiral spread his arms and smiled. "It's time for you to come home."

Loxius shook his head. This was impossible; it must be some sort of Human trick. As primitive as they were, the hevam did possess their own intelligence agency who were capable of such subterfuge.

As he stared at Valdore, however, he felt his suspicions start to melt away. After so long, it was joyous to lay eyes on a Romulan brother again; with his proud cranial ridges and prouder uniform.

The burly admiral beckoned to him. "Come, Loxius i'Aehv tr'Fvuras."

At the mention of his full name, Loxius lowered his weapon, surrendering completely to the circumstances. It had been a great deal of time since anyone had called him by his true name - so sacred a thing in Romulan culture. It was like music to him.

He started advancing towards Valdore.

"That's right," Valdore said with a grin across his square jaw. "I have a shuttle waiting to take you back to Romulus, where you will be celebrated as a hero." He started pacing backwards, and Loxius followed.

"Yes," he said dreamily. It all made perfect sense to him now.

"You will be paraded down the streets of Dartha to the Hall of State, where the Praetor himself shall reward you."

"The Praetor…" he repeated, a vacant smile on his face.

Valdore led him behind a cluster of trees to find nothing but more of those rodent-amphibians feasting on the insects that buzzed around the plantlife.

Loxius turned back to Valdore for an explanation, only to see that the Admiral was now gone.