XIII.
Chakotay awoke to pitch darkness. At first, he wasn't sure what had awakened him. He smelled Kathryn's uniquely feminine scent beside him and gathered her closer against him. She stirred in her sleep but did not waken. Although he had shared her bed for a month, awakening next to Kathryn still astonished him. He marveled at the sensation of her warm, soft body against his. They were both still naked from their love-making. The chronometer by the bed glowed, showing that the time was 0324. Then he heard the beep and realized what had awakened him.
"Kathryn," he hissed. "Kathryn, wake up."
She shifted beside him and then her eyes snapped open, searching his face. Her gaze followed his to the panel on the wall that had been installed as part of B'Elanna's enhanced security system. The system had detected someone in the house, and whoever it was was approaching the bedroom. With no time to think about getting dressed, Chakotay and Kathryn slipped out of the bed, each hiding on one side of it, grabbing the phasers that they kept on their bedside tables.
They heard the swish of their bedroom door as it opened, and a blast from a phaser shot out directly at their bed, where they had been sleeping only moments before.
"Computer, lights!" Chakotay shouted, but the computer did not obey. Their intruder must have found a way to disable the lighting command.
As their eyes adjusted to the darkness after the bright blast of phaser fire, Kathryn could just make out the shadow of a man's form standing in the doorway. "Don't move," she ordered, "or we'll fire."
Garrett illuminated a wrist light and shone it around the room, finally landing on Chakotay's face. Chakotay shielded his eyes, and when he opened them again, he realized that Garrett's phaser was trained on Kathryn. "It's set to kill," he said. "Either of you move a muscle, and I'll shoot her."
"Put down the weapon, Garrett," said Chakotay.
"I'm not going to put down this weapon until I get what I want."
"What is it you want?" Kathryn asked.
"What do I want?" he asked, laughing maniacally. "What do I want? What I wanted was to improve Starfleet, to improve humanity, to take away the burden of choice for all the little people who would rather not decide."
"What you wanted was to take away our freedom and erase our individuality," Chakotay shot back, looking for a moment when Garrett was distracted, waiting for him to look away from Kathryn for a moment, searching for the right time to take a shot.
"How little you understand, Commander," Garrett replied with a tone of pity. "How little they all understand. Even my own people." For a moment, Garrett sounded as though he was about to cry. Then his tone abruptly became harsh and threatening. "It's your fault. It's all your fault, Kathryn Janeway. You ruined my life."
"You did that to yourself, Garrett."
"No. You exposed me to Starfleet. My career is over."
"I doubt that," said Kathryn. "Section 31 seems to have protected you."
Garrett let out another long laugh. "Section 31? Protect me? Now I know you're delusional, Janeway. Section 31 destroyed all the evidence of my work; it's true, but they would have been content to see me rot in prison for the rest of my life."
"Section 31 didn't rescue you?" Chakotay asked. "They didn't cause the shuttle crash?"
Garrett did not reply, but the expression on his face, seen in the dim lighting provided by his wrist lamp, gave Janeway a sudden insight. "Commander Teral rescued you, didn't she?"
Garrett grinned. "Very good, Captain. It's a pity that I have to kill you now."
Garrett's finger twitched on the button of his phaser, and in the split second before he fired, Chakotay leaped into action. He shouted loudly and fired at Garrett.
The loud noise of Chakotay's yell distracted Garrett, and he lost his focus as he fired. Kathryn rolled to avoid Garrett's shot as Chakotay's phaser beam lanced across the room. Garrett ducked, managing to avoid Chakotay's shot, which was poorly aimed in the dark room, with only Garrett's wrist light casting any illumination. Garrett aimed his light towards Chakotay and fired again.
Chakotay stumbled to the ground to avoid Garrett's shot.
"Chakotay!" Kathryn cried, but Garrett flicked off his wrist light and the room was suddenly pitch black again.
Kathryn fired into the dark room twice, trying to get a glimpse of Garrett. Her body was tense; she waited for a sound, or the feeling of movement. Suddenly, she felt a presence over her shoulder, and she whirled around and fired her phaser, but before she could get a clear shot at her attacker, she felt a sharp pain in between her ribs.
A moment later, her hands became numb, and her weapon slipped from her grasp. "What…" she started to ask as she felt herself go limp and fall to the floor.
Garrett illuminated his wrist light again Above her, she could see his smiling face and maniacal expression. "I've won, Kathryn Janeway. I've…"
Garrett never saw the blast of phaser fire that hit him in the back, but Kathryn saw the surprise on his face as the light went out of his eyes and he went limp on top of her, just before the world around her went black.
"Kathryn!" Chakotay shouted, rushing to her side in the dimly lit bedroom.
Suddenly, the lights in the house came on. "Commander!" he heard an unfamiliar voice say. "Commander Chakotay?"
He was hauling Garrett's limp body off of Kathryn and completely focused on her. It took him a moment to realize that Starfleet security had arrived, alerted by B'Elanna's security system.
He could only see the blood, Kathryn's blood, and his hands desperately tried to stem the flow from the stab wound Garrett had inflicted just under her rib cage. He heard his voice calling out orders to the security team, but he was not aware of his own voice as he said, "Emergency transport for Captain Janeway to Starfleet Medical. Now!" Kathryn was already dematerializing as he said, "Look for a Romulan ship, a cloaked ship. That's how he got in. A Romulan ship!"
"Yes, sir," one of the Starfleet security men said as he entered the room, averting his eyes.
Chakotay realized that he was still completely naked, and he hastily grabbed a pair of boxer shorts off the floor where he had thrown it the previous evening.
"What about him, sir?" the security officer asked, pointing to Garrett.
Chakotay looked down at Garrett's vacant eyes. "Better call the Starfleet Coroner," he said. Admiral Vince Garrett was dead.
"Chakotay!" he heard an urgent voice. "Chakotay!" B'Elanna and Tom ran up the stairs, having received an alert in their home when the enhanced security system had been tripped.
"Chakotay, are you all right?" B'Elanna asked. Her eyes filled with horror as she surveyed the chaotic bedroom, bedsheets and blood and evidence of phaser fire everywhere, and Chakotay standing in the middle of it still clad in only boxer shorts.
"I'm all right," he said, "but Kathryn…"
"Where's Kathryn?" Tom asked urgently.
"Transported to Starfleet Medical," said Chakotay. "Garrett… Garrett tried to kill us both." He gestured to the body still on Kathryn's bedroom floor.
"How did he get in?" Tom asked.
B'Elanna already had her tricorder open. "I'm detecting a residual tachyon signature," she said. "I'm detecting the same, Lieutenant," said the young Starfleet security officer.
"Commander Teral rescued Garrett from prison. She had to have brought him here, too," said Chakotay.
"We're tracking the signature now," said B'Elanna. "You," she ordered the young security officer, "can you run a tachyon sweep of these coordinates?" She handed the ensign her tricorder. "Report your findings to me."
"Yes, sir."
Meanwhile, Tom was giving orders to the other Starfleet security personnel, having them check the perimeter of the Lake George property for any sign of any other intruders.
Chakotay was hurriedly throwing on a pair of pants and a t-shirt when he felt a hand on his arm. "Go, Chakotay." It was B'Elanna, and she was looking earnestly into his eyes.
"I've got to make sure that we catch Teral," he replied. "I've got to…"
"We've got this under control," B'Elanna assured him. She gestured to the body on the floor. "Garrett is dead. We have no reason to believe that Teral is an immediate threat. Tom and I will make sure that Starfleet does everything they can to find her. Go to Kathryn; I know you need to be with her."
Chakotay felt a sudden lump in his throat. "B'Elanna," he whispered, "we only just found this happiness. If she…"
"She's going to be okay, Chakotay," B'Elanna said softly, gripping his arms, "but you need to go to her. Tom and I will handle everything here. We won't let Teral get away this time; I promise."
More Starfleet security personnel were beaming onto the property, and Tom was on the comm with Admiral Paris, communicating with his father about what had happened. Chakotay saw that B'Elanna was right; they had the situation under control. He nodded to her and tapped his comm badge. "Chakotay to Starfleet. One to beam directly to Starfleet Medical."
The Doctor was unexpectedly activated in the middle of the night; his internal chronometer told him it was 0341 hours. As he looked around Starfleet Medical, he realized he did not need to ask for the nature of the medical emergency. Two nurses were lifting Kathryn Janeway's bloody body onto a biobed. She was covered with only a bed sheet and appeared to be unconscious.
"What happened?" he snapped as he started scanning Janeway with a medical tricorder.
"She was just beamed here as an emergency patient," one of the nurses said.
"She's been stabbed," the Doctor said. "She's bleeding internally." He held out his hand to the nurse. "Autosuture."
The instrument was placed in his hand and he began to work as one of the nurses monitored Janeway's condition from the nearby computer station while the other stood by him, ready to assist.
The computer began to beep loudly. "Doctor, she's going into shock."
"Forty cc's inaprovaline," he ordered, extending his hand for the hypospray. The instrument was handed to him, and he placed it against Janeway's neck, hearing the hiss as it released the drug into her system.
The doors to the sickbay swished open, and before the Doctor could look up to see who had entered, he heard a familiar voice. "Kathryn!" In only two steps, Chakotay had launched himself across the room. "What happened?" the Doctor asked.
"Garrett attacked us. He stabbed her."
"Where is Garrett now?" asked the EMH.
"Dead," said Chakotay. "Doctor, is she going to be all right?"
"If you'll let me do my job, Commander, I'll do my best to see that she is." The Doctor looked at his medical tricorder again. "Her lung has been punctured. We'll have to operate." The Doctor looked up at Chakotay; he was white as a sheet. "I'm sorry, Commander," he said, trying to keep his tone gentle, "I'll have to ask you to step aside."
Chakotay stepped back from the biobed, his eyes never leaving Kathryn's ashen face. He knew that she was in good hands with the Doctor, but he couldn't tamp down on the fear that had settled in his gut. He stared for a moment longer as the Doctor prepared for surgery and then mentally shook himself. You don't have time for this, he told himself. There's still a criminal on the loose and Kathryn's in good hands. Forcing himself to tear his eyes away from Kathryn, he walked out of sickbay. They still had a mission to accomplish.
"The trail of tetryon particles ends here," said B'Elanna, pointing at the star chart, "just outside a class three nebula."
"Could the ship be inside the nebula?" Harry asked.
"Unlikely," Tuvok replied. After Starfleet had secured the Lake George home, Tom and B'Elanna had relocated to Starfleet Headquarters, where Tuvok had been put in command of their task force. "Commander Teral knows we can trace her tetryon particles. She would know we would simply watch the nebula until her ship emerged."
"Unless she has some other mode of transportation," Seven said softly, a memory surfacing.
"What do you mean?" Tom asked.
"When I was first brought to Garrett's station, he revealed to me that Chakotay and I had been transported there by some means other than warp travel."
The doors to the lab swished open, and Chakotay entered. "If you're suggesting that Teral and Garrett had access to some sort of propulsion system that's faster than warp drive, I agree," he said.
"Yes," Seven agreed, looking up at him. "That was my theory as well."
"How's the captain?" B'Elanna asked.
"The Doctor is operating on her now," Chakotay said brusquely. "There's nothing we can do for her at the moment except find Commander Teral." He turned to Tuvok. "I'm taking command here."
"You talked to my father?" Tom asked.
Chakotay nodded. "Let's just say he was sympathetic to my desire to see these people brought to justice."
Tuvok nodded. "The team is yours, Commander."
"I believe there is a subspace vacuole inside the nebula," said Seven, who was already scanning the area from her console. "If Garrett and Teral found several of these vacuoles, it would explain how they were able to travel faster than warp speed."
"Is the vacuoule stable?" B'Elanna asked. "It appears to be stable enough for a ship to go through," said Harry. "I don't see where else Teral could have gone."
"Once we get there, can you track Teral's ship through the vacuole?" Chakotay asked.
"There are not many instances of stable vacuoles in my experience," said Seven, "but we should be able to track the ship," Seven said.
"Send the coordinates of the subspace vacuole to Admiral Paris," Chakotay ordered. "He's going to coordinate backup for us. Come on. The Delta Flyer is already ready for launch."
The Doctor had successfully repaired Janeway's lung and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the computer monitor began to beep again.
"Doctor," said the nurse, sounding confused, "I'm detecting some sort of toxin in her bloodstream."
"What?" The Doctor grabbed the medical tricorder and ran it over Janeway's body. "Why didn't we detect this before?" he asked aloud. "Hand me the detronal scanner." He ran the device over Janeway. "Timed release," he realized. "A slow acting poison designed to avoid detection. It must have been on the knife Garrett used."
He turned to the nurse at the monitor. "Continue to monitor her condition. Inform me of any changes. And Ensign, page the other doctor on duty and have him come here right away."
"Yes, sir," the ensign replied. As the ensign followed his orders, the Doctor took a sample of Janeway's blood. He'd need to analyze the poison before synthesizing an antidote, if there was one.
The sickbay doors swished open. "Doctor?" said a female voice.
The EMH looked up to see Doctor Katherine Pulaski, one of the other doctors at Starfleet Medical. They had only met briefly, but she had an excellent reputation, and her groundbreaking research paper, Linear Models of Viral Propagation, was a part of the EMH's program. "What have we here?" Pulaski asked, approaching the biobed.
"A slow acting poison," the Doctor explained, "introduced into her system on a blade. It's spreading to her nervous system."
"Have you isolated the toxic agent?" Pulaski asked.
The EMH handed Pulaski a test tube. "We need to find an antidote," he said, "and fast."
"We're approaching the vacuole," said Paris. "Slowing to impulse power."
Chakotay nodded. He knew that contact with a subspace vacuole at warp speed could easily result in the Flyer's destruction. The Flyer dropped out of warp.
"We are being hailed," said Tuvok. "It is the Enterprise. They are standing by to assist us."
"Tell them we're going to plot a course through the vacuole," said Chakotay. "We'll transmit the course headings to them."
Tom's brow furrowed as he programmed the course into the Flyer's navigational system. Navigating through a subspace vacuole was hardly an everyday occurrence, and it would be challenging even for an experienced pilot such as himself. "Course plotted and laid in," he said after a long moment.
"Transmit the course heading to the Enterprise," Chakotay ordered, "and engage, one quarter impulse."
"One quarter impulse," Tom said as he piloted the Flyer into the subspace anomaly. "Hang on. It's going to be a bumpy ride."
"Shields are holding," Harry reported as the Flyer jerked and jolted.
A few moments later, the ship emerged into normal space, and the Enterprise was right behind them.
"Coordinates?" Chakotay asked.
"We appear to be just outside of the Romulan Neutral Zone," said Tuvok.
"I'm picking up tetryon particles," said B'Elanna. "Initiating an antiproton beam," said Seven. The beam swept out over the seemingly empty space, but when it found the cloaked ship, the crew could see the shimmering of the cloaking device under the beam. It appeared for a moment and then was gone again."
"She's adjusting her cloak's resonance frequency to compensate for the antiproton beam," said Harry. "Her ship is moving towards the Neutral Zone," said Tuvok.
"I will adjust the frequency of the beam," Seven said. The antiproton beam was once again able to locate the cloaked ship.
"Hail them," said Chakotay.
"Frequency open," Tuvok reported.
"Commander Teral, this is Commander Chakotay. Drop your cloaking shield and stand down or we will be forced to fire."
"Her ship is moving again," said Tuvok.
"Commander, the Romulan ship is exceeding its maximum propulsion capacity," said Harry. "It's showing up on our navigational sensors as a sensor echo."
"Fire at will," Chakotay ordered.
The first two shots glanced off the hull of the Romulan vessel. "Even with the sensor echo, our accuracy is severely diminished," said Tuvok.
At that moment, two phaser beams emerged from the Enterprise, targeting the Romulan vessel. The ship's cloak disappeared, revealing a Romulan scout ship. On the Flyer's view screen, a communication from Captain Picard appeared.
"Commander Teral," the Enterprise's captain said, "we meet again. You underestimated us once before; surely you won't make the same mistake again."
"You've assaulted a Romulan vessel approaching the Neutral Zone, Captain. We've done nothing to you. Your ships fired first. Unless you want me to report this diplomatic incident to Federation authorities, I suggest you drop your weapons and allow us to leave."
Chakotay signaled to Tuvok to open communications. "You conspired with Admiral Garrett to murder Captain Janeway," said Chakotay. "You're not going anywhere except a Federation prison."
"Murder?" Teral asked. "What are you talking about?"
"You aided Admiral Garrett's escape from prison. Tetryon particles from your cloaking device were detected near the shuttle crash that allowed his escape. Then you proceeded to aide Garrett in an attempted murder."
"I did help Admiral Garrett escape from prison; that's true," said Teral. "But I don't know anything about a murder."
Chakotay narrowed his eyes. He didn't trust the Romulan, not for a second. "Garrett's dead," he said, trying to test the limits of the Roman's knowledge.
This time, the surprise on her face was clearly genuine. "Dead?"
Before Chakotay could speak again, Picard intervened. "Commander Teral, perhaps we could all discuss this matter aboard the Enterprise?"
Teral looked around her ship, clearly evaluating whether there was another way out. "Garrett is dead?" she asked again.
"Yes," said Chakotay firmly.
"So our work is finished," Teral said, sounding defeated for the first time. "I cannot continue alone."
"You're outmanned and outgunned, Commander," said Picard. "I strongly suggest you take me up on my offer."
"Very well," Teral relented. She turned to her subordinate. "Lower our shields and prepare to transport me to the Enterprise."
"Damn it!" Pulaski exclaimed as yet another formula failed to counteract the poison.
The Doctor looked over her shoulder. "It's an organophosphate derivative," he said. "That means we should be able to use a variation of atropine pralidoxime."
"Yes, I think so, too, but so far every variation I've tried has caused the toxin to mutate, rather than counteracting it."
"What about combining it with an atropine solution?" the EMH suggested.
"Good idea," said Pulaski. "That's something I hadn't thought of." She looked at him for a moment. "How did your programming make that connection?"
The Doctor bristled. "Captain Janeway taught me a long time ago to go beyond my programming," he said. "I may not be flesh and blood, but I'm just as sentient as you, Dr. Pulaski."
"I'm sorry," Pulaski said. "I…"
Before she could finish her sentence, the monitor began to beep loudly. "She's going into respiratory arrest!" the nurse exclaimed.
The Doctor grabbed an instrument from the table, leaping up and to the biobed. "Applying an ethorin pulse," he said, running the instrument over Janeway's chest. A moment later, the beeping stopped.
"Vital signs are returning to normal," said the nurse.
The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "What's the synaptic potential reading?" he asked.
"Synaptic potentials lower than normal. Autonomic enzymatic systems have also been compromised. The spread of the poison is accelerating, Doctor," the nurse said.
Pulaski looked at him with a concerned expression on her face. "Let's try the atropine solution," she said, turning back to her microscope.
The Doctor looked back at Janeway's still form on the biobed. Hang on, Kathryn, he thought.
"I want proof that Garrett is dead." These were the first words out of Teral's mouth when she sat down in the Enterprise's conference room with Chakotay, Paris, Tuvok and Torres, along with Captain Picard, Commander Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi.
Picard nodded to Riker, who brought up pictures of the crime scene on the conference room's display, including several close-ups of Garrett's lifeless body.
Teral nodded. "I see." She looked at the mess of the crime scene photos and the blood-stained sheets. "What the hell did he do?" she asked.
"He tried to kill Captain Janeway," said Chakotay, a hard edge to his tone. "For all I know, he may have succeeded. She was still in surgery when I left Starfleet Medical."
Teral pressed her lips together in a tight line.
"Commander," said Picard, "I've been authorized by Starfleet to negotiate on their behalf. What is it you want?"
"What I want is no longer relevant," said Teral.
"What was in this for you, Commander?" asked Chakotay. "Why ally yourself with Garrett?"
Teral allowed herself a thin smile. "War makes for strange bedfellows, does it not, Commander?" "Our intelligence sources have indicated some unrest on Romulus," Picard volunteered, trying to get Teral to open up a little more. "Is there some relationship between those rumors and your alliance with Garrett?"
Teral looked around the room, and then from Picard to Chakotay and back again. "We're not here to betray you, Commander," Troi reassured the Romulan. "We just want to understand."
Teral took a deep breath. "If I tell you what I can, will I be free to go?" she asked.
"If you can prove you had nothing to do with the attempt on Captain Janeway's life," said Picard, "I think that something can be arranged."
"I didn't know about Garrett's plans to murder the captain. That's the truth."
Picard looked to Troi. She nodded; as far as she could tell, Teral was telling the truth.
"How did you come into contact with Admiral Garrett?" asked Tuvok. "What was your arrangement with him?"
"What you've heard about unrest on Romulus is true," Teral admitted. "The peace that we established with the Federation during the Dominion War is in danger, and you can take that message back to Starfleet Command. I'm not authorized to tell you this, but, off the record, I will tell you that the Tal Shiar is interested in maintaining that peace at all costs. But I'm not sure even our power reaches that far anymore."
"Your alliance with Garrett, Commander?" Picard asked.
"Admiral Garrett approached me over a year ago. I'll never know how he found me or knew who I was, as I was undercover at the time. We met at a conference on cloning, where I was posing as a well-known Romulan scientist and collecting data for the Tal Shiar. I always suspected that Garrett was part of some covert branch of Starfleet Intelligence. He knew far too many details about me to be a regular admiral who sits behind a desk all day."
Paris and Torres exchanged a glance but said nothing. They each knew what the other was thinking, Section 31.
"He had a proposal for me," Teral continued. "He wanted Romulan cloaking technology. Not a device, but the actual technology so that he could construct his own cloak. In exchange, he offered to share with me the findings of his project."
"His army of drones," Riker supplied.
"Yes. Such a resource would have been invaluable to the Romulan government in general, and the Tal Shiar in particular."
Chakotay shivered at the image of the Tal Shiar with Garrett's assimilation technology.
"Like Starfleet, the Cardassians, and the Klingons, your resources were depleted by the Dominion War," said Tuvok. "You thought that an army of drones could help you replenish your ranks."
Teral nodded.
"You were content to sit by while Garrett brainwashed innocent people?" Torres said. "Chakotay was almost killed by your experiments."
"The price of security is sometimes high, Lieutenant," retorted Teral. "I did what I deemed necessary to ensure the safety of my people. I did not personally inject any of the nanoprobes or capture any of Garrett's test subjects."
"No," shot back Torres, "you just ran the space station where it all happened and turned a blind eye, hoping you could reap the results of Garrett's dirty work."
Teral turned calmly to Picard. "Captain, I did not come here to be insulted."
"B'Elanna," Chakotay said, holding up a hand. Clenching her fists under the table, Torres forced herself to sit back and hold her tongue.
"Commander, did Garrett have any other bases of operations or stores of research?" Picard asked.
"Everything was on the space station. That was his life's work. That's why it was so important to keep it hidden."
"The station was destroyed," said Paris.
"How?"
"An accident," said B'Elanna.
Teral shook her head. "Things like this are never accidents." She paused. "Then there is truly no way for me to continue, even if I had the ability to do so without Garrett's collaboration."
"How did you orchestrate the shuttle crash that allowed Garrett to escape?" Tuvok asked.
"Am I being charged with a crime?" Teral asked.
"If you are willing to tell us how you did it so that we can guard against future breaches, I think that Starfleet will allow me to extradite you back to your own government," said Picard.
Reluctantly, Teral showed them the manipulations her people had made to her cloaking device to allow it to get through Earth's planetary shield while avoiding detection. "From there it was easy to eliminate the shuttle and beam Garrett to my ship."
"And after that?" Chakotay asked.
"He said he had some personal business to take care of. I beamed him to coordinates he provided and left. He had a way to signal me when his business was completed." She paused. "I didn't know his business included plans for murder."
"Why did you leave Earth's orbit without Garrett?" Chakotay asked. "Why run back to Romulan space?"
"Garrett was supposed to conduct his business and contact me within one hour. When over two hours passed and I heard nothing from him, I knew something had gone wrong. I knew the longer I stayed in orbit around Earth, the more likely it was that I would be detected, so I set a course for Romulan space."
"Do you know anything about the death of Dr. Zupanich?" Tuvok asked.
"Garrett told me that Zupanich died in prison. He didn't tell me how, but from the way he said it, I thought maybe his people had something to do with it."
"Commander, you've been willing to say nothing to us up until now. Today, you've volunteered a great deal of information," said Troi. "Why?"
"Garrett's dead. The research is destroyed. Zupanich is gone. I see now that there's no hope of the project continuing. If I tell you nothing, you'll take me back to prison. If I tell you what I know, I have a chance to go back to my people and continue to help them."
"How do we know what you're telling us now is the truth?" Chakotay asked.
"I'm a pragmatist, Commander," Teral replied. "I'm here to ensure what's best for my people. Up until today, I thought that was an alliance with Garrett. Now that avenue is closed to me." She paused. "I'll transmit my communications with Garrett to you if that would reassure you."
"That would be helpful," said Tuvok.
Teral used a tricorder to interface with her ship and have it transmit the appropriate files. "I'm sending you all the pertinent data," she said, "whatever good that will do you now that Garrett is dead."
"It may help us to track down others who worked with him," said Tuvok, "such as Dr. Zupanich's murderer."
"Good luck," Teral scoffed. "I worked with the man for almost two years and know next to nothing about his colleagues and who he worked for."
"Bridge to Picard."
"Go ahead, Commander Data." "We have received the files from the Romulan vessel," Data said. "I am examining them now, sir."
"It will take you hours to look through all those files," said Teral.
Riker grinned. "You don't know Commander Data."
"The files are genuine and do not appear to be tampered with," Data said over the comm a few moments later. "Transmitting a summary to you now, sir."
Picard received the summary on his PADD and glanced at it. "The data corroborates your story, Commander Teral," he said.
"Does that mean I'm free to go?" she asked.
"I'll need to consult with Starfleet Command. Please, remain our guest aboard the Enterprise in the meantime."
"Do you really want to maintain peace between the Federation and the Romulans?" Chakotay asked.
"I do," Teral replied.
"And you really thought that an alliance with Garrett was the way to do that?" asked Torres, picking up on Chakotay's train of thought.
"Garrett was a Starfleet admiral. He appeared to be legitimate. He offered me a proposal; I took it. I gambled, and lost."
Picard called a security team to escort Teral to temporary quarters, and she left the briefing room.
"I sense no deception in her, Captain," said Troi once Teral had left the room. "Only genuine remorse."
"Yeah, remorse that her plan didn't work out the way she'd hoped," said Torres.
"Yes, but I also sense a genuine desire to help her people, and I believe she was truly surprised to hear of the attempt on Captain Janeway's life."
"I need to speak to Starfleet and tell them what Commander Teral has told us," said Picard, "but I believe they will be willing to grant her freedom in exchange for the information she has given us."
"What use is that information now?" Paris asked. "We can't convict Garrett. He's dead."
"But we may be able to find his collaborators," pointed out Tuvok, "and be able to prohibit something like this from happening again."
"I asked Commander Data to go through all the files that Commander Teral sent over, sir," said Riker. "If there's no evidence that she was involved with the murder of Dr. Zupanich, or the attempt on Captain Janeway's life, do you think Starfleet will allow her to go?"
"I'm going to speak with Admiral Hayes now," Picard said.
"Seven of Nine to Chakotay," the call came over the comm.
"Chakotay here," he said, tapping his comm badge.
"The Doctor would like to speak with you. It's about the captain."
Chakotay stood abruptly from his seat, clearly ready to bolt out of the room, but then paused as he looked at Picard.
"We have the situation well in hand, Commander," said Picard. "You and your crew may return to your vessel. I will handle Commander Teral."
"I'll escort you to the transporter room," said Troi, taking a firm grip on Chakotay's elbow and leading him out of the briefing room.
"Thank you, Counselor," said Chakotay, his thoughts light years away. He wished that the Doctor hadn't removed the link he and Kathryn had shared, so that he could touch her mind now as she had touched his when he was lost after his assimilation. Wait for me, Kathryn… he thought. Wait for me.