Zara08-Hehe basically! I look pretty pathetic right now, with a black eye and a broken toe and my usual assortment of bruises. But that comes with the territory when doing a combat sport! I get really concerned looks from strangers whenever I'm out in public hahaha. And I WAS feeling on the up and up, but then my daughter decided it was a good time to catch the flu, so now I'm doomed. There should be some sort of law against having a concussion AND the flu at the same time!

JWood201-Yay, glad you liked it! :-) Yeah the show was never specific about distance and the Betazoid connection. I like to think that mother/daughter relationships would work like that. Same with imzadis!

Jora scraped together the last of the blue paste. There had been just enough to cover the worst of Carmen's wounds, which she did with a trembling but skillful hand. She cried silently all the while, visibly shaken by the violence she had just witnessed. Never before had she believed someone capable of such brutality. What did Kotar want with them? She thought of asking Riker, but wasn't sure she could stomach the answer. All Jora knew was that she missed her family, and wished she had never left the front porch that morning.

Riker leaned against the wall nearby, trying to cut through his binds with the Grolese claw. It was slow going, but at least he didn't feel so powerless anymore. He was sick of being in this cave. Sick of being confined while his daughter clung to consciousness and his imzadi-

He stopped himself short. He couldn't go down that road. Not yet. Perhaps there was another reason she had fallen silent, a benign explanation as to why he could no longer reach her. Maybe she had somehow beamed aboard the Enterprise. Maybe she was already safe. No. When has Deanna ever put herself first? Riker thought wryly. That woman is infuriatingly selfless. Damnit Deanna, what happened? Why didn't you tell us you were in trouble? If I lose you…

He stopped himself again, pushing back the pain that threatened to cripple both mind and body. It was time to be a commander. To rely on cold, hard logic and get his people out of here. The next plan had to work, he knew. They were running out of time. And besides, Carmen couldn't afford another failed attempt. A gust of rage blew over his thoughts, toppling his cold, hard logic. Five minutes. If I could just have five minutes with Kotar once my hands are free...

"Mr. Will?" Jora's small voice reached his ears.

"Hmm?"

"There's no more," she said, turning the bowl over to demonstrate her point.

Riker's anger ebbed back below the surface once he laid eyes on the girl. Despite the weight resting heavily on her shoulders, she looked to him for instruction, for something to keep her frightened mind focused. It was a quality he valued in his own officers. But those were people with training, people with experience. This was just a child. Riker realized then that Elion had been right-there was more to Jora than met the eye.

"Thank-you, Jora. That was a good idea," he said, casting her a kindly smile as he drew close enough to take the bowl from her hands. Carmen's eyelids fluttered. She mumbled something aloud, something that the commander couldn't quite catch.

Jora looked up, her brow furrowing with concern. "She's been talking about a desert. Is that where you're from-I mean, where you're really from? A desert?"

Riker shook his head. "No. I have no idea what she's talking about, to tell you the truth. Carmen?" Reaching down, he patted the young woman's cheek with the back of his hand. "Come on, Carmen. Stay with us."

Hurried footsteps sounded against the chamber walls. Jora gasped, clutching at Riker as he positioned himself between her and their quickly approaching company. Then he lifted his hands to his chest, trying to hide the frayed ends of the Grolese claw's progress.

A figure appeared, shy and shrinking. Gray light from the cave's entrance illuminated one side of his face. He stood silent for a few moments, his shoulders rising and falling sharply as he summoned the courage to speak.

"There is something I need to know." Toleel's voice, soft and whispery, barely carried across the chamber. Still, he forced himself to meet Riker's eye in an attempt to make it sound like a demand.

"Like what?" the commander shot back. He was well aware of the boy's role in Carmen's universe. Like so many other children, he had fallen victim to the prejudice of war. But here, was his role such an innocent one?

Toleel stepped further into the chamber. "My father, Admiral Alidar...I need to know what happened to him."

Something akin to pity seeped into Riker's gaze. It had been almost a year since they intercepted the Romulan's vessel as he fled his own people. On Earth, the council had put him on trial at the same time as they tried to figure out what to do with Carmen, and so those memories were closely intertwined. But while Riker had gained a daughter that day, Alidar's lonely fate as a traitor and a liar would be forever sealed.

Riker's shoulders sank under the burden of explaining this to a child, a child who was just a victim of prejudice after all. "He...he's in a Federation prison camp for attempting to incite war."

Toleel's face wrenched with pain. "He left home to stop war, not incite it!" he cried.

"I know." Riker's pity now seeped into his voice as well. "There were a few of us who believed him. But there was no truth to his claims about the secret base."

"Because the Tal Shiar set him up!" Bitter tears spilled from his eyes.

The Tal Shiar...of course! Kotar's ruthlessness suddenly made sense. Members of the Tal Shiar were feared even among other Romulans. They policed the Empire, hunting for signs of dissidence. Riker regarded the boy anew, who wept silently as he huddled against the stone wall. Had the Tal Shiar gone after him, too, knowing of his loyalty to his father? Whatever the case, this new information did not bode well for any of them. "Toleel, what is the Tal Shiar doing in Federation space?" he asked. "How did you end up here?"

The young Romulan wiped a sleeve across his nose. "We...we wanted to stop the war, like my father. But the High Command wouldn't listen. And after you attacked our outposts-"

"After we what?"

Toleel's eyes narrowed in suspicious confusion. "You mean...you don't know?"

Riker's jaw worked for an answer. Is this what Kotar meant when he said that the Federation would pay for their crimes? The scrape of a boot made him tense suddenly. Jora renewed her tight grip on his arm. As Toleel whipped around, one of the guards came into view.

"Wrap this up," he ordered the boy. "If Kotar notices you've slipped away, we'll all be punished."

"I'll be right there," Toleel promised. The guard nodded, then turned back towards his post. As his footsteps withdrew, Riker found himself perplexed by the warning. Perhaps Toleel was not the only unwilling Romulan in this party.

"You said your ship is close by," the boy whispered, his voice straining with a new note of urgency.

Riker raised an eyebrow. "It is. Why?"

Toleel glanced furtively over his shoulder, then drew himself closer. "If I help you escape, promise to take me with you?"