Kirk pulled up a chair where his crew, except for Spock, sat down for breakfast. He spun the seat around and sat backward, leaning on the top.
Their small talk quickly moved to asking if anyone had spoken to Saavik. McCoy said Spock had talked with her the night before and reported she was fine. That brought on what had happened with her and the Romulans, and their shoving match with the Klingons. They ended with how the large conference space had been changed over to a gym for everyone's use, Chekov betting it was to wear down excess energy so there'd wouldn't be another problem.
Kirk went to sip his coffee and stopped with it halfway to his mouth. He looked around them. "I keep meaning to ask all of you. Back on Genesis, when I came on board the Bird of Prey and that Klingon… Maltz - lunged at me, I had a phaser and Saavik grabbed his disruptor." He gestured with his hands, but his eyes twinkled. "What did the rest of you do? You stood there."
"Now, wait a minute, Jim," McCoy protested. "You can't blame Uhura, she was busy terrorizing idiotic officers back on Earth."
"Thank you," she said graciously.
The doctor jabbed a thumb at Scott. "Scotty called that Klingon something pretty nasty. And Sulu glared at him. It was impressive, you must have missed it."
Chekov spoke up, deadpan. "You and Lieutenant Saavik seemed to have it in hand. I thought I'd be in the vay."
McCoy shook a finger in his direction. "Hear that, Jim? That's the kind of judgment you only get with experience. You're lucky you have us."
Kirk raised his mug. "Yes, I am." They clinked cups, but he didn't drink yet. He held his towards Sulu. "May you have as good a crew on the Excelsior and you'll do fine, Captain."
"Yes, I will." Sulu touched his china cup to his mentor's coffee mug. "And I feel better knowing Saavik is coming to fill my place."
"Speaking of her." They picked up on his tone and turned serious. "I have conferences, so I'm leaving it to you. Just… keep an eye out."
. . . .
Cekula and Toreeth waited as their Commander finished what information they found. Their leader was all browns: long medium brown hair with tighter curls and waves than Saavik's, her eyes the same shade against light tan skin.
Saavik was a mystery.
Hellguard was a horror in the shadows even after its unexplained destruction.
"If it weren't for her," Toreeth said, "Thieurrull would be a myth like the Eater of Souls. Instead… instead, it's more a nightmare than I ever thought."
Cekula's nostrils flared. "And any rumor I ever heard."
No searches found records of other survivors or how and when they would have escaped. If they existed, Vulcan protected them and did a damn good job of it. The singular thing the Romulans knew: Saavik was the only one in Starfleet.
The Commander returned to Saavik's military record. The younger woman stared back from her file with clear strength and a challenge in eyes older than her years.
Cekula summed it up. "She's doing good so far and she's returning to the Enterprise soon. It makes me wonder. If she and the others like her were meant to be soldiers… look, I hate the place. But just considering the idea of what she was meant to be – not cannon fodder, not all of them anyway. Thieurrull used too many resources for that. An elite force? An attack force for Vulcan? We don't know, but the day could come when the Empire regrets losing her."
The three Romulans said nothing until Toreeth confessed, "I'm curious. I admit it."
"I'd handle last night differently too," Cekula agreed.
The Commander moved to the next report and she immediately darted her gaze to Toreeth.
"More curiosity," the Subcommander answered and explained getting Valeris' records was easy. Only her name was Klingon, she was a full Vulcan, and her parents had admired the Empire. They denounced their own people and took off for the Neutral Zone with the girl.
Cekula interrupted, "And got themselves killed by the Klingons, right?"
Toreeth nodded. "She's recently garnered Cartwright's interest, and Spock backed her for the Academy. She'd get Sarek's House approval if she stopped looking down her nose at Amanda - I caught her doing it last night, but she's making her play through Spock and Sarek. They all have a blind spot with her… except maybe Lady Amanda. Answer this." She put Saavik and Valeris' records side by side. "If I lived the half-blood life and you lived the cadet's. Would you be jealous of my life on the colony and throw me to a pack of thraiin?"
Both the Commander and Cekula stared at her as if her mind had snapped.
"I thought so," she said. "Another curious bit."
Toreeth saw the interest rising in the Commander despite the woman being as much an enigma as the half-breed she studied. Leadership, especially in the Empire, was a heavy dangerous weight, yet she carried it as if it were simple stitching in her uniform.
Toreeth had been there the day they were outmanned and outgunned by the enemy, and the Commander painted a bird of prey in the center of her forehead, her eyebrows forming the baseline for the Eagle's wings. She'd rallied her ships with, "We are surviving this day."
They had. In fact, they were victorious.
Strength made up the Commander's heart, resolve ran down her spine, and the will to survive formed her soul: it made her a warrior, an exceptional leader -
An alpha.
She wanted to know if Saavik was too, if she was the… something she was intended to be. If the cost of Hellguard – in resources, blood, and pain – bore something good despite the stain on the Empire's soul that reeked of dishonor. What weapon had been hammered into shape against Thieurrull's anvil?
Her eyes flicked equally between her Subcommanders.
Toreeth appreciated the fairness because Cekula was involved with the Commander's son. Good luck to her with that. Akul was brunette, gorgeous, and his mother's intensity times two. The broodiness wasn't her taste. "I already said I'm curious."
Kirk, McCoy, and the Vulcan diplomatic party walked past them on their way to council chambers. Cekula lowered her voice so Sarek and the cadet wouldn't hear, but she didn't get a word out.
"Commander."
Stunned, all three Romulans spun around to find Amanda coming up to them. Two Vulcan males stood a couple steps to her rear while the rest of her party just realized she'd left them.
The human came up to the taller woman, her face set. "Be very careful, Commander."
Toreeth's eyes couldn't get wider before her head spun to look at her commanding officer. The two Vulcans pushed up behind Sarek's wife while the ambassador and Kirk signaled for extra guards. Seeing that, Toreeth and Cekula drew their Honor Blades, the only weapon they were allowed here, and signaled for their own security.
The Commander's mouth lifted slightly at each end and she didn't use her six-inch height advantage which would be a dominating move. Amanda had a reputation for being petite; she wasn't, but constantly being around tall people made it appear that she was. She was only two inches shorter than Saavik, but it seemed more.
Daring and a respect for it dwindled the height difference between her and the Romulans.
Sarek came to Amanda's side by then, but the Commander paid no attention to him. After all, he wasn't the one to address and threaten her. Her head barely dipped in a bow with that small smile in place and Amanda returned the nod before whisking away with her party.
The Commander smiled without it being a sign that death was coming.
"Unreal," muttered Cekula. She took a breath. "I side with Toreeth. I'm still curious, but… like I said, using different tactics. Orders, Commander?"
In the corridor, Amanda came back for Valeris and they talked too low for Toreeth to hear. The human woman finished what she said and began leaving when the young Vulcan looked down her nose and said something derogatory. The expression was unmissable and Amanda answered it calmly, but she gave Valeris a penetrating glance before returning to the session's chambers.
Toreeth gave Cekula and their Commander an 'I told you so' glance.
Valeris spun and almost plunged into Spock who missed her meeting his mother. They turned and left.
Toreeth smiled. "We need Saavik to come here. I see someone who might want to help."
The Romulans followed them into the large room from last night, now set with gymnasium equipment that included sparring weapons. Cekula and the Commander hung back as Toreeth went up to Valeris.
"Here's my friend," she said kindly. "Where's yours?"
"You mean Saavik," the cadet said in a cold voice. "She is in the Security room for the conference."
That works. "Want to call her down here?"
Valeris turned her back, but hesitated and looked over her shoulder.
"If you prefer, I have another tactic that could do it," Toreeth continued. "So she won't associate you with it. There's got to be someone, someone she'd come running down here for."
"Amanda," Valeris immediately offered.
"True, but then we'd have to get her down here first and risk Sarek's vengeance. No, there must be someone else, someone more important to her than anyone."
Toreeth kept her eyes locked on Valeris' and pointed with her right hand. "Who is it?" She swept that forefinger across people, reading the Vulcan's reactions, her green eyes to Valeris' brown. She had a gift for gauging responses; she saw what people didn't know they showed. "You can walk away if you want." Her pointer touched on Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura, but Toreeth continued with Valeris' lack of reaction, slowly across the Federation section 'til she hit it.
"Spock." Her smile grew slowly. "It's Spock," she called to Cekula and noticed the Vulcan's narrowed eyes across from her. "Calm down, Cadet, we're only talking to him and we're allowed to since he's wanted for crimes against the Empire. You know it's Saavik we're interested in, not him. At least, not for this moment."
The eyes narrowed more, for a different reason. "Subcommander Cekula stated Saavik is Imperial property, one you could claim even now. Is that your intent?"
"Ah, Saavik confided in you, did she? Well, claiming her is difficult. She'd put up a fight and first, I need her to react and get down here, not just think and order Security when she sees us with Spock."
Valeris cocked her head. "She would react, depending on …how you speak with him. If the manner was …reminiscent of the Hellguard colony."
"Understood, thank you. The second problem, she'll be missed."
"…Others can fill her place, in the immediate and extended future. Indeed, they could prove superior."
"Like you?"
"It is a significant accomplishment that I am assigned to the conference while a cadet. Saavik has reached a… noteworthy level, however, I expect to surpass her before I leave the Academy."
"There it is." Toreeth leaned in with a flash of teeth. "That's the answer. She's got it and you want it. All of it. The career, the recognition, the patronage," she exaggerated her mouth's movements, "Spock. I bet the fact she's half-us makes it worse from your viewpoint, her having everything you want when you're pure blooded."
"You are the one who devises these confrontations."
Toreeth went face to face with her. "I'm not her friend."
Valeris looked down her nose. "I have done nothing improper."
"Then why don't you warn her? Why not tell her to get down here instead of us having to use Spock? It'd be less upsetting for her."
The cadet's eyes went to Spock and then stared into the air, calculating, and finally folded her hands behind her back.
Toreeth grinned. "And I'm supposed to be her enemy."
The eyebrows went up. "You stated I have no reason for concern."
"So I did."