by Leslie Lee
you, Commander Syll?”
“Open the door so I can deal with the prisoner. Quickly!”
Syll was no longer in the uniform of the Darksend’s crew. Her wardrobe consisted of a black tunic and pants. She pulled on black leather gloves.
A guard pushed a control opening a door into the cell. Syll entered. Kari stood just in time to let Syll punch her in the ribs. Kari crumpled into a heap. She put her hands out to protect herself. Syll smashed her in the face hitting her right eye repeatedly. When her right hand contacted the cell floor, Syll stomped on her twice. The fingers broke. The two Romulan guards smiled as blood splattered the glass. Kari tried to fight back. The Tal Shiar wasn’t that much taller but she easily surpassed her as a fighter.
Syll wasn’t even out of breath. “Get her out of here.”
They opened the door again and dragged Kari into the outer room by the hair.
“Break her right leg.”
They looked confused.
“Break her right leg below the knee. I will hold her.”
Kari thrashed feebly in the grip of the female. She blubbered at them to not do it.
“You are tough, Human,” she whispered. “In this particular case, that characteristic is not an asset.”
One Romulan held her leg off the ground propping it between two blocks. Syll berated them for their tentativeness.
“It is not in our orders to perform the duties of the Tal Shiar.”
“Be quick!”
The other Romulan raised his foot then stomped down. Hard. Kari screamed as her shin broke with a crack that echoed through the room. Her leg took an unnatural turn. Pain rocketed through her brain trying to lead her to unconsciousness.
The door to the brig slid open and the Beloved Nephew and his entourage flowed in.
The Romulan guards snapped to attention. Syll dropped Kari with a thump.
“What are you doing?” the Beloved Nephew demanded.
“Sir?” Syll asked.
“Are you torturing her?”
“Torturing? Torture has very limited practicality in information gathering. This is merely a prelude. A prelude to the gathering of information that will be used to defeat the enemies of the Romulan Empire.”
“Yes, of course. But couldn’t you have waited?” His voice keened with impatience. His entourage peered around him to look at the twitching Human.
“We could have indeed waited, sir. Was there some reason to?”
“When I heard that you had decided to capture the female Human, I became curious.” The Beloved Nephew smiled at her. Very bright teeth. “I have heard stories about Human females and their predilections concerning procreation. I want to investigate their depravity myself.”
He was handsome. Symmetrical and pristine. His clothes gleamed and a huge ring adorned one hand. He expected and received respect. His entourage, not military, adored him.
He strutted over to nudge Kari with one of his very shiny boots. His foot flipped her over. He noticed how she whimpered and prodded her again. She was silent this time. With a frown, he kicked her. The Human still did not respond. He tried one more time. Then, he just stood over her.
“Still, she has lovely hair don’t you think?” he mused, smiling. “For a Human. Very long. She appears to be in no shape for experimentation though. I had so hoped...”
Syll remained silent. The entourage muttered their disappointment while scowling at her with disapproval.
“Well, be that as it may, I would like to witness Tal Shiar techniques for my own edification.” He nodded to a chair which one of the entourage quickly retrieved. He sat. A female Syll recognized as Tolan’s former lover, knelt and cleaned the boot of the Beloved Nephew.
“Hold her,” Syll ordered the Romulan guards pointing to the Human.
She pummeled Kari until the captain arrived with the doctor in tow. She held Kari upright as the guards once again sprang to attention.
“Commander Syll?” the captain asked looking at the bloodied body of the Human.
“She is showing me the pleasures of Tal Shiar interrogation techniques,” the Beloved Nephew yawned, stretching. “Unfortunately it prevents my own investigation of the Human. I am sure I could elicit much information from her.”
Syll bowed a little to the Beloved Nephew. “We would be most grateful of your efforts, sir.”
He stood and sauntered over to the limp Human, his breathing a little faster. Then he slapped her across her face. Syll didn’t let the Human fall.
“I wonder if she liked that. Do you think so?” he mused. He inspected his hand. Blood. Red blood. “And such strange hair. So very long. Perversion. Well, I will retire now. Call me when she is more... more able to appreciate my care.”
He wiped his hand on the uniform of one of the guards.
“Of course, sir,” Syll said bowing again. “As soon as the prelude is complete.”
The Beloved Nephew wasn’t listening. He and his entourage had flowed out of the room.
“So, the Tal Shiar have become entertainers for the Beloved Nephew,” the captain said.
Syll ignored him, lowering the body to the floor. The doctor brushed by her and examined Kari. She was barely conscious. He scanned her while muttering under his breath. He produced a healer and a hypo spray from his medical kit.
“It is good that you will restore her, doctor,” Syll said. “The sooner she is healed the sooner she is in the care of the Beloved Nephew. Something which will please him no end. I am sure it will be in Ensign Kari Wu’s best interests as well.”
The doctor moved to start his procedure not listening to Syll until the captain placed his hand on the doctor’s shoulder.
“I have heard,” said Syll thoughtfully. “That our medical knowledge is not as efficient with Human physiology as with Romulan.”
The doctor scowled. “Just going to do a little. I’m going to presume if she dies, bad things will come to pass.”
He set her broken leg and repaired a few loose teeth. He sprayed something into her neck. Kari almost relaxed, the pain chased away by the medicine.
“Place her in the cell,” Syll commanded the two guards. “And I cannot be here all the time to administer the... The interrogations. You two, if you are so inclined, will have to accommodate her.”
“Our Beloved Nephew won’t be very pleased if you keep this up,” the captain noted.
“What a shame,” she snapped. “His disappointment will certainly disturb my sleep.”
Turning your back on a Romulan is only recommended for those with eyes in the backs of their heads -- Cardassian Proverb
Vain and Seren took no chances. Even lowering the energy output of their domicile. However, they had to keep the mining machinery drilling or it would seize up. Again. They’d bought the mine for it’s location primarily. Approaching it without being detected was difficult. The previous owner had insisted the mine was still good. He’d lied. At first, the shafts produced nothing more than rock. They’d heard how he loved bragging about his clever negotiations. Seren had repaired the abandoned equipment and coaxed it into digging ore out again. At first, what others had told them turned out to be true. The mine would produce nothing of value. But a small adjustment in location and... Latinum. Now they had a very small but steady stream of the extremely valuable substance. The raw latinum ore needed to be processed though and they needed supplies. Hellsbitch awaited them.
They parked the big tractor in the processing plant. A small battalion of overly armed guards patrolled the area. The two females unloaded their hopper into the weighing machine. The Ferengi watched the dial, they watched the Ferengi, the guards watched them, everyone else watched each other. There’d be no cheating today. More tractors and vehicles queued up in a long line of impatience and misery. Some lost souls just pushed wheel barrows of dirt and garbage. Hoping. They’d come to the wrong place for that. At least the long line meant the haggling with the Ferengi was mostly decorative and thankfully brief. Soon they were on their way with gold press
ed latinum. Currency. They drove through the dusty, windy, bustling little town stopping every now and then for supplies. Everyone out in the open bundled themselves up in breathers and heavy clothing. In most areas, the atmosphere was barely tolerable for five minutes without a breather. And everyone kept a sharp eye out for fog warnings. Except for the huge amount of dust, today didn’t seem too bad.
“Would you like me to drive?” Vain asked. She looked down from the high cab at the pedestrians below them. Her fingers dug into the armrests. The people on the two wheeled skimmers zipped around them endangering their own and the pedestrians’ lives. The street looked too narrow for the tractor. Until an even bigger vehicle tried to squeeze by them. If there’d been a sidewalk Seren would have gone up on it. She suspected the Human might go into a building as well if the traffic forced her.
“I’m doing just fine,” Seren insisted, adding to the cacophony by hammering the horn repeatedly. “Why is this guy going so slow? Move it, you idiot, move it!”
She nudged the smaller vehicle out of the way. The shrieking of the metal was followed by a stream of curses the communicators seemed embarrassed to translate. They left the wreck behind.
“You might want to look out for that...” Vain gasped.
An alien stumbled into the path of the tractor. It disappeared under the hood of the vehicle. Vain whipped her head around then watched the alien jump up from the street behind and wave a fist or tentacle at them.
“See,” Seren said. “He’s just fine.”
“As you say. I am now just
