"No," Tal'Aura said. "Thank you, Chairman."

"Thank you, Praetor."

Spinning easily on his heel, Rehaek headed back toward the great doors, pulling Torath along behind him like a planet hauling around a lightweight moon. Before they exited the audience chamber, Torath glanced back over his shoulder at Tomalak. The two men exchanged a final harsh look.

Once they had gone, Tal'Aura felt an enormous sense of relief. She had never liked nor trusted Rehaek and Torath. It pleased her greatly that she would never have to deal with them again.

Chairman Rehaek of the Tal Shiar permitted himself a small smile. As he and Torath sat in the cabin of the automated airpod on the way to Rehaek's home, it pleased him that he would not have to deal with Tal'Aura for much longer. When she had first come to power-when she had first seized seized power-he had embraced her. In his field of expertise, chaos made for too short a life expectancy, and challenges to Tal'Aura's praetorship would have brought chaos. He had seen to the dampening and even elimination of such challenges. power-he had embraced her. In his field of expertise, chaos made for too short a life expectancy, and challenges to Tal'Aura's praetorship would have brought chaos. He had seen to the dampening and even elimination of such challenges.

Outside the cabin windows, Rehaek saw the densely cl.u.s.tered lights of central Ki Baratan slip behind as the airpod sped toward the purlieus of the city. He looked forward to a sound sleep that night, as he doubted that he would have much time at home over the next three or four days. Chaos would arrive with Donatra, and it would leave with Tal'Aura. After that, life in the Romulan Star Empire-in the the Romulan Empire-should return to a relative calm. Romulan Empire-should return to a relative calm.

The chairman glanced over at Torath, his trusted and exceedingly useful adjutant. In his mind, he could see his aide in the courtyard that surrounded the Hall of State, producing a curved steel blade in his hand faster than even Rehaek himself could follow. He recalled the dizzying speed with which Torath had struck, opening a gaping, blood-green wound across Pardek's throat.

An exceedingly useful adjutant, indeed, he thought.

At the time of Pardek's demise, just after Tal'Aura had taken the reins of what remained of a government decimated by Shinzon's thalaron weapon, circ.u.mstances on Romulus threatened to spin out of control. The agenda of Pardek and his compatriots concentrated not on the best interests of the Empire-let alone on its stability-but on a desire to strike at the Federation. It mattered little to those so focused that Shinzon had plunged Romulus into turmoil following a similar campaign. To restore constancy to the Empire, Rehaek had developed his own program of actions aimed primarily at quelling dissent within and without the government. And for the most part, he had succeeded.

But circ.u.mstances had changed since then. Donatra had taken the military a.s.sets under her control and maneuvered a division of the Empire. Even that had been manageable, until Tal'Aura had begun her intricate plot to bring down her rival. Joining the Typhon Pact, allowing Spock and his Reunification Movement out of the shadows and into the public eye, and then steering ma.s.sive Romulan unity protests, all had subverted the steadiness Rehaek had worked so hard to reestablish. Tal'Aura, a fool blinded by her thirst for power, did not even understand that Donatra's imprisonment and death would not mean the end of the Imperial Romulan State. The empress had supporters, and her death on Romulus, even after being charged with capital crimes, would not convince all of those supporters to abandon their new nation. The only thing that would do that, Rehaek had realized, would be the subsequent imprisonment and death of Tal'Aura.

But that would bring about another power vacuum, one which, if not properly controlled, could lead to even more disorder. Rehaek needed a new praetor, somebody whom he both understood and could manipulate. Senator Durjik had been an easy, if ironic, choice.

Durjik had been one of Pardek's compatriots, one of those dedicated to the military extermination of the Federation. But though Durjik had not altered his att.i.tudes, he would, as praetor, find himself limited by the Empire's new alliance. Rehaek knew from his sources inside the governments of the Typhon Pact nations that, with the possible exception of the Kinshaya, none of them had a taste for war. They all despised the Federation to one degree or another, and for a variety of reasons, but they had also had their fill of battling an enemy with ma.s.sive resources and a strong collective will to survive. They still wished to bring the Federation low, but their newfound alliance would provide far more options for them than that of the military. Several believed that they could defeat the Federation utterly, without even firing a shot.

Up ahead, Rehaek spied the scattering of lights that marked the extent of Leri'retan, the neighborhood on the outskirts of Ki Baratan where he kept a home. Torath appeared to notice their location as well, and he tapped the b.u.t.ton that would begin an automated security sweep in and around Rehaek's property. Two security officers kept watch there at all times, but Rehaek trusted in an over-abundance of caution.

Except that when Torath touched the control, nothing happened. Normally, the small screen at the front of the airpod would begin listing the security procedures being performed in the house, along with the result. In this instance, the screen remained dark.

"Trouble with the security system," Torath said. Rehaek himself reached for the b.u.t.ton, but also received no response. "I'm aborting our approach, Chairman," Torath said. "I'll contact the team at the house and have them-"

That was when the airpod fell out of the sky.

Sirens cried out in the night, their plaintive wails growing closer. Though the outer districts of Ki Baratan offered open stretches of land, the crash of an airpod could not escape notice. The fiery wreckage threatened no homes, but it marked well the site of the accident.

Sela hurried through the field and neared the twisted debris quickly. Consulting the scanner in her hand, she saw no risk of the pod's batteries exploding. An electrical surge in the fractured equipment interfered with her bioscans, but even if it hadn't, she always, whenever possible, liked to check on her work directly.

The airpod had come to rest canted partially onto its nose. Flames reached up its left side and flickered toward the sky. Stepping up to the mangled door on the right-hand side of the small craft, Sela saw an arm hanging down from within the cabin. She poked her head inside to see which of the pod's two pa.s.sengers the arm belonged to, but discovered that it was no longer attached to a body. Inside, the smell of copper mixed with that of charred equipment.

Shifting her upper body so that she could see the entire cabin, Sela spotted a shoe upside-down beneath a fallen panel. She followed the line of it down to where a leg should have been, and a torso, until at last she caught sight of a bloodied face on the floor. It belonged to Torath. Sela reached her gloved hand to his neck and felt for a pulse, lingering only long enough to confirm his death. Then she peered around the rest of the cabin.

It was empty.

Sela quickly extracted herself from the airpod and spun around, prepared to see the half-burned, half-contorted figure of Rehaek bounding at her. Instead, she saw only the dark field. In the distance and getting closer, she now saw the flashing lights that accompanied the sirens.

Moving cautiously around the pod, she skirted its bow, walked around the left side, past where flames still crackled along the hull, and then around the back. She saw nothing, and so she made a second circuit, farther away from the craft. On her third trip around, she found Rehaek.

The Chairman of the Tal Shiar sprawled facedown in the mud, his neck bent at an unnatural angle. Still, she squatted down beside him and felt at his neck for any indication of life. She found none.

Satisfied, she turned and quickly headed back the way she had come, from a nearby path that would go unused by the emergency equipment. She walked for a while, utilizing her scanner to ensure that she met n.o.body along the way. She pa.s.sed several houses, but her dark clothes would have made it impossible for anybody glancing from a window to see her.

When she felt she had gone far enough that any residual traces of her transporter beam would not be singled out for attention by Romulan Security, she activated her automatic recall. She materialized on the other side of Ki Baratan, out in an uninhabited area of the countryside. From there, she activated her recall again, and then again, bounding around the outskirts of the capital. Finally, she removed her dark clothes and turned them inside-out, dressing herself in moderate colors before beaming back to the city.

Tomorrow she would wait for the praetor to call for her. When eventually she visited the Hall of State, Sela would be both humble and grateful. She knew that she would enjoy her new position as Chairman of the Tal Shiar.

34.

Tall ceilings topped a wide s.p.a.ce filled with row upon row of shelves, intermingled with an a.s.sortment of carrels. Skylights ushered in the midmorning light, the bright rays of the sun alive with the dance of dust motes. A sense of quiet saturated the room.

Spock sat at one of the carrels, a hardbound volume of Romulan philosophy open to a chapter on Vorkan Trov, a famed existentialist who had lived two hundred years earlier. Spock read the book with interest, but found it difficult to concentrate. He had too much to think about at the moment, and not enough to do.

The old section of the Alavhet Public Library in outer Ki Baratan reminded him of his youth. During his childhood days in Shi'Kahr, he had spent many after-school hours in a similar facility. His mother, a teacher, had educated him on the value of books-actual physical books, with hard covers and paper pages. Of course, logic dictated the superiority of books stored on automated media, owing to such characteristics as their searchable nature, their greater portability, and their ability to include hyperlinks. Spock's mother had not availed herself of logic when espousing her views about books; she had preached instead about how they felt when held in the hands, how the paper delivered a distinctive and somehow special scent, how words appeared somehow more alive when seen on a page instead of a screen. Completely illogical, and yet she had still managed to pa.s.s on to him her appreciation of physical books, something he had retained throughout the rest of his life.

Spock had come to the Alavhet Library essentially as a distraction. With the Reunification Movement still underground and maintaining its lowest profile in years, he had little to do but ponder the route forward. He strongly believed that the disposition of the summit between Praetor Tal'Aura and Empress Donatra would greatly impact the future of him and his comrades. While he knew that neither woman personally supported reunification, he did not know if either would be willing to allow their fellow Romulans the right to their own views. Tal'Aura had done so already, but with an ulterior motive; it remained to be seen if she would recriminalize the Movement after the summit, since she would at that time have exhausted the usefulness to her of the unity protests. Donatra, on the other hand, appeared reasonable enough that Spock thought he might be able to negotiate with her, though he could not be sure until he approached her.

For his part, Spock did not know what to expect from the summit. Other than Donatra's initial entreaty delivered on the Romulan comnet four days ago, and Tal'Aura's conditional acceptance two days ago, little information existed to allow an estimation of how the conference would resolve. Spock knew from speaking with his comrades and from observing comnet coverage of the coming event that a sense of antic.i.p.ation infused the whole of Romulan society. He had noticed, though, that a significant segment of the population expected the summit to result in a resolution, with one or the other of the two leaders standing aside. There had been conjecture in some quarters about Donatra serving as Tal'Aura's proconsul, or about the reverse. Spock had even heard some calls for the inst.i.tution of some form of bipart.i.te praetorship, but that seemed to him both unworkable and unlikely.

Knowing that the summit would not begin until that evening, and unwilling to engage in unsupported speculation, Spock returned his attention to the Romulan philosophy text. He had read through the chapter on Vorkan Trov, and then through three more chapters on different Romulan philosophers, when he became aware of a disturbance in the library. Voices reached him, where only moments ago the place had been wrapped in silence. Spock listened, and while he could not make out individual words, he noted more and more people speaking, louder, in shocked tones. He rose from the carrel and started to follow the sounds, as did several other people in that section of the library.

In a room given over to companels and computer terminals, a crowd had gathered, their backs to the door. Spock entered and approached the people, realizing that he heard not only their their voices, but that of a commentator on the comnet. He moved forward until he could hear clearly. voices, but that of a commentator on the comnet. He moved forward until he could hear clearly.

"-this startling development. To repeat, Romulan Security forces have arrested self-styled 'Empress' Donatra on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, and murder. According to a spokesperson for Romulan Security, the crimes were committed some time ago, but Donatra's complicity in them has only just become known. She has been taken into custody and presumably will soon be faced with an arraignment. There has so far been no word from the Hall of State or Achernar Prime about these developments.

"Donatra arrived on Romulus-"

Spock headed for the door, knowing what he had to do. He also knew precisely how the standoff between the Romulan Star Empire and the Imperial Romulan State would end.

It required hours of effort, as well as the a.s.sistance of Dorlok and Venaster, before Spock learned where Romulan Security had detained Donatra. As night fell across Ki Baratan, Spock made his way to the security office on the D'deridex Arc. The long, low building followed the curve of the avenue, its frontage black, the emblem of a silver raptor holding a shield emblazoned above the front door.

Spock entered the office and pa.s.sed through its narrow, enclosed foyer, then walked through the second, inner door. In the lobby, he recognized the layout of three tall counters r.i.m.m.i.n.g the s.p.a.ce, with a wall of monitors observing numerous public sites. A pair of sentries immediately accosted him, one of them-a man whose name read Neritel Neritel on his dark-gray uniform-demanding that he state his business. on his dark-gray uniform-demanding that he state his business.

"I am here to visit a prisoner," Spock said.

The man gestured toward the center counter. "Step up and speak to a defender."

Spock moved forward, where a woman-T'Vakul-asked him once more to give the reason for coming to the security office.

"You are detaining a prisoner in this facility," Spock said. "I would like to visit her."

"Very well," T'Vakul said. She reached for a data tablet, and then said, "Prisoner's name?"

"Donatra."

T'Vakul froze as though she'd been suddenly trapped in amber. Spock waited for her to say something, and finally she asked him to repeat the name, which he did. "Sir, I can neither confirm nor deny that a prisoner named Donatra is in this facility."

"I am already aware that Donatra has been imprisoned here, and I wish to see her," Spock said. He took a pace back from the counter and held his arms wide. "I am unarmed. In fact, I have nothing with me other than the clothes that I am wearing."

T'Vakul peered blankly at him for a moment, and then repeated her earlier statement, refusing even to admit Donatra's presence at the security office.

"I wish to speak with your superior, then," Spock said. Before T'Vakul could even reply, Spock felt a hand on his elbow. He turned to face a tall man with a well-muscled build.

"I am Protector Vikral," he said in a deep voice. "May we talk in my office, Mister . . .?"

"Spock."

Vikral did not react to the name, but Spock thought he saw a glimmer of recognition in his eyes. "Mister Spock," he said. "Please accompany me."

Vikral led Spock off to the left and down a long corridor. At the end, he opened a door on the right and stepped aside so that Spock could enter. Inside, a large desk filled most of the floor s.p.a.ce of a modest office. Vikral invited Spock to have a seat in front of the desk, then sat down opposite him.

"I won't insult your intelligence, Mister Spock, by asking you to repeat your request or by coyly suggesting that Donatra may or may not be in my security station," Vikral said. "I also won't pretend that I don't know who you are, since your name is mentioned prominently in the charges against Donatra. But the fact of her incarceration here is not generally known. In order to preserve Donatra's own safety, I ask that you not divulge her location to anyone."

"I have no intention of doing so," Spock said. "I merely wish to speak with her."

"I have no particular reason not to permit you to do so, Mister Spock," Vikral said, "other than the fact that I have been ordered not to let anybody see her at this time."

"That is contrary to Romulan law," Spock said.

"You have been here on Romulus a long time, Mister Spock," Vikral said, "so you probably know that we have many laws that take effect only in extraordinary circ.u.mstances. Regardless, I have my orders, and I intend to follow them."

Understanding that he would achieve nothing by continuing his conversation with the protector, Spock stood up. "To whom would I speak to reverse this order?"

"As protector, I answer directly to the office of Internal Security," Vikral said. He came out from behind his desk and escorted Spock back to the lobby.

Outside, Spock headed for the Hall of State, where he would request a meeting with the head of Internal Security. It struck him that he did not know exactly why he wanted to speak with Donatra. He understood that he didn't trust Tal'Aura, and he had the report of the Federation envoy, who believed that the empress had nothing to do with the attempt on Spock's life or the murder of his a.s.sa.s.sin. Spock decided that he wanted to hear about that from Donatra's own lips.

And suddenly he knew why: it concerned him that, of the two Romulan leaders, the wrong one would continue to rule.

35.

The computer interface on the desk displayed an image of the Romulan Senate Chamber, in preparation for the broadcast of an address by Praetor Tal'Aura. As far as Sisko knew, it marked the first time that an appearance by a sitting praetor would be transmitted from the Hall of State. Thanks to Robinson Robinson's proximity to Romulan s.p.a.ce, the captain would have a front-row seat.

As Sisko sat in his ready room, waiting for Tal'Aura's speech, he thought about Donatra. When he had met with the empress on Achernar Prime, he had genuinely believed her innocent of the crimes for which she had ultimately been arrested. He didn't know whether he had misjudged her, or whether she had managed to dupe him, or if he'd actually been correct in his a.s.sessment. But guilty or not, it didn't seem to Sisko as though Donatra had received a fair opportunity to plead her case. A month after she'd been taken into custody, her trial had not yet been set, and so, at least in theory, she might ultimately prevail, but at that point, would it matter to her?

Since Donatra's imprisonment, Tal'Aura's government had released the evidence allegedly tying the empress to an attempt by a Reman on Amba.s.sador Spock's life, and to the ensuing murder of the would-be a.s.sa.s.sin. As Sisko understood it, President Bacco had needed to expend a great deal of effort to convince Klingon Chancellor Martok not to attack Romulus for the murder of a Reman by a Romulan, given that the Reman state existed as a Klingon protectorate. According to Admiral Akaar, the president had finally threatened to dissolve the Khitomer Accords based on the incidence of a Klingon citizen-the Reman-trying to kill a Federation citizen. Martok had then relented, claiming that the Reman had never lived on Klorgat IV and so did not qualify as a Klingon citizen, thus invalidating both a.s.sertions.

The evidence against Donatra, whether authentic or manufactured, convinced Romulans everywhere of her guilt. The public unity protests throughout the Star Empire and the Imperial State transformed into denouncements of the empress. Those disillusioned by the accusations against Donatra vilified her, easily drowning out the voices of her few remaining supporters. Sisko thought that the haste with which people in the Imperial State abandoned the empress suggested that they had long been ready to latch onto anything that would result in uniting all Romulans.

Also of major significance, Donatra had lost the backing of many of her military forces. Though the empress could never have achieved a martial victory over the Star Empire, and though she could never have persevered against a combined Typhon Pact offensive, her fleet of starships had still provided a measure of security for those in the Imperial State. Once Donatra's military capabilities fractured, her people had grown fearful, pushing them to more strongly support Romulan unity.

Watching the computer screen, Sisko saw the members of the Romulan Senate rise as one, along with the individuals making up the Continuing Committee. Praetor Tal'Aura then appeared, moving with grace and confidence, resplendent in a dark ceremonial robe of reddish purple. Rounded, block-like glyphs tumbled down the right side of her garment in a lighter purple color. Sisko had to reach back to his days stationed at the Federation emba.s.sy in the Star Empire to decipher the meaning of the characters: Romulus for Romulans. Romulus for Romulans.

Praetor Tal'Aura bowed her head to those a.s.sembled in the Senate Chamber. As a group, they sat. Into the silence that followed, Tal'Aura began to speak.

"Worthy members of the Senate, honored members of the Continuing Committee, people of the Romulan Star Empire, and people of the Imperial Romulan State, I bid you greetings." She had short gray hair, with only a few small patches of dark color here and there. Her bangs came to a shallow point in the center of her forehead, with locks that mimicked the inverted line of her upswept ears hanging down the sides of her face. She had short gray hair, with only a few small patches of dark color here and there. Her bangs came to a shallow point in the center of her forehead, with locks that mimicked the inverted line of her upswept ears hanging down the sides of her face.

"The road the Romulan people have traveled together has been a winding one, weaving through pitfalls and perils, through exultations and expectations," she continued. she continued. "We have endured war and loss, and we have celebrated peace and victory. "We have endured war and loss, and we have celebrated peace and victory. For millennia, we have experienced all of this, and more, together, as one nation, as one people, united in the strength of our common heritage, and in the joyous hopes for our shared futures. For millennia, we have experienced all of this, and more, together, as one nation, as one people, united in the strength of our common heritage, and in the joyous hopes for our shared futures.

"Until recently.

"This is not the time to debate the circ.u.mstances that led to the sundering of our Empire. Nor is this the proper setting in which to pa.s.s judgment on the actions of Donatra that led to our division. Nor is this the proper setting in which to pa.s.s judgment on the actions of Donatra that led to our division. In due course, she will face a trial that will weigh other of her alleged actions, and that test of her character and her deeds will stand on its own." In due course, she will face a trial that will weigh other of her alleged actions, and that test of her character and her deeds will stand on its own."

It seemed impossible to Sisko that Donatra could confront criminal charges without her founding of the Imperial State coloring the ruling.

"What we do know about Donatra is that she served the Romulan Star Empire and its people for many years, with tours of duty aboard warbirds such as the Vel'reger Vel'reger and the and the T'sarok T'sarok," said Tal'Aura, with a generosity that, considering the circ.u.mstances, seemed almost n.o.ble. said Tal'Aura, with a generosity that, considering the circ.u.mstances, seemed almost n.o.ble. "Eventually, she commanded her own ship, the "Eventually, she commanded her own ship, the Valdore, Valdore, and then the entire Third Fleet, all with distinction and then the entire Third Fleet, all with distinction. However we may disagree with Donatra's choice to hold Achernar Prime and Xanitla and other worlds under the banner of a new nation, there is no question that she has been a true Romulan patriot." However we may disagree with Donatra's choice to hold Achernar Prime and Xanitla and other worlds under the banner of a new nation, there is no question that she has been a true Romulan patriot."

Sisko could not measure the sincerity with which Tal'Aura spoke, but regardless, she had clearly chosen to speak in accordance with her high station. Such kind words also could not help but woo some of the remaining Donatra supporters.

"In that spirit," Tal'Aura went on, Tal'Aura went on, "I say to you that the time for our divisions has pa.s.sed "I say to you that the time for our divisions has pa.s.sed. Indeed, we have expanded our ties by joining the Typhon Pact, and I have spoken with representatives from each of those governments, and each has pledged their support for what I must now do." Indeed, we have expanded our ties by joining the Typhon Pact, and I have spoken with representatives from each of those governments, and each has pledged their support for what I must now do." Tal'Aura paused and seemed to pull herself up straighter. Tal'Aura paused and seemed to pull herself up straighter. "From this moment, I declare that the Imperial Romulan State is no more. "From this moment, I declare that the Imperial Romulan State is no more. All territory, all materiel, all property, and most important, all All territory, all materiel, all property, and most important, all people, people, within the former state are once again part of within the former state are once again part of the the Romulan Star Empire. Romulan Star Empire.

"Tonight, and forevermore, we are one one."

The senators and the members of the Continuing Committee leaped to their feet, their applause thunderous. Tal'Aura appeared to bask for a moment in the adulation heaped upon her, but she did not tarry. After just a few moments, before the ovation could fade, she withdrew from the chamber. She doesn't want to spoil her performance with a show of ego She doesn't want to spoil her performance with a show of ego, Sisko thought.

The captain reached forward and thumbed off the screen. So one of the Federation's enemies has gotten stronger tonight So one of the Federation's enemies has gotten stronger tonight, he thought. Wonderful. Wonderful. And then he realized that not only had the Romulan Empire grown stronger, but so too had the Typhon Pact. And then he realized that not only had the Romulan Empire grown stronger, but so too had the Typhon Pact.

Sitting back in his chair, Sisko suddenly thought about the plight of the Bajorans. The Romulan people, as a group, had certainly not suffered as the people of Bajor had, had not lived for decades fighting the oppression of a brutal occupier, but Sisko nevertheless saw similarities between the two. The citizens of the Imperial Romulan State-even those who supported Donatra-surely had not wanted to live divided from Romulus and the other worlds of the Star Empire. When the Carda.s.sians had finally left, Bajorans had felt that they'd finally gotten their home back. For the people of the Imperial State, returning by way of a single declaration to the Star Empire must feel comparable, like going home.

Home.

The echoes from Sisko's recent dreams, from his past, reverberated in his thoughts and in his heart. The concept, the emotion, had been taken from him-or he'd abandoned it himself. Either way, the realization of his circ.u.mstances, phrased just so, struck him hard, and he said it aloud.

"I have no home."

36.

The data tablet sailed through the air, spinning like a propeller. It struck the blank wall with a satisfying thud, then fell to the floor with a clatter. Unfortunately, it did not appear to break.

Of course not, Donatra thought. The d.a.m.ned things are indestructible. The d.a.m.ned things are indestructible.

Donatra sat on the lone sleeping surface in her cell, her back against the wall, her knees pulled in tight to her chest. When the guard asked her-with no apparent malice-if she wanted to watch Tal'Aura's address, she had declined. Later, though, when her evening meal had arrived, a data tablet had been left with it. Donatra had dismissed it, but at the appointed time for the speech, she had found herself unable to resist her curiosity, morbid though it might have been.

Watching Tal'Aura deliver her oration in the Senate Chamber, wearing the robes of office, speaking to the Romulan people and about them, had been even more difficult for Donatra than she'd imagined it would be. But when that self-serving harpy had condescended to mention Donatra's own service record, when she had pretended to honor that record, Donatra felt that she could have choked the life out of her right there in the Senate Chamber, in front of enough witnesses to guarantee that she would then be summarily executed.