Chapter 7: As Sharp as a Serpent’s Tongue

Romulan Starbase Veloris, Major t’Khellian’s Office

 

She knew that they were outside her office door even before the chime rang requesting admittance.  Not because she was a telepath or even because of the hand picked guards she’d posted outside.  Major t’Khellian of the Tal’Shiar had always had a knack with regards to her internal clock, and when one of her many agents had informed her that the Oberon’s Commander t’Jon and LCDR McBride had come aboard the station, she knew exactly how long it would take them to get from the Veloris’ transporter station to her office.

 

“Come,” she said after an appropriate moment of making them wait outside, as inferiors should.  The door opened and she graciously stood and smiled at the Andorian executive officer and human operations officer of Captain Jerran’s ship.

 

“You wished to see us, Major?” t’Jon said, in the back of her mind thinking about how t’Khellian’s smile reminded her of some predator she’d hunted on Andor.

 

“Yes, Commander.  Do sit for a moment,” the Romulan said, motioning for the two to take a pair of seats in front of her desk.  “Commander-General t’Ehrowhin has asked me to convey the specifics of your orders to you.”

 

Still standing, she handed the Starfleet officers a pair of PADDs.  “As we mentioned in the briefing to you and the other commanders, the Oberon is to join the tr’Morias in convoy duty.  You are to wait for the convoy in an asteroid in the Iota Pavonis system.  My agents have sent me data on a number of pirate ships that have been attacking freighters in this region, and I believe that this asteroid will be the best place for a… ummmmm… what’s the human expression I’m looking for, Commander McBride?”

 

Trevor smiled cordially and said, “I believe you’re thinking of a stake out, Major.”

 

“Ah, yes.  Thank you.  The Oberon and the tr’Morias will wait in this asteroid field until the convoy is attacked.  Then you will attack like a t’liss swooping in from the sky.”

 

t'Jon and McBride shared a look with each other, but then t’Jon simply said, “Of course, Major.  If that will be all, we’ll take our leave so that we can meet up with the tr’Morias.”

 

t’Khellian nodded and said, “Jolan’tru, Commanders.”

 

t’Jon and McBride didn’t say anything to each other until they were on the bridge of the Oberon, safely away from the prying eyes and ears of the Tal’Shiar.  “I really don’t like her,” t’Jon said as she sat in the center seat.

 

---

Romulan Shuttle Hyades

 

“And this must be what we call the inertial dampening generator,” Jerran said to LT tr’Kovan as the both knelt down low in the tiny engine room of the shuttle.

 

“Ie,” the Romulan said.  “The name is similar in Rihannsu, and the function is the same, of course.”

 

Jerran pulled himself out from under the machinery they were looking at first, and offered a hand to tr’Kovan.  He pulled the young officer up rather quickly, and tr’Kovan almost fell forward into the captain.  Jerran pulled away after catching tr’Kovan and looking at his face for a moment.  “What’s this for?” he asked quietly, as tr’Kovan’s face was only about 12 centimeters from Jerran’s.

 

Before tr’Kovan could answer, Cartwright’s voice came over the comm.  [We’re entering the Iota Pavonis system, boys.  Somebody better get up here and show me where to park this thing.]

 

“We’re on our way,” Jerran said as he backed out of the small room, leaving tr’Kovan for a moment.

 

“What do we have?” Jerran asked Cartwright as he sat in the commander’s chair.

 

“We’ve got a couple of gas giants and an asteroid belt.  One of the gas giants has a Ceres class asteroid in orbit around it that looks like it has some sort of facility built into it.”

“That,” tr’Kovan said as he walked into the cockpit and took the operations station, smiling sheepishly at Jerran as he passed by, “would be the Iota Pavonis trading station.  Our intelligence reported that the Ja’telaih docks there frequently for supplies.  This is where we should be able to get on.”

 

“And I’m assuming you have some sort of appropriate Tal’Shiar comm profile or code to get us landing clearance,” Jerran said.

 

“Of course, Captain.  I’m transmitting now.”  After a pause of a few moments, the Romulan turned to Cartwright and said, “We have clearance.  Follow a heading of 217 mark 45.”

 

After a few minutes, the large asteroid base loomed in their viewport with the blue of the gas giant it was orbiting behind it.  They were approaching the docking bay rather fast, and tr’Kovan turned to Cartwright saying, “We should probably slow down.”

 

Cartwright turned to glance at Jerran, who just grinned and folded his arms across his chest as he watched the approach.  Cartwright inputed a few commands into the piloting console, none of them having to do with the speed of the shuttle, and then turned her chair towards Jerran mimicking his stance.  When it looked like tr’Kovan’s heart was about to explode as the shuttle got to within 50 meters of the docking bay, Jerran nodded, and Cartwright swung back around.  She fired the breaking thrusters, bringing the shuttle to a hover abruptly right above their assigned marker.  She then gently brought the shuttle down on the deck of the trading station.

 

Jerran stood up and offered his arm to Cartwright with a grin, who graciously took it as they both walked out of the cockpit towards the shuttle’s main hatch.  tr'Kovan, whose knuckles were white from gripping the arms of his seat, followed them shortly, muttering “lloann’na” under his breath.

 

“You’re getting some color back, at least,” Jerran said as tr’Kovan stepped out of the shuttle.

 

“Your piloting skills are certainly… unexpected,” tr’Kovan said to Cartwright as he caught up to them.

 

Jerran smiled and said, “We should probably split up in order to cover more ground.  I suspect we’ll have our best luck if Jenn checks the station’s assay office.  Someone from the Ja’telaih will eventually have to go there for supplies.”

 

“That will be on level twelve,” tr’Kovan said.

 

Cartwright nodded, moving towards the station directory kiosk to find the exact location, as Jerran continued.  “You and I should check out the station’s tavern. We’re sure to gather some information there.”  The two walked toward the kiosk where Jenn was studying the station’s layout.

 

“I took the liberty of putting a site to site transport subroutine into the computer on the shuttle,” tr’Kovan said, “so if anyone gets in trouble, just use the subdermal communicators, and the computer will transport you back to the shuttle.

 

“And how do you say ‘Beam me up’ in Romulan?” Jenn asked.

 

tr'Kovan smiled at her and said, “Hteij’rhae.”

 

With that, the three went off towards their separate destinations on the station.  When Jerran and tr’Kovan reached the tavern, they separated and went to opposite sides of the room.  “You’re sure you’ll be able to recognize someone from the Ja’telaih’s crew dossier?” Jerran said quietly through the subdermal comlink to tr’Kovan.

 

[Yes,] the Romulan replied.  [One of the requirements for recruitment into the Tal’Shiar is a photographic memory.]

 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jerran said.  He continued over to the bar and ordered a local version of coffee, but was somewhat disappointed by its weak flavor.

 

After a few minutes, tr’Kovan’s voice said, [I’ve got something.  It looks like tr’Khnialmnae himself walking towards your general area.]

 

Jerran looked around and then recognized the alleged pirate from his file images.  Stefanh tr’Khnialmnae was a rather handsome man, and looked nowhere near the 115 years old that he was supposed to be.  Of course, Jerran thought, that age didn’t take into account the whole temporal mechanics of the rift tr’Khnialmnae’s ship had entered at Narendra III.  Despite his true age and a lack of nose ridges, tr’Khnialmnae could easily pass for Jerran’s father.  

 

Jerran was taken aback in his train of thought when tr’Khnialmnae looked straight at him and smiled.  The Romulan started walking directly towards Jerran, who looked over at tr’Kovan.  He was shocked to see that the Tal’Shiar officer was no longer standing where he was just a moment ago.  He was about to call the shuttle’s computer, but he looked over at tr’Khnialmnae, who somehow deducted what the Starfleet captain was thinking, and simply shook his head, still smiling.  When the transport captain was close enough to speak to Jerran over the din of the room, he said, “Don’t worry, Captain Jerran.  Your friend is safe.  And you’ll see him again shortly.  We didn’t want either of you calling for help.  Now, if you’ll come with me quietly, I think we’d both rather discuss things off this station.”

 

Assessing the situation, Jerran looked down to notice that tr’Khnialmnae was carrying a small hand phaser.  He somehow knew that tr’Khnialmnae didn’t want to use it, and in fact, there was a high probability that he wouldn’t, even if Jerran reached for the phaser he’d hidden in a shoulder holster under his jacket.  Despite that, Jerran decided to follow the man anyway.  There was something compelling about this man from another time, but more importantly, Jerran had to know how he and tr’Kovan were had so easily.