The word pounded against Sandesjo’s consciousness as she twisted her hands, feeling Sten’s neck snap.
Never.
Unchecked emotion slammed against T’Prynn’s mind, and she gasped at the ferocity of the sensations washing over her. A new heat raged within her, forcing her consciousness to retreat from the forced meld. Her fingers abandoned the contact points on Sandesjo’s face, and both women cried out in simultaneous shock, their eyes opening and their gazes once more locking.
“I’m sorry,” T’Prynn said, her voice low and strained. “It was not my intention to . . .”
“What . . . what was that?” Sandesjo asked, every word racked with pain as she rolled away from T’Prynn. She reached for her robe, pulling it against her body. T’Prynn said nothing, opting to sit in silence and watch as the other woman regained her composure. After a moment, Sandesjo looked up to regard her with an expression of comprehension and perhaps even acceptance. “So,” she said, her breath shallow and rapid, “now you know.”
T’Prynn nodded. “Yes, though it was not my intention to treat you in this manner.”
“I . . . know,” Sandesjo replied. “It’s not your fault. It’s . . . Sten. You’re carrying his . . . whatever you call it?”
“His katra,” T’Prynn said. “You would think of it as something akin to a ‘living spirit.’ He forced it upon me at the moment of his death. I am unable to free myself of his presence, and dealing with him can be . . . difficult.” She paused, mindful of the fact that Sten’s actions, unwanted and offensive though they had been, had provided her with the information she sought.
As though still aware of T’Prynn’s thoughts, Sandesjo said, “Well, now you know the truth about me. What are you going to do about it?”
Pausing a moment, T’Prynn studied the other woman’s face before her eyes began to wander downward across her body. “For the moment, nothing.” Even as she spoke the words, she knew she could not allow this to continue. It required effort to tear her attention from the other woman and turn her head. “No, this is wrong.” She moved to the edge of the bed, reaching for her discarded uniform. “I must go.” She stopped as she felt Sandesjo’s hand on her bare arm.
“Please stay.”
Feeling shame well up within her, T’Prynn turned to see Sandesjo gazing at her, unchecked yearning in her eyes. “I don’t blame you for what happened. You’re even more a victim of Sten than I am.” She inched closer, her hand moving from T’Prynn’s arm to caress her shoulder.
T’Prynn was uncertain whether she or Sandesjo moved first, but then their mouths were once again upon each other, bodies converging in feral passion.
You are weak, T’Prynn,Sten taunted, mocking her yet again. That is why I ultimately will triumph. Submit.
Never.
She pushed Sten back into the depths of her mind, forcing him into the void from which she knew he soon would reemerge, driven by his unending quest to crush her consciousness with his own. T’Prynn ignored that, and him, just as she set aside the knowledge that she had found her spy. The quarry was not going anywhere, at least not right away. For now, there was only her raw, primal yearning, and the realization that her own inexplicable feelings were matched if not exceeded by what she recognized as Anna Sandesjo’s unbridled adoration for her.
This would pose a problem, sooner rather than later. Of that, T’Prynn was certain.
12
Reclining in the high-backed chair that was a match for the one in his office, Reyes regarded the image of Captain Adelard Nassir displayed on the computer workstation situated in one corner of his quarters. The incoming transmission from the Sagittarius’s commanding officer had come at just before 2100 hours station time, well after the conclusion of his normal duty shift but not so late as to have roused him from sleep.
“Sorry to disturb you, Commodore,”Nassir said, his voice sounding somewhat hollow as an effect of the data compression and encryption processes being used to push the captain’s transmission through however many subspace relay beacons currently separated the Sagittariusfrom Starbase 47. “But I figured you’d want to hear from us as soon as possible.”
Reyes chuckled as he rubbed his chin, which he had last shaved nearly twenty hours previously and now once again was rough with beard stubble. “Be thankful I’m still sober and wearing pants, Captain. It’s been a long day, but not so long as the last couple you’ve had. My compliments to your crew. That’s quite a talented bunch you have working for you.”
On the screen, Nassir nodded. “For which I’m eternally grateful, Commodore.”He then offered a wry grin. “You’ll be happy to know that Ensign Theriault is insufferably pleased with herself. The way things are going, there might not be enough room aboard ship to contain her ego.”
“Let her have this one,” Reyes replied. “Anybody who could pull off that stunt has to be good, or at least damned lucky, and sometimes that’s all you need.” He had read with fascination and no small amount of amusement the ingenious sensor tactic Theriault had employed in order to evade the Sagittarius’s Klingon pursuers while escaping from Traelus II. “Tell her the first round’s on me once you make port.”
Smiling, Nassir said, “She’ll be only too happy to collect.”The captain’s expression then turned serious. “I trust you’ve had time to review our other reports?”
“Yes,” Reyes replied. “They definitely make for interesting reading. The science teams here can’t stop talking about them.” That he found it so easy to slip into a form of code when talking even over an encrypted frequency surprised him, but as he had learned in short order upon taking command of Starbase 47, such measures were necessary in order to preserve operational security. No mention of the Taurus Meta-Genome by name was allowed in verbal communications, and any references to it in written reports were made using euphemisms, where the meta-genome was referred to as a “Type V life sign.” To further cement the disinformation campaign with respect to the enigmatic alien DNA, Federation and Starfleet life sciences data repositories listed that life sign as a form of primordial mold. It was true enough, given the circumstances surrounding the meta-genome’s discovery two years earlier, but no further mention of its unique properties or potential origin was to be found in those publicly accessible records.
“You know how those science types can be,”Nassir said. “Theriault can’t wait to get back to Traelus for more research. She thinks she’s really on to something there.”
Even without the specifics, Reyes knew to what the Sagittarius’s captain was referring. Ensign Theriault’s theory that the meta-genome samples found on Traelus II held several stark similarities to those discovered on Ravanar IV two years ago had been confirmed by one of Operation Vanguard’s dedicated science teams, lending credence to the theory that the same party was responsible for depositing the complex DNA on both worlds, and likely on a still-unknown number of additional planets. Whoever created the meta-genome, if they even still existed, appeared to possess a level of technological prowess—and by extension, far greater power—than previously believed. What would life be like on a world ruled by such beings? Had they eradicated all disease and suffering? Had they learned to traverse the stars in some manner so far unimagined by even the greatest known scientific minds?
And what of any weapons they may have fashioned? Where were they, and what would be the consequences if such ghastly creations fell into the wrong hands?
That’s the sort of thing that’ll keep me up nights,Reyes mused.
“I’m afraid Theriault’s out of luck,” he said. “According to Captain Desai, the Klingon Empire did in fact make official notification through the Federation Embassy here on the station of its intent to settle on Traelus II, well before you got there.”