Emael Mosekhesailho

A set of spindly docking arms around a central hub floated silently in the nothing of space, hundreds of kilometers above a verdant, barely inhabited world. Ch'Mol'Rihan, the rebels called it, "homeworld of the newly Declared".

Rebels. Looking out at the green world from the shipyard, past a D'deridex-class warbird with scaffolding rigged over a rent in the hull atop the great beaked prow, Sahuel t'Khnialmnae supposed she, too, was now a rebel.

How far I have fallen. Can I ever climb back up?

Phi'lasasam, Aeihmn Ih'nhaih, Direx Archipelago, ch'Rihan, 15 April 2379 Earth Standard

Graduation. Two thousand swords glinted in the mid-morning sun, held aloft by two thousand hands on the parade grounds of the Rihan Imperial Fleet Academy. Two thousand voices repeated the ancient oath to country, Deihuit, and Elements, and chanted the anthem of the Shiar ih'Saeihr Rihan in a discordant shout that echoed off the salt cliffs towering above the Phi'lasasam.

Three years on from the end of the Akh nnea Htirrnen Anna'erien (the War of Foes United, what the Lloann'nasu so boringly referred to as the Dominion War) the Galae s'Shiar Rihan was almost back to its pre-war size. Rumor had it that in the wake of the Grand Alliance's post-war collapse, the Klling'hann Nneikha was busy with political infighting: a whole generation of Klivammsu had fallen in glorious battle, a ridiculous notion, and many houses were facing succession crises. How typically Klivam. But troubles for the honorless thugs, the catspaws of the Lloann'mhrahel, meant opportunities for the Rihannsu, and rumor had it the Deihuit had its collective eyes set on further destabilization and eventual conquest.

And opportunities for the Rihannsu meant opportunities for Sahuel t'Khnialmnae, a mathematics major who stood in the front row with the other neerei'riovir of her graduating class. Which was a good thing for her: as a daughter of the renowned House Khnialmnae, and a direct descendent of the Aidoann t'Khnialmnae who had fought with Rh'Rhiyrh Ael, she had much to live up to.

Finally, the graduation ceremony broke up, which suited Sahuel—her legs were beginning to get sore from standing in place for so long and she and several friends and their families were to have a celebratory picnic out on the seashore. Whomever had put the Phi'lasasam in the equatorial archipelago had been a had been a wise man: the higher elevations were nicely cool and excellent for physical training, and the alternately rocky and sandy coastline made for fine swimming.

She was headed to the dorm to change when a large, bald jowly man in the service uniform of an upper-ranked officer, grey, with finely worked metallic beadwork and the collar tabs of an erei'riov, appeared in her path. "Eredh t'Khnialmnae," he greeted her in a respectful tone, appropriate to a commoner addressing the daughter of a deihu. "Oh, my apologies, you graduated today, didn't you."

"I did, rekkhai," she said in a carefully neutral tone. "May I ask who you are?"

"Unimportant. The important question is who are you?"

"Pardon? You know who I am."

The large man smiled, a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I know your name. I know your title, your parents, I know everything in your file."

"Then as I said—"

"What I do not know is, are you a Rihanha who would sacrifice her honor in a greater cause, for the security of our people?"

"Do you take pleasure in asking questions you already know the answer to? As a soldier I may be called upon to give my life at any time."

"I did not ask whether you would give your life; I spoke of your mnhei'sahe."

Sahuel froze. Who would ask—Of course. "You're Tal'Shiar, aren't you?"

He gave her a toothy smile. "Your file said you were sharp; I'm glad to see it didn't exaggerate."

"I have no internet in joining the Tal'Shiar, rekkhai. Good day." She stepped around him and started away.

"Hear me out," the spy said, following.

"No. You ask soldiers to betray their sisters."

"On occasion," he allowed. "We also save lives. In the War we stopped the D'Nneikha from causing mass-casualty events six times that I am aware of. Elements willing, we'll stop a seventh within the next—My apologies, forget you heard that."

"Daie, rekkhai," she quickly agreed, though she couldn't help being amused at the spy letting her hear it. Cute trick. "The answer is still 'no', however."

"I wouldn't expect you to make up your mind here and now, Erein t'Khnialmnae; I was given the same choice." He suddenly sped up and stepped in front of her and she stopped short. The spy drew a small card from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. "My office comm code, for when you make up your mind."

She looked down at the card. Naturally it was a Ki Baratan number. The name, Hakeev tr'Droall.

She looked back up, intending to tell Hakeev what he could do with the card, but he was gone.

Sahuel didn't give the man from the Tal'Shiar much thought for the next several weeks. She'd thrown away his business card and was way too busy settling into her new gig in cryptography at Grand Fleet Headquarters.

But then on Stardate 56844.9, her mother was reported dead, along with the rest of the Deihuit. The official story fromRaenasa blamed it on a terrorist attack, likely a Unificationist cell, and in public statements the new fvillha, Shinzon, said the attack "will not impede my peace talks with the Temmana nnea Rehvieen."

Sahuel didn't buy it. Certainly the Unificationists were capable of anything, but the logistics of such a massive assassination plot seemed implausible for them: where could they acquire such a precise radiation bomb as must have been used? Then there was the curious phrasing by this Shinzon. Even the Deihuit always called the Federation the "Lloann'mhrahel", even in official documents, not by the direct translation of its name. Finally, who was Shinzon? No house-clan in his name, no records of his life apart from a military personnel dossier, and even that raised more questions than it answered. A commander of Havran shock troopers with twelve battlefield victories and no losses, certainly a fine record but hardly politically palatable. And she'd had to ice a fairly strong firewall to learn even that much.

Also curious, by breaking the same firewall she learned that Tal'Aura t'Kaveth, the deihu from Mirhassa's seventh administrative district, had conveniently left the Hall of State to meet with the Tholin ambassador moments before the radiation bomb detonated. Granted, approximately a hundred other deihur had also been absent—the representative of House Thavrau had been offworld attending the birth of her third grandson, for example—but the timing of t'Kaveth's meeting was almost too obvious. Clearly she was involved.

But who to report her findings to?

Sahuel awoke lying on her back in a dark room. She couldn't see a thing, but she could feel that she was strapped down, and that she was naked.

A bright light suddenly shone on her eyes and she snapped them shut against the glare. Before anyone else could say anything, she shouted, "Sahuel i'Tlhira ei'Sarrakesh t'Khnialmnae, erein, Raenasa s'Galae s'Shiar Rihan!"

"We know your name, spy," a disembodied voice, male and gravelly, and familiar, answered in Federation Standard. "Who are you really working for? The Klingons? The Federation? The Dominion, perhaps!"

"I am not a spy!" Sahuel yelled back, hoping she sounded indignant instead of terrified.

Somebody stuck a hypospray in her neck and it pinched painfully, then a damp cloth was suddenly slapped over her face. She struggled but a hand gripped her forehead, holding her in an ungentle iron grip. Ice-cold water poured on her face and she screamed. She screamed for so long, struggling, trying to dislodge the cloth or the hand, trying to keep the water out as her lungs burned.

The cloth came away and she coughed, hard, spraying water. "I'll ask again: who are you working for?"

"The Galae!" she managed between coughs. "I'm a cryptologist at Raenasa!"

"Liar!"

"No, don't—AAAUUGH!" Now her whole body was on fire. She screamed like a little girl, screaming for them to stop, then screaming for her mother, then finally just screaming.

Finally the pain stopped. "You broke into classified files. Who are you spying for?!"

"I'm not a spy!" she wailed, and coughed up more water. The hand on her face suddenly let go and let her head fall sideways, leaving her gasping and sobbing.

The light abruptly went out, sending her back into pitch darkness. "We will try this again in a few minutes, spy."

"I'm not a spy," she whimpered. "I'm not a spy."

The light soon came back on, dimly this time, backlighting a bald head and prominent Rihan ears. "I'm inclined to believe that. My… associate does not, but I do." His arm lifted and there was a click as the restraints around her wrists and legs retracted. She pushed herself up and curled up in a fetal position, covering herself with her legs. "Oh, my apologies. Here," and a rough, heavy fabric object landed on her. Seemed like a bathrobe. She draped it over herself. "Given your career track you did not receive much counter-interrogation training at the Phi'lasasam," the voice continued. "And your records are solid going back to before you were born, so either you have the best backstopping from Starfleet Intelligence ever—"

"I'm not a spy!"

"—Or you're genuine," he continued, ignoring her protestations. "Which leaves the question of why, then, you felt it necessary to view files for which you had no need-to-know." Sahuel shivered and muttered something. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"He killed my mother. This new fvillha, Shinzon, he killed my mother."

"Aha. Hee hee hahahaha!" he cackled unpleasantly. "So straightforward. I believe I need to have an analyst executed for incompetence. No, not you," he clarified to her. The man shifted in his chair. "In answer to your question, yes, he was involved in the Deihuit assassination. He leads a faction of Havrannssu, thrice-damned goblins trying to rise above their station—they've been lobbying the Deihuit for citizenship in secret for months now. He had help: we suspect two riovir of the Galae."

Sahuel coughed again. "I think Deihu Tal'Aura was involved."

The man leaned forward slightly. "Tal'Aura? Of Kaveth Ship-Clan? Why?"

"The timing of her leaving the Hall of State—"

The man's ears twitched. "We suspect she pulled the actual trigger. You guessed well."

"That was an easy one, Erei'Riov tr'Droall."

Hakeev chuckled humorlessly. "I'd wondered if you would recognize my voice. How long did you know?"

"From the beginning, rekkhai."

Hakeev made a pleased-sounding grunt. "Not bad, t'Khnialmnae. Despite my associate's best efforts you kept enough presence of mind to study your surroundings." The lights flicked all the way up suddenly, but the whole room was lit now, not just the gurney she was perched on. "My previous offer still stands, if you want it."

"One condition. I want Tal'Aura."

Hakeev shook his head. "That, I cannot allow."

"Then no deal."

"You misunderstand me, t'Khnialmnae. This isn't just some Havran rebels and a few traitors—this required a massive conspiracy, and that means we have to deal with all of them, and deal with them quietly so the Shiar isn't further destabilized."

"Rekkhai, I have to make her pay," she growled, her fear now replaced by anger.

"And if you accept my offer, I can be reasonably sure that you will have that chance. Though, I suspect the Lloann'nasumay deal with Shinzon, at least, for us: Raenasa s'Lloannen'galae sent the Enterprise to negotiate with him."

"Picard's an idealist. Why would—"

He glared daggers at her. "Don't push your luck, t'Khnialmnae; you don't need to know. In any case, once Shinzon and his co-conspirators are dealt with, I think a decent pogrom on ch'Havran might be in order. You might enjoy that. Though, given your qualifications I think you might do better with t'Rukhahr over in Counterintelligence. Don't worry, though, you'll have your chance to deal with Tal'Aura either way."

END OF PART ONE