Crossover - Michael Jan Friedman [21]
The middle-aged Romulan recovered quickly from the assault, which by all rights should have felled him. Worse, he had fixed that impassive gaze on Tharrus again. And once again, he considered the governor with a raised eyebrow.
Anger raged inside Tharrus, but he kept it in check. Didn’t the prisoner realize how close he was to death?
It wasn’t apparent from the look on the Romulan’s face. Unless, of course, he foresaw his fate and was simply not bothered by it.
Then the rebel compounded his arrogance. As a final insult, he turned the other side of his face to the governor, as if presenting it for another blow.
A challenge? Tharrus thought incredulously.
But even as his fury threatened to blot out all reason, Tharrus reined himself in again. He would not be baited in front of his own men, or in front of the other prisoners.
“You seek to secure yourself an easy death by taxing my patience,” the governor concluded. “A pathetic attempt. I will be presiding over your collective trial personally. And I will pronounce your sentence myself.”
With that, he turned away from the prisoner and led his men out of the detention area. As he left, he could feel the traitor’s stare on his back.
He resolved not to give the weakling unificationist another thought. Soon, all the prisoners would know a fate that every sane Romulan rightly feared.
Tharrus shook himself mentally. He was a planetary governor of the Romulan Empire, and soon he might be more than that.
Nevertheless, as he departed the courtyard, he couldn’t help but feel he’d just lost something to the prisoner. Something important.
Proconsul Eragian stared at his data screen in silence for a moment before he spoke. As usual, Lennex had done an excellent job collecting and providing him with intelligence.
“My compliments,” he said dryly, glancing at the Tal Shiar officer standing beside him. It seemed Lennex was always standing beside him.
The Tal Shiar nodded once. But he didn’t respond verbally. He wasn’t one to exchange mere pleasantries, after all.
Unfortunately, Eragian mused, most of the reports before him revealed increasing tension in the outer worlds of the Empire. Two instances of outright insurrection, for instance—quickly put down, but disturbing nonetheless.
Nor did it end there. There were also a great many other incidents. Dangerous individuals and political groups were daring more and more open criticism of the Empire and its policies.
And then there was Tharrus.
The proconsul’s eyes narrowed, giving his reflection in the monitor an even more predatory look. “I have never given much thought to this outworld governor. I find it irksome to have to think of him now.”
Lennex shrugged, his blunt, rough-hewn features giving away nothing. “In apprehending these unificationists, Governor Tharrus has accomplished something even the Tal Shiar have failed at. It would be foolish not to give the devil his due.”
“Tharrus has merely had a stroke of good luck,” said Eragian, trying to dismiss the problem. “He will not know how to capitalize on it.”
“Is that an opinion?” Lennex inquired. “Or do you speak from knowledge of the man?”
Answering a statement with a question—a typical response, thought the proconsul. A Tal Shiar response.
Eragian knew that Lennex had spent most of his life in the service of the Empire. In several different capacities, the man had proven himself to be cunning, aggressive, and very good at his job.
That was one reason he had been accepted into the Tal Shiar, the secret police of the Empire. The other was an ability to remain circumspect. Though he was willing to offer counsel, Lennex confided in no one—not even a proconsul for whom he had served as advisor for the past fifteen years.
As a high-ranking official in the Tal Shiar, Lennex was entrusted with secrets even Eragian would never even glimpse. And if necessary, he would carry those secrets to his grave.
What’s more, the proconsul had no illusions about the man’s loyalty, despite their long association. Lennex would have served any government official to