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"Who are you?" Telek demanded. Where his ship and the security of his project were involved, Telek R'Mor could be as fierce as any centurion.

"Rude, isn't he?" said the stranger, grinning. "So this is the man I need to see."

"Your orders have changed, Doctor," said Jekri

bluntly. "You are to give Ambassador Lhiau your full cooperation. He is to know everything about the project, up to and including your trip to this Federation vessel."

Telek licked lips suddenly gone dry. "Honored Chairman, would that that were possible. I am afraid I cannot reveal anything about my experience aboard Voyager. All records of my encounter with them must be deleted unread by anyone else, and those who have read them already must be sworn to secrecy."

Jekri's brilliant silver-gray eyes narrowed. Clearly, she was not used to being interrupted or disobeyed, and it sat ill with her. "No such thing shall happen. Do not forget yourself, Doctor."

Outwardly, Telek knew he projected an almost Vulcan calm. Inwardly, his emotions churned like an angry sea. Those records needed to be destroyed. He would not, could not pollute the timeline and risk the Empire. He remained stoically silent. They could Mil him for disobeying, but he was resigned to that. His only regret was that, if he died, the messages the Starfleet crew had sent to their laved ones would never reach their destinations.

The chairman continued to regard him. When it became obvious that Telek would say nothing more, she gestured. A centurion stepped forward and inserted a data slip into the console.

The screen came to life.

Torrith!

She was clearly terrified, though she tried to show true Romulan courage. "Greetings, husband" she

said, and her voice trembled. "I am contacting you from...from a holding cell Somewhere, I don't know. But the Tal Shiar have informed me that Rakki and I are to be their... guests for the time being."

Telek's gaze fell from his wife's frightened visage to the tiny, perfect one of their daughter. Her hair was fuzzy and black, only starting to grow in. Her mouth was small, like a flower bud, and as he watched, she yawned and waved little fists. The soft, cooing noise Rakki made as she snuggled back into her mother's embrace nearly brought tears to Telek's eyes.

"We have been treated well," Torrith hastened to say. "Truly, husband. But I have been instructed to tell you that-" Her dark eyes flashed with anger before she continued. "That our lives depend on your cooperation with the Tal Shiar. Obey them, and we live. Disobey, and we die."

Torrith leaned into the screen, as if she could really see Telek. "Use your conscience, my husband. If it is truly important that you refuse, then Rakki and I will die proudly, knowing our deaths mean something. But if it is not so urgent... then I should like to see you hold our daughter, someday."

The screen went black. Telek's throat clenched with unshed tears.

"Well, Telek R'Mor?" He turned to face Jekri, and saw a smirk of satisfaction marring her lovely face. "What is your answer?"

Oh, she was good, this young, beautiful manipulator. She knew that there was no torture that would be worse than what was captured on that screen.

"What is it you wish of me?" he replied, knowing that with those words, contrary to his wife's wishes, he had utterly forsaken what was left of his conscience.

"Dr. R'Mor."

Janeway's voice startled Telek out of his reverie, and he rose at once from the bed. She smiled and waved him to a seat. "I hope these quarters meet with your approval."

"They are more than sufficient for a humble scientist such as myself," he replied.

Her face saddened and the smile faded. "I must tell you how sorry I am that we put your family in jeopardy. I had no idea that Chairman Kaleh would so misinterpret what happened. We were only trying to save your Me."

"The chairman is young, and makes up her mind quickly," Telek said. All the pain