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Suran boasted about her brilliance in the affair as if she were his own daughter. But that wasn’t the highest praise she received for her effort-because shortly thereafter, Braeg offered her command of one of his ships.

Any officer in the fleet would have given a limb to command a warbird under Admiral Braeg. Donatra, to the surprise of even Suran, turned the offer down.

At the time, she was too devoted to Suran to accept a berth anywhere but on the T’sarok. There were those who told her that her loyalty had destroyed a potentially splendid career, and she wondered if they weren’t right.

But Braeg wasn’t insulted. Far from it. Never having met anyone self-possessed enough to disdain his largesse, he wanted to know more about Donatra. He delved into her military files and whatever else he could find, studying her as he might study an adversary on the field of battle.

Finally, having learned all he could from secondary sources, the admiral made arrangements to confront Donatra in person. That was the only way, he explained later, that he felt he could truly plumb her depths.

Their “chance” encounter at an imperial training facility in the Reggiana system, where Donatra had been invited to lecture, began as a polite give-and-take on matters of military philosophy. However, it evolved into a heated discussion, and soon became even more heated-though it could no longer be called a mere discussion.

Until then, Donatra would not have believed that an encounter between two accomplished military combatants could result in a victory for both parties. But that night, it was exactly what happened.

And from then on, Braeg became her lover.

It wasn’t public knowledge that they were so entwined. It couldn’t be, or both their careers would suffer. Braeg made Donatra pledge to keep their secret even from Suran, a vow she made reluctantly but had yet to violate.

It was difficult enough for Donatra and Braeg to meet while Donatra was a first officer. When she became a full commander and received the Valdore, it became even more so. But in her worst moments of longing and frustration, she pacified herself with the promise that someday she and Braeg would be together.

It was only a matter of time.

And now, strangely, that time was nearly at hand. Days ago, Braeg resigned his position in the Imperial Defense Force-something he had never imagined himself doing-and dedicated himself to Praetor Tal’aura’s downfall.

Braeg had never had a taste for politics before. He had been content to leave that serpent’s nest to the noble Hundred who claimed it as their birthright.

However, he had grown disgusted watching Tal’aura degrade the Empire with her ineptitude, squandering what he had fought so hard and so long to attain. The praetor’s only true talent, it seemed, was in the area of self-preservation.

So Braeg had decided to offer himself to the people as an alternative. Not forever, of course. Just until someone better suited to the job could take over, leaving the admiral free again to do what he did best.

In Braeg’s eyes, he was still fighting for the glory of the mighty Romulan Empire. He was just doing it in a new theater of operations.

And Donatra hadn’t hesitated to become Braeg’s fiercest ally-not because she was his lover, but because she believed in his cause as much as he did. In no time at all, the praetor had allowed the rim world crisis to spiral out of control; she had to be replaced before she could do any more damage.

How could I ever have aligned myself with someone like Tal’aura? Donatra wondered with a flush of embarrassment. Someone so selfish, so insane for power?

Then again, Donatra had sided with Shinzon, and he was even worse. Clearly, her judgment had been lacking in the area of political alliances. But not this time, she thought. Braeg was an honorable man, a leader who would restore prosperity to the Empire.

All he has to do is prevail over Tal’aura, Donatra reflected. It was a difficult task, to be sure, but hardly an