Unification - Jeri Taylor [74]
In a few minutes he had reached the rocky ledges that traversed the hills rising above the subterranean caves. He lowered himself into a hole concealed by thorny bushes, then scurried down the shaft, and dropped into a small chamber. Three circular openings were grouped on a far wall; D’Tan took the middle one and wriggled through a long, narrow passageway. That was the hardest part, and once he had emerged he was only minutes away from the main chamber.
As he neared it, he walked carefully, listening for any sounds of disturbance; he heard nothing. Gingerly, he made his way down the corridor toward the cavern, one step at a time, listening between each step… then he stepped around the corner and into the cavern.
Someone attacked him with a rock.
Instinctively he threw up his arms and the blow glanced off his forehead, but still with enough force to drop him to his knees. The wound spouted blood and D’Tan scrambled backward, holding up his hands to defend himself.
It was Shalote, a friend in the movement. Her eyes were wild and she held another rock in her hand, ready to attack again. She stared at him. “D’Tan?” she asked incredulously, and lowered her hand.
“Shalote, there’s been a massacre in Krocton segment. The guards killed everybody …. It was awful…” Now that he saw a friend, the terrible events came pouring out. He longed to be comforted, held, and soothed until some of the dreadful images left his mind.
But Shalote was staring at him, nodding, herself as traumatized as he. “It was the same here,” she whispered. “The guards came and took everyone. I had been carrying water to the main cavern and I heard the commotion and hid.”
“Mr. Spock… Captain Picard?” “They were captured. I saw them being led out.” D’Tan sank to the ground. He wanted very much not to cry in front of Shalote, who was older and whom he admired, but he was in despair. He had no idea if his parents had survived the slaughter in Krocton segment, if his friends were alive or dead. Janicka was gone… how many more of his beloved companions had perished that day?
But the worst thing of all was the death of the dream. What he had hoped and longed for all his life, what he thought he would see happening in his lifetime—that vision was shattered. His people would continue to live the bleak and violent lives of Romulans, shut off from the rest of the quadrant, never coming to know their gentle Vulcan cousins.
D’Tan realized he had already started crying, sitting on the floor of the cave, tears flooding in an endless current. Shalote was crying, too, and eventually they held each other and sobbed for a long time, drawing what comfort they could from each other’s presence.
An almost tangible sense of well-being suffused Commander Sela on this warm Romulan afternoon. Everything was going as it should. Spock, Picard, and the android Data had been taken at the caves, and that alone would have been enough to make her feel satisfied.
But she had also learned that the extermination process in Krocton segment had been successful. The area had been decimated, with hundreds dead and scores wounded. Never again would Krocton segment be a pocket of sedition. Now, as she worked at her padd, she prepared to lay the final chip in the plan on which she had spent the past five years. It was all within her grasp. The most difficult elements were already in place; what remained was relatively easy. And then the heady rewards of conquest would be hers.
She heard the door open and knew that Spock, Picard, and Data were being led in. She purposely didn’t look up; it amused her to keep writing, all but ignoring them. Idly she said, “Come in, gentlemen. Take a seat, please.”
As she concentrated on the padd, she was aware that the guards ushered the prisoners to chairs opposite her desk; they sat. Now she looked up at the guards and nodded to excuse them.
Sela smiled as she scrutinized the three men who sat before her. Spock and Picard