well today, 738766. Thank you.”
Kari tried not to glow with pleasure. She knew they manipulated her. However, she could not deny the twinge of reward. She tried to remember what she’d been saying. But the memories evaporated, dew in the morning sun.
They lowered the containment field. The cessation of pain left her a little light headed. She rubbed her face then examined her hands wondering why they were so wet. She assumed her pose and waited.
Syll had moved to the other side of the room to stand in the shadows. Kari watched the student preparing his notes on a pad. She gathered herself then dashed off the platform. She elbowed the student into his console and ran for the door. The other students dropped what they were doing and sprinted after her. She almost made it to the control panel but the one who she had elbowed grabbed her hair.
“Bitch,” he snarled at her. He lifted her by her hair. She grabbed his arm to take the weight and kicked him in the face. His head hardly moved. She braced herself for the blow he was about to deliver when clarity hit her.
“Wait!” she shrieked. “Wait!”
It startled the Romulan into pausing.
“My hair. Why haven’t you cut it? You should have cut it! Shaved my head!”
Syll moved closer. “Calm yourself, 738766.”
“He liked my hair,” she shrieked. “The Beloved Nephew liked my hair.”
The Romulan dropped her and stepped back.
“You lied! You lied!” Kari screamed at Syll. “You said you weren’t going to give me to him.”
“I do not believe...”
Kari scrambled for the door. The Romulan student seized her. She slammed him with her feet and fists, pounding him. Two more students grabbed her. They could not subdue her frenzy. She kicked and bit and hit. The fourth joined in capturing a leg.
Syll called her designation, even calling her real name. Kari just tried to claw her way free.
The Romulan Commander finally used the pad. The first setting did nothing. She turned it to five, the setting the first interrogator had mistakenly used on her. Kari seized up but as soon as it turned off, she fought on. Finally, Syll used the pad to render her unconscious. Kari collapsed onto the floor.
The students swore as they released her examining their bruises.
“Return the prisoner to her cell. Have the doctor examine her.”
They nodded. No one spoke.
A Romulan’s word is worth as much as anyone else’s: Nothing -- Ferengi Proverb
When she could no longer avoid it, Syll visited the Human in her prison.
“If you promise not to hurt yourself, Kari, I will release the restraints.”
Kari screeched and thrashed in her bonds. She had tried to kill or injure herself multiple times. Her attempts stained the walls crimson. They had confined her to a device that locked her to the bed. It immobilized her almost completely as well as taking care of her bodily functions. Force feeding was the only way to get her to accept nourishment.
Kari slumped.
“Call me by my designation,” she sneered, panting. “Syll.”
She spat at the Romulan.
“Will you promise me, 738766?”
“You’d accept my promise when you broke yours?”
“I made no promise, 738766,” Syll intoned. “I was being optimistic.”
“You were supposed to protect me! You promised! You promised!” Kari battered herself against the bonds again until she fell back gasping, futility overwhelming her.
The harshness of her breathing was the only sound as Syll sat, observing and waiting.
Finally the Human said, “I will not hurt myself nor anyone else, Mistress Syll.”
“Very well.” She pressed the button on the pad and the restraints released her. Syll watched her carefully. The reports of this Human’s sudden strength were unlikely but she did not want, as others had learned, to be taken by surprise. A guard hovered at the open door to the cell his baton ready.
Kari jerked upright. The guard took a step, then retreated when she remained seated. Syll made no motion. The Human rubbed the bruises on her wrists and ankles.
“I suppose it’s time,” she said looking Syll in the eye.
Syll motioned and the guard stepped aside so her students could enter.
“They will help you dress, 738766.”
Kari curled her lip, her derision cold. “A Starfleet uniform? Does your Beloved Nephew possess such perverse desires or do all good Romulans secretly fantasize about the Federation?”
She snatched the underwear and uniform from them and dressed herself.
“Have the mighty Tal Shiar become stylists now?” It elicited no response from them.
She drew on the boots.
“Does the Tal Shiar cower before his greatness? Shine his shoes? Kiss his ring?”
One of the students grunted. Syll remained impassive.
Kari smashed the makeup on to the floor and ignored most of the jewelry. She did pin her black hair up. She took a deep breath and inspected herself in a mirror. The uniform was almost perfect. Months had passed since she had worn clothes. They felt strange. The first time she had donned her Starfleet uniform, the real one, not the Academy one, she felt as if she would never take it off.
She turned to face Syll. “Does the pimp approve of 738766?”
Syll slapped her.
It wasn’t hard. She was able to hold her hand back at the very last moment so that it just turned Kari’s face a little red.
“I will take that as a yes,” Kari said, not bothering to touch her cheek. “I suspect this will be the last time you will be able to do that.”
“Try to remember what we have taught you, 738766,” Syll said finally, looking away. She willed herself to not kill the Human right there. “We have indicated to the Beloved Nephew that we are not finished extracting information from you. So your desire to not see us again will in all probability be in vain.”
Kari smoothed a final wrinkle in the faux uniform. She slowed her heart rate down and breathed slowly thinking of the little meditation practices she had learned at the Academy. Mastery of one’s self, she thought. For this moment, she’d put aside her fury and fear.
She snapped to attention. “Ensign Kari Wu reporting for duty.”
Syll stepped closer and touched the pips along the collar of the Starfleet uniform.
“Ah,” said Kari. “I see the Beloved Nephew desires a captain. I had always hoped for my own command.”
Kari turned smartly to face the students. “I’m ready.”
She marched out with them.
The guards had worked in this facility for decades. Certainly longer than any student. Far longer than any of the faculty or staff. There was nothing they hadn’t seen over the many years. They knew to withdraw from the cell before Syll snatched up the chair to hurl it against the wall. After she had destroyed almost everything in the cell, they also knew that this was not the right time to ask whether they should ready the space for another prisoner.
From the modern cellblock to the older section containing the bureaus of the faculty and staff, she stormed to the office of the Seigneur of her Tal Shiar order. He was the same Romulan who had expressed enough curiosity in Kari to observe and take part in her initial processing.
“Welcome, Commander Syll.” He rose to greet her. “I was expecting you and am gratified you could fit me into your schedule.”
“Sir.” She quivered with the effort to master herself. “Sir, I came only to update you on some inconsequential details. My hope is that you can spare a few moments for me.”
“There are no unimportant items, Commander. The most minor of details is the one that trips us all. I sense that something troubles you.”
“An inessential matter, sir. I just wish to affirm that I am serving the Tal Shiar as well as I could be.”
He chuckled. “Your service to the Tal Shiar is beyond my or anyone else’s highest expectations.”
Breathe, she commanded to herself. Slo
w your breathing.
“Thank you, sir. I became disturbed when a source was removed from my custody. It would mortify me to think I have displeased you in some way.”
The office was sparse. Just a few personal things but nothing to give clues about the occupant. A plant in a pot. A couple of nondescript paintings. Just stone for the floor and an efficient desk. The natural light filtering in through the window revealed him to be a stocky male, slightly paunchy. A greying Romulan who had survived countless wars and more tellingly, the politics of the Tal Shiar. His long dark robes were well used, his veil almost transparent. She was sure he did that on purpose. His appearance was mild, more that of a book keeper who was somewhat surprised to discover himself to be in charge of one of the most powerful Tal Shiar orders. So many enemies rested in their graves for believing that was all he was.
“I understand your concern, Commander Syll. Let it leave your mind. The accommodation was done for the benefit of the Tal Shiar. As with all things, there are tradeoffs to be made and they will only be done for the advancement of our order. When pressure is applied one learns to bend. Especially, when, considering all points of view, it is over some...thing that is hardly worthy of anyone’s attention. One sometimes can disagree with the nature of certain decisions but always we are here to serve.”
She nodded. Though he was the Seigneur of this Tal Shiar order, even he reported to others. “I am indebted to the Tal Shiar and to you as well for your patience and forbearance.”
Eventually quelling her rage, she smiled at him. “You have been a father to me, sir.”
He returned the smile a little. “I would hope to be just a humble teacher.