Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!atl-c03.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!wns13feed!worldnet.att.net!216.196.98.144!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!newsread.com!newsstand.newsread.com!POSTED.monger.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: From: "djinn_fic" MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: NEW: TOS Blood Vengeance 1/3 (PG-13) Saa/Valeris, Sela Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 710 Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 13:55:26 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: monger.newsread.com 1104155726 209.198.142.218 (Mon, 27 Dec 2004 08:55:26 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 08:55:26 EST Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:86345 X-Received-Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 05:55:51 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) TITLE: Blood Vengeance AUTHOR: Djinn CONTACT: djinn@djinnslair.com http://www.djinnslair.com SERIES: TOS RATING: PG-13 CODES: Saa/Valeris, Sela PART: 1/3 SUMMARY: This is the last story in the Blood Ties trilogy. It letting them play. Thanks to Rabble Rouser and Trekki for the beta! Saavik looked out over the hillside, her movements slow, unhurried. The dull buff color of her clothes blended into the dirt and rocks. Her dark hair was hidden under a similarly colored cap. She would not stand out at all, provided she did nothing to call attention to her position. Or to that of her fellow rebels in the Tilyrian underground. "Do you see them?" Carrix asked. "Yes," she said, a smile that would have made Spock frown playing at her mouth. Perrin still lectured her when she smiled like that. It was too...Romulan for her taste. Saavik, on the other hand, had long since grown used to the more Romulan aspects of her nature. Spending time on Romulus as Rise's prisoner had helped her with that. Spending time later with Rise had helped her with other things. She smiled again. Rise was home now. Waiting for her. Alone, in their beautiful house undoubtedly worrying about the raid. Even though she'd planned it. Rise might have been less worried if she'd been along. But then Saavik would have had to worry about her. It was easier knowing she was safe, made it possible to concentrate on the job at hand-- helping the Federation and its allies win the war against the Dominion. And if rumors were right, the war had finally turned. Victory was within their grasp. Of course, they'd heard that rumor before. Saavik forced her attention away from the war and back to the mission at hand. The Dominion heavy transport was just nearing the bridge. According to their source, it was loaded up with Ketracel- white from a plant in the Rondara province. White that was destined for the Jem'Hadar forces in the Alpha Quadrant. Tilyria was one of the newest Dominion bases, taken during the last Dominion retreat back toward Cardassia. Strategically located and with a peace- loving population that had been easy to put down, the planet now held far too many Dominion and Cardassian soldiers for Saavik's taste. Saavik watched as the transport lumbered across the bridge. It was filled to the brim with Ketracel-white, the drug that meant victory-- and victory was life. For the Jem'Hadar, a lack of Ketracel-white meant death. With the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant mined, no more was coming in. Local manufacturing was the only answer. But it could barely keep up. Had never been designed to. And Saavik was going to make sure that this shipment never got through. She nodded to Carrix. He passed the word along the hillside, the message going soundlessly from one dun-garbed person to the next, through a series of simple hand signals. "Target in sight. Prepare. On my mark." She leaned over again, wondered what kind of sensors the transport used. Would they detect the people lying in wait on the hot hillside, their body heat hidden by the sunsoaked rock face? Saavik was counting on them not showing up on any Dominion scans. The Jem'Hadar would not be expecting the shower of heavy boulders raining down on them. Boulders that would hit the transport, would carry it away from the road, over the side of the cliff, and down. A long way down. Even the Jem'Hadar should not walk away from this accident. But if they did, Saavik had more people stationed at the bottom of the ravine to make sure they didn't walk any farther. The transport crossed the last span of bridge, turned onto the road, its long side facing them finally. "Now," she said softly. Carrix sent the message down the line. A moment later there was a loud rumble as the boulders they'd worked loose over the last few days began to slide, then to roll. Then to tumble, gathering deadly speed as they roared down the hill. There was a crash as they began to hit. On and around the transport. Pushing it once, then twice more toward the side of the cliff. A particularly large boulder hit the top hatch, crushing it in. Saavik smiled--no Jem'Hadar would escape that way. Another huge rock crashed down, bouncing up and into the transport, carrying it too far to recover. The vehicle went over the cliff slowly, the front falling off the side before the back. A moment later, there was an explosion. Saavik smiled again as she and her people waited. Her sensitive ears could only detect the sound of smaller explosions, but no weapons fire. They waited for a long time, then began to melt away, back toward their homes. Different ways for each of them. The Dominion did not allow groups to congregate. Groups spread dissent. And dissenters were dangerous. Saavik felt her smile die. The Dominion had no patience for dissenters. She'd seen what that meant when one of their raids had looked too little like an accident, and too much like it was planned. The Vorta had ordered everyone in the village nearest the attack killed as punishment. No one in that village had been involved. Their deaths were senseless. But then this war struck Saavik as senseless. Still, she'd fight it. She'd fight it her way. With these people she called friends, on this world that she now called home. Ever since the village had been destroyed, they'd worked damned hard to make things look like an accident. Like today's little exercise. These hillsides were known for being treacherous. And Saavik's group had made sure that there had been several close calls recently for both Tilyrian vehicles and Dominion. The area was dangerously unstable, but was also the only way through the mountains. It had been an acceptable risk. One the Dominion had to take. One that had not paid off. As Saavik slipped over the top of the hill, she glanced back. The boulders lay all over the road, blocking any further traffic, mute testament to what had transpired. A terrible, terrible tragedy. For the Dominion. She allowed herself one last smile before she began the long trek home to Rise. ------------------- The walk was dappled with spots of light, the low-lying branches providing shade against the hot afternoon sun. Rise walked slowly along the path, losing herself in the calls of the birds and the gentle brush of the wind. She could just make out houses through the trees, could hear the sounds of voices coming from the yards. She checked the path that ran down from the dwellings. It was empty- -no one was watching. Relaxing, she moved on. It had been years since she had lived this close to others; proximity in the past had always meant danger. But Saavik had convinced her that it was time to stop putting distance between herself and the world. To please her lover, she had agreed to stop hiding behind impenetrable walls. Not that their home was defenseless. Saavik might want them to integrate into Tilyrian life, but Rise would not have been able to sleep at night if she had thought they were vulnerable. She had spent a great deal of latinum on a state-of-the-art security system, and, given the numbers of objets d'art that she and Cameron had collected, none of the Tilyrians seemed to consider it odd that she would want to protect her valuables. The path opened up onto a main road, and Rise kept to the side. Ahead, a silver-roofed enclosure sat empty. Before the war had found them, the place would have been filled with celebrating Tilyrians. But now it was illegal for Tilyrians to gather in public. The Dominion had vast experience with occupations. The Vorta limited the populace's ability to come together and thereby lowered any risk of spontaneous uprisings. It was efficient, and when war and conquest was a way of life, it made sense to value efficiency. Rise admired the Dominion's management skills, if little else. The path forked, the main one continuing along the road, a narrower one heading off into the woods. She followed the smaller way, breathing more easily as she disappeared out of sight of the road. The path stretched on ahead of her, eerily empty. Before the war, she had never been this alone in the woods. There had always been someone out for a stroll, or running for exercise. It had been a good place to walk the Tilyrian canines, similar enough to Earth's own canines that Rise thought of them as dogs. An image of a pile of burning flesh--dogs and cats and the other animals she had rescued and loved--rushed over her, and Rise swallowed hard against the surge of bile that rose in her throat. The smell. And the sound. That had been the worst. Agonized whimperings from animals that had not been dead when the Romulans had thrown them on the pile. Animals that had taken forever to die. If Rise had only been stronger, she'd have forced herself to her feet and put them out of their misery. But she had been broken too, beaten by Sela and utterly defeated by the rest of her tangled life. When Shiansu had been killed, when Sela had so casually tossed him onto the pile of flesh, something inside Rise had died. As she had lain there, listening to her animals suffer, the rest of her began to die too. She didn't try to fight it, had wanted to die and she would have died. If Saavik hadn't found her and brought her back to life. A butterfly lighting on a nearby bush startled her away from rotting carcasses and back to the present. This place was so like Earth: the animals so similar to their Terran counterparts, the vegetation lush and green as it had been in the places she'd visited with Shayla and her mother, or that she'd seen later when she'd been on Academy excursions. In fact, Rise had picked this place because of its resemblance to Earth. And because the people had seemed so welcoming. She knew that appearances were often deceiving, but she had not been wrong about the friendly nature of the place. The Tilyrians were warm and outgoing people, and they had been kind to Saavik and her from the start. It was a good place for outworlders, many others had come before them, and all seemed to have integrated. Rise and Saavik had integrated too, even if it had been against Rise's better judgment at first. She slowed slightly, trying to look like any other Tilyrian on a walk as she neared the bridge where a larger road crossed over the trail. There were Jem'Hadar guards stationed on the bridge, their disruptors pointed down at her, but in the casual way. She was not seen as a threat, indeed probably blended in better than most aliens did. Her long tawny hair covered her ear points, and her tan skin and amber eyes were quite common on Tilyria. She ignored the guards as she walked under the bridge, welcoming the cool darkness. Water had collected under the road again, and she saw mosquito-like animals hovering over the surface. Just hatched, she imagined. Possibly bearing disease. Her mother would have known. Rise felt a distant murmur of grief. Even after so many years, she still missed her mother. She slapped at a bug as it landed on her arm, then her attention was diverted by the antics of a bird, diving at her in a frantic attempt to keep her away from a nest built high in the bridge's cross beams. "Easy, little one," Rise murmured. She would have liked to have stopped, but the Jem'Hadar would expect her to emerge from under the bridge quickly. If she didn't, they would come down to find her, and this time their attitude would be anything but casual. A land vehicle went across the bridge, the sound causing the bridge metal to vibrate in an odd way, lending a high-pitched warble very different from the rumble the vehicles made if you were not underneath them. Rise walked faster, chiding herself for the sudden irrational fear that the bridge would collapse on her. It had stood for a long time, would no doubt stand even longer unless she and the underground decided to destroy it. Stepping back into the sunlight, she forced herself not to look up to see if the Jem'Hadar were watching her. She knew they would be; they watched everyone. The path ahead was in the open, running straight for about twenty meters, then turning back into the woods, out of sight of the sentries. Rise walked the path slowly, letting the sun warm her. Turning to enter the woods, she walked a few meters then waited. She counted the seconds to herself, prepared to give up if Enckar did not show within his usual ten minutes. She heard footsteps coming down the path from the bridge, recognized the slight limp of her friend. As he came into sight, she fell in line with him, walking silently by his side as they moved farther away from the bridge. A high-pitched cry broke the stillness of the trail, and Rise looked up, searching the sky for the bird that would have made it. She finally saw him, higher up than she expected, soaring lazily as he screamed out his presence. He was just having fun, enjoying being free and strong with no need to hide his delight from potential prey. She stopped, staring at the bird as he made large circles, only flapping when he occasionally lost the updraft. On Earth, he'd have been a buteo, one of the large soaring hawks. On Romulus, a Shiarawk like her lost Shiansu. Rise wondered how Shiansu's proud son was doing on his own. She had let the birds fly free when she and Saavik had left, had not wanted to subject them to spaceflight, or to the uncertainties of her new life. They had been Romulan birds, after all; they deserved to fly Romulan skies. Enckar said softly, "It is only a hawk, Rise." "I know." She smiled, pulled her gaze from the sky and continued to walk. He fell into step with her. "The mission went well last week." It was not a question. Carrix would have made his report to Enckar long before this meeting. "Yes. It went well." Rise sighed. She had not wanted this, had only sought peace. But war had found her, had found Tilyria. "Carrix says that Saavik is wily like a demon." Enckar did not seem disturbed at characterizing Rise's lover as an evil thing. But there were many types of demons in Tilyrian folklore. Perhaps he considered Saavik one of the more benign ones. "Saavik is dedicated to the cause." And had Romulan blood to fire her taste for violence. But Rise did not say that. Better that Enckar believed Saavik was wholly Vulcan. "Yes, she is dedicated. As are you." Enckar turned to her, seemed to be studying her. "Why do you fight for us, Rise? This is not your world." Why was she fighting? She had come to this world for peace. She did not have to stay here. Despite the Dominion presence, it was still possible to sneak on and off the planet if you had the right contacts and the right ships. And a lot of latinum. "Not that I'm complaining," Enckar said into the silence. She smiled again. "I'm tired of running away. It's time to take a stand. Tilyria has been good to me. I need to protect it." Rise thought of how much of her life had been spent hiding or running. She was tried of that. She wanted to plant roots, to find a place where Saavik and she could make a life together. Tilyria was that place. "I think," she said softly, the idea prompting her words still new and raw. "I think that my father would approve." "He was a warrior?" She shook her head. Despite serving in Starfleet, Spock had been a peacemaker. Not afraid of force or even violence, as she'd found out on the bridge of the Enterprise. But not a warrior. "He was fond of doing the right thing." She gave a small laugh at how well that summed him up. And how miserably it failed to capture the man. He was fond of doing the right thing as he defined it. Not for the first time since Spock's death, Rise felt the small tug of grief. What would their lives have been like, if he'd known he had a daughter? If he'd been allowed into Rise's life? "Then he would be very proud of you." Rise shook her head. "I am not so sure, my friend. But he would certainly have understood my actions here." The path curved around, opening up into a large open field. Lightning-blasted trees stood at the edge of the grass, their bare bark filled with holes, victims of opportunistic birds in need of a nesting place. The real draw of the lightning, a small metal pumping station stood in the middle of the field. There were no Jem'Hadar guarding it--it was a secondary system and the maintenance workers who checked it once a month were the only people who ever went inside. Or so the Dominion thought. Enckar nodded toward the building, moving carefully across the thick grass. Rise followed him, wondering why they were risking visiting one of their safe places in broad daylight. He looked back at her and seemed to read her thoughts from her expression. "There are some people I'd like you to meet. They're here to help us." "They? Who?" "An unexpected source." His smile told her that he was being deliberately vague. Rise heard the hawk again, looked up and saw that he was much closer this time. *Little brother,* she sent to him. He did not answer back, if he even heard her. "What kind of help?" "Help in getting us organized, outfitted, armed. Help fighting from the shadows. Everything we need. From experts." "Federation?" He shook his head. "More exotic than that." He laughed, a low hearty rumble that made her smile back. "You are teasing me, Enckar. Just tell me who is here to help us." He leaned in and whispered, "Tal Shiar," as if he were afraid that saying it too loudly would be risky. Rise felt her stomach clench. She had left the Tal Shiar behind when she'd fled Romulus. But that didn't mean they weren't looking for her. Sela might have put a price on her head. "The Tal Shiar here? Why?" "The Romulans are united with the Federation and the Klingons now. They fight the Dominion just as we do. They are excellent warriors, Rise, fierce and cunning. They can teach us much in the way of tactics." She fought the urge to run; nothing would be gained. "I don't need to meet them. You be their liaison. That will be fitting." He frowned. "No, it would not. I am the leader but it is you who gives me inspiration. You and Saavik. You energized me to fight in the first place, and it is you who keeps me focused. It is only right that you be with me when I greet our new allies." Rise took a deep breath. It was dark in the pumping station. If she was lucky, no one would recognize her. And even if they did, they were all friends now. Wasn't that what Enckar was saying? "All right. But only for a moment." He walked to the door, entering a bypass code that released the lock without alerting the central controllers. There would be no record that he had just opened the door. There never was. Letting her go in first, he followed, allowing the door to close behind him. His footsteps on the metal walkway rang out. It was the only noise in the building. Maybe the Romulans had gotten tired of waiting and left--Rise knew she was grasping at straws. But this was her home, and if the Romulans knew she was here, she'd have to leave again. And she was so tired of running. She'd thought that she had found a home on Romulus, posing as Sureya, friend to the Tal Shiar. But Sela had found out she had been Valeris, and even knew her real name. There was little that Sela hadn't seemed to know at the end, when Rise's world had come crumbling down--when Sela had brought Rise's world down. "Commander?" Enckar whispered into the gloomy murk. Small skylights in the roof of the building gave what little natural light was available. The regular lights could not be turned on unless the station was properly opened. "We are here," a chillingly familiar voice responded from the far side of the room. "So nice to see you again, Enckar." Sela's smile was brittle and mocking. "And you brought an old friend, too. How thoughtful." As two Romulans stepped out of the shadows behind her, Sela moved forward, her footsteps muffled by some sort of sound- absorbing material on her boots. "What shall I call you, dear? I've gotten a bit behind, I'm afraid." Enckar was staring at the two of them with a confused look. For a moment, Rise could not move, felt paralyzed by a fear that seemed to come from her very soul. Sela was here. Sela would hurt her. Would hurt Saavik too. She had to run, to flee-- --No! Rise forced herself to steady. "Call me Rise. It's my real name." She was happy that her voice didn't shake. "Rise it is." Sela pulled her close, as if in a familiar version of a Romulan hug. She whispered in Rise's ear, "When this is over..." Rise fought back a shudder. Turned her face so that she could whisper, "Yes, watch your back, Sela. You're on my planet now." Sela chuckled. A dangerous sound, low and breathy. She pulled Rise closer, laid her lips on her neck in the way she had when they were lovers. Then her kiss turned into a nip. Rise did not react, other than to pull away a bit faster than was polite. She shot Sela a warning glance. "Saavik is here too." "How wonderful. We'll have a reunion." Sela turned to Enckar. "I'll stay with them, of course." He nodded before Rise could object. "One of my men will take you there tonight." He looked at the other two. "You can stay with me. If that's agreeable." They looked at Sela, before they nodded. Sela smiled, the expression was pure predator. "Won't this be fun?" ---------------------------- "She thinks this will be fun?" Saavik was pacing. Angry--more than angry. Enraged. She couldn't believe Rise had agreed to this. "I had little choice. She's here to help. Enckar believes--" "--Enckar does not understand our history with that aehallh." "A monster who is just down the hall, Saavik." "So I should lower my voice?" Saavik closed her eyes, but she did try to make her voice softer when she said, "Rise, this is madness." "This war is madness. And she's here to help us fight it. When it's over..." "I'll kill her." Saavik shook her head. "If she doesn't slit our throats while we sleep before then." Walking to the door, she began to play with the lock. That at least, she could do something about-- provided she could figure out the technology behind their latest security upgrades. Where did Rise get this stuff? Rise moved behind her, letting her hand run down Saavik's back, rubbing gently, then harder. "What are you doing?" She nuzzled against Saavik, kissing her neck. "I'm trying to make sure she can't jimmy this." Saavik turned, so that Rise's lips fell on hers. Soft--Rise could be so soft. "I love you. I don't want her sneaking into our bed. To kill us...or for other reasons." "That's over." "You think so?" Saavik laughed. "Sela doesn't strike me as someone who gives up gracefully. You left her; you hurt her. And you survived when you were supposed to die. She's going to want payback." Rise pulled away. "Saavik, please don't make this harder. You wanted to stay here and fight, and so did I. This is the price for that. This is how we're going to have to fight." "With her?" "Yes." "I don't like this. Just for the record." Saavik sighed, then released the lock and pulled the door open. Sela had her hand up, as if she was about to knock. "There you two are. I was beginning to worry." She smiled, her lips curling up slowly. "Saavik, you're looking good. We haven't had a chance to catch up." Saavik pushed past her. "You should be grateful for that, Sela." "Oooh. I love her when she's tough." Sela's mocking laughter followed Saavik down the stairs. Jorase looked up as she walked into the kitchen, then she went back to chopping vegetables for the evening meal. Her movements were jerky, the knife hitting hard onto the cutting block. "Don't know why that one's here." "That makes two of us." Saavik debated grabbing a piece of summer pepper from the pile Jorase was working on, decided she liked having fingers. Sela walked into the kitchen, and Saavik waited for Rise to follow. When she didn't appear, Saavik reached for one of Jorase's kitchen knives, the smooth wooden hilt conformed to her hand as if made for it. "Oh, stand down, warrior woman. I didn't slit her throat on the way down; she's in the bathroom." Sela grinned. "Although now that you mention it, throat slitting sounds very good." Saavik's hand tightened on the knife. "I haven't seen a single animal around here," Sela said, as she wandered around the kitchen, keeping well clear of Saavik. "Hard to imagine our Rise without her little critters underfoot." "You killed all her little critters, remember?" Saavik decided to not tell her about T'Mal, the kitten who had survived Romulus only to die of a common feline ailment on Tilyria--an ailment that Tilyrian felines recovered from routinely, but for which T'Mal had had no natural resistance. Their house was lonely without T'Mal, and Saavik had been surprised that Rise hadn't taken in any of the strays who occasionally bumped around their yard before seeking friendlier surroundings. But some part of Rise seemed to have shut down when Sela had killed her animals. Or maybe it was some strange kind of guilt, as if Rise felt that she had killed them herself, since she could have had them all packed up and long gone from Romulus by the time Sela showed up. She'd been ready to die, would have died, if Saavik hadn't shown up to take her away. Rise liked to say that Saavik had brought her back to life, but Saavik thought that some integral part of her had stayed dead. It wasn't a large part, but still-- "So like a Vulcan. Lost in thought when there's fighting to be done." Sela winked at Saavik as if they were old friends. "Got you thinking, did I?" "I'm ignoring you," Saavik said, unwilling to let Sela see that she'd scored any hits. "It's easy. You make a lot of noise, but you don't say much." "Speaking of making a lot of noise." Sela turned to Rise, smiling seductively as she walked into the kitchen. "Do you still make that trilling sound when you--" "--How long is she going to stay?" Jorase asked, slamming her knife down. "Because with rationing and such, I don't think we can feed her. Perhaps she'd be happier at Enckar's place?" "Perhaps you would, Jorase." Sela moved closer, her smile fading. "I was always sorry you weren't there when I went back for Rise." Jorase picked her knife back up. "So was I." "Stop it." Rise pushed between them. "Are you going to be all right with this?" She looked at Jorase, her expression grim. "No. I'll not harbor a murdering bitch like this." "It's for the war effort." "I don't care if it's for galactic peace. I won't sleep in the same house as her." "Then you can sleep at Enckar's." Rise's voice held a note Saavik hadn't heard since Romulus. Firm, resolved. And cold. "You see, Jorase." Sela laughed, the sound echoing through the kitchen. "She picks me. Not you." Saavik glared at her. "She's not picking anyone. Only coming up with acceptable sleeping arrangements. Aren't you, Rise?" Rise nodded, but she walked away from the three of them, staring out the window. "I saw a hawk today. High above us as we walked out to meet you, Sela. Do the shiarawks prosper?" Sela moved toward her, her voice pitched low, strangely intimate-- Saavik felt left out. "They do. I see them sometimes. Hear them even more often." She leaned in. "I hate those birds." Her voice was even, the words sharper for the calm tone. "I imagine they hate you," Rise murmured back. "They have long memories. Shiansu's son will remember you. I'd be careful, keep an eye on the sky." Rise turned, her smile crooked and mean. "Maybe I'm lying. Maybe I hunted them down." "I wouldn't put it past you." "Do you want to know?" Sela moved closer. "It's not hard to kill a bird. Not hard at all." "I don't want to know." Rise turned away, then looked back at Sela, her eyes blazing. "But if you didn't kill them, you probably should have. Because he'll get you someday. He'll avenge his old man." "The way you avenged Cameron, my sweet little addict?" Sela laughed, her hand coming up to touch Rise on the cheek. Before Saavik could move, Rise struck Sela's hand away. "Touch me and die. That's rule one." "How many rules are there?" Sela's smile turned to a sneer. "Not many. You should be able to remember them. Touch me, or Saavik, or Jorase, or anyone else that I care about. Even look at them wrong. And I'll kill you." "Can you define looking at someone wrong? Because that's a bit vague." Sela shot Saavik a look that definitely would not qualify as right. "Stop it!" Rise slammed Sela into the wall, her hand at the other woman's throat. Sela just laughed. It would have been a more effective laugh if it hadn't come out so breathy. It was clear that Rise was cutting off her oxygen supply. "What are the other rules?" Sela asked, the words barely coming out since Rise had not let up her hold. "We're only working with you because of the war." Rise let her go and stomped away, out of the kitchen. Saavik heard the front door slam. "Was that a rule? Or just a general disclaimer?" Sela grinned, reaching in and grabbing one of the peppers Saavik had been eyeing. Jorase popped the knife down but just missed Sela's fingers. "Mmm. I always did love your meals, Jorase." With a wink, Sela walked out the back door, letting it close gently behind her. "I'm not leaving you two with her." Jorase went back to her mad chopping. "It's all right. If you want to stay at Enckar's, we'll underst--" "--What I want is to stab her in her sleep." Jorase looked out the window. "What's she doing out there? She's supposed to be hiding, isn't she?" Saavik studied Sela. In the native Tilyrian dress, she didn't look very alien. Her hair had grown since Saavik had last seen her, and it covered her ears. Blonde was not an unusual hair color on Tilyria, and Sela's skin was more tan than greenish. She didn't look half as alien as Saavik did, and she came and went as she pleased. Sela was fine out there. "You really want her to come back in?" "No." Jorase sighed. "She's all right." Saavik patted her shoulder, trying to impart a confidence that she didn't feel. "It'll all be all right." Jorase glanced over at her, then down at her other hand. "If that's so, why haven't you put that knife back?" Saavik had no good answer for that. End part 1 of 3 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ASCEM messages are copied to a mailing list. Most recent messages can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCEML. NewMessage: