Tal’Aura was not the least bit surprised by the extent of the young Tal Shiar director’s knowledge of her plans. Indeed, she would have been nonplussed had he failed to catch wind of it. “I suppose it won’t be such a private gathering after all, then.”
His smile broadened, though his eyes retained the patient intensity of a mountain sseikeathat had scented its prey and hungrily awaited an opportunity to strike. It was no wonder he’d succeeded in outmaneuvering and disposing of Koval, his ailing predecessor.
“That is entirely up to you, my Praetor,” Rehaek said. “I merely wish to assist all parties concerned in achieving a mutually acceptable…political understanding. One that we can all build upon for the future—and that will ensure that the Empire will even havea future.”
Tal’Aura nodded. From the moment he had entered the chamber, she’d expected something like this. “That is a generous offer indeed, Director. But I presume that it does not come without a steep price.”
“Your many decades on the Senate Intelligence Committee were well spent, my Praetor. However, my price is hardly what I would call ‘steep.’ ”
She was beginning to grow weary of Rehaek’s circumlocutions. “Speak plainly. What exactly is it you want?” She saw that her blunt tone had garnered a glare from the insufferable Torath. She ignored it, and continued to focus her concentration on the Tal Shiar leader’s sharp gaze.
“I wish only to forge a mutually cooperative relationship with you, my Praetor, and your regime. Openly, and in public. I am certain I can help you moderate the aggressive predilections of Pardek’s faction, as well as those of the unruly elements within the military. You know that Pardek would attack Earth and the Federation, had he the opportunity. Commander Suran might even be inclined to provide him with the military support he requires.”
Pardek,Tal’Aura thought ruefully. Such a sad, bitter man.She had always believed that the machinations of Koval, Rehaek’s immediate predecessor as Tal Shiar director, deserved the blame for Pardek’s rage at least as much as did the Federation’s spies.
Tal’Aura nodded in bleak acknowledgment of Rehaek’s assessment. She considered what a disaster another rogue Romulan attack against Earth would be, so soon after Shinzon had tried to destroy that planet. Such a thing could well seal the doom of an Empire that was already well on its way to tearing itself asunder.
Aloud, she said, “But why would you support my praetorship in such an overt manner? After all, you have never been…appropriately deferential to the office of the praetor.”
“I have always had only the highest esteem for the office,my Praetor.”
Tomalak reacted to that insult by taking a single angry step toward Rehaek. Tal’Aura instantly halted the proconsul with a sharp command and a frosty glare. There was nothing to be gained by allowing the current face of Tal Shiar treachery and terror to goad her. Despite the throne she now occupied and the resources she now controlled, she knew that her position was far too tenuous to risk tempting the fates. Besides, she wasn’t at all certain that Tomalak would survive an encounter with Torath. Tomalak was too valuable to her praetorship to place him at risk. At least for now.
Despite the still-incensed proximity of Tomalak, Rehaek didn’t flinch. Nor did he need to use more than a glance to restrain Torath’s evident desire to take some aggressive action of his own against the proconsul.
Rehaek looked to Tal’Aura, as though the other two men no longer even existed. “Surely, my Praetor, you can appreciate the grave danger that Pardek’s faction poses to the Empire.”
After a pause she smiled, having come to a realization. “Yes. And I don’t imagine a hard-liner war against the Federation would be good for you, either, Director.” There is such a thing as too much chaos. Even for one who often depends upon it to keep his adversaries confused in order to maintain his own power and position.
The spymaster nodded. “Then we understand each other well, my Praetor.”
“I understand that you need me, Director Rehaek. Perhaps more than I need you.” Triumph surged within her breast, as it rarely ever did in the presence of senior Tal Shiar officials. He feels the need to flex his muscle visibly, right in front of the leaders of the other factions. Perhaps he thinks they are losing their ingrained fear of the Tal Shiar. He needs to demonstrate the length of his reach. And that the Tal Shiar still wields power to be reckoned with, Koval or no Koval.
“I wish to help you contain the threat that Pardek represents, my Praetor,” Rehaek said, not rising to her jab. “And I think you’ll agree that the intelligence support I can provide will be invaluable to you in maintaining your…authority.”
You mean such intelligence as you deign to share with your esteemed praetor,she thought.
“And I think you’ll also agree, my Praetor,” Rehaek continued, “that what you will require most immediately from me is my silence. You may, in fact, find that indispensable—if you are to maintain whatever hold on Imperial authority you now possess.”
“Your silence?” Tal’Aura sensed that Rehaek was about to pounce like a rain-jungle zdonek.
“Come now, my Praetor. The Remans are unaware of the early power-sharing conference you are about to host. The one that excludes them. Imagine how much more vulnerable your position would become were they to learn of this. The Remans would believe you are trying to deceive them. And deceit motivates Remans to break things. Sometimes even things that have yet to be built, such as political alliances.
“Commit to an alliance with the Tal Shiar, my Praetor, and I will see to it that the Remans learn nothing untoward before the first full power-sharing conference.”
Tal’Aura felt her earlier sense of triumph evaporating. Her throat felt drier than the sunward side of Remus.
“I prefer that my friends and adversaries alike state their threats in plain language, Director Rehaek.”
He nodded, an ironic smile tugging at his lips. “Very well, my Praetor. In the absence of a formal understanding between us, I can state with almost perfect certainty that the Remans willdiscover your upcoming secret meeting—and in plenty of time to wreak havoc across both of the Two Worlds, and perhaps far beyond. Such an outcome would be most…distracting to your praetorship, to say the least.”
She slumped back in her chair, feeling defeated.
“Do not listen to him, Praetor,” Tomalak said. “Lethim stir up the Remans. That might force the hands of Donatra and Suran. A new Reman uprising could reveal the actual extent of Donatra and Suran’s control over the Empire’s military forces. It might drive a wedge between the two commanders. It could even send a large proportion of their men and matériel over to ourside.”
Tal’Aura shook her head and spoke in tones scarcely above a whisper. “But at what cost?”
Tomalak began an angry rejoinder, but she silenced the proconsul with a peremptory wave of her hand. His silence encouraged her; she knew he would not have relented so easily had he not known that she was right.
Rehaek held the advantage, at least for the moment.
“Very well,” Tal’Aura said, addressing the spymaster and his far-too-pleased-looking lackey.
But the unending struggle between the praetorship and the Tal Shiar is by no means resolved,she thought. It is merely postponed until more convenient circumstances arise.
Glancing down at the palm of his pudgy right hand, Pardek saw the time displayed on his chrono-ring, and noted that the meeting would not begin for nearly four full veraku.He loitered in the Hall of State’s vast library, alone except for a half-dozen extremely vigilant armed uhlans and a handful of nervous-looking scholars who were clearly trying to look completely intent upon their various academic research projects. The sun streamed in through windows high in the domed roof, casting long shadows across the towering ancient bookshelves and the lowslung modern computer terminals in the otherwise unlit chamber. Everything looked peaceful enough, though Pardek could hear the emergency vehicles, their echoing klaxons reminding him of the cries of distant seabirds. A slight ozone tang hung in the air, evidence of the fires that had raged for weeks across much of Ki Baratan’s South Quarter, and which still smoldered in the nearby ancient district known as the ira’sihaer.