K'Lara was angry. She had let Jon and John slip through her fingers. She should have realized that a phaser set on stun would be pointless and changed the setting, but she had let her anger take control. She was too worried about her lover to think.
A large Kirusan ran towards her. She readied her weapon and slammed it into the creature. It blocked it with a staff that it carried but was noticeable knocked a little off balance. It regained its strength and attempted to trip the woman with his weapon. She was prepared and jumped. On her descent, she managed to bring her staff down square on the Kirusan's back. It managed to know him off balance and send him to the floor. K'Lara moved in to make the kill when the Kirusan fired a blast of pure energy from his eyes into her gut. Immediately the Kirusan froze.
"Damn!," yelled the Lt. Commander. "Computer, restart program." The Kirusan disappeared from its place on the ground.
K'Lara readied herself for another attack. This time, she would find a way to win.
Lataro could feel the engines when he awoke. He opened his eyes and looked around. Valdago and Solacetta were in the seats in the front of the LaForge. He could see Virgo outside of the view screen. He tried to get up, but the manacles on his hands made it fairly difficult. The other two heard the ruckus and walked over to him.
"Glad to see you're up. You were out for quite a while. Those phaser rifles sure are something else," the android told Lataro.
"What are you doing? This ship is cloaked. What good am I?"
"Now, now, now. You should know better than that Jonathan. It's always helpful to have a hostage. Well, not necessarily, but the Kirusans would like a Human, for some tests. Granted, they had Surok, but they never had any Humans. I'm simply waiting for them to come get us."
"Why wait?"
"Do you think the power cells in this heap can keep the ship cloaked during warp? Of course, they can't. That's what Trent was trying to fix. Loran didn't even think about the problem. If we jumped to warp, the Virgo could follow the trail, and capture me. That will not be allowed. I still have to finish the job on Valdago that I started."
"You're going to make him fully Kirusan?"
"It's always another question with you. It's true. He will be given what is rightfully his. What that doctor took from him."
"If you're so sure he wants to be fully Kirusan, why isn't he? Why haven't you fixed what was done?"
"Because time has not allowed. We have just now escaped. First he must study my systems. I can't fly around the quadrant without a repair team to back me up, can I? John has to learn all about me and the cloak so he can repair me when I'm down. Together we will be invincible. Until then he's preparing for the transfer. I've injected him with the first mutagen, that will destroy the old one still in his system. His system can't have too many conflicts if this is going to work." A rustling came from the back of the ship. It was Valdago waking. "And here he comes now." Valdago entered the main cabin. Lataro wanted to get up and move to him, but he was still immobile from the phaser shot. He was hardly conscious.
"I'm ready for the transfer now." Lataro glared at him. Valdago's eyes stared back, blank.
"Good," said Solacetta. "You'll have to excuse me, I've got to go get the final hypospray. Watch the pig, will you John?" She began to leave the main cabin.
"Oh, Solacetta, just one thing," said Valdago as he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. He pulled her in for an embrace. Lataro couldn't believe what he was seeing. The two moved closer and closer. Valdago brought his face closer to Solacetta's lips and then, they passionately kissed. Then, suddenly, her entire head dropped.
Valdago removed his hand from Solacetta's deactivation switch. Solacetta dropped, unconscious, to the floor.
"Good work, Johnny, you even fooled me."
Valdago walked to the transporter panel. "I'm going to drop the cloak and beam the three of us straight to engineering so that Solacetta can be dismantled. Unless, you need to go to sickbay," Valdago said to Lataro with a menacing smile.
"Engineering will be fine. I'm almost back to normal," Lataro said as he began to stand. "I never should have doubted you. You pulled the exact same trick here that you did on the station."
"Not exactly," he said. Valdago decloaked the LaForge. Commander Lataro dematerialized. Valdago reinitiated the cloak and moved the ship to avoid detection. He and Solacetta were alone."
"Maruu was sitting uneasily on the bridge. He was getting sick of loosing crew members."
"Sir," said the secondary Ops officer, Lt. JG Alysa Sinclair, "I've got a ship decloaking of the port side of us."
Maruu immediately stood up. "On screen." The view screen changed to reveal the LaForge. Then, a form began to materialize on the floor of the bridge. It was Lataro. "What's going on here?"
"What am I doing on the bridge? Where's Solacetta and Valdago."
"Answers, Lataro. Now."
"Valdago was just about to beam Solacetta, himself, and I to engineering to begin dismantling Solacetta. But, I wound up here. Lataro to Loran. Is Valdago or Solacetta down there?"
[No, Sir. Why would you think that?]
"We'll get back to you later. Lataro out."
"Sir," the Ops officer said as she looked at her montior, "the LaForge has recloaked and moved. All I got was a slight movement before it was totally gone."
Maruu walked toward the Ops station. "Open a channel. Audio only, that way they can answer and still stay cloaked. They're too smart to expose themselves."
"Channel open."
"Valdago. Solacetta, answer."
Nothing. The bridge was quiet.
After Valdago moved the LaForge to a new position he began work on Solacetta. That's when Maruu called.
[Valdago. Solacetta, answer.]
Valdago stood up. At first he planned to ignore the hail, but then, he realized that he could not be detected with a simply audio reply. "Valdago here. Solacetta is still inactive. I need you to trust me. Just this once. You'll notice the weapon systems are powered down. I just need a few minutes."
Silence.
[You have two,] replied the captain, [and then you will return to Virgo with the LaForge and Solacetta. That's an order.]
"Yes, Sir." He lied.
He walked over to Solacetta and continued his work. With the full knowledge of her systems in his hands, he was able to do anything he wanted. First, he created a self destruct system on the internal cloaking device so that it would disengage and self destruct in 48 hours. That would give her time to get away from Virgo safely. He also erased all files containing information about the cloaking device. Then he inserted a private message from him to her that would replay in her positronic brain until she awoke. He moved the transporter controls.
"Goodbye, Solacetta. I'm sure we'll meet again. I hope it's under better terms."
He initiated a transport. She was transported outside of the LaForge. Valdago engaged the tractor beam and used it and the LaForge to slingshot Solacetta back towards the Kirusan homeworld. He uncloaked the ship and returned to the shuttle bay of the Virgo. Captain Maruu was waiting for him when he exited the LaForge.
"She's gone. Isn't she?"
"Yes. I had to. You should understand."
"Understand nothing. I'm sorry I have to do this, but I have to. Lataro, take ENSIGN Valdago to the brig." He held up a phaser and shot Valdago. Stunned, the ensign fell to the floor. Maruu dropped his head in shame. He had to do it, partly to get Valdago safely to the brig, and party for some punishment that would work. "He shouldn't give you too much trouble now."
Inside his ready room, Maruu, Dr. Nori, Anya Zano, and Lataro were having a meeting.
"What's the news?" the captain asked.
"Well," said Dr. Nori, "He's fine physically. When Solacetta removed the mutagen, his system started to return to normal. It'll be a while before his white blood cell count levels off, but he'll get there. As far as anything else goes, he refuses to return to his Human state. That's his choice, but I'm still working on an anti-mutagen for anyone else we might come across."
"Good, I'm glad to hear it. How about you, Counselor?"
"He's very stable. He never lost his devotion to Starfleet. He doesn't believe that, other than disobeying your order to bring Solacetta back, he's violated any regulations."
"In a way, Captain," Lataro noted, "he hasn't. Precedents have been set that in a situation such as his, steps that do not seriously affect Starfleet Intelligence, the Prime Directive, or any Federation members are valid. Since he only did minor damage to the ship's systems, he only stunned you, me and a few crewmembers, then rescued me, and he did delete all cloaking information from Solacetta, he did very little that would hold up in a court martial. Except where Solacetta's fate was concerned, his best interest was always set on us. He only kidnapped me to get access to the LaForge."
"Well, it's damned unorthodox," the captain stated.
"But, as far as Starfleet would be concerned, and as far as he is concerned," added the counselor, "he is still working for us. Solacetta is his only family out here. Psychologically, I believe it would be easier for him to kill you than her. I cannot blame him for his actions, or hold it against him. They are both modeled after the same Kirusan. They are like brother and sister, separated by morals. And, like I said, since he believes that everything he did was best for Virgo and Starfleet, I have no doubt that he is fit for active duty. He has shown loyalty to this crew many times over."
"I would also like to add," the First Officer said, "that time in the brig will not punish him. I really don't think that a demotion will either."
Anya broke in. "He's right. In fact, demoting him and giving him more time in the brig may push him away from us. As far as he is concerned, he did the right thing and should be rewarded. The more time he spends in the brig the worse he'll get. Next time Solacetta may win him over if we treat him like this."
"I know," mentioned the captain. "The demotion is simply to show him I mean business. And he's only in the brig until his REAL punishment is ready. I'll give him his pip back when he gets done."
"May I ask what this punishment is?" questioned Anya.
Maruu turned to Lataro. "If I'm not mistaken, Lt. Loran is a sort of expert on holodeck programs." Lataro nodded in agreement. Maruu tapped his com badge. "Maruu to Lt. Loran, meet me in my ready room. We have a program to write."
The inactive body of Solacetta moved through space. She was undetectable to anything that passed by her. The only thing that was going on in her brain were five words: "We'll always be family. Johnathan."