Command Log, Stardate 63193.6
With the surrender of Vassarovia and two other provinces, the Mulluran war effort has all but collapsed. Our forces, backed up by regular Mulluran elements who have defected to our side, are moving on the imperial homeworld. Repeated demands for immediate and unconditional surrender have been consistently ignored.
Our intelligence reports indicate that there is widespread panic on the homeworld; even Francona's appeals for calm and unity are having no effect. Only the Order Police remain loyal to the regime, and even that can be taken only so far: we've had reports of Order Police vessels surrendering and offering to join us. Of course, we've refused their surrender under those terms. It may well be the case that the OP's were actually killed in the act of surrender, but it's hard to tell. They've always been the type to die heroically at their posts.
Even if every asset the Federation had was pumped into the Empire, we could never occupy and hold this much heavily-populated territory. In consultation with Starfleet Command we are prepared to offer the following terms to the Mullurans:
Immediate handover of Generalissimo A'dal Francona and his family for trial; Immediate disbanding of the Order Police and remand of its officers for trial; Referendum on political independence for Vassarovia, Mandal, and Haokia provinces with the results to be binding on all parties; Complete demobilization of Mulluran fleet; ground forces to be equipped for planetary defense and police functions only; Mulluran Empire to exist as joint Federation/Ferengi/G'kra protectorate for 100 years. Political independence of Mulluran Empire to be guaranteed by UFP.
A new constitution that: a) provides for direct representative government (a constitutional monarchy with a legislative body subject to direct referendum is acceptable); b) guarantees individual rights and freedoms, including legal due process; c) abolishes slavery, except prison labor and debtor labor subject to constitutional guarantees and monitoring by an independent body; d) abolishes specifically Chapter 8 of the Mulluran Justice Code (pertaining to political crimes)
Reparations to the Ferengi Alliance, G'kra Socialist Republic, Nausicaan Republic, and all other aggrieved parties to be determined by neutral arbiter (Klingon Empire) with proviso that such reparations must not damage Mulluran economy to the point of collapse.
If these conditions are met, hostilities will end and we can get about the business of rebuilding the entire sector.
Personal log, Stardate 63193.6
Thankfully the job of rebuilding the sector will not be mine. The disease has progressed to such a point that I would not be able to handle the problem for very long should it land in my lap. Effective upon the cessation of hostilities, I am taking medical retirement from the service. The probability of my surviving this illness through the next year is slim to none.
I do not want to do this. For all that I have spent my entire adult life in the business of killing people in large numbers, I do not regret having helped to remove a monstrous tyrant from the galaxy. The universe may or may not have been improved measurably by removing General Tarik from the equation. I know the universe has been improved by dismantling the Francona regime.
Kassia has seen this coming. Apparently there is a prophecy that so pertains to my situation, although she's withheld the full meaning of the prophecy from me. Apparently there are things I wasn't meant to know just yet. All I can do is make the last days the best they can be.
Tarik sighed. It wasn't how he wanted to go out. He'd expected to be killed in battle, or in an accident, but not as the result of an illness whose effects had seemed comparatively innocuous (for all the chaos they'd caused) at the beginning.
The love virus... it is beyond ironic that it is taking me from those whom I love... Tarik looked at the small picture of him with Kassia and Tiyanna taken just after their wedding. He grimaced as he saw the small mountain of pharmaceuticals the sickbay had given him to keep the effects of the disease at bay. His memory had improved since taking them, and the fever had abated somewhat, but the prognosis remained: his entire endocrine system was being destroyed. In a matter of months, Tarik would not have a functioning liver. The retrovirus that was the love virus would dismantle any transplant he received as well. Within 24 hours of liver failure, Tarik would be dead. And there was nothing that medical science could do about it.
He looked at the latest dispatch from Lieutenant Commander Wang. Still nothing useful from the Mullurans. Discreet queries by Starfleet Medical to the Romulans had revealed nothing but deafening silence: they were, no doubt, ecstatic to be rid of a political embarrassment and a potential threat all at once even if their oh-so-diplomatic denials said otherwise. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if my people were the ones who sold this to the Mullurans. A day of reckoning would come... but Tarik wouldn't be part of it.
[Sir, this is Lieutenant Iba in the Intelligence Section. We need you in the CIC right away!]
"I'm on my way," Tarik said as he left his quarters.
The city was nothing but chaos these days. Half the household servants had failed to report to duty, and rioters pressed at the gates of the imperial complex daily. The guards had set up a defensive perimeter, but Francona knew it for what it was: they were under siege.
He was busy at his personal terminal, transferring files to a small data chip. If I throw myself upon the mercy of the Federation's courts, perhaps I can somehow avoid execution! An insistent pounding on the door to his office interrupted him. "Enter!" he said.
In strode his wife, wearing a once-magnificent gown that was somewhat the worse for wear. "Excellent, my dear! We must get to the yacht at once if we are to escape--"
Madame Francona pointed a disruptor square at his head. "You are going nowhere, traitor!" she said icily. Keron and two Order Police stood behind her.
"Now, now, Maia, you know he's no traitor. He's just ill... he needs our help. We'll get him the attention he needs. Gentlemen..."
The two Order Police strode forward, changing shape. They transmogrified to two small, grey-skinned humanoids with large black eyes. The creatures from the dreams! Francona thought in horror.
~We should have suspected this when he began to behave outside parameters,~ one of them thought-spoke.
~Another implant is necessary.~ The other gray-skinned creature produced a small case and opened it. Inside was a small animal that looked much like one of the denizens of the Order Police dungeons that infested clothes, bedding, and occasionally brains...
Suddenly a loud WHUMP! sounded outside. Alert sirens blared throughout the city. Another Order Police guard -- this one apparently normal -- rushed to Keron. "The Federation forces are attacking the city! Armored men are rampaging through the streets!"
Francona took advantage of the distraction to draw his own personal weapon and shoot the gray-skinned creature with the parasite. He missed... hitting his wife. Francona spared her no tears as he continued to fire at his attackers.
Transporter beams came to life in the antechamber before his office. Francona recognized them as Federation Marines. Never would I have imagined to be glad to see them!
"Everyone drop your weapons at once!" their leader ordered. Francona, Keron, and the Order Police guard set their weapons on the ground. The two gray-skinned creatures looked confused and even panicked.
The leader strode out from the phalanx of men. It was him -- the one who'd confounded their plans all along!
"Well, well, well... who do we have here?" Tarik said, looking over Francona. It took only a split second for him to wrap his hands around the dictator's throat and begin to squeeze. Strangely, Francona didn't struggle... and Tarik found his mind completely detached from the situation.
He was surrounded by pure white light. Before him stood Kassia.
"This is the juncture at which you must make a decision," she said. "Do you choose the path of light, or of darkness? The fate of the galaxy is in your hands -- literally."
He looked down at Francona, who was quite a bit shorter than he'd suspected. The former dictator was struggling to breathe.
"He must pay for his crimes!" Tarik protested. "The blood of millions is on his hands!"
"Do you want the blood of billions upon yours? My love for you will never, ever die. But if you do this thing, you'll no longer be yourself. Do we fight evil with evil?"
Tarik looked at Francona, who now was starting to turn an interesting shade of ecru. "I am a soldier, not an executioner. You'll face a trial with the others," he said, switching his grip to a more conventional restraining hold.
"You have passed the test," Kassia said, then disappeared.
"Gutless coward... just like your parents," Keron muttered. One of the Marines gut-punched him.
"Pray to the Prophets that you're one-tenth of what he is in the next life!"
"Mind your temper, Private," Tarik adminonished his subordinate. "He's not worth it. He never was."
Keron thought otherwise as he lashed out at the hapless trooper with utter abandon. The other Marines rushed to their comrade's aid, but Keron seemed even stronger than the average Romulan...
Tarik finished matters as he drew his phaser and fired. He held the beam on Keron until the Romulan agent exploded... but not before a small creature crawled away from his body. Another of the Marines saw the creature and fired at it. One more thing to add to the report, Tarik thought as he looked at the two small gray men. You guys, too...
Francona started to speak. "Quiet -- I'm not done with you yet!" Tarik barked.
"Eriarti -- their name is Eriarti. That creature was a Kullinari. They're responsible for... everything..."
Francona sat in a briefing room in prison coveralls, his wrists secured by shackles.
"It appears his brain was infested with one of these parasites. Somehow his immune system was able to destroy it. That probably explains the change in his behavior over the past few months."
"Thanks, Captain Alcon. Stand by to report your findings to Lieutenant Commanders Deveraux and Wang. Computer, clear Deveraux, Wang, and Alcon to Level 5 Security access with need to know for all files pertaining to parasitic alien infections. Authorization Tarik-mu-326."
<Acknowledged.>
"Understood, sir."
"I want you to refer specifically to an incident reported by Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Stardate 41775. This looks like the same thing. Work with Deveraux and Wang and see if we can't get a positive--" Tarik began coughing uncontrollably "--identification with what we've learned from Mr. Francona."
"Begging your pardon, sir, are you actually buying this bastard's story?"
"I'll buy it once I have more information. If it holds true, then he should be acquitted on all counts. If not, I'll pull the trigger myself," he said, with a cold look at the deposed dictator.
"I hear you loud and clear, sir."
"Now, as for you," Tarik said, shoving a PADD at Francona, "I want you to give a full deposition regarding everything that has happened since you've taken power. Yeoman Barton will assist you. I will remove the shackles but be advised that there will be a guard both inside the door and outside should you attempt escape. These guards are instructed to shoot to kill. Do you understand?"
"I understand perfectly," Francona replied with a sigh. "If I may offer some advice while your medical person is here: that cough is indicative of Rixa. It's a childhood disease on my planet; almost every adult Mulluran including myself has had it. It's almost always fatal to adults who haven't been exposed."
That's interesting -- very interesting! Tarik thought. "Did you, at any time, have a biochemist by the name of Bakar Mikori in your employ?"
"The name does sound rather familiar -- oh, yes. I do recall a human by that name who'd offered his services to the Empire. He produced a biological agent for me a few months ago. We released it on a Federation outpost. He wasn't the most reliable by any means. The project kept having cost overruns and the Order Police strongly suspected him of embezzlement."
Tarik resisted the urge to laugh. Jayme began scanning him. "Sir, you do have a systemic infection. Francona's blood shows heavy levels of antibodies that would seem to correspond to the retrovirus you carry -- but not quite. Your virus would appear to have been mutated or engineered significantly."
"How come we didn't run across this in your race's medical records?" Tarik asked.
"It is extremely rare amongst adults; so rare that the last case was over a thousand years ago, before we began routine innoculations. Our offworld slaves were always innoculated against all Mulluran diseases, including Rixa. There's just no current data."
"You might as well ask about leprosy on Earth. The last documented case was in the early 21st century and the last widespread outbreaks in the Middle Ages. You'd be more likely to read about it in history books than current medical texts," Jayme added.
Francona nodded in agreement. "And we were never able to cure adults of our own race infected with Rixa, let alone aliens. I am so sorry, General..." Francona placed his head in his hands.
~He's not guilty,~ a small, quiet voice told Tarik. Tarik turned around and saw what appeared to be Tiyanna.
~I'm not bounded by space or time anymore, Daddy. I sensed you were scared and confused. I wanted to help. He's not guilty and he's not evil. He was used.~ Tiyanna vanished.
"Finish your deposition. We'll look more into your case. Ms. Barton, notify me when he's finished." Tarik and Alcon left the room.
"General, sir, the prisoner wishes to make a statement," Barton said just as they left.
Tarik returned to the room. "What do you wish to say?"
Francona took a deep breath. "I am the highest ranking member of my government. I will accept all the terms of your surrender except for one, and I think you'll understand when I tell you why. In exchange I will agree to life imprisonment at any facility your government cares to choose."
"First of all, what term do you not agree to, and why?"
"That the fleet be dismantled completely. Reduce its numbers, restrict the vessel classes we're allowed, but do not dismantle the fleet! For what is coming you will need every available vessel at your disposal... and the crews to man them."
"You understand that I am not the highest-ranking officer in the sector and as such I'm unable to dicker terms of the surrender. You will, however elaborate on your reasoning so that my superiors can make an informed decision."
Francona cleared his throat. "These aliens, these... Eriarti... are intent on conquering the entire galaxy. They work by taking over highly-placed members of governments, and subordinating the government's policy to their own. For some reason that I don't know, I've rejected their parasite.
"My people deserve to know the truth. The whole truth -- that the course they've been on has not been of their choosing! Allow me to speak with them. You can clear the speech if you want. I assure you when they know the truth they'll scream for vengeance. And we can meet the larger threat together, as we should!"
Whatever else he is, he's a master politician, Tarik thought. But what he's saying does track with what Picard and Maruu had to say about the Kullinari and Eriarti. "Finish your deposition. I'll present this to Admiral Wallace and let him make the decision."
"Is that Admiral Richard Wallace?" Francona asked. Tarik nodded.
"Between the two of you I should have just sent my fleet straight into Borg space unarmed and gotten it over with!"
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