i-T'Kul came to on one of the awful Terran Empire biobeds she had read about in her father's intelligence reports. She was still woozy from the heavy stun she had received when all her heroic but futile attempts to fight off the Imperial Marines, who had boarded her and Dakul's badly damaged runabout, ended with her reaching for the L-capsule she had hidden in plain sight as an ornament on one of her sleeves.

Not even her recruit Eran Dakul knew of the existence of this Tal'Shiar issue suicide weapon she had carried with the intention of avoiding capture. Oh how the Romulan-Bajoran hybrid wished she could have it now! Her body ached all over, and the room appeared to be "swimming" around her. Not to count a bad headache! She tried to move and realised that both her legs and arms were secured to the biobed. Turning her head to the right as far as she could, she hazily saw her Cardassian agent and partner in "crime" on the next biobed. Eran Dakul was badly bruised and appeared to have a broken arm. He also appeared to be still unconscious.

*What have they done to him? And how much more torture are they going to inflict on him before he breaks? * The thought was chilling.

The Romulan-Bajoran's eyelids became heavy, and, as she drifted back into the welcome darkness of unconsciousness, she remembered the day she recruited the Cardassian into her own, renegade faction of the Tal'Shiar.

Her father had held a high position in the intelligence organization, so, naturally, he brought his daughter up in a military manner and, despite her part-Bajoran appearance, got her accepted into the Tal'Shiar upon i-T'Kul's graduation from the Romulan Imperial Academy. She conducted a few successful intelligence-gathering missions, but was soon disappointed with the mainstream Imperial ideals, and started rescuing an odd Klingon refugee or two upon her numerous covert ventures into the Terran Empire space, when her mission parameters were not compromised. Soon, amidst the condemnation by some of her superiors, t'Rashad encountered other young and equally disillusioned Tal'Shiar operatives, and the renegade faction of the Tal'Shiar was born.

The Cardassian, Eran Dakul was quite unique in both his courage and his intellectual capacity. Although originally a slave upon the Leviathan, he managed to contact the Tal'Shiar with information regarding the Terran empire. The Tal'Shiar then launched an attack to get him, and the rest of the information, back to Romulan territory. This was five years ago, and since then, Dakul had remained with the person who liberated him and joined her in her new branch of the Tal'Shiar.

"Now, now! What have we here?" Came the voice in Standard Terran bringing i-T'Kul t'Rashad back into the chilling reality, as an angry Terran face came into focus. The man standing above her had cruel features and stone-cold eyes. She recognized the face: there could be no mistake- the Terran was indeed the infamous Captain Marcus Devore... "A Bajoran-Romulan half-breed thief harboring a Cardassian traitor," the man continued in his almost even voice full of perverse enjoyment of what he was about to do.

"Daise'Erei'Riov (~ "Commander") t'Rashad, Romulan Imperial Fleet, " i-T'Kul's voice sounded weak, to her own disgust, as she tried to bluff her way out of being tortured and into a quick and painless execution. "Pursuant Article 5 of the Khitomer Accord, I demand..."

"You are not in a position to demand anything, t'Rashad," Devore's voice was just as even as piercing, burning pain erupted for a seemingly eternal moment through i-T'Kul's body. She cringed trying not to cry out and suddenly noticed the Terran holding her L-capsule as he continued: "Don't you think we know that only the Tal'Shiar operatives are equipped with this highly deadly substance in case they get caught? You are a criminal- a spy who has been running an agent in the Imperial space, and as such you have no rights whatsoever, except those that I might decide to give you should you choose to cooperate. Now, talk and ease your pain and that of the traitor! What is it going to be?"

Another explosion of pain rocked through her body, and this time the Romulan-Bajoran could not contain her cries of pain.

At that moment, Eran Dakul's eyes opened, as he stirred on the next biobed. He groggily looked around and immediately noticed his partner crying out on her bio-bed. He struggled against his restraints, but couldn't get up.

He knew there was only one way out of this. He pressed his unbroken arm against his belt, activating the release of a small-concealed knife attached to the belt. He hurriedly began sawing his way through the restraint. Meanwhile, Devore stood over i-T'Kul continuing the torture.

"t-Rashad, you can end this all now by co-operating. A few simple words can end your pain."

As Devore spoke, Dakul freed himself and lunged off the bed and straight at him. He took Devore completely by surprise and with a tackle, brought him straight to the floor. Dakul stood up and staggered back cradling his arm. Devore stood and drew the knife that hung at his waist. He smiled and lunged at Dakul with the knife. Dakul dodged the knife until Devore cornered him against the wall.

"Well, Cardassian, I give you credit for catching me off guard like that, but it ends here!" Dakul lifted his leg and kicked the knife out of Devore's hand. With his good arm, he swung and knocked Devore to the ground. Dakul waited a few moments but he didn't get back up. Even with a broken arm, Dakul was a formidable fighter.

He hurriedly went over to t-Rashad and with Devore's knife cut her free of her restraints. He helped her up off the bed.

"Thank you for that" she said

"Hey, no problem. You've gotten me out of worse than that."

"Yeah, and getting off this ship alive is going to be one of those times. We'd better get going." She grabbed a nearby laser scalpel and headed for the door. Dakul took Devore's knife and cautiously followed.