Chapter 66: Denial
January 2415
Kirina slowly backpedaled away from the command chair of the Vauthilai. She bumped into a wall before she regained her composure. It was time to leave. There was nothing more to be done here. D’Kera may have given up, but Kirina refused to believe that this was the end.
The little doctor turned and moved swiftly towards the turbolift, without another word. She rode down to the medical deck and proceeded into her lab. She had to pack quickly: a pair of PADDs, a vial of nanoprobes, her collection of hyposprays, and a biofunction monitor from the unconscious Starfleet Captain laying on the surgical bed. She started for the door, and then hesitated. Barely a moment of contemplation passed before she stepped back to the white-haired almost-human and looked down at him.
“Thank you,” she whispered, as she lifted her hand to inject the man with a stimulant. He’d be awake again soon enough, but by then she would be long gone. Kirina’s next stop was the transporter room.
“D’Kera Mandukar. You have committed heinous acts against the people of the galaxy. You have one chance to stand down.”
Kirina listened to the broadcast from the bridge of the IRW Nalae. She stepped purposefully over to a comm station and interrupted the numerous requests for instructions being transmitted from the fleet’s warbirds to the Vauthilai. “Commander Mandukar has decided to surrender. It’s time to leave.”
Retired to her quarters, the hours passed quickly. Soon enough, hours became days, became weeks. She stayed locked away, working on her little problem. Their plan didn’t work. Something must have gone wrong, she thought, something in the past. We didn’t account for everything. Kirina was never the omniscient being that she liked to let people believe her to be. She may have supervised the project, but she and D’Kera had recruited specialists - engineers, archaeologists, temporal theorists. None of them were with her now. She was alone.
It didn’t help, that the few times she emerged from her quarters, the crew looked to her for guidance. As if she had all the answers, as if this was all part of the plan promised to them by Mandukar. She played along. She told them she’d have orders for them soon. More promises of a better future. Part of her even believed it herself. She would figure it all out. She would get the plan back on track. Romulus would be restored. Everyone would see their lost friends and families again, in a better time. Countless billions of lives could be saved, if she could just make everything work.
Six weeks had passed, since the Vauthilai surrendered. Everything continued to exist as it was. The galaxy went on as if nothing ever happened. But the twelve warbirds that didn’t surrender didn’t move on. Kirina didn’t move on. They sat in place. Waiting. It wasn’t long before the crews became restless. They began to question whether success was still possible. If D’Kera were here, Kirina thought, she’d know exactly what to say. She’d open a channel to the fleet and take some time to monologue. She’d keep everyone inspired. She stepped out of her quarters and headed for the bridge. “I can be inspiring too.”
“People of the … Followers of … Fellow Romulans!” She really should have decided what to say before she got on the comm. “I know that many of you have doubts. But our mission is not over. We will continue with the plan to restore Romulus, and we will succeed. Thank you.” Three sentences. Concise. Best speech ever, she thought to herself. Obviously it wasn’t quite as successful as she’d hoped. By the time she returned to her quarters, three warbirds had broken formation and set course for Republic space.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kirina said to herself. “I don’t need them. I don’t need anyone. This isn’t over.”
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