Royal Consort tr'Vrenak - "Like Some Phantom Cry"

Posted on 2026-06-26 16:20 by Sarik tr’Vrenak

1,016 words; about a 5 minute read

Between all the gilded pretense expected of him as he stood at the Empress's side, or rather a step back from it, during the public facing nonsense of running the empire, and what was demanded of him by his task masters, who presented themselves as his assistants, Sarik found it hard to find a moment to himself. He could tell she only tolerated his presence as a means to an end, though she could fake something that appeared sincere when she knew she was being watched by someone not in the know of the reality of the situation, but he was less certain of where he stood with Murin and Hoval. In the time since they had revealed who they truly were, he found himself looking over his shoulder constantly, but so far their goals and his had aligned from what he could tell, and no knife sought his back or between his ribs.

Their first project had been the probe intended to find out who had taken the pretender from the palace when the Empress had taken her rightful place. The best the damned probe had been able to verify was it was a Starfleet vessel, but the sensor readings about what had happened to it were confusing at best, and the damage the probe had sustained failed to give them enough to identify which vessel it had been. It had been a miracle they had gotten as much as they had, considering there had not been much debris left when the Hlai had arrived. Still, being able to confirm that the Federation had her cousin had at least given him breathing room from the Empress and she seemed content to leave him be as she continued with her own plans without including him; such as the gestation of their child, the heir.

Since then Murin and Hoval would bring him tasks to work at with them, and they would intersperse this work with the additional training of his Ralaaram Ocala cells. The line between them and the Tal Shiar blurred by the day, and he did not like it. While he had been indoctrinated with the fear and respect that most citizens of the empire held, like many his age and younger, until very recently they had felt like nothing more than ghost stories used to scare children into good behavior. It was unsettling to not only be staring two operatives in the eye and know that many more of the royal household were likely also members, but to feel control of his people slipping through his fingers and moving to theirs? If they decided he was no longer needed, would they replace him with a hologram too?

"Sir." Hoval was at his elbow without him noticing her approach, and he made an effort not to show her he was startled. She was much more unsettling than Murin, quieter unless she wanted attention and more direct with her words. Murin seemed more aware of social niceties, or at least would make the effort to not disrupt social flow when he was not avoiding attention.

Sarik rubbed his face without looking at her. "What?"

"An old monitor that we had decommissioned just came back online." She offered him a PADD and he looked over star charts for the Regula system, a Federation research station in orbit a moon was highlighted. "They had intercepted a singularity drive we had put out as bait in hopes it would end up in the hands of Starfleet's Research and Development. It turned out this research station was looking into a number of propulsion methods, not all of which they were authorized by the Federation to do so, so of course we left the bait drive in their hands and monitored what they were up to. After it appeared there was no further information to collect, we had pointed the Gorn at them to clean up the mess, and thought that was the end of it once the Federation had decommissioned the station."

"And we had ensured there was nothing left behind after they had decommissioned it?"

"I was on the team that swept the station myself. What little had still been working after the Gorn were through should have decayed by now if Starfleet did not remove it to use elsewhere. But there was some backup power system that had enough to respond to a signal from the moon, then forward the signal to a Starfleet vessel that has joined the moon's orbit. Our scouting party down to the moon's surface during our sweep had found nothing but some left over toys of the children of the station's staff, but it seems we may have missed something."

He was sure he could hear irritation in her voice, subtle though it was, as Sarik finally turned to look at Hoval. She was not often surprised by things, but it was clear she was puzzled by what she was reporting to him. She waited as he searched her face for any clue that there was more to this than it seemed.

"Do we have anyone in the area that could look in on what the Starfleet vessel is up to, and see what they have found on the surface?"

"I believe there should be a small scout vessel doing maintenance on a nearby spy probe. They could be there within a half hour of receiving the order, if you wish?"

If he wished? Sarik had no doubt that even if he said no, the scout ship would be rerouted, but due to his position within the royal household, Hoval was under obligation to at least pretend he held authority. He also knew that any time Starfleet was looking around, it was worth knowing why.

"Please update me once we have any useful information." He turned his attention back to the reports of the New Romulan Star Empire fleet's expansion efforts. Hoval dipped her head once and quickly left the room again.

--- End Log ---

Sarik tr’Vrenak
Royal Consort, New Romulan Star Empire
Leader, Ralaaram Ocala

RSS Feed