Rough Beasts of the Empire by David R. George III

Author:David R. George III [III, David R. George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General, Interplanetary voyages, Adventure, Space Opera, Star Trek fiction, High Tech, Radio and television novels, Space warfare, Space ships
ISBN: 9781439160817
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 2010-12-28T08:00:00+00:00

I am gall, I am heartburn. God’s most deep decree

Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me;

Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.

—GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

19

The applause did not thunder through the auditorium, but that it arose at all satisfied Spock. He stood at a lectern in the center of an otherwise-empty stage, having just concluded his remarks, the last of six speakers that afternoon. Gazing out across the house, Spock estimated that the rally had filled three-quarters of the Orventis Arena. One of Ki Baratan’s primary entertainment venues, it seated fifteen thousand. Just seven months of peaceful public dialogue, with no reprisals from the Romulan government, had increased attendance at Vulcan-Romulan reunification events by two orders of magnitude. The heightened interest manifested not just within the capital city but across the face of Romulus.

“Jolan tru,” Spock told the audience. Then, raising his hand in the traditional Vulcan gesture, he said, “Live long and prosper.” Amidst renewed applause, Spock collected his data tablet from atop the lectern and headed offstage. The five other members of the movement who had spoken at the rally waited in the wings, as did Dorlok and D’Tan, charged with overseeing security for the event.

“Congratulations,” D’Tan said at once, the young man clearly pleased with the success of the rally.

“Thank you, D’Tan,” Spock said. “Do we have any reports from other cities?”

“We do,” Dorlok said. “There are significant turnouts in many places. The venues in Rateg, Dinalla, and Ra’tleihfi have had even larger audiences than we have. In Villera’trel, there are—”

“Spock!”

Following the sound of the voice, Spock peered through the backstage darkness toward a rear entrance to the arena. There, he saw T’Solon racing toward him, escorted inside by a member of Dorlok’s security team. Captured and imprisoned a year earlier by Romulan Security, T’Solon had been released, along with Vorakel, after the repeal of the anti–Reunification Movement law. Small in stature and well into her middle years, T’Solon normally projected an inconspicuous profile. Calling out and hying toward him, she looked more agitated than Spock had ever seen her. She carried a data tablet in one hand.

Moving through the group bunched around him, Spock met her as she came up. “Mister Spock,” she said. “I need to speak with you.”

Upon her initial discharge from prison, T’Solon had been wary of returning to a position of leadership within the Movement, or even to rejoining the Movement at all. With a husband and two children, she had not wanted to risk being separated from them again. Despite her freedom and the legalization of her beliefs, she had been reluctant to trust Praetor Tal’Aura’s government.

As the Movement had grown, though, and as the government had continued to refrain from interfering, T’Solon had drifted back to it. Because of her prior experience with the Romulan comnet—she had worked as a technician all over the planet—Spock had asked her last month to assist T’Lavent with a research project. She had agreed, and Spock could only surmise that her obvious anxiety related to that, and he asked her as much.

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