Chapter Text
Terra Prime
Ortegas had to switch up the places where she secretly met with Sulu. The first bar had been perfect, and while they hadn’t attracted suspicion (so far as she could tell) the regulars were beginning to recognize them. That was more attention than Ortegas wanted to attract, but luckily she had a long list of seedy San Francisco bars where no one gave much of a damn who came and went. This one, while not the most secretive (her list was running out) was easily the oddest. The walls were painted in odd mis-matched colors, and shelves along the walls displayed strange knick-knacks from decades past. Not valuable or even visually appealing antiques, just odd, brightly colored…crap.
Sulu had beat her here this time. After their first meeting he seemed to have a little more faith and trust in her and showed some more initiative, arriving early more often than not. She took a seat on the barstool next to him and waved to the barkeep.
“Once again, you’ve outdone yourself with these meeting places. How ever do you find such bizarre places?”
The bartender (a Terran this time) looked toward Ortegas. “A beer and a shot of whiskey.” She looked back to Sulu. “Just wait till you check out the waterbed in the back. Back in my academy days, I had this crazy ex-girlfriend. We had this running competition where we kept trying to outdo each other on who could find the weirdest place to get drunk.”
“I take it you won, and I hope my daughter never finds these places..”
“No idea who won, we were always too drunk to remember, and the relationship ended with a nasty fight. Don’t remember who won the fight either.” The bartender returned with her shot and the beer. Ortegas drank down the whiskey and chased it with a long draw from her beer. “Anyway, The Portland should be getting into communication range now, and we haven’t heard anything from La’an”
“They are only just beginning to be in range, by optimistic calculations. I wouldn’t think anything of it yet, but be wary.”’
“Yeah, well, I still don’t like it.” Another long sip of beer. “I’m sure she’s hiding something.”
“Erica Ortegas and Hikaru Sulu.” Ortegas and Sulu both turned on their barstools to face a woman in an Imperial Starfleet uniform.
“Um…Can I help you, Captain?” Ortegas asked, a perplexed eyebrow raised, This wasn’t the sort of place people dared to come in uniform, and she had never seen this woman before.
“A pleasure to meet the two of you. You may call me Q.”
“Right…” Ortegas answered. “Look, Captain Q, The two of us were trying to have a private conversation.”
“I know. Look around you, and you’ll see that there is no better time nor place to speak in the utmost secrecy.”
Ortegas and Sulu indulged Q and examined their surroundings. Everyone was frozen in time.
“I take it you’re more the Imperial Starfleet captain you appear to be,” Sulu guessed.
“You could say that,” Q shrugged. “Think of me as an observer.”
“Well, observer, we’d like a little privacy.” Ortegas snapped.
“It’s a little late for that request to be honored. I know that the two of you are conspiring with Admiral Noonien-Singh to overthrow Spock. I also know that you have a little conspiracy of your own to turn against the Admiral when the time suits you right.”
“How the hell did you find that out?” Ortegas jumped up from her barstool and clenched her fists, ready to fight Q if she had to.
“Fear not, Ortegas.” Q held a hand with an open palm out in front of her body. “I am not here to judge, nor to take part.”
“Then why make yourself known at all?” Sulu asked as he crossed his arms.
“I’m not here to take part, but I’m not above influencing. I want you to see all the angles, as I can. What do you think will happen if Spock is assassinated?”
“Someone worthy takes his place and the Empire regains its former glory.” Sulu answered with a shrug.
“Not entirely wrong, but only single thread in a complex tapestry.” Q snapped her fingers. With a flash of light she vanished.
Ortegas gave Sulu a bewildered look. “Well, that was…odd.”
“Indeed.”
Ortegas took another sip from her beer, and only a moment later men in the golden armor of the Imperial Guard burst in.
“There they are!” one shouted.
Before Ortegas and Sulu could react, the guardsmen swarmed them. Sulu and Ortregas tried to run, but they were quickly surrounded, and with the numerous guards armed to the teeth, there was no sense in fighting back. The pair held their hands up in surrender.
“Hikaru Sulu and Erica Ortegas,” A middle aged woman spoke as she stepped forward. The insignia on her armor indicated that she was captain of the guard. “Admiral Noonien-Singh was wrong to trust the two of you.”
“Wait…What the entire fuck?” She glanced at Sulu. He looked just as confused as surprised, but he did a better job of keeping it to himself “How is she emperor already?”
The captain narrowed her eyes. “She’s been emperor for nearly a year now, and that’s no way to speak to an augment. Do you, like so many others need to be reminded that we are far superior to Terrans?”
“I’m sorry, Ortegas is very drunk.” Sulu lied, still cool and calm even as a beat of nervous sweat formed on his brow.
“Yeah…I’m drunk…” Ortegas couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “And yea, I guess it has been a year, but here’s the thing. We never did anything to work against La’an. We didn’t like her. We may have talked about taking action, but we never got so far as to do a damn thing.”
“So you admit to thought-crime, which is still a capital offense.”
“Wait..dammit..no!” The guards swarmed around them. With so many armed and highly trained guards against only two unprepared people, Ortegas and Sulu were overpowered easily, and everything went black.
Ortegas came to inside a tiny cell with her head on fire, her vision blurry, and her wrists bound. That seemed redundant, but she couldn’t help but admire that sense of preparedness. Whoever detained her realized that she was the sort of person to try to make a break for it at the first opportunity.
“Sulu!” She called out. Nothing but silence. Maybe he got away, but it was more likely they were keeping him somewhere else. What she did hear was footsteps, heavy boots echoing in and empty hallway. They came closer and closer, and soon Ortegas caught sight of the captain of the guard from before.
The woman stopped in front of her cell and clasped her hands behind her back. “Well, I hope your crimes were worth it.”
“Yeah, definitely. Look…I think one of your men gave me a concussion, and I’m still a little drunk. If I’m supposed to know who you are…sorry, I’m drawing a blank.”
“Suzette Ling. Survivor of the Eurgenics Wars. Right hand to Emperor La’an Noonien-Singh.”
“Right. Now I remember.” She didn’t. She had never seen this woman before in her life. “I thought the kid was supposed to be her right hand, though.”
“Maya is still too young and experienced, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t owe you any explanations. You won’t be around much longer.”
Suzette went to the control panel and entered a few commands to lower the forcefield. Ortegas saw her chance and tried to sprint away, but Suzette was faster, caught her, and pulled her in close to whisper in her ear. “I’m stronger, faster, and smarter than you could ever imagine. This entire complex is filled with more augments like me, and we are all devoted to the task of bringing you to the emperor for execution. If you have any sense, you will accept your fate with dignity.”
“I don’t think so!” Ortegas continued to struggle even though she couldn’t break free. She didn’t back down even as Suzette dragged her through twisting corridors, and out into a massive, packed auditorium. Bright stage lights blared in her eyes for a moment until she adjusted enough to see her surroundings clearly. Another guard had brought Sulu from the other side of the stage. In the center La’an sat upon a golden throne, dressed in the best Imperial finery, and more guards–including that kid, Maya–surrounded her.
La’an stood from her throne, and the crowd cheered. “Today two traitors will be brought to justice!” More cheers. Ortegas looked toward Sulu. They locked eyes with a shared look of desperation, but neither had any kind of escape plan. “I once trusted these two, Erica Ortegas and Hikaru Sulu. They swore to see me rise to power and betrayed me. My subjects, let this be a lesson to you. Trust no one.”
She took a few steps forward, drew the phaser from her belt and aimed it at the back of Ortegas’s head. Ortegas closed her eyes, and she heard phaser fire, but was both relieved and pleasantly surprised to still be alive. She turned her head back as much as she could and saw a smoldering mass where Emperor La’an once stood. Further back she saw Maya with her phaser still drawn.
“You follow a false emperor!” Maya shouted. “No matter what she told you, she is not the heir of Khan, I am. After centuries of removal from his superior genetics she was no better than an average Terran. Khan was my father. He ruled one quarter of earth in his time, and I will continue his legacy with an empire that will extend beyond the stars!”
A still, heavy moment. The crowd did not respond immediately, but a wave of gasps and murmurs began to rise. These were not the cheers that greeted La’an, these were sounds of shock and disapproval. Some people from the front of the auditorium rose from their seats and rushed to climb onto the stage, where they were met with little resistance. The guards moved to surround and protect Maya, and Ortegas and Sulu saw their opportunity. They ran from the stage, twisting and turning through the complex corridors until the found a way outside. Chaos had already erupted out there too: fighting fires, people breaking anything they could get their hands on. Ortegas and Sulu ducked into an alley, and after a flash of light they found themselves back at the same bar as before. Time was not frozen anymore, and the only difference was that they were short of breath and sweating…a strange thing for a pair who had done nothing but sit at a barstool.
“Sulu…Did you see all of that, or am I losing my mind?” Ortegas asked through labored breaths. Her eyes darted around the bar, checking that everything was really back in place and that Q or the Imperial guards weren’t still lurking in some corner.
“I was about to ask the same. So, do we abandon this endeavor?”
“No, no, that’s not what I got out of all that.” Ortegas drank the rest of her beer in one long draw. She’d need a few more after that. “We just can’t get caught.”