Thawn had taken her work back to the hotel suite, but Rhade did not return for many hours. She had expected him to take some time to work off his frustration. She did not expect him to glare at her upon his arrival, expression folding into one of disapproval and betrayal, and say, ‘That can’t happen again.’

After days of being on her best behaviour – except possibly for Beckett – something stirred in her. She sat up. ‘I agree.’

‘That scene with the Lillarties was completely unacceptable -’

‘I agree.’ Now she stood. ‘Are you about to say that I’m in the wrong because I didn’t back you when you bit Cosbar Lillarties’ head off?’

He scowled. ‘Cosbar isn’t some soft-hearted socialite who doesn’t understand the galaxy; he’s a man of influence and wealth who’s chosen to use his power to protect himself at the expense of others.’

‘I don’t care. Or at least, I don’t care if I should judge him, because judging him gets us absolutely nowhere!’ Her voice rose in volume and, somewhat to her frustration, pitch. ‘What did you think was going to happen? He’d say, “Oh, sorry old chap, now you point it out, Romulans are people.”’

‘I thought he might think twice before spouting such rubbish and assuming everyone around him agrees.’

‘And will that change how he votes? How he influences others to vote? Or will that make him dig in his heels and refuse to trust Starfleet so much he rejects our proposal for the Spirelight shelter?’ She took a sharp step forward, jabbing a finger at him. ‘Will that achieve one single thing except for making you feel better?’ Her anger at Beckett had felt like a snarl inside her, twisted around and shooting off in an unexpected direction. This fury was different; righteous, correct, a sword to cut through the Gordian Knot of her feelings.

But Adamant Rhade did not move. ‘We cannot achieve anything by treating people like this as if we agree with them. That only emboldens them.’

‘It was lunch, Adamant. All you had to do was change the bloody subject!’

‘He thinks we’re like him! Or he did!’ Rhade tossed his hands in the air. ‘He thinks we’re just as closed-minded, that being from a noble house of Betazed makes us never think of anyone before ourselves. Attitudes like his – no, people, including Cosbar Lillarties himself – pushed our homeworld to lobby the Federation to abandon the Romulan people -’

‘Why are you lecturing me about this? I know! I don’t like it! But that was fifteen years ago and we have to save the people of the Paulson Nebula, and that includes getting the Lillarties on-side!’

‘It doesn’t have to. The Fourth Fleet has declared a state of emergency in the region, and First Secretary Hale is a ranking member of the Diplomatic Corps; between her and Captain Rourke they have more than enough authority to overrule the Board of Tourism.’

Thawn stared at him. ‘You mean seize the assets of Whixby and force the inhabitants to take in refugees. Deploy Security if necessary. Ignore the wishes of the lawful government of this planet. That’s your opinion, the opinion of a man who once preferred to throw his career away on a matter of principle he wouldn’t win -’

‘This isn’t the same as blowing up a defenceless ship.’ He took a sharp step forward. ‘This is about standing up for what’s right, and not allowing bigotry to grow in dark but influential corners. I dare say you’d agree with me if this weren’t so close to your family.’

‘Family,’ she echoed, something humming through and emptying a part of her. ‘You’re right, this is about family. The Lillarties are influential and affect the wellbeing of the Nyders. Which affects the wellbeing of the Twelfth House.’

‘Which is not more important than -’

‘Than you keeping your mouth shut over lunch?’ She’d been frantic in her anger before. Now it had turned cold. ‘We have to do everything to keep our families happy, obey their decisions about our lives without question – so long as it doesn’t offend your sense of honour. Not mine, mind. I have to be dutiful, I have to try to walk the line between the Federation, the lives at stake, my family, because if every step of mine isn’t perfect, I burn a bridge with someone or everyone!’

He hesitated at that, at the shift in her. ‘Both of our opinions are important, Rosara.’

‘So long as I agree with you? Because if this goes badly, nobody in Starfleet will blame you, because it’s not your family. Or your family won’t deem you a traitor for coring out the heart of one of their crown jewels. It’s very easy for you to act like principle is the only thing at stake, because for you, nothing else is at stake.’ She looked him in the eye. ‘Not even me, apparently.’

‘That’s hardly fair.’

‘This is the only thing I’ve ever needed from you, Adamant.’ Her throat tightened, and she had to push forward, because she was damned if she was going to let her tears hijack this conversation. ‘You are the only person who was supposed to be on my side, the only person who was supposed to look beyond the cold-blooded pragmatism and politics. But I’ve had more support from Hale, more support from – in his stupid way – bloody Nate bloody Beckett!’ It was an awkward kind of support. But Beckett had at least taken two seconds to consider her feelings and perspective, even if he’d kicked her for them. Rhade was blundering on like he expected her to blindly agree. ‘I expect the Lillarties to be opponents, I expect Falyn to need careful managing. I didn’t expect you to be the biggest obstacle to threading this fucking needle!’

She’d gone back to shouting, and his expression had shut down as she did, folding back into control. She could sense the awkward guilt about him, the apprehension and uncertainty, but he was expert, at least, at not letting it show.

He swallowed. ‘Perhaps I can apologise to Cosbar -’

‘No, you can’t. You’ll choke on it, and it won’t help anyway.’ She turned away, running a hand over her rumpled hair to smooth it. ‘The damage is done; you’ve been the iron fist hammering them with Starfleet’s judgement, and we can work with that. So it’s time for the velvet glove, which means it’s time for you to go. Let your shadow loom from a distance, or you’ll look toothless while we try to smooth this over.’ Hale’s words and lessons rang deep, but even though she was not a diplomat, enough of Thawn’s instincts were still running her decisions – because this was still, at the end of the day, family. She knew in her bones how to keep family happy, at whatever cost. ‘Go to the Spirelight Isles,’ she said at last. ‘Join the relief team, grab one of their shuttles, and start doing some damned surveys and planning prep out there.’

Rhade hesitated. ‘If you want me to go.’

‘You need to be not here if we’re to use your offence of Cosbar to our advantage.’ Her jaw tightened. ‘And yes. I want you to go. There’s no benefit in us pretending that there is anything between you and me. Not right now.’ She looked about the suite to where his bag sat in the open door to the bedroom they didn’t share, and the room suddenly felt too small. ‘I’ll let you pack. Go as soon as you have a ride.’

‘Rosara.’ His voice caught as she turned. ‘We have to talk about this later. Now isn’t the time -’

She swallowed hard, knowing he was trying to be diplomatic, hearing the tone suggesting he thought she was being unreasonable and was too sensible to fight this right now. ‘You’re right,’ she said as she stalked to the door. ‘Now isn’t the time.’

But having stormed off, she had to decide where to go. She didn’t want to be anywhere Rhade would see her once he’d packed and left, which might not be for a number of hours yet. Going for a walk risked taking her near the docks once Beckett returned, and she didn’t fancy whatever would come when they next met. Hale would ask questions she didn’t want to answer.

She hid on the Prydwen for a while. It was soothing to be surrounded by the bulkheads of Starfleet construction and read and lose herself in her PADDs and reports. But it could not last, and so some hours later she wandered into Falyn Nyder’s office with an airiness she didn’t feel. ‘Hullo, Coz.’

Falyn rose from her desk, warned of her coming by staff, apprehensive anyway. ‘Rosara, darling. What excellent timing; I was going to have a break.’ She ushered them towards the office balcony, all the better to make this not a formal meeting, all the better to make this a conversation just between family.

For once, that suited Thawn, and she didn’t stop Falyn from fussing to get them settled, bringing them drinks. She sat on the balcony, watching the beauty of Sanditor spill below: the buzz of activity in the streets, the sea painted with flashes of white sails, the sky painted with flashes of steel. Perhaps Rhade was aboard one of the shuttles leaving, perhaps he’d already left. The sun was turning to gold in the sky, fat and heavy and slouching towards the distant horizon.

‘I heard,’ Falyn said delicately, easing into the seat across from her, ‘that lunch with the Lillarties was a little fraught.’

‘Adamant has very particular ideas of how to do things,’ said Thawn without missing a beat, watching the horizon. ‘I decided it would be best he were put to work elsewhere, if only for a time. He has been restless here.’

‘He seems like a man of action. I’m sure it’s difficult for him at a time like this.’ Falyn hesitated. ‘Cosbar is quite upset.’

Thawn only had to inch out her senses to pick up Falyn’s flicker of amusement. ‘Cosbar seems upset at anything that stops him listening to the sound of his own voice.’

Falyn smirked, but only for a moment. ‘Where the Lillarties go, a sizeable minority of the Board follows. If they decide to set against you, it doesn’t matter what anyone else says or does, you won’t get the Spirelight project or anything else.’

‘Evertine seemed to want peace?’

‘Evertine will smile and charm you,’ sighed Falyn, ‘and then slip a knife between your ribs. You can’t trust her, Rosara.’

Thawn hesitated. ‘Like I can trust you?’

‘I haven’t lied to you -’

‘No,’ Thawn said as delicately as she could. ‘You’ve just not lifted a finger to help me, while I’ve been bending over backwards to respect you and the interests of the family. I have to compromise, but you won’t support this compromise to the Board unless we can deliver a majority?’

Falyn was silent for a few moments, gaze flickering to the view. She sipped her glass of sparkling emerald and sighed. ‘We came terribly close to losing Whixby in ‘85, you know.’

‘Whixby was in no real danger of being overrun by Romulan refugees -’

‘I mean the family came close to losing Whixby.’ A thread of steel wound into Falyn’s voice. ‘Mother first tried to compromise and cooperate with Colonial Affairs. The Board came terribly close to removing her, and it would have been Evertine Lillarties who took her place. Do you know who stopped it? Auntie.’

Thawn frowned. ‘What did Anatras do?’

‘Spoke to Evertine. And told Mother to step down and hand everything over to me.’ Another genteel sip. ‘Mother is back on Betazed now. So I have to keep Whixby not only thriving, but thriving for our family. Evertine knows that she could have toppled us, seized control. That would have taken considerable expense on her part, but Auntie made sure that wouldn’t be necessary. So I have to make sure it’s not necessary.’

‘This isn’t managing everything. This is being Evertine Lillarties’s creature, without her having to lift a finger.’

Falyn sipped her drink again. ‘Do you think Auntie cares, so long as everyone back on Betazed thinks of Whixby as the paradise offered to all by our House?’

‘If it’s making you miserable -’

Falyn almost spat out her next sip, her tinkling laugh holding an edge of hysteria. ‘When did you last speak with Auntie, Rosara?’

Thawn frowned indignantly. ‘About six months ago; we talked about my arrangement to marry Adamant. She was very supportive.’

‘Ah, yes, Adamant, the man about whom your feelings could be described as tepid at-best.’ Falyn arched an eyebrow as she topped up her glass from the jug on the table. ‘Don’t look at me like that, Coz, you’re not especially good at shielding yourself from family. Did she say you could throw the arrangement away?’

‘She said… she said that she’d consider it, but first I had to give it a try. That it was premature to back out.’

‘And once you’ve given it a try, if you still want out, there’ll just be something else, you know. That too much time has passed, that it would be an unnecessary scandal or insult to the Seventh House. That so many of the family’s aspirations are tied up in this connection. That it would undo so much for so many people, and you don’t have to be in love with him, but isn’t he so handsome and nice, couldn’t you just live with him?’

In the long silence that followed, Thawn refilled her own glass. ‘We’re not talking about me.’

‘No, we’re talking about family. And everyone in the family must play their part, my dear. My part is to keep Whixby in our hands, no matter the cost.’ Falyn cast her a sidelong look. ‘Your part is to marry Adamant Rhade, and if you think the feelings of either of us matter in this, you’re a fucking idiot.’

Thawn drew a long and shuddering breath. ‘The difference is that my arrangement to marry Adamant doesn’t affect the lives and well-being of thousands of people,’ she said at length. ‘Anatras is a hundred light-years away. She can’t do anything until it’s over. Evertine can’t call on outside help.’

‘All that does is leave us in the dark.’

‘There’s something my old captain used to say.’ Thawn bit her lip. ‘Character is what you are in the dark.’

Falyn was silent for a little, fidgeting with her glass. ‘I don’t -’

But there was a chirrup from inside her office, a different tone to what Thawn had normally heard from her computers, and Falyn was on her feet in an instant with a frown, heading inside. She reached her desk and brought up a message that flashed red but Thawn, getting to her feet, couldn’t read from the balcony door.

‘What is it?’

‘Great Fire,’ breathed Falyn, grabbing her PADD and moving to the balcony, the message hovering before her. At speed, Thawn could only make out one flashing segment of the words.

ION STORM.

But that would happen in space, they would have warning from Endeavour, they should never have been ambushed by something in orbit –

Falyn manipulated the PADD to expand the holo-projection to fill a square foot of the view from the balcony, then swept the flashing alert to one side. ‘Show me,’ she commanded the interface, and the display magnified the dusk-stained horizon.

Where in the distance, trapped between sea and sky, gathered clouds of black and lightning.