Not fifteen minutes after his conversation with Leem, Don was informed that Veerna had fled the planet. True to her word, Leem had installed a tracking device on Veerna's ship, and Don could see her heading for an unnamed and uninhabited planet not far from Vold. As he clambered aboard a borrowed ship, with a gun sitting at his hip, he was stunned to find that Leem was sitting in the pilot's seat, obviously waiting for him.

"What's going on?" Don asked. "Why are you here?"

Leem smiled serenely, obviously unbothered by his rude questions. "I thought things through, and I decided that, given the situation, it might be best if I accompanied you to your destination." She stood now, revealing the fact that she was no longer wearing the ceremonial Voldinian robes. Instead, she wore a tank-top and shorts, and looked remarkably like Veerna—just younger.

"Whoa, whoa," Don said, nonplussed. "Empress ... your Excellency ... you can't come with me. It'll be—it'll be dangerous."

The instant the words came out of his mouth, he regretted them. Leem's eyebrows shot up, and again, he was reminded strongly of Veerna. The reminder wasn't a pleasant one. "Dangerous? Oh me oh my. I'm terrified. Do I look like I'm scared to you?"

Don started opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. The unfortunate part of that was that Leem was not yet done with him. "I'm an Empress, yes, but I am also a sister, and a cousin. You did not know them when they were children. Veerna and Sareen ... inseparable. Partners in crime. They were closer than the closest of siblings. They had little time for me ... little Leem, too young to go gallivanting off with them. But what did it matter? I looked up to them. They were my everything. And then they were torn apart."

Don sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "Leem, I'm going to kill Sareen."

Leem held up her index finger to stop him from continuing. "I understand that's your mission," she said. "But if I can make her see sense ... maybe it won't be necessary."

Much as he wanted to, Don couldn't meet Leem's eyes. "That might be harder than you think. I tried for three years, Leem."

Leem cocked her head. "You were in love with her?"

"More than that." Don looked up at Leem. "We were engaged to be married. I thought I knew her. But when Veerna started cropping up more and more ... Sareen got obsessed with getting rid of her. Particularly when Veerna was placed under my care, with me as her psychologist. I wanted to help her, while Sareen wanted to kill her. I never knew about any of ... this ..." He motioned around him, meaning Vold, "and now I don't know what to think anymore. Maybe if they'd told me, things would have come out differently. Maybe at the time I could have understood why Sareen wanted Veerna dead so badly. But the fact that she hid it from me shows me that she holds more blame for it than she wants to admit."

"In their way of thinking, the other holds the blame," Leem said. "Sareen blames Veerna for pressing the button, while Veerna thinks that Sareen was older and should have known better. In reality, it was our father's fault."

Don frowned. "How?"

"He gave them free reign," Leem said. "Wherever they wanted to go, they could. He knew they planned to sneak into the security office, and yet he did nothing to stop them. Mother was understandably worried, but I can remember his voice. 'What harm could it do?' he told her. 'They're just children.' If only he knew."

There was an undercurrent of bitterness in Leem's voice. Don looked at her. "You blame him."

"I do." Leem leaned back in her seat. "He tore them apart. He destroyed a beautiful friendship with his spoiling of Veerna. She was supposed to have my place, you know. Be the Empress. And she would have been terrible at it, because Father gave her everything on a silver platter. She only learned how to fend for herself when she was taken by the space pirates."

Don didn't say anything. Leem really did seem to believe that her father had more blame for the destruction of Vold than Veerna and Sareen, but she seemed to be doing the same thing they were. There wasn't always someone to blame in situations. Sometimes, it just happened, and it really couldn't be blamed on anybody.

Leem seemed to sense his disapproval. "You don't think I'm right, do you," she said, and it wasn't a question. "It doesn't matter, it really doesn't. The only thing that matters to me is having my family back safely. Will you let me try, Doctor Collego? Try to get my family back in one piece?"

Don nodded. "I'd prefer if we could get them to agree," he said. "But you'll forgive me for saying that I seriously doubt it will happen."

The Empress cocked her head. "I'll forgive if you, if you forgive me for saying that your 'professional' opinion doesn't have any effect on what I do."

In spite of himself, Don laughed. "Deal," he agreed. "Shall we go?"

"Seems so." Leem turned her attention to the console, but ...

The doors of the ship slid open. Both Leem and Don turned in their seats to see Xander Weni standing in the door, bent over somewhat, looking awkwardly at them. "Umm, hi," he said. "Am I interrupting something?"

The last thing Don wanted Xander to know was what he was planning, and he hastily looked away from his friend. He was the absolute worst person to have walked in on them, since he could know when they were lying. Leem, however, smiled at him. "Officer Weni," she said. "Can we assist you?"

Xander shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "The Voldinians told me that Veerna had gone, and said that Don was going after her."

"And?" Don said in a defeated way. He knew exactly what was coming.

"And I want to come with you," Xander said. "Come on, Don. You can't fight, and when Veerna and Sareen are together, you know that you're going to have to fight."

Don stared at him. "How do you know that Sareen is going to be there?"

"Veerna promised us she wouldn't abandon us," Xander reminded Don. "So if she's gone, then chances are, she thinks she's getting something in return. Namely, a pardon for our 'crimes'. Right?"

Sometimes, Xander's powers of observation astonished Don, and he was speechless for a few moments. Leem, however, was not. It seemed that she and Veerna both had the habit of never being speechless. "You got us," she said. "We're going to stop Veerna from killing herself, essentially."

"Then take me with you," Xander said. "I can help. And as far as I know, neither of you can shoot a gun like I can. I'm Federation trained. So deal with it. I'm coming with you two."

"Some people might not think that's the way to speak to an Empress," Leem said, raising her eyebrows. "But then, who cares? I've never been one to stand on ceremony before. You're welcome to join us if you wish, Officer Weni."

"W-wait," Don protested. "I'm still not completely comfortable with you coming, Leem. Since when do you get to allow people to join in my expedition?"

"Since two things," Leem said with a smile that made Don worried he was about to be outsmarted. "Since this is my ship you're borrowing, and since I'm the Empress. Make sense? Let's go."

Don opened his mouth to protest, but Leem slammed down a lever, and seatbelts whipped around them, securing all three of them down in the ship. "I'm the captain of this ship, and I say that we get moving," the Empress said gleefully, and the ship shot out of the hangar and into space.

. . . . . . . . . .

Veerna landed her ship on the unoccupied planet and stepped out, brushing her white hair back over her shoulder as she did so. If things went according to plan, this would be the last time she ever got off a ship. The end of a life that had been bought by blood. She wasn't sure if she was happy or angry about that. Whatever the case, she didn't care anymore.

Don would be sad, but that was only to be expected. He had formed some manner of attachment to her, and she intended to break that. What sort of a life would he have with a space pirate? None at all. And for some reason, that bothered her. She couldn't afford to have ties to someone who believed her to be insane.

The planet's rocky terrain had made it difficult for Veerna to find a place to land the ship, and also difficult to clamber over the rocks. However, ignoring the scratches and scrapes she was getting as she climbed, maneuvering her way around to the top, where her fate awaited.

It took her about a half an hour to reach the peak of the mountain, and by that time, she was covered in black blood from her climb. She kept her hand on the gun at her side as she stood up straight, seeing the figure illuminated by the far-off sun. The cool air around Veerna made the hair on her arms stand up.

The figure turned to her, white hair sweeping over her shoulder. Missing only the black markings on her skin, Sareen was the carbon-copy of Veerna herself. Her own weapon was out of its holster and aimed at Veerna. "So, you actually came on your own, just as you said you would."

Veerna cocked an eyebrow. "I'm a lot of things, but the word of a pirate means a lot. Now, about that deal ..."

"No deal," Sareen said. "For you, there is no deal. There is only death." And she fired her gun at Veerna.