July 12.

            "Fine, fine.  Just make sure those two Thunder Twerps don't spoil the whole thing."

            "I. . . oh, drat!  They've just come in with that Starfleet cadet, Wesley Crusher.  They appear not to have noticed the disappearance of Dumbwing and Worfie, though.  I'll keep an inconspicuous eye on them."

            "Good.  Can you stand viinerine?"

            "Great!  Romulan food.  I love Romulan food."

            "Okay.  Get back to me a.s.a.p."

            "Yup.  Over and out."  He tapped the insignia again.  He quickly got rid of the water on the floor and formed his legs into those Romulan.

            At the central table, the orders were being taken.  Most everyone ordered a mixture of human and Romulan food.  They all decided against ordering Romulan Ale; it would give all of them, even Steelheart and Lion-O, a walloping hangover.  Not even the suit Steelheart wore could make her stomach prevent letting all the alcohol in Romulan Ale through, and Lion-O's stomach couldn't release all of the necessary atoms to break down the alcohol.  However, Lion-O did suggest Thunderian Wine.  It would not hit them quite as hard as the Romulan Ale would.  Tygra had also mentioned that their store of Thunderian Wine was of the best vintage. . . 1705.  Tygra had drunk plenty of it on the thirtieth of November 1775, as that was his sixteenth birthday, when had taken place the ceremony of his reaching the Thunderian Age of Legal Maturity.  Cheetara had said that it had also given Tygra a strong hangover because he had drunk so much of it.  She claimed that he had drunk all of the Thunderian Wine produced that year, but she usually exaggerated where Tygra was concerned.  She was two days younger than he, and he had accused her of drinking more than he on her sixteenth birthday, when she, too, had reached her Age of Legal Maturity.  He was correct that she had drunk more of that wine than he.  She was so hung over that Bengali had thought that the both of them were temporarily crazy.  He got it, too, when he had drunk so much of that vintage of Thunderian Wine on his sixteenth birthday, 6 June 1778.  In fact, he had drunk more than Cheetara, and he regretted it sorely.  Tygra convinced the Thunder Kittens that, when they had their 'Age of Legal Maturity' ceremony (which would be on their twenty-eighth birthday), they should not drink much Thunderian Wine. . . especially if it were of the 1705 vintage.  The Thunder Kittens were keeping that in mind.

            Steelheart, Lion-O, Picard, Crusher, Torreth, Tomalak, Batman, and Zan each ordered specifically one glass of Thunderian Wine when informed that the vintage was 1705.  Lion-O could handle two, but he did not want to be unfair.  Tygra, Cheetara, and Bengali had each warned him not to drink more than two glasses on his Coming of Age ceremony, which was on 9 March 1988.  His birthday had been on the fourth, but his Anointment Trials had held the ceremony off.  He had not had much of a hangover.

            When the wine had been poured, Tomalak held up his glass.  "I propose a toast to the future of our nations," said Tomalak.  "May they bring peace to the galaxy."

            "Here, here," said everyone else at the table.

            To himself, Liquidator said, "Yeah. . . that's as likely as a pure, logical Vulcan laughing."  He turned to the table occupied by Robin and Jayna.  "The Thundersquirts're still there."  And he saw Sela going toward them.  "Not Ms. Romulo-human, too!"

            "Well," Wilykit informed the two, "should you encounter a problem, activate these."  She set a couple of devices on the table.  "An N-Team member will be alerted."

            "Thank you," said Jayna.  She took one; Robin took the other.

            "Don't mention it, Jayna.  See you two later."  Robin and Jayna nodded.  The Kittens and Wesley moved on.

            "You appeared to be eyeing Wilykat slightly, Jayna," said Robin with the slightest twinge of jealousy in his voice.  The jealousy was fake.

            "Me?" asked Jayna innocently.  "Okay.  I. . ."  She had to think.  "I'm not certain what to say without offending you."

            "Forget it."  He put his left hand on her right one.  "I admit that human males are always jealous where a pretty young lady is involved, and you know how I've always been attracted to you since we met."  Jayna sighed.  She remembered his crush on her.  She had had the same with him, but she repressed it.  She was attracted to him, but he was of another species.  Ever since that blasted C-race invaded Exor, Exorians were always cautious of other humanoid species, even after the C-race had been driven off.  She hated repressing her attraction to him, but Exorians' emotions were built so that, if attraction for someone could be repressed, the relationship might not last.  She did not want to get involved with him if their relationship would not work out.  Still. . . that C-race was brutal.  It killed half of the population of Exor before being driven off.

            "C-race," she breathed.  Those whose invasion demanded that she and Zan leave Exor toward another class-M or -L planet light-years from the C-race's empirical border.  A being whom the Exorians knew only as Q blocked the Exorian solar system from the border of the empire of the C-race with an enormous gate.

            "C-race?  They were fought off a few years ago."

            "Sh!  I'm thinking, Robin!  C-race. . . they were driven off after that Q brought up that barrier between the Exorian system and the border of the C-race's empire.  Without any ships to help them, the few C-race members remaining were stopped by Zan and me.  Luck had it that the C-race failed in their attempt."  She took out a data-padd and punched up a map of the Exorian solar system.  "Exor and Exorius are the two planets moving in a trojan orbit, closest to the star Exor."  She showed the map to Robin.  "Close to the fifth and final planet out is the border of the C-race's empire, right on that Q barrier."

            "Show this to Sela or someone else," Robin said urgently.  Jayna nodded.  Close by was Sela, conferring with the Kittens and Wesley.

            "Well," Wilykat told Sela in a frustrated manner, "he was right there!"  He pointed at the table where Worf was.  "Now, he's gone."

            "Yes," said Sela.  "Klingons on guard duty do not usually leave their captains, not even to use the restroom."  This evoked the humour she intended.  Her efficient eyes scanned the room.  "Nothing overtly suspicious.  Except. . ."  She looked at Liquidator.  "That centurion.  Wilykit, can you get a reading of him?"

            "I'll try."  Wilykit got out a recording-scanning device and tried to examine the 'Romulan.'  "Hm.  Very deceptively clever, but not clever enough.  He's done everything to make anyone superficially examining him believe he's Romulan, but he cannot make it stay that way for long."

            "Must be that Liquidator," said Wilykat.

            "Hm," said Wilykit.  "With a disruptor blast of that setting. . . Commander Sela, may I borrow your disruptor if you have it?"  Sela nodded, took a disruptor-pistol out of a holster hidden inside her uniform, and handed it to Wilykit.  "Thank you very much.  I've been studying disruptor settings.  These symbols. . . 0, decimal point, 5.  0.5.  That should return Liquidator to normal."  She set the disruptor.

            "The stun setting," remarked Sela.  "Medium-stun."

            "Yup," said Wilykit.  "Enough to temporarily disrupt the integrity of Waterhead."

            "I didn't know he had any to begin with!" said Wesley, smiling.

            "In the sense you mean, Mr. Crusher, I think he doesn't," said Sela.  "Might we all have a seat?"  The four sat at a table near that of Robin and Jayna.  Sela hear Liquidator exclaim a bad word.  "I think that Liquidator is upset."

            "Yes," said Wilykat.  "Otherwise, he wouldn't have said . . . that.  I think that Liquie may be the cause of Worf's disappearance."

            "Yeah, and where's Darkwing?" asked Wilykit, looking around.  "Mind if I keep your disruptor for a while, Sela?"

            "No," answered Sela.  Wilykit latched it onto her belt.  "Liquidator might have had something to do with the disappearance of both of them."

            "Metroid!" quietly exclaimed Wesley.  He tapped his communicator.  "Commander Riker, this is Wesley Crusher."

            "What is it, Wes?" asked Riker.

            "I suggest that you keep an eye out for Metroid, Commander.  Worf and Darkwing have inexplicably disappeared."

            "Thanks for relieving my growing headache."  Sela and the Kittens were amused.  "How's it going otherwise?"

            "Fine, except that Liquidator, disguised as a Romulan centurion, is down here."

            "Be careful, Wesley."

            "I will, sir.  Crusher out."  He tapped his communicator.  Jayna came up to the table with a data-padd in her hand.

            "Pardon me," said Jayna.

            Wilykit said, "Certainly, Jayna.  What is it?"

            "Well, not that I mean to dump my problems on you. . ."

            "Excuse me," interrupted Sela kindly, "but we're all in the same boat, I believe.  Ludwig von(Bowser)Koopa is a common enemy.  He has allied his kingdom with the Cardassian empire, which has just declared war on my home, the Romulan Empire."

            "The Evil Koopa Kingdom, to which Ludwig frequently yet errantly refers as the 'Koopulan Empire,' and the Cardassian Union are now common enemies to the Romulan Empire, the Federation, the United Galactic Nations, and, possibly the Klingon Empire," said Wilykit in the same manner as Sela.  "You're not dumping your problems on us.  The planet that you inhabit is within VideoLand borders, and all good there is an ally of the United Galactic Nations.  Please, share your problems with us."

            "Thank you," said Jayna.  "Now, where does Exor stand on your political galactic map?"  Wilykit got out her own data-padd, connected to the central N-Team computer, and acquired the desired co-ordinates of the Exor star on the galactic overview map.  "I want to know because the Exorian solar system borders on an empire that attempted to annex it several years ago.  The only thing that stopped that race, which only identified itself as the C-race to us, from conquering us was an enormous barrier built by a being known to us only as Q.  Zan and I captured the remaining C-race members."  When Wilykit had the information, she gulped slightly.  "Wilykit?"

            "I'm fine," said Wilykit.  "The orbit of the farthest out planet of your solar system is only kilometres from the Q-gate, which surrounds the sixth of the galaxy in which live the Romulans, the Federation, the Klingons, and the Cardassians.  The border of the Cardassian Union, of which the capital planet is Cardassia, is on the Q-gate and is very near Exor's solar system."  She showed the map to Jayna, who nodded.  Wilykit then had the padd show the static image of a typical Cardassian.  Jayna was nearly petrified when she saw the creature.  Obviously, Exorians found Cardassians intensely repulsive.  "This is a typical Cardassian.  Were your would-have-been conquerors like him?"

            "Yes, they were," said Jayna, getting back her regular heart rate.  She frowned thoughtfully.  "The ships were enormous, equilaterally triangular vessels."  Wilykit allowed her to take the padd and show herself the ship.  "Yes, that's what they were like, all right."  She handed the padd back to Wilykit, who switched it off and put it away.

            Sela said, "Cardassia was once a peaceful, culture-based society, like Romulus.  However, the military, as on Romulus, took over.  Fewer people went hungry, as with Romulus.  However, Romulus managed to keep its cultural aspects and government hierarchies:  proconsuls, senators, Prætor, etc.  The Talsha Yar, which can be spelled either T - A - L - S - H - A - space - Y - A - R or T - A - L - space - S - H - I - A - R in English, recently developed as the Romulan Empire's central intelligence agency, and it constantly vies with the military for authority.  I am not so certain about Cardassia."  Something weakly telepathic started to affect Sela; Wilykit felt that.  The Romulans' millennia-old ancestors had been and present cousins were the Vulcans, and Vulcans were telepathic.  Wilykit remembered reading about uncivilised Vulcan about two millennia ago, where the Vulcans were telepathically destroying themselves because of their intensely powerful and nearly uncontainable emotions.  And to think how much worse the Thunderian Wars were!

            Well, the point was that Sela was slightly telepathic. . . just enough to be bothered by Liquidator's thoughts.  Sela tried not to show it, but her humanness made it nearly impossible.  "Sela," said Wilykit, "could you tell the representatives about Liquidator's presence, please?"

            "Certainly," said Sela.  She got up. . .

            And, suddenly, the minds of all the 'thoroughbred' Romulans in the area were crushed by some immeasurable telepathic force!  Wilykit felt it coming from behind the moon of Darkwing's Earth.  "Metroid. . ."  No, Metroid fuelled the actual source. . . Liquidator!  "Liquidator's doing this with aid from Metroid!"  Sela shook her head, trying to get rid of the enormous telepathic pressure.  That Wilykit's mind was much more powerful than a Romulan's helped enormously.  She made her way to the central table.  " 'Kat, I'm going to disrupt Liquie.  Keep an eye on other things, please."

            "Yeah," said Wilykat.  Wilykit want toward Liquidator by way of a zig-zag path.  Liquidator had thought to throw suspicion off himself by showing physical effects the telepathic pounding had on real Romulans.  Very clever, but not clever enough!  Wilykit glanced at the Trois, who were easily resisting Liquidator's mental pounding with their Betazoid training.  The Kittens' more powerful telepathy plainly resisted what Liquidator was pouring out, as did the telepathy of the other Thunderians.  Sela just didn't have enough Romulan in her to be affected by Liquidator's barrage as had been the complete Romulans.  Wilykit got closer to Liquidator.  She slowly brought up Sela's disruptor-pistol and aimed it clandestinely at Liquidator.  She softly pulled back on the trigger, and the pistol blasted its medium-stun shot at Liquidator.  What once appeared to be a Romulan suffering from the effects of a powerful telepathic discharge broke apart into water, which splashed onto the floor.  The water coagulated and formed in front of Wilykit as a huge oval.  This water-oval changed slowly, making disgusting blobby sounds, into Liquidator's principal shape.  Fists clenched at his sides, teeth showing, eyes glaring at the Thunder Kitten, Liquidator was not happy.  He was not happy at all.