Star Trek - [Mirror Universe 003]

by Shards

  The only question is whether or not the House of K'Tal's paid qutluch would then repay me in kind.

  I will wait until I know Kargan is not on the bridge and then call Kurn and Macet simultaneously while summoning Kargan. This way, I know that it will be brought to all three at once. We will see where it leads us.

  Transcript of communications logs of the I.K.S. Pagh, while communicating with the I.K.S. Hegh'ta and the Central Command vessel Trager

  COMMANDER KLAG (Pagh): Kegren, open a channel to the Hegh'ta and the Trager both, and summon Captain Kargan to the bridge.

  LIEUTENANT KEGREN (Pagh): Yes, Commander. Captain Kargan, to the bridge.

  CAPTAIN KURN (Hegh'ta): What do you want, Commander?

  GUL MACET (Trager): Have you learned something, Klag?

  CAPTAIN KARGAN (Pagh): Why have you summoned me, Commander?

  KLAG: I have determined the course that the thieves took.

  KURN: What? How?

  KLAG: I spent much of the night studying the navigation logs from the Pagh's pursuit. The thieves took an evasive course, but I was eventually able to determine its pattern. They could only have had one destination: the Marcan system. There is one habitable planet in that system.

  KURN: Yes, the fifth one. I know that world. It is on the outskirts of the Allicar sector. Quvatlh! We have lost hours to these petaQpu'!

  MACET: We must proceed there immediately. The Trager's repairs are not complete, but we once again have warp drive, and the weapons will be ready by the time we arrive at Marcan.

  KURN: Our warp drive is still not repaired. We will remain here and join you when we are able. In the meantime, Macet, you and Kargan will proceed to Marcan and find these thieves. Screen off!

  Message from Captain Kurn, son of Mogh, on the I.K.S. Hegh'ta, to Commander Drex, son of Martok, the House Martok estate, Qo'noS

  Our plans may have changed, my friend. I believe that the House of K'Tal may be the ones who plot against the Alliance. If that is so, then Kargan is the one who betrays us-and K'Tal's request that the Pagh be part of our convoy makes more sense. We only know this much because of the interrogation performed by Macet and Klag. I still do not trust Macet, but Klag may be a useful ally, especially if he may be turned against his captain.

  If all goes according to plan, then I may well be rewarded with a seat on the Council, rather than simply be given my own ship. If that is the case, then I will do all in my power to make sure that you receive command of the Gorkon. If he continues to be useful, I will recommend that Klag be your first officer. Also, General Talak is part of that house-if he is indeed a traitor, then your father's position will improve also.

  Unfortunately, the Hegh'ta is still under repairs, so I have been forced to send the Trager and the Pagh to Marcan V ahead of me. I need you to find a way to alert your father and have him send a ship that we know is loyal to take control of the situation if the Hegh'ta's repairs are not complete in time.

  This will be a great day for both of us, my friend. For too long, we have lived in the shadow of our family members. Soon, we will remind the Alliance that there are others in the House of Worf and the House of Martok...

  Transcript of communications logs of the I.K.S. Pagh, while communicating with the landing party on Marcan V and the Central Command vessel Trager

  COMMANDER KLAG (Marcan V): We have transported down safely, Captain.

  CAPTAIN KARGAN (Pagh): Move quickly, Commander. We have detected other ships approaching the system.

  GUL MACET (Trager): Confirmed. One of them matches the configuration of the ship that attacked the convoy.

  LEADER VEKMA (Marcan V): No life signs, Commander.

  KLAG: Very well. Secure the rest of-[sound of disruptor fire] [screams]

  MACET: Klag, what is happening?

  KARGAN: Report, Commander! [more sounds of disruptor fire]

  KLAG: Lower your weapon, Leader!

  VEKMA: I'm sorry, Commander, but I cannot do that.

  LIEUTENANT KEGREN (Pagh): Captain, enemy vessels on attack vector! They're arming disruptors.

  MACET: Klag, what's happening?

  [more sounds of disruptor fire]

  BEKK WOL (Marcan V): Commander, are you all right?

  KLAG: Well enough, Bekk. Thank you for-for your loyalty. Captain, Leader Vekma and three of her squad took arms against me. My-my right arm has been lost. Bekk Wol has-has saved my life. I-I will now carry out-out my mission.

  MACET: Klag, wait, there may be-

  KARGAN: Be silent, Macet! Commander Klag will continue his mission.

  MACET: Why, Kargan, because your assassins failed?

  KARGAN: Not exactly.

  KEGREN: Enemy vessels firing on the Trager.

  MACET: Open fire! Damn you, Kargan, help us!

  KLAG: Captain, I am standing before a computer screen. I have just entered a code that allows me access to encrypted files on this computer.

  KARGAN: Have you, now?

  KEGREN: Trager taking heavy damage, Captain.

  MACET: Kargan, you're responsible for this!

  KARGAN: I am responsible for any number of things, Macet. Including what is about to happen.

  KLAG: Macet, hear me! These files were encrypted by the House of K'Tal, and they contain a great deal of sensitive information, including full details of the security of Mempa VI!

  MACET: Then my suspicions were correct. We will destroy your cohorts, Kargan, and then we will destroy you.

  KARGAN: You are outnumbered, Macet. You will not survive without assistance.

  KLAG: Captain, do not do this!

  KARGAN: I have already done too much, Commander, and my honor and that of my House have suffered greatly for it. I hope that with my final act, I may redeem the House of K'Tal. Pilot, set course for the nearest vessel attacking the Trager-ramming speed!

  Message from Commander Klag, son of M'Raq, on the Central Command vessel Trager, to Commander Dorrek, son of M'Raq, on the I.K.S. Slivin

  I have always said that Kargan was an honorable man, but until today, I did not know how fine a warrior he truly was.

  It was Kargan who provided the information that sent us to Marcan V and Kargan who gave me the access code that allowed us to read the files on the computers on that world. And Kargan ordered the Pagh to make a suicide run on the vessels attacking the Trager. His sacrifice allowed Macet to achieve victory in orbit of that world while Bekk Wol and I gleaned all we could from Marcan V's computers.

  We are now en route to the Homeworld. There will be a meqba', and the fate of the House of K'Tal will hang in the balance.

  As for myself, I have lost my right arm. The Cardassian doctor tried to persuade me to have a prosthetic machine placed on my shoulder, which I, of course, refused. And I have lost my ship. Only Wol and I survive, and I have promised that she will be rewarded on her next assignment.

  What that assignment will be, I do not know. But I do know that I will mourn the loss of Captain Kargan deeply. A great warrior is in Sto-Vo-Kor today, even if the others of his ignoble House will ride the Barge of the Dead to Gre'thor.

  Macet came to me after I was released from his ship's infirmary. He also was suspicious of Kargan after we interrogated Straken. I asked him why he didn't share that with me. He asked me why I didn't share the true source of my information about Marcan V.

  Gul Macet is a good man. The Alliance will need people like him if we are to survive the Terrans getting above themselves and the Romulans, Tholians, and others who try to nip away at our empire like ramjep birds. In the future, we will know to trust each other.

  Transcript from the official record of the Klingon High Council

  REGENT WORF: The meqba' has ended. I have heard all of the evidence. It is clear that the House of K'Tal must be dissolved, its principals killed, its lands seized.

  COUNCIL HERALD: K'Tal, son of K'Dan, step forward!

  REGENT: Do you have anything to say for yourself before you are put to death, traitor?

 
COUNCILLOR K'TAL: Only that the Klingon peoples will be led to ruin as long as you sit in Kahless's chair-and as long as we remain allied with spoonheaded filth!

  REGENT: You are a fool. It is the alliance with Cardassia that has made us strong, that enabled us to conquer the Terrans, that made us the greatest power the galaxy has ever known. It is you who would have led us to ruin, K'Tal. But now you will lead only the others of your House to the Barge of the Dead. Bring them forward!

  [The Yan-Isleth bring the members of the House of K'Tal forward]

  REGENT: You have betrayed the Alliance. You have no honor. You shall not leave this chamber alive. [sound of d'k tahg blades unfurling]

  [Regent and councillors slash the throats of the members of the House of K'Tal]

  REGENT: Take the bodies away!

  COUNCIL HERALD: Kurn, son of Mogh; Klag, son of M'Raq; Akellen Macet, step forward!

  REGENT: You have done well, all of you. A cancer has been removed from our alliance. Gul Macet, I leave whatever reward you might gain from this campaign to your superiors at Central Command, but know that you have the gratitude of the Regent.

  GUL AKELLEN MACET: That is high praise, indeed, my Regent. Thank you.

  REGENT: Klag, son of M'Raq, a true warrior knows to act for what is honorable, and you have done that, at the cost of your good right arm. There is an opening for a captain on the I.K.S. Gorkon, and I can think of no one better suited to take command of that vessel than you, Captain Klag.

  CAPTAIN KLAG: My Regent?

  REGENT: Do my words displease you, son of M'Raq?

  KLAG: No, my Regent, they do surprise me. Kargan is the true hero here, not I. I simply followed the path he laid out for me.

  REGENT: Perhaps. But Kargan is dead, and of all those in his misbegotten House, he is the only one who will be enshrined in the Hall of Warriors, for he has put the Alliance before all. But your role is not inconsequential. Because of you, I have removed a threat to the High Council and to our very way of life. For that, you have earned a captaincy.

  KLAG: Yes, my Regent! Thank you!

  REGENT: Kurn-my brother.

  CAPTAIN KURN: Yes, my Regent?

  REGENT: Do not think that I have forgotten your role in this. You, too, will receive a new ship to command-the Ya'Vang is in orbit and awaiting your arrival. You have all served the Alliance with honor. Qapla'!

  KURN, KLAG, AND MACET: Qapla'!

  Message from Captain Kurn, son of Mogh, on the I.K.S. Ya'Vang, to Commander Drex, son of Martok, on the I.K.S. Gorkon

  Curse that yIntagh of a warrior! Curse that spoonheaded legate's cousin! They have conspired to ruin everything!

  The Ya'Vang is a fine ship, it is true, and a far greater trophy than the Hegh'ta. But the Gorkon should have been mine!

  It was Macet. It had to be. He and Klag were like lovers on that mission, they were together so much, and that petaQ likely petitioned his cousin to put pressure on my brother to reward Klag.

  The son of M'Raq has made an enemy today. And you, my friend, will be the d'k tahg I use to bring him down. Not right away-we cannot move against one my brother has rewarded immediately. But soon, my friend, very, very soon. Observe the son of M'Raq carefully for any opening, and then strike like a wam serpent. You are Martok's son; you will be protected.

  Our plans will come to fruition one day, Drex, of that you can be assured.

  Message from Captain Klag, son of M'Raq, on the I.K.S. Gorkon, to Commander Dorrek, son of M'Raq, on the I.K.S. Slivin

  So, it seems I win our wager, brother. I have become the first son of M'Raq to command his own vessel. The bloodwine is on you when next we meet, Dorrek.

  The meqba' was shocking, for all that I knew the evidence ahead of time. To see a noble House so awash in betrayal and dishonor was staggering. Apparently, K'Tal felt that we did not need the Cardassians-as if we would be able to maintain so great an empire alone-and that we should be rid of them. K'Tal, Talak, and the others of their House intended to use the weapons they had stolen to take up arms against the High Council and also against any in the Defense Force or Central Command who did not agree with them.

  It was glorious to see their throats cut by the council. In his observer's chair, I could see Legate Damar leaning forward, almost as if he, too, wished to take a blade to K'Tal's throat. For his part, Macet was not pleased. He said he prefers capital punishment to be cleaner. But death is death-to prettify it is pointless.

  The Regent seemed pleased with my own performance, but I suspect that there is more to his appointment of me to the Gorkon. Macet confided in me that his sources had told him that Kurn was hoping for the Gorkon. But Kurn also promised to bring Terran rebels to the Regent's feet, and he failed to do so. That was not Kurn's fault, of course, but the Regent is obsessed with the Terran rebellion, and he would not tolerate any failure to bring them closer to defeat.

  Macet and I shared a drink in the tavern across from the Great Hall, where we drank to Kargan and the noble crew of the Pagh, who were sacrificed in order to expose the traitors.

  And now I report to you from my very own command. My first officer is Drex, son of General Martok. With Talak's death, Martok's position has improved, and that means Drex's has as well. I will likely need to keep an eye on him. I have, however, been able to reward Wol, who saved my life at Marcan V, by making her QaS DevwI' of First Company.

  I must go now, brother. The Gorkon is one of the finest vessels in the fleet, and she will be used to crush the Alliance's enemies. We head now to the Bajoran system.

  Qapla', my brother.

  Homecoming

  Peter David

  HISTORIAN'S NOTE: "Homecoming" takes place during the late 2370s (ACE) as the rebellion is gaining a foothold against the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance ("Shattered Mirror," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and after the Romulan slave known at M'k'nzy of Calhoun (Star Trek: New Frontier) takes command of the ship now called Excalibur and vows to make the Alliance pay (Star Trek Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliance-Cutting Ties).

  Peter David is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous Star Trek novels, including the incredibly popular Star Trek: New Frontier series. He has also written dozens of other books, including his acclaimed original novel, Sir Apropos of Nothing, and its sequels, The Woad to Wuin and Tong Lashing.

  David is also well known for his comic book work, particularly his award-winning run on The Incredible Hulk. He recently authored the novelizations of Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four, The Hulk, and Iron Man.

  He lives on Long Island with his wife and daughters.

  Mac. I need you to disengage from Soleta and focus on what I'm saying for a moment.

  "Dammit, McHenry!"

  The frustrated shout came from Soleta and Mac simultaneously. Mac complied, although it was less a response to McHenry's request than it was a reflex action. He nearly tumbled off the far side of the bed, but caught himself at the last moment. Soleta grabbed a sheet and pulled it up, as she said furiously, "You cannot be doing that, McHenry! You cannot just rummage around inside our minds when we are...otherwise occupied!"