Star Trek - TNG - 61 - Diplomatic Implausibility

by Keith R. A. DeCandido

  "Those are difficult to dislodge, from what I hear." Shaking his head, Leskit thought, A true warrior wouldn't need to add that last phrase. He took a bite of the rokeg blood pie. "This is good," he said with some surprise. He'd had blood pie his first night on the Gorkon and left it unfinished, it was so inedible. The subsequent month had dulled the bad aftertaste, and the food smelled good enough tonight that Leskit had decided to give it another shot Obviously, he thought, someone has tinkered. "A pity Kurak isn't here," he said aloud. "I'd congratulate her on the food replicators myself." "You're wasting your time, Leskit," Rodek said. "I served with Kurak on the Lallek. You'd have a better chance '' the matter anti-matter chamber."

  "I'll see for myself, if it's all the same to you, Rodek." "Actually," Vail said, while attempting to puff himself up like a beast who had cornered its prey, "I was the one who conquered the replication matrix's inability to provide proper sustenance." Then he deflated somewhat, looking more like the Grishnar cat he truly resembled. "And I would rather you did not tell Commander Kurak, since she ordered me not to."

  Toq laughed. "You disobeyed an order?"

  "Well, not exactly." Vail squirmed a bit. "She didn't specifically order me not to upgrade the replicators--but every time I suggest such an upgrade, she objects. I had mapped out a magnificent battle plan for modifying the ODN conduits, only to have her scream at me about only doing what she tells me to do."

  Leskit shook his head as he chewed on his blood pie. Battle plan for modifying the ODN conduits? Give me strength ... Toq frowned. "Why would she wish you not to improve the ship's systems?"

  Vail shrugged. "I do not know. But the food replicators were not worthy of this vessel, so I defeated the pattern enhancers and put new ones in their place--these enhancers are twice as powerful as the ones that--"

  "Enough!" Leskit cried again. "I'd rather listen to those two fight over Worf again than listen to you drone, Vail."

  "My apologies, Lieutenant, but--this is a great ship, but there are so many ways it could be made even more worthy."

  "A new assistant chief engineer would be a fine start," Rodek said.

  All three of them laughed. Vail sulked. A pity such brilliant talent is trapped in such a repugnant form, Leskit thought. He wondered if he would be doing the boy a favor by killing him rather than forcing him to endure continuing to live as--well, as Vail.

  Then he took another bite of the excellent blood pie, and decided that, if Vail could live with himself, so could Leskit.

  "Alert status!" Rodek's voice on the speakers making this announcement combined with the sound of the alarm, startled Worf awake. He took all of a nanosecond to remember where he was--the feeling of the metal slab under his back meant he was on a Klingon ship, which in turn brought his current mission back to his quickly awakening conscious mind.

  Then he rose from the bed--a padd that had rested on his chest clattering to the floor--and went to the computer station on the desk, inputting commands for the view from the bridge's security camera. This required access codes that a Federation ambassador normally would not possess--but most Federation ambassadors hadn't served on Klingon ships, nor had lengthy tenures in Starfleet security.

  Wu got up groggily from his bed and stood behind Worf to observe as well, pausing to retrieve the padd and place it on the table with the others. Worf had fallen asleep while working on the specifications for a portable scattering field generator--which could temporarily disable any handheld disrupter weapons within a certain radius.

  The camera was positioned just below the bridge's viewscreen. Klag sat in his command chair, leaning slightly forward, gazing straight at the viewscreen with an eager face--appropriate for one going into battle.

  Drex was moving aft toward Toq's station. Toq looked even more eager than Klag. Next to him at the gunner's station, Rodek looked more impassive. Off to the side, Leskit looked almost bored--but Leskit always looked like that.

  "Damage report," Drex barked.

  "Shields holding," said Rodek. "No appreciable damage."

  "The ship is running away," Toq said. "Course eight three-seven mark nine."

  Worf called up the tactical schematics. The ship had come screaming toward the Gorkon at Warp 9 7, fired a salvo of phasers, then had, as Toq said, run. It had come in too fast for sensors to get a positive identification.

  Drex asked, "Do we pursue, Captain?"

  Klag shot Drex a harsh look. "Of course. Pilot, change course to intercept, maximum warp. Gunner, the second we're in range, fire on the enemy and destroy them." Leskit said, "We will intercept in seven minutes."

  Drex walked fore and leaned toward Klag. Speaking in a voice meant not to be heard by anyone on the bridge other than the captain, he said, "Captain, the ambassador may object to this course change."

  Klag regarded his first officer with disdain. "Let him."

  Worf stood up.

  "Let me guess," Wu said, "you'll be on the bridge?" "Good guess," Worf said dryly as he left the cabin.

  Krevor silently followed.

  The moment the doors parted to let Worf in, Klag, without even turning around, said, "Ambassador, this is not a good time."

  "Have you identified the ship that fired on us?" Now Klag did turn. "Not yet," he said slowly.

  "It might be wise to do so before engaging them again."

  "Ambassador," Klag said, standing to face Worf, "this is not your concern. We will swat this glob fly and resume our course to tad."

  "Anything that affects this mission is my concern, Captain. However, this attack on the Gorkon cannot go unanswered. Commander Drex's fears about my objections were unfounded."

  Klag glowered at Worf, who simply stared back. The captain seemed to want to pursue the issue--or at least question Worf about his ability to navigate the Gorkon's security systems--but Worf had just given Klag what he wanted. Worf suspected that Klag had anticipated a fight.

  Perhaps even desired one? Worf wondered. Klag had looked decidedly unhappy when Martok announced that Worf commanded the mission.

  Leskit interrupted: "Less than a minute to intercept."

  Klag turned from Worf and sat back in the command chair. "Rodek?"

  From behind Klag, the man who was once Worf's brother said, "Disrupters ready, Captain. Awaiting target."

  Worf's heart sank. Rodek spoke with an appalling lack of passion. Worf remembered serving with Kurn on the Hegh'ta during the civil war between Gowron and Duras's sisters. He had a fire, a passion for combat that did Worf proud.

  "In range," Toq said eagerly.

  "Weapons firing." Rodek sounded barely interested in the concept.

  "They have dropped out of warp."

  "Stay with them, pilot," Klag said.

  "It is a Kreel vessel, Captain," Toq said.

  Worf blinked. Even if he had objected to this diversion, that objection would be gone the minute he learned it was Kreel they faced.

  That race of carrion-pickers had been at odds with the Klingons for centuries. They were like Earth vultures, picking at the bones of the empire's conquests, but never doing any conquering themselves. Defense Force vessels had standing orders to destroy any Kreel ship that dared to challenge them.

  Toq added, "But they have made modifications. That's why we couldn't identify them at first--they have Breen shields."

  Pirated or obtained legitimately? Worf wondered. When the mission was over--if not sooner--he needed to report this to Starfleet Intelligence.

  "Destroy them, gunner," Klag said.

  "Quantum torpedoes locked on target, and firing."

  Worf turned to the viewscreen. Now that he got a good look at it, it was definitely a Kreel vessel they faced. The torpedo exploded upon impact against the Kreefs Breen shields.

  "Minimal damage," Rodek said.

  Klag stood up. "Minimal? Are our torpedoes malfunctioning?"

  "Weapons are at peak efficiency, Captain. Their shields are simply too--"

  Rodek was cut off by the impact of
phaser blasts on the Gorkon's shields.

  Drex bellowed, "Damage report!" "Shields at forty-nine percent," said Rodek.

  "Captain," Toq said. "The Kreefs matter anti-matter pods are starting to fluctuate. No, wait." He gazed at his console. "Returning to normal. But they came close to a critical reaction when our torpedo hit." Klag sat back down and smiled. "Engineering, increase power to shields. Gunner, UW spread of torpedoes."

  "Aye, sir."

  Kurak's voice came through the intercom. "You have full shields again.

  Captain."

  Worf blinked in surprise. He knew tactical systems in general quite well, and had studied the Gorkon's specs on the Enterprise. He didn't see how fifty-one percent of the shields' power could be restored that quickly.

  Klag, however, didn't question this good fortune. He clenched his one fist. "Fire!" Worf frowned as he observed the dispersal pattern of the torpedoes. It was the default spread: focused on one area of the shields, to batter that section at several points in the hopes of collapsing the shields. Given the apparent situation--that the Breen shields' power consumption was barely within the Kreel ship's tolerances--it would have made more sense to widen the spread to hit as many different points around the ship as possible and increase the strain.

  That, he thought, would require a tactical officer with some imagination. Klag proceeded on the assumption that he had one. Rodek wasn't wrong--but Kurn would have widened the spread.

  "Kreel shields at eighty percent," Rodek said.

  Toq added, "Kreel matter anti-matter pods fluctuating. Containment breach in forty seconds."

  "Move us out of the blast range, pilot," Klag ordered, "Warp 1." "Gladly, sir," Leskit said.

  Within seconds, the Kreel ship exploded in a fiery barrage.

  Cheers erupted throughout the bridge. An officer at an aft station cried, "Death to the Kreel!" Leskit smiled. "Today was a good day for them to die."

  Klag pounded the arm of his chair and laughed. "Well done, my soldiers, well done. That's one ship's worth of Kreel that no longer infest the galaxy. Pilot, resume course to tad, Warp 6." The last two words were said while Klag looked right at Worf, and the ambassador saw the challenge in the captain's eyes. They had been proceeding at Warp 6 since parting ways with the Enterprise and the Sword of Kahless, but between the delay and significant course changes necessitated by the Kreel battle, remaining at that speed would bring them to tad several hours behind schedule. Klag had all but dared Worf to challenge his decision.

  Worf refused to rise to the bait. The situation on tad had gone on for several years; a few hours would make little difference. "I will be in my quarters, Captain," he said, and turned on his heel and left.

  As soon as he entered his quarters, Krevor again taking up position outside his door, he asked Wu, "Did you monitor the battle?"

  "Most of it. A security lockout kicked in about fifteen seconds after Lieutenant Toq identified them as Kreel."

  Worf nodded. Drex or Rodek had probably changed the security codes.

  "This is far from Kreel territory."

  "They may have come here in order to raid the hulks left over from the war. There were a lot of conflicts near here."

  "True. Still, it warrants investigating. Compose a report to Starfleet Intelligence on the Kreel's new acquisitions, and then see if there are any reports of Kreel activity in this sector over the last six months."

  Making notes on his padd, Wu said, "Very good, sir."

  "What did you do?"

  Vail looked up from his station in engineering. The harsh-voiced questioner was Commander Kurak. She stood with one hand gripping the wrist of her other arm, which usually meant she was angry.

  She does that, Vail thought, far too often. His stomachs felt like they were trying to meld into one, and he struggled to keep down the racht he'd been snacking on.

  "Ah--what did I do when?"

  "The shields. What did you do?"

  "The shot from the Kreel blew out half the inverters, but the systems were still operational--it was merely physical damage to the inverters.

  So I rerouted the systems through the backup matter anti-matter injectors."

  "The injectors can't handle that much raw power!" Kurak screamed.

  "You could have--"

  Vail tried not to sink lower into his chair. "I--I modified the injectors with a conduit I designed a couple of years ago. It acts as a dampener while the energy goes through the injectors. It restored the shields to their former glory, and it would not have blown up the ship."

  Kurak advanced on Vail. Vail tried to back his chair farther away from her, but he was already up against the console.

  "I will not tolerate this behavior any longer, Lieutenant. For a month, you have pestered me with '' and '." Your job as assistant chief engineer is to carry out my orders, and my orders are to keep ship's systems operating within specified parameters nothing more! Is that understood?"

  "B-but, Commander--"

  "Is that understood?"

  Vail fidgeted in his chair. "Yes, Commander."

  "If you perform another modification like that without permission, I will kill you. Slowly. And painfully."

  Before Vail could reply, Kurak stomped out of engineering.

  The other engineers went about their business, ignoring Vail.

  Technically, of course, Vail was their superior, though none of them treated him that way. Not that he minded. As long as they left him alone, he was happy, and they did that as long as Vail made them look good.

  Heading to his quarters at shift's end, he bumped into Toq in the hallway.

  "Hello, Toq."

  "What do you want?"

  "I--I am merely heading to my cabin."

  Toq laughed. "Then don't let me get in your way." Vail continued to walk, then Toq called out his name.

  "Yes?" Vail asked.

  Toq turned and closed the distance between them. "Was it you who got the shields back up to full so quickly?"

  Flattered at having his work recognized, Vail nodded.

  "That was impressive work. Commander Kurak chose well when she made you her assistant."

  Vail shifted uncomfortably. "She didn't. The original chief engineer died honorably in a duel. The commander was assigned after that, but the staff was already in place." Quickly he added, "Not that she didn't deserve it. She was the one who designed the previous flagship, the Negh'Var, before she joined the Defense Force. She was one of the greatest warp field specialists in the empire!"

  "Commander Kurak's life doesn't really interest me," Toq said dryly.

  "But you may want to share that information with Leskit, given the way he talked at dinner yesterday."

  "Perhaps that would be good for her," Vail muttered. "Toq, I don't know what to do. There are so many ways I could improve thi--"

  "Vail, why are you here?" Blinking, Vail said, "What do you mean?"

  "You're no warrior. What is a Grishnar cat like you doing among targs?" Shaking his head, Vail said, "How come I'm not working at the Science Institute or something, you mean? My parents and sister asked me the same question. They thought I was insane--and that I'd be dead in a week. But I'm still here! I'm in the Defense Force! This is where history is made, where battles are won, not in the Science Institute.

  All the great stories are of war and battle--people like the captain and the ambassador. I want to be a part of that!"

  Toq unsheathed his d'k tahg. Vail felt his racht coming up again. Toq and Vail were the same height and roughly the same weight, but Vail suddenly felt a good deal smaller. Toq stood so close to Vail that he could smell the grapok sauce on Toq's breath, and the hairs of Toq's untrimmed beard almost tickled Van's face.

  "And what makes you think," Toq asked with a vicious smile, holding the knife up to Van's throat, "that you deserve to be a part of that, Grishnar?" Vail saw a small, dark stain on the end of the blade, and wondered if that was Kegren's blood. He thought he smelled blood, but that could've been his im
agination.

  "I--I do my d-duty, just as you do! A-and more! Right now, I'm going to fix Bekk Goran's disrupter!"

  Toq sneered. "Goran can get another disrupter."

  "N-no, he can't! It's been in his family for generations. He told me his great-grandfather used it on Organia--I don't know if he speaks the truth, Dahar Master Kor only had a few troops on Organia--but he says he did, and he can't get rid of it without dishonoring his House, but it doesn't work properly, so he asked me to repair it, and I'm almost done, and I think he'll be extremely angry if you kill me now."

  Vail inhaled sharply, having gotten that all out without taking a breath. He thought that if he paused to take a breath, Toq would slit his throat.

  Toq leaned his head back and laughed heartily. Then, to Valts relief, he sheathed his d'k tahg. "You are-intriguing, Vail. You whine like a Ferengi, yet you perform magic with shields, make the first edible food I've had since I joined the Defense Force, and fix hundred year-old disrupters. A Grishnar who survives among the targs." He slapped Vail on the back.

  Trying to keep his footing, Vail smiled nervously. "Thank you, Toq.

  If I may ask--what can I do about Kurak? I don't understand her--you'd think she would want me to improve things. But she will not let me."

  "If she's holding you back, Vail, there is only one thing you can do."

  Toq once again unsheathed his knife. "Get her out of your way." With that, he turned on his heel, said, "See you at dinner, Grishnar," and walked off.

  Wonderful, Vail thought. I'm probably stuck with that nickname. But he'd been called worse.

  Continuing to his quarters, he thought at Toq's retreating back, It's fine for you to say get her out of my way-you actually know how to use that d'k tahg of yours. All I can do with mine is cut dead meat and pry open control panels. If I challenge Kurak, she

  "II hand me my head.

  Or worse.

  Sighing, he entered his quarters. He had a disrupter to fix.

  B'Oraq approached the captain's office. In one hand, she held a casualty report. She tugged on her braid with the other. She had been surprised at the summons requesting her to hand-deliver the report. It wasn't necessary to provide it face to face; she could simply enter it into the computer, and Klag would have immediate access.