Qu’vatlh.Interjection with no direct translation. [First used in A Good Day to Die.]
racht (raHta’). Food made from live serpent worms (not to be confused with gagh). [First seen in “Melora” (DS9).]
raktajino (ra’taj). Coffee, Klingon style. [First seen in “The Passenger” (DS9).]
rokeg blood pie (ro’qegh’Iwchab). Food apparently made from or with the blood of an animal, possibly a rokeg. [First seen in “A Matter of Honor” (TNG).]
Sto-Vo-Kor (Suto’vo’qor). The afterlife for the honored dead, where all true warriors go, crossing the River of Blood after they die to fight an eternal battle. The closest Klingon equivalent to heaven. [First mentioned by name in “Rightful Heir” (TNG).]
taknar (taqnar). An animal, the gizzards of which are sometimes served as food, and the droppings of which are particularly foul smelling. [First referenced in A Good Day to Die.]
targ (targh). Animal that is popular as a pet, but the heart of which is also considered a delicacy. [First seen as a pet in “Where No One Has Gone Before” (TNG) and as a food in “A Matter of Honor” (TNG).]
tik’leth (tIqleH). An edged weapon, similar to an Earth long sword. [First seen in “Reunion” (TNG).]
tIngDagh.A stringed musical instrument, traditionally played during operas.
toDSaH.Insult with no direct translation. Sometimes anglicized as tohzah. [First used in “The Defector” (TNG).]
torgot (torghotlh). A large animal native to Rura Penthe that is difficult to subdue.
trigak (tlhIghaq). A predatory animal with sharp teeth that it bares before attacking. [First referenced in Honor Bound.]
wam.A type of serpent. [First referenced in Honor Bound.]
warnog (warnagh). An alcoholic beverage. [First seen in “Rightful Heir” (TNG).]
Yan-Isleth (yanISletlh). The chancellor’s personal bodyguard, sometimes referred to as the Brotherhood of the Sword. [First seen in “Apocalypse Rising” (DS9).]
yIntagh.Epithet with no direct translation. [First used in A Good Day to Die.]
yobta’ yupma’.A Klingon harvest festival. Literally translates as “the we-have-completed-harvesting festival.”
zilm’kach (tlhImqaH). Food made from something orange. [First seen in “Melora” (DS9).]
Acknowledgments
Primary thanks go, as ever, to Marco Palmieri, my editor. It’s under his guidance that this new direction was conceived, and his insights made this story as good as I hope it is. I’ve done some of my finest work for Marco, and I hope that trend has continued with this volume.
Secondary thanks go to Paula Block of CBS, who approved the story and manuscript with her usual deft touch; to Lucienne Diver, my wonderful agent; to John J. Ordover, with whom I initially developed the Gorkon crew for the novel Diplomatic Implausibility and who edited several of Klag and the gang’s subsequent adventures before moving on and Marco taking over; and to Pocket’s other noble editors, Margaret Clark, Edward Schlesinger, Jennifer Heddle, and Jaime Cerota.
Thanks also to the actors who gave voice and face to several of the characters seen in these pages: Nicole deBoer (Dax), Robert DoQui (Noggra), Michael Dorn (Worf), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Jennifer Gatti (Ba’el), David Graf (Leskit), Richard Herd (L’Kor), J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Sterling Macer Jr. (Toq), Tricia O’Neill (Kurak), Alan Scarfe (Tokath), Alexander Siddig (Bashir), Ron Taylor (Kaga), Brian Thompson (Klag), and Tony Todd (Rodek/Kurn).
I cannot begin to express my gratitude to Marc Okrand, who created the Klingon language, and Dr. Lawrence Schoen, head of the Klingon Language Institute (www.kli.org), who were of invaluable aid with many Klingon words and phrases.
There have been many Klingon episodes of all five Star Trek TV shows over the years, and I wish to thank the writers of all those episodes, but in particular Gene L. Coon (who created the Klingons in the original series episode “Errand of Mercy”), Ronald D. Moore (who wrote a lot of Klingon episodes, among them “Sins of the Father,” “Redemption,” “The House of Quark,” and “Sons of Mogh,” stories that had a particular influence on this novel), and René Echevarria (who wrote “Birthright Part 2,” one of the finest and most underappreciated episodes of The Next Generation), for laying some of the groundwork for A Burning House. Thanks also to my fellow Star Trek novelists David Mack (A Time to Kill), Jeffrey Lang and the aforementioned J.G. Hertzler (The Left Hand of Destiny), Kevin Ryan (the Errand of Vengeance and Errand of Fury trilogies), Dayton Ward (In the Name of Honor), Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels (Forged in Fire), and especially the late John M. Ford (The Final Reflection) for excellent and inspirational work with Klingons in their books.
At almost every convention I’ve been to, there have been Klingons, and they’ve all been incredibly supportive of my work, as have dozens and dozens of others who’ve e-mailed me over the years. They are far too numerous to name here, so I hereby thank every single one of them all at once. Having said that, I will single out two groups in particular: Joe Manning and the rest of the gang at the Camp Dover Peace Conference in Ohio and the wonderful folks who organize the Klingon end of things at DucKon in Illinois, who had me as their guest in 2005 and 2006. You guys are the best.
Dr. Ilsa J. Bick, fellow Trek novelist and MD, was of tremendous assistance with various medical details, and she deserves much thanks and praise.
The usual gangs of idiots: the folks at the café who plied me with coffee during my marathon writing sessions; CGAG, the bestest writers’ group ever; the Forebearance, in particular GraceAnne Andreassi DeCandido, for editorial and emotional guidance; and Kyoshi Paul and my fellow students at his dojo, for keeping my spirit high.
Finally, thanks to them that live with me, both human and feline, for regular encouragement, love, and understanding.
About the Author
Keith R.A. DeCandido has written a wide variety of Star Trek material in an equally wide variety of media: novels, short fiction, magazines, comic books, and eBooks. It began in 1999 with the Next Generation comic book miniseries Perchance to Dream and most recently includes three items in celebration of TNG’s twentieth anniversary: the novel Q&A, the short story “Four Lights” in The Sky’s the Limit, and the concluding eBook in the six-part miniseries Slings and Arrows. His other contributions include two novels and a novella in the acclaimed series of post-finale Deep Space Nine fiction, three pieces of Voyager fiction that don’t take place in the Delta Quadrant, eleven eBooks in the Corps of Engineers series, the duology The Brave and the Bold (the first single story to encompass all five TV series), the political novel Articles of the Federation (singled out by TV Zone as the standout Trek novel of 2005), A Time for War, a Time for Peace (the USA Today best-selling lead-in to the movie Star Trek Nemesis), and more.
However, Keith is perhaps best known for his work with the Klingons, from the 2001 novel Diplomatic Implausibility (which introduced the I.K.S. Gorkon), to the three books under the I.K.S. Gorkon banner (A Good Day to Die and Honor Bound in 2003 and Enemy Territory in 2005), to the historical epic The Art of the Impossible (part of the best-selling Lost Era miniseries in 2003), to the Klingon issue in the Alien Spotlight II comic book miniseries, to short stories in the Tales from the Captain’s Table, Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows, and Seven Deadly Sins anthologies.
Beyond Star Trek, Keith has written in a wide variety of media universes, including TV shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, CSI: NY, Farscape, Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda), video games (World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Command and Conquer, Resident Evil), and comic books (Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, Silver Surfer). He’s also written the original high-fantasy police procedural Dragon Precinct, along with several related stories. Keith—whose work has been praised by Entertainment Weekly, TrekNation.com, TV Zone, Cinescape.com, Dreamwatch, and Publishers Weekly, among others—is also a musician, a practitioner of ken-shikai karate, and an avid New York Yankees fan. He lives in the Bronx with his fiancée and the world’s two goofiest cats. Learn too much about Keith at hi
s official Web site at DeCandido.net, or just send him silly e-mails at [email protected].
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