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“Or, perhaps they do not think us smart enough to have constructed one.” K’mpec chuckled. “Either way, I assume that the images provided are useful?”
“One might put it that way, yes, sir.” Mogh was still smiling as he loaded a dataspike into K’mpec’s workstation.
K’mpec watched as the relay showed the emptiness of space. Mogh advanced the recording to the moment when a ship came out of warp. Within moments, the ship came close enough to be visually identified as a Cardassian Akril-class ship. Definitely from their military,he thought. Perfect.
The ship, which the Pu’Bekhcomputer identified as the Boklar,then fired on the relay and warped back out of the system.
“I already have the pilot charting their projected course,” Mogh said when the recording was done. “Based on the time-stamp of the relay security, this occurred less than seven hours ago.”
At that, K’mpec looked up sharply.
“Yes, sir—we just missed them.”
“We will not miss them again.”
Mogh’s smile grew wider. “No, sir, we will not.”
“Very well then, Commander, give chase. I will alert Command of what has happened.”
“Sir!” Mogh moved to leave K’mpec’s office.
“Commander!”
Mogh stopped and turned around.
“For one who swears no vengeance against the Cardassians, you are extremely eager to pursue them.”
Dropping the smile, Mogh said, “I merely wish to see that theseCardassians pay for their cowardly attack, Captain.”
“And that is all?”
“Yes, sir.”
After dismissing his first officer, K’mpec ordered a communication be put through to Qo’noS. Then he called up the Defense Force records on the Boklar.The only thing they had was its class—which K’mpec knew from looking at it—and that it was most recently known to be commanded by a gul named Onell.
K’mpec frowned, his complex crest furrowing. He knew that name. After a moment he placed it as co
He wondered if Mogh knew this, and if that explained his enthusiasm. So much for this being over, eh, Commander?
“Sir, we have gotten through to Qo’noS. I have Councillor Kravokh for you.”
K’mpec was impressed. He had expected to get one of Kravokh’s functionaries at best. “Put him through.”
Kravokh’s angular face appeared on the viewscreen on K’mpec’s desk. “Report, Captain.”
“Our assignment to this system has been justified. A Cardassian ship called the Boklarattacked the communications relay in this system. We are in pursuit.”
“Excellent. And you have proof?”
“Yes.”
“Most excellent. This is a great day, Captain. With this, perhaps we can finally convince the Federation to take Raknal V away from the unworthy Spoon Heads and then, finally, Ch’gran can be ours.”Kravokh leaned forward. “I want that ship captured, Captain. I want whoever the gul of that ship is—”
“Gul Onell.”
“Fine, I want Onell to stand before the Council and speak for all to hear that he destroyed Klingon property at the order of their Central Command. Then he will be executed, and we will have all the justification for taking Ch’gran that we will need.”
K’mpec thought the councillor was jumping ahead of himself a bit. “And if we do not find the Boklar?”
Kravokh shrugged. “Then we will demand it through cha
“It will be done.”
“Good.”
After Kravokh cut off the co
At least, the reports were that Ditagh was ailing. He had been less and less visible over the past few months—though some argued that he was already insubstantial, so becoming invisible was not much of a stretch. The current chancellor seemed to be in favor of strengthening the Empire but had never actually implemented any plan to do so. Kravokh, at least, had the welfare of the Empire in mind, though he seemed to think the restoration of Ch’gran would do the most good to restore the Empire to greatness. K’mpec wasn’t so sure—but he also knew that losing Ch’gran would be a disaster.
K’mpec also questioned the wisdom of pursuing the Boklarout of Klingon jurisdiction. True, most of the space between here and Cardassia was either unclaimed or belonged to the Federation, but engaging the Boklarafter they left Klingon territory would muddy the issue. They needed to take the Boklarin Empire space.
Mogh’s voice came over the intercom. “Sir, we have picked up theBoklar on long-range sensors. They are on course for Cardassian space, but still within our borders.”
“Can we catch them before they cross the border?”
“Yes, sir, if we increase to warp eight.”
“Anh!” he grunted, then moved quickly to the bridge. We will get them,he thought gleefully.
As K’mpec entered the bridge, the pilot said, “Speed increasing to warp eight.”
Standing next to the operations console, Mogh added, “At this rate, we will overtake the Boklarin three minutes—long before they reach the border.”
“Arm torpedoes, and fire a minimal spread at their engines as soon as they are within range.” He turned to face the gu
“Sir!” the lieutenant said quickly, understanding that the penalty for the Boklarbeing destroyed would be the gu
Mogh then approached the command chair and spoke quietly to K’mpec. “Sir, the Akril-class vessels have impressive firepower. I do not doubt the ability of the Pu’Bekhto win any battle, but if we hamstring ourselves—”
Matching Mogh’s quiet tones, K’mpec interrupted. “Our orders are to take the Boklarintact and bring Gul Onell back to the Homeworld for trial.”
“Sir, we have the sensor logs from the relay. What need do we have to keep these Cardassian animals alive?”
K’mpec’s instinct was to remind the commander of his place and of the foolishness of questioning his orders. But K’mpec also preferred underlings who thought for themselves. The question being, is Mogh thinking for himself, or thinking only of the vengeance he claims he does not feel the urge to undertake?This bloodthirstiness was completely understandable—the Cardassians had, after all, invaded—but may have had ulterior motives. Either way, K’mpec felt the need to explicate. “Do not underestimate the power of a living witness and of physical evidence, Commander. We can tamper with our own sensor logs, after all.”
Mogh nodded, in seeming understanding. “I withdraw my objection, Captain.”
“Weapons range in thirty seconds,” called out the gu
“Prepare to fire,” Mogh said with a smile.
“In range.”
Clenching his fist, Mogh cried, “Fire!”
K’mpec watched as the torpedoes traveled through the distortion of warp space, traversing the gap between the Pu’Bekhand the Boklar,then striking the latter ship’s shields, disrupting them.
“Direct hit. They are coming out of warp.”
“Stay with them, pilot,” Mogh barked. “Arm disruptors and raise shields.”