I.K.S. Gorkon
Praxis Station, in orbit of Qo’noS
Kurak stomped toward the medical bay. She had waited a full day for this. Her initial attempts had been stymied by B’Oraq being unconscious. However that petaQ Valatra had just informed her that B’Oraq was awake. She also said that the doctor could not see her right now, but Kurak was hardly about to listen to the words of a physician whom she outranked and who wasn’t even assigned to this ship.
The medical bay doors rumbled aside to reveal B’Oraq sitting at her desk, talking with someone on a comm screen. Valatra and that civilian she’d brought with her were checking on the patients in the medical bay, many of whom seemed healed enough to Kurak’s untrained eye.
“B’Oraq,” she said, “I will speak to you.”
Holding up a hand, B’Oraq said, “I will be with you in a moment. Cou—”
Kurak stepped forward, her arm gripping her wrist. “Now, Doctor, this can wait no longer.”
The voice on the comm screen said, “What is that noise I hear in the background?”
Her eyes smoldering, B’Oraq said, “It is the Gorkon’s chief engineer, Councillor Krozek. I am sure she has what she believes is important ship’s business to discuss.”
As she walked closer to the desk, Kurak saw the emblem that indicated that the communication was with the Great Hall, and based on B’Oraq’s words, it was a member of the High Council to whom she was speaking. With the greatest reluctance, Kurak said, “I will wait.”
At no point during this conversation did B’Oraq take her eyes off the viewscreen. “You were saying, Councillor?”
“I was saying, Doctor, that you may not speak to Kryan. The actions of Captain Stren speak for themselves.”
“No, Councillor, they do not. I am not sure that—”
Krozek looked to Kurak as if he wished to be doing anything other than talking to this woman. “Doctor, this is a waste of time. Kryan has been removed from the High Council pending his case being heard before the full council session that will commence in one week’s time. His brother’s actions have brought shame upon his House and upon the High Council.”
“Councillor, I do not believe that Captain Stren’s actions were—”
“What you believe is of very little interest to me, Doctor. If you wish to speak on Stren’s or Kryan’s behalf, you may do so in one week in open council. In the meantime, as part of that session, there will be a meqba’. We require Captain Stren’s body be sent to Doctor Kowag for examination.”
B’Oraq hesitated. “Stren is a patient in my medical bay, Councillor. Standard procedure dictates that I do a full examination and write a report before I release him.”
“You are welcome to do so, but do it quickly and send the body to Kowag. That is all.”
With that, the screen went dark. Kurak had to admit to taking considerable enjoyment from the look of frustration on B’Oraq’s face.
“If you’re done wasting the High Council’s time,” Kurak said with a wicked smile, “perhaps you can take a moment to explain to me why you have commandeered—”
Pointing to the biobeds in the medical bay, B’Oraq said, “Kurak, do you see all these Klingons?”
“Of course.”
“Do you know why they’re alive right now?”
Pointing at one of them, Kurak said, “That one isn’t.”
“He was dead before I got to him. But the rest of them are alive because I diverted power to the medical bay. The reason I did it was to save these people’s lives, which, you might recall, is my job. The power requirements of the medical bay are less than five percent of what is required to run this entire vessel on its own, and the Gorkon is currently receiving a power feed from Praxis Station, is it not?”
“That is hardly the point. You did not receive authorization to—”
“On medical matters, the only authorization that can supersede mine is Captain Klag’s. As it happens, I was about to contact him. Would you like to ask him if I did anything wrong?”
“Yes, actually,” Kurak said. She was getting tired of this loathsome woman putting on airs as if she were in some way important to the functioning of this ship.
The remarkable thing was that she actually gave any thought to the functioning of the ship beyond engineering.
B’Oraq seemed taken aback by Kurak’s response. No doubt, the bolmaq—as the late, unlamented Nurse Gaj had referred to B’Oraq—had expected her threat to be enough. But Kurak was made of sterner stuff, and if the doctor was going to hide behind the captain’s shields, she was damn well going to make her activate them herself.
“Very well,” the bolmaq said sourly. She turned back to her console and put through a communication to the House M’Raq estates.
Klag’s face appeared on the viewer a moment later. “Greetings, B’Oraq. How goes the rescue?”
“Well enough, Captain. We were able to save all those that were not already dead. Doctor Valatra in particular is to be commended—she saved one person who was very close to death.”
“Doctor,” Kurak said, growing impatient with the doctor’s bleating.
“Captain, Commander Kurak is with me, and she has a complaint.”
“That is hardly surprising,” Klag said. “After all, she is awake.”
Kurak stepped forward, a growl building in her throat. “That is hardly fair, Captain.”
“It is my ship, Commander—I am under no obligation to be ‘fair.’ What is the nature of your complaint?”
Opening her mouth to form a reply, Kurak realized she was going to sound foolish. The captain had begun the conversation asking B’Oraq about the rescue. Of course, it was all over the information net, so Klag could hardly not be aware of it. It had been a huge scandal, as the aircar’s pilot, Captain Stren, was the brother of Councillor Kryan. Or, based on what she had overheard, former Councillor Kryan. Stren’s cowardly, brutal, and wholly unprovoked attack on the city of Novat had resulted in disgrace for the entire House of Kryan. B’Oraq had even been mentioned in some of those reports, especially since one of the people whose lives she had saved was a member of the House of Kurita.
However, the casualness of Klag’s tone indicated his likely response to Kurak’s protest.
Still, she had come this far. “I do not appreciate medical personnel who are on leave commandeering ship’s power without consulting with the chief engineer. We are in the midst of repairs, and it is possible—”
Holding up a hand, Klag said, “Stop there, Commander. This was a medical emergency, and thus procedure becomes secondary to duty. B’Oraq made the proper decision.”
That was that, then. Kurak’s only option at this point was to challenge either B’Oraq or Klag, neither of which was particularly attractive. She probably could kill B’Oraq, but that would serve only to alienate Kurak farther from a captain she was only just starting to appreciate and under whom she had to serve for another year.
“Very well, Captain.”
“Are the repairs proceeding apace?”
“Despite the imbecility of the Praxis Station personnel, who have managed the unbelievable task of being even more incompetent than my own engineers, we have maintained the repair schedule, yes. I believe we will be able to achieve our intended departure date.”
“Good. I will inspect the repairs in three days before I go to the Great Hall.”
Kurak frowned. “The Great Hall?”
Klag’s upswept eyebrows knit into a furrow of annoyance. “I have been summoned to a meeting with Chancellor Martok and several councillors. The state of the Gorkon’s repairs may well be a subject of the meeting, so I wish to be as cognizant as possible of them.”
“I will be happy to assist you in whatever way necessary, Captain.” Kurak surprised herself with the words.
Grinning, Klag said, “That would be appreciated. That will be all, Commander.”
Recognizing the dismissal, Kurak gave the bolmaq one final glower before departing.
That was foolish, she thought as she walked down the corridor toward her cabin. Klag was never going to favor any but the bolmaq. If they haven’t actually bedded each other, it is only a matter of time before they do, and even if they do not, he will always favor her over me. Indeed, he is likely to favor anyone over me. Kurak could not blame the captain. After all, Kurak had spent most of her tenure on the Gorkon trying to do as little work as possible. This was not someone for whom the captain would ever be an advocate. Trust had to be earned, and Kurak had a long way to go to start accumulating such coin.
So why did I revert to my old self and barrel into the medical bay to step on B’Oraq?
She knew the answer: Leskit.
He was right to stay mated to Karreka, Kurak knew that. It would be a stain on both their honor if Leskit divorced her.
Yet she could not help but feel that she was being denied true happiness, that what she had with Leskit was an illusion that could be shattered at a moment’s notice. The only way she would believe that it wasn’t would be for them to mate.
As soon as she walked into her cabin, she noticed the light on the workstation blinking, indicating that she had a message. She activated the station and sat at the desk.
The face of an old woman appeared on the screen. It took Kurak a moment to place it as belonging to Torj, one of the chambermaids at the House Palkar estate.
“Greetings, Kurak. I bring grave news. Moloj is dead.”
Kurak hesitated, waiting for the grave news to actually be given. The House ghIntaq since before Kurak’s father was born, that tiresome old toDSaH had been Kurak’s nemesis since birth. She had been hoping for his death since her Age of Ascension, and Kurak’s only regret at his dying was that it took this long to happen. In addition to all the other indignities Moloj had visited upon her, he had forced Kurak to stay in the Defense Force until Gevnar came of age, or face discommendation.
That threat, however, died with him. Now the House was in control of—
Of no one. Even as Torj droned on with the irrelevant details of Moloj’s joyous passage to Gre’thor—Kurak couldn’t imagine that petaQ getting anywhere near Sto-Vo-Kor—Kurak frowned. That there were no able-bodied men of Palkar to serve in the Defense Force also meant that there were none such to take over the House.
Then, suddenly, the frown turned into a smile, as Kurak realized that she could solve all her problems in one d’k tahg thrust. She cut off Torj’s ramblings and connected to the Great Hall. Krozek said that the next full session of the High Council was in one week, and Kurak needed to be on that session’s agenda.
Once that was accomplished, she had to track down a woman in Kopf’s Cliff named Karreka.