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Book Two: Honor Bound

Previous: Book One: A Good Day to Die
Next: Book Three: Enemy Territory
Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkon
Mass-Market Paperback / December, 2003
0-7434-5716-1

Written by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Excerpt:

Captain K'Vada watched as Klag's face faded from the small viewscreen. He then removed the Order of the Bat'leth medallion from his workstation, and was about to put it back in the drawer from which he'd retrieved it only a few minutes before. Just before he did, he hesitated, then decided to put the medallion at its proper place on his shoulder. It's been too long since I wore it. Longer still since wearing it actually meant anything.

K'Vada's service to the Empire went back to his youth--a youth that went back fairly far, much as he hated to admit it. He had won many campaigns, brought honor to his House, and continued to grow older. Eventually, he knew, he would slow down, and some ambitious first officer would decide to challenge him. Or perhaps a worthy foe would send him to Sto-Vo-Kor--though if the Romulan, Federation, Kinshaya, Kreel, Dominion, Cardassian, and Breen foes he'd faced over the years couldn't manage it, K'Vada didn't see how anyone else would. He had never considered himself to be an especially great warrior, yet here he was, still fighting after all these years, after all these campaigns.

With the decommissioning of his previous command following the war, he had only recently taken command of the I.K.S. Vidd. The previous captain had been the victim of a duel relating to some family feud or other. K'Vada came from a minor House that had never offended anyone, mostly by virtue of not being of enough consequence to do so. As a result, his life had been refreshingly free of such distractions.

Unfortunately, Command placed him in charge rather than promote the first officer, Commander Vigh. His House was of considerable consequence, which explained his high rank; his incompetence was also considerable, which explained K'Vada's placement on the ship over him. But it also meant that K'Vada needed to watch his back.

Entering the bridge, he saw that Vigh was sitting in the command chair. Although there was no regulation prohibiting it, Defense Force tradition held that no one save the ship's supreme commander sat in that chair, regardless of who was in command of the bridge. K'Vada supposed that Vigh could have come up with a more obvious insult, but one didn't readily spring to mind.

As the door to his office rumbled closed behind him, K'Vada said, "Pilot, change course to the Kavrot Sector, system loSmaH Soch, maximum warp."

Vigh, K'Vada noticed, did not rise from the command chair. "Sir, we have been assigned to patrol this sector for the next three days."

As if I did not know that. "We have new orders."

"No communications have arrived from Command."

This was, strictly speaking, true. The message from Klag came on a tight-beam subspace carrier wave that bypassed the Vidd's communications system and went straight to K'Vada's Order medallion. K'Vada did not respond directly to Vigh's statement, but instead turned back to the pilot. "Is the course laid in?"

"Yes, sir."

"Execu--"

Vigh rose from the command chair. "Belay that!"

K'Vada sighed. I should have known. "Pilot, execute at maximum warp, or I will replace you with a living officer who understands the chain of command." He turned to Vigh. "That goes for you as well, Commander."

"We have received no change in our orders!"

"We have not. I have." Indicating the Order medallion, K'Vada added, "This is official business of the Order of the Bat'leth, which supersedes any authority save that of the emperor himself."

To K'Vada's satisfaction, the pilot engaged the warp drive as soon as K'Vada mentioned the Order.

To his resignation, Vigh unsheathed his d'k tahg, the secondary blades unfurling with a dual click.

"It was not enough that Command did not give me this ship that was rightfully mine, but to put a lying sack of taknar droppings in my place is an insult I will bear no longer! The Vidd will be mine!"

K'Vada contemplated wasting his breath pointing out the rightness of his position with regards to the Order, but decided against it, choosing to simply unsheathe his own personal dagger. Vigh was making use of these events as an excuse to finally challenge K'Vada. Better to get this challenge out in the open and over with than to let it fester on the bridge for months on end.

"Now," Vigh continued, "you will be exposed for the honorless petaQ you trul--"

His diatribe was cut off by K'Vada slashing at his face.

Vigh stumbled backward, apparently surprised that K'Vada didn't wait until he was done giving his speech before attacking. Blood seeped from the wound in his cheek.

Screaming, Vigh lunged forward in a clumsy attack that K'Vada easily sidestepped. He had an opportunity to strike back, but decided against it. K'Vada hadn't had a good workout in far too long.

Within five minutes, it was clear he wasn't going to get one now, either. What Vigh lacked in command competence, he more than made up for in clumsiness. His attacks were the tiresomely predictable ones of a novice fighter. K'Vada had seen children fresh off their first hunt wield a d'k tahg with more skill than his soon-to-be-former first officer.

Finally, on Vigh's fourth obvious lunge, K'Vada again sidestepped it and plunged his own d'k tahg right into Vigh's chest. I should have done this weeks ago.

By this time, the entire complement of the bridge was chanting K'Vada's name. He removed the dagger and let Vigh's body fall to the deck. The captain then moved to the command chair, not bothering with the death ritual. That was only for honored warriors bound for Sto-Vo-Kor, a state of affairs that most assuredly did not apply to Vigh.

The second officer--now the first officer--grinned and said, "You have done a great service to this vessel today, Captain."

"I did nothing that Vigh did not bring upon himself," K'Vada said dismissively as he sat in his char and saw the distorted starfield on the viewscreen that indicated that they were at warp. "Pilot, time to destination?"

"Twenty-seven hours, sir."

"Speak with engineering about increasing engine efficiency. I want us at that star system as soon as possible."

Stepping around from the operations console to K'Vada's side, the new first officer--Lieutenant Yivogh--spoke in a low voice, so their conversation would only be heard by the two of them. "Sir, may I know our new mission?"

"We go into battle to preserve the honor of our Empire, Commander," he said, making it clear that an elevation in rank went with the elevation in position, prompting a grin from Yivogh. "You will know more when the time is right."

"As you command, sir."

K'Vada nodded, and leaned back in his chair. Not a bad morning, he thought. First a call to glory that was far more edifying than a patrol of a quiet sector of Empire space. Then he got to rid himself of his burdensome first officer--which, judging by the crew's reaction, would only serve to solidify his own position as captain. Yivogh may have had ambitions of his own, of course, and he was as likely as not to view the peculiar nature of this mission as an opportunity for advancement, much as his predecessor had.

For now, however, he is grateful to me, and I will use that for as long as I may. And then, Klag, we shall see if your call to glory is true...

* * *

"Bridge to Captain Triak."

Triak, son of H'Ren, captain of the I.K.S. Kreltek, looked up at the sound of his first officer's voice. Commander Vekma had been given strict orders not to disturb him. Does that fool woman think that, because she is my first officer and we share a bed that she may disregard my instructions?

Before he could rebuke his second in command, she added, "I would not disturb you normally, Captain, but Lieutenant Hevna says she must see you immediately. That it is business of the highest order."

"What kind of business?"

"She won't say," Vekma said, her voice dripping with anger. Triak smiled. Vekma did not like being uninformed. She suspected that her desire for him was as much due to the greater access she had to Triak and his thoughts as his bed-mate than she would as simply his first officer. Since she was so adept at both, Triak did not mind. "She will only say that it is urgent."

Normally, Triak would tell Vekma that the first-shift pilot could either explain herself or not get her audience--and perhaps be rotated off the bridge--but Hevna was not given to this sort of thing, normally. She was one of his finest officers, and the best pilot he had ever served with--she performed Kalmat's Maneuver in battle against the Jem'Hadar during the war, which wasn't supposed to be possible with a ship as large as the Kreltek. She had even been inducted into the Order of the Bat'leth two months ago on Ty'Gokor.

"Very well. Send her in."

"As you wish." Vekma didn't sound happy. Triak suspected that she wanted the captain to refuse the request. I may well pay for my accession tonight, he thought with regret.

A moment later, the door to his tiny office rumbled open, and Lieutenant Hevna entered. Hevna was appallingly young--or perhaps I'm simply getting old, Triak thought with a bit of melancholy--with hardly any muscle on her whatsoever. Had he not known of her piloting prowess, he would not have thought to look at her that she was Defense Force material. But warriors each fought their battles in their own way with the weapons best suited to them, and Hevna's were the helm controls of spacefaring vessels.

"Speak, Lieutenant. And make it quick. I do not appreciate being disturbed."

"I know, sir, and I would not have done so were the reason not so important." She took a breath. "Captain, I must respectfully request that you divert the Kreltek to the Kavrot Sector for urgent business of the Order of the Bat'leth."

Triak stared incredulously at Hevna for a moment, then threw his head back and threw a hearty laugh at the ceiling. "Vekma put you up to this, did she not? I did not credit her with this vicious a sense of humor. Thank you, Lieutenant, you may--"

"Sir, this is not a joke. I have received a summons from a fellow member of the Order."

"And this is supposed to matter why, exactly?"

Hevna blinked. "Did Commander Vekma not tell you?"

"Tell me what?" This was rapidly turning less amusing and more irritating. If Hevna was not more forthcoming, she was going to taste his d'k tahg.

"Chancellor Martok has summoned the Order back to its original purpose."

"What original purpose?" Then a memory of the night after Hevna's induction came back to him, from his and Vekma's post-coital conversation, where she told him about the all-night celebrating followed by the induction ceremony. Triak had only been paying partial attention, as he had remained on the Kreltek for the whole thing--Vekma had always wanted to attend an Order induction, and Triak thought it would be imprudent for both captain and first officer to be off-ship for so long--and so had been denied Vekma's company the previous night. He was mostly eager to make up for lost time, so he had forgotten. "Wait, something about spreading the word of Kahless--?"

Hevna breathlessly explain to Triak what Martok had said regarding the Order. So old Chancellor One-Eye wants to drag that foolishness from the past back to the present? This is what happens when commoners are given power. He remembered now that he had laughed at Vekma when she had told him of it two months ago, and dismissed it as romantic foolishness.

"And now one of the inductees has decided to use this as an excuse to summon the Order?" he asked.

"Yes. Captain Klag has--"

"Klag?" Triak knew of Klag: the son of M'Raq, who used his father's right arm to replace the one he lost during the war, like he was some kind of human. If they were letting animals like Klag into the Order, then its future as a means of maintaining honor in the Empire was a bleak one indeed.

"Yes, sir. Captain Klag has--"

Triak held up a hand. "Enough. This conversation has gone on far longer than I should have allowed it. The Kreltek is assigned to patrol the outer colonies. Unless I receive orders from Command that say otherwise, I will not divert from that assignment."

"Sir, you have discretion to--"

Angrily, Triak stood up, unsheathing his d'k tahg. "I do have discretion, yes, Lieutenant, but I certainly will not use it to chase honorless jatyIn conjured by a fool such as Klag! If you say one more word on this subject, you will be rotated off the bridge--assuming I do not decide to simply kill you." He held up his dagger, the outer blades clicking into their open position. "You have only lived this far into this discussion because of your accomplishments as a pilot. Am I understood, Lieutenant?"

Hevna stood at attention. "Yes, sir!"

"Good. Get out of my sight."

Without another word, Hevna turned on her heel and left the office.

Triak re-sheathed his weapon and sat back down. Order of the Bat'leth, he thought, shaking his head, what a sad, pathetic joke.

Copyright © 2003 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.