K’mpec regarded his first officer, who had only been on this assignment for less than a year. He had a simple, yet strong crest, with a raised middle ridge, penetrating black eyes, and wide shoulders. In battle, he had proven a crack shot with a disruptor, but awful with a bat’leth.The captain preferred that to the other way around—it was all well and good to be handy with a blade, but ultimately it was disruptors that won battles.
Mogh also waited patiently, standing at attention. He did not fidget or show any outward sign of displeasure or worry. K’mpec admired that.
“It has been several months since the Chutincident on Raknal V, Mogh. Yet you have said nothing.”
“There has been nothing to say.”
K’mpec chuckled. “I find that difficult to believe. Your father was killed in a cowardly attack. Does that matter to you?”
“Why do you ask me this, sir?”
“Are you questioning me, Commander?” K’mpec asked, his voice lowering.
“Yes, sir, I am.”
At that, K’mpec laughed. “Good. I was beginning to wonder if you had any passion at all.”
Mogh looked straight at K’mpec. “My father died in an accident caused by carelessness. The only one against whom I could possibly seek vengeance—the captain of the Cardassian cargo ship—is also dead. As far as I am concerned, the matter is closed. My father died in the line of duty. The best way to honor his memory is to continue to serve, as he did.”
Silently, K’mpec was impressed. It was quite possibly the longest number of sentences Mogh had strung together in all his time serving aboard the Pu’Bekh.
“I have received many reports, Mogh. You have no doubt read them as well. Many of the family members of the Chutvictims are seeking vengeance against random Cardassians.”
With a shrug, Mogh said, “That is their prerogative. But it is a foolish endeavor. It is not true vengeance if it is against someone unrelated who happens to be of the same species.”
Before K’mpec could pursue this further, the intercom sounded. “Bridge to captain.”
K’mpec looked up. “Yes?”
“We have scanned the relay, sir—or, rather, what is left of it.”
“Mneh,” the captain grumbled, and got up from his chair. Mogh followed him back onto the bridge.
“Report,” Mogh said as K’mpec took his seat.
The operations officer stood at attention. “Approximately sixty percent of the relay’s surface area has been blasted away. Preliminary scan indicates phaser fire consistent with Cardassian ships.”
“Are the relay’s security systems intact?” Mogh asked.
“Impossible to be sure.”
K’mpec looked at the viewscreen, which the operations officer had provided with a view of the relay. Its oblong shape was pitted, its surface broken, with wiring, circuitry, and chips all exposed to the vacuum of space.
One of the officers sneered. “Only Cardassians would invade our space to attack a mere relay station.”
Several other members of the bridge crew snarled and spat in assent. K’mpec had to agree with the sentiment. The relay’s sole function was to amplify and redirect communications traffic. Normal ship-to-planet communication, even via subspace, could take days, but relays such as this did much to make interstellar communication as close to instantaneous as possible. However, the machinery was also easily repaired or replaced, and could hardly be counted as a major blow against the Empire.
“Sir,” Mogh said, “request permission to beam the relay into the cargo hold. We can examine it more thoroughly that way.”
K’mpec nodded his affirmation. “You will supervise the examination personally, Commander. I want to know precisely what happened to that relay, and what it will take to fix it.”
“Sir!”
An hour later, Mogh once again stood in K’mpec’s office. “We have had success, Captain. The Cardassians showed poor aim. Though I am afraid that the unit will have to be scrapped and replaced, as it is beyond repair, they did not hit any of the security systems.” Mogh then smiled. “Lieutenant J’tal was of the opinion that the Cardassians were not smart enough to realize that a communications relay would have a security system.”
“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 connected to Raknal V. Calling up the records of that, he saw it: Kater Onell was the ship-master of the freighter that crashed into the Chut.
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.”