“However,” Lorgh added, “anyone could do that. What we need from you relates to the conversation we had on the Pu’Bekhthree years ago.”
“Romulans.” Mogh almost sneered the word.
“What would the Romulans want with Khitomer?” Kaasin asked. “It is merely a research outpost.”
“The Romulans place value on symbolism, in particular names and places. Khitomer was the site of the treaty between the Federation and the Empire. The Romulans’ attack on Narendra III served to strengthen that treaty. We believe a Romulan agent has been sent there to sabotage the outpost and weaken the alliance.”
“How?” Kaasin asked.
K’mpec smiled grimly. “If we knew that, we would not need to send you.”
Shaking her head, Kaasin started wolfing down more gagh.“Why would the Romulans care? Have they not been our allies also, now that Praetor Narviat is in power?”
Kurn chose that moment to throw his entire plate of diced rachtacross the room. One of the servants silently moved to clean it up.
“Kurn!” Kaasin yelled. “You are forbidden all food for a day. Kahlest, take him away.”
The nurse obeyed immediately, gathering the infant in her arms and taking him out of the dining hall. Kurn rewarded this by spitting on her dress, which Kahlest ignored.
“Quite a woman, your nurse,” K’mpec said with a large smile.
“You haven’t answered my question,” Kaasin said tartly.
Mogh then finally spoke again. “Romulans are not to be trusted. After Praxis, they wormed their way into Klingon Houses like Kreel picking over the remains of our slaughtered enemies.”
“Yes,” K’mpec said, a serious look returning to his face after his rather weak attempt to distract Kaasin and Mogh with his pursuit of Kahlest. Unless,Lorgh thought with amusement, it wasn’t an attempt and he really is that smitten with her.
K’mpec continued. “While Narviat has remained committed to keeping us as allies, it is unlikely that the entire Senate agrees with this position—nor the entire military. Not to mention those aristocrats who lent support to some of our people after Praxis. The ties between the empires may not be high—but they are deep.”
Lorgh swallowed the last of his targheart. “Your job, Mogh, will be to find the tie that is on Khitomer and sever it.”
Mogh nodded. “It will be dangerous.” He looked at his mate. “Perhaps you and the children should remain here.”
“I have already accepted the position on Khitomer, my love,” Kaasin said in an iron voice.
“Position?” Lorgh asked. He did not know about this.
“A mok’barainstructor,” Kaasin said, fixing her gray eyes on Lorgh, her tone losing none of its hardness. “I have given my word to the outpost commander that I will serve this function. I will notgo back on my word because my mate feels the need to treat me with the same delicacy that he treats his precious tapestries.”
“I want to go too, Father!” Worf bellowed suddenly. Lorgh smiled, hearing his grandfather in the child. But young Worf had much more energy than the old general, whom life had so thoroughly beaten down by the time Lorgh met him. “I will help you seek out the Romulan traitor and kill him where he stands!”
“No,” Mogh said.
“I am old enough to wield a bat’leth!I can fight!”
Kaasin smiled, and now the look in her gray eyes was mischievious. “He already fights better than you, my love, I think he has earned it.” Then the iron returned. “Besides, I will not leave him or Kurn behind with Kahlest and the servants for four months.”
Mogh laughed, a harsh sound, as if the man’s larynx was unaccustomed to it. “I know better than to argue with you, Kaasin. So be it. We shall all go to Khitomer, as planned. And I shall root out the traitor.”
Worf let out a cheer. “He will die at our hands!”
Before conversation could continue, a beeping emitted from K’mpec’s coat of office. Reaching into one of the voluminous pockets that lined the garment, he pulled out a communications device. “Rnh. The High Council has declared an emergency session. I must go. Tell Kahlest I look forward to seeing her again before you leave.” He rose, and activated the device. “This is K’mpec, code wa’maH Soch.”
A red transporter beam took the councillor away.
“Good,” Worf said, reaching over to K’mpec’s plate, which still had some half-eaten food. “I can finish his blood pie!”
Mogh and Kaasin both laughed at their older son’s enthusiasm for his meal—not to mention K’mpec’s—but Lorgh could not join them. He was concerned. Worf could at least defend himself, and both Mogh and Kaasin were the worthiest of warriors. But Lorgh feared the worst might happen on Khitomer, and he would not endanger both sons of Mogh. He owed General Worf too much to allow all of his male heirs to go to their possible deaths. The one least able to fight was the one who needed to stay behind.
Besides, if the worst happens before Mogh can identify the spy, I will need a long-term backup plan.
“I urge you, Kaasin, to reconsider sending Kurn, at least. He is but an infant who cannot even throw rachtwith any accuracy, much less a blade.”
“I will protect him,” Kaasin said.
“Of that I have no doubt, but to risk your entire line…”
Mogh fixed Lorgh with a stare. “Do you question our strength?”
“No, but I know the Romulans. If they learn of your true mission, or if you uncover theirs, all of your lives may be forfeit.”
“So I am to leave my newborn child with servants and inferiors while I teach mok’barato an outpost full of fools?”
If they are such fools, why did you accept the assignment?Lorgh was tempted to ask, but that would have been a mistake. Kaasin was, like any mother, trying to protect her family, and Lorgh could not blame her. So he played his final piece. “One of the warriors assigned to Khitomer is Ja’rod.”
That got their attention, as Mogh knew it would.
His mouth full of blood pie, Worf asked, “Who’s Ja’rod?”
“My greatest rival,” Mogh said. “And his House and ours have been in conflict for generations. You remember Huraga?”
Lorgh recalled that the young warrior was a shipmate of Mogh’s on the Pu’Bekhand a friend to the House of Mogh.
Worf seemed to know him as well. “He told good stories.”
Mogh smiled. “Yes. You remember the one about the time we fought against the House of Duras?”
Nodding eagerly, Worf said, “That was a great story!”
“Ja’rod is the head of that House now.” Mogh looked at Lorgh. “If he is on Khitomer—”
Lorgh held up a hand. “We have no proof that he is the Romulan agent. In fact, we have no reason to assume that Ja’rod has any links to the Romulans at all. Yes, his ancestors sold ships to the Romulans decades ago and brought together rich Romulans with destitute Klingons, but that means nothing for the purposes of this mission.”
Kaasin bared her teeth. “The House Head is responsible for the actions of his House.”
“By law and tradition, yes—but on Khitomer that does not make Ja’rod a spy.”
Mogh nodded. “It also makes our entire family a target.”
“I will not leave Kurn here!”Kaasin said in a tone that would brook no argument.
In Kaasin’s emphasis on where Kurn was to be kept, Lorgh saw how to move in for the kill. “Iwill take charge of the boy while you are gone. He will be cared for as if he were one of my own children until you return.”
Mogh and Kaasin exchanged a look. Klingons had no telepathy like Vulcans or Betazoids or Letheans, but Lorgh knew from his relationship with his own mate that couples often had unique psionic abilities all their own. Though he could not hear it, an entire conversation took place between the two with that look.