Chapter nine
Setbacks
When Chekov started to take in what he was seeing again, he realised that the older of the two Klingons was not in the room. The next thing he noticed was that he was free. Well, he wasn't chained to the wall anymore. Without reason he immediately suspected Koloth had done something and, as if on cue, he appeared from the back of the hollowed out stairs, grinning madly.
"So tell me, what have you done that could possibly scare off a grown Klingon, Koloth?" Pavel's half-brother grinned again.
"Karina has been in touch. Says that your friends have come down. Yes more." He added when he saw his half-brother's jaw drop. "She reckons that they'll be here by tomorrow. Okay?" he asked. Pavel didn't speak, he just nodded his head. What were they playing at? Beaming down more men? He thought. Chekov didn't voice his concern.
"Pavel, I'd be a lot happier if you would just go and then I could bring them to you an-". He cut off. The older Klingon came into the room and stopped in front of Chekov. He craned his neck and looked at the idiot who had wrecked his life.
To any normal three year old, the conversation would have been boring. But not to Pavel. He interrupted. "So, you were supposed to marry him" he pointed to the stranger. "But you didn't want to so you ran away, met dad and married him." His young face looked into his mothers. She looked astonished that he'd followed it all.
"Simply put, yes." His dad said.
"Well, seeing as you have a family and you're happy, I'm willing to be just a friend." The stranger said. His Mum smiled and the weird man left after that.
"Dad, what was he?"
"A Klingon, son. He was a Klingon."
"Get up." The deep voice from his flashback commanded, bringing Pavel back to reality. He looked into the face of his step-father. No emotion was displayed there. It was just blank. He scrutinised both Klingons before deciding it was probably going to be a beating if he didn't stand. He stood, disguising the pain in his knee so they wouldn't be satisfied. They pushed him forward toward the stairs. Pavel tilted his head to the side and looked at the Klingons suspiciously.
"What are you doing?" he asked in Russian. No point speaking English when everyone there could understand Russian. Koloth grinned and led him up the stairs. In the main room, lay a whip, what was known as a knout* plus other antique weapons that Pavel couldn't remember the names of.
"So, you might wonder why we even ordered you to punch me on the ship." Koloth started, watching Pavel's face. Pavel remained silent, staring at the weapons. "See, there's been a report that Andrei Chekov was murdered by my father here. And well, we'd hate for them to be believed."
Turning his head quickly to face the ambassador, Pavel spoke.
"If you mean me, then you're mistaken. I haven't told anyone, like we agreed." Rakaia smiled.
"I know you did. But, ah, you are listed as someone who witnessed that event. You're a loose end unfortunately Pavel. You know I hate to have loose ends."
Fear shot through Pavel like someone had injected pure glucose into his bloodstream. He glanced at Rakaia and then bolted. The Klingons had seen this coming and he was met with a whip across his chest. The strike was powerful and made blood spurt like water in a water fountain. It stopped Pavel in his tracks long enough for Rakaia to grab the knout. The metal spikes on the whips went deep into his skin and Rakaia pulled, tearing chunks of flesh out of his shoulder. Gritting his teeth, Pavel raised his arm across his face to shield the next blow of the whip. The strike landed on his arm and was so forceful that Pavel took a few steps backwards. Rakaia smiled gruesomely. The whip came again, this time across his stomach but Pavel could hardly feel the pain, adrenaline must be blocking it off. Either that or the Klingons had somehow cut off his nervous system. He decided to go with adrenaline. He spun round quickly and put his arm out.
As Chekov had planned, the rawhide thongs went deep into his skin. As the spikes caught in his skin, he twisted it up his arm like it was a snake. He pulled the knout and the surprised Klingon towards him, ignoring the feeling of the relentless beating across his back. As the Klingon came towards him on the chain, Pavel twisted his arm and came out of range of both weapons. Pavel backed up to the door that lead out onto the backstreet. When the door was open and he had a clear path out of it, Pavel pulled the chain out of his arm and threw the Klingon into his son then bolted.
As he ran through the streets, he could hear Koloth pursuing him. Chekov slowed down after turning down a dead-end alley. Down here, there was a fence that only he and his brother had been able to climb. Suddenly, from the entrance of the alley, his half-brother shouted; "I wouldn't go over that if I were you." Pavel turned sharply.
"Why?" he spat.
"Oh, this thing I'm holding, it will set off a bomb on the Enterprise as soon as you touch that fence!" Pavel's insides turned to ice. He knew he needed to get away from the Klingons but he wouldn't be able to bear life knowing he had caused 430 other people's deaths. He struggled to cope with one. Why? Why is there always a complication? He thought as he backtracked up the street towards certain death.
Bones glanced over his shoulder before taking out Karina's note. He held it up in the light and tried to read through her untidy scrawl. It took him a moment to realise it was in Russian. Damn! How could he read it now? Then he read the name scribbled across the top. It wasn't for him or the others, it was for Alexei. "Jim, come here." Bones called out into the darkness. His friend appeared by his side a moment later. "I found this note on Klavdia's neck; think the other girl left it for him." He said, glancing in the direction of Alexei's unconscious form. Jim took the note and studied it.
"Let's translate it shall we?" Jim decided. They walked over to Spock and gave him the note. He fed it into the hand held translator and got the English equivalent. Jim and Bones gathered round and read the note:
Alexei,
I can't believe that you would hand over your own cousin just to preserve your own life! I didn't know you had it in you to be so cruel and selfish especially to the extent of killing your own family! Well, when your judgement day comes, I do hope that whoever decides where you go takes pity on your misled soul. After all, they say the instinct to survive is stronger than the urge to save others. I hope you never harm him, after all, he is the reason that you aren't dead and the reason that you have got your job. After all he has been through, he deserves to live and he will, we all know that!
Karina
Bones looked across at Alexei. He was awake and stared at them intently. Bones took the note and let it drop onto the ground near Alexei's hand. "This is for you." Bones told him.
"Then why were you reading it?" Alexei asked.
"Well, we don't read Russian do we? We didn't know who it was for did we?" Jim answered hotly. Alexei gestured for them to give him the letter which had fallen out of his reach. Jim passed it over to him. Jim watched Alexei closely as he read the note. Alexei smiled.
"Poor girl. How misled she was. It so happens, this note gives me a rough idea of where your man might be and I dare say, if he went there when I think he did, you might be going home with a body."
Jim looked shocked. "Take us to him NOW!" he shouted angrily. Alexei stood and took steps toward the road.
"It's on the estate just across here." Jim frowned in confusion. "Drogaff's house. Should take about ten minutes from here." Jim nodded and started to move forward in the direction Alexei had started. They walked across the road in silence, careful not to tread on any of the flowers that had been laid. Spock glanced at some of the names on the labels. Andrei, Larisa, Piotr… over and over again. Piotr only cropped up a couple of times but the others were on almost every label. Something told Spock that this was Chekov's family. He didn't know why, but he just knew. They quickly walked down and Alexei stopped outside the third house down. "Here you are." He said darkly.
Jim came past him and rapped on the door. Drogaff appeared after a couple of minutes. "Captain Kirk? What are you doing here?"
"I'd like a word."
"Well, come in I suppose." Jim nodded briefly and gave a smile as he walked in the door. The rest followed behind him but Alexei remained outside. Jim looked at him expectantly.
"This is your private business. I should not be here."
"You can wait in here," Drogaff's voice cut through gruffly. "It can get hellishly cold outside." He explained. Alexei nodded and came through the door. Drogaff led them through into a high-ceilinged living room. There were pictures on the walls and decorations lying around in boxes.
On the mantelpiece were 4 pictures. One of a man in a Starfleet uniform smiling with a young woman next to him. There was a black band around the frame. The next one along there was the man again with a toddler sat on his knee. Another black band around the frame. The centre frame showed four people. The man with the woman and two boys stood proudly in front of them. One of the boys, Jim noticed, had a blonde mop of hair and large deep eyes, the other was a bit smaller and had the same eyes but with jet black hair. Jim was surprised how much Chekov's features hadn't changed. He looked at the other boy in the picture.That must be his brother Piotr. I always thought that he had a younger brother. Odd… Jim thought to himself. He looked around the rest of the room which seemed to be quite plain. Then his eyes shifted to the fourth picture. The youngest boy with the original man, an oddly familiar scowling boy with another man and a Klingon.
"They are pictures of my step family. Why are you here?" Drogaff asked.
"I want to talk to you about the young man that punched your son on my ship." Jim finished.
"If you are asking me to drop charges against him, I won't do it!" The Klingon cried angrily.
"Just as well then, I'm not asking you to do that. I want you to tell me what you have done to him and where he is now!"
"Why should I know? He's your man!"
"Maybe because you have brought him down here!"
"I'm sorry captain; just remind me of this, but what gives you the right to beam down here, track me down, interrupt my private life and question me about something that is entirely your problem?"
"It is my responsibility as a captain to be fully aware of the wellbeing of all my officers no matter how unimportant they may seem to ambassadors who couldn't know less about being a captain." Kirk cried angrily into the Klingon's face. Just then the Klingon's son walked into the room.
"This is my son, Koloth." Drogaff answered.
"I'm just going to check on that other officer." Koloth told them as he walked out. Jim looked from father to son. Something was not right here. As Koloth walked out, Jim carried on talking to Drogaff.
Chekov had been surprised to see his cousin Alexei walk in and had gasped, causing him to start coughing blood. Without a word, Alexei aimed a phaser at Chekov's chest.
"Alexei, what are you doing? Is this so they don't kill you?" Chekov asked, with genuine concern in his voice.
"No!" Alexei snapped back. "It is so they don't kill me, but it's also because I want you gone." Chekov looked surprised so Alexei continued "all through my life since you lost your father, my father used to say 'oh Alex my son, you don't realise how lucky you are. I mean, look at your cousins, they don't have a father. They have that awful Klingon instead. At least you have a father, be grateful for that.'"
Alexei looked pained but only for a moment. "I used to hate you, you got all the fuss, all the attention and every time I was sulking I got the same lecture about how lucky I was to have a father." Alexei sneered. "Well, it won't happen anymore, he'll have no-one to lecture me about!" Alexei sounded pleased with himself. Had he forgotten that only 18 months ago both Alexei and Pavel attended his father's funeral?
"Alex, you can't blame me for how your father treated you, it's not my fau-"
"Silence!" Alexei roared. "You're doing it again, you're nothing but a blame-shifter! Just like you did with your father! Tried to tell everyone the Klingon did it, while really there you stood, in your true colours! You even had the piece of glass in your hand when they found you!" As Chekov slowly realised the implications of what his cousin was saying, he felt a rising wave of anger in his body.
"You really think I would murder my own father?! I was four-years-old! I wouldn't have been capable and besides, even if I had, I think most people would know by now. Four-year-olds can't keep secrets like that!" He spoke angrily but kept his voice quiet. The last thing he needed was the Klingons coming in now. But, to Chekov's dismay, Koloth walked in. Chekov looked skyward. He was surprised when he heard a body slump to the ground. He opened his eyes and saw Alexei sprawled on the cold stone. He looked at his half-brother for an answer.
"Don't ever tell my father I said this, but I admire why you and your brother fought against him, and I want to… help you." He blurted out the last bit. Pavel was shocked. His half-brother looked down. "I wouldn't blame you if you don't believe me." He told the floor bitterly.
"Koloth, if you want to help me, do one of two things. Either keep my friends safe, or return me to the Enterprise with them!" he explained quietly. He had always had some tolerance for the Klingon toddler he had had to look after. Probably because of his humanness. The Klingon looked up at him.
"You mean, after everything I've had to do to you, you still trust me?!" Now that Pavel thought about it, he didn't trust him, he tolerated him. Should he make the Klingon think he trusted him?
"Yes. I always trusted that you would be capable of showing your human side and helping … me." A sudden surge of grief came over him. He still missed his older brother desperately and whenever he thought about him, he always got used to thinking he was still here so Pavel tended to say 'us' instead of 'me'. He closed his eyes to block out the horrible echoes that filled his head at the memories.
"Then come on quickly!" Koloth said as he let Chekov loose. He yanked up his older half-brother and rushed him to a secret door that was well hidden in the far wall. Koloth carefully shut the door behind them and then led the way through a series of tunnels.
After about twenty minutes, they came to another door that led out into a simple wooden cabin. There were two beds stood against the back wall and on the wall to their left was a small window. Opposite them was a door that led outside and then off to one side at the foot of the beds was a side room. Perfect, Pavel thought for a couple of criminals wanting to stay unnoticed. Nothing too extravagant, and just enough to live. Perfect he thought again, for two young boys looking to have a hideaway for when they were about to be beaten.
"I built it for you and your brother as a getaway but… I was too young then to get you to come here." He finished. There was a sadness in his voice that filled his every word.
"But, at least you built it for us. It's a more solid reason to believe what you said back there." Pavel comforted him, gesturing toward the door they had come through. He smiled thinly at his half-brother. "You should go back. Before you're missed." He told him. Koloth nodded and went back through the door. Pavel quickly explored the side room when Koloth had gone. He was truly amazed at what the thoughtful half-Klingon had fitted into it. A bathroom, first aid station, a huge supply of food and drink… everything they could possibly have needed. Including clothes.
Koloth really had thought of everything. Pavel knew his Starfleet uniform was a dead giveaway and as soon as Rakaia found out he was gone he would have every single member of the Klingon community looking for him. Pavel knew, even though he may be safe here for a while that he had to keep moving.
He took off his clothes and showered quickly, then treated what wounds he could using the first aid kit. He even found a support bandage so he wrapped it around his injured knee. It was still by far, the most painful of his injuries and he was going to be walking on it. Then he pulled on some clean clothes and began to pack a backpack he'd found with stuff he might need. He left himself out an energy bar then quickly scribbled a note for his half-brother using a code he and Piotr had used to use but had discarded when Koloth cracked it. The note briefly explained why he had to lead his shipmates away from here so that Rakaia didn't hurt them and that he was to try and convince them to leave the planet.
After he had done this he slung the pack onto his back, grabbed the energy bar and left. Outside the sun had just set, Pavel could tell from its position in the hazy pink sky. There was a sharp brisk wind and from this position he could see small snow flurries further down the hill. Pavel thought about the original direction he had come from the basement and set off in the opposite direction at the fastest speed he could manage.
