Captain Mackenzie was in the transporter room having a last minute discussion with his marine commander as they inspected the troops waiting to beam over to Hegh'Ta. The doors swished open as his first officer stalked into the room. Kehlan had changed into her Klingon armour and carried a mek'leth in one hand and a disruptor in the other. As well as her d'k'tahg she also had a vicious looking qut'luch tucked into her belt. The leather armour, unlike that worn by the male officers, clung to her curves and revealed plenty of cleavage, rather more than he considered strictly appropriate. She carried herself with all the pride and assurance of the Klingon warrior she was and the captain found he couldn't keep his eyes off her. He frowned, forcing himself to look away. Kehlan was his first officer and he knew his reaction was not only inappropriate but ill timed; he didn't need this sort of distraction just before a battle. He was annoyed to see that the marines were reacting similarly.

"ATTENTION!" he snapped, not liking the way the other men were staring at her "Eyes front."

Major Speares raised an eyebrow at the captain's sudden display of bad temper but didn't comment, simply carrying on with his inspection. "All present and correct, Sir," he reported finally, "Marine Corps ready for action."

Captain Mackenzie gave a curt acknowledgement before instructing the team to beam across to the Klingon ship. He watched as the transporter beam took effect and the troops vanished, before heading back to the bridge.

Everything seemed to happen very fast after that. In no time at all the Cardassian cruiser was on them and they were under attack. As Endeavour swept down on the cruiser, Hegh'Ta decloaked directly above it, the two ships coordinating their attack in an effort to bring down the enemy's shield generator. From the way the Hegh'Ta was manoeuvring, almost dancing in and out of the enemy firing pattern, it was obvious that Kargan had to be at the helm. Even so, it was going to take all Kargan's considerable skill to keep the bird-of-prey out of range of the Cardassian weapons when the time came for the boarding party to transport.

It was almost time, Captain Mackenzie thought as Ch'Pesh shouted, "Captain, Enemy shields are fluctuating. I'm reading a forty eight percent power drain."

"Prepare to fire again," the captain ordered, "On my command, hit that ship with everything we've got." He watched the tactical display carefully and as Hegh'Ta came round in a graceful turn, its disruptor cannons firing. The enemy shields flickered, the generators unable to cope with the combined fire power of the two ships concentrated on the one spot. "Ready…" he warned the crew, "Almost there. On my mark…"

There was just the faintest flicker as Hegh'Ta dropped its shields to allow transport.

"NOW!" Captain Mackenzie said, his voice almost a shout. Every weapon the Endeavour had, went tearing into the Cardassian ship, this time aimed at the weapons ports. The cruiser lurched heavily as torpedoes exploded along its length and deadly phaser beams cut into its weapons array, preventing it from firing with any accuracy at the temporarily defenceless Hegh'Ta. A full minute passed before the bird-of-prey was able to raise its shields again and just as it did so, the Cardassian cruiser stopped firing, its crew suddenly too preoccupied with the invaders to man the guns.

Krang materialised on the bridge of the Cardassian cruiser, mek'leth in one hand, disruptor in the other. Raising his weapon, he fired it, taking down a Cardassian who, reacting more quickly than his compatriots, was already firing his own disruptor. At the same time, barely turning, he lashed out to one side with his mek'leth at a second Cardassian, slicing open his abdomen. As the screaming man fell, writhing on the floor, a second blow finished him. Stepping over the fallen enemy, Krang headed towards the nearest console.

Around him, he was aware of his fellow Klingons spreading out and attacking the other bridge officers. He knew also that all over the ship, other groups were materialising, their aim to keep the enemy too busy to send reinforcements to the bridge. Shoving his disruptor back in his belt he gave his full attention to the control panel in front of him. He had to trust his men now, to do their job and defend him. He was not here to fight, however much he wanted to, but to obtain the information they had come for and that would need all his concentration.

A Cardassian ran at him, firing his disruptor and a Klingon soldier screamed, falling to the ground as the deadly energy beam burned a hole in his chest. Krang glanced up, ready to defend himself but it proved unnecessary. Kehlan stepped in front of him, lashing out with her mek'leth, her blow cutting through the Cardassian's wrist. The man stared at his hand as it lay on the floor still gripping the disruptor, too shocked even to cry out. Kehlan whirled, striking again and her second blow sliced open his throat.

Krang's work went surprisingly well in the end. They had taken the Cardassians by surprise and they had had no time to lock down or booby trap the systems. They were password protected of course, but to an operative as experienced as he was, slipping through the layers of security protocols was, while not exactly easy, certainly achievable.

"Qapla'!" he muttered as the system finally accepted his codes and opened for his inspection. Working quickly he began to download information onto his specially modified tricorder.

Peripherally aware that the sounds of fighting were beginning to die down, Krang looked up, in time to see Vareq's mek'leth dispatch the final defender. His tricorder bleeped then and he turned his attention back to it. "QI'yah Ha'DibaHmey," he swore, "They are attempting to re-route bridge controls to engineering"

"I'll deal with it," Kehlan said, her voice calm as she seated herself at the Cardassian science officer's station and began to work the controls.

"Captain!" One of his men, standing at a panel on the other side of the bridge, attracted his attention, "I think the self destruct has been armed."

Immediately Krang was at his side, reading the flowing Cardassian script illuminated on the panel. "I can fix that," he said confidently, his fingers manipulating the screen even as he spoke. He swore again as the system resisted his attempt to stop the countdown.

"Disconnect the auxiliary power line from the main engineering console" Kehlan told him, not even noticing that she was giving orders to a senior officer. "Then you'll be able to reconfigure the command subroutines… That's it, the one to your left."

Krang acknowledged, doing as she had said, "Got it," he said, satisfied as the panel went dark. Then turning to his second officer, he instructed, "Vareq, take a squad to engineering and back up the Federation team. Once you get down there, I want the rest of the ship vented to vacuum."

Vareq quickly organised his men, leaving enough soldiers to guard the bridge and taking the rest with him. Before long he had reported back. "Engineering is secure, Captain" he said, his voice crackling through the comm. system. The ship is ours. All non secured areas have been vented as ordered."

"Any prisoners?" Krang asked as he disconnected his tricorder from the ship's computer system and put it back on his belt.

"Yes sir, a few," Vareq said, sounding disgusted at their cowardice. A Klingon of course, would die before being taken prisoner. "One of them is a Vorta!"

"A Vorta?" Krang was surprised but pleased, "Well done, Vareq. Have Koreq beam over and question them. Keep the Vorta alive afterwards – the others can be disposed of."

Kehlan stared at him in surprise. The order might be practical – and the Klingon part of her understood and approved – but it was in direct contravention of Starfleet directives regarding prisoners. Despite the Klingon uniform he wore, Krang was still a Starfleet officer and subject to those rules. "Sir, Captain Mackenzie said…"

She was given no chance to finish. "I am in command of this mission," Krang snarled. "You will obey me." Realising he had been a little harsh, he moderated his tone as he continued, "Kehlan, we can't take them with us and we certainly can't let them go. It's best to give them a quick death once we've finished interrogating them."

"We are both answerable to Starfleet," Kehlan persisted. "You know it's against Starfleet regulations. And even if it weren't, they are prisoners of war. The Khitomer Accords lay down strict rules regarding their treatment."

Krang gave a frustrated growl, but he knew she was correct. "Very well," he conceded. "Belay the last part of that order, Vareq. Keep the prisoners alive – for now."

Immediately Kehlan rematerialised on Endeavour's transporter pad, she went straight to the captain's ready room to make her report. A lot had happened on the Cardassian cruiser and the captain needed to know about it straight away. She was particularly concerned about the situation regarding the prisoners. In his current mood, the Klingon captain was unlikely to show them any mercy, despite his promise to keep them alive. She knew Koreq's methods of interrogation and knew also that Krang would authorise the use of the agoniser and maybe even the mind-sifter. While she was Klingon enough not to care, those devices were illegal in the Federation and she suspected that Captain Mackenzie would have strong views on the subject of torture. Maybe it was for the best if she didn't tell him, she thought, sensing that it could cause trouble between the two captains. Finally she decided that she had to tell him everything. He was her captain and where there was a conflict between the Defence Force and Starfleet, her loyalty was, had to be, to him.

Listening to her report, Captain Mackenzie stopped her several times, asking questions and clarifying points that interested him. "I will not allow the prisoners to be executed," he told her. "However, Hegh'Ta is a Klingon ship and we are way outside Federation space. I have no jurisdiction there."

"Then you condone torture?" Kehlan snarled, not caring that she was allowing her anger and disappointment to show. She had expected better of him.

"You will speak to me with respect" he snapped, "No Kehlan, I do not condone torture." Pulling out a padd from the pile on his desk, he activated it and then threw it down in front of her. "Read it."

Kehlan stared at him, making no move to touch the padd. She had never seen him so angry.

"I said read it" he demanded harshly.

Slowly she reached out and took the padd. It was a copy of a message sent only a few minutes before her arrival, to the Klingon captain, reminding Krang that he was still a Starfleet officer and bound by Federation rules of conduct. It listed the regulations concerning the treatment of prisoners and asked the Klingon to abide by them.

Kehlan put the padd down again and looked at him, not knowing what to say.

Seeing that she understood her error, he told her, "Krang sent a message informing me about the prisoners. That was my response. I do not and will not condone torture. But we do need whatever information those prisoners have and if Krang chooses to ignore my request, there is nothing I can do except file a complaint that changes nothing."

"I was in error," she told him steadily, "I will accept whatever punishment you consider fitting."

"You still don't understand, do you, Kehlan," he said passionately, "Do you really think so little of me? What sort of man do you believe me to be?"

With that last question, it suddenly became personal, no longer an argument between captain and first officer, but between man and woman. He was still angry with her, she realised, and with good reason. Yet it was a controlled anger. There was a fire in him now and she found it excited her. She hesitated before answering him, unsure of how best to put her feelings into words. "I know that you are a man I respect and trust," she said finally, "I will try harder to understand you as well."

Suddenly restless, the Terran captain stood up and moved round his desk, approaching his first officer. All sorts of inappropriate ideas were vying for attention in his mind and their argument suddenly seemed irrelevant. He shouldn't be thinking like this, he castigated himself; Kehlan had earned his respect, even if she did not always understand him, and she deserved better than to be ogled in this way. At least there were no marines here this time, he thought ruefully. He was going to have to ban her from wearing her Klingon armour on board Endeavour, it was just too distracting, and it wasn't as if she could possibly return his interest. Could she?