Chapter 11

"Good morning." I looked up to see Jake bearing down on me with a tray of food. I nod and he takes a seat.

"So…" he says, slowly. "How are things in A&A?"

I shrug. "Alright. How are things in… coms?"

It was a guess; I couldn't remember what he'd said he did.

"Tough." Jake admitted, his face falling. "No matter how many times you do it, writing the dead letters is always tough."

There didn't really seem to be anything I could say to that, so I returned my attention to my muesli.

"So…" Jake said, stirring his own cereal. "What happened between you and the specialist team?"
I tried to stay calm.

"What makes you think I even know them?"

Jake smiled. "I'm a reporter. Or I trained as one. We know these things."

I sighed. It was stupid to try and keep things secret, and Jake and Nog were the nearest I had to friends.

"It was a ship. A Klingon ship. I was with the team at that point. Her name was or when translated was Avenger. She had been attacked by something that speeded up the decay process." I swallowed remembering it. "Their captain had locked those infected in a room. Just left them to die."

Jake nodded. "A very Klingon response. I'm surprised he didn't gas them."

"I think, had he been in his own space, he would have done." I admitted quietly. "Perhaps that would have been for the best." I blinked softly. "There was one Klingon still alive when we got there. He was infected, very badly. Even if he had survived, he would have lost his limbs."

"A fate worse than death by Klingon standards." Jake said, gently. I hardly heard him.

"He was looking at me, with eyes that were full of pain. He must have been in agony, but he made no sound. Just looked at me, then at his knife and back at me. I just…knew what he wanted me to do."

"tova'dok." Jake said. "When warriors communicate with out words."

"I took the knife. It was heavier than it looked. He leant his head back, offering me his neck. He'd ditched body amour at some point, he was completely defenseless. Lieutenant Booth came up behind me. He startled me and the knife…it fell from my hand, piecing the chest. I knew I shouldn't pull it out, that it would make the wound worse, but…I did it. I don't know why." I looked at him. "I killed him."

Jake sighed. "it was an accident. And it was what he wanted. His life as a Klingon, if his injuries were as bad as you say, was over."

I nodded. "The council thought I had performed a ritual suicide. So did everyone else. They said they would not press charges. His son sent me a message of thanks."

"but Dr. Brendan didn't see things that way." Jake guess.

I grimaced at the remembrance of those last weeks. "she suggested I should seek a transfer."

Jake nodded and we ate in silence. Then he spoke.

"I'm not in Starfleet. My rank is acting at best." He swallowed. "when I was fairly young, I lost my mother, and a few years later my father. I went to live with my grandfather on earth, but when he died, I…I went to pieces." He smiled ruefully. "Nog had just got his commission. He basically insisted I accompany him. K'Rene had just taken over as chief of security." He shrugged. "I'd been a teenager during the Cassadarian Wars, so I had encountered Klingons as enemies. I mean, I'd encountered them as friends, but I wasn't sure what to make of this one." He paused. "I'd been on board for about two weeks, when I was in the mess hall, and I bumped, literally into K'Rene. I thought she was going to kill me. Instead she thrust a book at me." He reached down and retrieved it. "The accounts of Brandon the healer, a hero of Klingon legends." He shook his head. "just read it. Don't know how. But it is still healing nearly millennia later."

At the cynicism on my face, he smiled. "just try it." He said, getting to his feet.

No matter how many times it happened, no matter how prepared you thought yourself for it, no matter what your species, coming around from a blow to the head was painful.

K'Rene felt herself rocketed into wakefulness, her stomach churning. It was only by sheer self-will that she avoided spraying the contents of her stomach over Harry, who held her tight.

"You're o.k.!"

"Was there ever any doubt?" K'Rene muttered, looking around. T'Les was bending over her, running a tricorder up and down, while the man they had rescued peered down at her. "How do you feel?"

"Like someone hit me on the head." K'Rene grunted, pulling herself into a sitting position. Romulus was there by her side.

"Don't suppose you saw who did this?"

She closed her eyes, forcing her mind to function. "It was a male," she said, remembering the smooth line of black she had seen, the light reflecting off the two pips on the collar. "And a lieutenant."

She watched the look that passed between her lover and her second in command.

"You think you know how this did?"

Romulus quickly explained. K'Rene smiled.

"And I think I know why."

"Ridiculous!" Lieutenant Booth's team were starting to pack up. They would arrive at earth in less than a day, and already Chakotay was readying his crew for talking to the families.

"Not at all, lieutenant," K'Rene moved around, flanked by Romulus, every inch a warrior. "John Ball was a security officer; there was no need for him to be in engineering, yet that where he was."

"According to records that you could have easily altered."

"He was also, according to Starfleet records," K'Rene continued, ignoring the insult, though her eyes flashed dangerously. "Your uncle."

"What of it?"

"Torres had skin cells under her finger nails, so she must have been physically grappling with an attacker. John Ball was the only person there who had no reason to be." Her eyes meet the lieutenants. "My attacker was a human male with two pips on his collar. The code used to gain access to my quarters did not belong to the Penelope."

There was a pause, before Booth began to laugh.

"You've no proof." He said, softly. "John Ball was a Starfleet officer without a stain on his character. Most people are going to see it more likely that he was grappling with a renegade Marquis officer to stop her."

Harry and Chakotay both took a step forward at the insult to B'Ellana, and K'Rene growled softly.

"Leaving aside those ridiculous accusations, the events of your attack. You couldn't have seen the guy for very long and you were suffering from a concussion. The code could have easily, indeed probably being manipulated by one of your officers." He took a step towards Chakotay. "Everyone knows your ship is a walking joke. A Marquis captain, a first officer who should have been dismissed as incompetent years ago, a renegade Klingon, a counselor who became involved with a patient, an Adorian Traitor," he was only a few inches from the man, "and that's before we even start on your Syboik Vulcan medic." for a moment it looked like Chakotay was about to show Lieutenant what Boothby had taught him.

Booth smiled "You have no proof. And if you and your band of misfits repeat one word of it, I'll destroy you."

"Yes. They do." All heads turned to see Zac standing in the doorway holding a pad. "There was sufficient skin under Lieutenant Torres' fingers to get a DNA Identification."

He fixed his eyes on the women straining next to the irate Lieutenant.

"I'm sorry Dr. Brendan." He said, his fingers gripping the spine of the old book. "But One Mission, One leader."

TBC