London
Wednesday 2nd February 1994
"Kay'vin, wait!"
He was by the banks of the river Thames, looking out across the water when Marla caught up with him. They had been avoiding each other for several days now and knowing it could not continue, she'd gone looking for him. Koreth had given her good advice; if she wanted Kay'vin, she should act like the Klingon she was and tell him so. Still, it was not easy to swallow her pride and admit that she had been wrong.
Stopping, he turned back to face her, his gaze wary. "NuqneH? What do you want, Marla?"
Holding her head high and looking him in the eyes, Marla made her apologies. "I regret my unreasonable behaviour, Kay'vin. I am a Defence Force officer just as you are. I know that much of what you do is classified and you cannot speak of it. I was wrong to act as I did and I ask your forgiveness."
Kay'vin listened carefully without interrupting. "I overreacted," he admitted when she had finished. "The fault was not all yours."
"Kay'vin, I… the letter I got from my family…" She hesitated, then rushed ahead. "My father has summoned me home to be married to the son of Councillor Ditagh."
"Married?" Even the thought of it was killing him and it was hard to breathe, let alone form words and speak coherently. "You're getting married?"
She shook her head emphatically. "No, I am not! At least, not to Ditagh's son. I'd rather spend eternity in Gre'thor than mate with that pompous bully! I told you before, Kay'vin, there is only one person I will marry. You are my par'Mach'kai, the only one I will ever want."
She'd expected him to be pleased by her declaration but to her shock, Kay'vin remained silent. She watched him anxiously, wondering why he did not respond. "Kay'vin?" Marla's voice was very small as she asked, "Do you no longer want me?"
She did not know it but Kay'vin was in a state of panic. All he wanted was to claim Marla as his mate and take the oath with her. Except… he was involved in treason and she was better off without him. Whatever he and Krang did, there was no possible ending other than death and dishonour. Had the message not come, had Krang not needed that final push to do what must be done, things might have been different and they might have stood a chance. Even then it would have been difficult. Her family would have cast her out in disgrace but he would have been there at her side. But the Klingon Empire was a harsh place for the wife of a convicted traitor. He could not do that to her.
As his silence continued, Marla started to become angry. "Why did you change your mind?" she asked bitterly, her hand finding its way to the d'k tahg hanging at her belt. "Or was this your plan all along – to use and then reject me?"
Kay'vin was well known for being a mild-tempered, easy-going man but that was too much, even for him. The low growl that had been building up as he listened to her words turned into a snarl of fury and he stepped towards her threateningly. "You will not say such things!
"Then why?" she challenged him. "Where is all that honour you speak of?"
Had it been anyone else attacking his honour in such a way, he would have killed them there and then. It was only the knowledge that he deserved her anger that prevented him from doing so. "I love you, Marla-oy, more than you will ever know. I love you enough to let you go. I will treasure the memory of our time together for the rest of my life. But I cannot marry you."
The heavy finality of those word chilled her. Conflicting urges raced through her mind… to scream… to throw herself at him and bury her knife in his faithless heart… even to humiliate herself by falling at his feet and begging him to change his mind. It was the second impulse that won out. Her blade was in her hand now and angry and upset, she lashed out, coming very close to disembowelling him. Jumping back, he moved to defend himself as she struck at him a second time.
Unlike Kay'vin, whose training had been almost exclusively combat-related, Marla had focussed on engineering. While she was competent in the fighting arts, he was bigger, stronger and a lot more skilled. Sidestepping neatly, he caught hold of her wrist and twisted, bringing her within the circle of his arms and holding her securely against him. She struggled but he tightened his grip and she could not break free of him. In truth, his arms felt good and as her anger faded, she was not completely sure that she wanted to escape.
Looking down into her angry eyes, his breath caught. She was magnificent and beautiful and he wanted to kiss her and… Instead, he released her and stepped back.
"I do not understand," she said plaintively. "I tried so hard to seduce you and you resisted me until we agreed that we would marry. Why has that changed? Are you afraid of my family?
"It is nothing to do with that!" he snapped, once again only just holding on to his temper. "I am doing what I must to keep you safe."
"Safe?" she scoffed. "I am a Klingon warrior just as you are. I do not need you to keep me safe. And just what…" She stopped as realisation dawned. "This is about that cryptic message isn't it! Time is short and you must take immediate action?" Her mind raced as she tried to work it out and fit the pieces together. "Time… As in time travel?"
He did not reply but his expression told her that she was getting very close to the truth. She nodded to herself, making up her mind. It was time to tell him of her own worries on that subject. If she wanted him to trust her, then she had to make the first move and show trust in him. "Kay'vin, I was in Koreth's office a couple of days ago…"
"Oh?" He'd heard about the incident with the coffee. One of these days she was going to get into trouble for being rude to the boss. Deciding it was not a good idea to comment on that, he waited for her to continue.
"I accidentally knocked one of his padds onto the floor." She went on to tell him about what she had seen on the padd and how it had led to a conversation with Krang and Koreth about the problems of time travel. "I am not sure what either of them think or what they plan to do," she finished, "but I do know one thing. Time travel is dangerous. What the High Council are attempting to do will never work – and even if it did, it is dishonourable."
Kay'vin sighed. "You are right, it is dishonourable," he said heavily. "I will trust you now with the whole truth."
It was Marla's turn to remain quiet, listening carefully as he told her of the operations master's visit to his home and how Meth had spoken so passionately of the dishonour of the High Council's plans and the need to protect the timeline. He told her, also, what Meth had asked of him.
She did not need to ask if he had agreed. "To go against the High Council is treason."
He nodded, not denying it. "Yes."
"And you're going to do it anyway." It was not a question.
Again, he nodded. "Yes." He waited for her to condemn him, but she did not; instead, she met his gaze. "It must be done," she told him, "but not alone. I will not allow the High Council to come between us."
No longer able to deny her, he quoted the time-hallowed words of the story that was so often told at Klingon weddings. "Fortunately," he said slowly, "the second heart was tempered by wisdom."
Relief flooded through her; finally, he understood. "If we join together, no force can stop us."
"And together," he added, paraphrasing the rest of the story, "the two hearts destroyed the gods." He stepped closer as he spoke, holding out his hands to her.
"No-one can oppose the beating of two Klingon hearts," she said, placing her hands in his. "If you are working to put things right, then I will stand with you whether you marry me or not. But you know, if I am to commit treason with you, then it might as well be as your mate."
Her words were sincere and realising that she would not be dissuaded, Kay'vin took a deep breath. It still went against the grain to put her in danger, but the joy bubbling up in him could not be repressed. "Whatever is to come," he conceded, "we will face it side by side, two hearts beating together as mates."
Saint Mary of the Heavens, London
Wednesday 2nd February 1994
From the outside, the church looked nothing special, a stone building with a square tower, dating back maybe eight hundred years. It was set in a small plot of land dotted about with stones that Kay'vin knew to be grave markers, mostly rectangular or arched, with the occasional cross or even something resembling a robed human with outstretched wings. The whole thing was enclosed by a dry-stone wall and at the rear of the building there was a garden. It was there, he remembered, that Chrissie and Krang's children had been found.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Marla asked, looking doubtfully at the shabby, blue-painted sign with the church's name inscribed in gold.
"I am sure," he insisted. "Unless you have changed your mind about wanting to do this right away?"
She shook her head. "No. I haven't changed my mind."
"Come on then," he said, opening the gate and gesturing for her to precede him. "Let's go inside."
Unaware of the approaching Klingons, the Reverend Peter Francis made the sign of the cross and knelt in front of the altar to pray, giving thanks for the volunteers who had worked so hard to repair the damage done when the alien invaders had raided only a handful of weeks ago.
He had not been at all happy to learn that the resistance had been using the church as a meeting place. It was not that he was in complete disagreement with their aims but the various religious institutions were in a precarious situation, being tolerated by the Klingons and allowed to continue their worship and their work within the community provided they caused no trouble. The resistance had put all that in jeopardy, endangering the mostly elderly members of the parish and that was something he could not condone. In the end, they'd been lucky that all they'd had to deal with was a couple of broken doors, a trampled garden that would break his gardener's heart if she saw what had been done to it, and a lot of cleaning.
The creak of the main door as it opened and the approach of heavy footsteps pulled him out of his meditative state. A harsh, masculine voice called out in heavily accented English, "You are in charge here?"
Klingons! Fear sent icy fingers up his spine. Why were they here? What did they want? Getting to his feet and offering up a silent prayer for his own safety, he turned to face them. There were only two of them, a male and a female, dressed in what he understood to be their military uniforms. They both looked young and although he could see weapons in their belts, as Klingons went, they did not seem particularly threatening. "I am the vicar here. What can I do for you?"
Marla eyed the human curiously, taking in his sombre clothing and the little square of white tucked into his collar. "Vicar?" She frowned as she tried to place the word. "Is that like a priest?"
"It is the title for a priest attached to a particular church or group of churches," the Terran cleric explained.
She nodded, accepting that. "I am Marla," she told him, "and this is Kay'vin."
"Marla… and Kevin?" The human repeated the alien names, uncomfortably aware as he did so, that he was not quite getting the second one right.
Kay'vin growled. "It's Kay'vin," he corrected. Why did these Terrans always have problems with his name? It was not difficult to pronounce.
Suppressing a grin at her mate's irritation, Marla looked around, taking in her surroundings. Behind the human priest she could see a table covered with an ornately embroidered cloth and on it, to the left, was a vase of bright yellow, sweetly scented flowers, and a candle, its flame flickering in the draughty air. On the right was a stand supporting a book, and in the centre, a smaller, brass version of the great wooden crucifix that hung suspended from the high, domed ceiling. Behind that was a large, arched window of coloured glass that depicted various robed figures that she assumed were of religious significance.
"This is very different to what I imagined," she said, "I thought it would be more like the monastery at Boreth."
They had monasteries? Somehow that surprised the human and his desire to learn overriding his fear, he asked, "Are your people religious?"
Kay'vin bared his teeth in a grin. "We Klingons killed our gods many millennia ago. They were… oof!"
He was silenced by Marla's elbow as she hurriedly shoved it into his side. She was neither religious nor superstitious, but it seemed rude to speak of killing gods inside one of their houses.
The human laughed, interested rather than offended. "We did the same." He gestured towards the crucifix. "The difference is ours returned from the dead three days later!"
"I've heard that tale," Kay'vin said, following the vicar's gaze and studying the brass figure on the cross. "You have some interesting and impressive mythology."
"I assume you did not come here for theological debate," the vicar said, starting to relax as he realised that his guests were not here to cause trouble. "Although I admit I would enjoy such a conversation. May I ask the purpose of your visit?"
"This church," Marla said, glancing up at her companion and moving just a little closer to him before continuing. "We understand it is a place where people come to get married. Could we take the oath here?"
Notes: The story of the Klingon hearts is of course from the DS9 episode "You are Cordially Invited". Parts in italics are direct quotes.
The church described is fictional. Yes, it's the same church where Chrissie worked as gardener and where she lost the children during the Klingon raid.
A big thank you once again to JDC0, Solasnagreine and RobertBruceScott for their continued support and reviews.