Chapter 8
"Mmm!" she moaned as she snuggled closer to him, slowly waking up. The hard board that was the bottom of his bed woke her up faster. There was nothing soft, except perhaps parts of Klarok's body, lying in between her and the board. She slowly sat up straight and craned her neck, a few satisfying pops rang in her ears as the bones there snapped back in place. The same happened with the bones in her back, as she stretched it. So too popped the bones in her arms as she stretched them high above her head, yawning as she did so.
She looked at his body, covered in bruises and welts. Five times they had done it last night, and she was thoroughly satisfied. She knew, she must've looked like him at times during that ordeal. Of course by now she didn't have a scratch left. She yawned again as she laid back down, placing her head on his chest, looking at his face. His eyes slowly opened, and he grinned at her.
"Last night was very nice," she told him, smiling.
"That it was . . . wait a minute, where are your bruises? You're not going to tell me I didn't give you so much as bruise, are you?" Klarok asked, astonished.
Dana smiled broadly at him, shook her head and said, "Check under the bed." He did and removed a first aid kit. A skin regenerator and a bone knitter were part of its contents. "I beamed it over here and told one of your servants to place it there. I thought I might need it." After he gave her a look, she explained, "Hey, you Klingons might enjoy sleeping with broken bones, but us Humans do not."
He laughed hard. "So, you were planning this all night, huh?"
"Yep," she answered. "What time is it anyway?"
Klarok asked the question in Klingon; the computer answered in the same manner. "It's 07:33," he told Dana.
"Yes, I know," she said. Suddenly her eyes flew open, and she sat straight up in bed, "Oh shit! I've an appointment with the Chancellor at eight!"
*****
Chancellor's Office
08:12
"You're late," Azebur said as she saw a rather disheveled looking Josie Taelman enter her office.
"Yes, I know," consciously making sure, she didn't apologize. "Next time I'll make sure he sets the computer to wake us on time."
Azebur grinned and said, "Sit down. So what do you think of Klingon sex?"
"It's exhausting, but quite pleasurable," Dana answered as she took a seat in the hard chair.
"I see you've had your bruises removed," Azebur added, disappointed.
"I know Klingons like to show their bruises off, and every Klingon will now what they represent, but the Humans in the embassy wouldn't understand. They would try to get him thrown in jail, be concerned for my welfare, constantly ask if I'm all right, and who the bastard is that did it to me. I thought it better to avoid that," Dana explained to Azebur.
"I see. Your loss," Azebur said, looking a little dreamy for a moment.
"I know," answered Dana, the way she answered implying a whole range of emotions and meanings, far deeper and far more encompassing, than just the knowledge of not being able to show the bruises being her loss.
"Tell me about this science project," Azebur said, deciding to ignore what she saw in Dana's body language, knowing instinctively that she wouldn't talk about it.
Dana gave a PADD to her with the information on the group of scientists who were working on it. The next hour, they spent discussing everything related to it.
*****
Federation Embassy
09:47
Dana laughed as MacLeod walked into her office. He looked awful. His hair was a complete mess, and his uniform was only barely clinging to his body, several improvised patch jobs showed that it had to have been a lot worse. He grinned at her as he plowed himself into a seat.
"She was very . . . physical," he grinned at her.
"Oh, you don't say," Dana said, barely keeping her laughter in.
"And you were right; thank you. That was one of the more satisfying, if not tiring, nights of my life," he said, unable to keep his goofy grin down.
"The look of a man after sex," Dana mused looking at him. "A dumber look on a man just doesn't exist."
"Ha, ha," he said dryly, still grinning.
"So . . . are you two going to see each other again, or was this a one night stand?" Dana asked, as she grinned a mischievous smile at him.
"I don't know. Why?" Duncan asked her.
"Well, perhaps you could show her the pleasures of softer, Human sex," Dana explained, still grinning at him, her eyes twinkled in delight. "Peace between warring factions always became easier with cross-weddings, you know."
"You expect me to marry her?" Duncan dead-panned.
"Not if you don't love her of course. But even then, if there are a few Klingons who fondly talk about their sexual adventures with people from the Federation . . . you never know, it might be what keeps this alliance intact," Dana elaborated, the twinkle in her eye getting brighter. "Which reminds me," she said as she got up. She continued as she walked to the exit of her office, "I have to go check if Ensign Thomas is still in one piece."
MacLeod stood up and said, "Yeah, I'll go change uniforms."
"Oh, Lieutenant," Dana said, as she opened the door, "once you're done with that, run fifty laps around the compound. I don't ever want to see you before me again like that."
"But . . ." MacLeod started.
"Fifty laps!" Dana snapped and turned left.
"If I get my hands on her, I'll wring her little neck till she's dead," Duncan muttered under his breath, as he turned right. As an after thought he added, "Several times."
*****
"Ensign!" Dana called as Sabine managed to get herself past the gate without having to hit any of the overly concerned guards. Her uniform was rumpled and bruises littered her face. She was holding one arm tightly to her body.
"Eh . . . I'm sorry I'm late, Ambassador," Sabine said, a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it," Dana said, gesturing toward a bench that was far enough away from everybody in order to have some privacy. They both sat down and Dana asked, "So did he go easy on you?"
"Well, that depends on your definition of easy. I'm still alive, and if he would have hit me as hard as he would hit Klingon females, I might not be," Sabine answered and looked in Dana's face. "Your look is a bit too knowing . . . You've already been to the doctor!" Sabine exclaimed, and her jaw dropped.
"Well, not this doctor, a Klingon one over at his house," Dana answered, grinning a little. "So, tell me, did you enjoy it?"
"Let's just say, I never thought getting beat up could be this erotic," Sabine answered with a goofy grin.
*It seems a women's look after sex isn't much better . . . Uh, oh, that means I too . . . Ouch!* Dana thought to herself. "Are you planning on seeing him again?" she asked Sabine instead.
"Well . . . I don't know; my body won't be able to handle this kind of abuse too many times in a row," Sabine answered, pondering.
"You don't have to do it Klingon style every time. Teach him our way. That's what we should be doing anyway; learn each other's culture, learn each other's quirks and strangeness and learn how to deal with them without killing each other first - sexual practices are part of that as well," Dana explained to her.
"I guess so. I'll have to think about it," she answered, a bit uncertain.
"You do that, but I think you could use a doctor now, right?" Dana asked as she stood up.
Sabine stood to and answered, "Yeah."
Dana gave her a pat on the back and the ensign winced. "Sorry," Dana said. Sabine gave her an embarrassed grin.
*****
Three days later
Q'onos City Spaceport
Four black and one white Human walked down the ramp, looking around until they stopped in front of Dana, who stood waiting for them below.
"Ambassador Taelman, I presume," the older black man of the quintet said, sticking out his hand.
Dana shook it and said, "And you must be Professor Dr. Nkrumah."
She exchanged greetings with the other four younger people, also all doctors and Nkrumah's proteges. Then they all started to walk and the professor asked, "So, can you tell me why the Klingons are funding our research?"
"Everybody knows of the new alliance between our two races, but not why it came into being; over a year ago, Praxis, a Klingon moon and the housing of their main energy-production facility exploded. Only about a fifth of the moon is left. This explosion irradiated Q'onos with sub-space and normal radiation, seriously affecting their ozone layer. In fifty years it will be gone, and for the next few million years, until nature has rebuilt it, Q'onos will be a virtual barren wasteland. If it had been only radiation, the Klingons would have easily cleaned up the mess, but alas, the Klingons lacked the economic infra-structure to relocate everything. We don't. And then I read about your little project. If you succeed Q'onos can stay a living planet and the home world of the Klingons," Dana explained as they walked towards the exit of the spaceport.
"I knew it. I told you I was right," one of the younger ones, a female, Isha Iskander, answered.
"All right!" another, Kiran Kaloki, said. "Not only do we get to complete our research, but we get to save a planet from destruction as well." He clasped his hands and rubbed them together, "I'm ready to be a hero. I hear the Klingons build great statues and write songs about their heroes."
"Only when they're warriors," Dana told him, grinning.
"Damn!" he exclaimed.
"Never skin the bear before you shoot it, Kiran," the white man, Onno Witter, told his friend, grinning as he placed his arm around his shoulders.
"Shut up!" Kiran answered with a scowl on his face.
*****
One week later
Q'onos City, Science center
22:25
The announcement the Human and Klingon scientists had made to the Klingon High Council had been completely unexpected. Everybody had expected it to take a great deal longer, based on the projections of the Human scientists of ten years before practical testing on the first prototypes could get started. Now they had announced that they were ready to build the prototype of the device that should clean up sub-space radiation very quickly. Testing would probably be finished in about five years and in the six to seven following that, Q'onos would be cleaned up.
The party in the science center hadn't started all that much later. Klingons and Humans alike were drinking alcohol, scarfing down food, and telling each other tall tales, legends and myths.
"It was fantastic," Kiran told the group of Humans and Klingons that stood around him. "It was like we had a thousand piece puzzle, but only 985 pieces, of which two we didn't know their place. Then this Klingon scientist, what was his name again, K-k-kot . . ."
"Kotorb'e," Onno supplied.
"Yeah, that's it, Kotorb'e," Kiran answered, before continuing his story. "Anyway, he tells us about this theory they've come up with, way too complex to explain here, but this theory is not complete, on many things it's wrong, and then we notice - that if we remove parts of it - it fits perfectly in our theory, and bang! We find two new pieces, which in turn allows us to find the other thirteen, and we know where the two wrong puzzle pieces fit, and where two more belong. Leaves us only with thirteen more puzzle pieces to place which is basically building and testing a prototype. It was truly fantastic, our sciences were not inferior or superior, but two perfectly interlocking mechanisms linking together. It was magnificent!" Kiran gulped down another mouthful of bloodwine.
Dana listened with mild interest to the rest of his story. She looked up at the presence she felt behind her, expecting it to be Klarok. Instead it was that annoying bastard, drunken Klingon that had been following her around, constantly trying to flirt with her and trying to get her to notice him.
"Don't you want a real man," he whispered.
That was it, now she was mad. She turned around and walked a few steps forward which he mimicked by taking the same few steps backward. Her hand snaked out, grabbed his neck and pulled his face down towards her. "Listen, boy. I'm not even remotely interested in you. This is the first and final time I'm telling you; I already have a boyfriend, a Klingon boyfriend. Got that, you piece of shit?" Dana told him in no uncertain terms, making sure not to show anything that he could interpret as her wanting him.
"Sure," he said, grinning a feral smile.
"Good," she said, letting go of him, after which she walked to Klarok. "Let's go. My place. I'm irritated, and I need to relax."
"I still need to make an errand. I'll meet you there, OK?" he asked her gruffly.
"Sure," she answered.
*****
It was a nice night. She was walking back to the embassy, and she was already feeling much more relaxed. She breathed in the strange, alien scent of Q'onos. It's plant and animal life gave off a scent that was quite invigorating. It was sweeter that Earth, yet it had an undercurrent of a musky nature.
She was getting irritated again, it was those damn foot steps behind her. She tried to ignore them, but they wouldn't leave. They only seemed to get louder. "What!?" she suddenly screamed as she quickly turned around. It was that irritating drunk again. "What is it now?! Didn't you understand what I told you?! Are you some kind of dimwit?!"
"I don't care," the drunk growled, still sober enough not to hiccup through his speech. "I want you, you're sexy, you're hot. If you'd only know what I've been thinking about you."
"I've got a pretty good idea," she answered, disgusted. He grabbed her, trying to bite her cheek. A kick to the stomach and a double-handed uppercut sent him to the floor.
"You filthy slut!" he growled as he stood back up. "You're going to love me by the time I'm through with you!"
"Oh! You're going to rape me, huh? Well, go ahead and try!" she shouted. As he came forward again, she pulled her sword from underneath her coat and cut his right arm.
"You little bitch!" he yelled. He pulled his bat'leth from his back and attacked. An attack which was easily blocked by Dana.
The fight was short; a drunken Klingon versus a half-drunken Immortal. The Klingon didn't stand a chance. He was disarmed easily, and a second later his head lay severed from his body. Dana easily cleaned her sword with the cleaning cloth she always had with her, then started walking away. *Damn bastard!* she thought as she kicked his head hard and sent it flying across the street.
Aah, she was already getting relaxed again.
*****
"Finally," Dana said, as she walked up to Klarok, wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down, and kissed him deeply, then pulled away. "Let's make a little change, shall we?"
"Change?" he asked.
"Yes, today no Klingon beat 'em up sex, but nice and slow Terran sex," she grinned at him, pulling him along by his hand.
"No way," he growled, "I'm really in the mood."
"No way on the no way," Dana said, as she tried to push him down on the soft bed. "Sit," she said when he didn't budge.
"Uh uh," he answered her grinning, then grabbed her by the waste and pulled her up, thinking about slamming her into a wall. Her foot kicked out rapidly, hitting him in his chest hard, and he went down. "See, you want it too," Klarok grinned at her.
"That was not a sex kick," she answered him, "I've let myself be beat up just to get your rocks off and to learn about your culture. Now it's your turn."
"And you love it," he accused.
"That's not the point. The point is that I could have hated it as well," Dana answered, relaxed.
"I know what I like and want, and I like and want you," he answered her, shooting a fist to her.
She avoided it rather easy and playfully, and said, slowly getting irritated again, "I want to relax, so we will have soft sex, and that's it."
He growled and his next fist she countered, by grabbing him by the wrist and flinging him over her shoulder. He got up and said, "See you like it, you want it."
Her answer left no doubt in his mind that she was telling the truth and did not want to have Klingon sex with him - her answer was a powerful kick straight into his erection. He couldn't control the tears coming from his eyes as he dropped to his knees and clutched his genitals tenderly, hoping against hope that that would alleviate the pain. He had to force himself to take breaths that became pathetic gasps for air.
Dana grabbed his collar and dragged him out of the bedroom. She looked over the railing of the balcony and saw a nice drop of over two meters, down to the main meeting hall, but decided against it.
She pulled him over to the stairs. "What are you doing?" he asked, still clutching his painful balls.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she answered him with menace and threw him down the stairs.
"Ooh! Aah! Hmpf! Ooof! Argh!" he exclaimed as he rolled down the stairs.
"Guards!"
"Ma'am?" asked two guards who appeared instantly.
"Get this Klingon bastard off the compound, and don't let him back in!" she ordered, after which she turned around and walked back into her bedroom.
"Sorry, pal . . ." one of the guards said as he pulled Klarok up under his right arm.
" . . .crash and burn," the other guard finished without interruption, picking up Klarok under his left arm at the same time. Then they proceeded to escort him out the gate.
*****
Federation Embassy
The next day, 08:00
Dana yawned as she sat down in the seat at the head of the long table. The rest of the table was lined with Federation personnel. Dana's bodyguards were part of them, as well as the people that worked closest with her.
"Good morning," she said.
"Good morning," they answered.
"Anything interesting happening with the Klingons, today?" Dana asked as she started to smear butter on her bagel, followed by strawberry jam.
"They've got this unsolved decapitation. Get this, they found the guy's head almost twenty meters away from the body," one of her liaisons answered.
Her eyes jerked op toward him. After chewing and swallowing her first bite, she asked, "What's the big deal about that? I'm certain there have been duels with a decapitation before, right?"
"Oh, sure, but this guy is the head of a Klingon House (no pun intended), a rather young leader whit no heir. And now this afternoon at two o'clock our time they'll have a hearing in front of the High Council in order to determine what to do with the House. I've heard there's a contender who has petitioned that the titles and the land be added to his," the liaison told everybody at the table.
"It would be rather interesting to observe such a proceeding. Too bad they won't let outsiders in the Council's Hall," Dana's advisor mused. Dana pondered something in her head, stuffing the last of her bun in her mouth, and proceeding to get the next one.
"Do you know what he looked like?" Dana asked the liaison.
"Yeah, I even got a picture," the liaison answered and showed her the picture on his PADD. It was the drunk Klingon bastard she had killed last night.
"It would be interesting. MacLeod, Duran and I will be attending this hearing," she said across the table. They all looked at her, astonished.
*****
Klingon High Council's Hall.
14:16
Azebur made a gesture to halt. The person in the middle of the circle, that was painted on the floor in front of the throne stopped talking.
"Ambassador, I think you are aware of our policy that no outsider is allowed inside these chambers!" Azebur called to Dana, the threat in her voice evident.
Dana wrestled past the guards that restrained her. Free she said forcibly, "That policy is going to have to change!"
"And just who do you think you are, to determine that!" Azebur exclaimed as she stepped down from the throne and walked down the steps in anger.
"The witness who knows who killed Kuruan!" Dana bellowed, taking a few steps forward.
Azebur looked at her across the hall, then swiftly turned around - the chancellor's cloak whirled around as she did so - and ascended the steps to the throne again. She looked past every face of the Klingons comprising the Klingon High Council, which comprised a half-circle that started behind her throne. Each head grimly nodded, showing they didn't like it, but that they had no choice.
Azebur whipped herself back around and ordered, "Step forward!" One Klingon, somebody who watched the procedure, started protesting. Azebur turned her head towards him. Swiftly, a guard placed a d'k tagh dagger at his throat. The Klingon quickly backed up.
*Damn!* Dana thought, as she walked toward the middle of the circle. *If I had known it would take this long just to get here, I would've left earlier.*
"So," Azebur said, looking at the gathering. To her right the widow and her party, to her left Murad's the contender's party. In the middle now the Federation Ambassador. She had to admit she liked her. "Who killed Kuruan?"
"I did!" Dana answered in Klingon. The murmurs coming from everybody in the room were colored with disbelief to shock, and from anger to outrage.
"Quiet!" Azebur ordered. The murmurs died down. "That could be enough to start a war, Ambassador. May I ask why you killed him?"
"He had been bugging me all night, constantly trying to seduce me. I made it pretty clear to him that I wasn't interested. Then he followed me when I left the party. He still wanted sex, I told him, again I wasn't interested. He said he didn't care whether I was interested, basically making it clear to me that he intended to rape me. We pulled our swords, we fought, he's a head shorter," Dana said a bit gruffly, getting irritated again as she remembered the night before.
"She's lying!" the widow screamed. So did some of the Klingons in High Council.
"No Human, especially not a small, weak, female specimen like that could ever defeat a Klingon warrior in personal combat," one of the High Council's protestors elaborated.
"Not that it would have mattered, but him being completely drunk out of his mind helped," Dana told him sarcastically.
"My husband, would never begin something with another woman!" the widow screamed
Dana turned toward her and added sarcastically, "Ah, yes, and every woman who ever believed that, was never wrong."
"We have very different rituals, when it comes to mating, Ambassador. Are you certain you could not have interpreted his advances in the wrong way?" a Council member asked.
"Oh, trust me, I now everything about Klingon mating rituals. Klarok here was so free to teach me all about it. It's a shame I was incapable of teaching him everything about Human mating rituals," Dana answered him, looking darkly at Klarok, who was part of the Klingon High Council. The room seemed stunned for a moment. In the corner of her eye, Dana caught a little smile on Murad's face.
"It's true," Klarok answered, keeping his expression neutral. For a moment everybody in the room fell silent, apparently a little shocked.
"Madam Chancellor, the Ambassador's and Chairman Klarok's testimony prove that Kuruan disgraced himself by trying to force himself onto an unwilling woman. This increases my right to his land and titles," Murad stated.
*Something about him is familiar,* Dana thought, trying to remember. *I saw him several times, at a gathering, a party . . . sparring with MacLeod!* She went over last night's happenings. She had been really irritated, far more than she should have been and she pulled her sword first. Had he really been that threatening? She made her decision, and while Murad was still pleading his case, she shuffled over to the widow. She looked at MacLeod, who was still standing behind the guards at the entrance, and grinned at him. The answering look was readable even across the distance. It said, 'Oh no, please don't do whatever you're thinking about doing.'
"Brek'tal," she whispered in Mighkel's - the widow's - ear.
"Get away," she whispered back in a soft growl.
"Do you want your husband's house to end?" she whispered in accusation.
"No, but there's nothing that can be done about it," Mighkel whispered back in irritation.
"I'm willing to try. Now trust me and do the Brek'tal ritual," Dana insisted. Mighkel looked at her in a strange way, trying to appraise the Human Ambassador. When it took too long for Dana's tastes, she added, "Come on, we don't have much time. If Azebur makes a decision, it's over."
Mighkel pulled someone from her group in front of them, then said to Dana in a loud voice, "Go'Eveh lu cha wabeh Mo'ka'richos!"
"Go'Eveh lu cha wabeh to va re'Luk!" Dana added in an equally loud voice. As everybody in the room had gone deathly silent.
Mighkel, suddenly eager to see what the Ambassador was up to, pulled on the man she had put in front of them in order to get him out of his shocked state. It worked, and he said, "Ghos ma'lu Kah." Then Mighkel bent down, and she and Dana shared a kiss.
Everybody in the room started talking and yelling, mostly in outrage and shock.
"SILENCE!!!" Azebur yelled through the room, everybody became less loud. But didn't quite stop speaking. "I said SILENCE!!!" she yelled again, this time everybody stopped talking. Dana had walked to the center of the circle during the chaos.
"Are you trying to mock us?! I'm half tempted to cut your head off!" Azebur fumed at her.
"No mockery what so ever, Chancellor," Dana said, calmly.
"What was it then!?" Azebur asked angrily.
"I believe it's called the Brek'tal ritual, Chancellor. You should know it. I think that makes me the head of the former House of Kuruan," Dana said, her eyes twinkling more and more in amusement.
"I know what it is called, but what do you think you've accomplished? No female is allowed to marry another female. That means what you did has no meaning," Azebur asked, getting angrier.
"Aaah," Dana answered, lifting her right index finger from her touching fingertips, careful not to let the grin spread across her face and giving only a sly, polite smile. "But this is where things get complicated. You see, I'm not a Klingon citizen . . . at least not yet. I'm a Federation citizen, and we are fully allowed to marry other women. Actually we are allowed to marry multiple women, and / or multiple men if we choose to do so. All those different cultures in one Federation, you see. Which means, I'm married, and Mighkel is now also a Federation citizen in addition to her Klingon citizenship, earning her all kinds of rights she didn't have before. Isn't that so, Duran!? My legal advisor," she elaborated for the Klingons.
MacLeod had to nudge Duran in order to get him to say something, "Yes, yes, I think that's right."
"Of course," Dana answered, smiling a sly smile, "there is the possibility that I need a Federation marriage ritual, since you don't allow women to be married . . . but under the rules of the Brek'tal ritual I don't actually have to accept the loser's wife as my own, in order to lead his House, which gives me plenty of time to actually perform a Federation marriage ritual, if it would turn out to be necessary."
"No female is allowed to lead a Klingon House, so marriage or not, you still don't lead the house. What would you want with a Klingon House anyway?" Azebur said smugly. By now she stood right in front of Dana, which let her look down upon her menacingly. Dana however was in the least bit intimidated.
"I'm not a Klingon female. I'm Human and a Federation citizen, and we are fully allowed to lead anything we want to, including a Klingon house. And who said I want the house? Perhaps I just want the woman," Dana answered her, giving Mighkel a simulated, lustful gaze and grin. Dana turned back to Azebur and said, "Either way, we're in a big legal mess which would have come to our doorsteps sooner or later but will still take some time to sort out. Besides, if a Klingon woman is not even allowed to lead a house, what are you doing as the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council?"
"There are several extremely rare, exceptional circumstances that allow me Chancellorship, and you know it," Azebur said, a lot more angry, but also a lot less certain.
"Exactly, and what would you call this marriage? Normal circumstances, everyday problems? I think not. Which means: if a woman is allowed to lead the Council under unusual circumstances, than a woman should - even easier - be allowed to lead a measly House under unusual circumstances. Either that, or you . . . step . . . down," Dana said, letting a sly grin spread on her face while thinking, *Gotcha.* She knew they couldn't let her step down. It would almost certainly lead to civil war, and following that war one with the Federation, something they could not even remotely afford.
Dana saw the carefully controlled rage in Azebur's eyes, and she heard the difficulty with which she kept her voice neutral as she said, "This hearing is adjourned. We'll have study this . . . legal precedent. We will reconvene tomorrow, same time. Now everybody out!"
Dana turned around, and signaled Mighkel to follow her. When she reached MacLeod, Duran and the Vulcan guard, MacLeod had insisted on taking with them - she gave him a thankful smile for that - she ordered, "Duran, go back to the Embassy - you go with him. Tell everybody what happened and that I won't be there for about a day. Make sure you find somebody who can perform a marriage ceremony if it should become necessary."
"Yes, ma'am, I don't think I have to remind you what complications this will bring, do I? No, I didn't think so," he answered a little irritated and with a look that said, 'I hope you know what you're doing.' He and the Vulcan guard left.
MacLeod sighed deeply, "What is it with you and trouble?"
Dana grinned an evil grin and answered, "I like it."
*****
Once everybody except Azebur and the High Council had left Council chambers, she cursed several nasty Klingon curses.
"What does she think she's doing!?!" she screamed. "Doesn't she understand, she plunged us all into doom!"
"We can't let you step down! We'll be thrown into full civil war virtually immediately," a council member said, angrily.
"She used loop holes. Can we find one, which allows us to give Murad what he wants without Azebur having to step down?" another one asked.
"I've already sent people looking, but . . . I don't think there are any," another answered.
"A slight majority wants a war with the Federation. Azebur as the Chancellor - being Gorkon's daughter - is the only way we can go ahead with what must be done in order to survive - an alliance with the Federation," another council member said.
"Do you think it's possible this is what the Federation planned all along - let us fight amongst ourselves in a civil war, tire us out, then attack when we can no longer fight back?" another asked.
"I highly doubt that," Azebur said. "There are to many different people in the Federation. This would have to be done by Starfleet without consent of the Federation Council, an illegal action."
"Then could she really be so evil, that she'd all do this just to get Mighkel as her wife?" a sixth council member answered.
"No, I know her too well for that," Klarok said forcibly. "I don't believe that she thought that little about our relationship."
"I don't know," Azebur said, defeated. "What I do know is that if we create this law of special dispensation and give Mighkel her House, Murad will challenge the decision and he's allowed to. It would look too much like a decision made to make sure I'm in this position, which in a way is true."
"You can't take him," Klarok said. "I've seen him fight. He's better than you, and he's a man. He's got strength on you too."
"If he wins," she said sadly, "then he'll be the new head of the Council on top of having Kuruan's and my family's titles and land."
"We can't let that happen. Somebody who would challenge you in these kinds of circumstances is dishonorable," one of them said.
"Perhaps the Ambassador has an ulterior reason . . . and a solution to our problem," somebody close to Azebur said.
"Let's hope so," Azebur said. "Because I can't think of anything else to do."
*****
Klarok slammed the cup of Bloodwine down in one gulp and said to the bartender, "Another one."
"Well, well, I've been looking for you," MacLeod said as he sat down next to him.
"What do you want, bodyguard?" he growled at MacLeod.
"I'm going to give you some advice - on women," MacLeod told him coolly.
"Why would you do that?" Klarok said, angry.
"Because you're drinking yourself into obliteration, because of one. Which is not good for the present situation," MacLeod answered.
"I'm not drinking because of Josie," he answered angrily. "I'm drinking because of a certain 'legal' 'precedent'. Which you, dumb bodyguard, probably don't understand anyway."
MacLeod chuckled and answered, "Which was caused by Josie."
Klarok snorted. "OK, so in a way I am drinking because of her, but not the way you think."
"Are you certain about that?" MacLeod asked.
Klarok didn't understand why, but he was compelled to answer the truth, "OK, part of why I'm drinking is in the way you think."
"So why don't go and make up?" MacLeod asked him.
"She had me thrown out of the embassy and told me she never wanted to see me again," Klarok said. "I rather think she meant it."
"Trust me, I know Human women. All she wants you to do is apologize, concede she's right, and do exactly what you didn't want to do in the first place. Of course they want you to do that whether they're right or not, but this time she's right," MacLeod explained to him, while he thought to himself, *After seven hundred years of putting up with them, I should.*
Klarok looked at him for a second before asking, "That's why you're doing this right? Increase Federation - Klingon relations by allowing a romantic relationship to succeed?"
"Of course, so what do you say?" Duncan answered, thinking to himself, *Actually, as long as you're around Dana you'll keep her from making my life miserable. Oh man, there'll come a time when I'll pay her back.*
"Lead the way," Klarok answered. They walked to the exit, and MacLeod turned left once he was through.
"It's the other way to the embassy," Klarok said.
"She's not at the embassy. She is at the late Kuruan's house. It took us some time get the address, since those little bastards went there without waiting for us. She should be there by now," Duncan explained.
*****
Kuruan's house.
*Well, well, well,* Dana thought sarcastically, standing in front of the gate. *So this is my new house, eh? And it already starts by having to fight my way inside. Just perfect.*
"Open up!" Dana shouted.
"Go away. The mistress said you're not wanted here!" a voice shouted.
"I'm your mistress, now open up before I have to kick it open!" Dana yelled. A few laughs followed with something that sounded suspiciously like, 'I'd like to see you try.'
"Ok!" she yelled, pulling out her phaser and using it to destroy the lock. She put it away again and kicked open the gate.
"You never said anything about using a phaser first," the Klingon to her right growled, a bat'leth in his hands.
"I never said anything about not using a phaser either," she grinned at him. He attacked and so did the second guard to her left. Dana avoided the right Klingon's downward swipe, grabbed him by his head, and used his own momentum to fling him all the way around to her left, where she let him fly and neatly barrel into the other Klingon.
She walked further into the compound. Another two Klingons ran at her. She stopped walking and waited. Just in time she stepped out of the way of the left Klingon and right in the path of the Klingon coming from the right. The Klingon's timing thus was off, and instead of embedding his blade in her body, he imbedded his stomach in her extended foot. He doubled over, she grabbed his head, and slammed his face into her knee, her right elbow slammed into his neck, and he went down for the count.
The Klingon that was on her left had regained his footing and attacked her with a downward swipe of his bat'leth. She danced aside and stepped her right foot on his bat'leth, forcing it out of his hands. This brought them in perfect position for her to grab his hand and then slam herself to the ground, letting his neck slam onto her shoulder. He too was instantly unconscious.
She walked further to the entrance of the house. Four Klingons - two carrying bat'leths, the others d'k tagh daggers - came out, and advanced on her.
"Oh, you honorable Klingons wouldn't attack an unarmed sweet, little, Human female like me four on one would you?" Dana asked them sweetly. The four of them looked at each other, then one of them stepped forward. *Klingon honor,* Dana thought, *such a convenience.* The Klingon carrying a bat'leth attacked with a horizontal swipe of his blade. She jumped back and grabbed the blade with her own hands, then twisted it upward, bringing the two of them closer together and opened up his midriff for an attack. Her knee found his stomach, doubling him over and allowing her to twist the bat'leth out of his hands. Then she smashed the back of the blade on his head, and he went down. She threw the sword to the side.
The second Klingon attacked with his dagger. He held it above his head and tried to plunge it into her. Dana blocked his hands but didn't stop there. She grabbed them, twisted herself around and pulled him over her back. Since he was already in a downward motion, it went easy. She held onto his arm by his wrist and twisted it. He screamed and dropped the knife. With her left hand remained on his wrist, she grabbed him by his shoulder with her right and pulled him up. Since this brought his arm into a painful position, he actively tried to get up with her to ease the pain. She used it to pull him along in a tight circle, maximizing his speed, before slamming his head into a nearby tree. She let go of his arm. At the same she stretched her leg above the back of his head, and let it drop hard on the back of his head.
She turned around and saw the third Klingon, this one too with a dagger, advance on her. She walked toward him just like he walked toward her. Suddenly as she came close, she ran straight at him. He - not expecting it - was too late to react. She, using her speed, ran straight up him letting her first two steps slam into his chest hard. Then her right foot shot higher and kicked him into the side of his head. He staggered to his right, bending forward to keep his balance. Dana corkscrewed to her left, landed on her right foot and used her momentum to smash her left foot on his head, and he dropped to the floor.
The final Klingon seemed more wary, not wanting to underestimate her like his mates had done. They circled for a few seconds before he attacked, giving a short jab with his bat'leth. The problem with Klingon martial arts is that they hardly use their feet, so they hardly ever expect anyone else to do so. Dana ducked, twisting her body in a swipe with her legs and easily kicked his legs from under him. He dropped on his back. She grabbed his bat'leth, pulled it from his hands and threw it to the side. She grabbed him by throat with her right hand, squeezed hard and pulled him up.
"You're coming with me," she said to him, pulling him along by his throat. He tried to pull her hand from his throat and noticed that it wasn't that easy. Her left hand punched him in the face, and she told him, wiggling her left index finger warningly, "Uh, uh."
She slammed her left hand on the door into the house and yelled in Klingon, "Open up, because I'm starting to get fed up!"
"The mistress ordered . . ." a young, squeaky voice said.
"I'm your mistress," Dana interrupted. "Besides, you either open this door, or I'll kill him, and then I'll find another way in." Dana heard some fiddling with the lock and the door opened, making a small girl, by Human standards not more then ten years old, visible. "Ssh," Dana told her. "I won't hurt you. Do you know where Mighkel is?"
"In there," the girl said, pointing her finger shakingly, still remembering how the weak-looking Human female had taken care of eight Klingon warriors without much effort.
"Good girl," Dana told her, smiling, then stroked the girl's hair once. "Do you know where the other servants are?"
"S-some left, o-others took a day off, s-since the house is ending a-anyway. Others have other d-duties," the child shakingly said.
"And they put you in charge of the door?" Dana asked, concerned.
"M-mama did. She needed to clean up the barn," the girl answered getting less frightened.
"All right, last question. Do you have the key to Mighkel's room?"
"No, only Mighkel has a key to her room," the girl answered.
"Very good, go get your mother, okay? Tell her her mistress needs her on her regular post," Dana said to her. The girl nodded and ran off. Dana pulled the Klingon, who was getting increasingly uncomfortable, to the door to Mighkel's room.
"Mighkel! Open the damn door," Dana yelled, abandoning Klingon in her anger, knowing that Mighkel understood English.
"Get away! We don't need you," Mighkel yelled back.
"Open the fucking door, or I'll kill this guard and then kick the door in!" Dana practically growled. She heard the lock mechanism turning and saw the door opening. Dana pushed the Klingon away and stepped through the door. She slammed the door closed behind her and said, "You and I are going to have a little talk, because you don't treat people who're trying to help you like this. Sending your guards out to kill me?"
"You don't want to help me, you just want me as your lover," Mighkel answered coldly.
Dana groaned, then threw her head back, and started to rub her forehead with the fingers on her right head, all of that in frustration as she sighed, "Children." She looked back at Mighkel, "Look, I said that in the Council's hall because telling them, 'I married her just because I want to buy a little time to solve her husband's murder' would never have held up as legitimate reason for marriage, and they'd nullify it immediately."
"What's there to solve? You killed him, or was that a lie too?" Mighkel accused.
"I killed him, but I did not murder him. You see, Murad used me as a weapon to murder your husband," Dana explained as patiently as possible.
"How could he do that?" Mighkel asked, unconvinced.
"A little sexual tension, a few drugs, some alcohol, a few pheromones, a few hormones, and you've got everything you need," Dana said, then turned around to think a little. She ordered Mighkel. "You go get your husband out of storage and . . ."
"I'm not doing anything. You're not my wife, or mistress - the Chancellor never said you were. Now you're going to explain me exactly . . . Aaah!" Mighkel interrupted Dana, then placed an arm on her shoulder in order to turn her around. Dana grabbed the hand on her shoulder and twisted it viciously as she turned around to face Mighkel again. A hard kick to the side of Mighkel's knee - not enough to break it - sent Mighkel down to her knees. A knock on the door interrupted Dana.
"What?!" Dana shouted. The door opened, and a grown Klingon woman stood there, most likely the young girl's mother.
"Ambassador, Council Chairman Klarok wishes to speak with you. And your bodyguard, MacLeod, said he was checking the grounds," she said a little quietly.
*So that was the business you had to take care of, MacLeod. You bastard,* Dana thought briefly. "Tell him he can wait. I've got business to take care of . . . and it's mistress to you!" Dana said angrily and saw the woman's look toward Mighkel, who was still on her knees. "Ah! Loyalty to your old mistress eh? I've got a feeling though, that she'll be thinking of me as her mistress soon as well," Dana observed and twisted Mighkel's arm a little further.
"Aaah!" she screamed in pain.
"Yes, mistress," the woman said and closed the door once more.
Dana grabbed Mighkel's throat and bent forward to put her head close to Mighkel's. "Now, you're going to listen to me, and you're going to listen to me very carefully. If Azebur stops being Chancellor of the Council, there's going to be civil war within the Empire. One side wants or at least sees the necessity of our alliance. The other side wants war with us. That side will undoubtly start attacking the Federation, at which point the Federation is forced to defend itself and will declare war on you. You had a small chance at winning a war against us, but if, at the same time, there's a civil war going on, you don't stand a chance. Azebur either has to step down or make a law that allows women special dispensation to lead a house. If she does the last, Murad can challenge her on her decision in personal combat, and he doesn't care whether it will cause war or not. He just wants power. I could not allow a dishonorable p'tagh like that on the Council, which - with your titles and lands - he soon would be. In short," Dana removed her right hand from Mighkel's throat, using her thumb and index finger to show Mighkel how close, "I saw myself forced to bring the Klingon Empire and the Federation this close to a devastating war. And unless you start doing exactly as I say, that is precisely what's going to happen . . . tomorrow!! Do you understand me!?"
Mighkel nodded.
"Good," Dana let her go. "Now you're going to go get your husband and bring him in a room in this house . . . or you're going to make sure I can get access to him by tomorrow at eight o'clock. You are also going to make sure there will be everything there that I need to perform an autopsy. If you don't know everything I need, contact the Federation Embassy. They will tell you. Wake me up tomorrow morning at eight o'clock. Now hurry!"
"Yes . . . mistress," Mighkel said and stepped through the door.
Dana stepped through the door briefly also. "Hey!" Dana yelled at the woman who had just given her the news. "Tell Klarok he can come in."
Dana went back into the room. Hands folded in front of her chest, she waited in the middle of the bedroom. "What d'ya want!?" she asked coldly, as he walked into the room.
"To apologize," he answered.
"Oh, really? And why is that? Because MacLeod told you so?" Dana asked him with a cold look on her face.
"No, because MacLeod told me that it was necessary in order to continue our relationship. I want to see where it might lead," he answered her.
*Good answer,* she conceded to herself. Her face softened just a notch. "That's all?" she asked coolly and turned around so she didn't have to look at him, letting a little smile creep onto her face.
"Well, that and the understanding that you were right. We definitely should try out Terran mating practices, and well . . . I apologize for not being able to contain myself last night," Klarok said, not really liking what he said even though he meant it.
"I think there's actually an explanation for our mutual erratic behaviour, but that'll have to wait until the hearing tomorrow," she said. She turned around and smiled a seductive smile at him.
"So you do have something up your sleeve," Klarok said, grinning, using one of the idioms she had taught him.
"Always," she said, as she placed her arms around his neck, stood on her toes, pulled him down a little and kissed him.
"So this is 'making up'?" Klarok asked, remembering the term MacLeod used. "Is it always this easy?"
"Sometimes," Dana grinned at him. She turned on the computer in the room, chose communications and opened a channel to the embassy.
"Yes, Ambassador," the aide on the screen said.
"Can you pinpoint my coordinates?" Dana asked her.
"Yes," she answered.
"Good, beam my mattress to here," Dana ordered.
"Ma'am?" the woman asked, bewildered.
"Just do it. Taelman out," Dana said. A minute later the mattress materialized, and then she put it on the bed. It didn't fill the bed completely, but it would have to do. "Take off your clothes and lie on the bed," Dana ordered Klarok.