Welcome, Coconut Girl! And thanks for hanging in there with this, fififolle!

CHAPTER 11

Hoshi had sent Reed away after telling him she would kill Shidak. Let him think about that for a while, she thought. No matter what he could have said, she knew he wouldn't have been able to sway her resolution in that regard. She would make sure Shidak would pay for what he had done. There was no need to argue with Reed about the method that payment would take.

Besides, if he had stayed in her cabin much longer, she may have done something she would have regretted later.

After Kleth escorted Reed away, she leaned her head against the back of the chair as she sat at her desk, replaying their meeting in her mind. It had been very hard to maintain her Klingon facade around him. Kleth had been right -- she was attracted to him.

His accent had charmed her, not that he had talked much. She had heard the steel of conviction in it when he had spoken, and knew he was as set on his course as she was on hers.

She smiled as she recalled his stunned look when he had first seen her standing behind the desk. Her smile faded, however, as she probed her motivation for wearing the outfit. She had used her appearance to throw him off-guard, but she knew that wasn't the only reason. She had wanted to be attractive for him, to see if she could arouse another response.

Damn him! He was making her forget about Matthew. Sweet, funny, strong Matthew. Now she had to stand on her own without him, and she was falling for the first Human male they'd run across. How could she possibly be any more shameful?

Reed had wound up interrogating her, not the other way around. She had let herself be distracted by him. The fact that he was Human had something to do with it. She had always enjoyed being around other people, and this self-imposed exile among Klingons was difficult for her. She couldn't be herself with them. She always had to maintain the rough, strong exterior.

She'd let Reed wonder for a while. They had four days before they'd reach Shidak's stronghold. There was plenty of time to bring Reed around to her way of thinking.

Tucker was sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall, when Reed was brought back to their cell.

"Well, ya weren't gone very long," Tucker said.

"Long enough," Reed replied, sinking down against the wall a few feet away.

"Did ya learn anything?" Tucker said, then added sarcastically, "or should I ask, did she learn anything?"

"Still don't trust me?" Reed asked with a small grin.

"'Bout as far as I can throw ya."

Reed laughed quietly at that. "I didn't tell her any secrets, if that's what you're worried about. I can tell you this -- before too long, we're going to be working with her."

"What?"

"You heard me. We have the same goal, but we've been going about it in different ways."

"She's a pirate," Tucker said in disbelief, "with a shipload of Klingons at her beck and call. And you say she's got the same goal as us?"

"Um-hum." Reed closed his eyes and sighed, trying to block out Tucker's questions. He'd much rather think about the woman he'd just left, and how he could persuade her to go along with the plan he was formulating.

The rest of that night and the next day passed slowly. The Klingon equivalent of breakfast was brought to the cell, and Reed passed the time watching Tucker trying to force himself to eat some of it.

A couple of times, they were allowed to relieve themselves in facility at the end of the corridor, but they were never alone outside the cell. One of the guards even went into the bathroom with them.

There was no lunch, and as the hours dragged along, even the gregarious Tucker was running out of things to talk about. Reed was beginning to wonder how long she'd leave him locked up before she wanted to see him again. She was an intelligent woman. She had to be -- there was no way she could lead a bunch of Klingons if she wasn't. Surely she had to see the sense in working with him. Or, had he been wrong about her?

His musings were interrupted by the opening of the cell door. Kleth stood there. "She has summoned you, little warrior," he said.

He should have guessed what was going on when Kleth came to get him at the same time as a guard arrived carrying only one plate and a mug, which he put on the floor near Tucker. Still, Reed was surprised when Kleth took him to the captain's quarters to find Hoshi, dressed in the same flowing gown as the evening before, seated at the table set for three.

He looked at Kleth, who had followed him into the cabin.

"You have been invited to dine at the captain's table, little warrior," Kleth said. "Don't look so scared."

"I'm not scared," Reed retorted. "I'm just surprised that you're joining us."

The Klingon narrowed his eyes. "The captain and I have a special bond."

Hoshi was watching their byplay with interest, and Reed turned to her. "Good evening, Hoshi," he said, using her name for the first time.

A rumbling from Kleth was all the warning he got before the blow knocked him across the cabin.

"Do not address her so intimately!" the Klingon said. "To you, she is 'Captain' or 'Mistress.'"

Reed picked himself off the floor, rubbing his arm where Kleth had struck him, and nodded in acknowledgement. It was going to be an interesting meal.

Giving Kleth a wide berth, he sat down at the table across from Hoshi. He glanced up and found her eyes on him, but she hastily looked away, reaching for her mug.

He watched in amazement as she took a long swallow without gagging. That was Klingon blood wine, one of the more noxious beverages in the universe.

He was distracted from that sight by the enticing smell of the food on his plate. Looking down, he saw a cut of some sort of meat. It resembled steak, well-done, and there was a mound of something that looked like mashed potatoes next to it. He raised his gaze from the plate to look quizzically at Hoshi.

"It's targ steak," she said. "And sackil root, mashed and seasoned."

Sneaking a glance at Kleth's plate, he saw the warrior also had targ steak, accompanied by a writhing mass of those worm-like things. He decided not to look at Kleth's plate again until he'd finished his own meal. He was too hungry to let Kleth's choice of food slow him down.

He waited for Hoshi to cut her steak and take a bite before he applied himself to his meal. It was good, the meat tender and juicy, and the mashed root spicy enough to be interesting. A pitcher of water was near his glass, and he was grateful she had thought of that small gesture. He didn't want to start in on the blood wine, which could dull his ability to think clearly.

Kleth applied himself industriously to his food and was finished before Reed was a third through his. Hoshi, he noticed, had taken only a few bites, then put down her fork as if she wasn't hungry.

Feeling the weight of their combined stares, he stopped and put down his utensils. "That was very good," he said to Hoshi.

"You ought to appreciate it," Kleth interjected. "She fixed it herself for you."

"Kleth!" Hoshi said as Reed glanced at her in surprise.

"It is true," Kleth said.

"I don't want him to die from that slop you call food before we accomplish our goal," Hoshi stated testily. "I have plans for him."

Her last remark caused the Klingon to laugh.

"Oh, get out," she said irritably to Kleth. "I'll never be able to do anything with you around."

Kleth laughed even louder as he rose. Reed could swear he was looking at Hoshi affectionately, and once again wondered about their relationship. As Kleth passed him on the way to the door, however, he gave Reed a stern glare.

"He's the only Klingon I've met who understands innuendo," Hoshi said as the door closed after Kleth departed.

"He's certainly...unusual," Reed agreed.

They lapsed into silence, Hoshi taking a small sip from her mug. Reed filled in the time, taking a few more bites of meat, as he waited for her to speak. It gradually dawned on him that she was waiting for him to finish eating before talking to him. He took his time, savoring the flavors.

Once his plate was empty, he reached for the flagon of blood wine and poured some into his mug. Taking a sip and trying not to make a face at the taste, he regarded her over the rim of the mug.

"Thank you for the meal," he said to break awkward silence.

"You're welcome," she replied, then fell silent again.

Trying to keep her talking, he said, "You're quite a cook."

"It's just one of my many talents," she said with a self-deprecating smile. He saw her face harden with resolve. "But I didn't have you come here to talk about my talents. There are other things we need to discuss."

She shoved her barely touched plate away and leaned back in her chair. "You're stuck, Malcolm Reed. You've been captured by what you believe are pirates. Your prototype ship has been captured as well. I don't see how you are going to get out of this, unless you cooperate with me."

Reed looked at her speculatively. "What kind of cooperation do you want?"

"I need the engine on your ship fixed, for one thing. My engineering crew doesn't know what's wrong with it."

"I suppose a new engine that actually works would be much more tempting to someone like Shidak than the way it is now," he said.

"There is that," she admitted, leaning toward him across the table. "But there is another reason to have it fixed."

He watched as she stood and paced over to the tiny viewport in the bulkhead. Looking out the window, she said, "I don't intend to die. I may need a way to escape after I kill Shidak. The fastest ship in the quadrant would allow me to do that."

"You'd sacrifice your crew?" he asked, not believing she could be that callous.

"No. They would be on their own, free to do as they please," she said evenly. "I have promised Kleth that much. He deserves it. They were renegade Klingons before, they can be renegade Klingons again, if they wish."

"I take it Kleth knows this?"

"Yes."

"But not the rest of the crew?"

She turned to face him, her back to the viewport. "No. I'm not that stupid. There's no need to give any of them an incentive to 'relieve' me of command. If they knew I was using them, even for an honorable reason, only to discard them when I'm finished..."

"They'd kill you," he finished for her when her voice trailed off. "Why hasn't Kleth...ah, disposed of you?"

"It's the Klingon way. According to the code of honor they live by, Kleth is obligated to me," she said.

Coming to sit down at the table, she fiddled with the knife on her plate. "A couple of years ago, Matthew, my husband, was traveling with one of our freighters. They came across the Falcon, disabled, fires burning in its engineering core, most of the engineers dead or injured."

She took a deep breath. "Any other freighter would have passed by, leaving the Klingons to their fate. Dealing with Klingons is usually not worth the trouble." In a shaky voice, she said, "Matthew ordered his freighter to dock with the Falcon, despite the danger that it would be destroyed if the Falcon's warp core blew."

Reed could hear the pride in her voice as she continued. "Matthew, through his own force of will, made Kleth let him board. I don't know exactly what he said to Kleth, but it worked, and the engineering crew from our freighter was able to contain the breach. As a result, Kleth, for whatever reason, swore allegiance to my husband. Something to do about being spared an inglorious death with no honor, I think was how Matthew said Kleth put it.

"So your husband took Kleth into the business?" he asked.

"Yes, and it worked very well. It opened up a whole new area for shipping, trading with some of the outer Klingon worlds."

This time when she fell silent and looked away, Reed left her alone with her thoughts. Watching her profile, he could see a series of emotions cross her face. When she began to speak again, her voice was so soft that he had to strain to listen.

"Then the pirate attacks started. Matthew was incensed. He wanted to find out exactly why it was happening, and what he could do to protect our ships. Kleth left the Falcon and came to help him. They were together on the freighter when the pirates attacked and Matthew was..."

"I think I can figure out what happened," Reed said as she became more agitated. "You don't have to--"

"You need to know," she said forcefully. "You'll have to work with Kleth, and you should understand him as well as you can. I really don't want him to kill you," she added with a rueful smile.

He gave her a lopsided smile in return and heard her sigh. She stood up again and began to pace.

Resuming her narrative as she paced, she said, "The pirates had knocked out the engine, and the freighter was dead in the water. Matthew and Kleth were both on the bridge when the pirates boarded. Matthew should have surrendered, but he had too much stubborn pride. There was a fight. Kleth was shot with a disruptor, his arm badly burned, and could only use one hand. He was grappling with one of the pirates when Matthew went to help him."

She stopped pacing and stared at him, the horror of what it must have been like on the freighter's bridge clearly written on her face. "Matthew stepped right into the line of fire of another disruptor blast that was meant for Kleth. Except that this disruptor was set on the highest setting. It struck him in the back."

Tears beginning to stream down her face, she finished wretchedly, "There wasn't even a body to bring back home for burial."

"Hoshi, I am so sorry," he said, knowing it sounded lame even to his own ears.

"Don't feel sorry for me!" she yelled through her tears, shaking with a rage rooted in overwhelming grief. "Help me kill that bastard instead."

Standing and moving to her side, he took her unprotesting form into his arms. "Let me do more," he whispered.