Kana's feet touched down on the hard metal deck. She turned and looked up, tilting her head back further and further to take in as much of the guard tower as she could. It stretched twenty floors above over, its top invisible to human eyes, being lost in the thick shadows that clung to the prison. Quite a fall. She congratulated herself on stepping in as quickly as she had; Alex had been close to scaring herself to death on the way down.
Her host's mind had been so utterly exhausted by the trauma of her plunge that she was now unconscious. Kana was in sole control of their body, entirely free and unsupervised. She relished the moment, knowing that it wouldn't last for long, although she was just a little unhappy that Alex wasn't around. The tower looked phallic to her, and she had any number of tasteless penis jokes that she wanted to share with her counterpart.
Blood dribbled from her shoulder wound. Kana surveyed the injury and tutted. The skin and muscle knitted rapidly, influenced by her will, and within a few seconds the wound was healed. She wiped away a little of the blood, and then slapped a medical patch over the fresh pink skin. There was no need to, but it was easier to pretend than to explain to Tyler and everyone else how her wound had magically disappeared.
Explaining how she had survived a fatal fall…she would think of something.
There were hundreds of people locked up in this prison. She could sense them, their despair and fear and frustration a chorus in her mind that she largely ignored, greatly disinterested in other peoples' misery. These prisoners of the Vyar mostly belonged to other races, but she could sense some Vyar amongst them. People who had objected to the Pavron's rule – always a dangerous hobby when you were living in a dictatorship. That they were still alive confirmed her earlier impressions that a new man with new ideas was in charge of the Vyar these days.
Captain Drake would want to speak to those prisoners. They could give him some valuable insight into his new enemy.
Not that Kana particularly cared about such things. The Federation's concerns were its own, and of little interest to her. She ignored the Vyar prisoners and went in search of a ladder or lift that would let her get back up to where the marines were. Three levels from one of the bridges across to the tower, she found something more interesting.
Leaning against the bars of the cell door, she smirked at the prisoners inside. "Well, this explains a lot."
"More humans," spat the most decorated of the Klingons. Sharing a small cell with nearly a dozen other men, having to associate with humans, Vyar, and other alien scum every day in the food and recreation halls had made him cranky. "I would kill you if I could."
"Yeah? Well, you can't." Her most obnoxious grin spread across her lips. "A general, hey? That explains why that Klingon ship has been following us around."
"What are you talking about?"
Kana leant against the doorframe. "Ah, the long story. Very well. I'm an officer on the Starship Endeavour. Some nasty people – the Vyar – you may have heard of them – captured one of our ships and we were sent to recover it. One of your ships, a battlecruiser, has been following us around like a lovesick puppy. I guess they're here to find you. Now, who the hell are you?"
The muscular Klingon drew himself up proudly. "I am General Rotran."
"Ah. Never heard of you."
Spitefully, he said, "And I have not heard of you."
"I haven't even told you my name. But let's leave that to one side for now. I have a proposal for you."
"I'm not interested in anything you have to say," he turned away from her.
"And, again, you don't even know what I'm proposing. Here it is: I hate the Vyar, you hate the Vyar, we all hate the Vyar. Starfleet wants its ship back, you want revenge; I think we can work together."
Rotran gave her his attention again. "Go on."
"One of your ships is out there. Presumably, more are on the way. You take your ships, and you go blow up the Vyar. While you're having a fun time with the violence, we recover our starship. Everybody wins."
"What's to stop me from attacking you as well?"
"Your word of honour will do nicely," suggested Kana. "And you have mine that we won't get in the way of your vengeance."
Honour and deals meant nothing to Kana, but she knew that they mattered to Klingons. If Rotran accepted her offer she could rely on him to hold up his end of the bargain. And with the Klingons engaging the Vyar fighters, recovering the Daedalus would be a simpler task for Will and his merry band of intrepid idiots.
"It is agreed."
Kana had instructed Alex to stash a small knife in her boot before leaving the Endeavour – one never knew when a blade would come in handy. Now, she grinned and drew that knife. She slit the blade across her palm, and passed the knife to the general. He cut his palm as well, and they took each other's hand, mingling the blood and sealing the deal.
A deal that Kana fully intended to betray the instant it suited her purposes.
"Doesn't that give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside?" She cooed as she licked the blood from her hand, a comment that the Klingon diligently ignored.
She spent a moment studying the cell's lock. A simple four-digit combination lock, easily broken. It was simpler to break the lock itself, and after smashing it open, she released the Klingons. There were ten of them squeezed into one cell, and from Rotran she learnt that there were dozens more cells full of Klingons spread throughout the prison. Two battlecruiser crews were held captive in this place. Steadily, cell by cell, she freed the Klingons. Anyone else would have felt intimidated to be in the presence of so many Klingon warriors, but Kana was just amused by their display of muscle. As if they could harm her.
She led General Rotran and four of his lieutenants into the tower, and up to where Tyler and his marines were holding position. They were stunned to see her, and terrified by the people she had brought with her.
"Nain?" Exclaimed Tyler. "What happened?"
"My cloak doubles as a handy parachute," she said stupidly. "Major Tyler, meet General Rotran. He and his people were enjoying the accommodations, and want to join us in repaying their hosts."
"No," Rotran growled, "we want to kill them!"
This prompted a cheer from the other Klingons; while Kana rolled her eyes and wondered why it was that most aliens had never heard of sarcasm.
Tyler took her by the arm and led her into a corner of the room. Sanchez and Rhodes kept their eyes on the Klingons, and their rifles in their hands.
The major hissed, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Being practical. We need all the help we can get if we're going to get Daedalus back. I've made a very simple deal with the Klingons."
"What is that?"
"They fight the Vyar, while we get our ship back."
"Who are the Vyar?"
Kana gave him a contemptuous look. "Who do you think?"
Tyler started to wonder if Nain had landed on her head. He put a stop to such thinking pretty quickly, not out of any respect for her, but because it brought up the question of how she had survived being thrown off the tower. For someone who had been shot and had fallen to certain death, she was looking pretty feisty.
"We can't trust Klingons. They'll betray us the first chance they get."
So he had learned something at marine school! Kana had been beginning to wonder.
"Completely true. But the first chance they get will be long after they've destroyed the Vyar; which will happen shortly after Hell freezes over."
"What makes you so confident?"
"Because the Vyar have the capacity to disable a starship completely, and the Klingons can barely spell starship. Brain beats brawn, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera," she waved a bored hand around in time to each 'etcetera'. Could the major really not see what was very, very obvious?
"Why do you think they'll concentrate on the Vyar?"
Apparently, he couldn't.
"Because the Vyar locked them up in very small cells, perhaps? More importantly, the Vyar shamed them by capturing them alive, not killing them in battle. Come on, Major; know your enemy."
He gave her a look, and Kana thought she knew why: her Alex act was slipping. It was difficult for her to replicate her host's mannerisms – despite appearances, they were two very different people – and even more difficult to get the voice right. Hers was slightly deeper, and burned, whereas Alex's was ever-perky.
"I'm assuming your little boys have control of the operations centre by now?"
Tyler nodded slowly. "The station is under our control."
"Oh well done. Then I need to take General Rotran for a little walk. He has ships out there, and we're going to need them. Trust me, Major. When have I ever led you astray?"
She was sure to leave before he could formulate an answer.