The courtroom, Qo'noS, 2375
Trial Day 5
The fifth day of the trial began with strong winds and grey, menacing skies, laden with rain, heralding the beginnings of yet another of the spectacular summer storms for which Qo'noS was famous. Down on Prison Level 1, Krang was unaware of the change in the weather, other than to note that it seemed a little cooler than the last few mornings. Seated in the guards' mess room, he was just finishing off his breakfast when the squad leader made an appearance.
"I'm a bit early, sir," he said by way of apology for interrupting the security captain's meal, "but there's another storm on the way and the skies are about to open. If you don't want to spend the day in a wet uniform, I suggest we get under way."
Cursing, Krang pushed the plate away, casting a regretful look at the wasted bacon, and got to his feet. No, he very definitely did not want that. "Let me grab my jacket," he said, heading back towards his cell at a fast pace, "and I'll be with you in a moment."
He was as good as his word, appearing a minute or two later, correctly dressed, with jacket, gauntlets and gloves all in place just as they should be. Only his d'k tahg was missing from its usual place at his belt, but that of course, was safely in Mackenzie's possession.
He fell into step with the waiting guards and they ushered him to the shuttle for the short journey to the Hall of Justice. Just as before, his escort treated him politely. They were aware of the rank insignia on Krang's collar and while they knew little of him other than what they had seen in the newscasts, they had seen the easy camaraderie between the three security captains and were not about to treat such a high-ranking officer with disrespect.
By the time the shuttle reached its destination, the wind was getting stronger, buffeting the craft from side to side. The pilot was experienced, but it took all his concentration to bring the shuttle down safely, landing with a distinct bump in the tiny parking area.
The squad leader gave a sigh of relief, glad to be out of the air. "It looks like it's going to be a bad one, sir. They'll be grounding all flights if this keeps up."
"Kreltek told me you had some bad storms a month or so ago," Krang commented, waiting patiently as the soldier fastened and checked the handcuffs.
"We did, sir. Something went wrong with Weather Control and the result was some of the worst electrical storms in years." Satisfied that all was as it should be, the squad leader stepped back, taking a moment to wish that all his prisoners were this cooperative and easy to deal with.
One of the soldiers opened the door, causing gusts of cold wind to enter the shuttle. Outside, large, fat raindrops were just starting to fall and with a disgusted glance at the sky, the squad leader stepped onto the ramp, gesturing for Krang and the rest of the guards to follow him. They did so, falling into place around Krang and hurrying across the shuttle park, carefully keeping up the pretence for the benefit of the watching court guards, that he was a prisoner. They were no sooner under cover when the skies opened and the rain began in earnest.
The handover was quick and easy, the court guards taking notice of the silent warning from the Imperial Intelligence squad leader to treat this prisoner with due respect. If the senior guard noticed that the handcuffs were looser than they should be, he chose to say nothing.
Inside the courtroom, the majority of attendees had already arrived, having had the same thoughts as the I.I. squad leader about avoiding the bad weather. They had barely secured Krang in the prisoner's dock, when the chancellor made his appearance, followed a moment later by Lorgh and the two security captains.
Informed that everyone of importance was in place, the judge made the decision to get things underway a little early. There was no point in waiting just for the sake of appearances. Pulling the ceremonial cloak over his shoulders, Krahl made his way through the doors that would take him from his private office to the corridors that led to the main chamber and with no further ado, he seated himself on the great throne and declared the trial in session.
The judge had been expecting Krang to speak first, but with the sound of the gavel still echoing around the courtroom, Grenn stepped forward, indicating that he wished to give evidence and at a nod from Krahl, he took his place in the witness stand.
"It was the day after the attack, having seen the medic and had his injuries treated, that Koreth began his inquiries," the old warrior began. "I was the last one to be questioned out of the four guards who had been present in the holding cells. By the time it was my turn, the brigadier was not in a good mood. With Lieutenant Marla having gone on leave, there was only Kroll to back up my testimony and Koreth was not inclined to be lenient or understanding. In reality, it was an interrogation rather than a debriefing and it was quickly obvious that he did not completely believe in my innocence. Nevertheless, I told the truth as best I could, for the most part at least."
"For the most part?" the judge queried sharply. "You admit that you did lie, then?"
Grenn was too old to be intimidated by the note of disapproval in the judge's voice. Even so, he knew he had to be careful. Admitting to lying in the past could lead to his testimony being considered unreliable in the here and now and that benefitted no-one.
Klingon Headquarters, London
Saturday 29th January 1994
By the time he got round to summoning Bekk Grenn, Koreth's mood had deteriorated badly. He had started his investigation by interrogating the two guards who had been assigned to Karg. Both men had protested their innocence, claiming that they'd thought Karg had been recalled to duty and hence, they were subject to his orders. Judicious use of the agoniser and the threat of the mind-sifter had revealed a slightly different story. One of the pair had been Karg's informant, giving the colonel his loyalty in return for promises of promotion and personal gain. The other one, caught between the conflicting orders of two very senior officers, and faced by both Karg and his treacherous colleague, had chosen to obey the officer standing right in front of him. Koreth was not there, Karg was. It had been as simple as that.
It had taken some digging to find out how the kidnapping had been accomplished, the names of the other soldiers and the fact that they had been under the command of Karg's assistant, Gelz, who had turned out to be his nephew by marriage. Well, that explained a lot, Koreth thought grimly. Loyalty to one's House was commendable but not when treason and backstabbing was involved. Momentarily, he remembered the orders he'd found on Karg's computer, orders that now applied to him and which he had no intention of obeying. With some discomfort he found himself wondering which of them – himself or Karg – was the traitor.
Snapping a few orders, he'd had Gelz brought down to the holding cells for questioning. The commander had not been easy to break, but in the end, he had broken and Koreth had learned what he needed to know. It had been Gelz who had led the squad that had arrested Chrissie and ordered the murder of the two guards assigned to protect her. Sighing, Koreth added the commander's name to the list of executions to be carried out, a list that he strongly suspected was going to get longer by the time this was over.
Eventually, at some point in the afternoon, he'd found the time to grab something to eat before debriefing Kroll, one of the two guards whom Lieutenant Marla had defended when he'd ordered their arrest. The story that Kroll had told had been interesting and if Grenn's tale corroborated it, he would be inclined to assume they were telling the truth – although he would need to debrief Marla before making a final decision. He growled at that thought, since Krang had inconsiderately given her a few days leave along with that lover of hers… and he would have to wait several days for her return to duty. Certainly, if their story was true, the two guards had taken a huge risk in raising the alarm. On the other hand, if he discovered that they had lied, they would die with the others.
"Grenn recognised her, sir," Kroll had said in answer to his question as to how it had all begun. "From where he was standing, he got a glimpse of her face and he remembered her from when she came to the station to see the Boss… I mean, the security captain."
"Go on," Koreth ordered. "What happened next?"
"Oh, well we were on high alert that day and there was a double guard on duty. This woman came up and started speaking to me, so I called Grenn over – he was the only one there who could talk to her – which he did and after a bit of an argument, he sent her away. A bit later the security captain came out and Grenn called to him…" Kroll's expression said quite plainly what he thought of that bit of stupidity; a bekk did not approach or speak to a security captain without express invitation.
Koreth had been about to direct Kroll back to the attack on Chrissie but changed his mind, deciding that he might learn more by simply letting the soldier talk and get to the important parts at his own pace.
"Anyway…" Kroll was already continuing his story, telling Koreth about the conversation between Krang and Grenn and how the security captain had decided to wait for the woman. "When she did come back, Grenn took her inside and when he came back, he was talking about how she'd been complaining about how unfair it was that we'd been stood outside all day in the cold." Kroll shrugged at the memory. "Dunno how she did it, sir, but the following morning orders came down that we were all to get hot drinks and extra breaks."
That was interesting, Koreth thought. Had it really only taken a hot drink to gain their loyalty? He too had been a beneficiary of Chrissie's concern and had paid it back by destroying the recording device containing her confession. He half regretted that now, wondering just what he would have learned about her. It was very likely, he realised that these two guards had overheard at least some of the interrogation. Well, he would get to that shortly. "So, moving forward," he prompted the bekk, "you say that Grenn recognised her? Was that when you decided to raise the alarm?"
"Um… sort of, sir." The soldier thought for a moment. "Grenn was all gung-ho to get involved right then, but we'd have just got ourselves killed and achieved nothing so I held him back. We were rostered for duty in the cells that afternoon anyway. When we did get down there, those other petaQpu tried to stop us but I warned them off." He shrugged self-consciously before explaining. "I've got a bit of a reputation in the barracks, sir. They wouldn't stand a chance against me and they knew it."
Koreth nodded. This soldier was old for his rank. No doubt it was that reputation that had held Kroll back from promotion – or maybe he just hadn't wanted advancement; some men didn't. That would be a shame if it were the case. Kroll appeared steady and reliable as well as being quick thinking and able to give and enforce orders. He was going to need at least one new squad leader once this was done and he was beginning to think that Kroll just might be suitable. He would say nothing of that for the moment, however.
"Colonel Karg was torturing her, sir. He was going way beyond normal interrogation methods," Kroll said, scowling at the memory, not quite sure how much he should say about what Karg had been doing. It was not always safe for a common soldier to criticise an officer, even a disgraced one, and in the end, he decided to err on the side of caution. "It… um… turned out that Grenn had drunk too much coffee and he was whinging about needing to pee, so I sent him for a break and told him to make up the time afterwards. The next thing I knew, you and the security captain were arriving and you know the rest."
Had it not been so serious, Koreth might have grinned at the way the bekk carefully admitted to nothing. Carefully keeping his expression serious, he barked one last question. "What questions did Karg ask and what did she say in response?"
Kroll hesitated. "I don't rightly know, sir."
"Don't lie to me, bekk" Koreth warned. "You were present throughout most of the interrogation; you must have heard what was said."
"Heard, sir, yes…" Kroll insisted. "But I didn't understand. I never learned more than a few words of English. You'd have to ask Grenn if you want to know what was said, he speaks it fluently."
Koreth took a moment to consider that and then, finally, he nodded. For the moment, there was nothing more to learn from this one. "You are free to go. Return to your quarters and discuss this with no-one, especially not with Bekk Grenn. Disobey me in this and I will execute you personally. Am I understood?"
"Yes sir." Offering his superior a crisp salute, Kroll made his escape, thankful that for the moment at least, he was still alive and not being punished.
Koreth watched him go before sighing and returning to his desk and activating the comm. system. Just one more interrogation to carry out and then he could make some decisions. "Bekk Grenn. My office, NOW!"
"Yes sir, I am on my way."
"Do not keep me waiting." With typical abruptness, he ended the call.
By that time, it was late afternoon and with some relief at the wait finally being over, but also some trepidation as he wondered just what was to come, Grenn made his way at a past pace to the brigadier's office. At least, he thought wryly, he wasn't going to have to face his superior whilst soaking wet. The torrential rain had stopped sometime during the night and for once, the sun had made an appearance even if it was already starting to get dark again. As a bonus, the combination of rain and sun had got rid of most of the snow.
Crossing the quadrangle, he passed Kroll on his way back to barracks and the other guard offered him a nod and a grimace that was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile but failed miserably. Grenn frowned at the expression on his colleague's face. Kroll had served in the Defence Force for a long time and with his penchant for brawling, facing the wrath of senior officers was nothing new to him. It did not bode well for his own debriefing.
As always, a big thank you to the usual three suspects - Solasnagreine, JDC0 and RobertBruceScott. all three have stories in the same category as this one and I highly recommend them.
I'd also like to recommend two stories by Sixbeforelunch, who also writes in this category. Two Vulcan stories, Kal'i'farr heh T'naehm, and its sequel, Let'thieri. Give them a read, you really won't be disappointed.