Imperial Intelligence Headquarters

26th February 2268

The news of the transport ship's arrival at Teng'Cha Jav did not take long to reach Imperial Intelligence. Ships came and went all the time and ordinarily, such a mundane piece of information would have been of little interest, but this ship was assigned to the Earth project and anything to do with that went straight to the operations master.

The return was unexpected, and pondering its significance, Meth frowned, inside at least, since his damaged face would not allow such a thing. There had been no change in orders, no reason for the transport ship to return. Briefly he wondered if it had taken some damage and come back for maintenance and repairs but dismissed that idea at once. His agent at the spaceport had indicated that troops, large numbers of them, were starting to disembark.

A message to another operative, this one embedded in Imperial Command, confirmed that the Defence Force was not expecting the return of the ship and that they were as mystified as he was. Meth's imaginary frown deepened. It did not make sense.

About an hour later, another report arrived from Teng'cha Jav. The port was in chaos as returning troops discovered that they were not expected and had nowhere to go. Several officers were currently making a scene in the port master's office, loudly insisting that they had been ordered home and that something had better be done to fix this or blood would be shed.

This was becoming more and more interesting. All incoming transmissions and messages, whether personal or professional, were filtered through Imperial Intelligence before being released to their intended recipients. Had they been downloaded into the system yet, he wondered? And if this was what he was beginning to think it might be… why had Krang not been in touch? The security captain should have reported to him immediately upon his return. Was it possible? He did not yet allow himself to hope, there was not enough evidence for that, but he could think of no other reason.

Meth considered his options. If Krang had somehow, against all the odds, managed to end the invasion of Earth and bring home the troops, he would have to act swiftly to protect him. If the Defence Force got hold of Krang, there was likely to be a summary execution and Meth would not be at all pleased by that. Quite apart from the inconvenience of having to start training a new successor, he was, not that he would ever admit it, fond of Krang, who in many ways had become like a son to him. His own sons were gone, along with his mate, killed in the horrific accident that had almost claimed his own life. No… whatever happened, he would not allow them to take Krang's life as well.

Growling under his breath, he opened up the message system. Yes, there it was. Bypassing the personal letters from the soldiers to their various family members, he scanned through the reports, logs, and requisitions, hunting for anything that might give him some much-needed answers. Finally, right at the bottom of the list, he found what he was looking for, the report from his errant security captain. Pulling it up on his screen, he settled down to read., skimming through the document quickly to get the gist of it, then going back and reading again, more slowly this time.

Abruptly he got to his feet, yelling for his assistant. There was little time and much to be done. The man was in his office instantly. "Yes, my lord?"

"Get me the Qas DevwI. Now!"

While he waited, with barely restrained impatience for the leader of the Imperial Intelligence soldiers to arrive, he took a moment to enter a few commands into the computer, putting a twenty-four-hour block on all communications from the transport ship. The longer it took for the High Council and the Defence Force to figure out what was going on, the more time he had to put his own plans into effect.

And speaking of those plans… his office door opened to admit the Qas DevwI. "At ease," he barked, not bothering to wait for the soldier to come to attention.

Aborting his salute, the senior squad leader stood awkwardly at something approaching 'ease'. "Reporting as ordered, my lord."

"You are to go to the Inigan estate," Meth instructed. "Take enough troops with you to secure the estate. I will, of course, send a message in advance, but you should assure the line lord of our full support and cooperation. You are authorised to use lethal force in the protection of the line lord, my security captain and their family against any and all attacks, up to and including from the Defence Force and Homeworld Security."

Surprised but obedient, even while he wondered what had happened for the Operations Master to order what could easily end up escalating into a civil war, the Qas DevwI snapped to attention. "It will be done according to your orders, my lord."

The Inigan Estate

26th February 2268

Trying his best not to limp and failing miserably, Meren headed back to the house, taking a short cut across the frozen gardens. He was cold and tired. The visit to the vineyard, while it had been very productive, had taken its toll on his damaged knee, the freezing cold weather doing nothing to help the pain. Still, he thought it had been worth it. The new ice-wine had fermented well and was ready for bottling

It would be the first time such a product had been made on Qo'noS. The venture was a risky one, although as a Klingon, Meren was not exactly averse to risk, even if in this case, it was just financial. If the fruit rotted before the first deep frost, then the entire crop would be lost, and it had been necessary to mobilise the workforce as soon as the temperatures dropped low enough to freeze the vines, which meant working at night in sub zero conditions. Still, if it proved popular – and from the sample he had just tasted, there was no reason why it shouldn't – then it would command a high price and he would be able to reward the workers with a substantial bonus.

The whole thing had been Krang's idea. Apparently, on Earth such products were highly regarded. He remembered the letter his brother had sent him shortly after the Earth project had begun, telling him about all the different varieties of wine that he'd encountered. The idea had caught his interest, just as Krang had known it would, and Meren had quickly written back asking for more information. Meren shook his head… letting the bloodfruit freeze on the vine before harvesting it… who would have thought it would actually work?

"My lord… wait!"

About to enter the house, Meren turned to see his gin'tak hurrying towards him. The man looked agitated and Meren bit back an irritated sigh. The pain was almost unbearable now and he needed to get inside where it was warm and take the weight off it.

He wanted to tell him to go away, but the gin'tak was his most trusted aide without whom running the estate would have been difficult if not outright impossible, and he would not be bothering him unless it was important.

"My lord, I have urgent news. The troops have returned."

"Troops come and go all the time," Meren snapped. "What of it?"

The gin'tak shook his head and tried again. "My lord, I am talking about the ones from Earth. I've just heard from a friend who works at High Command. Word is, they've abandoned the planet and returned home illegally, without any orders."

"yIntagh!" Meren cursed, seeing the implications of that immediately. "Is there any news of my brother?"

"No, my lord… at least, nothing official."

"And unofficially?"

"There's gossip amongst the soldiers that he brought a tera'ngan woman back with him… "

"He did what!?" Meren exploded.

"Yes, sir… a woman and two children."

"But…" Meren did not quite believe it. None of Krang's letters had said anything about taking a mate, human or otherwise. If it was true… his younger brother had always had a wild rebellious streak, but this was ridiculous and… he stopped himself there. This was not what he should be focussing on right now. What the gin'tak had said about the return being unauthorised was far more important, and if that was true then there would be serious trouble, not just for Krang but for the entire House of Inigan.

"Put the estate on alert and double the guard force," Meren instructed, his mind racing and the pain in his knee forgotten as he tried to decide what to do for the best. "You know what must be done."

The gin'tak nodded grimly. Yes, he knew, and he would protect his line lord with his life. If any form of attack was coming, he and the guard force would be ready.

Dismissing his aide back to his duties, Meren entered the house, passing through the hallway and going into the nearest room, which happened to be his study, and almost falling into the chair at his desk. Now that he was finally sitting down, the pain surged again and cursing, he opened a drawer and extracted the pain killers he kept there. Swallowing several of the pills, he grimaced at the foul taste, wishing he had something to drink but the bottle of bloodwine was at the other side of the room and he did not want to move. He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and waited for the medication to do its job.

Meren must have slept, because the next thing he remembered was being startled awake by the comm system. The pain was still there, he discovered as he sat up, but it was no longer unbearable, just a nagging ache. Rubbing his eyes, he checked the time, finding that he'd been unconscious for almost an hour, and reached over to activate the comm. Out of habit, he checked the caller ID first, growling as he recognised the code. What did the head of Imperial Intelligence want with him? Nothing good, he would imagine. Meth had a bad reputation, for all Krang had always spoken warmly of him. Right now, his brother's boss was the last person he wanted to talk to, and muttering something rude, he rejected the call and turned off the system. He had nothing to say to Imperial Intelligence.

Getting up, he crossed the room and retrieved the errant bottle of bloodwine, pleased that he was able to do so without limping. He grimaced. Still angry at the Defence Force for relieving him of duty, he was forced to concede that if he could barely walk across his own study, he was not fit for active duty let alone combat. Still, after months of inactivity, trapped here on the estate with nothing better to do than to inspect his vines, he was bored out of his mind, and that acknowledgement did little to improve his mood.

Returning to his desk – and if he stomped a little harder than usual, there was no one present to witness his little display of temper – he took a long swig of the bloodwine and settled down to do some work, using some of the computer skills his brother had taught him, and a password he wasn't supposed to know, to hack into certain systems in an effort to find out what in the name of Gre'thor was going on.

Transport ship Terra-One

26th February 2268

As soon as the transport ship was safely parked in orbit, Krang made his way to the shuttlebay where Chrissie and the children were already waiting for him. They would not be spending long at the estate, but despite the unfortunate circumstances, he was looking forward to showing off his family home. He'd told Toni and Fina several stories about his brother, wanting to prepare them for the meeting, but that had not quite gone as planned.

The little girl's lip had trembled. "He sounds scary."

"He is scary," Krang admitted, "but he's my big brother and he's always looked after me, just like Antonio always looks after you. That's a big brother's job."

Reassured by that, Fina nodded solemnly. "Oh… well, he must be nice then."

Krang hid his grin. Nice? He wouldn't go that far, and no doubt Meren would not be pleased to hear himself described in such terms, but if it kept his little girl happy, then it worked for him.

Reaching his destination, Krang was surprised that Kay'vin and Marla were already there, talking with Chrissie as they waited for him. He was even more surprised to see Koreth standing behind them, Kolana leaning lazily on his arm.

As he approached, Marla stepped forward and hugged her Terran friend, and a second or two later, Kolana did the same. She'd discovered the truth about the withdrawal some time ago, after threatening to withhold her favour if Koreth didn't tell her immediately what was going on. His confession of treason had not bothered her in the slightest. At least, she reasoned, Koreth's mate would divorce him when she found out, and that would leave Koreth available for her. She'd been the wife of a powerful man and had a fair amount of influence in her own right, and she would call in every favour due her and do whatever it took to bring Koreth safely through the storm that was to come.

Chrissie struggled to hold back her tears as she accepted the hugs. She'd already said goodbye to her brother, and to Grapok… Charles, she corrected herself… and Maggie. Now she was losing her only remaining friends. It was very unlikely that she would ever see them again and she would miss them.

Krang gave Chrissie as much time as he could to say her goodbyes, but eventually, he had no choice but to bring it to a halt. Time was short and they needed to get on their way. Clasping arms first with Koreth, and then Kay'vin, he gave them both a wordless nod that said everything that needed to be said. Stepping back, he took Chrissie's arm, and gently but firmly, escorted her into the shuttle, closing the door behind him.

Koreth had already programmed the ship's computer to ensure that there would be no record of the shuttle's departure. Nor would the bridge be notified that the shuttlebay doors were opening and closing. There was nothing more he could do to help.

For all Krang usually had someone else to fly the shuttle for him, something that was expected thanks to his rank, he was a competent pilot. Under his steady control, the shuttle lifted from the deck, hovering for a moment before slipping through the forcefield and out into space, banking and then disappearing into nothingness as its cloaking device was engaged.

Kay'vin sighed as he watched. For better or worse, it was done. "Go with Kahless," he muttered.

Koreth had no particular faith in the so-called Unforgotten One, but all he could do was echo the words of his junior. "Go with Kahless, my friend."

Thank you to anyone still reading this. And a special thanks to my beta, Linny, without whom this story would not exist.

Language note: gin'tak, also written ghIntaq, means 'spear' but it also refers to a position of authority in a Klingon Great House, held by someone who was trusted absolutely and could be relied upon to defend the House against any threats.

Qas devwI refers to the senior non commissioned officer in charge of troops.