Chapter 16: XVI

Having left Deep Space Nine nearly a day and a half ago, Alexander closed out the comm link and allowed himself to relax and smiled to himself. His father had made contact with him and let him know that while the projected casualties were as high as forty percent in the coming battle, he expected that the two of them would both survive and would indeed go on their hunting trip. It was the most confidence that Worf had ever shown in his son. Or perhaps he just wasn't allowing himself to dwell on what would happen if his sole heir were to fall in the coming battle.

After his brief conversation with his father, Alexander tried once more to hail K'nera on Talceus Prime only to receive no answer. He had hoped to be able to speak with her before the fleet engaged with the Dominion forces. As it was, he could only leave a message for the Betazoid in question. He knew that she was given the worst rotation shifts since the Klingons there resented her being assigned to work alongside them. Still, it didn't make leaving the comm station without making contact with K'nera any easier.

Straightening his shoulders, Alexander got up and headed down toward his duty station on the Auxiliary Bridge. Once there, he listened as Chancellor Martok gave a rallying speech to the Klingon Fleet. He made their victory sound so certain; as if there was no way that they could lose the coming battle. His bravado spread to the rest of the crew, especially to the ones that were surrounding Alexander on the Y'tem.

All too soon, there was no longer any more time to do anything other than react to the battle raging around the ship. Alexander found targets to their aft while the weapons officer on the main bridge focused on the targets to their forward position. All around them ships exploded as the Dominion ships found their marks. The combined forces of the fleet began to take heavy losses at the Dominion's hand; especially the Romulans. As the fleet advanced, Allied ships were picked off one at a time. It looked as if the estimates of such high casualties hadn't been quite severe enough.

Alexander did his best to keep up with the various ships around the Y'tem as they put a target lock on them. Just as he fired on a Breen ship, he felt the Klingon ship rock as the forward section exploded, demolishing the main bridge. Around him, his follow warriors clamored back to their stations after they had been tossed about by the explosion.

"Report!" The second officer, now the captain, took a swipe at the blood gushing from his forehead as he claimed his seat of command.

"Direct hit to the forward section of the ship; the main bridge is gone. Hull breaches are reported on decks twenty-three through thirty-one."

Alexander listened with only half an ear as he concentrated on hitting as many of the Breen, Cardassian and Jem'Hadar ships as possible. When the ship rocked once more, he became uncomfortably aware of the fact that the Environmental controls were damaged. The ship's temperature began to dip to a frigid level, and he felt buoyant in his seat at his duty station. Fighting to maintain control of his position at the weapons station, Alexander did his best to focus on his job rather than the fact that he was only one photon torpedo away from his own death.

Hearing the console's alarm, Alexander shouted out that the Jem'Hadar ship to the aft had them in a weapon's lock targeting their engineering section. The second officer gave the orders to brace for impact only seconds before two Cardassian vessels opened fired on the Jem'Hadar ship pursuing the Y'tem. All around them, the Cardassian Military began to attack their own allies, causing the tides of war to shift dramatically. With the Cardassians serving as a form of reinforcements, the Allies were able to punch through the Dominion lines.

The ship rocked as it was pelted by weapons' fire from all around as the Breen and the Jem'Hadar began to redouble their efforts in protecting the Dominion stronghold. On the view screen, Alexander caught a glimpse of the Defiant slip through the line and disappeared through the massive battle raging all around them. If the Y'tem hadn't been in such a dire condition Alexander would have probably cheered that success in the battle. He hoped that he would see the ship again, as well as his father who was assigned to it once the war was finally over.

DS9

I can't wait to be transferred off of this retched planet…

I'm hungry. But if I get up to eat now my whole morning will be off…

So, the fleet has finally engaged the Dominion. If only I was there instead of this frozen place...

I think that I'll try replicating a new dress in the morning. Perhaps in the Rickar style this time...

If it wasn't for this blasted war, we'd be preparing for the Lakkora Festival…

I'm cold but in order to get another blanket, I'll have to walk all the way across the room to get it...

I wish momma would read me another story. I don't want to go to sleep yet…

K'nera took a swipe at her brow as she leaned up against the console that she'd been working at. The thoughts of the others in the camp were bombarding her mind to the point of nearly incapacitating her. Ever since the wedding, K'nera had yet to be able to recreate the barrier that she'd so carefully tried to keep reinforced to keep the minds of others at bay nearly all of her life. There were hundreds of Betazoids and dozens of Klingons, all of whom had a steady stream of thoughts and emotions that were being radiated from them like light from tiny stars.

K'nera tried to close herself off from them to no avail. Within the camp she could sense more than a dozen individuals in the midst of intimate moments, children were waking from bad dreams, some of the Klingons were working and monitoring their stations, and a pair of lovers were having a spat not more than a hundred kilometers from her.

Looking down at her datapad, K'nera tried to recall just what her assignment was at the moment. All of the jumbled, garbled nonsense in her mind made it impossible to get any work done. The hours slowly ticked by without her accomplishing a single solitary thing during her work rotation. When the alarm on her chronometer went off, K'nera tossed her tools down in disgust. She was not one to leave work unfinished but today she was just going to have to. It wasn't as if she had a true start on her assignment anyway.

K'nera headed out of the Klingon Complex and slowly made her way toward the refugee camp and her quarters there. With every step, her head pounded with a ferocity that she felt her knees weaken. She was glad that her quarters were on the outer edge of the small city since she was sure that she'd never feel up to making the journey all of the way into the heart of the camp.

If she had been back on the Ya'Vang she likely would have headed to the Infirmary, despite the fact that she and the ship's doctor rarely got along. On this planet, however, she didn't feel nearly as comfortable with the idea of going either to the one set up for the Klingon staff or the one ran by the Betazoids. For now, K'nera only wished to make it to her own cot. Once there she prayed that she could fall into a dreamless sleep.

DS9

Alexander couldn't believe it. Checking once more before he called out to the second officer, "Sir, the Jem'Hadar are pulling back. They're not attacking anymore."

The man stalked over to Alexander's console to see for himself as the communication officer called out that a message was going out over sub-space from none other than Martok himself. The Alpha Quadrant Fleet had re-taken the Cardassian Homeworld. The Female Changeling has surrendered and had called a ceasefire. The Jem'Hadar pulled back the moment that they heard her orders with an unquestioning devotion to her. Knowing they were now outnumbered; the Breen ships began to pull away from the rest of the conflict and headed toward Breen Space. The Klingon ships that were still capable of doing so began to pick off the last few available targets. The Y'tem was not among those still in fighting form.

DS9

In the hours that followed, orders were sent out to most of the crew to prepare to go down to the planet's surface to provide security on a chaotic world. Those who were not sent down to the surface remained aboard and either stood watch or began the repairs to the ship. News spread from the rest of the ships about what had happened in other parts of the Cardassian space rapidly. Alexander was relieved that his father survived the battle and sent out a brief message to let him know that he had as well and continued with his work.

The next couple of days went by in a blur. The forces of the Dominion were escorted back to DS9 where the Changeling and her head Vorta signed a peace treaty with the Alpha Quadrant Alliance. Admiral Ross and Captain Sisko represented the Federation while Chancellor Martok himself signed for the Klingon Empire. The Romulan Fleet had nearly been decimated by the battle and the highest-ranking official that had survived in the sector was only a commander.

Once the treaty was signed, the Changeling ordered the Jem'Hadar back through the wormhole that led to the Gamma Quadrant while she and the Vorta were taken back to Earth to await their trial of war crimes. Alexander was not able to witness firsthand the signing of the treaty, but he was on Deep Space Nine as the ceremony took place on the station, so he waited for his father at Quark's. When he finally showed alongside Martok the two of them were in deep discussion.

"What's going on?" Alexander glanced between the two men amused at the way they tended get along like two old friends as if they had always known one another.

"Alexander, I'd like you to meet my new ambassador to the Federation." Martok placed a hand on Worf's shoulder as he chuckled at the ever-slight show of discomfort that his friend showed when he made the declaration to the man's son.

"Ambassador?" Alexander couldn't help the snicker that he quickly tried to cover up when his father sent him a brief glare. Still grinning, he joined Martok in his laughter. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I've never known him to bite his tongue. Don't you have to be able to be, oh I don't know, diplomatic to be a diplomat?"

"Alexander, I can be-" Worf caught his own tone and cut himself short before starting again. "I am well aware of Federation practices. That is all I need to know for now."

"If you say so." Alexander did his best to stop his snickering as he spoke.

"If you are so concerned with your father's ability to perform in a diplomatic capacity, perhaps you should join him on Qo'noS." Martok found the mirrored looks from both father and son at the suggestion to be priceless. "Don't look so surprised. I heard how you handled the evacuation of Betazed. Captain M'jaK considered himself lucky to have you on board during that time. He claimed that you showed a natural talent for diplomacy."

Alexander was surprised that the captain had either spoken with the Chancellor about him or placed such comments about him in his reports for Martok to find. Had he really been impressed? He hadn't thought so, but then he'd constantly been concerned with how the man thought of him in regard to his relationship with K'nera that he'd been continuously nervous around the man. Grinning at the thought that he'd impressed M'jaK enough to mention his help with the Betazoids during the evacuation of the planet, Alexander supposed that he didn't need to be so nervous after all.

"Really?" Worf had yet to hear of any way that Alexander might have impressed his former captain. He has assumed that his son's promotion to weapons officer had merely been a product of war. That the ship was simply short on warriors and as the more experienced men were killed in action that the younger ones were thrust into their positions. The idea that his son had truly earned his title made his heart swell with pride.

"From the way the reports read, it was even Alexander here who set things in motion to help each of the refugees find their friends and relatives once they were safely on Starbase 1182. Several of the Betazoids that were rescued even made a point to make mention how impressed they were." Martok was more than a little amused with the expressions on both father and son. "So, what do you say, Alexander? Do you think that you'd like to take this first step with your father into the world of diplomacy?"

"I…" Alexander glanced over toward Worf to try to gauge his own reactions to Martok's suggestion. "Father?"

Worf could tell that his son was looking to him for guidance. This was a moment that, in a way, he knew would come for a long time. Oh, he never suspected that he'd be a part of his son's first step into his destiny, but he knew from the moment on the Enterprise when Alexander had revealed himself from fifty years into the future and told him of the events that had led up to his returning to the past, his son was meant for the world of diplomacy.

Taking a deep breath, Worf did his best to smile at his son. "It is your decision, of course. But it may be an… interesting placement for the both of us if you choose to accept it. Needless to say, it already appears that you will have an upper hand in such an assignment."

Alexander had to grin at the thought of having a skill that his father didn't and that could make him valuable to him. "I'll think about it."

DS9

Lwaxana creased her brows as she used the chime once more to announce her arrival in front of K'nera's quarters. In the time since the wedding, Lwaxana had noticed that K'nera had taken to spending even less time around others as she usually did but this was the first time that she'd just flat out had refused to answer her door for the older woman. Sighing in frustration, she went ahead and disengaged the door's lock just as she had done countless times before while she decorated the quarters.

"Young One, if you think that I'll go away just because you are ignoring me then I-" Lwaxana stopped mid-sentence as she spotted K'nera crumpled on the floor in the middle of the quarters. From where she stood, she saw that K'nera appeared to have been holding her head when she passed out. "Oh dear."

Lwaxana rushed over to the younger woman in concern to check on her. Sensing a great deal of pain coming from the collapsed woman on the floor, she immediately went to the comm station to call for help. She then anxiously waited for a medical team to arrive at the quarters uncertain of what else to do.