3: The Outpost

Music: ,,The Expanse Intro"

,,Cosmos" – t.A.T.u

Fan cast: Sophie Okonedo as Mother Duraq

Dakota Fanning as Sowl

Cas Anwar as Iqos

trigger warnings: tw cannibalism, tw torture (its only shortly talked about L'Rells horrible twisted views about it, but still), both starting after Mother Duraqs dumb joke about the lab acciedent and ending at "I don't ever want you to end up in this situation"

The asteroids extended from one end of her vision to the other, clods that looked like rough stones only so much huger hovering quietly in the black void of space, getting smaller and smaller in the distance and glimmering in the light of the bright sun in the middle, until they became little sparks and then a band and then fading. From where they were flying, one could just surmize the bending. Trough the panorama glass walls of the fast mover it was like flying trough it without any barrier, asteroid belt besides and in front and above her.

Katrina couldn't help but turn her head and watch with her mouth open.

L'Rell smiled slightly, too, as she saw the beautiful image, and a little bit of her tension seemed to left her as well. She seemed more purposeful now, as if she had already in mind where she would head.

,,You are better with sensors than I. Can you locate every asteroid on the opposite site and play the data over to my consol?"

,,Sure.", it took Katrina a while to find the right buttons on the alien console, and even then, the outcome was not what she wanted, ,,Oh my, these sensors are the most terrible I ever saw."

,,These aren't built for long-range. And I guess Federation has way better sensor technology than we considering how much you focus on exploration."

,,Maybe.", Katrina shrugged. Had she accidentally told the Klingon about one of the Federations technological advantages? This was also something she had never realized, that Starfleet must have better sensors than they.

She sent the data to L'Rell – and then , the other woman activated the warp drive. Katrina just had time to stare shocked, as they allready got under warp again, reappearing just between some asteroids and almost hitting them.

,,Are you mad?", she couldn't help but shout, ,,Going on warp in a solar system? In the middle of an asteroid belt? Don't you fucking know how fucking dangerous that technology is when it hits even the smallest solid object?!"

L'Rell just looked outside absolutely calm.

,,It gives a wrong impression about our position, so that they won't find my allies outpost."

So that was what she was searching for.

They curved and flew their way trough asteroids looming above and besides them, until L'Rell seemed to have found a signal and asked in klingon: ,,Care for a ride?"

,,Mother L'Rell", the deep, rough voice of a woman cut trough the transmission. Had Katrina misheard or had she truly used the word for ,,Mother" as an title for L'Rell?, ,,what are you suddenly doing in this part of space?" She definitely sounded not happy about meeting her. Did they had an old grundge against each other or was that just the general attitude of this woman?

,,Mother Duraq.", she responded, ,,It would take some time to fly back to your shuttle and beam your samples in. Shall I take you back to your base?"

,,Hmm.", a man made.

And a girl, much younger than the woman said: ,,Oh yes, sounds good!"

,,Beam us in.", Mother Duraq muttered.

They were three, and they had collected samples of asteroids to find out which of them House Mokai could use further. They materialized in the already pretty campy cockpit of the fast mover, wearing grey space suits that looked much like the one the male Klingon Lord at Katrinas capture had worn, just a lot more worn out and damaged and repaired again, without any ornamental details.

The woman, Mother Duraq, was just as tall as L'Rell and a bit more slender, but still buff and broad-shouldered. The man was only a few centimeters shorter than her, but massive too. The girl stood out, though. Even with her clumpy space suit, she looked small and petite, and she was nearly a half head shorter and thinner than Katrina.

As they let their helmets vanish into the neck piece of their suit, they showed Mother Duraqs angular, light brown face, an much more human skin tone than L'Rells brownish grey. She was bald just like her, and her pale blue eyes pierced Katrina warily.

,,She an important part of my plans.", L'Rell added, probably trying to protect Katrina.

,,I-hmm.", the man said. He had somewhat Arabic looking, broad but sharp features and a big nose, and wore no hair beside his short beard.

And then, the helmet of the girl, whats mechanic seemed to have stuck and on which she had smacked her fists several times, vanished. Katrina couldn't help but stare.

There was a human girl stuck in that Klingon space suit. She could not be older than eighteen, and her face still held the soft edges of a child. A wild black mane surrounded her face, and she had brown skin and pale blue eyes.

But nobody seemed to be surprised about her, and they seemed to have accepted her, considering that she wasn't as scared and traumatized as an prisoner of war would have but smiling brightly instead.

And then she started talking. In English. She had the worst accent Katrina had ever heard.

,,I chave nev-ah seen ahn chuman face-to-face beforr. Tchis is amah-zing!", she opened her hand in something that probably should be a half-finished copy of a handshake, ,,Tchis is Iqos", she pointed at the man, ,,ahnd the grumpy one there is Mother Duraq. My nah-me is Sowl."

,,You don't call a superior ,grumpy one'", hissed Mother Duraq in Klingon, ,,In other Houses, this would have been enough to start a blood feud."

,,Sorry.", said Sowl, still in english. And only now Katrina realized that her skin was a bit more leathery than a ordinary humans, that she had pointy, dark-discolored teeth, and that there were some subtle ridges just under where her hair begun, only to see if one knew that they were there.

,,Could you please speak Federation standard? This human here is very important for my… plans, our houses and the whole Empires fate. I want her to feel respected.", ordered L'Rell, ,,So, can I start beaming the samples in?"

Interesting… So whatever L'Rell planed to use her for, it was bigger scale than she had expected.

Mother Duraq growled und muttered something in her language Katrina did not understand, but then she asked in slightly accented English: ,,Do it."

Sowls smile became only brighter as the first sample materialized next to L'Rells chair, a transparent cylinder filled with metallically shimmering rocks, while Mother Duraq just groaned and put the sample to L'Rells duffle bag. She and Iqos continued to load the samples to where they bothered the least. Sowl bounced back and forth with excitement.

,,You must tell me ah-bout your trahvells and thee othah houses, Mother L'Rell, I chave heard so much about you. They say you travelled the fahrest of all of the matriarchy."

So L'Rells House was a matriarchy, contradictory to the strictly patriarchic Klingon society? Interesting. Hopefull she learned more about them and their culture. The idea of a society ruled by women was fascinating.

,,I am.", L'Rells expression was tired and made her look older than she was.

And then she saw Sowl still fidgeting around, and said: ,,Sit down and don't move. I don't want one of these probes materializing inside your body."

,,Tchis can happen? Cool!"

,,It is actually the most common reason for transporter accidents."

,,Whoa.", Sowl looked unsetteling happy about hearing that fact, as if she just have seen an cute cat video and not heard about an definitely scary way of dying.

,,I think it's getting quite campy in here with all this probes.", Mother Duraq mumbled.

,,How many more do you have?", L'Rell asked.

Finally, all samples were beamed in, and Iqos, Mother Duraq and Sowl stood pressed against the walls to find a bit space between them.

,,I am taller than you. I need your seat more.", grunted Mother Duraq in Katrinas direction, and she ceded it without discussion, but somehow this just seemed to make Mother Duraq even more grumpy. Katrina decided that this pissed expression was probably just what the woman's face looked like the whole day.

,,You can sit on my lap, human.", L'Rell offered with a teeth-baring grin. It was somewhat unsetteling.

,,No, thanks!"

,,But I cahn!"

And so they finally flew their way trough the asteroids, Iqos writing the way to their shuttle in the navigation consol.

,,Formidable scar. How did you got it?", asked Mother Duraq like it would be a fashion piece. Katrina noticed that her own cheeks were covered with thin, artificial looking scars that reminded her of the traditional decorative scars of some African tribes. Katrina had only seen the male Lord at her capture with this but no other Klingon, was this a cultural thing of House Mokai?

,,Problem with a prisoner. Wasn't going the way I planed."

,,I heard you are in command of an own ship"

L'Rell sighned and the pain in her eyes told that something had happened concerning this.

,,And how does Voq handle his leadership role? How is it going with you two?"

Now, the pain was obvious. It even was in her pain-filled sharp breath at the name. Who was Voq? And what had happened to him?

,,What happened here?"

,,I'm surprised that Sowl hasn't told you yet. You will hear early enough, she's definitely gonna tell you like she told us despite the fact that we were there firsthand as it happend. And the Matriarchy won't give us money for repairs, even now with those PetaQs of House Duras challenging us for asteroids. They are inexperienced idiots who hardly find an promising rock on their own, though, but it still sucks. Oh, and Iqos managed to have an extremely stupid incident with sulfur acid, an Bunsen burner and some chemicals."

,,Ehh-ihmm!", Iqos hissed half annoyed, half resignated, but Sowl already continued: ,,The chole lab smelled like grilled [animal] for days!"

Smirking, Mother Duraq added: ,,Smelled quite delicious. Maybe instead of our sticky supplies we should have eaten him for dinner instead."

L'Rells expression went blank, terror so deep in her eyes that one was just able to see the vain in it. Her hands cramped into the console.

Suddenly, an asteroid turned up directly in front of them. Katrina could only look. Only stare, as they flew directly towards it. They would crash. It was already to close.

Then an hitch, an thrust that viberated in every one of her bones, an Katrina was pulled against wall and samples, her body smacked against the glass, Sowl was thrown against her, her skinny, hard body smacked against her, the space suits spices piercing her clothes, and for a moment she thought she would pass out.

Heavy swearing in Klingon.

,,I am sorry."

,,Are you mad?"

,,Watch out, next time!"

,,We could have died, you dirty piece of shit!"

,,I chan fly! I am pretty good pilot!"

Only after a few seconds Katrina realized that L'Rell had managed to maneuver out in the last moment and that they hadn't crashed the asteroid. The others had been thrown around just like her, Sowl clinging at the wall, Mother Duraq hanging pressed between the console and some probes, L'Rell had been smacked against the seat in front of her and Iquos lay over some fallen over probes. The only reason nobody was hurt was that there was simply not enough space for falling far enough.

,,The battle at the binary stars destroyed our warp engines. We were", she gulped out the words, ,,stranded there, starving, even fearing that we would run out of oxygen. We rationed the little food we had left, hunger became ever-present. Do you know that one does not constantly feels it, it will appear so extremely that it feels like its piercing your stomach, but then, after a hour or so, it disappears and you feel nothing besides having no energy for anything, until it reappears? But even so it wasn't enough. And so we… there was this human woman, the human captain who had died trying to kill T'Kuvma, and we…"

Katrina knew what was coming, but she didn't want to hear. It was like in one of this nightmares where one were just not able to hear away no matter what one tried. Her stomach turned. She had to control herself to not gag.

They ate Philippa Georgiou.

,,I would have never admit it, but there are all this old tales of heroic warriors eating their enemies to feast their power, but they don't capture the slightest the horror of eating something that was an sentient being once. She had tried to kill my lord and her comerade had succeeded, she was without honor, but she had fought bravely, a true warrior. I know that for the Matriarchs, the body of someone is meaningless because it is their soul who makes them a person, but we at the Sarcophagus ship believe that it does has meaning, because it did carry the soul of those who left us, and it should be treated with respect therefore. But… what does humiliate a corpse more than slaughtering it, cutting it into pieces and devouring it?"

Philippa, what did they do to you… You shouldn't have ended like that. You deserved better. She wished she could cover her ears and make some, any sound to overtune L'Rells words, but that would have made her sound weak in front of the Klingons and so she could only continue listen this terrible details. Would she ever be able to purge them out of her head again? ,,She was dead, and I knew it, felt it, but she still looked so much like the vessel caring out her souls commands, like something that possessed heart and bravery and intelligence and the ability to be honorable and… having to cut her open like this was truly horrific, even more than torturing someone, because then it at least happens for a higher cause, and even if you try to humiliate and try to break them, you ultimately respect your prisoner in respecting to know that they will fight to not give away their secrets. But a person simply used as a meal…"

Probably only now Katrina realized just how scary L'Rell truly was. What kind of person would be so easy with torture?

,,And the… the most terrible about it was that we still run out of food, and… and maybe she wouldn't be enough, and the only other resource we had were other corpes. I…", she breathed in shakily, ,,I was so afraid that we would have to eat T'Kuvmas body, or that… Voq was so selfless and willing to sacrifice himself, and he had so less respect for himself as outcast and son of none. I feared that he would offer to kill himself and sustain us others with his flesh a little longer. I knew that he… he loved me and he trusted me", her voice broke, Katrina could hear that she was near to tears, even if she tried to hide it, ,,and so he would have wanted for me to be the one who kills him. I simply didn't knew if I would be able to do that. To – to eat the man I loved."

Loved, past tense.

,,This was my biggest fear, that I would not be able to harm him when I needed it for the good of our House and the Empire."

She shook her head, her eyes somewhere lost in the distance.

,,It isn't funny having to eat someone. Don't make jokes about it. And please, please always keep a second warp core and some warp-able shuttlecraft in your station, I don't ever want you to be in that situation."

Katrina heard Mother Duraq gulp: ,,I'm… I'm sorry."

Iqos and Sowl only stared, clearly horrified.

They kept quite for the rest of the flight, until they finally were at an battered shuttle and Sowl beamed over with half of the probes.

Only then they started talking, carefully, news about how old friends and acquaintances were doing, about the hierarchy of the Matriarchs, about the mining crew from another House who was searching at the asteroid field just recently, about episodes of shows L'Rell had missed. They danced around something Katrina didn't know but what was clearly present between them. What was the reason of their grudge against each other? Katrina was sure it had something to do with Mother Duraqs complaint that L'Rell hadn't been in this part of space for quite long had something to do with it, and the duty to her House.

Still, they didn't even bickered or stared warily at each other, subtly attacking each other with words, like human women probably would have. The loyality to their mutual cause and their mutual House, and the solidarity of woman in a woman-ruled society.

Iqos listened alert, but he seemed to communicate entirely trough different ways of grunts.

Finally, they reached an asteroid that didn't looked much different from every other asteroid to Katrinas untrained eyes. Yet as Mother Duraq typed in a command at her console, an hidden well opened, and slowly, they flew inside. An antique bulkhead opened and closed behind them. They waited until the air had returned into the room, and just as they were trough the airlock, Katrina heard how the bulkhead opened again. A minute later, Sowl flew towards them. Together, they moved hand over hand in zero gravity towards the entrance to the actual station.

The door opened – and they just floated further.

,,Gravity is down again…", groaned Mother Duraq, just as Sowl happily flew past her and trough the room behind.

She did it so naturally and easily that it looked as if she would swim trough the air, her dark mane flowing around her head like underwater, hovering as if it would be alive, moving with every tiny change and movement she did. Mother Duraq followed a lot lesser elegant, and Katrina used the chance to push herself away from the door and explore the room. But she had measured the power behind it slightly wrong and so she almost hit the shelf in front of her, and the maneuver to avert it caused her to spin fastly and smack against the ceiling. Only after some trying she found out how to move in zero gravity. The slight dizziness that came with missing gravity started to fill her head. It had definitely been to long since she had participated in zero g training…

She looked up, past two quite battered sofas and a clunky desk, and to some big, antique looking machine at the back site of the room just where it made space for the ways to other parts of the station. Mother Duraq was floating in front of it, pressing herself in between it and the wall beside it, and then kicking against it with her full momentum with both feet. She repeated it several times.

,,What is she doing?", Katrina asked Sowl.

,,It's the Klingon way of repairing things!", Sowl said with a grin.

,,What would you Federation people do?", she asked as she witnessed the look on Katrinas face.

,,Give it a name and speak and praise it friendly, probably. And carefully trying to find out what the malfunction is."

,,You Federates try to befriend literally everything, do you?", murmured L'Rell, but sounded rather tired and apatic than mocking.

Suddenly, gravity begun again, and completely unprepared, Katrina crashed to the floor.

She was just collecting everything that hurt on her body as she saw Sowl landing as well, elegant and easily. Mother Duraq and Iqos landed on their feet, too, when not nearly as elegant as Sowl.

L'Rell fell shoulders first on the floor, though, making an quite painfully sounding thud. But she didn't made any sound, she didn't even tried in any way to ease her pain, she just laid apatic where she landed.

,,I need to make contact with Dennas", she said after she had sat up, her voice sounding emotionless and flat.

,,With Dennas?! That are some pretty high ranking people you have to talk! Why not Ujilli?"

,,Everybody knows that Ujilli is merely a sock puppet to ease the fear of patriarchic members of the high council. If I would made contact trough him, the Matriarchs would never take serious what I have to tell them."

Mother Duraq nodded approvingly.

,,I need to tell them as fast as I can."

,,Go!", Mother Duraq yelled, showing matchlessly how to bring military behavior into not-military events, ,,Iqos, bring our defense grid online, then do everything you need of hardware for an save channel to the High Council. Sowl, prepare the software and the relays, and repair every damage you find. L'Rell, help Iqos as far as you're able. Human, help Sowl. Go, now! Now, go go go, hurry!"

Hastily, she ran after Sowl, following her up a ladder and trough an narrow tunnel from whichs ceiling hung cables so badly repaired that it would have made every Starfleet security officer run away screaming with fear. Did they really actually use the alien equivalent to duckt tape?

But Sowl crawled further, blessedly, until they reached an closed bulkhead. Sowl typed something in the touchpad beside it, and it opened. The tunnel behind it looked just as the other, only maybe even more bedraggled than the one they came from, if that was actually possible.

Katrina climbed trough it – and found herself in zero gravity, to her surprise. Sowl happily swam trough the air, looking like from one of these dreams where you suddenly could fly and air was like water. Amazing, how natural something evolution could have never foreseen could be.

She took a tool from her skirt-like belt and start opening a panel above her (or under her, from her perspective? Zero g was so confusing.). Behind it, there were some battered cables and some circuits. Sowl took another tool, let the first one float in the air and started carefully treating the circuits.

,,Do you often work in low gravity?"

,,Yes", Sowls eyes glowed as she said this, ,,Duraq says I'm the most skilled person in zero g she has ever seen. Normally, I'm the worst fighter you possibly find in the whole Klingon empire, but without gravity, I easily won against Mother Duraq, Mother B'Ellanna and Iquos at the same time. I love zero g, one feels so free, and all this stupid restrictions like up and down or weight don't exist anymore, and you have to watch out for even the tiniest impulse you make, before everything will have heavy consequences. Being stationed here is the best thing I could ever imagine, safe for getting an drill for being an zero-g-special-fighter, of course."

,,Where did you learn all this?"

,,I grew up on the Gur'Hiqrh shipyard, so low or zero gravity areas were simply everyday life for me, and of course my parents let me help with unloading cargo or doing smaller repairs at the outer hull. They and later the other workers. But I guess the most I taught to myself."

Katrina tried to imagine growing up on a space station, not learning that green and sky and earth under your feet were the natural environment of people, but the metal and recycled air and space behind glass of a space station. How fascinating, getting to learn the point of view of people with experiences so unlike yours.

,,And school?"

,,Chool?", the word sounded very alien from Sowls mouth, ,,Youh mean when somebody is chooling you something?"

They didn't had schools? Well, this shouldn't have surprised Katrina, they were a warrior society after all.

,,So when you have to learn something, you search after a master who can teach you and others that skill?"

,,Or we simply chave an older House member or a friend. And there are codex's of what one has to learn for her seventh or eight or nineth petal until finally to the skills a Knife Mother has."

Katrina tried to imagine that, and it felt as if her mind would open wide until she was also seeing the lives here and not just in federation space.

,,And you all learn that at the same place, or does it not matter?"

,,We learn it in the villages of our House, in its fields and temples and material arts schools. And once we undergot the rituals and services and vows of the tenth petal, we will prove ourselves by going into battle, or into special mission for the first time. For two years, until she is ready to step in front of the Matriarchs and undergoes her initiation rituals and vows before Khaless that she is a Knife Mother now."

,,Knife Mother… So that is-"

,,Human, are you finished? I need you in the lab."

,,The relays are now switched for messages."

,,Why do you want us in the lab, isn't testing your samples secondary at the moment?", Katrina asked.

Sowls eyes grew wide, and Mother Duraq at the other end of the line was quiet for a moment.

Damn. Shit. Of course a warrior race like the Klingons had strict hierarchies, and strict rules how one with a lower rank could address somebody higher. She must have been the lowest ranking person now. And she had openly challenged her.

Mother Duraqs voice sounded calm, if slightly out of concept: ,,Until Iqos is finished with recalibrating our subspace-transmissioners, we can't do anything anyway. And with everything we have to do right now, we will get problems with maintaining the same amount of tested asteroids like any other time, and that would look very suspicious. So that is why my work at the lab is just as important as preparing a message."

They started to get back to the main parts of the station immediately, and Katrina had to calm herself at the thought at working alongside a Klingon who was probably quite furious at her. At least Sowl would be at her side. For now.

Sowl opened an thick metal door directly at what appeared to be the living room of the station, and they stepped into the laboratory. White tiles and white plastic at the tables and grey bricks at the foom hood. Translucent glass jars filled with clear liquids stood on a metal shelf.

,,Bind your hair together! Sowl, give her one of your hair ties if she hasn't one! Here are your lab gloves."

Katrina did as instructed and put the thick green gummi gloves over her hands. It was slightly more difficult to move her fingers now, and she could hardly feel anything trough the material.

Mother Duraq said: ,,Assist me at my analysis."

Katrina had to keep herself from breathing in deeply and then out again to collect strength. Exactly what she had wanted to prevent…

Warrily, she stayed out of Mother Duraqs reach and waited for her commands: ,,Give me the filter."

,,The samples of this five asteroids and this pulverization device there!"

,,Muriatic acid.", Katrina stared at the acids and their captions. They were all in foreign letters.

,,I… can't read your language."

Mother Duraq signed. Then she ripped an paper from her lab journal and wrote some words and their English counterparts on it. And so it happened that the first words Katrina learned to read in Klingon were ,,Muriatic acid", ,,Hypofluoride acid" and ,,Bromtymolblue".

Now that she could take a closer look at them, the scanners and analysis device looked even more outdated. In a federation laboratory, they would haven been outdated since at least ten years, so much could even she see.

Mother Duraq hissed something in Klingon to a sample that aperantly didn't did what she wanted, but oddly, there were words she understood. Harsh guttural grunts Scandium more sharp guttural sounds.

,,I see your look, human.", she hissed, ,,You're not surprised that barbarians like us don't have own words for science, aren't you? Why should we have, since we are to primitive and violent to be actually in need of chemistry Fachausdrücke. You think at your glorious Federation how much more advanced you are and explores, such good ones that we have to borrow your words for every part of our science that isn't connected to war. Oh, you always say that every species is equal, but you don't believe it now, aren't you? You are proud on how scientifically advanced you are, and have to stop yourself from laughing at our missing words."

,,I never said that.", Katrina said bluntly, ,,I was just neutrally surprised that you use the same words for this chemicals, that is all.", she decided that blatant honesty would be the only way to smother Mother Duraqs fury, ,,Your species was my enemy during the last months, so naturally I have some prediuces. But I try to let them aside and try my best to understand you, learn about you. For example, how is your everyday life"

Mother Duraq shrugged: ,,We fly out to take samples from asteroids, and in the afternoon we examine them. Sometimes we are out there for whole days, sometimes we are here all the time, depends on how much we found and if we finished our quotas. Damn shit, we were already behind before you and L'Rell came, thanks to this idiots from House Duras, but now I'll have to make up the time used with helping her too."

,,Why don't you use conquered from peoples you conquered help with your work?"

,,Not an exactly respectful question", Mother Duraq angrily pipette solution on a filter , ,,Do you really think we are so dumb that we would give slaves equipment perfectly fitting for doing a lot of damage like laser-cutters, pulverisers, a shuttle and an base and way to create their own supplies from all the metals in this rocks? Besides, we are not nearly the barbarians you think we are. Since more than fivety years none of our colonies started a rebellion. They celebrate our holidays, mixed with their own feasts and customs. For many of them, their living standard raised as our governance over their planets begun. Would they behave like this if we suppressed them?"

Katrina didn't knew what to say. Could it really be that she had been so wrong? The only Klingons she had got to know had been solidiers, her enemy. But they couldn't be all. How did the rest of their population live, what did they thought about the war? Did they maybe see Starfleet as just as monstrous, because they also only knew the people fighting them, not their homeworlds and culture and ethics? She had to think at how different L'Rell with her wonderful calm and thoughtful was from how she had expected a Klingon to be. She had never expected that the company of one of them could feel so pleasant, that talking with them could feel so fulfilling and deep.

,,Honestly, how can they think that we don't need money?", Mother Duraq brought her out of her thoughts, ,,Do you see this, this is all from the fume cupboard falling apart. What was in your last sample? Plaster from the ceiling and rust… And as if this wouldn't be enough L'Rell appeared just at this fucking day."

,,You dislike her"

,,No.", Mother Duraq put one of the solutions in a scanner, wrote the outcome in her lab journal, ,,I am suspicious of her methods, that describes it better. She was meant to be low-ranking secret-finder and eye for the Matriarchs, all of her education went forward to this end. An alert servant who stays in the background, if you will."

Katrina found herself listening alert. Who was L'Rell actually? The thought of learning this was utterly fascinating, and she realized that she strived for hearing every single detail. What had led her to this important position on the Sarcophagus Ship? How had she come in contact with T'Kuvma? What had she dreamed of becoming, as she was a girl?

,,She had always been unpredictable and not exactly clear in where her loyalty laid, causing more trouble than good things for the clan. She enlistend to going to Rihannsu space, and even after that, the Clan only heard something from her all two months or something, but what they heard was always extraordinary intelligent and useful. She spent just as much time with those fallen Clan of T'Kuvma with their broken ship and territory in wasteland, and it became more and more in time. She had a habit of taking services that would bring her close to them, watching them. I still don't understand why she spent so much importance of the House of her biological father, what is a biological father more than giver of genes?"

Now that was interesting. So L'Rell was the descent of two Houses. And seeing biological fatherhood as something so unimportant, that was an fascinating point of view by this matriarchic society.

,,The last time she gave a report to the Clan was four years ago, the last time somebody heard anything of her two years ago.

I work here the whole time, commanding the important task of getting metal supplies for House Mokais fleet, and just in the moment where we are already struggling with concurrence, she suddenly reappears from doing Khaless knows what with T'Kuvmas weird little cult, with an human ally, and says that she carries out a mission that isn't only essential for our House but for the whole empire. Am I the only one who questions her judgement after something like this?"

,,She challenged your leadership."

Mother Duraq grunted, ,,This is a political task, and due working for our secret service she has a higher political rank than I. I support her in everything that needs to be done for the wellbeing of our house. I just don't feel well with somebody forgetting so much about the inner workings of our clan leading in something like this. Do you know what exactly threatened Mokai and the empire?"

,,I just know that an warlord named Kol took over command over the Sarcophagus Ship and doesn't takes forth T'Kuvmas plan of uniting all houses. But not more."

,,Hmmp. Give me the Muriatic Acid."

Some time later, they had lunch in the small sitting space right before the laboratory. Up until a month or so the in the worst case still slightly alive worms would have disgusted the hell out of her, but after the hunger in her prison cell every notion of disgust had vanished and she only relished how fat and saturating they were. The everyday-life-talk continued, and L'Rell seemed completely uninterested in it, as if she wouldn't be part of this conversation. And then, one false comment by Iqos brought Sowl to telling how the three of them had found the wreck of an old Rihannsu ship drifting trough space in great detail. It had seemed to have some malfunction of the singularity used for the hyperlight-drive of Romulan ships (an interesting information that Katrina stored for later use by Starfleet) and only Sowls excellent abilities in zero gravity had prevented them from dying too.

,,…so many details about their culture! L'Rell, you would have loved it!"

L'Rells eyes sparkled and for a moment Katrina almost believed that she was normal and that she had been just exhausted. But then she saw how she seemed to had to force herself to eat.

Afterwards, Mother Duraq vanished back in her lab – but they could still see and hear her trough the glass window right over the seats – while Sowl and Iqos kept sitting homely. L'Rell apatically stayed where she was.

,,How's my brother?", Sowl gleefully asked.

L'Rells eyes flinched up: ,,Dead. All of my crew. Kol killed them all."

For a moment, Sowl and Iqos just stared, to shocked to show any emotion. Katrina heard one of Mother Duraqs jar shatter and the solution spilled over the floor as she forgot to hold it further.

And then, without forewarning, all three of them started screaming. It was loud and full of pain and utterly alien. Katrina flinched, but then realized that she was likely witnessing some farewell ritual.

After a moment, L'Rell joined, quieter than the others, interrupted by pain-filled breaths.

As they stopped, she was breathing shallowly, horror in her face, as if trying to keep herself from breaking down. Tears spilled over Sowls face.

This was definitely not an sensitive way of delivering this message. Katrina would have to look how she could comfort them in any way.

,,I will kill him!", Sowl cried, ,,I will claim revenge from the Clan and then I will kill him! I'll make him pay for what he did!"

She jumped up, ready to run to the shuttle, her face distorted by hate and grief. Iqos grabbed her wrist: ,,You can't do anything."

,,You would only be killed", L'Rell added toneless.

,,But I have to revenge him! I have to protect his honor, and I would be honorless if I simply let this warlord kill him and get away with it. I have to", Sowl blubbered out angrily, baring her sharp teeth.

Iqos was still holding her arm: ,,You honor uses you nothing if you are dead."

Sowl let out an painfilled sob and collapsed on the table.

Katrina would have expected that an warrior race like the Klingons would disregard crying, see it as a sign of weakness, but in fact, nobody seemed to despise her for it. The opposite, Iqos laid an arm around her and pulled her to him, let her huddle against his shoulder. His eyes shimmered with uncried tears too. Mother Duraq breathed in deeply and pulled off her lab coat, gloves and goggles, and hustled out.

,,Why? How…?", Iqos voice almost broke.

,,He wanted to make an example. Wanted to show that he has the power now, and strip me of from my last support. He took over the Ship of the Dead by a honorless perfidity, but he isn't carrying forth T'Kuvmas teachings. He simply wants power. I was the last person keeping him from it. And so he wanted to humiliate me. He… he forced me to accept giving him my support after I found the bodies of my crew, and painted my face with this silly red . And then he incarcerated me in the body disposal chamber to die. Only through the carelessness of one of his guards I'm still alive.

It was completely unnecessary to kill them. They didn't die for a cause, or in a honorable fight. The simply died to hurt me.", L'Rell said with powerless fury.

,,It is not your fault."

,,I should have protected them. I should have found a way to take Kols command."

,,He has an whole powerful army behind him. There is no way you could have won against him"

,,I should have found a way. I am a Knife Mother, a weaver of secrets and walker in the dark, this is exactly what we have been trained for.", she laughed sadly, ,,I would have poisoned him, but he cooks as hobby", she said this just as one would have said ,,He kills puppies in his free time."

She signed, and a single tear ran down her otherwise expressionless face even as she tried to hold it back. Somehow, it hurt much more to see her like this than seeing her face twisted in agony. ,,All gone. There is nothing we can do, other than warning Dennas and the Clan, and continue my… plan."

Mother Duraq touched her shoulder sympatically, then they left to continue their preparations. Iqos left to finish modify the fast mover.

Sowl staid, staring at the wall.

,,I failed. I should be braver, I should have done my work more faster. I do not support them good enough."

Katrina swore herself to at least try to repair the damages L'Rells unexpected confession had caused.

She walked over to the Klingon girl, softly touching her shoulder.

,,You did everything you could. You do great."

Now, Sowl broke and sank into her arms, sobbing heavily.

,,He… He wanted to visit meh in a few dahys. He could be still alive if this chad chappend a few days later."

,,I am sorry.", Katrina stroke her thick, dark hair. Sowl sobbed again, burying her face deeper in Katrinas shoulder.

Sowl had gone to repair something, too, after she had stilled herself a bit. It was a good idea, to distract herself.

But now, Katrina had nothing useful to do. She had tried to help Sowl, but due her miserable technical knowledge, she had had to explain every tinny detail to her, and it had caused her more work than it solved. Now Katrina was pacing around in the station, feeling completely useless and out of place. This wasn't her world. This was in the middle of an hostile warrior race. How could she have thought to survive this? But Federation needed her.

She realized that she wanted to speak with L'Rell, not even mostly to comfort her. The realization brought thick, cold fear in her heart. How could she feel friendship with an torturer, the woman who had been sent to interrogate her and who had only saved her life for her own goals.

But L'Rell wasn't how she had expected her to be, and she longed for her calming, thoughtful way. She remembered how her full lips curved into a smile and how she inclined her head a bit, eyes sparkeling, and she missed this expression the last few days. She remembered how comforting it had been to feel her hand on her arm, to be helped walking by her.

Katrina shook her head to expel these thoughts.

Finally, she found what she had searched, and paced inside the bathroom. The shower was equipped with an venturous construction for tuning the water temperature that didn't exactly looked like it should be anywhere near conducting substances such as water.

With a sign, she took off her clothes nevertheless. She hadn't seen herself for quite some time now, and it was a shock. Her hair was flat and a greasy mat, her cheeks hollow, her skin covered with bruises. She had always been thin, but now she was unhealthy skinny, ribs stacking out. With some effort, she managed to turn her look away, and stepped into the shower, hoping nobody of the others would use the bath in that time.

It took her some time to find out how to regulate the water temperature, but after that, soothingly hot drops surrounded her. Her legs were starting to feel jittery after all the time she had spent standing this day, so she sat down at the floor, feeling water fall on her head and bare shoulders and back. It hurt a bit where it touched the injury from the electric shock.

She took a bottle she hoped was shampoo and started washing her hair. She hadn't showered since at least two weeks. She must have smelled terribly, and she was grateful that L'Rell hadn't mentioned that.

It was hard work to clean her greasy, tangled mess of hair, but finally she was finished, and kept sitting.

With the hot water, it felt like it would wash away all the tension and strength she had pulled together in the past time, and suddenly she found herself crying.

She would very likely not survive this. Her home, her federation lied in flames. They were over and out to give up the values they were founded upon.

She was starting to feel some connection to L'Rell, meaning that she would very likely loose the distance she needed so desperately to find a way to remain in control about her.

But somehow, it felt good, being finally allowed to be weak again. She let herself sink against the cool wall, and be uncontrolled, fragile for just some minutes more.

Being finally clean again felt wonderful, even if her hair had soaked her uniform. She skulked around in the station, walking wide curves and crawling trough maintenance shafts to avoid talking with the others. Soon enough she would be in the shuttle with L'Rell again, with no space for herself. Lost in thought, she suddenly heart a voice she didn't recognized immediately. No, she actually had heard it before, but where? She crawled further, careful to make no noise.

Now she was looking trough an air outlet, staring in an small room with a computer terminal. The screen and the encoded marks running underneath it looked definitely more sophisticated than anything she had seen of Federation technology. After all the effort Sowl and Mother Duraq had to put in creating this channel, it must have been highly encrypted, but there were no interferences at all. The face of an woman Katrina knew all to well stared back at L'Rell from the screen, neck and shoulders protected by golden and black armor, skin pale, some elegant jewellery covering her forehead.

,,… our fleet now.", she said with her clear, almost girl-like voice.

,,What other prove do you need, Lord Dennas?", even trough the harsh sounds of the language, L'Rell managed to sound soft and humble. How unusual for her. Dennas must have a much higher rank than her to behave that submissive.

,,This is not about proof, it is about suspicion, tactics and fleet strength."

L'Rell breathed in deeply as if she needed to collect strength, raised her eyes and said: ,,He just showed very clear how he deals with opponents. Without me, he has the total control over the Ship of the Dead. Over the prototype of cloaking technology. You are a politician, surly you must have noticed how more and more Houses fell in line after him because they need this technology. Even before this, House Kol would have very likely enough troops to conquer half of our empire. This is not about my revenge. Not about House Mokais pride. This is about our whole empire."

,, ,Our empire'", Dennas uttered with the calm amusement of a wise woman teaching her student a lesson. She did not need to become loud or insulting to show her superiority. She simply was, everything about her elegant appearance radiating power and cool intelligence almost like those fictional women like Galadriel or Ambassador Delenn. ,,I think you projecting dangerously much of your lords dream on our current situation. There is no ,our'."

,,There will be, soon. The ,our' of those Kol conquered."

,,Which would certainly a cruel way to fulfill your utopia. But I am afraid that they will follow him in their blind bloodthirst."

,,So House D'Gor will support me?"

,,We can't. Flee. Continue your plan. Your fate will probably shape the fate of all Klingon Houses."

Katrina shifted closer to them, but Dennas didn't leave further instructions about L'Rells plan, just slammed her fist against her chest in an materialistic farewell.

,,In the meantime, we will continue to serve him. Observe him, learn the way he thinks, the way he plans.", she grinned, baring her sharp teeth, ,,This is what our two clans are best in, right? We will stay close to him, because as you know, the closer you are to your enemy, the easier it is to thrust the knife into his hearts."

,,I am honored that you sacrificed your time to hear my concerns.", L'Rell repeated the fist-gesture, eyes downcast.

Then Dennas face vanished to black.

It felt good to sleep in an own room, in an actual bed. The mattress felt strangely soft underneath her, but she cherished the feeling of not having to be alert even when she slept. She dozed and turned around for quite some time as she awoke in the next morning.

She put on the clothes Sowl had spent her, relieved to be finally out of the conspicuous Starfleet uniform. The fabric felt thick and rough on her skin.

As she walked in the living room, the others were still in their nightgown. Sowl wore only panties and a band shirt that looked almost hilariously similar to human ones, Iqos and Mother Duraq were clothed in opulent robes, and they all looked hilariously, well, human in such casual clothing. L'Rell sat aphetic in her chair, using her plain military style underwear as pajamas. As Katrina had imagined – and it disturbed her a bit that she had actually thought about how the younger womans body looked underneath her armor at all – she was heavy and well muscled, the tank-top outlining her broad shoulders and well-shaped full breasts. Fascinated, Katrina realized that the ridges were not only on their heads, but that they continued over her neck and shoulders and cleavage as well, triangled lines running down her throat, thick ridges leading down her torso, and lines drawing shapes on the form of the muscle of her upper arm that reminded her at old military uniforms. The tank top was slightly to short for a large woman like her, showing a bit slightly chubby but still buff stomach. The loose underpants gave way for long, thick, well muscled legs, and Katrina was unable to leave all those intriguing details with her eyes. If she would have been human, she realized, L'Rell would have been absolutely gorgeous, a butch icon.

And then she finally moved her head, and Katrina looked away, praying that she hadn't seen how she had stared at her. Instead, she picked a slice of something that looked a bit like bread and an grayish paste. It tasted good, like an odd mix of cashew nuts, chocolate and curry.

It still surprised Katrina how much they ate, even short, petite Sowl. Well, one probably needed a lot more calories if one had two sets of organs?

After breakfast, they helped L'Rell and Katrina to load the last bit of equipment in the fast mover, and Iqos checked the changed warp core again.

Then all three of them stood in a line and smited their fists against their chests.

L'Rell and Katrina repeated the gesture.

,,Thank you.", she was honestly glad about having meet this people. It was such an different way of perceiving this culture if you didn't fought against them, and she would have never imagined that there were Klingons like enthusiastic, naïve, tinny Sowl, or grumpy but kind mineralogist Mother Duraq, or an quite technician like Iqos.

The shuttle door closed. The bulkhead opened and they flew into the darkness illuminated by stars.

A/N: Oh god, I feel so sorry for that dialogue about poor Philippa, both for Cornwells sake as for possible readers too, because it wouldn't be disturbing enough just the way it was in canon, wasn't it? But then, maybe this was why I had to write it

As you may or may not have noticed trough my "fancast" for Iqos and the inspiration music, I let myself be quite inspired by "The Expanse" with the tone of space flight I try to get across in this, and that part about the missing gravity because the flowing hair in zero g in this series was just so gorgeous and visually amazing that I had to have something like that in one of my stories too

Another big inspiration was the really brutal but good "Green" series by Jay Lake, which basically has a black lesbian assassin cult in it, who also call each other Mother [insert name] as some kind of respectfull honorific, and also has this certain steps of the young recruits education named "Petals". I thought it was just quiet fitting for a matriarchic clan like House Mokai (or do they just have matriarchic elders? Oh god, I hope they show that the whole clan is a matriarchy and write it well, it would have been so fascinating) I just want to publish all this work because the first episode of Discovery comes out and kicks all my cool headcanons and character backstory in the dustbin.

I can't believe I am apearently the first person who writes anything in a fic about Dennas, or at least firstly uses the tag, she has such a cool character design?

I just hope the original characters aren't to annoying – with Sowl it was somewhat the point that she is a bit like this, but I actually really ended up liking her. And yeah, she is a TOS-Klingon.